JDW Photos and Life

Patton attended West Point (initially VMI and then WP) and was a star athlete in addition to being a top leader. Did you know he was on the US Olympic team placing 5th in the Pentathlon? The Pentathlon consisted of fencing, swimming, equestrian jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. He excelled in all of these skills. One of the many new tidbits for me in the museum. This is the last of the Patton posts. There is so much more in the museum. Patton served with a ton of outfits/divisions. This was a cool flag with patches from all of them. As we all know, Patton died following a car accident in France after the war. He was riding in the back of his car (replica in the photo below) because earlier he had his driver stop to let a dog (owned by one of his privates) that had been in an open-top jeep to ride in the front seat of his warm car. When the accident happened, he went forward and broke his neck on the partition to the front seat. He was paralyzed and in the hospital fo...

We drove to Ft Knox, KY to visit Chris and Lauren in early December. We did very little outside of visiting - the goal of the trip. We went to the Patton museum one afternoon. It is worthy of a visit by anyone if ever in the area - and free admission. Patton was much more than what is portrayed in the movie. I learned a lot of things about a much more fascinating and complex man that I ever thought by walking through the building and reading a few plaques. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

As noted, we have reached the end of our Kodiak trip. As we drove back towards the house after that spectacular sunrise, we were greeted by a lit-up Barometer Mountain with a fog ring. We pulled over at the Buskin River Park entrance and took this first shot. The second shot was after driving further into the park entrance. Time for a new subject starting tomorrow. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

And the last full day of our trip is officially underway. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

This is the sunrise that kept on giving! The first photo is another view of the city with a little more light but great clouds and color. The purples and low, distant clouds behind the city make this a favorite for certain (another "ought to print" but probably won't.....). The variety of clouds in the sky show the new weather system coming into the area. The second photo is to the right of the city where the sun is actually going to come up. These two shots were taken about a minute apart from each other but still about 10 minutes before the sun actually breaks the horizon. Lauren kept apologizing for having to work during out trip (just started a new job) but I seriously doubt if I would have been in position to take such photos otherwise (ie lazy).  I don't have anything that compares to these from our trip to Kodiak last year.  Sometimes, things work out for the best. To quote my photography mentor, if you're not shooting, you're not getting! Thanks, Doug ...

After dropping Lauren off at work, we were driving back to the house and stopped at the same overlook to watch yet another gorgeous sunrise. Those clouds that were starting to roll in at the end of the Northern Lights shots provided a perfect sunrise canvas. Notice that the container ship has also already left the dock. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

I hope this season finds you well and at peace. As I get older, I think about how precious those days were with a large family gathering to celebrate. This time of the year also reminds me of lost loved ones that were such a big part of those memories. With families scattered to the corners of the earth, those days become more and more rare. I'm not complaining - just observing another change in society. Donnice and I will have a quiet Christmas Day, enjoy the peace, and touch base with family. To our friends still in the wrath of this winter storm, stay warm. From us to you and yours, Merry Christmas and peace be with you. On our way to take Lauren to work (going to be a rough one after being up most of the night!) after watching the Northern Lights, we had a nice view of the city lights so we made a short stop at the overlook to take a quick photo. Oddly, this was the only container ship we saw during our two week visit. In our visit last year, there was a ship rotating through t...

Here are a few more photos of the Northern Lights. The first photo is  to the right of the photo yesterday. There was a very bright light on the far bank that helped me a lot with the manual focus challenges of night skies. We just sat there taking photo after photo as the lights were constantly changing like waves on a beach. Most of the color was a green hue with an occasional purple tint. The stars were amazing.  You see a couple of light streaks in the second photo. I don't know if those were airplanes or satellites.  You can also see a few morning clouds moving in on the right side of the horizon. Eventually (third photo), the show either stopped or became very difficult to see as the clouds moved in and/or morning approached. It was time to head back to the house as Lauren still had to go to work that day! Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

I truly hope you are all doing well and staying warm during this winter storm. We are plenty cold at 14F but our house is tight, well-insulated, and comfortable. Having grown up on a farm/ranch, I assure you I have a deep appreciation for such comforts and count my lucky stars on these days. We are fortunate. There is a meme circulating on the internet about those that complain about high food prices needing to go help the farmer and rancher in their chores the next few days. A few of today's entitled brats would do well with a month or two on the farm. Note that Kodiak is a warm 36F this morning as I write this note. The Pacific Ocean does an incredible job moderating temperatures on the island. You hear Alaska and immediately think of the frigid temperatures of inland cities like Fairbanks sitting at -26F this morning. Amarillo is pretty tough at 5F but Fort Knox is taking it on the chin at -6F. Enough weather...! Stay warm. We are into the last day of our trip to Kodiak. The gap...

