Day 50, Picture 50, February 28, 2010

Outdoor Pool and Palm Trees in February

I started out this race weekend with a picture of palm trees for the Picture-Of-The-Day. I will end this race weekend with a picture of Palm trees and add in an outdoor pool. This is a view from my motel room this morning. A Wisconsin boy does not to get see this view much in Wisconsin. The skies were not always this clear and sunny for every day this weekend. It rained on race day, but the evening was better and the full moon was out. The weather was not as warm as I wanted, but better than back home in Wisconsin.

My first ARCA race weekend of 2010 was fun and filled with firsts. It was the first time for ARCA at the West Palm Beach International Raceway. It was the first time ARCA raced in the rain in their history. It was the first ARCA win for Justin Marks. It was my first time for an ARCA race in February. It was my first time for a ARCA race in Florida. Overall, it was a fun ARCA race weekend.

It was also a milestone for this Picture-Of-The-Day project of mine. It is the 50 picture or 50th day in a row I posted a Picture-Of-The-Day on this Blog and on the ShutterCal.com Website. Now I just need to do 315 more to make the goal of a year of Picture-Of-The-Day pictures. The first 50 has been fun and I look forward to what is to come in the next 315 days.

Day 49, Picture 49, February 27, 2010

Full Moon Over West Palm Beach

A full moon tonight in a sky free of rain clouds is a nice ending to a very rainy day. West Palm Beach is a nice city. The ocean, lots of very expensive homes, high end shops and lots of palm trees. Today’s Picture-of-the-Day had to include the full moon and palm trees. It was fitting.

After the race was over, we came back to the motel and got ready to find dinner. We drove down to the ocean looking at multi-million dollar homes, yachts and high end cars. This was a place that was way over our income, but it was nice to look at.

Nice weather compared to Wisconsin weather. Tomorrow, back to the cold, snow Wisconsin landscape.

Day 48, Picture 48, February 26, 2010

Tom Berte at Palm Beach

Today was a great day. I was at a race track. What more could you ask for? This is a picture of Tom Berte at Palm Beach International Raceway, West Palm Beach, Florida. Tom is a great friend of mine that I have know for some time. I help in out at the race track. He races ARCA and has for a number of years.

Today was great. Cool in the morning, around 40, then warming up to 70 or so in the afternoon. Sunny all day, so that was great. Today we had Practice and Qualifying for the race on Saturday. Tom races with support from the Venturini Racing. They have 3 other drivers, Steve Arpin, Alli Owens, and Mikey Kile.

Any day at a race track can not be anything but a great day.

Day 47, Picture 47, February 25, 2010

Warmth and Palm Trees

After spending most of the day either in an airplane or airport. I finally landed in Florida. Palm trees and a lot warmer weather than I had in Wisconsin greeted me as we left the airport. I did not need a jacket. Yes it was only about 50 degrees, but that was almost 60 degrees warmer than it was when I left Wisconsin. The bad part of the trip was it took almost all day to fly from Wisconsin to Florida.

It used to be you started out in one place and flew to another place. Sometimes you would have to stop to pick up more passengers, but mostly it was nonstop. Now, you start in one location, fly to a hub location, wait around, and then fly to your final location. Not only are you spending time waiting around at the Hub Airport, but you have to get to the airport hours before your flight. Long lines at security checkpoints and at every place in the airport cause you to dread flying sometimes. Smaller and slower airplanes also take more time to get to their destination. All this adds up to taking almost an entire day to fly from Wisconsin to Florida.

At least I will be in warmer weather in Florida than I would be in Wisconsin. Too bad Ann could not come with me.

Day 46, Picture 46, February 24, 2010

Chester Waiting For Dinner

In our house, whoever comes home first, gets to feed the two or three outside cats that hang around our house. Chester is the father of our son, Newbie. Chester and Newbie’s mother, Mrs White Paws, normally sit on our door mat until one of us gets home to feed them. Tonight, Chester posed for this Picture-Of-The-Day before he had his dinner. Chester and Mrs White Paws are often joined by Newbie’s brother from across the street. Family diner at our house.

Tomorrow I leave for the ARCA race in Florida. The Picture-Of-The-Day will change states. They will also be warmer. Not in the photographic sense, but in the temperature sense. We will see what the Picture-Of-The_day will bring in the next four days. Should be interesting.

