Jul 31 - Union Train Station

Jul 31 - Union Train Station
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I had a great commute in this morning. I went North my 'usual' way, had a short adventure down a dirt road that I'd wondered about this past week. Turns out it gets wet and rough pretty fast, I got to cross a small puddle then a much larger puddle ... twice! (I just finished rinsing off what mud was left after all the rain this evening). I went up by Mousam Lake & took 109 into NH (Sanbornville). I crossed over the Spaulding and continued on 125/153 into Union and saw that they were working on the old train depot. I spun around and grabbed a photo. There is an old snow plow to the right of this that was obstructed by the worker's trucks. In fact, I need to head back up there to capture that plow better (technically I did get a photo, but it sucks, but there is enough detail for me to realize I need a better shot). In all, I took about 2 1/2 hours to put on 100.1 miles into work (I live 17 miles away). Based on early Weather.com predictions, I thought I would be traveling home via Manchester/Concord again, putting on another 100+ miles but that isn't happening. I am sitting here typing this up in a wet shirt as my jacket leaked through for the third time this week.

Jul 29 - Payday Marathon

Jul 29 - Payday Marathon
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

My wife & son were holding a "Payday Marathon" when I got home. They were actually playing with two different pieces, they wouldn't cooperate with me, so I lined these two unused pieces up for my shot. I am absolutely exhausted, up all night and no idea why (we have the Air Conditioner in during our hot spell).

Jul 28 - Summer Look

Jul 28 - Summer Look
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Woo hoo! Summer is now here. Temps were in the high 80's for the ride home, time to put the Stock Screen on the Strom. There is a bit of a reflection of me in there as well.

Jul 27 - Guiding Light

Jul 27 - Guiding Light
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I love Weather.com. I was tracking two very large cells this evening just before leaving work. Had I left and gone the more direct route home, I would have ridden through the worst of it. Instead, I noticed that I could head a little Southwest, then North & ride around the storm. It was worth a try. There was light rain when I left work, it all but stopped as I turned the corner to the airfield (about a mile away). I pulled over to snap a few photos and change out of my rain gloves. The rest of the ride was uneventful and beautiful. I could see where the cells never hit as I rode through miles of dryness, then I could see where they had just passed through as I rode through moist steamy patches of road. The temperature had cooled significantly so I kept riding North & snaked back a couple of towns further than I'd planned. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, I intend to head out early and have an extended commute in ;-)

Jul 26 - Tracks

Jul 26 - Tracks
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

So we are out driving (I believe this was on Route 5, South of Fryeburg, Maine) and it is raining on and off, not just piddly rain, but "Great Big Rain". The outside temp is bouncing between 65 degrees and 81 degrees as the rain comes and goes. We pass over these exempt tracks and I see this scene and do that "1-2-3-4-5...I need to turn around" thing.

I pull over, my wife has her nose in a book, I get out and am assaulted by a wave of mosquitoes. No big deal, we are in Maine. As I open the trunk to get the camera gear, the amount of mosquitoes grows exponentially, at this point, I have to control my breathing as I am sucking these guys down. I figure I need to get this shot so I head to the tracks (about 20' away). I'm setting up on the tripod, setting the camera settings and taking a few shots, when I realize that my leg, scratch that, legs, are covered in mosquitoes. This whole time I have been swatting them away, or so I thought. I see about 20 dead mosquitoes, I begin to realize there is more going on here than meets the eye. But I'm not giving up this freakin shot, I mean, I braved it this far, what's a few more shots and bites? While putting the gear back into the trunk (which I left open), I notice a massive swarm inside the trunk. These guys have decided the trunk is pretty cool. I try to stow my gear as best I can (at this point, I could care less if my 40D & 70-200 F4L are nicely padded, I almost dump it into the trunk (I actually do put it somewhat in the Domke bag).

I am still scratching after a few hours and a shower. Oh yeah, about 30 mins later, we stopped at a diner for dinner and I open the back of the trunk to see what's going on back there. A bunch of mosquitoes fly out, I believe I've just helped a small nation of nasty bugs migrate.

