You guys know what life has been like for me over the last year. With dad's death in September and then loosing Tammy in March, I've had a hell of a ride. Not a day goes by that I'm not having some sort of emotional moment. But through all of this I've learned a lot about myself and about the life I've created for myself. This weekend I think I learned the most important lesson so far.
Life is much to fragile to live it with black spots on your soul.
Let me explain.
When Tammy and I first met I was in a 14 year relationship with someone else. We were having many problems and the relationship was slowly coming to an end. Meeting Tammy sped the end up. The final breakup was not good and it got pretty ugly. Well I hadn't seen or talked to her in the four years that I had Tammy in my life. During that four years I had thought about getting in touch with her, Tammy and I had even talked about it. But I was to afraid and didn't do it. On Saturday she was at Twin Lakes for dad's ceremony. I'm so glad she was there. We were able to spend some time together and I believe that we were able to heal the wounds that we had created four years earlier. I feel that a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and the black spot that was on my soul has been replaced with a new light. I hope that we can now have a long friendship and be able to spend some time together again doing some of the things that we loved to do together.
So, if any of you are to afraid to come to terms with a black spot on your soul, think about my dad, Tammy and me. Before we knew what hit them, it was to late to do anything about it and they were gone. I know that it's a cliché to say “Live every day like it's your last” but who knows, it could be your last day. And even worse, it could be the last day of the person who you are holding a grudge against. And then you have to live the rest of your life knowing that there was that ugly black spot on both of your souls. So if you have a situation like that, call them, tell them you're sorry and then get together with them and give each other a huge hug. Trust me, it works wonders. I found that out on Saturday.
And by the way guys, have I told you lately how much I love having all of you as friends. Thanks for being here for me through all of the years I've ran this site, and especially for the last 16 months.
Well, Opening Day 2007 is over, and most of the fishermen have gone home with or without fish. As for me and my family, well.....
We went up to Twin Lakes outside of Bridgeport. I got one, my cousin got one, and my brother got four. They were all nice fish though. All were over a pound. I don't know how the opener went all around. I will know more on Tuesday when the paper comes out. It seemed like most people had fish up at Twin Lakes
Yesterday was more than the opening of fishing for my family though. Yesterday we put my dad's ashes where they belong, Twin Lakes. Along the shore of the lower twin we had a nice little ceremony and released his ashes. Twin Lakes was his favorite place in the world and it's where he wanted his ashes placed. We thought that opening day was the best day to do it. It was a wonderful experience. We each took a scoop of his ashes and released them were we wanted to. I put mine along the base of a young Jeffery Pine where they can be drawn into the tree. As long as that tree stands, part of dad will live on.
So this opening day was a very special on e to me. It will always be remembered.
Steven on 04.29.07 @ 07:17 PM PST [link]
Friday, April 27th
Visions of the Sierra
Many of you may have wondered where the Visions of the Sierra Gallery went. I decided to take it off line because keeping up two galleries was a little to much work. Also it was competing with SierraVisionsStock and taking hits away from there. Since taking Visions off line SierraVisionsStock has seen many more daily hits and I've even made a few sales So I feel it was a good move on my part.
But I'm now going to let you in on a little secret I've been keeping from you guys. Visions of the Sierra isn't dead, it has evolved into a Photoblog. I put the Visions of the Sierra Photoblog up a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to get the photoblog community to notice it. They have to a limited extent. I haven't told you guys about it until now, because I wanted to get more images up on the blog. I try to update it on a daily basis. It's not that much work to add just one new image a day.
I'm not going to put a link up to it on SierraVisions because I don't want it to compete with SierraVisionsStock. So for this one time only I will give you guys the address and you can save it to your bookmarks or better yet, join the RSS feed, then you can know if there are updates without first going to the site.
Most of the images you have seen before. But I'm also putting up different versions of the older images. I've been playing around with a lot of the older images in photoshop and it's these that I'm posting to the blog. And the other thing is that the images are larger, 720 pixels wide, so they look really nice. You can also leave comments about the images.
Head on over to CalNaturePhoto and check out my first tour in a series of photo tours I plan on posting. This one is for Bishop Creek. It is a condensed version of the E-Book.
Steven on 04.26.07 @ 01:18 PM PST [link]
A big day for me!!