Day 45, Picture 45, February 23, 2010

Welcome Home Buddy

I know Christmas is over with by almost two months. But, he is so cute that we keep him lighted most of the winter. So today’s Picture-of-the-Day is of my Welcome Home Buddy. When I get home late, he is the first thing I see when I turn into my driveway. In winter, he greets me every night, no matter how late I am or how tired I am, he is there. I did not know it this morning at 4:45 that my day would be long. I mistakenly thought I would start work at my scheduled start time of 8:30 at my ‘real’ job. Just before I was to get ready to leave, I thought I would sort through a bunch of text messages on my BlackBerry. That is when I found out my now scheduled start time was 2:00 PM. That would get me out of work at 10 PM or later and get home after 10:30. Then I normally spend some time with email, the Picture-of-the-Day, Twitter and FaceBook. And that makes for a long day. But my Welcome Home Buddy was there for me tonight as I pulled into the driveway.

Day 44, Picture 44, February 22, 2010

First Wisconsin Capitol

The first Wisconsin State Capitol in Belmont Wisconsin does not look as grand as the current Capitol in Madison. But in 1836 there was not much to choose from for construction and before Wisconsin was actually a state. The original Wisconsin State Capitol was actually constructed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and shipped to Belmont, Wisconsin by steamboat and overland transport. One of the first acts by legislators in this building was to choose Madison as the permanent Capitol of Wisconsin. Belmont Wisconsin is about an hour west of Madison. The town is now about three miles to the south of the site of the first Wisconsin Capitol due to the railroad passing there. Most of the town of Belmont moved south to the railroad location leaving the first Wisconsin Capitol behind.

I passed close to Belmont today on a road trip. I was accepted into the 2010 ArtsBuild Art Exhibit in a gallery located on the University of Platteville campus starting March 2nd and running through April 7th. It is an exhibit of Southern Wisconsin artists. Two of my works were chosen for the exhibit. I had to have them down to Platteville by the weekend. Since I will be in Florida for the ARCA race starting Thursday, I had to run them down today, my day off from my real job.

The road trip took me from my home, to Madison, to Oregon, to Broadhead (to pickup another artists work), then to Monroe, drop the art off at Platteville and then back home. Since I was passing close to the first Wisconsin State Capitol in Belmont Wisconsin, I decided to stop and take today’s Picture-of-the-Day.

Day 43, Picture 43, February 21, 2010

The Rocket Flying

Trains are still an attraction to many people. Real trains or models, it does not make a difference. Trains draw people to them. I spent the morning with my neighbor at a model railroad show here in Madison, Wisconsin. It was fun. There was stuff for sale, displays, and information on railroad museums. It was busy, lots of people. There were young and old, parents with kids, and grandparents with grandchildren. You could purchase everything from train sets to all sorts of old railroad memorabilia. There were all different sizes of model trains, from the smallest Z scale to large 10 foot cars that you can ride on.

The snow is coming tonight to Wisconsin. We should get any thing from 2 inches to 9 inches. Most likely it will be around 4 inches. We will see. Tomorrow I will have to drop two of my framed prints for an upcoming art exhibit at a gallery about an hour away. So I might have an interesting drive tomorrow.

Day 42, Picture 42, February 20, 2010

GOAL!

Tonight’s UW Men’s Hockey game was completely different than last nights. First, the Badgers won! Second, the Badgers played like they wanted to win! Today’s Picture-Of-The-Day was just after one of the 8 goals the Badgers scored tonight. It was fun!

This was the last home game for the regular season schedule. The Badgers should get home ice for the conference playoffs. Then there would be one more home ice series games for the playoffs. Collage hockey is coming to an end and auto racing is gearing up for their season, starting in the south and moving north as the season progresses. I like hockey, but I love auto racing!

Day 41, Picture 41, February 19, 2010

Ice Man's Bucky

Today I took 38 photographs for the Picture of the day. Ice Man’s Bucky won out over the other 37 because we were at a hockey game. One of the Zamboni Drivers has a University of Wisconsin Bucky Badger and since we were at the hockey game, this is today’s picture. Badger’s lost tonight. I hope the UW Hockey team  will be better tomorrow night.

NASCAR is racing in California this weekend. I am glad the racing season has started. Now there will be some interest in the television to watch, just in case I have some down time. ARCA will be in Florida next weekend, so I will be there. I cannot wait! Sun and Fun instead of Snow and Gloom.