| Taken: | 21 March 2007 09:47 at the farm near Cottonpatch, Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera: | Olympus C200Z | |
| Exposure: | ISO 100 | |
| 8.2mm, 0 EV | ||
| f7 | ||
| 1/320 |
| Taken: | 20 March 2007 17:01 St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Yorktown, Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera: | Olympus C200Z | |
| Exposure: | ISO 100 | |
| 5.6mm, 0 EV | ||
| f5.6 | ||
| 1/400 |
| Taken: | 27 November 2006 18:32 somewhere in Pasadena, Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera: | Olympus C200Z | |
| Exposure: | ISO 200 | |
| 5.6mm, 0 EV | ||
| f2.8 | ||
| 1/30 |
Kids will be kids. After putting up a good front for most of the evening, Jim and Roxy broke down at dessert. I don’t remember what it was, but it was red and had lots of icing, some of which graces the end of Jim’s nose.
It’s all fun until someone loses a limb. They both wound up wearing more of the desert than they got to eat. They seemed to have more fun that way, and it was better for their waist lines.
–10 April 2012
| Taken: | 13 June 2004 near Yorktown, Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera: | Olympus C200Z | |
| Exposure: | ISO 141 | |
| 12.5mm, 0 EV | ||
| f4.1 | ||
| 1/500 |
| Taken: | 18 August 2006 13:52 near Yorktown, Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera: | Cannon Rebel XT / EF-S 18-55mm lens | |
| Exposure: | ISO 100 | |
| 5.6mm, 0 EV | ||
| f5.6 | ||
| 1/400 |
Long ago—before there was rural electric distribution—people used to live in this house. I never knew them, but Dad grew up on the farm “next door.” This house was the “Gus Turk Place,” named after the landowner. Dad tells stories of how he thought Mrs. Turk was his aunt. When he mentioned it to her one day, she replied, “I’m not?”
The Turks planted those walnut trees to give some shade in the summer. Dad was just a kid then. Now look how tall they are. I’m not sure when the water tank was added. It collected rainwater from the roof that the Turks used for bathing and drinking. Now, it’s a rusted-out hulk, too.
Anyway, I pleaded with him for years after he bought the place to preserve the house. But all he wanted to use it for was a barn. So deferred maintenance eventually took its toll. First, the roof started leaking. Then a large hole collapsed. Finally, the house was no longer usable even as just a barn.
Last year, Chris pushed the house down and buried it.
—25 March 2012
| Taken: | November 2005 (embedded date missing) in the 400 Block of East Elm Street, Granger, Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera: | Olympus C200Z | |
| Exposure: | ISO 263 | |
| 10.5mm, 0 EV | ||
| f3.9 | ||
| 1/60 |
| Taken: | November 2005 (embedded date missing) in the 400 Block of East Elm Street, Granger, Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera: | Olympus C200Z | |
| Exposure: | ISO 400 | |
| 15.7mm, 0 EV | ||
| f4.4 | ||
| 1/100 |
I can’t think of anything more frightening than a fire at night. And yet there are men and women who volunteer to risk their lives to save their neighbors. That’s right. The men in the lower right corner who are struggling to contain the fire risked their lives out of the goodness of their hearts.
There was no way for them to put the fire out, short of letting it consume its fuel. Hundred-year-old pine burns too hot and fast. Standing more than a block away for no longer than it took to snap a few pictures of these heroes, my face got the equivalent of a mild sunburn. Imagine what these guys experienced as they fought the blaze for hours.
The fire destroyed the house in which it started and damaged the house next door to the point that both had to be bulldozed.
–8 April 2012
| Taken: | May 2005 at The Original Miss Kitty’s Fishing Getaway near Rockport, Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera: | Olympus C200Z / NA | |
| Exposure: | ISO 100 | |
| 7.5mm, 0 EV | ||
| 3.3 | ||
| 1/500 |
This flower nestled against the chain link fence at the Original Miss Kitty’s Fishing Getaway near Rockport, Texas. X2 rented the place to get her family together for a week of relaxation one year. I wasn’t into blogging or journaling at the time, and the file dates have been lost, so I can’t get a better description of when than sometime in May 2005.
Anyway, the place was covered in lovely foliage. This flower was particularly eye-catching. Just look at those filaments! It made a pretty picture even with a little point-and-shoot camera.
–8 April 2012
| Taken: | 13 June 2004 18:36 near Yorktown, Texas | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera: | Olympus C200Z | |
| Exposure: | ISO 100 | |
| 12.1mm, 0 EV | ||
| f8.1 | ||
| 1/250 |
I have always been fascinated by these old barns and their doomed struggle to stand against time. I love the color the wood turns as it ages unprotected from the elements, the differences between the sunlit and shaded sides. The metal roofs rust to dried blood. Their cool interiors beckon in the heat of the day. “Trust me,” they whisper. “I won’t crush you. Not today.”
And, indeed, it usually takes more than one pass of the bulldozer before they give up their ghosts. Eventually, someone offered to tear this old warrior down in return for salvaging the wood, which is in great demand for restaurants. So the next time you eat BBQ, you may be sitting next to the bones of this old barn.