Very near Fossil Beach is the Pacific Spaceport Complex that supports both military and commercial rocket launches. It doesn't compare to NASA in Florida but it is still interesting to see such a facility in Alaska. As the road to Fossil Beach is the only road out there, you drive right past the facility. Rumor was that the Russians use the facility but I see no supporting evidence in the list of launches. It began operation in 1998 and records show 30 launches. A few days in advance of any launch, they shut down all nearby access. It would be neat to see a rocket launch from the location we watched whales! This first photo is their assembly hanger. The second photo is a funny sign as you get near the facility. Similar to Texas though even more so, most signs along the road have suffered gunshot wounds. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

The weather was less than great with wind and drizzle cycling to light rain. It made for an interesting shot below my perch as waves crashed the rocky shoreline. This photo is with my zoom lens so the distance is misleading. I'm guessing the rocks were 75 feet down or so. The water is just beautiful and clear. This shot shows the haze present. I believe this is Ugak Island (see the map a couple days ago). As I'm sitting and watching the whales, an eagle flies off the mountain to my right. Naturally, the sun is behind it making a terribly backlit photo but it's the best I could do. I have yet to not get a thrill every time I see one of these birds. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

The whales must stir up a lot of small fish because the sea gulls would congregate around them. Here are a few shots of us on the peninsula. The shots are a bit deceiving since the edge was jagged. You can see a long beach in the first shot. Further to the right of this beach is Fossil Beach. I look like I'm a fair distance from the drop but I'm not - the edge is right at my feet. It was a cloudy and damp day but that's Alaska sometimes! Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

I don't have any great photos of the grey whales but I do have great memories of seeing them. Like all wildlife adventures, there are no guarantees of even seeing something so I will still classify this as a win. Maybe one day we will take a whale watch excursion. This is about as close to a tail that I have - just an underwater shadow. The next three photos are sequenced of the initial blow, mid blow, and then a big breath before going back under. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

We continued our trip towards Fossil Beach traveling down Pasagshak Road. The full trip is shown in this map starting at L&J's house. The road highlighted in red ends at Fossil Beach at the bottom of the map. The green arrow points to where we made a stop and spent some time. To get to that spot, we had to go off-road and follow the trail below (blue line below). L&J have a Subaru with 4-wheel drive and reasonable clearance - all necessary to reach this point. This location has steep cliffs down to the water. The cliffs are probably 100 feet high and you can walk right to the edge to get an unobstructed view of the ocean and landscape. Yes, I walked to the edge, sat down in the damp grass, and actually had my feet dangling over the cliff so I could capture what I wanted. Yes, Donnice was about to divorce me but I tell her it won't be necessary if her predictions are correct since I'll die once I hit the rocks below. I discovered Lauren is pretty close to my daring a...

After visiting the horses on one side of the road, we made our way back to the road to see people watching a bear on the other side of the road. This guy was enjoying his sun time and was just relaxing on the bank of the river. I can't quite make out what is next to his right paw. It might be remains of a salmon or it could be a clam. My guess is a salmon. He would lay there and watch all of us staring at him. Every once in a while, he would shift positions. We ended up leaving him there so we could continue our trip towards Fossil Beach. Neither the bear nor horses were there when we drove back home several hours later. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

9/24 was the only Saturday that nobody had a commitment so we decided to take a long trip out to Fossil Beach. It is about 45 miles and over an hour with all the twists and turns. The road crosses several rivers and streams with pullover opportunities. We had heard about the wild horses of Kodiak. L&J had seen them in the distance before but this was the first time they were close to the road so we stopped - along with quite a few other cars. You have to realize "quite a few cars" means 5 or 6! We walked out towards the horses (about a dozen) and they were anything but wild. After shooting the wild mustangs in Cody, WY, these guys were just pets loose on the range! You can see that they were VERY well fed and reasonably groomed. I wonder if they build up a fat supply to get through the winter also. Several of them walked right up to me. I let them sniff my hand but I did not pet them. Some of my partners were getting nervous with me so close the the horses but I don't...

Here are a couple more shots taken during our hike on Near Island. We will move to a new day tomorrow. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

Another interesting mushroom growing on the side of a hill and the remains of an old army vehicle. It looks to be some kind of utility vehicle with an inline 8 cylinder engine. Nature is slowly taking that hunk of iron back into the soil. The tires will probably be here forever. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

As we walked the trail on Near Island, we ran across many mushrooms with these two catching my attention. They both look to be suitable troll house in a book. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

We hiked one of the trails on Near Island providing a different view of the town of Kodiak. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

Eagles in Alaska are about like hawks in Texas. We were driving along a road and saw these two eagles - both near the edge of the road. They were less than a mile apart from each other. The first two photos are the same eagle and he didn't care how long we stared at him. The 3rd photo was lakeside and it looked like he had just finished breakfast. He took off shortly after this photo. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/