Here's your sign!

Yesterday was Friday and what a great friday it was. Well, sort of.  Erin and I had planned to venture in to town to go see a movie.  For months I had been looking forward to Fast Five.  So my loving wife took a bullet and went to see it with me out of pure love.  Well to my surprise, my wife said, "Honey it actually was good it was kinda like Oceans 11 in Rio".

Well the exciting part of this story happened on the way to the movie.  We got a flat tire in a snow storm on a dirt road with no cell service and it was about 25 degrees outside.  Because they recently graded the road they had just unearthed lots of sharp rocks, nails, screws and all sort of other tire puncturing materials.  So I got a flat - no big deal. I'm a big boy. I have changed lots of tires before, no worries. 10 min we will be on our way. If only it were that simple.  I tried to jack up the car in the appropriate place but due to the road grading, was unable to get the jack in a place on the frame of the Hummer that was sufficient to get the car up in the air enough to replace the tire.  First time fail, short about 5 inches. Second time fail, short about 2 inches.  Third time, jack that bitch up at the leaf spring, hell yeah success.  Ok so 25 min in the snow storm changing a tire I'm wet and cold and thats not even the good part.

 I had to drive to town today to get the tire changed.  I called the local mom and pop tire store to see if they can change and repair my tire.  They didn't have my tire in stock so there was no reason for me go there.  After I called the other two tire shops, WALMART was my only choice.  Previously I praised Walmart for all their wonderful mini business inside.  Let me tell you I was grateful (A. that they were open) and (B that they carried my model of tire and size in stock).  Yay, Wally World!

Show up around 9am to get a quick fix.  Well lets just say there is not an IQ test in the application process to work at Walmart.  Forty-Five minutes after I drop my car I get a page over the loud speaker for me to go to the automotive center, and my car is ready.  Hell yeah that was fast, tire is patched and I'm the road and back to work.  Not so fast you wishful thinkers.  I take a quick look at my spare tire and realize it is still flat.  WTF - I told the guy the spare was flat.  So apparently no one decided to tell me that they were unable to fix the 4 inch gash in the side wall of my tire. Which I specifically mentioned to the gentleman earlier and assumed that I would be purchasing a new tire. Apparently they checked all 4 other tires for leaks.  Found a small bead leak in 1 tire and used bead sealer to fix it.  Then they did the unthinkable and mounted a flat tire back on my car. So the guy actually asks me again if I want to buy a tire.  Oh my God Bill Engvall moment: "Here is your sign"  (Stupid).  Yes, of course I want to buy a tire for the second time, yes I need a functional spare.  What good is a flat spare tire to me, if I get another flat?  One hour later new tire is mounted and back on the car and I'm out of Walmart @ 1130.  My tire was 50 dollars cheaper than it would have been anywhere else.  But I'm still not sure 2 hours of my time is worth it.  Well I guess thats the price you pay for saving a little money. Oh, by the way my car still thinks it has flat, they forgot to reset the Tire Pressure Sensor Monitor.  Haha, not even mad! Some times you just have to laugh at some people; and wonder why they are put here on this planet.  God's testing me.....

FYI : Bears spotted on Ranch. Invested in Bear spray while on my shopping spree at Walmart. I'm still amazed at what you kind find at Walmart and truly shocked at all the services provide!

Business as Usual

Life on the ranch is good.  The bosses are back and the Ranch is going full speed ahead to get ready for summertime. Erin is getting all the hanging baskets ready for their debut here in about 4 weeks. 

The days are getting longer as it now gets dark around 845. It wont be long until sunset will be closer to 9. 

Erin and I went on a short little adventure up the Northfork last weekend and went on a really cool hike through a burn out area back up in the hills.  We saw a herd of about 100 elk it was really cool.  Indy was a crazy man as per his usual. He couldn't help himself too many interesting smells, bear poop, elk poop, horse poop, you get the picture.  He was a good boy though and did conduct himself in a gentlemanly manor.  Looks like this weekend we will be staying close to the ranch.  We should have some good weather so we may go check out the waterfalls up past the ranch or check out deer or cabin creek. 

Yellowstone National Park opens on May 1st.  Next weekend we will be going on an adventure into the park with Cameras and Bear spray, stay tuned for more Photos


If you like any of these images that appear on this blog check out my Print Gallery  @ http://Jason_Speer_Photo.imagekind.com/Landscape  all images are for sale.  

