This Steam Tractor caught my eye because it seemed someone took very good care of it. I heard one man explain it is rated for 25 horsepower which seems like very little till he said it was able to pull as much as 25 work horses which is rather impressive.

This huge engine is located at the Rough and Tumble site and was removed from a natural gas supply station and completely brought back to working order by the men at Rough and Tumble. I think I heard them say it will run for 6 minutes on a twenty pound tank of propane.

Tractor games are part of Rough and Tumble’s Threshermen’s Reunion. These two are in line to compete on the main show track.

Today I thought I would share an image I captured last week at work. We had an old warehouse beside our main building that needed to come down for several reasons. I would go out every once in a while to capture the progression of the demolition. this was the second day and the interior of the building is already on the other side of that wall completely collapsed into the basement. So I go out and talk directly to the guy working the excavator who is basically down below where the wall is missing. I ask him are you going to pull that remaining wall down into the center of the debris and he says definitely in a few minutes. So I immediately walk uphill by the cedar tree on the left and proceed to walk to the right! So I am about where that high bouncing cinder block on the left is and I am looking at the wall and notice it start to oscillate so I start walking a little faster just in case and boom, it all comes crashing down toward me! I had a 14-24 wide angle on, had exposure set already and when I saw it coming I turned my camera toward it and fired a sequence hoping to capture something as I retreated. Since I was shooting wide angle I am pretty sure those blocks were even closer than they appear here. When the wall hit the ground it exploded with some decent energy, enough so several cinder blocks actually went about 8 feet inside an open garage to the left and I remember contemplating running in there when it all started. For me it was not one of those heart pounding adrenaline rush moments, but when I look at the force behind the flying blocks, I am pretty sure that could have been a life altering impact. My guess is the operator was trying to pull something off the other side and exerted a little more pressure than he intended. To top it off my boss was standing to the far right 40-50 yards away watching it all. She said you do anything for the shot?

This Chapel is one I always thought was so pretty and having the dogwood in bloom added a nice extra touch. Their is a hideous small structure that covers a set of stairs going to the basement near the front three windows that I could not let stand so I removed it. Whoever built this obnoxious addition should be run out of town as it has no visual appeal!

This is a farm I photographed months ago and the owners were very friendly and said stop back anytime! Well I happened past last week and noticed the flowering trees so I took a couple shots. I would prefer overcast for these but the sun did not want to relent for me.

This flowering tree has a very graceful flow to it!

This property used to be run down and neglected but a few years ago it was sold and the new owners have transformed it into a real gem within the community. The wife takes much pride and joy in decorating the porch for various times and events taking place through the year and her husband is right there to help insure things go as planned. The gorgeous flowering tree only added to the beauty.

A local funeral home had this lovely patch of tulips in bloom.

A red barn is framed by a patch of mustard and a flowering tree.

This is a small town Church that is somewhat of a challenge to get a decent shot of. I noticed this small patch of tulips across the street so I snapped a quick shot. There are about a million power lines that I removed to end up here. This is a very busy road as well so its hard to get a no car shot.

I have been a little busy this spring doing mulching and spring cleanup and subsequently I have not had time to look for spring scenes. This last week has been popping with color so I did manage to capture a few to share! This is a local cemetery where my Grandma is buried and last week her daughter, my Aunt was laid to rest here. I happened to glance at the cemetery while driving by and noticed this one section seemed to be alive with color. It is not my favorite view of the church but since this section was the only one with the spring display, I had no other option. For all I know these are all gone by now as I heard a mower somewhere on the back side of the hill.

This is the Square in Lititz, Pa after a fluffy coating of snow created a lovely scene.

Believe it or not this is actually a color photo taken after a fluffy snow covered everything in a picture perfect coating the night before. I shot this as I headed to work after being out for most of the night and being totally exhausted from lack of sleep.

This beautiful property is the home of a local therapeutic Horse riding Facility. I was given permission one bitter cold morning to go into this pasture to capture the sun coming up behind these magnificent trees. The Horses were all comfortable inside the stable while I was outside freezing to capture this shot. We had a nice coating of shimmering ice on top of the snow for a week or so and one warm day took the shine away slightly but this will do.

When you are the only one out at 3am you get the benefit of solitude in a Winter Wonderland!

This was the last little snowstorm we got and it stuck to everything quite nicely. I went to bed at 11:00pm, got up two hours later and looked out and just felt like I had to go out and shoot something. By 7am I felt like I was going to drop over from lack of sleep which reminded me I am no spring chicken anymore! This is Lititz, Pa which they hang these edison lights along the shopping district sometimes in the winter. They are tough to shoot because they are so bright and everything else is so dim. Waiting for the morning ambient light to climb helps but they always seem to have a glow around them that makes it tricky to use a different exposure to blend them in.

I shot this scene after it caught my attention because it had a look that seemed a little bit different than regular storms. Just a simple peaceful winter scene.

After a week of milder temperatures, the snow started to melt in earnest till this past weekend when we got another four to six inches of fluffy sticky snow. I went to bed at 11pm on Sunday Night, Got up at 1:30 to use the bathroom and looked out and despite only having an hour and a half of sleep at that point I just felt like I needed to head out. Very close to 2:00 AM I loaded up and headed out. I got several good shots in the wee hours and was getting close to work at daybreak when this scene caught my eye. All the details from the fence to the gorgeous porch to the barn just made for a nice shot. after 5 hours out shooting I was like a walking zombie with a serious desire for some shut eye. Old Faithful is the title because I have gotten several good shots of this property over the years thanks to the owners being very welcoming. I returned the same evening thinking the snowy fence would be intact but high wind cleared it completely but I did a shot anyway which you will see coming up.