About this blog title

I cannot tell you how many times I have shown up at events with a couple of cameras around my neck, a gadget bag full of odds & ends and a lighting kit and have been asked that question. If it happened once every few years, that would be one thing. But it happens a LOT. It's like getting pulled over by the police and he's standing there with uniform, gun, flashing lights and asking him "Are you a cop?" I would love to come back with a witty reply, such as "No, I am Jesus. Don't you recognize my beard?" However, I cannot be that rude.


Thursday, November 22, 2012

No Nativity Scenes For Santa Monica

About three years ago an atheist named Damon Vix began a campaign to eliminate Christmas nativity scenes in Santa Monica. He has finally succeeded. The link will take you to a news story about it;
http://www.startribune.com/nation/180078401.html?refer=y
I found Damon Vix on Face Book. If you are a Face Book member you can send him a message.  Just type in his name in the people search. He is the one from Burbank.  I did just that.
 I went to his Face Book page ( he has 114 friends) and sent him a simple message: "Hello Damon, I wish you a Merry Christmas" Let's get as many people as possible to wish him Merry Christmas through a message his his Face Book page. NO negativity or hatefulness. Simply a message of warm Christmas spirit. See if we can win him over with love for Christmas and our fellow man.
 
It would be terrific to get hundreds, thousands or more to wish him a Merry Christmas!!

Monday, November 19, 2012

A Tale of Two Squirrels

The Sun is shining brightly here in Chaumont, N.Y. this morning. The night time temperatures have been around 24 to 28 degrees for the past week or so. That is decidedly cooler than my recollection of last year.
I am getting a bit tense because I have had no freelance work this month except a small paying guitar gig that was nothing more than a trial event at a seasonal restaurant. That would be J Fins in Sackets Harbor. I wanted them to try me out and it turned out god. They plan to have me play there next Spring/Summer season.  I lost out on one lcrative freenlance job a couple weeks before election day. It was a political rally for NY Senator Bill Owens. It took place in Alexandria Bay. The NY State teachers union asked me to cover it, but, because it was on a Friday evening,  I had to photograph football for the Post-Standard. Working Friday nights for the paper is terrible for me. It means I have a conflict shooting Friday evening weddings. Also, many brides like for me to go to the wedding rehersal which is almost always on the Friday evening before the Saturday wedding. So that's a hassle. I wouldn't mind working Friday days (which I used to do!) But working nights on Friday means I get to bed late on the night before I photograp[h a wedding. This just leaves me overly tired. Also, from a musical stand point, I have turned down numerous friday night guitar gigs because of my Post-Standard schedule. I hate it.

Young grey squirrel I caught in a live animal trap. After catching him I went up to repair the hole he used to enter our house and discovered the remains of the squirrel in the lower photo.
 Recently there has been a squirell running around in our house. We heard him inside the walls and ceiling.
So I set out a live animal trap and captured the critter in the above photo. Since then the noise seems to have stopped, so we assume he was the culprit. I drove him  eight miles away and released him. There is a hole in the eaves next to the chimney at our house where he probably got in. Back in the Spring I saw an adult squirrel enter in and out of that hole. The ladder I had on hand would not get me close enough to repair the hole. My longer ladder was in town at one of my apartment houses. I was anxious to be rid of the squirrel so I took a shot at him with my Gammo air rifle. It seemed that I hit him, or at least scared  the wits out of him because he leaped in the air and dashed back into the hole in the eves. A few days ago I finally got my long laddr back here and climbed it to close up/repair the hole and a peek inside with a flashlight revealed the remains of the squirrel in the photo below. How macabre!
Remains of a squirrel that I assume was living in my house, running around the attic. I suspect he the one I shot with my air rifle. Months passed before I got up there to close up the hole and discovered the carcass.






Friday, November 9, 2012

General David Petraeus, Head of CIA Resigns

General David Petraeus, the head of the CIA during the US Embassy attack in Benghazi announced he resigned, saying it was due to an extra marital affair. Isn't the at convenient? Next week he was supposed to testify before congress about the Benghazi attack. Now, in his place the acting head of the CIA will testify. The acting head of the CIA will be briefed about the incident prior to the hearing. So who will that person be? Probably some one who was not actually involved in the situation as Patraeus was, so that person will have no direct knowledge of the incident. Petraeus was the man on duty, one of the decision makers. How blatantly convenient for the Whiote House that he suddenly resigns. His claim to having an affair will probably turn out to be as ficticious as the story about the video provoking the attack. 

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Oswego Light House and Hurricane Sandy

This is the light house at the Lake Ontario city 0f Oswego, NY. I snapped it while Hurricane Sandy was in full force. You do not often see waves of this magnitude there.

On another note, I will be playing guitar at J Fins restaurant this Saturday in Sackets Harbor, NY. Sackets is a village located on Lake Ontario. I made this promo piece which I mailed out to some friends and contacts.

Finally, the presidential election is over. I was a Romney supporter and he lost. I do not understand how the people could re-elect Mr. Obama. I think the economy is the most pressing issue and I cannot believe the government can get out of it by raising taxes and increasing spending. maybe it will work. Hopefully it will. I think the Romney path would be a more sure, quicker road to recovery. It looks to me that more people voted for social issues as opposed to economic issues. I believe that social issues should be left to the individual states. The president & congress should limit their focus to the economic health of the country and defense. Education, abortion, gay marriage, drug use should be decided on the state level. Just my opinion.