This is a big day in my life. I have just made available my first E-book, Eastern Sierra Photo Guide: Bishop Creek Canyon It is available for purchase on CalNaturePhoto It sells for $25 and is filled with 20 pages of information on Bishop Creek Photography and 30 of my photos from Bishop Creek. It also includes a Google Earth file that lets you take the photo tour of Bishop Creek on Google Earth.
This is a project I have been thinking of for years. I just never got off of my butt and did it. Until now. Head on over to to CalNaturePhoto and check it out. That link will take you directly to the page.
Steven on 04.26.07 @ 01:15 PM PST [link]
Wednesday, April 25th
Sierra Road updates
Tioga plowing; According to the Yosemite National Park site the plow crew is now 43.9 miles from the Crane Flat gate. I just measured it on Google Earth and that puts them in the Dana Meadows area. They are only a mile or so from the pass. Two miles at the most. So they're getting close.
Hwy 4 Ebbitts Pass; The pass is still closed, but it sounds like they only have a few more miles to plow.
Hwy 108 Sonora Pass; Sonora Pass will be open this weekend. But then will close again for about 8 days while they do some road work.
Steven on 04.25.07 @ 05:58 PM PST [link]
High Sierra Topix Update
Just got word from Eric over at High Sierra Topix. He is having issues with his web host and that's the reason the forums have been down. He's working to get the problem resolved and then he plans on finding a new host. The site hasn't been hit by hackers and the data base is fine. Thanks for the update Eric.
Steven on 04.25.07 @ 03:22 PM PST [link]
Re: Bram
Hey Bram, I hope you have a great time here in the States. Yosemite should be awesome at the time you'll be here. And I do hope they get the roads open by then. In answer to your question, no you shouldn't need chains anymore this year. But now don't get upset with me if a big storm come in and I'm wrong But once May rolls in you are normally fine without chains in the mountains. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask.
Steven on 04.25.07 @ 11:15 AM PST [link]
Tuesday, April 24th
Lee Vining Canyon
Hwy 120 will open tomorrow from Lee Vining up to Tioga Pass. The pass isn't open yet and the National Park Service hasn't updated the plowing report since the 19th, so i don't have any information about that.
Steven on 04.24.07 @ 06:32 PM PST [link]
Info about High Sierra Topix
I know a lot of you guys also visit High Sierra Topix. I was wondering if anyone knows what's happened with the forums. They have been down for a number of days. Has anyone talked to Eric? If you have any info let me know. I hope he hasn't been hit by hackers again. Thanks.
Steven on 04.24.07 @ 05:42 PM PST [link]
Monday, April 23rd
Better than I thought
Good morning, I've just been checking out the ski resort sites and this storm was a little better than I thought. I appears that the average snowfall was around a foot. Mammoth is reporting 10 inches at the main lodge. So you can figure around 18 inches higher up the hill. The big winner from this storm is Kirkwood. They are reporting a storm total of 32 inches. We didn't get anything here in Bishop except wind. Today is looking like it will be cloudy, cool and windy. The north breeze is already picking up and there are lots of clouds hanging on the Whites.
Today kicks off one of the biggest weeks in the Eastern Sierra. Opening day of fishing is this Saturday. The stream of campers and boats will pick up all week long on 395 until it reaches it's peak on Friday. I will be pretty busy from Thursday - Sunday. I have a bunch of relatives coming for the weekend and I'm sure they will keep me going non stop. I will try to keep updates going for you guys. But if I don't post for a day or two, you know why.
Steven on 04.23.07 @ 09:02 AM PST [link]
Sunday, April 22nd
Today's Storm
Boy they have really backed off on today's storm. The Winter Storm Warnings have been dropped for most of the Sierra and what was once 18 inches of snow is now 1-3 inches. This is the way it's been all winter long. The storm looks good when it's out in the Pacific. But once it comes on land it just falls apart. We were hoping for a spring miracle, but we keep getting the winter that wasn't. Guess the good side of this is that Tioga shouldn't be closed to much longer.
