This was my first photo contest. I entered 19 photos and won 13 ribbons on twelve of them (one received 2 ribbons, one a Best of Division). Yes, I’m proud. But I am also humbled by all the beautiful pictures I was surrounded by from the enormous talent of many fine photographers here in Plumas County. It was an honor to be among them.
These photos – the exact same photos that were on display at the fair – are for sale.
The Taylorsville Silver Buckle Rodeo has been a fixture in Plumas County since 1949 – the year of my birth. I’ve enjoyed the rodeo many times over the years, especially when I was a youth in the 60s. I went to the Taylorsville Elementary School in the 4th grade (1958-59) and broke my first bone jumping off the deck railing of the Taylorsville Tavern. But I saw a real bone breaking at the CCPRA Silver Buckle Rodeo one year during the calf roping event. Quite a visual for a young boy and I cringe to this day thinking about it.
Because of my health restrictions, I wasn’t going to be able to go to the actual rodeo event. I enjoy making pictures of horses though, so I thought I might be able to get access to the grounds the evening before and the morning of the rodeo, before they opened the gates to the public.
North Valley Road is in a remote area of Plumas County, CA. North Valley Road and its intersecting streets connect Greenville, North Arm, Taylorsville and Genesee around the north side of Indian Valley. It’s a beautiful drive that I didn’t appreciate enough when I was a young school boy in the 1960s. There was a time that this road was merely a challenge to a new driver looking for excitement and confronting fear.
Today, I meander. I take in all the rare beauty, enjoy the smells. And I take extra care
On the last morning of March 2015, I found myself looking for pictures at one of my favorite locations, the far end of Quincy Junction Road. The sun had been up barely a half-hour, fog was lifting off the pond and Spring geese were having their breakfast and morning bath.
Capture: Nikon D810, Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD at 200mm, f/11, 1/80s, ISO 200
Processing: Adobe Lightroom 5.5, Photoshop CC 2014
During a recent drive through the Feather River Canyon and into the rolling hills near Oroville, CA, I sped past a tree with bare branches at the top and what looked like a couple large birds perched up top. As I drove by, I thought they might be eagles or maybe osprey, which are fairly common where I live. But they looked bigger. I was on my way to The Bay Area, so I hoped they might be around on my trip home a few days later.
And they were.
Back in the early 80s, I found an interest in photography. I bought the latest Canon film camera, an A-1, lenses, filters and an assortment of other gear. The hobby began, as many of my hobbies do, with research and plenty of reading and, in this case, looking at the pictures of many photography artists of that time. My enthusiasm also took me to school - I enrolled in a B&W photography course at a college in San Mateo, near where I was living at the time.
This is the best toothpick ever! It’s a Poly Pik, which is a very difficult to find brand, unless you want to order 500 at a time. I can’t remember where or when I found my first Poly Pik (this product is branded Flents on the packaging), but it was years ago and I have been using the same 4 Toothpix all that time. Well, actually, I use only one at a time, but I keep one in my car and another at my desk. I used to keep one in my wallet too, but that just didn’t seem right – people would stare when I’d pull the thing outa my wallet
It seems like a fairly innocuous question. I get asked that question every time I am out gliding about on my Segway. I know it’s an unusual device, especially where I live – I think I’m the only one in Plumas County, CA that has one, or uses one regularly. But I sure wish people would think about that question before they blurt it out.
What would be your reaction if a stranger walked up to you and asked how much you paid for your car? A person you have never met comes up and asks, “what’d you pay for your watch?” Someone stops you in your tracks and says, “how much you pay for that bike/ring on your finger/bag of groceries?
Butcherblock countertops are a popular alternative to laminate at the low end and marble or granite at the high end. They are made from a variety of hardwoods and you can buy them pre-made in standard and custom sizes. They aren’t cheap. My kitchen needed at least 10′ of countertop in the standard cabinet depth of 25″. I could order 1½” thick counters for about $600.00 – 2″ thick was over 800.00. The only way to afford butcherblock countertops for me was to build them myself.
You might have thought I misspelled “popular” in the title of this article. No, I didn’t. I meant Poplar, the type of wood. It’s
If you have a nice, big shop, you might not need a portable stand for your miter saw. I don’t have a workshop though. I just have my patio with a small area for storage. When I got my miter saw, I had to set it up on some scrap plywood straddling a couple of saw horses. And because it is a small patio, I sometimes had to move the saw one way or the other or take it all apart and move the saw horses and plywood and saw… You get the idea. It was a real hassle.
With precious little usable lung tissue, I had to come up with a solution that didn’t involve me expending a great deal of energy moving the saw around. Back in my