Jul 25 - Nothin but net

Jul 25 - Nothin but net
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

So I took a 7 hour, three state motorcycle ride with many stops and have absolutely no photos to show for it. I am however, quite happy. While fretting about this evening for my PaD shot, I happened upon the basketball net. The actual net has been up there for about 3 or 4 years now, it has never come down in the winter. Now that I think about it, it is in pretty good shape for getting abused for this long. The kids will use it in spurts, they are currently traveling in the lull of the basketball biorhythm, perhaps next week it will become top priority again (usually a week to week thing, it really does get used). I believe it is down in its lowest setting to make the older kids look better and to give my son a fighting chance of getting a basket.

Jul 24 - For Joy

Jul 24 - For Joy
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I've wanted to do this shot for a few days now. Today was the first day that I found myself wandering around without my cane at work. This was a hard shot to get as I can't jump all that high. I'm not so worried about my bum ankle, it is pretty secure in a brace, it's my good one that I am more worried about. It would be ironic and sad to injure my other foot while taking a photo that is celebrating feeling better. My interval timer remote shutter release has finally died, so this was shot with the 10 second timer on & me timing my jumps just right. I am digging the treatment on this one, the trees in the background look less like trees and more like explosions.

Today also marks the day that I have found the limits to my riding gear's waterproofness. My helmet, jacket, gloves, and boots leaked. My pants didn't leak one bit though. The only reason my boots leaked is because I inadvertently rode through a flooded road, twice. The water shot up my legs then down into the boots. My gloves have been drying since this morning and you'd swear I just took them off, they are waterlogged.

Jul 23 - Nuts

Jul 23 - Nuts
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

These are some almonds that are finally being useful. I bought these about a month & 1/2 ago, from the "Crunchy Section" in the local grocery store. They are horrible and they cause my mouth to swell, almost like I have an allergy to Almonds (which I don't). So they have pretty much sat by themselves in a tin, aging. I thought about chucking them outside for the squirrels, but I'm not a big fan of those rodents either, I don't want them thinking they can come on in the house whenever they want (we have constant problems with them in our attic!!). This is pretty close in, I'm actually happy with the depth of field, even at f/10 the 100mm Macro usually has a very tight DoF. I have to go swat some mosquitoes now. . .

Jul 22 - Ice Cream Man

Jul 22 - Ice Cream Man
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I'm sitting outside wondering what I am going to shoot when I hear the Ice Cream Man's tune playing in the 'hood. I know he is going to blow by our house (he rarely stops for the kids, this guy trucks right along) so I figure I can get a photo of the Ice Cream Truck. I did a "Triple Print" Preset in LR to give it an overprocessed photo look, something you may have found about 20 years ago when you got your photos back from the developer. Just prior to this guy driving down the street blaring that annoying tune, there was a Red Cardinal in the tree just to the left of his extended side view mirror. That Cardinal bailed when he heard the commotion.

Jul 21 - Little Details

Jul 21 - Little Details
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I never noticed this before today. This is the entrance and exit to basically nowhere. I've walked back there last summer a few times and taken some great photos in the field and ponds that are way back there. I've never seen the gate open, people simply aren't allowed back there. The direction of the stop sign caught my eye this evening, something about it struck me as a bit odd. It seems less odd now that I am sitting back at home on my computer. I was a tad bit rushed in taking this shot as about 250,000 mosquitoes converged on my location as soon as I opened the door to my Tahoe (yes, still not back on the bike yet). It was a tough shot exposure-wise, the dark area in the trees to the left simply would not cooperate with me.

Jul 20 - Lanes

Jul 20 - Lanes
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

First day that I have driven into work since early march. I packed up my camera gear and threw it into the back of the Tahoe (actually I placed it). On my way home, I took a longer route and noticed the fresh cut grass at Vaughn Woods, the local State Park. Just to the left of this is the flag pole, the groundskeeper had just lowered the flag for the day and was packing it up while I was setting up my gear. I'm not sure what he thought I was doing. I pushed the yellows to green to give it a more pleasant color. It was the contrasty lanes that caught my eye and forced me to turn around in the first place. The yellowish color to the grass wasn't cutting it (no pun intended there). The crop is almost all in camera, there was a bit of parking lot at the top of the photo, there is a rather extreme border between the field and the dirt parking lot that I couldn't seem to manage on the tripod, the shot was definitely level though.

