First days of "Summer"

[Mike Jackson]

Hi Forum readers,
Most people probably saw the notation on their calendar that the 21st of June marks the first official day of Summer. After yesterday, the days start getting slightly shorter each day until the 21st of December. I like the long days, mainly to have the time to get to walk in either the morning or evening. With the extra photography, I haven't been fishing as much as in some of the past years. The long days of summer give you extra time in the middle of the day to get the panels coated out and dry, baked by the rays of the sun, vs the warmth of the shop heater.

With the interest in photography, I have to admit I am not so bummed this year knowing the days will begin to get shorter. The special notation on the calendar also marks the heavy influx of summer tourists, which can be good for business. It makes me hunt for more remote places to photograph in an effort to avoid some of the crowds. Knowing Fall is a great time for the photos, I now see I am looking forward to that time period, even if I know the snow will follow it.

It is getting warm here, but not "hot" yet. Raymond should be able to tell us HOT stories about now. Corey's baseball season is almost over. Tyler is gearing up for his first year of College and looking for a summer job. We have a bunch of 4x8 panels to get out the front door and I have a few thousand more photos I want to take! I just checked my newer D200. It already has 60,000 shots on it.

I hope your summer is off to a good one. Feel free to add to this slightly off topic post if you want to take a break from the daily routine.

Mike Jackson

[Raymond Chapman]

When I was getting ready for work yesterday and heard that it was t he longest day of the year, I immediately thought of Mike and how it was his favorite day - even mentioned it to my wife, Jeanne.

And, yes Jackson, it is hot here in Texas but not as much as usual. We have been receiving an abundance of rain and the temperatures have remained under triple digits so far. But the rains have brought high humidity, so we are suffering from the mugginess. We still suffer from sweat, so you can still ask the same question.

Mostly, we try to do any outside work in the mornings and retreat inside during the hotest part of the day. We've experienced days when it was so hot that you couldn't pick up tools without gloves becasue they would burn your hands.

But as usual, I'll give you a call in February when you are cabin bound and we are in the 70's.

Even though I kid Mike a lot, he still lives in one of the most beautiful places in the world - just take a look at his photos.

[Doug Bernhardt]

Well the solstice arrived here at exactly 2:06pm local time. It was an amazing day in the mid 70's although only a few days before it was creeping into the late 80's. I have trouble getting degrees farenheit and celcius straight so I keep the thermometer in the truck on degreesF soz I can be straight with you yanks. Also I grew up on your system and now at this late(ish) age I don't know how far anything is...how warm it is or how much volume is in whatever...like a gallon of gas. In fact there's so many of us in the same boat we measure distances in time!...No kidding, all the Americans that show up here remark on this fact. I had no idea I was doing it until our good buddy Bill (poppa smurf) Ridell remarked on it this past winter. Well....That turned out to be more than a weather comment EH!?!

[Mike Jackson]

Howdy all,
I thought I'd add a photo here and invite anyone interested to go check out my photo site. I added a lot to the Wild Mustangs section recently.

www.tetonimages.com

Wyoming has the second largest population of Wild Mustangs in the country. (Nevada is #1) Most of the horses in Wyoming are on BLM land scattered over quite a bit of the state. I've been researching them and photographing them when I can. This young stallion was second in charge only a few months ago, but he has now taken over the band, leaving the old battle scarred stallion along the edges. One of the beautiful mares I photographed a month or two ago now has a bone sticking out of her side and is limping badly (Photo below). There are no vets or any sort of relief for them. Another stallion I loved last fall is now blind in one eye and limping. He is now a solitary outcast. Even with the down side, there are lots of young colts and the cycle continues. Their populations increase at about 20% per year and are relieved by wild horse roundups, auctions and adoptions. I haven't been to one of those yet.



While there are rows and rows of photographers in Yellowstone getting similar shots of the same grizzly bears, I find myself all alone with the mustangs. It is a darned enriching experience!

Mike Jackson