Frederick, Maryland on the Rocks

I finally decided to dig out my car yesterday since I had to go get rations for the family unit from the store. The first thing I noticed after our snow/sleet/freezing rain event was that my 180 lb. frame was not sinking in the "snow." Instead, I have a nice ice rink in my back yard. Feeling how hard the surface was, I knew I was in for a big task getting the car out at this point.

When I got to my car, I noticed that it had about 5 inches of an ice mixture stuck to it. Notice there are no foot indentations going to my door and the accumulation is up to my rims. The above picture was taken AFTER I walked around the car, "scraping" the ice off the roof, trunk, windows, and hood.

Now that the car was cleared off, it was now time to get it unstuck. I initially attempted to just put the car in gear and "rock" the car out of its resting place. This was a technique learned during the winters in Erie, PA. This was unsuccessful. Instead, it drew the attention of a neighbor kid who was willing to help. My first thought was that this kid would slip and fall on the ice as I was backing up. It turned out okay and there were no casualties.

Finally, after the neighbor kid and I dug out my front tires, I got the car moved. To my surprise, the car did not make deep tracks in the snow as I reversed out of my parking space. Instead, it drove ON TOP of the snow. My 1999 Honda Accord was sitting on the snow and not sinking in it. We were both amazed and had never seen such a sight. In my 20 some winters up north, I had never experienced anything of this nature. WOW!

This last picture just shows the tire resting on the snow with no indentations surrounding it.

I'm still in awe of this. Can you tell?

Celebrating the number 100

Friday was a special celebration for my son at school. It was the 100th day of the school year.

This post is a special marker for me since it is my 100th post on this blog.

So, in celebration of these two events, I thought that I would post some art my son did at school on Friday. His hat has 10 circles and each circle has 10 unique items drawn in them.

Today is also my half way point in the computer programming class that I am taking. I finished my mid-term last night. My brain is mush today from psuedocodes and structure charts and flow charts.

Now we start the week preparing for a possible blizzard moving in Monday and Tuesday. No one is posting accumulation numbers, but let's hope it is not the 100+ inches they saw in New York state this past week. 6-12 inches would do nicely, though. At least the kids would love it!

Duck Colors

Duck -- Humphrey's Half Moon Inn
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

These ducks were so tame that you could walk right up to them. I was probably 18 inches or so from them when I took this picture.

I love the color of this male (drake), the green seems to change colors with the angle that you look at him.

The female (duck) has a nice brown color to her, as well. However, it just is not the same boldness as the drakes color.

Pacific Portal at Shelter Island

I know that I haven't posted in a few days but I've been in San Diego for work. Although it was a business trip, I did have a chance to see a few sites. My Flickr account will be updated later this weekend with pictures from the trip.


This is the Pacific Shelter on Shelter Island in Point Loma. It was right across the street from the hotel where I stayed. Pacific Shelter is a sculptural gazebo. It was designed by James Hubbell and constructed for a May 2006 opening celebration. The structure is sprayed concrete with mosaic tile detailing. The adjacent trellis has concrete columns, timber beams and wrought iron ornamentation.

The Art of Relaxation

When it comes to laziness, Nigel has got to be King.

Nigel is the type of cat that will not move from the step he is laying on if you are coming up the stairs. You actually need to step over him. He is not a small cat, so he takes up the entire step. Although, he looks to have lost weight, he is probably still a good 14-15 pounds (down from 18).

In this picture, Nigel probably would not move if you went to the bedroom door and opened it. Instead, he would look up at you annoyed.

Some days, I wish I could just lay around and do nothing but look annoyed at the people around me.

Portable Art Supplies

Portable Art Supplies
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

I carry this around with me when I just want a couple pencils, pens and an eraser.

I've had this case for at least 20 years and it is still in great condition..

Illustration Friday -- Red

Today's Illustration Friday topic was Red. This was the first thing that crossed my mind.

Backyard Art

My neighbors
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

One of the things I love about living in downtown Frederick are the backyards. The different colors and styles show the individuality of the homeowners as well as the different architectures of the houses.

This shot was taken from my backyard while on the kids fort.

First Snowman of Winter

First snowman of winter
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

This is about as much snow as we got. The boys enjoyed making a snowman today.

It consists of hair made out a pine tree limb, arms made from twigs, nose and mouth made from carrots, and eyes, mustache and beard made from Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp cereal.

Doodle of the Day -- 2007.01.21

2007.01.21 -- Doodle of the Day
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

I did this while the kids were playing on their L-Max's this morning. Mac saw me drawing and decided that he wanted to draw something, too. It eventually turned into Mac and I drawing pictures while James played his L-Max.

It started out with the box. I then added the first tear drop, then the second tear drop. Finally, I added the details to the eye and sort of paisley.

Illustration Friday - Super Hero

2007.01.19 -- IF - Super Hero
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

Wasn't sure if I was going to do it this week, but this came out while watching TV tonight.

Thanks for stopping by!

Art at Work

Since I have not really taken any pictures or drawn anything lately, I figured that I would post something that I did at work. This was a simple network diagram I did for one of my customers to connect their East Coast and West Coast Satellite networks together as well as their Network Operations Center.

I know its not much, but its the only "art" that I have been doing the last couple of days.


Stay tuned. I hope to have something more interesting up soon.

Sunset in Northern Virginia

Driving home from work yesterday, I saw this out my drivers side window. I thought with the tree silhouetted like it is, I had to stop and catch this shot.

This was taken on Route 15 between Lucketts, VA and Point of Rocks, MD.

Mr. Angry Eyes

When I took Spot and Alice out last night, Spot went crazy and tried to climb the tree next to their kennel. When I shined my flashlight into the tree, I found this opossum looking back at me.

As you can see, he was not happy to be disturbed. As my kids would say, "He has his angry eyes on."

I wish I took this picture :(

I wish I took this picture :(
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

Instead, this was a picture that I downloaded from my five year olds camera.

He took his camera in the car while he and I ran errands. I hear him snapping pictures, but I never knew he was taking pictures like this from the back seat. There are actually a dozen or so more just as good.

I'm thinking of playing around with it and cropping and changing it to sepia or something like that. I want to keep the angled look of it though.