Steven on 04.22.07 @ 09:39 AM PST [link]
Saturday, April 21st
Mt Haeckel from below Lake Sabrina, Eastern Sierra, Ca
Steven on 04.21.07 @ 02:53 PM PST [link]
Winter Storm Warning
A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for the Sierra Nevada above 7000 feet. The warning is in effect from Saturday night until Sunday night. Up to 18 inches of snow is forecast to fall in the high country. Snow levels are expected to be around 5500 feet.
Steven on 04.21.07 @ 08:41 AM PST [link]
Friday, April 20th
Tioga update
They are in Tuolumne Meadows. WOW!! They made 10 miles today. They are saying the snow depth is 2 feet, but if what I posted earlier is right, it won't be two feet for long. Ok, anyone want to join me in saying that the pass might be open for opening day of fishing.
Steven on 04.20.07 @ 04:57 PM PST [link]
Tuolumne Meadows, weather and fishing opener
Just read the latest Tuolumne Meadows report. It was posted on the 18th. The official snow depth in the meadows is 0 inches. They say that most areas below 7500 feet are free of snow and that at 8500 feet the only snow is in shady areas and north facing slopes. The meadows got 3 inches from the storm last weekend, but it melted pretty quick.
Now, there is a pretty big storm forecast for this weekend. Both the National Weather Service, and our local guy are calling for large accumulations on Saturday night and Sunday. They are saying 1-2 feet right now. Guess we'll have to see. They are also hinting that this could be the last big storm of the season.The storm today has been a bust so far, with only and inch or so up on Mammoth Mtn.
As of right now, the forecast for opening day weekend is fair and warm.
The first update for the Tioga Plowing has been posted. They're already to Olmsted Point!!! I'm not even going to bother with the plowing report page this year. By the time I get it up, they'll be done It's looking very good for an early opening of the pass.
Steven on 04.19.07 @ 04:42 PM PST [link]
Early Road Opening
Got some Eastern Sierra road opening dates for ya. The Mammoth Lakes Basin is scheduled to open Friday, May 11. And the Reds Meadow / Devils Postpile road is tentatively scheduled to open May 29. The shuttle buses will begin for Red's Meadow on June 9. These dates are not set in stone. If we have a stormy period come in the dates could be moved back.
Steven on 04.19.07 @ 09:54 AM PST [link]
Wednesday, April 18th
Next Storm
Looks like we have another storm moving in tomorrow night. No storm warnings yet, but the forecast is calling for snow Thursday night through Saturday. Last I heard was that this storm is about the same as the storm last weekend. So that means about a foot at the higher elevations. There is even a good chance of rain here in Bishop. Today was very cold and windy. The high was around 50 and the wind was blowing hard out of the north all day.
I don't know what this is doing to the iris as they get ready to bloom. I'm sure it will hold off the good bloom for another week or so.
Steven on 04.18.07 @ 10:26 PM PST [link]
A couple of things
Got a couple of things for ya here. First off i just got an email from Louis saying that the Hwy 120 will be opening up to Tioga Lake by April 27th. Thanks Louis.
The other thing is that the domain name for the California Nature Photographers Journal is now working!! It is www.CalNaturePhoto.com Please adjust your bookmarks. The old URL will still work, but you will get a pop up warning about the Google Maps API being for another address or something like that. So it's easier to us CalNaturePhoto.com now.
Steven on 04.18.07 @ 04:48 PM PST [link]
Monday, April 16th
You're vote matters!!
I just posted a pano over on CalNaturePhoto. I put up two versions of it, the original color version and the black and white version I just made this afternoon. Head over there and vote on which one is your favorite and why. I don't think you guys have ever seen this shot.
Steven on 04.16.07 @ 05:42 PM PST [link]
Sunday, April 15th
Re: Susan
Hey Susan, Yep I got it. But I didn't use it on any of the new pictures. I processed all of them using curves mask and then brushing the subjects back in. On the tree trunk shot I even did the opposite of how Andy does it. I lightened the whole image and then brushed the dark trunk back in to make it stand out. I'm loving these new techniques.
Steven on 04.15.07 @ 07:15 PM PST [link]
New Pics from Bishop Creek
Got today's images posted on CalNaturePhoto. Go check them out.
Steven on 04.15.07 @ 05:03 PM PST [link]
Storm Totals
This turned into a pretty good storm for the Sierra. Mammoth is reporting 10 inches at the lodge. I just came back from a drive up Bishop Creek and Aspendell got about 6 inches. Not bad. I love April storms. It's it nice to drive up and take pictures of them and the roads are all clear.
