Leelanau Whippersnapper

The Northwoods Is No Place For A Pink Flamingo

For those who don’t have to work anyhow.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted an update on this blog.  Life is crazy for me right now.  Work, Work, Work, sleep, sleep, sleep.  It’s a redundant cycle that won’t end until late August it seems.  All things considered, this is turning out to be a pretty decent summer.  The weather has been SO much better than last year, temperatures have remained fairly consistent in the upper 70′s to 80′s.  Right where it should be.  The boat is in the water at the cottage and the folks are keeping very busy building fences, making cookies, and keeping up with the neighbors (as much as they can stand it anyhow).  Looks like sister Sarah and nephew Christopher are going to be making a trip up to the northwoods as soon as this next week.  Sounds like Sarah might need a break even before their road trip in August.  Looking forward to seeing them, especially Christopher.  I’ve only seen pictures since last Christmas, I’m sure he’s growing fast and will eventually be in shock to discover a new sibling draining some of the attention away from him.  First born’s tend to get the best and the worst of things.  They are of course always FIRST, but the loss of devoted attention when a new family member arrives is a big step for any child to deal with.  Most do just fine and I’m sure Christopher will too.  He’s got great parents.

Things have been fairly busy on the national news front lately.  Of course the BP oil spill is the consuming story.  It has been interesting to follow things as they have developed.  It sickens me that our government as well as BP seem to think that an escrow account with 20 billion dollars in it is going to help solve this massive environmental disaster.  It doesn’t even matter any more when they eventually cap the flow of oil out of the hole in the ocean floor.  The damage has already been done.  Millions of gallons of oil and thousands of tons of methane now displacing what once was crystal clear waters in the Gulf will be killing us slowly for decades.  News came out today that oil and gas is now seeping up through the ocean floor near the well which is presenting another issue.  Could it be creating a sink hole due to pressure?  Nobody knows but if that is occurring, the worst of this disaster is not even close to being over yet.  We’ll see what happens.

In other news, the Prop 8 trial held closing arguments this past Wednesday.  Once again, proponents of the ban on gay marriage in California sputtered and shouted but in the end produced absolutely NO evidence to support their position.  This is a hugely significant case that will eventually make it to the supreme court.  A decision is expected in a few weeks and then it’s off to the appeals process.  I don’t have the energy to recap the whole thing, if you want to know about it more than visit the Prop 8 Trial Tracker web site for a full re-cap of all the arguments.  It really has been a pleasure watching one of the most successful lawyers in this country defend my right to exist and it amazes me that in a courtroom, where politics is NOT the key element, all those who are so intent on upholding discrimination against the GLBT community simply fall flat on their faces.  It’s been amazing to watch.

I have been able to keep up a little bit on my photography.  I’ve uploaded a few new galleries to leelanauphotography.com since my last entry.  Please be sure to check them out.  I’m looking forward to eventually having some time off this summer to really do some exploring with my camera, perhaps in places I’ve not been.  So, until my next entry which might be tomorrow, or several weeks from now, enjoy this picture of early summer in Leelanau.

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FINALLY, it was warm enough today to spend a day at the beach with the family.  Got some great pictures of Christopher and everyone else, you can see them all at leelanauphotography.com by clicking the link.  Sadly for Gavin, he had to sit this one out and really it’s a good thing he did too.  There were just too many people at the beach for him to handle and he would have had to be tied up since at least in the summer time, I can no longer take Gavin to the beach and let him run around, especially if there are other people around.  It’s a $50 ticket and from what I hear, the rangers are not nice about it either.  Oh well, they all disappear with the tourists sometime in September and then I have until next spring to let Gavin wander with me on the beach.

Going to be a busy weekend at work so I likely won’t write again until the end of the weekend.  Have a good night!

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It’s interesting to me, now as a 35 year old, that whenever the family all gets together now it’s all about the kids that 10 years ago didn’t exist.  Even in my photography, I subconsciously gravitate towards taking pictures of the kids in larger quantities than I do the rest of us and I think that’s the natural progression of families….especially when they are all together.  Today the whole crew was over at the cottage for our annual summer get together and we had a great day weather wise finally.  It was a little chilly but the sun was out, the liquor was flowing, and the smiles were abundant.  I’ve uploaded a new gallery to leelanauphotography.com with lots of pictures and I’ve captured some video as well which I will have to edit before I can get it up on line.  I’ll post it here once I’m done playing with it.

