JDW Photos and Life

We took a quick overnight trip to Bridge City this weekend to visit our friends Al & Michelle. Al had been telling us about this white squirrel that he would sometimes see in his yard so I brought the camera just in case. With good fortune, I was able to capture a few frames from its short visit. None of these shots are as close as they appear in the photos. I used a 560 mm lens and still needed to crop the photo for detail. This guy was skittish to say the least. I guess when you wear a white coat, you know you can't easily hide. What they thought was just a white squirrel (assumed it was the slightly more common  leucistic) turned out to clearly be albino. The squirrel has the characteristic pink eyes and pink skin of an albino. They had not been able to get close enough to see the detail you see in these photos so we now know. The first photo is our favorite. It was one HOT day and this post was in the shade by a little bit and probably cooler that the squirrel's body. T

I decided I needed to touch base after a pause. While in Kentucky, we visited a horse farm and their flower beds had a nice activity of bees. As it turned out, there was essentially no other photo opportunities that made me want to take horse photos as the tour never stopped to get scenic shots and the barn shots were blah. So, you get to see a bee on a flower shot. These three pictures are the same photo - just cropped different. Neither detail shot has been enlarged (actually both are reduced for e-mail). Yes, this is a hand-held shot. Do you prefer the composition seeing more flowers or the detail seeing bee hairs, wing detail, and flower pollen? If I had to choose, the detail shots win since the flowers are past their prime in the hot summer temperatures. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

A few more pics of Churchill Downs. I didn't take any photos inside the museum because it was relatively crowded. However, they had a GREAT exhibit featuring Secretariat. The exhibit was in honor of the 50th anniversary of his triple crown victory in 1973. Back in the day of three channels of TV, this was a big deal and I remember watching the races with family. His story made horse racing fans out of most people in the US (at least short term). His speed records still stand to this day! Those were different and much more simple times than the overload of channels and information today. An interesting fact learned was that it is common for these horses undergo necropsies after their death. The doctor that performed his procedure reported the largest heart ever seen at a whopping 22 lbs - compared to an average t horoughbred's 8.5 lbs. It was even 1/3 larger than anything he had ever seen. This large heart plus a massive chest cavity provided the blood supply and lung capacity t

The second goal of our trip was to visit the Kentucky Derby museum at Churchill Downs. We also took a tour of the infield. I'm quite certain that this will be as close as I ever get to the Kentucky Derby! The tour guide did a nice job summarizing the history of Churchill Downs. It had a pretty rough start and history with far more humble beginnings that the monster today. The "recent" owners had a vision and really made it into the spectacle it is today. I'm always impressed hearing such stories as I am pretty confident that I am missing that gene (and that's OK). Some people can just think and dream big but I'm not one of them. The tour entered the starting gate entrance (first photo) and we were proceeded to the ground level seats. The starting gate is a fair distance (1/4 mile?) from the finish line but there is an 8 story video board (didn't photo) essentially across from these seats to see the race and finish. The "millionaire club" seats ar

Wow! Again, I'm amazed at the number of people passing on their congratulations to Chris. Thank you and I'll be sure to tell him (he is also receives these notes). Many leaders and organizations in the Army use challenge coins to recognize significant contributions of individuals. Some coins are handed out like candy and are nice to get but not necessarily all that special - almost like a nice business card. The opposite of that is when that coin is presented by high command recognizing specific contributions or a deployment. Chris has accumulated "many" coins in his time and I saw an idea for a display he might like. As you see in the photo, it is a wooden flag with 9 mm casings for coin support. I used bloodwood (red), maple (white), and walnut (appreciate the beautiful grain in the second photo!) (blue star field) - no dies or stains. I used a template for the stars, laid down painters tape on the walnut, and then cut each star using an x-acto knife. Donnice then p

We just returned from another July 4 timeframe trip to Ft. Knox to visit Chris and Lauren. The timing of the trip was set by Chris' promotion to Lt. Colonel. If you know much about the military, that's a pretty big deal and we were fortunate enough to attend. I'll share a few photos (took very few) from the trip over the next few days starting with the promotion. The promotion ceremony included a re-issue of the oath of office as seen in the first photo. The second photo is the obligatory family portrait. The third photo is where Lauren rips off his old insignia to reveal the new. The turnout was great and we got to hear multiple stories of how Chris has helped fellow Army soldiers in their careers. The presiding Colonel had particularly gracious words about Chris' contributions and attitude. Army Aviation is a tight-knit group of soldiers. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/