Jack and mom drove up for the week of the Fourth and just in time for the “Cornerstone Baptist Fly-in”. Stan, the pastor, hosted a fly-in and Russell O’Quinn was the guest. Russell is an active experimental test pilot for the US Military and is 78 years old, yes, he still is testing top-secret experimental air-craft for the Military. Mr. O’Quinn started his speech off from the beginning of his life-life aviation adventure which promptly started at the age of five when his father needed to watch him and shingle the roof of their house, so his father nailed him by the seat of his pants to the roof. While nailed to the roof, Russell would watch the air-plains fly over head and from there on he secretly learned how to fly since his parent’s were afraid of aviation. His family was not Christian, but one of his aunts was and she paid for his college education (Christian college) where not only did he get an education but also purchased an old military fighter plane and learned how to continue his love of aviation. I won’t go into anymore details other then with the help of aunt and a caring professor he was led to Christ and was enabled to fulfill his dream and whiteness to others at the same time.

After the speech, the entire church and guests (~500) ate at the BBQ which hosted an “All-you-can-eat” buffet.

After work on Monday I ate dinner with Jack, mom and two members of Jack’s family at Angeler’s in Newport. I took I-95 from Bangor to Newport and the view was beautiful, the sky was filled full of large Cumulonimbus clouds as they are associated with thunder storms. When I had reached the restaurant it started to rain heavily and as we were leaving the rain had ceased in the distance stood a rainbow, unfortunately power lines and buildings were in the way so I did not take a photograph. We headed to the camp Jack & mom stayed at and when I say camp, I use the term loosely as it was built in the 1930’s and had very little up-keeping, very rustic. After the tour of the cabin we sat around the fire and watched a beautiful sunset over Sebasticook lake.

Tuesday evening right after work I headed to Dexter to watch their fireworks show at the local high school. As I was driving through Corinth a light shower let up and two rainbows appeared over a potatoe field and another just down the road. The latter photo was so close to me I could have walked through its amazing light spectrum of vibrant colors illuminating the surrounding trees.

I arrived shortly after the rain shower and was able to photograph another image that I find to be interesting due to the row of corn and different cloud formations. The fireworks were about the same as they always are, sporadic and quick to end but enjoyable none-the-less. The evening sky was fairly clear but not clear enough to see the Milky Way; I wanted to take advantage of the un-polluted skies of Dexter to attempt my first astrophotograph.

Mom stopped by in the evening of the Fourth; we decided to watch Bangor’s fireworks show which is usually a decent showing. We drove to a local store, parked and walked about a mile to reach the waterfront. We found a nice hill with a flat surface that overlooked the Penobscot River and was above most other people. I set up my tripod and had everything positioned and configured just right to photograph the fireworks but as I was shooting, the camera battery ran out which was a little upsetting. The next day I purchased a second battery.

I feel like I’m a real photo journalist now, I have my new Canon Digital Rebel XTi, Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW backpack that carries my camera, battery(ies), USB cables, memory cards, camera filters, lenses, etc wherever I go. In the past week I have been given to take a some decent shots; last Friday morning on my way to the sky was cloudy but the sun’s rays were peering through like reminded me of being beneath an old dock lit by beams of sun shining down through its cracks. When I arrived to work I was able to snap a few shots of this scene overlooking the Penobscot River. This past weekend I was able to photograph a couple of my friends playing football and a curious young Bull Frog and butterflies.

I just returned from the Orono Board Walk, I thought it would be an excellent day for a walk/photo shoot and I was right. One of my “Slices of Heaven” is walking under a canopy of Coniferous trees with a light and cool breeze making its way through the leaves only giving evidence of its presence by its rattling of the leaves and scent of sweet pine wafting over your body as the golden sun’s rays descend through holes of the canopy where the occasional Chickadee, Robin and Sparrow sing amongst the groaning of an old Birch tree as if protesting against the breeze.

The Bible is right, if this is what I perceive as bliss, I cannot imagine what God has in store of us Saved, as stated in 1st Corinthians 2:9 “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”

Everyone once and while I would hear my parents use the phrase, “One in a blue moon” and many other variations and never really understood what it meant. Could it be possible that the moon did actually appear to be blue one in awhile or was it just a saying?

From an article that I read on Yahoo!, This month we are going to experience a “Blue Moon” although technically it’s not going to be blue, but rather the moon will be untouched by Earth’s shadow (full moon) for the second time in one month- this occurs roughly every 32 months. The moon can indeed appear to be blue after a large volcanic eruption or after a large forest fire.

