Ankole cow

Ankole cow, originally uploaded by Noel C. Hankamer.

This photo of mine has been chosen on a short list to possibly be the header photo for Bayou Wildlife Park near Alvin,Texas by Schmap ( http://www.schmap.com/guides ). I will know by January 9, 2009.

Backyard Squirrel

Backyard Squirrel, originally uploaded by Noel C. Hankamer.

I threw out some old pecans while we were cleaning house in preparation for Christmas decorations. This little guy came by for lunch.

Christmas Teddy Bear

Christmas Teddy Bear, originally uploaded by Noel C. Hankamer.

Christmas is just around the corner, so this Teddy Bear has already done his shopping.

Pampas grass and other shots from our trip

Muted North Carolina sunset


Fall colors in Lineville, Alabama


Mad Indian Creek

Vacation

My wife, my sister, and I took a little trip up to Philadelhia over Thanksgiving to visit our 98 year old uncle, Rolland Madara. He is a fine old gentleman with a lot of history. His mind is still sharp, unlike his hearing and eyesight. Uncle Rolland was in the Navy in WWII in many capacities, mostly communications, and saw the world. After retiring from the Navy, he went to work for GE in Philadelphia until retiring, and has since worked at The Franklin Institute. He has been a ham radio operator for many years, and still logs on as W3PWG.
We drove up from Texas and drove by the Great Smokies, The Appalachians, etc. into Amish country, then over to Philly.
I will post some pictures soon.

More Joe Bonamassa

Music

I like all kinds of music, but my favorites are Blues.
I just discovered Joe Bonamassa, a young blues guitarist par excellence!

Odd cloud

Late afternoon, originally uploaded by Noel C. Hankamer.

I took this photo some weeks ago, but just recently did some post processing to achieve this look. It was early evening looking westward from Alvin, Texas.

Tiny fly

Tiny fly, originally uploaded by Noel C. Hankamer.

My latest bug search was unfruitful except for this tiny fly on a banana leaf in our back yard.

Some closeup shots

Went out shooting again this morning while I did some errands. The prickly pear is near the old Historic Santa Fe Depot in Alvin, Texas, and the wagon is from Mexico made in about 1890. It is in the front yard of some old friends in Alvin, Tom and Elizabeth Dushane.

Sunrise on Chocolate Bay

Another Monday morning sunrise shoot. This time at Chocolate Bay just south of Alvin, Texas.

More photos from Ike

Our pile of debris was picked up Saturday by a crew from Missouri. They are part of the team going around Alvin picking up the heavy debris.

City of Alvin Announcement

Our city has a message system for local news, announcements, and general info.
Connect-CTY is a service of Blackboard Connect Inc.
I receive the messages on my home phone, cell phone, and by email. The city issued at least 27 announcements before, during, and after Hurricane Ike. This is the most recent one.
CITY OF ALVIN
Message sent - 9/19/2008
Ike #27




Just seven days ago Alvin was hit with one of the worst storms in this generation. All power was lost, our large trees scattered like tooth picks and significant damage to our homes and businesses. The City encouraged its citizens to leave the area if possible. Today we were notified that 65% of our electric power house been restored, gasoline is readily available, debris is being picked up curbside, and the City services are back to normal. The majority of our grocery stores and restaurant are now opened. The rapid return to our everyday like was due to a lot of preprinting, investment in emergency equipment and the dedication of a lot of City employees. I also recognize how our citizens jumped in cleaning up, putting things back together, and helping their neighbors. I would like to mention several things:
First-please help us get the City cleaned up. Ten large trucks began picking up brush and debris Thursday. They will be passing through the City over the next several days. After they have picked up each street, they will start over again. If you miss the first pass, or don't get everything out, don't worry-they will be out again. remember to separate the piles of brush debris and building materials. They are picked up by different trucks.
Second-while areas of town with little or no power line damage have and will be engerized in a short period, those few areas with extreme power line damage may take another week or so to be energize. Every effort by the City to expedite the repairs.
Third- this storm could have been much worst. While damage was done and losses have occurred, by the grace of GOD we have made it through.
The Community will be gathering at the Krogers parking lot Saturday evening at 7:00PM to pray. The Lord says that where two or more are gathered together in His name, there He will be also. I hope to see you at the Kroger's parking lot to pray Saturday evening.

Ike

We took a near direct hit from Ike, but were fortunate to have very little damage. More later, with pictures. We still don't have power, but never lost water nor natural gas for the stove.