Christopher turned 1 year old this past week and he is sure growing up fast.  He’s an exceptionally happy little boy and it’s clear that he’s got a pretty awesome set of parents.  It’s too bad they live so far away but that makes getting together just that much more important and special.  I don’t have much else to write tonight, the gallery pretty much says it all so enjoy.  Hover over the slide show for a link to the gallery.

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Had a nice day off today from the hell of work lately and was able to see Sarah and Christopher out at the cottage.  Got a few good pictures of the lad, you can check them out at my gallery on leelanauphotography.com.  Back to work tomorrow, not much else going on right now so I won’t write much more in this post.  Maybe I’ll find something to say later.

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Click the picture to visit the gallery on leelanauphotography.com

Hope everyone had a nice holiday.  I’m glad it’s over.  This has been a challenging year and I’m glad to have made it through this holiday intact.  It was great to see Christopher again, at the rate he is going, the next time he is back up here, he should be walking!  He’s growing so fast.  Gavin had a very good h0liday and was a very good dog around the baby.  Even though he is quite energetic, I know he will learn to take it easy around Christopher until (and I know this time will come) Christopher starts to roughhouse with him when he is older.  Christopher did not seem to be bothered by the big black dog with the wild tail, hopefully that’s a sign that he’ll be comfortable around dogs in the future.

Thanks to everyone for the gifts and the cards.  My refrigerator is now filled with pictures of all the young kids in the family.  There seems though to be a lack of girls…You need a princiss now Sarah and Brian.  Someone to keep all the boys in line.  Soon enough.

It’s back to work tomorrow for another exciting weekend.  This now starts the slow period at work and this year promises to be one of the slowest on record.  Thank God I have a job, even if it is excrutianatily boring this time of year.  The next entry will likely be next week.  Cheers!

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Baby Christopher was born July 16, not on July 17th like I had said earlier.  Seems my days are all running together lately as I’m sure the happy parents days are too with a serious lack of sleep.

I will know today or tomorrow if I got the condo or not.  I’m getting ready to dish out some serious bucks here up front so that I can have some overlap between my current lease and the new one.  More later, have to head off to work.

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Looks like they grow more than just Corn in Iowa.

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I thought that I might not write again until Monday however I didn’t mention this in my last post and wanted to do so before I forgot about it.  Today was Sarah’s baby shower and I got to hang out with the ladies for a while this afternoon.  Quite pleasant really, no drama, lots of fussing, and I didn’t have to do anything but sit back, watch, and take pictures all afternoon.  Not bad really.  Sarah looked like she really enjoyed herself (why wouldn’t she…she and Brian have made out like bandits with lots of loot for baby Christopher).  I’m getting very excited for them, Brian and Sarah will both make great parents, it will be fun to watch their family grow.

I was going to rant tonight about my experience almost getting a ticket at the beach the other day but I’ve decided that those people who might have found this story amusing have already been told.  I didn’t get a ticket but suffice to say I won’t be making many trips to the national lake shore this summer.  Way to loose the support of a local dip shits.  Clearly the feds want nothing to do with me or my dog.  They sure want my money though.  I’ve got mixed feelings about what happened but I’m still not really that happy about it.

Awesome weather here lately…all over the country really.  Sarah and Brian go back to Iowa tomorrow, from what we understand most of the state is now under water.  It should make for an interesting trip home for them.  Saw some really great clouds tonight.  Check out leelanauphotography.com for more but here is a sample.

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Another rainy day here in Northern Michigan.  I am gearing up here for quite a busy 3 weeks.  This weekend is Sarah’s baby shower so all the relatives are up here.  I’m going over to the cottage at 2 on Saturday to take pictures of the festivities.  Typically baby showers are girl events (dad, Brian, Lou, and Frank) are going golfing.  I’m not your typical guy I guess.  I don’t really mind hanging out with the ladies.  I’m sure they don’t mind it either.  Anyhow, it should be fun.  Sarah received a diaper cake (I’ll post a picture next week) and I’m curious to see what else baby Christopher will get.  All the fuss about a new baby makes me want to get in line for one..no, wait, they are cute for about 5 months, then it’s all about them for the next 18 years!!!  Sorry, my ego can’t take that kind of blow.  I’ll be content to be the uncle who can spoil the kid rotten and at the end of the day when he’s crabby and whiny, send him back to mom and dad so they can deal with him!

Well the weather is getting pretty violent here so I won’t write more tonight.  Next post will be early next week.

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