I will have more pictures up later.
Steven on 04.15.07 @ 02:09 PM PST [link]
April Storm, Bishop Creek Canyon Eastern Sierra, Ca
Steven on 04.15.07 @ 02:05 PM PST [link]
This is cool
Check out this video shot while this family vacationed in Yosemite. It's a pretty cool way to start your morning. Thanks to Vic for posting this on High Sierra Topix. And to the person who shot it, edited it and posted it on YouTube. And make sure your sound is turned on.
I happened on BlueHourPhoto.com the other day and it has changed the way I now work on my photos in Photoshop. Andy Heatwole is the photographer and owner of the site. He does some pretty amazing things with his images once he gets them into Photoshop. I really can't describe it, you need to go see for yourself.
Now I will admit that some of his work goes way beyond what I consider to be photography and enters into the realm of digital art, but wow, what digital art. He has video tutorials on the site that show how he does what he does, I've watched two of them and what he teaches you can be used to make all of your photos so much better. His techniques are really quite simple. In fact on Friday Mike left a comment and talked about using a layer mask and gradient tool to create the graduated filter effect, Andy uses similar techniques. (I just might have to put up a tutorial explaining it.) I've been playing around with some my of photos and all I can say is that this is what I've been looking for for a long while. My stuff comes out looking awesome.
So go check out Andy's work at BlueHourPhoto.com It's pretty cool.
Steven on 04.14.07 @ 07:58 PM PST [link]
Friday, April 13th
Re: PJ
Hey PJ, Our local weather guesser is calling for a stormy week this next week. There is a storm for tomorrow night and Sunday. Then another on Tuesday and still another for next weekend. But who knows for sure. This time of year anything can happen in the Sierra. It's impossible to tell what lies ahead for the next couple of weeks. If you're going backpacking just bring enough gear for any kind of weather. Hope this helps ya.
I have decided to put my newest images up on the California Nature Photographers site. The main reason I'm doing that instead of posting them on here is because it's so much easier. Posting images on this journal is very time consuming and just a pain in the butt. The software I'm using to run the new site makes it so easy to post pictures. It's even easier than putting them in the gallery. I will aways post it on here when I do put up the new images.
For those of you that use Photoshop, or even those that don't, I just posted my first ever Photoshop tutorial on CalNaturePhoto. Go check it out and let me know what you think. I'm kind of proud of it. I've submitted it to a few photoshop tutorial sites and if it gets accepted it should mean a ton of traffic coming into the new site.
Steven on 04.12.07 @ 03:54 PM PST [link]
Tioga Pass
It looks like a lot of people are wondering about the opening of Tioga Pass. I'm getting a lot of hits to last years Tioga Plowing Report. And the search words they're using are "Tioga Pass Opening". The official word on the National Park Service site is that plowing will start this coming Monday, the 16th. Now, if you look at the Tioga Pass cam, you can see that a plow has been over the pass already. Have they started plowing from the east side? I can't tell ya. I can't find anything online about it. One thing is for sure though, the pass will open pretty early this year. And it might even beat the record of April 29 set in '88.
Steven on 04.12.07 @ 11:02 AM PST [link]
Storm report
Just a quick storm report for ya. It looks like the Sierra received from 6-8 inches from yesterdays storm. Not bad. Not the foot they had predicted, but we'll take what we can get right now. Looks like another storm is heading this way for the weekend. The forecast is calling for a chance of snow Saturday through Sunday.
Steven on 04.12.07 @ 10:54 AM PST [link]
Wednesday, April 11th
Stolen Images (Not Mine)
I've got to share this with you, it's classic. On one of the forums I belong to a member was having his images hotlinked from his web site. That means that someone was linking to his images and putting them on their site without his permission. In this case the thief had put the images in a Flash slide show and was acting as if they had shot them. What did the photographer do about this? He changed all of the images but left the file names the same. In effect giving the thief a new slide show. Here is the link to the new slide show. http://www.hfren.org/nn/swf/foods32.swf
It will be interesting to see how long it takes the thief to realized that his pirated slide show has been pirated.
Got a present for you guys. I just updated the wallpaper gallery with all new pictures. Enjoy.