Jul 19 - Contrast

Jul 19 - Contrast
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I was up and around today, I believe that taking it easy yesterday, elevating and icing my ankle helped a lot. I have something like 2 Gel Casts, a super-special plastic temp cast, and a bunch of ankle supports. My left ankle was cinched up in a gel cast all day and I was able to finish the bike, do a dump run (with the kid's help), and even mow the lawn. Turns out I didn't actually need to replace my brake pads, but I did anyway. The cylinders were so gummed up, they wouldn't go back. Hopefully I have cleaned them up enough, the front wheel was spinning nicely after I mounted it. I permanently mounted my Stebel air horn, not where I'd expected to put it though. Turns out I didn't need to remove all the tupperware after all, I could have made due with leaving it on. It only takes about 15 mins tops to button it back up, so no big deal. While the bike was up on the centerstand, I sat on it (it was running while I checked the temperature) and found that I can't actually shift up yet. We'll see tomorrow. I wish I had a cane, then I might look like that House MD character. Last time I sprained my ankle, I actually had a cane that I took with me on my bike (previous bike) and was told I look like House MD (I don't watch the show).

Jul 18 - Life's Little Surprises

Jul 18 - Life's Little Surprises
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

So yesterday I am all happy about working on my bike. Big plans on finishing it up this morning, perhaps get a ride or two in today. I load the wheel with the tire that needed the beads to be set up into the back of the Tahoe and took off for The Home Depot. I figured if I wimped out on buying a compressor, I'd swing by a gas station and seat the beads for $1 in quarters. I had two frost free faucet heads to return from a project last week, I'm walking across the parking lot of The Home Depot, when the next thing I know I feel the sharp pain of my left ankle beginning to turn. By pure instinct, I go down immediately and I go down hard. The faucet heads go flying, one part shatters on the pavement (cheap fricken plastic). I didn't go down fast enough and my left ankle is shooting with pain, it takes about 3 seconds for me to realize that my plans for the weekend are pretty much F&$@#ed. Two very good Samaritans rush over to help, one is a nurse who very much wants tme to go to the local Hospital. I'm pretty pissed at myself, I've down this before, I know what I need to do. They help me back to my Tahoe which is pretty far away. On the drive back, I phone my kids (my wife is out of town today at a conference, this thing always seems to happen when she is gone ;-) The kids have the crutches, an ice pack, and the couch all prepped by the time I pull up into the driveway. 1600 mgs of Ibuprofen, two ice packs, and three movies later, I'm hobbling over to the computer to get a photo for today's PaD. For those of you who read this and ride, you know what my biggest concern is, this is my left foot, my shifting foot. I can actually ride with a right foot at 50% since the right foot controls the rear brake and it is the front brake that gives you all your stopping power. We'll see how things look and feel tomorrow. I still have a bike to put back together (the front tire still hasn't been set yet).

Jul 17 - Get my bearings

Jul 17 - Get my bearings
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

These are the old OEM front bearings that I tapped out earlier. The new ones from All Balls are sealed all around. My three tire irons are peeking into the photo on the lower right. After pulling these bearings, I realized there was nothing wrong with them at all. At $16 to replace the front set though, I am glad I did it. I like the new bearings better than the old ones. The inside of the bearing wasn't sealed. Since I ride in rain a lot, I prefer the sealed bearings. The rear bearings have been backordered, I'll change them out on my next rear tire change.

Jul 16 - New Tire

Jul 16 - New Tire
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Yes, another "New Tire" photo. I have been waiting on this little nugget (the new Conti Trail Attack on the right) to arrive this week for installation either tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning. I also have a new set of All Balls front wheel bearings and a complete set of brake pads for the front brakes. To top it off, I am going to balance it with dynabeads instead of lead weights. Looking at this photo, the old tire on the left doesn't look that bad, but it has worn a little past the wear bars in most places. I ride in rain and need that tread. I can't wait to try out the Conti's the tread pattern is so different. For the next 3k miles or so I will have a mismatched set with the Conti Trail Attack up front and my replacement Trailwing on the rear. I plan to replace the rear with a Conti Trail Attack when the time comes, most likely next month or so.

