Is It Too Late For New Year's Resolutions?

This really should be my New Year's resolution on this last day of January: to do a better job of writing in this blog, finding something interesting to talk about and hopefully take pictures of.


Considering my day job is as a safety specialist for a blue collar staffing agency, and spending most of my days tele-commuting from home...well, that isn't exactly awe-inspiring or heroic work. I really don't think anyone would find it very interesting to hear about the worker in Twin Fall, Idaho who experienced a back strain picking up a cardboard box and the resulting statistical change to the branch's safety record. Okay, maybe you would, but I wouldn't want to write about it. Maybe what I need to do is find more interesting things to write about. Hmm, just a thought.


One of the things I don't do very often anymore is go out and shoot landscapes. I did this earlier in my life (like back in college), but family life seems to get in the way of running off by myself and dangling off of cliffs to get that special shot. Sure I could bring the wife, but she wouldn't let me dangle off the cliff, so what is the fun in that? Mind you I'm not complaining about family life. It has it benefits, but sometimes it just nice to get out by myself and aimlessly run around a hillside with nothing but my heaving lungs and pounding heart to make me stop and catch up with myself - and as I get older that seems to happen more often than not.

Yesterday was just one of those days. The decision was made Friday evening I'd head out to the coast early the next morning. Considering the time of sunrise, and low tide, I figured I needed to be there between 6 and 6:30. As I pulled into Pacific City at 6:30, the location of Cape Kiwanda, I checked the hourly weather forecast. It forecasted rain by 9:00, so I figured I would need to move quickly in the still darkness.

I grabbed all the gear I thought I would need and headed to the beach. As I climbed out onto the rocks, I noticed the surf pushing in further and further inland. Dang it! I arrived exactly at low tide. Not wanting to be the cause of a U.S. Coast Guard rescue, I left the area while I still had the chance.


The rest of the morning was run of the mill...carefully walking over slippery rocks with camera in hand, charging over sandy hillsides, setting the tripod as close to the precipice as it could go...ya know.

By 8:45 I could see the wall of water approaching from off-shore, and I headed back to the safety of my car. By 8:55 the downpour had begun, and I headed home, happy with the images I was able to claim in my couple of hours.