v as in

or as brother likes to say b as in bictor

from my invoice to get my mamiya fixed, a description of the charges: "Complete overhaul / Camera inoperative / Repair film advance / Replace rangefinder window / Disassembled camera completely to remove glass shards / Replace small parts as required / Calibrate light meter and rangefinder / Clean and lube lens helicoid - focusing is VERY stiff"

LOL. Wish Jake was here to commiserate with about that one. Also wish I could have talked FIRST REFORMED with that old fart.

So in this terrible world we share at least there are old timers out there fixing up mamiyas and I have a like new yet "Very well used" (cosmetic condition from the same invoice) rig back in the quiver just in time for a jaunt to another hemisphere. And to whichever dirty motherfucker that wound up with Jakes always busted gear - call Bob at Precision Camera Works in Skokie IL. Also in the good column the other day this dude driving a VW van gave me the peace sign when I was standing at a crosswalk. He was catchin my vibes

the kids always ask why I don't like to go to church and I always tell them that's not where I can find god

boy and I went to a camp. It was pretty cool - lots of fun activities. Unfortunately we were in a cabin with like 8 other father/son combos and some of the dads were titanic snorers. As a sleep baby it was rough. I dimly remember being at a camp as a young child with my dad and having my first nightmare. in it my mom ate some seaweed and then turned into fire. Not a great scene! as far as I could tell boy had no such issues. I don't recall if he's ever even had a nightmare. Those days will come. So we did this huge zipline, saw his first fireworks show, shot some bows and arrows, rode bikes all around, and did this rope swing like 20 times each. There was a turtle infestation (not the worst kind of infestation to have to say the least) and the Neuse aka U KNO river was right there, several miles wide. Caught all the moments up against that that I could. Plus some nerf wars. Good times!

like a poorly done missy. Hi missy! NC is ready for you

have to open this one up to the building side of the family. What the heck are these guys doing?

woods

in good news, the new P&S camera appears to work, for whatever that's worth

we call baby "little buddy" great nickname

a new era!

Mitch gave me an olympus. In honor of Jake I accidentally smashed my Mamiya and it's going to be like $600 to fix. D'oh! Living his legacy in some ways though. Anyways the olympus looks like it'll be a keeper! Look at all those turtles.

raleigh nc, land of the parking lot

sad old jake and I never got to hoof it around little NC towns and navigating small town connections - the roads out here I think he would have gotten a kick out of. We talked about him coming out but just never pulled the trigger.

Not too many small town bars in NC, and if they have them they don't open till 5 anyways. One thing I miss about cowboy country.

erosion concerns

chuckin rocks

huckin rocks into the river - great pastime or greatest pastime?

boy

trying for weird artifacts

pretty bad pano! The Neuse here aka the You Know River. cool to stand face to face with a large body of water. One of my favorite things on earth at the moment.

some shots from last fall

the king stays the king!

I don't think 63% win percentage is good enough to make money when the vig is taken into account. As always, good thing I only bet on my pride, not actual dollars. However every year I'm better than 50%. So that's good! still got it baby!

EDIT:
Oh wait it looks like I was under 50% last year. Whatever!