Jul 15 - Comfort

Jul 15 - Comfort
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Technically, this is a "Comfort Test". I got the idea for a beaded seat cover from Stromtrooper. After our day on the bike Saturday, I made a special trip to WalMart the very next day for this. I am testing this out to see if there is a fix for the pain quotient to the bike on long rides. My daily commute runs are too short, even though this week I am taking a longer route in to drop off my oldest. Provided my new front tire arrives this week, I should have a new front tire and brake pads to scrub in this weekend. I figure a 200 mile trip on this seat will give me a good idea whether this can work or not.

Jul 14 - The camera you carry

Jul 14 - The camera you carry
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

We never made it to the golf course. Instead, we went downtown with some people we had a meeting with. It was the first business engagement that I've had for quite a while. One of the other guys was a techie like me and had an iPhone 3G, we were comparing iPhone apps and showing off capabilities. While walking to dinner, I snapped this photo with my iPhone of North Church in Portsmouth. It was a good thing I did too, since I just got back home and really don't feel like taking any kind of PaD photo at this point. I added negative clarity (subtracted?) and did a slight straightening job, and boosted the exposure. I didn't take a whole hell of a long time to setup for this shot, I stopped for about a second to take this. I liked the clouds we had this evening, I kind of wish I had my DSLR with me...

Jul 13 - Call me hardcore

Jul 13 - Call me hardcore
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Yet another one of those "Odd things on a bike" kind of shots. I am going golfing tomorrow evening after two season "break" from "After work golf". I'm not willing to drive in, so I was testing out the concept of strapping the golf bag to the bike. It works fine. It doesn't extend much further over my tiny Givi E21 side cases (the black box with the scuffs all over it). The weird thing on top of the seat is a cheap bead thing I picked up at WalMart as a test for fixing the seat comfort level. While it seems more comfortable, I am sliding all around in my riding pants. The jury is still out on that thing.

Jul 12 - Dinner Ride

Jul 12 (21/52) - Dinner Ride
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Well, it was more than a Dinner Ride. We left for the University of New Hampshire (My Wife & I) to find the Hall that our oldest will be going to for the next two weeks. She is in an upper class Writer's Academy. They had a class for new High School Freshmen, but her teacher put in a good recommendation and got her into the upper class program. I will be dropping her off in the mornings on the bike and my wife will be picking her up. After finding the building, we had to ride around for my wife to get her bearings, then I took a semi-extended way home. I stopped by Strafford Farms, it's the first time we've eaten at the take out in about 6 years. The weather was perfect, it was in the evening and it had started to cool down nicely. OK, I lied, I'm the one who ate, my wife claimed she wasn't hungry, didn't order anything, then picked at my food. It is kind of a "wife thing".

Jul 11 - Lunch

Jul 11 - Lunch
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

My oldest & I took to the open road today and visited the University of Maine at Farmington campus. It was nothing official, no tours. We simply went up there and had a look around the place. She will be a High School Freshman in the fall, it's not too early to start thinking about this. The trip was fun, it was her longest on a motorcycle (300 miles) and was enough to tell me that I need a new seat. While walking around the campus, she realized they didn't have a football field which means they probably don't have a marching band program, something she is very in to. This KFC/Taco Bell was a couple of miles away from the main campus, it made for a good lunch.

Jul 10 - Bags ready

Jul 10 - Bags ready
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Tomorrow my oldest & I are heading out on an all day motorcycle ride. The main goal is to hit the University of Maine, Farmington campus. We aren't getting an official tour, we are simply going to walk around the campus and check it out, have a lunch, etc. It is also the first weekend with no rain and no baseball or cub scout commitment for the past 6 or so weeks. It will be the longest ride for me this season and the longest ride for her ever. Tomorrow I find out if I need to junk my stock bike seat and go with a Day Long Saddle.

Jul 09 - Looking up

Jul 09 - Looking up
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Just a simple shot of the maple tree that is overhanging our deck. This is technically a tri-tone, I set the highlight & shadow tone hues to the same settings to get this effect. This is exactly what I was thinking when I shot it, it took a little persuasion during Post Processing to get it right.