Prints for Sale

I'm very excited to announce that my Landscape Images are available for sale on ImageKind. ImageKind is a website designed to help artists sell their work by offering high quality prints at reasonable prices.  Because they are an independent website and not a gallery, the artist receives a fair percentage of the purchase price. Through ImageKind anyone can order any one of my images that are available, in three different formats: Standard Traditional Prints, Framed and Matted Prints or Canvas.  They are also available in multiple sizes, up to 5 feet.

Please visit my site on ImageKind by clicking this link:  http://Jason_Speer_Photo.imagekind.com/

If you like what you see, please share my site with those you know.  Photos are a great gift for all occasions! (This is Jason's wife Erin chiming in - Mothers Day is almost here! Wink, wink!) These photos are some of the many available for purchase on the site.

Thank you for your support, and keep checking back to see more photos from the Ranch and our excursions in Wyoming.

The Greenhouse

So Erin has been slaving in the greenhouse for the last 3 weeks and I thought I'd show you some of the fruits of her labor in this post.

Also found out today that my job just got a lot better.  How you ask? Well not only am I here to help the Boss photograph; but I get to take part in all the guest adventures.

So if the guests go Horseback riding guess who is going 5 yards behind sniping all the days adventures.  I feel real blessed. This job is like a paid vacation for me.

 I get to do a lot of things I love, as well as learn some new skills - all while being with my wife and dog.  It's perfect.

Sorry for the delay in Blog posts; it's been a busy week.

Big Horn National Forrest

Big Horn National Forrest is an amazing place.  If you ever have the chance to drive through you should.  Vast snowy landscapes with forrest's full of Douglas Fur Pines, makes it feel a little like Christmas with that delicious pine smell in the air.

 In the winter time there are 2 lodges up there that cater to winter sport enthusiasts.  They even have drive up gas stations for the snow mobiles how cool.

 Hope you enjoy the photos; more snow at the ranch today 5-8 inches expected.

Airplane Graveyard

Erin and I took a weekend off and boy did we have fun.  We went on a little adventure to an airplane graveyard.  It's located just outside of Greybull, WY, which is about 50 miles from Cody.  We left early in the morning from the ranch to ensure we got a table at Our Place.  Our Place is quaint, great simple food, its also filled with mismatched tables and chairs, and is a cash only establishment that's a big hit with all the locals, so much so that if you are not there by 830 chances are you will wait a half hour before you even get a table.

So, off we went to the airplane graveyard.  I'm not really sure what it is about airplane graveyards but they are ALWAYS impossible to get in to. Well, this graveyard to WW2 flying machines was no different! Multiple fences and locals with shotguns are a pretty good deterrent. No one at the museum to give a tour.  So Erin and I trespassed a little bit. We went in an open fence and took photos of the planes that were in front of the airport about 7 of them.  I'm not giving up yet.  I will get into the field sometime this summer to get some more shots.  I could see old B52's, C130's, and some smaller fighter planes which I thought were part of the P series of planes.  I'll keep digging deeper to find an in to the graveyard.

We also went to Big horn National Forest, but that will come tomorrow.  Those images aren't quite ready just yet.

Home Sweet Home

Big Horn National Forrest 

Well I made it back to the ranch today.  4200 miles in 8 days wears on the body.  But i got some great pictures and got to see alot of the country I had never seen before.

Big Horn National Forrest

Badlands were really awesome.  check out the cool photos.

Badlands National Park ~ South Dakota

Also on the way back today I stopped at Big Horn National Forrest for some awesome photos from about 8400 ft.  I cant wait to go back this weekend.  Its about 100 miles from Cody and there is a ton of snow up there as well as alot of great photo opportunities.

Badlands National Park ~ South Dakota

Today i finished out the day practicing throwing my tomahawk.  Well practice makes perfect......  I hit the target more than a few times; however I missed a few times as well.

Badlands National Park ~ South Dakota

What the FOG

Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".

All we wanted was some good weather.  Nope we have gotten fog and haze for the last 3 days. What is worse is that there is great weather in Cody Wyoming lots of SNOW.  We finally got sunshine in Iowa.  Well that only took us four states.

Well I am excited I get to go to Minnesota tomorrow.  I have never been and well we need a change of scenery.  It has been nothing but corn fields. So here is to trading in mowed corn fields for big farms with dairy cows.

