A Little Flooding

Our small towns along the Ohio river are being flooded just a wee bit. The flood levels aren't enough to complain about, especially in comparison to other parts of the world, like Japan and Australia, of course. But the shots my friend, Steve, and I took from our cameras were kinda cool, I thought.

This is a small park that my wife and I go to for picnics and boat watching during the summer and fall months. There's quite a few wooden shelters to sit under. I wouldn't try that now, though. I think, just think... I might get wet.

Now here's a picture that contrasts the one before it, quite nicely. The picture below, taken during a cold winter's day, is of the exact same location as the picture above. Pretty neat.

The buildings below were shut down due to flooding. You can't see the highway, at all, in this shot.

The Ohio river has decided the road will end and it's up to you to try to find another way around.

I'm wondering what the guy in the truck is thinking... or is he thinking?

Barge... River... Meet house.

Something tells me no one's going to be playing football in the field today. Just a hunch.

The Parks Are Quickly Thawing Out

My friend, Steve and my wife went to one of the state parks, Saturday and had a nice time. The temperature, for the first time in over two months, began closing in on 50 degrees (F). It felt so good not to be shivering for once and to be able to travel from our place without driving on ice or snow-covered roads. We joked around and had a wonderful time.

Instead of our park lake in the back of our place being totally encased in ice, everything was melting to the point where you could see the gazebo and the lake.

Don't ask me what this is supposed to be. We found this "snow creature" off to the side of the road inside the state park. My friend thought it resembled a fox. I thought maybe they, whoever they were, were trying to build a elephant that could walk on two legs or a wombat. Whatever it was, they gave it a walking stick, leafs for eyes and a green thing on it's head.

After leaving the park, we enjoyed the rest of the day, telling stories, sharing jokes and listening to Pink Floyd and The Who in the CD player. It seemed the improving weather had improved our spirits. Funny how that is.

The Deer In Our Backyard

There are so many deer in our area these days, that they can be seen almost anywhere and anytime. I took these shots in the back of our place. They're still skittish, somewhat, of humans and other animals but not as much as they were prone to being, in the past.


They were a family of four, from what I could see. There might have been more members of their family in the woods nearby.

These animals are very pretty to look at but not when you're running into them with your vehicle- which has happened twice to us in the last two years. Others in this area have had frequent deer collisions, as well.

Still, when you see them up close and personal like this, they instill a sense of indescribable calm within you.

The deer stuck around for a good fifteen to twenty minutes until two stray cats happened by them, unsuspecting. The cats were spooked by the big strange animals, let out a big MEOW and scared the deer off, back into the woods.