Friday, February 25, 2011

Friday Finally

Finally, Friday is here.. Yay!! We are going to break down and by another computer this weekend.. the tower is two years old but I don't know how long it will last.. It gets one heck of a workout each day. Great weather this weekend to here in the ATL!! Lets get out and do something!!


My grandfather General Oscar Ponds..World War 1 vet. He died two days after I was born.

Bienvenue

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Shame on Me

I'm sorry. It's been a week and I haven't posted..A lot has been going on. We were all under the weather and the weather itself has been fantastic. Found out late last week I will be transferred again.. If I only knew where it would put my mind at ease. I am going to try putting up a random photo of the day. It will be either something I took, something lifted from my wife's photos(LOL), or from another famous or not yet discovered photographer.



 Sometime in 1941, 9:00pm Franklin County, Georgia service station.(Library Of Congress photo)

Good Day Folks

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Ten Years Later

Ten years ago at Daytona, the racing world loss one of their greatest drivers. I was not a Earnhardt fan, but sometimes I found myself rooting for him. I was working at the time at a ladder factory outside Annsiton, Al. was unable to watch or listen to the race. I managed to get the last lap by calling Roxanne on a break when she said Dale Earnhardt had crashed..We didn't know at the time but is was fatal. We all found out about it two hours later.

Go back twenty years to May 1980..My dad did sub-contract work for Alabama Intl. Motor Speedway in Talladega, Al. Since then it has been renamed Talladega Super Speedway. My dad, my brother Mark and myself got to go in garage area during practice prior to The Winston 500 that was held that following Sunday. Going to the garage was a big deal just as it would be now..At that time the big money wasn't in Nascar like it is now.. So the drivers were more grateful and friendly except Buddy baker, he was always wound up about the race.  I was a Richard Petty/ Bobby Allison fan.. I was excited to get to see them..when you are ten year old boy in Talladgea and loves racing at that time it was a big deal.  We got autographs and we had our Polaroid camera to take pictures.. It was that time I met Dale Earnhardt. It wasn't a big deal to me because I was not a fan of his, but liked him. He was a nice guy and would talk to you..  We got our picture taken with him.. He was talking to me while the pic was taken, I don't remember what it was about.. We told him good luck on Sunday.. He finished second to Buddy Baker.

Jump forward to 1998.. It was March 1998, race week at Atlanta. I'm married now to Roxanne, we are living the Atlanta area. Dale Earnhardt is signing autographs at The International Car Show at the World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta.. Roxanne and I waited in line for over three hours to get his signature..I brought a Wheaties diecast car and that Polaroid pic that we had taken together.  That's what I wanted to get signed if I had ever had the chance to meet him again. This time racing it was totally different than was in 1980..More corporate, drivers are not as accessable than they were then. We finally made it to the table, there were handlers there to handle the items before Dale would sign. If it wasn't official..forget it he wouldn't sign it. Roxanne got the car signed and he was very gracious to her. He got the picture and he was floored. I told him when it was and told him who I was.. He took the pic and showed it to his yougest daughter Taylor Nicole who was there with him.. He really appreciated it and thanked me for bringing it. I thanked him just because.

February 2001.. Dale Earnhardt was gone..he was killed in the last turn on the last lap of the 500.. The two cars he owned finished one-two in the race. Where there would be a huge celebration turned into sadness when it was revealed that he did not survive. Racing we know it changed forever.. I took the picture that he signed back in 1998 and two pictures of him signing the picture and had it framed.. It marked the only times I met Dale Earnhardt..


Now ten years later the racing world looks back on the loss of Dale Earnhardt. This is my way paying homage to him on this day.

Good Evening

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Bricks

I have a admiration for brick walls..This wall is part of the old Vickery Creek Mill in Roswell, Ga. It dates back to the 1850's. Why the admiration? It has a story to tell, it has seen a lot in the last 150 plus years..It survived the demolition by Union forces, reconstruction, the 20th Century and the most important thing..Time. 
I have five bricks that once belonged to our former high school in Oxford, Alabama.. They are 61 years old...They have contained so many memories that I did not understand until we watched the gradual demolition of our old school so there could be a new parking area for the $19 Million new high school the opened prior to this school year..
The truth is, time marches on but for these bricks they hold time to what it once was..

Good Evening

Monday, February 14, 2011

First Post

Good Morning Blogland,

 After years of procrastination and nudging by my better half.. I have started a blog.. She asked me what it will be about, I don't know.. It will be about anything from photography, Alabama Football, kids, marriage, racing, etc... Thank you for being in on the start of this journey and I hope I won't disappoint.

Bienvenue