Hurricane Ike

At this time ( 7:48 PM Thursday ), Ike is headed our way. The media is hyping it up a lot, but we learned our lesson from Katrina and Rita, so better safe than sorry. Evacuations are in effect, but my family is hunkering down, except for me.
Here is my reply to members on another forum-
"If the predictions are true, we are directly in Ike's path. We live only 12 miles as the crow flies from the Gulf of Mexico, and the land is wide open all the way to us. Despite this, we have seldom had damage. We have only left home for one hurricane in my whole life, and that was Rita. That was a huge boondoggle and we don't want to repeat it. The authorities have learned a lot from Katrina and Rita, so they have done a great job with evacuations and preparations this time.
Most of it is hyped up by the media, but the threat is real.

HOWEVER, my wife does not want to leave, and neither do I. Besides, I am considered "essential personnel" at the office, and the regular weekend night dispatcher is not coming to work Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, so I will probably have to be here those nights. I will attempt to go home in the morning Friday to make sure everything is secure and the wife is ok, then come back here Friday night prepared to camp out here until it is over. The rest of the family is also staying home, mostly at my DIL's parents' house. My older son has to stay because he is needed for hurricane rescue efforts with his fire department.
Now, as to Ike, I see indications that he may turn more northerly and easterly, thus letting us off the hook except for rain and wind.
Thanks for thinking of us. I will keep you posted.
Noel"

Sunset by Gustav

Hurricane Gustav was responsible for some glorious sunsets west of Louisiana. I am glad we were spared the storm and hope our neighbors come through it better than last time.

PapawsImages

I have added a lot of new images to my SmugMug site. Visit the site, and if you see any images you like, they are for sale at a very low price

Latest favorite picture

This old tricycle was once used by one of my sons years ago. Now it sits covered with weeds.

Hurricane Dolly

Dolly is ashore south of here near Corpus Christi, Tx, and we will get some rain from it, Here is a picture of the western sky in Pasadena, Texas last night. These clouds are part of the extreme outer bands of the hurricane.

Pretty Yellow Hibiscus

This is on my daughter's porch.

T38 talon displayed at Johnson Space Center

Nasa's Johnson Space center near Houston, Texas has two T38 Talon jets displayed out in front of the entrance to the facility. The Northrop T38 was the first and most produced supersonic trainer. These jets remain in service even today in air forces throughout the world including the United States Air Force (USAF), which remains its largest user.
These jets were once known as "the white rocket" due to their speed and climbing ability

Old shed wall

Some images just beg to be rendered in sepia.

Photo from last week

As I passed an antique store, I caught a glimpse of an old mirror leaning against the wall. The mirror didn't interest me, but the reflection did. Around the block I went, and captured this shot.

Flying Flip-flop

The challenge of the week on Photos is to shoot an object suspended. Here is one of my entries. Took about 5 tries to capture it.

Adding to the family

Our "daughter", Shelley has married Chris Farmer. Here they are with the 2 kids, Bret and Taylor Bush. Now Shelley is pregnant, so there will be another grandkid in the family!

Another bridge

This is a bridge on one of the hiking trails at Brazos Bend State Park, near Needville, Texas.

Their website is http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/brazos_bend/.

My wife, grandson, and I spent Sunday there, hiking and watching birds and alligators, the major attraction, and we did see at least a dozen of various sizes.

Brazos Bend State Park

Went out to Brazos Bend this morning to see some alligators. We were fortunate enough to see a dozen or so. More pictures will be posted on PapawsImages .

Tool Talk

My tool forum is down at the moment. We have been making changes to Papawswrench and made some coding errors that caused a disconnect to Tool Talk. If anyone cares, be assured that it will be back up as soon as possible.
Papawswrench is being updated with new wrenches, sold wrenches archived, and new pictures to come soon. Papawswrench will also have Paypal buttons and a shopping cart in the near future, and will be easier to navigate. My nephew, James Goodman, is doing the upgrading and will have a link there for those who may need web development in the future.

In addition, both 67-72chevytrucks.com and Streetcruizin.com are experiencing outages as a result of a fire in the building housing their servers. They also will be back soon.

PapawsImages

I have been showing my photos here for a while now, but if you wish to see them in galleries, go visit my SmugMug site at PapawsImages
There is also a link on the sidebar.

Young squirrel

Cute young fella in my front yard this morning.

Gates Garden, Manvel, Texas

Photobucket Album

More bridges

Here are several shots of bridges I saw Saturday.

Bridges

I seem to find bridges everywhere. These three are all within a few miles of home, and I revisit them often.

My Firefighter son, Michael

Can't get more serious than a dedicated volunteer firefighter!!
Here is a LINK to a Photobucket album of shots from a Saturday training session for volunteer firefighters.