Unfortunately I will not have my new camera to photograph the event although I should in another 32 months. I will be up either way looking for the “Blue moon” this Thursday, the 31st of May.

This weekend has been very warm and pleasant for Maine, on Friday it was 95F and the remaining weekend the temperature hovered in the low 80s. The sky has displayed the typical Maine summer visuals, semi-hazy mixed with a blue backdrop to large fluffy clouds luming in the distance ushering in a potential thunderstorm that gives itself away by browing of the distant horizon. I decided that Saturday would be a good day to get my kayak wet for the first time this year and headed to Pushaw Lake and found that other people had the same idea as me. The water was a little rough due the lake always having wind due the its size. I met a family on the water that had two kayaks, one an Old Town and the other an inflatable that has a baby seat, in which their petrified child was sitting, I think it was her first time on the water.

I helped run the Church’s new media system; a new 360′ camera was installed which totals to two cameras with different angels/altitudes and a new video switch which affords greater control on how we want the service presented. Grammy was at Church this Sunday but Grandpa was home, still recovering from some sort of stomach illness.

Monday was an excellent and loud morning, since I live near an airport and military base the National Guard had a few aircraft fly-overs for the Memorial Day Parade. I wish I had my new camera I just ordered for the parade- at least I’ll have it for the Forth of July. I am grateful for all of the men and women in service for our Great Country, the US of A. I grilled another pizza which was much better than the first due to more experience and better ingredients. I’m attempting to organize all of my photos on my computer with Windows Photo Gallery and Canon ZoomBrowser, I’ve been ordering a lot of photos from Mpix.com and organizing them in albums as well. It’s funny how last year’s Memorial weekend was similar to this years!

Mom flew in to Bangor International at 11PM on the 9th, shortly after my cell phone alarm woke me up. We both were tired so we slept in the next morning before heading off to my grandparents in Dexter. Thursday was the warmest day of the week and of the year thus far, the temperature rose to roughly 87 F. Grandpa is starting to feel better although he is experiencing side effects from some medicine that should wear off in a few days.

Friday was a bit cooler which eliminated the option of visiting Acadia Park, instead we test drove a Nissan Sentra and two Honda Accords-a 4 and 6 cylinder engine. I was very impressed with the Accord, the overall build quality inside and out was top notch. I have been experiencing issues with my current vehicle, 02 Malibu, the brakes and rotors have been replaced again, this would make for the 4th time in 5 years. The mechanic also stated that a few gaskets need to be replaced but I am unsure the validity of that claim and will worry about that when the time comes as I only have one payment left and am deciding on what to do with the car.

Mom went to Dexter to help clean her parent’s house and yard on Saturday with her sisters and I stayed home for the afternoon. My Aloe Vera Plant pot was overcrowded so we took out one plant and separated a baby plant from the mother’s main root vein and replanted it, it looks like it’s in bad shape right now but it will recover.

Mom was glad to attend Cornerstone Baptist on Mother’s Day as she misses Stan’s preaching. After Church we headed to Grammies for dinner. Grandpa was not feeling well at all and headed to the ER. We stopped and looked at a Condo in Hermon that I really like, a house that could fit a family of three. I called the Realtor to find out that Condos come with an association fee and that the fee for this condo was $150 a month which as you can imagine changed my mind about Condos.

I tried a new recipe this weekend as well, it’s grilled pizza - something you normally would not expect to see on a grill. The results of the Pizza came out tasting very nice and I did not have a difficult time cooking the pizza either, I expected the dough to stick to the grates but it didn’t.

David and his family, one of my co-workers, invited me to their home today to celebrate “Cinco de Mayo“. David was grew up in Mexico and moved to the US in his twenties, he’s been a good friend and I’ve enjoyed pr acting my Spanish with him and learning how to cook Mexican dishes. We ate Guacamole dip, chicken sautéed in chocolate mixed with pepper and tortias mixed with cactus, peppers, onions and cream cheese.

Later in the day I installed Microsoft SQL Server 2005, IIS, ASP.NET and Community Server 2007. I’ve wanted to learn ASP.NET which is a Microsoft based server-side web programming language. I am going to be attempting to convert Ogden2k.net over to ASP.NET on my dev server at home.

The weather has been fairly cool this spring although the trees are finally starting to bud and the grass turning green. I purchased bird feed for the feeder that mom had given me for Christmas along with a Golden Finch feeder that hangs on the outside of my bedroom window. The birds found the feeder last Saturday morning which was nice to wake up to them singing.

I now have a DVR from Time Warner, I have been wanting this for awhile now; it’s coming in very handy as I have many shows scheduled to be recorded and different days and hours of the week.