Jul 08 - Up close

Jul 08 - Up close
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Another day of getting home with no PaD taken. According to the weather report, we have something like 3 or possibly 4 days of sun coming up!

Jul 07 - Turning

Jul 07 - Turning
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

It is just barely July, there's been about 4 days of sun in the past 6 weeks and we already have leaves turning on our birch trees in our front yard. This happens each year though, normally because of insect damage, there's been no insects this year though, they must not like the rain. Another day of coming home with no PaD taken yet. It was raining so hard in the morning that I decided to leave the camera gear at home, good thing too as I don't have a ton of storage on the bike and I wound up hitting the grocery store on the way into work. I turned up the ISO again to get a grainy shot. I certainly got my wish.

Jul 06 - Free Squirrel

Jul 06 - Free Squirrel
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I was fretting over the fact that I'd left work so late and hadn't had time to shoot today's PaD. Here I was thinking there'd be slim pickings at home. That is, until I arrived at home and saw this nugget resting in front of our house (on the street). I made two different signs and made two different trips to the road to get the shot "just right". I was amazed at the fact that there was zero cars coming by during any of my shoots.

Jul 05 - Uninspired SP

Jul 05 - Uninspired SP
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

Time is ticking away, it was a long ride home (we stopped at an RV dealer to look at RVs, they didn't have anything we liked). I just got caught up with my Flickr & pBase galleries and I'm feeling uninspired so this is a simple SP with the Tokina at ISO 3200 on a 40D (yeah, it's not 5D MkII low noise 3200).

Jul 04 - Fly a kite

Jul 04 - Fly a kite
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

My son made this kite at our campground. There was a husband and wife "Professional Kite People" in the field over the weekend of the fourth. They were flying these huge 8' kites in the field. They had this real simple "Sled Kite" that you could make in about a minute on their table. We tried with little success to lauch it from the field that afternoon. We joked about taking it up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain with us and decided to do just that. It flew right from our hands with no problems and my son had a ball for about 15 - 20 minutes. It was easy to bring in too.

Jul 03 - Acadia Fog

Jul 03 - Acadia Fog
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

While driving down to Northeast Harbor for dinner (at Docksiders) we noticed this scene at one of the Hadlock Ponds (Either Upper or Lower, I can't remember the name). I had to bushwhack through some high grasses to get to the shore to setup the tripod and gear for this shot, but it was worth it. I have a feeling this shot will wind up as a print on one of our walls somewhere. The fog has just rolled in. On the island, you can have beautiful sunshine and warm weather one minute, then a few minutes later be engulfed in this cool fog. The fog is hell on camera gear though. I have to do some work to my 17-44 f/2.8 IS.

Jul 02 - Biking Trip

Jul 02 - Biking Trip
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

We hit the Carriage Paths today in 'so so' weather. First year for me on the paths without anyone in tow (no child seat, no child trailer, no tag-a-long). Even with the younger ones having to walk up some of the hills, we still made real good time. My oldest (passing me here) and I are thinking about taking the longer route next year.

Jul 01 - Balls

Jul 01 - Balls
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

If you can see the spray from the waves off to the right, you can get a feel for how close I was to the waves. I had one hand on the shutter release and one on a tripod leg, ready to yank the gear out to safety. Within a nanosecond of this shot, I was yanking the tripod and camera out of the way. During Post processing, I found that the two shots following this were highly blurred and the horizon line severely tilted as I continued to shoot while pulling the tripod and camera out of the way. No salt water actually landed on the lens, though the tripod legs and camera body had some on them.

Jun 30 - Hiking

Jun 30 - Hiking
Originally uploaded by DamnBeavers

I pulled my camera out and changed the lens only to reveal a serious fogging of the rear element. The temps were rising rapidly and the humidity was extremely high. The camera gear was well insulated and still at a much cooler temp. I should have known better, I do live in New England after all. The first hour of our hike I was assaulted by very foggy images. I decided to play the fogginess in an attempt to give the whole scene a bit of fog. The photos cleaned up real nice in Lightroom, almost too nice, most of the fog has been removed while adjusting the blacks. That is my family in the background waiting on Dad to take his photos and try and catch up. Most of our hike went that way.3