Winter is Here

Winter has officially arrived! Snow, ice, single digit wind chills and a shivering wife all leave no doubt in my mind that those crisp days of fall are quickly going to turn into those bone chilling days that a Nebraska winter can bring. I am sitting here listening to the wind ripping and roaring along removing all the last remaining leaves and feeling a chill in the house that wasn’t there last week. I find it amazing how even with the furnace set to the upper 60’s (the wife and I both come from parents who believed that the thermostat should never be over the mid 60s in the winter) a really cold day completely changes the feeling in a house. Maybe it’s a psychological thing, hearing the wind moaning, and the rattle of sleet and snow against the window (snow makes a pretty good racket when propelled by 40-50 mph north winds) but the house just seems to have a bit of a coolness to the air that isn’t there when its in the 40’s. Of course the major change for me is that I now consider changing out of my shorts and t-shirt I normally wear around the house into long pants and a sweatshirt. The wife on the other hand begins to scavenge the house for any blankets or fuzzy attire that she can layer on herself. She really does manage to pull off the linen closet look!

Ironically I went to the home improvement extravaganzamart and managed to control most of my desires to buy all kinds of useful and completely unnecessary tools and products for the express purpose of buying those cool little window weatherizing kits (okay so I did happen to end up buying a reusable HEPA furnace filter but it was on clearance and was a really good deal and I would have eventually needed one!) The wife and I planned on trying to seal up some of the big windows we have on the north side of the house, and in our sunroom to help save some heat in the house. Of course both of us were busy and didn’t get to it, and the only kits the store had were the kind that go on the outside of the windows. I figure this wintry blast is my fault for procrastinating on getting the window sealing done. I better hope the weathermen are correct when they say that its going to be nice (relatively speaking) this coming weekend.

In other news, the wife and I are quite excited to get to see Chicago the Musical this coming weekend. Omaha has been getting many of the traveling Broadway shows, and the wife is a big fan of the shows. I enjoy them, so was only to happy to spoil the wife! Besides, who canblame a guy for wanting to see Paige Davis (of Trading Spaces) in lingerie and Tom Wopat (AKA Luke Duke, a childhood hero!)

Fall on the Open Prairie - The Red Barn

From the Fall on the Open Prairie series. Red barn in the Loup River Valley as viewed from Happy Jack Peak near Scotia, Nebraska. I love old barns like this, as they seem to exude a rugged timeless character that newer farm buildings no longer seem to have. I am always amazed to find that some of these barns have remained standing over 50 plus years.


Fall on the Open Prairie - The Red Barn Image copyright 2005 Pale Rider Productions

Shot using an Olympus Digital E-100RS with polarizing lens and skylight filters.

Fall On the Open Prairie - Windmill and Sunflowers

One of the photos from a series of photos I am working on called Fall on the Open Prairie. I shot these photos on our trip to western Nebraska, following parts of the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway and parts of the Loup Rivers Scenic Byway, and a few little side roads here and there. I highly recommend heading out to the Sandhills of western Nebraska, as it is a beautiful scenic area, where one can really experience big spacious skies, open rolling grasslands, and dramatic overlooks.

I will be releasing a gallery of this series of photographs in the next few weeks either on here or the actual photo side of my website.

Fall on the Open Prairie – Windmill and Sunflowers - Shot near Sherman State Recreation area, Sherman County, Nebraska. Olympus Digital Camera with polarizing lens. Image Copyright Pale Rider Productions 2005.