Steven on 04.11.07 @ 02:16 PM PST [link]
Tuesday, April 10th
Re: Robin
Robin, Thanks, it's good to be back. I'm doing pretty good. I'm going to give you the Buffett quote I'm giving everyone when they ask me that.
"I have good days and bad days and going half mad days"
I'd say I have more good days now than anything else. Diving back into the web site and also starting the new site have been good therapy for me. Of course it's been these web sites that have made me half mad the last couple of days.
As for North Lake, the road is still closed at the bridge. There doesn't appear it be any snow on it though. I don't know what it's like at the lake. There were about five cars parked at the gate, so people are hiking in already. I bet they open the road for the fishing opener.
The comments are working again. Don't know how that setting got changed, but it did
Steven on 04.10.07 @ 07:33 PM PST [link]
South Lake, Bishop Creek, Eastern Sierra, Ca
Steven on 04.10.07 @ 07:29 PM PST [link]
Bishop Creek
Well today was a first for me. This is the earliest I have ever driven to Lake Sabrina and South Lake. Both roads are open all the way to the trail heads. I had a feeling I might make it to Sabrina, but I didn't expect to make it to South Lake. There is still snow along the road to South Lake, but the parking areas are clear.
Both lakes are still frozen, but the ice on Sabrina is looking very thin by the dam. I wouldn't be afraid to bet that it will be open for fishing on opening day. The ice on South Lake still looks pretty thick. I will put up a new picture from up at South Lake a little later.
Intake II is looking like it's ready for fishing right now.
Steven on 04.10.07 @ 05:51 PM PST [link]
Comment problems again
It seems that the comments aren't working again. I will try to fix it and keep you guys updated on how I'm doing. If you want to try to post a comment then give it a shot, but it may not work and you may get an error message.
Steven on 04.10.07 @ 08:28 AM PST [link]
Monday, April 9th
Winter Storm Watch
A Winter Storm Watch has been posted for the Northern Sierra for Tues. night through Wed. night. A foot or more of snow is possible above 7000 feet. At this time the watch is for Alpine county north. I don't know if it will get extended into Mono County or not. We'll have to wait and see tomorrow.
Steven on 04.09.07 @ 08:03 PM PST [link]
Weather for this week
Looks like winter isn't going away yet. The latest check is showing a cold storm moving into the Sierra on Wed with 6-10 inches forecast by Thurs. morning. The forecast is also calling for windy conditions in the mountains and the Owens Valley starting today. The temps in Bishop will be dropping back to the low 60's with lows right around freezing. The longer range forecast is looking like we could see a storm every three days or so for the couple weeks. Let's keep our fingers crossed. We need some good April snow this year.
Steven on 04.09.07 @ 08:57 AM PST [link]
Sunday, April 8th
Happy Easter
Happy Easter to everyone. Hope your Easter Sunday goes well.
Got a little surprise for you all. I have started a new web site. It's a weblog really. It is called California Nature Photographers Journal. I will tell you more about it later since it's 12:30AM and I'm getting sleepy. But you can check it out at this link: http://sierravisionsstock.com/calnaturephoto/ It's domain name will be CalNaturePhoto.com But you can't get there with that just yet. I'm waiting for my web host to do whatever it is they do to make it happen. Anyway, go check it out. I'm looking forward to getting it going. And don't worry, SierraVisions won't be hurt in any way. If fact, if all goes well with the new site, SierraVisions will prosper from it
Steven on 04.08.07 @ 12:32 AM PST [link]
Saturday, April 7th
Sierra Camping
I just got an email from Ted over at Sierra Nevada Camping and he was kind enough to put a link up for me on his site. So to return the favor I thought I'd send you guys over to visit him. You can check out Ted's site right here, Sierra Camping
Thanks for the link Ted!
Steven on 04.07.07 @ 01:55 PM PST [link]
Friday, April 6th
Fishing opener.... Got Reservations?
It's getting to be that time of year again, the fishing season opener is just around the corner. Only 22 more day till we can wet our lines in the high lakes and streams of the Sierra. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to fishing season this year. I have been really enjoying fishing the river over the last month. But with the weather warming up, so are the bugs. The bugs were driving me nuts the last time I went down to the river. I'm ready to hit the lakes and hook into a nice Alpers.
