Monday, December 28, 2009

A visit from Jack Frost

Jack Frost visited Ashland on Christmas Day. I was down south visiting my Dad and snuck out for about 15 minutes to grab some photos before the sun melted all the ice away. I kept trying to get the small ice crystals in focus, while still having an interesting background. These two, at least, seemed to work.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Inner workings

This is the front of an old train in the Maxwell Siding Railroad Museum in Hermiston. Santa came for a visit Saturday, which brought me there as a reporter. Apparently the museum is open nearly every Saturday, run by two volunteers. The train cars and engines were filled with old machinery and train paraphernalia, a little more reminiscent of a ghost town than a straight-up museum. Interesting place, and great for kids who are into trains.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Warm thoughts ...

OK, I know it's December, but enough of this cold stuff!
After two weeks of cold weather and snow, it's warmed up. And after reviewing my blog, with lots of cold, cold and more cold, I decided to add something warm. When I thought of warm, I thought of this photo. It's in the apartment I first lived in when I moved to Pendleton more than three years ago. It was a nice cozy basement apartment with windows on one side and wood siding along most of the walls. Some people find wood siding cheesy, but I find the warm colors comforting. Adding to the warm colors of this photo is the table, the hot cup of tea, and the red in my violin bow. They blend together to remind me of slow afternoons in the small apartment, with simple pleasures like learning musical basics.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Winter's arrival


Even with the cold temperatures in early December, to me, winter didn't officially arrive until it snowed.
Before the freezing rain came in to ruin it all and threaten anyone driving or walking with imminent death from slipping, I went for a winter's walk on the river walkway in Pendleton.
These were taken on Monday, when temperatures started to climb and snow and ice in the Umatilla were starting to melt.
As you can see, I wasn't the only one out and about. I got a shot of this squirrel heading across the street.

Friday, December 11, 2009

More cold ...

While I'm posting, I'll add these shots of frozen circle pivots. As temperatures have stayed well below freezing this week, I've noticed these iced-over irrigators on my way to and past Athena.
As far as I can tell, they are the ones hooked to the city's wastewater treatment plant. The only reason I can think they are still running in these cold temperatures is because they must have to dispel some of the water to keep the system going.
These shots are taken from the highway, so I used a zoom and then cropped them, so the resolution won't be great. But since there's a discouraging "no trespassing" sign, these were the best I could do.






Feathers of cold

I know, I'm sorry it's been a LONG time since my last post. I can attributed it to many excuses ... such as the lack of sunlight and the cold.
Speaking of the cold, its the subject of today's photos. All week I've woken up to this odd assortment of frost on my car. I think because there's so little moisture in the air, the ice forms where it can, and only where it can. This leaves my car covered with little ice crystals as if it had been lightly covered in feathers.