Now that Summer is officially on the way, does anyone have anything excited planned? I feel like a bit of a dud because I really DON'T. Chanthee and I may take a second trip to Maine to see the puffins again, but otherwise, I think I am stuck in the "Concrete Jungle" until late September.

James

Not much planned for us as far as fun goes. Lots of weekend shoots and fund-raisers coming up.

We're headed to Disney in November though.

Not much going on here either. Pooh will be 6 months old and in his first AKC Conformation show on August 26-29th. in West Springfield, Ma.



He has a lovely natural stack.



He is quite curious and has a very expressive face



And he is growing like a weed! He is now 15" tall and 17- 1/2 pounds.

One of the advantages of retiring early is you have time to do things. Next week we're kayaking at Mono Lake, in late July we're off to Glacier/Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, and August 28th we are flying to JoBerg to start a three week Safari in Botswana with Thom Hogan. Other than that we will just be spending our time hiking, mountain biking and kayaking at our local spots around Donner Summit.

Oh and of course I'll be doing as much shooting as possible.

BTW - We still have 3 feet of snow in our yard but it's going fast.

Geo

3 FEET of snow? WOW! A friend of mine just went to Mono lake last week. What a beautiful place. She lives in the area, and said that they were working on restoring the water levels, so the mineral stacks, tufas, will be underwater.

This is one of the latest years for snow I've seen up here at the summit. I am definitely ready for the snow to go. Here is one from this morning.



It will be awhile before the water levels rise enough in Mono Lake to cover the tufas. The level is supposed to go up a couple of inches a year and the tallest tufas are 20+ feet. Photographically, it will be a sad day when the tufa are submerged. Here is a pic from last year's kayak trip.

Geo,
I envy you and your Summer schedule. Unfortunately, we'll be doing pretty much what Jim Poor is doing: shooting shows and weddings. Orlando has been sweltering for the past 3 weeks and it makes it rough to shoot those types of events where you spend time outdoors.

We'll probably get up to the mid-West for a dog show or two and maybe a horse show as well but no other strictly fun photographic trips planned.

Jim

Other than try and learn better processing skills and sort thru all my Australia photos, I think my wife and I are going to get a GSD in a month or two. I'd also like to start knocking off locations to photograph in my state that I haven't even been to hike or even see yet (30 spots and growing)

" It will be awhile before the water levels rise enough in Mono Lake to cover the tufas. The level is supposed to go up a couple of inches a year and the tallest tufas are 20+ feet. Photographically, it will be a sad day when the tufa are submerged. "

George,

What is happening to cause the water levels to rise in Mono lake? I have not heard that...