If you haven't already done so, you need to start thinking about getting your hotel reservations. The hotels of the Eastern Sierra are pretty full for opening weekend. I thought I'd help you guys a little and provide a link where you can make your reservations on line. Choice Hotels International®…..We’ll See You There. There are many Choice Hotels in the Eastern Sierra, so maybe this link will make it a little easier for you to get your reservations so you can spend more time getting your fishing gear ready.
Steven on 04.06.07 @ 03:40 PM PST [link]
Looks like a showery weekend for the Eastern Sierra. The forecast is calling for a chance of thunderstorms today, Sat and Sun. So if you are heading this way for Easter Weekend bring the rain gear. Our local weather guesser is saying there is a good chance of significant snowfall for Tuesday and Wednesday and maybe again next weekend. So Ol' Man Winter just might not be through with us yet.
Anybody look at the Tioga Pass Cam today? Someone has ran a plow through already. If you look at the archive it wasn't plowed yesterday. But today it is. Looks like they may be starting early. And according to the Tuolumne winter update for yesterday, there are only 12 inches of snow in the meadows!! I might have to move up my prediction date some.
Steven on 04.05.07 @ 05:14 PM PST [link]
The Foolish April Snowman
I know I've posted this before. But since it is the first week of April, I feel that it's a good time to bring him out again and let you enjoy his story. Just like I have done.
“The Foolish April Snowman”
Six foot tall he proudly stood, and with a baseball cap, a rake, and a glean in his charcoal eye, he happily greeted the ladies that came to get their mail.
He was born when four inches of snow fell one foolish April day and a whim came over me to see what kind of man I could create.
Oh he was nice! Big black eyes, a large nose (that some say looked a lot like mine), two cottonwood branch arms, and a grin as large as this valley. Oh what a beauty he was!
But, like all snowmen, his doom was already written and it wasn’t long before his fate was starting to show.
He made it through the first cloudy day pretty well, with only a few minor facial repairs. but as the second day dawned and the blue sky welcomed back the bright sun…… Well, let’s just say it didn’t take long.
Soon his eyes started becoming larger, his nose began to grow smaller, his grin became wider, and his poor body just kept getting skinnier and skinnier.
The look on his face finally became so pitiful that I walked up, and with a slight push, knocked his head right off. (It was the only humane thing to do.) I guess you can say that that was the end of his life. But his body did hang around for a few more days until it too finally went away.
As I stand here now, a week since the day he was born, I can’t help but wonder where he now is. I guess I know that part of him is now flowing through the roots of the grass that lay at my feet. And part of him is helping to build the clouds that fly above my head. But I also think that part of him lives inside of me. And it’s this part of him that’s just waiting for the day when the snow will fall again and he can come fourth and Bring himself back to life. 4/98
Steven on 04.05.07 @ 12:46 PM PST [link]
Tioga Pass Plowing
The plowing of the Tioga Rd from Crane Flat to Tioga Pass will begin on April 16. As I have for the last couple of years, I will have the map up showing the progress that is made each day. In the last 20 years the earliest the pass has opened is April 29, 1988. The latest it's opened is July 1, 1998. The more I think about it, I'm saying mid May this year. Any predictions from you guys?
The Forest Service will be opening the road to the Bristlecone Pines tomorrow 4/6. The road will be open as far as the Shulman Grove. The Forest Service will also be opening the Mono Lake Visitor Center in Lee Vining today. It had been close for the winter season.
Guess it's time for me to start the Tioga Pass watch. I'm thinking it should open by Memorial Day this year.
Steven on 04.05.07 @ 10:05 AM PST [link]
Paving Paradise
I think after that first post it's time to quote Joni Michell.
They paved paradise And put up a parking lot With a pink hotel, a boutique And a swinging hot spot Dont it always seem to go That you dont know what youve got Till its gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot
They took all the trees Put em in a tree museum And they charged the people A dollar and a half just to see em Dont it always seem to go That you dont know what youve got Till its gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot
Guess I'm just venting some anger here. I just hate to see what's become of Mammoth and it's people. When I first moved here Mammoth was still a quaint little mountain village. We enjoyed driving up there just to hang out. Not anymore. I guess if there's any one thing that could get me to leave the Eastern Sierra it's the continued development of the area. And it's even sadder to think that it's not just going on in the Eastern Sierra. It's happening all over the Sierra. From the foothills to the forest. Guess nature will always give way to progress. At least until nature decides it's had enough!
