So I have been uber-busy of late, the type of busy that I haven't been in some long time. There are a lot - a lot - of you out here in Hiveland that I want/need to catch up with, and I hope y'all have some patience with me. Between work (upwards of 50-60 hours/week recently), home improvements (and I just gave myself another project today - yay), children, and occasionally sleep, there has been little time for much of anything else.
This is not a complaint; just a statement. Ebbs and flows, and it'll come around when I have spare time again.
This past weekend, however, I made the conscious decision to have some fun, so in addition to getting to have a few beer with some friends, on Sunday I planned a short jaunt outside of the house with my youngest boy. Our first stop was an antique market; I'm in the market for a new clock and was hoping they'd have something I liked. They didn't. What they did have, however, made up for it.
Yes, not one, but two - two! - Lego Satellite Service boxes. $8.00 each! These are retired sets that currently sell for about $20 on eBay and $30 on Amazon. So of course I snatched them up. I am not looking to resell these, oh no. I am looking to play with these.
After the antique store the boy and I went for a short hike. I had a particular destination in mind - Lums Pond House. This is an old, dilapidated house in Lums Pond Park. It wasn't very difficult to find, which is nice, because my son is not much of a hiker.
I found a fire hydrant on the way. My son was unamused that I hijacked the hike to go take a picture of it.
The house was not that much farther away. And yes, indeed, it is in a rather disastrous state. Ouch.
This little outing was intended to help me kick back and relax some, so I made a point of breaking out my camera. These next two pictures were taken with my dSLR and a 28mm fixed lens. What story do these pictures portray? That this house has passed it's prime. Oy.
Now these were taken with the same camera and a 50mm lens. Same story. This house should be falling over. Look at this foundation! I was half tempted to push it to see if it'd topple, but I didn't want a stray brick to hit my son.
I'm actually a little surprised that the State found it necessary to put up a No Entry sign. Not even the vulture was going into this building. He also wasn't leaving that chimney. There must have been a meal for it in there.
This particular building is owned by the State. The State is offering it up to whoever has a plan and the resources to fix it up. The State is even allowing this person to live in this house rent-free for life. For life! Now how's that for a retirement plan?
These next three photos were taken with one of my crappy cameras; in particular, a 2 megapixel SQ908 MEGA-Cam. I will admit, I did do some touchup of these photos afterward to give them a more faded, analogue, film look, and I'm rather proud of them. This camera is awesome for "aged" photos.
The best thing about this house? There's a fire hydrant right beside it!
Later in the day, after dinner, I finally circled around to finish the day how it started: with legos!
I actually already have a copy of this set, but that didn't bother me at all. I'm happy to add to the fleet. There's even a small group of ground-dwelling vehicles to go along with it.
The minifigs came out to celebrate the new arrivals, too.
It was a good day, and a good weekend. I'm glad I had the opportunity to put other items to the side for the day. Now back to another busy week!
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
About Me
Amateur photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
My Favourite Tags
| #spaceforce3 | #altphoto | #crappycameraphotos |
| #digitalpinhole | #pinhole | #firehydrant |