We also hit 2200 miles on the trip odometer.  So we have been averaging about 700 miles a day. Im tired and have about 3000 more miles to go; but a sweet treat will be the badlands of South Dakota next week. 

Freestylin'

OK, so there is no rhyme or reason to our roadtrip.  We left wyoming with intentions of photographing the great plains in all there majesty.

 Well the weather had different ideas. All we were presented with was cloudy gloomy skies.  You say, oh wow that sounds cool, thinking of dark and brooding storm clouds.  Nope we have the plains definition of June Gloom.  So instead of majestic plains we have been photographing old things with lots of character (grain silo's, barns, fields, old towns ).

 We are just guessing where to go, not knowing a direction, no plan of what to photograph, just freestylin'.

 Its working out pretty  good so far. We still have a few days to make it to Chicago and are currently in South Dakota, not Kansas like i thought yesterday.  Stay tuned for more photos and more stories from the road.

Road Trip Day 01

Road Trip day one left at 4am went all the way from Cody WY to North Platt Nebraska wooo hooo more plains tomorrow and we may end up in Kansas.

Sugar Factory

Car Graveyard

The First Snow

Hawkeye Ranch ~ in the snow

On the road again........ I know, right? I just got to Wyoming a week ago. Well I’m on the move again.  Tomorrow at O’Dark 30 aka 4am, we are leaving to go somewhere.  Somewhere you say. I know, there are like 5 plans. I think we are just gonna drive somewhere and end up in Chicago on Monday, that is the plan.  Here is where I think we are going: Dakota’s, Montana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois. But who knows we may end up in Oregon.

Buddy out side of the laundry room

Snowing early in the day

So, it snowed today and it’s actually sticking. Not melting immediately like earlier this week - so excited.  Big, soft, fluffy, white flakes are pouring down on us as we speak.  I’m so happy. I love snow and being from the south I never really got to experience it as a kid.  So needless to say that I’m exited to hear that there is snow into July.  Woo Hoo! Check out all the new snow photos.

Tent Cabins ~ Erin and I will move into one of these in a few months

The Simpler Life

I am at the ranch and well lets just say ranch life is good.  I get to be outside all day long.  Not getting a tan per say but more chapped and wet by all the weather we are having.  However  I wouldn't have it any other way. No more office life for this city boy.  I've really enjoyed taking a short walk to see my wife and dog and steal a kiss and scratch the boy.  It's also nice to walk 600yards to work in the morning and not sit in traffic for an hour.  Life is good......

Southfork Valley ~ looking south from the ranch river

Today I finished the focusing chart for the Arca Swiss Rm3d.  Lets just say whoever the guy was who made this terribly inaccurate chart should be shot. It took me the better part of two days to get the focus calibrated for 4 lenses for this camera. For those who are confused there are 102 different focusing points on a ring for this camera, each with .25 .50 and .75 values. This camera is so dialed in now we can focus on a knot of wood on the floor and also be in focus about 450 yards away. It was also a great lesson in patience.

Southfork Valley ~ looking north from the ranch

Look for more stories to come ...... Not exactly sure where I am headed next week on my road trip -  Death Valley, Oregon, Washington, Nevada have all come up as possible places of travel. 

Viva Wyoming

So we arrived at the ranch on wednesday, got settled, and then I went straight to work trying to fix the focus on an Arca Swiss technical camera.  Well its been two days and the camera is winning.  But i have established focuses for many distances. Now we are just dealing with the tilt.  So enough about work.......

Lets talk Wyoming. All i can say is - wow we are truly in GOD's country.

Everyone is super friendly and wants to know where you are from and your whole life story while you pump your gas.  It great to be outdoors even if it snows/rains.  The weather is cold but not freezing.  And there is lots of cool stuff to learn.  Tonight I whooped up on the ranch manager and a ranch hand in a game of pool; but I'm not so sure that was the right thing to do since they are both skilled cowboys and could rope me like a baby calf.  Speaking of roping, the ranch manager told me that he would teach me how to rope.

Next week I'll be on the road again on a road trip with the boss through South Dakota into the plains and then Chicago.  I will be driving back alone and will take full advantage to stop and take some new photos of Middle America.  I'm so excited to get to see some more states that I haven't seen.