Ok, I'll cheer up now.
Steven on 04.05.07 @ 09:38 AM PST [link]
In my opinion more luxury hotels and condos and less trees can't be a good thing. But I guess if your one of the ones making millions of dollars it's a good thing to you. Mammoth Mountain and Long Valley really need to start rumbling again. Bet that would chase some of these people out of our Sierra. What's going to happen when the mountain decides to burp again and releases Co2 into the lobby of one of these hotels? It won't be trees that are killed then.
Steven on 04.05.07 @ 09:35 AM PST [link]
Wednesday, April 4th
Another Site for ya
Just sitting here waisting time surfing the net and I found a pretty cool site that you guys might like. Wind & Weather It's a store specializing in weather stations, barometers, thermometers, rain gauges, wind and humidity meters and gadgets for outdoor living. At least that's how they put it One thing I know, when I get the spare cash I'm going to buy the Golden Eagle weather vane I saw there. I was hoping they had wind toys too. But I didn't find any. some day I will have a home weather station too. It has to be one that I can hook up to the site of course.
I just had an idea that I think is kind of cool. I'm going to start sharing some of the places I visit online with you guys. Let's see, where do I start? That's not really that hard of a decision because I'm listening to it right now. Radio Margaritaville
Ok, so now you guys know, I'm a huge ParrotHead. For those that don't know that means, I love Jimmy Buffett. Or maybe you guys already knew that about me. I don't know. I can't remember everything I've written over the years on this journal. But anyway I do love Jimmy.
I have been listening to him for about 17 years now. I've seen him live four times. The last time one year ago this month. Tammy and I went and saw him at Irvine Meadows. Jimmy has help me through some tough times in my life. It seems that when things go bad, I turn to him to get me through. And nothing cheers me up like a good Buffett tune.
Radio Margaritaville is his radio station. It is on Sirius Radio but can also be listened to online at the web site. That's where I listen to it. They play a great mix of music. Most of it themed toward the ParrotHead lifestyle and music that has influenced Jimmy over the years, but they also throw in a good batch of classic rock too. And yes, they play a lot of Jimmy.
An interesting side note to this is that Tammy was a HUGE Deadhead. And I mean HUGE. She saw the Grateful Dead over 50 times since the 80's. Jerry Garcia was her idol. Well I had heard the Dead on the radio and like some of the songs, but had never been into them. But even before Tammy moved to Bishop she had me listening to them all the time. I fell in love with them and now I too am a Deadhead. But I don't think she ever became a Parrothead. She liked Jimmy, but not like I do. We use to joke about if we ever had kids would they be dancing parrots, dancing bears, or some strange combination of both
Well anyway, go check out Radio Margaritaville If you like good music and good times then you will love it there.
Steven on 04.04.07 @ 04:17 PM PST [link]
Sacramento, CA -- According to the California Department of Water Resources the overall water content of the Sierra Nevada snowpack is only 46 percent of normal...... Full Story;http://www.mymotherlode.com/News/article/kvml/1175194611
Steven on 04.04.07 @ 02:52 PM PST [link]
Tuesday, April 3rd
More journal updates
Over the next few days I am going to be working on the journal. I want to make the Archive and Comments pages match the site. I've never bothered with it before, but for some reason I find it annoying now that those pages don't match the other pages on the site. Everything should continue to work fine, but you may find that those pages don't look quite right. Hopefully in a few days everything will match. Keep your fingers crossed for me
Ok guys, I need your feedback here. As you may have noticed, a lot of ads have suddenly appeared on the site. Well, now that I have lost more than half of the household income, I am looking for new ways to make up for some of it. But I want your opinion, is it to much?
SierraVisions belongs to you guys too, and if it's to much then let me know and I will tone it down. I have done my best to keep the ads out of the way and to choose ads that aren't to annoying. I have also chose companies that go with the site and that I feel you guys might be interested in. I am going to try to get some local Sierra Nevada businesses to advertise on the site too. If I can get them, then I will get rid of some of these other ones.
