Between The Woods and Frozen Lake

I don't often use filters and don't have many on my laptop. I do, however, have several phone filters and liked this one for Dexter (who lives between fields and a frozen lake).

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

—Robert Frost

How Do You Get Up There?

I wanted to call these "Fat Stacks" but they seem more twisted like a fancy cookie. They're located on Walnut Street so mmm, walnut stack cookies.

An Adorable Oil Change

If ever a critter were "awww" inspiring it's my new pal Gabby from Dutch's Auto. It's fun to see how she changes from oil change to oil change.

I smelled a cheeseburger then I saw a cheeseburger but guess what, no cheeseburger

Men on Ice

Not to be confused with the full-on ched musical Guys On Ice which seriously needs to work on its about page. 

I took a closer look at the winter ice colonies on Lake Mendota yesterday and was delighted to see the fishing shack version of a party float.

Forget questionable looking ice and unseasonably warm weather, ice fisherman must grill near shacks on ice or perish

The party float version of a party float

And All I Got Was This Lousy Paper Crown

I used a paper crown from Christmas as a dandy's collar for Dexter (Ginger Demon God of Mischief). Yup, that's where my life's at.

This does not make me happy

Gabby

Not only did I find a good place to take my car but Gabby kept me company.

I'm letting you win because you smell like food

Rrrrrotate your tires?

Cold Grey and Electric Skateboards

I took my new old Canon for a test run yesterday and it felt like the first time I saw winter. Why was I surprised to see people fishing on questionable ice and why did this fisherman isolate himself from all the other lunatics I mean ice fishermen? I also saw my first electric skateboard which I kept hoping would hover. Now that would be a good shot in monochrome or color.

Such a lonely looking scene on Lake Wingra—awww woooo

At Brittingham on the shores of Lake Monona, I kept waiting for her to hover

Across from Warner Park and Lake Mendota, the result of rain, snow, freeze, melt and repeat

Taken with my old old Canon at Troy Gardens while munching on a Butter Burger

Long Thaw Sky

Our long winter thaw began on Sunday when it hit 50˚, and will keep bouncing around until April.

The sky was showing the slightest color over Lake Wingra an hour or so before sunset today.

There were more generous sepia tones watching over the ice fishermen on  Lake Monona. These guys will stay perched on the thinnest strip of ice long after things start melting. They remind me of those bald eagles floating down the Mississippi.

Diets and Butter Burgers

Dexter caught a whiff of a butter burger and fries while I was setting up my new camera.

There better be cheese curds in here (there weren't)

Both of us are supposed to be on a diet and for my part, I didn't get a shake.

Roscoe

Awwwwww, he was such a cute pup, handsome dog, and a fun and inexhaustible pal.
I love you boy.

Roscoe

White Balance

While the powers that be were shutting down our government I was powering up my old camera and dealing with another kind of white balance. My Canon T3i was taking weird blue photos and I'd given up until I found a discussion on White Balance (which was the first thing I checked but turned out to be the problem).
I was half hoping it was broken (again, see Government Shutdown) so I could justify a new camera which FedEx tried to deliver this morning. The sound of the apartment buzzer woke me from a crazy dream about phone etiquette and I barely noticed the cat groggy and glaring at me before I fell back to sleep. So no new camera today.

My first test subject was Dexter,  Demon Ginger God of Mischief and hater of buzzers.

My sole purpose in life is to help you test your little toys

It's been so cold I've taken the poster art off the walls to cover cold spots, so 50˚ weather got me out and shooting more pics today.

Creative Auto, one of my fav features for black and whites, seems fine.

A little dull but no weird blue. Back to playing with Exposure Compensation.

Eh, too bright and yet too dull but no blue. 

You can see part of the cool cinematic clouds I was driving through in the upper corner looking like part of a tree.