Aerial photography...

There is nothing better than to get to do two of your favorite activities and having someone pay you do to them! Today, thanks to Streams commentor Janie S., I got to do just that. Janie is one of the head salespersons at a major oil field service company and she had called me several weeks ago to see if I might like to take some aerial photos of a major "frac" job that they were doing for a client. With some trepidation of lining

everything up I accepted the job. The first step in aerial photography is to have some means of being aerial, and with that my friends at the CAF volunteered to help as long as costs were met and a small donation tendered. No problem there, so my friend and chief CAF pilot Randy Wilson agreed to fly the mission in our newly restored Fairchild monoplane, "Tarbaby". Randy is as good as they come being qualified to fly most everything in the CAF inventory.

The "Tarbaby" was built in 1946 and is how flying should be enjoyed. It is a fabric airplane and the windows roll down so we flew open air style. It has enough power that we could cruise at about 100 mph though going south with a good headwind we were making around 80 mph. Following the highway to Rankin there were a goodly number of Texas motorists almost keeping up with us, but all the better to enjoy the scenery.

We found our target site just north of Rankin without much trouble and Randy was able to make slow looping orbits over the well site to allow me to shoot photos, both digital and 35 mm, to my hearts content. Low and slow is good for aerial photography. After about 20 minutes "on station" we headed back north to the Windwalker Skeet Shooting Club to take some shots of a big charity event that Janie and her company were helping to sponsor. Then back to Midland International Airport were Randy brought the Tarbaby in to a smooth if not tricky landing on runway 160 L [above]. The Tarbaby has a tendency to lurch to the left when it lands. Dramatic but not too difficult for a skilled pilot.

A great day and thanks to all. And with a nice check coming in from friend Joe Galloway and our We Were Soldiers photo site, it's going to be a good month to be in photography!

Ralph and Stringbean...

Today's photo of the day is one of my favorite pictures of some of the personalities in the oil field. Ralph and Stringbean were doing an acid frac job for us when I caught them in an idle moment. I never found out Stringbean's real name.

An Apple a Day....

As you undoubtedly know, the Big Gold Dog has had his share of medical problems lately and has occupied most of the time I've alloted for veterinary activities. But, today was D. Daphne Dog's turn at the Shannon Animal Clinic. I wasn't really sure when the last time she had been checked over and had her shots. She certainly has not worn official tags since I've known her these last 4 years. Besides she's developed an ugly rash under her skinny little arms that hasn't responded well to topical dog creams I have on stock.

She also has the habit and running willy-nilly through the shrubery sometimes scratching herself up pretty badly. She has one of these wounds working now too.

So this afternoon D. Daphne had the pleasure of visiting Dr. Greg Adkins and staff. I say pleasure because my dogs seem to enjoy the experience greatly. Tres goes immediately for the receptionist with treats and today Daphne learned that if she stuck her snout over the counter she got a toy to play with.....and keep. Daph had her shots and a good check over by Greg who was concerned enough about her skin problems to put her on antibiotics for a week. All's well that ends well...

Except now every being, human or doglike, in the house is on some type, or several, medications. Tres is on two, one taken every other day, one every day. Daphne's meds are taken twice a day. Luckily mine are taken only at bedtime. But with all this medicare going on I've had to print up a calendar and stick it on the refrigerator with our own personal schedules. And by more turkey ham, which I've found is the best and cheapest treat to wrap the dogs meds in, they swallow it whole. Fool's 'em every time. I don't need turkey ham for mine.

Gold Dog Photos...

For many years now I have felt badly about not having a photo display of the namesake of my website, The Big Gold Dog. Gold Dog's have always been my boon companions and frankly many years ago my last golden, Ranger, kept me going through some tough times. And now Tres is filling the bill [along with Daphne]. With Tres' advancing age and medical difficulties I didn't want to wait and make his photo section a memorial, so here's the photo spread on the current Big Gold Dog. It's in Flash format so you can either sit back and let it run through the photos automatically or you can select your viewing using the tools at the bottom of the screen.

Roof Redux....

Not surprisingly with roof repairs, during last weeks heavy rains I discovered one recalcitrant drip in the den, in a spot that had a leak previously. Since the interior plaster already had been ruined, it is no big matter and on the positive side the other major leakages have been stopped cold.

Yesterday I called Frank Shepard whose company did the repairs and he said he'd have the crew out early this morning. And he did, come 7:15 they were on the roof having at it. I left them to their work and when I returned for lunch they were gone, but they must have worked like men possessed as there was dirt, old tar and roofing stones all over the patio. After some lunchtime work it is now clean and spiffy and I welcome the chance of storms today to see if the roof is finally sealed.

In other hometime news of no importance whatsoever, for years I have been trying to find flowering plants that do well in the mottled sunshine in the flower beds of the estate. I have recently had great luck with Lantana in areas that get more sunshine and now at the suggestion of master gardener Burr Williams I am trying Turk's Cap Malvaviscus grandiflorus. It appears to be doing wonderfully and if succesful will soon be my plant of choice [to hell with caladiums]. Turk's Cap provides colorful red blooms, is a luxuriant dark green plant, grows like a weed [actually I think it may be classed officially as such], gains good height and is a perennial. Who could ask for more?

After several bad days late last week the Big Gold Dog is doing better than he has in some time which is great news. In the bad news dog category, D. Daphne Dog has had a lingering, pernicious and malordorous case of gas since I let her in early this morning. As I file this report the assault is unabated so I must abandon the premises.

New Mexico Photography.....

View some of the photos using Flash navigation that I've been working on to print. Hope you enjoy them. New Mexico Photography

Sweet music...

Never in my wildest imagination did I think that the sounds of gravel being scrapped from my roof would be such sweet music to my ears.

Early this morning Mr. Shepard, owner of Shepard Roofing, called to say he was going to "try" and stop by this morning. Mr. Shepard is a fine man and an old fixture in the Midland roofing game, but through the last year I have learned that "try" in the roofing business means less than a 50% shot of something actually happening. But today the odds were in my favor as Mr. Shepard and one of his crew chiefs did make an appearance, though I also learned that in the roofing business making an appearance doesn't necessarily mean action either. But as you can see from the photo above today was a day of action!

The gravel is being scrapped back in preparation for retarring the flat portion of the roof that is leaking. When this is complete and after two seperate one inch plus rains in the last 4 days, I'll get to call my other good friends the DeAnda family plasterers to, once again, come and repair the inside damage. I find that plasterers are people of action, so all should be renewed shortly.

Update: No wonder the roof leaked. The roofers discovered a very long crack in the tar running almost the length of the flat roof directly over where most of the damage has occured inside the house. This was not visible until all the lava rock gravel had been removed.

Dog update.......

How's the Big Gold Dog you ask. Well, considering all, he's doing pretty well. He's still up for trying his morning walk, though some days we don't make it as far as we used to, but he gets an "A" for effort. His eating has slowed down since he's not on steroids anymore, but he does OK in that department too. Mostly he likes the cool comfort of the tile floors in his home with short trips out to the front yard to laze about. Being mostly deaf and very short of sight these days, I think he enjoys the trips out to savor the smells. And because he can't keep track of the world like he used to, he stays close to me. After an excursion to sniff the yard for strange smells he usually comes back to the porch and the glass front door where he can see me. But thankfully, he is doing better than I had expected a month ago and God has blessed him.....and me with more time together.