EV3RSTORM

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Johnny got a Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot for Christmas, and we've been working with it often.  We built the TRACK3R version first and then this one, the EV3RSTORM.  We think he's one bad robot.  Johnny insists that we do R3PTAR next.

I think Mindstorms is a great way to interest kids in math and programming, and I recommend this learning toy big time.  It's worth the money.  Just make sure there's an adult prepared to provide some assistance as needed.  Hey, you can both learn something.  I have!

I used our red Valentine's Day placemats for the background of this shot.

Red Tailed Hawk

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This hawk and his/her mate fly over our house and yard daily squawking to high heaven.  Fun to watch and so far not a nuisance.  They seem to ignore the bird feeders and song birds.  Must be plenty of rodents and reptiles around.

I caught a glimpse of this guy fly by low to the ground just out our dining room bowed window and grabbed my camera.  I took several shots through the glass and then gently opened the back door and took this shot and a few others.  Still, very low light and some graininess but I worked with it a bit to enhance the details and smooth out the grain.  He/she was fun to see!

Help Me...

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I don't men to be dark today.  I'm not in a bad mood. I've got Donnie nd the boys, and I'm doing good.

These hands are on some glass at a local business on Main Street.  The last time I took a picture of them was on 1/8/10 when I posted the daily in the picture below. I don't know whose hands they are. I don't know why they are on the broken windows of this former Fuquay-Varina business. I'm not sure how long they've been on the windows but at least 4 years. Most times when I drive past I glance over to see if the hands are still there. For me, there's a presence about them. Some day someone will buy the business and either fix up the existing building or knock it down and put up a new one. This is a prime spot on the newer part of Main Street after all and one of the only empty buildings in this relatively thriving town. I think I might miss the hands when they are gone.

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I guess in the winter it's hrd to find shots and things that yo wouldn't normally pay attention to you tend to stand out more.

Here are a few more shots from yesterday.  In this one, I liked enhancing the blue tone and grit.

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Spring Blooms

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Taken out front of the BB&T on Main Street in Fuquay-Varina yesterday.  These trees are always some of the first to bloom.  I'm sure some of the folks driving past including school buses thought I was nuts out there with my camera.  Oh well!

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Industrail Circles

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I saw this very interesting tractor trailer and cargo yesterday in the local Fuquay-Varina Wal-Mart parking lot.  I went in and shopped and on the way out decided that I really should try to take some pictures.  My original thought was to capture the long straight line of repetitive circles and then strip out the background.  I was having trouble stripping the background, and I wasn't impressed with the comp.  Luckily, I had taken a few other close-ups and angles.  This view from the end and side seemed to have more character, and I set about cleaning out some tree branches, expanding the cloudy sky, and trying some IR pp with Nix Color Efex Pro.  Not my normal type of shot.  Donnie said it was quite industrial, but it's nice to try different things sometimes.

I do see the X in the center of some of the circles.  Maybe;-)

I thought I was getting over my cold yesterday for most of the day but last night it kicked back into overdrive, and today I am doing worse-(  Still, I've gotten the kids off to school and cheered myself up by taking a few pictures of the first spring flowers blooming in town.  Look for a flower shot tomorrow!

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F

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Back in January when the boys and I visited the Steve Gerberich exhibit at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, I spotted a cool piece of wood that was partly a nicely curved F.  I REALLY liked it, but I didn't like the extra wood on the right, and I didn't take a very great shot of it.  I hoped to find a better F, and at the NC Zoo, there were a lot of metal rails that ended in an F shape, but I really didn't like those shots either.  Down too low, lots of backgroudn clutter, too straight.  So, I ended up trying to recover the F from the wood shot.  First I tried to keep it intact and just clone out the extra curvy wood on the right.  That was a total fail.  I just couldn't do it.  Then I ended up pulling out the wood F and putting it on a new background.  I tried both wood textures and cement ones which were all other photos I'd taken and found in my Textures and Backgrounds gallery.  I guess I feel like I'm cheating a bit with this F, but I did put some time into it, and I really do like how it turned out, so I'll submit it as my daily anyway.  Escuse off;-)

Here's the black and white version.

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Here's the original.

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Here's the NC Zoo F-shaped rail.

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