Nimbus Dam - Part Deux

Why Did This Chicken Cross the Road?

Maybe he escaped.

I live in the Greater Sacramento Metroplex. The town of Fair Oaks isn't a town per se, but rather a community of unincorporated Sacramento County. Some years ago, well before my arrival, it was a rural area. The sprawl had not yet spread this far. Now, there are only rural islands scattered throughout the suburbia. This shot was taken in a supermarket parking lot at the intersection of Hazel and Madison, both four-lane (two in each direction) boulevards that are slated to one day be six lane thoroughfares. Once upon a time they were country roads.



This rooster probably wandered away from one of the larger estates that are still resisting sub-division and development. Although they're getting harder and harder to find, there are still homes in the area with horses and other farm animals like chickens wandering about, but they are not so commonplace as they once were. Indeed, rare enough that this chicken practically stopped traffic.

Chasing the Sun

I captured this shot just a couple of minutes too late. Although part of the sun is still visible just above the horizon, only about five minutes - or less - earlier, is was bright orange orb right on the edge of the sky. By the time I parked and found a site to shoot from, this is all that was left.



This is the same sky a little while later and down the road a few miles. The sun was gone but it left behind a nice sunset over the foothills.



Twilight and sunset provide the most interesting lighting.

Nimbus Dam

Old School/New School

It has been a week and two days since I put anything new up on this blog. Even my last photo wasn’t new - I shot it last November. I could go through my photo archives and find acceptable pictures to put up, but none really speak to me. Maybe some would, but there are so many so-so to bad shots that need weeding out, I just don’t feel much like going through them all. The Number One reason why this space has been neglected for so many days is that my camera is being repaired.

Strike that, it has been repaired. Canon’s web site allows for the tracking of repairs and they indicate that not only has the work been completed - free of charge - but also gave me a FedEx tracking number. My camera is currently, right now, only a few miles from me. It will be here tomorrow! Rest assured, the pictures will be coming shortly thereafter. Canon has joined an exclusive list of preferred corporations that include Apple and Hewlett-Packard who have earned my repeat business.

In the meantime, I have been shooting black and white with a vintage Canon AE-1 Program. Of course, I can’t post those images until I process the film (next week) and scan them. There is an interesting dichotomy regarding the digital/analog paradigms. On the one hand I’m am excited to see the shots I’ve been taking on film and on the other hand, I get (and miss) the instant gratification when shooting digital. Soon I’ll be shooting in both worlds and that will bring a whole new dynamic, I’m sure.

I took photography in high school. Back in the late seventies and very early eighties, there was no digital. My very first serious camera was a Canon AE-1 Program. It seems that I have come full circle - I can’t remember being so keyed up about anything… wondering what that film in my camera will develop into. I can hardly wait.

Passing Notes

Downtown

Easyriders 2007 Sacramento - Photos

Click on any photo to get the "Big-Picture."

Geometricity

Night Lights

Blowin' in the Wind

New Years Day Run, 2007 - Photos

***Click on any picture to get a high-resolution image.***

More Pics

Picture Post

This post serves two purposes. Actually three. First is to display some photographs of Colfax and its most prominent feature, the railroad. Second, to show off what my new camera is capable of. Although I can't be sure if I can do it yet, my plan is to upload these photos in all their high-resolution glory. If successful, you should be able to click them and be able to download an extremely high-resolution image.

Lastly, I just merged all of my blogs over to Blogger Beta. The technical difficulties that Blogger has been experiencing lately are mysteriously absent on the beta version... plus it is noticeably faster. Is it a leap of faith… or foolishness? Neither is beyond my purview, we'll see what the future holds.

And now, autumn in Colfax…

VOTE!

Eager to have a say on this coming Election Day

By: Michael Althouse
Colfax Record Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 1, 2006 6:29 PM PST

One vote can make a difference.

"Of course," you say. "Colfax is a small town."