The cams page has been updated and so has the Links page. We have five new web cams. I also got rid of a couple that have been dead for awhile. I notice that the ol' Truckee Downtown cam is back again. They seem to have a lot of trouble keeping that cam going. I'm glad it's up again though. At the bottom of the list I added a Virginia City cam. I know it's not a Sierra Cam, but it's close enough. And the history of Virginia City is so related to history of the Sierra that it might as well be in the Sierra.
Steven on 04.02.07 @ 08:13 PM PST [link]
Changes to the journal
I have just installed a new security feature for leaving comments. When you submit your comment you will be given a code and asked to type it in as you see it. The reason for this is to prevent spammers from posting their crap on our journal.
I am also going to start posting my newest pictures on the journal. When you click on them a new window will open that will take you to SierraVisionsStock.com where you can view the larger image and purchase it if you would like to I'm still working on how the journal will look with the pictures added, so just bear with me as I play around with the format.
Steven on 04.02.07 @ 05:47 PM PST [link]
Black and White Images from last night
Last night, while waiting for the sunset to start, I shot a few shots that I though might make cool back and white images. Here are the two best ones. You can click on the images to enlarge them. A new window will open and take you to SierraVisionsStock.
Steven on 04.02.07 @ 04:13 PM PST [link]
Running Test
I'm am going to be running a few test on the journal. Hopefully things don't go all screwy on us.
Steven on 04.02.07 @ 03:31 PM PST [link]
Sunday, April 1st
Sunset
I told you guys I thought I had a sunset coming tonight Look at what Mother Nature gave me to shoot!! I'm still blown away by it and flying high as a kite.
I've seen some amazing sunsets and sunrises in the Eastern Sierra, this one is in the top three and maybe even the best I've seen. And I can't believe that I put myself in the perfect spot to shoot it. I started out down by the river but the wind was blowing to hard. So I headed out to Round Valley to a place at the base of Wheeler Ridge. Nothing much was happening, but I didn't give up on it. Then a little bit of pink showed up on White Mtn Peak and I thought "Here we go." Then the sky just erupted with color. I also got an awesome pano of it too.
As always, I said thanks to Mother Nature for the gift, but tonight I also said thanks to Tammy. I'm sure she had something to do with it. We've chased so many sunsets that ended up not doing anything at all. I know she helped to make this one.
And so you know, that shot is not touched up one bit. In fact, I had to tone it down a little.
Steven on 04.01.07 @ 08:53 PM PST [link]
Sunset over the White Mtns and Owens Valley Eastern Sierra, Ca
Steven on 04.01.07 @ 08:43 PM PST [link]
I'm back (I think :-)
Ok, first off thanks to all of you for all of the cards and everything else you have done to make my life a little happier over the past month. (Wow, it's has been a month since I lost my girl.) It's been pretty hard at times. Including today. I sure do miss her today. But I'm just dealing with everything as it comes and taking it day by day. So I think I'm ready to get back into the swing of things here on SierraVisions.
I have a lot of link updates to do. Got a few new cams I need to put up, and some old ones that I need to take down. I want to get back into the "Where in the Sierra is it?" game again. And I'm thinking it's about time for a Spring photo raffle.
There is also something else new to the site. I have put up some new ads. They are for auctions that are currently running on Ebay. The ads should show things that pertain to SierraVisions. Like digital cameras, camping gear, GPS units, and fishing gear. I hope that's all they show. I will keep an eye on it and see what pops up. I just came across the site that does these ads and I thought that not only is this a chance for me to make a few extra bucks, but there might be something that you guys need too. We'll see how it works out. If it doesn't work well then I will take them off of the site. Just so you guys know, the Google Ads work pretty good. Because of those ads, the site pays for itself and I make a little extra too
I guess that's about all for now. I do plan on talking a little more now and getting some new pictures up as I take them. I might have some new ones tomorrow. It's looking like a nice sunset is coming this evening.
Oh, one more thing. I might have a book of my poems available for sell on the site soon. Remember when I tried to sell the coffee mugs and stuff? Well that site now does books. I send them my poems and they make books of them to order. Anyone interested? I also might do some tee shirts and stickers too.
Steven on 04.01.07 @ 04:54 PM PST [link]
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