The Stamp Mill

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For my daily post today, I am sharing a picture of the Stamp Mill at Reed Gold Mine.  I looked for a video of it in operation on YouTube but didn't see one.  It is in working order, and they do run it sometimes for school field trips, etc.

I really liked how this shot showed the leaves opening on the trees in the forest and how the path leads to the Stamp Mill.  I ran 3 bracketed images through Photomatix but still wasn't 100% pleased with the result.  I then ran the HDR'ed shot through Color Efex Pro and added a detail enhancing and color stylizing filter on it.    I then also ran an Orton action on it but have decided not to post that version.

Yesterday the kids and I ended up at the Fuquay-Varina Easter Egg Hunt.  Unfortunately, it was raining, so they just gave out buckets of eggs in the South Park Community Center Gym.  It rained last year too.  I hope next year the kids can really hunt for the eggs.  I do appreciate that the town puts this event on and regardless of the weather.  Hundreds of families turned out and enjoyed themselves.

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The Easter Bunny was posing for pictures:-)  I just had to strip the kids and bunny out of the original shot because the background was an off white cement block wall in the gym and was ugly.  A gentle suggestion to the town would be to invest in a piece of cheap fabric as a backdrop for next year:-)

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Over at Wal-Mart, we saw the Easter Bunny too.  Love it!

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We caught up with Madi later in the day for dinner on our back deck and a trip to Porter Farms and Nursery for opening weekend.  Yes, there are strawberries already!!!  Not pick your own yet, but you can buy a bucket if they haven't sold out for the day yet.  You can see the kids posing with some of the girls that work there.  What fun!

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And, even the local Garner VFD has to get their ice cream somewhere.  Imagine being a kid at the local ice cream store and the fire truck pulling up!  The guys let Johnny and Madi who were very interested into the cab for a few minutes.  Thanks!

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So, rain or not, we had a good day yesterday!

I mentioned in my last blog post that I had a shot of Donnie sharpening the blades on  my lawn mower.  Here's the best one.  Pretty cool but just not a daily shot I didn't think.  Johnny and I were behind a window inside the house watching.  Donnie of course had on all the proper safety equipment.

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Not sure what we're off to do today.  It's cloudy again:-(  But at least it's dry.