True enough, but I mean even in an election of national proportions ... One vote can make a difference. Now you might be expecting me to point some of the close races in the historical record. Garfield vs. Hancock, Nixon vs. Kennedy or even Bush vs. Gore, but that's not the kind of difference I'm talking about.

It's much more personal than that.

I can trace almost to the day the awakening of my political awareness. The 26th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified in July 1971. It is as simple in its language as it is in its deed:

"Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

Rep. Jennings Randolph, D-West Virginia, first introduced it in Congress in 1941. His argument was simple enough: If people were old enough to fight and die for this country, they should have the right to vote. Simple as it is, Randolph had to sponsor it 11 times over 30 years as both a congressman and later a senator before it was finally ratified.

The 26th Amendment meant that I would be able to vote three full years sooner! Or so I thought. My birthday was just about one month too late to vote in the 1980 presidential election. Jimmy Carter was running for re-election against a former California governor and actor named Ronald Reagan.

Just 32 days short of turning 18 and I was nothing but a bystander. Even though I had done the math years in advance - this was no surprise - I was still bummed out. Not that my participation would have affected the outcome. Reagan didn't need me and Carter needed several million more but it would have put me in a participatory role and I could have made a statement.

I was so close I could taste it. ...

The first big election I voted in was the 1982 midterm. It wasn't the presidential election, but I was excited all the same. And it's been like that ever since. With less than a week to go for the upcoming midterm, I'm excited again - really excited.

Colfax has three-fifths of a City Council to elect - it's at least as important as the Doolittle vs. Brown race, maybe more so. Other local governing bodies have seats up for grabs as well.

Voting connects the community to its leadership and it is even more crucial in small, local elections. I don't think I can affect the final outcome; in most cases, just my one lone vote can't. However, by taking the time to vote, I show our elected officials that I am here, paying attention, and I connect myself to the process. I become vested. I am a participant, an owner.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

I'm excited because next Tuesday, I will again participate in expressing my part of the collective will of the people, doing my part to keep our democratic republic alive. I've heard it said over and over again, "If you don't vote, you can't complain."

Hogwash! There will always be plenty of complaining going on. It would be better characterized by saying, "If you don't vote, why would you care?" For me, it's a circular phenomenon - I vote because I care and because I vote, I care.

One vote does make a huge difference - to me.

Michael Althouse can be reached at mikealthouse@earthlink.net.

If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand...

This slogan is most often associated with motorcycles - Harley Davidsons to be specific. The enamel pin on the right is a Wm Spear Designs take-off of another popular motorcycle phrase, "Ride hard, die free." Both have had an eerie resonance with me for most of my life – certainly all of my adult life.

Am I naturally rebellious? Perhaps I possess some kind of “pioneer” spirit. Whatever the case, it would appear that I have come across a socially acceptable, productive and harmless yet still exciting and risky outlet for this maverick streak I have been blessed, or cursed with. It is embodied in William Spear’s adaptation of the motorcyclist’s manifesto “Write hard, die free.”

Are the two sides of the equation related? Does riding or writing hard equate freedom? Does doing anything with conviction, commitment or enthusiasm garner one some sense of freedom? Has it got anything to do with work; with sacrifice; with blood, sweat and tears? Indeed, freedom of any approximation seems to require some scale upon which its value can be measured – work.

And perhaps that is part of the problem in our nation today. Too many are out for the quick fix, the fast buck… for instant gratification. The paradox of instant gratification is that it only lasts for an instant. The rewards of hard work are lasting, they’re deep and they are mine.

I no longer desire instant riches – hitting the lottery appeals to me only inasmuch as how much more I could do with that kind of money – how much more work I could produce. And that’s what it’s really all about; I mean, what else are we here for? To only consume; to take and take and take?

I have found through the trials of life, by the good, the bad and the ugly, that freedom cannot be given away, sold or purchased. It is not a birthright, here or anywhere else. It is gained only through work – hard work. It could result in something tangible, but often it is the unspoken, unwritten and the indescribable that means more than anything that could be held in one's hand. It could be riding or writing, but one way or another, freedom is earned and should never be taken for granted.