Am I the only one?

Golf in February? Sure! We just use neon orange balls. One of the great benefits of golfing in the snow that you don't have to worry about replacing your divots! Down-side? The greens (whites?) are REALLY SLOW!

I love the snow, my only complaint is with the kids! Had to tell one of them to get his shoes on six times.

This stuff we have in central NC is not even snow. It snowed for an hour or two, then started sleeting, then finished up with freezing rain to insure it was a solid 2 inch sheet of impenetrable ice. It does make even a small sledding hill pretty fast, or at least fast enough for six year olds. 19 degrees here now. Low of 2 tonight, this is record setting territory for us. So much so that I think I need to go grab a six pack to celebrate.

I mean the kids ARE at grandmas afterall.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17439379
Hey, although I am not in CO, UT, or ME, I am one of those weirdos that like it! For me, the colder the better, as far as outdoor photography is concerned. I just love the look of snow and frost!

Guess you're not doing too much golfing these days.

Where in Maine? My father is a Maine state guide.

GeoKras1989 wrote in post #17439416
Golf in February? Sure! We just use neon orange balls. One of the great benefits of golfing in the snow that you don't have to worry about replacing your divots! Down-side? The greens (whites?) are REALLY SLOW!

Still golfing here. We had to quit (or wear boots) for a bit in Jan because of the rain.

Sunny and 50-55F most days.

3 feet of snow 300 mi north of us but the Lower Mainland is having a mild winter.

Sorry for your weather!

Frodge wrote in post #17439442
Where in Maine? My father is a Maine state guide.

I said I was not in Maine.
I am in Washington state.

Is your dad a hunting guide, or a fishing guide?
If hunting, does he guide for big game, or does he guide for Grouse?

Mostly hunting, big game. Not as active in it as he once was. I'm a dope, I guess I read your post too quickly.

All this talk of snow and cold put me in the mood to utilize some of the 10 cords of firewood I put up this summer. Soon it will 78 degrees in my house, and its only costing me chain-saw gas money. Well, that and two weeks of intense manual labor. Enjoy. I am. Got marshmallows?

Edit: Lest anyone think an old man is exaggerating. Felled, bucked and stacked by hand. Split with the aid of a 22-ton gas-powered splitter.

GeoKras1989 wrote in post #17439266
I did not view Scott M's advice as critical. He was only making a suggestion that I may enjoy golf better if I had better equipment. My response was only intended to thank him and to explain why that is not the case for me.

That was the intention of my suggestion, so I am glad to read that you understood my intention. If you are happy with your golf equipment, that is great. I was not offended by your response at all.

10 cords is a serious amount of wood! How much have you used so far this heating season?

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17439911
10 cords is a serious amount of wood! How much have you used so far this heating season?

Most of it (~7 cords) is for next year and beyond.

I have used about 1/2 of the 3 cords or so that was split for this season. We use LP gas for heat, mostly. We only burn when it is convenient and the highs are staying in the 20s, or lower. Last year I was down to about 1 cord and a pile of white pine that I usually use only for kindling. When the price of LP went from $1.59/gal to over $7/gal., I told my supplier to save it for folks who have no alternative. Which forced me to buy wood in the middle of the winter at $300/cord. But it was still 25% of the cost of using LP at that price. Sooooo..... last winter I got caught with my pants down. Short supply of firewood and $7 LP scared me. I spent most of my free time this summer chasing free firewood. I don't mind doing the work, so I won't pay for firewood. Well, unless it is the middle of winter and LP is $7+/gal.

Luckily, for me anyway, a major storm went through in June. I have neighbors who don't burn who were happy to let me clean up their yards for free. Arborists start a $1,000 a (really large) tree to remove storm damage around here. Less than I mile from my house, I got truckloads of hickory, silver maple, sassafras, wild cherry, elm and oak. I even took 3 good size (60-70') white pines for kindling. I was so happy to get that much free wood so close to home that I cut up all the worthless cottonwood on their property so they could dispose of it themselves. Cottonwood doesn't even make good kindling.

For those non-burners out there, 10 cords of stacked firewood is roughly 35 FULL (tail-draggin' front wheels barely on the ground FULL) full-sized pickup truck loads of tree pieces. My old farm truck worked almost as hard as I did for that wood. Free heat at -10 degrees is worth all the summer-time sweat.

And a tip of the hat to the cardiologist who put me back together so I can still do this stuff. Thanks, doc!

For anyone who cares. For your viewing pleasure is one very old cast-iron Kalamzoo 1902 Wood Stove. It heats a 3,000 square foot tri-level (Brady Bunch) house all by itself. OK, I do have to keep it supplied with wood. Wood that cost me about $10, and a lot of sweat, will heat my house for about 2 weeks. Right now it is a balmy 0 degrees outside. Inside is toasty warm for about 70 cents a day.

Nice

GeoKras1989 wrote in post #17440018
For anyone who cares. For your viewing pleasure is one very old cast-iron Kalamzoo 1902 Wood Stove. It heats a 3,000 square foot tri-level (Brady Bunch) house all by itself. OK, I do have to keep it supplied with wood. Wood that cost me about $10, and a lot of sweat, will heat my house for about 2 weeks. Right now it is a balmy 0 degrees outside. Inside is toasty warm for about 70 cents a day.

Very cool...Or I guess warm would be a better word.

MalVeauX wrote in post #17422527
Heya,

I'm never oohing and aweing over the new stuff. I don't like the idea of spending $2k, $3k, $4k on something that is only truly marginally better than something else. I want a 6D, but I'm not willing to shell out the money for it yet, because I only want it for it's dynamic range and ISO performance, mainly the ISO performance, but I realistically don't need it right now so I haven't bothered.

In another 5~8 years, I might pick up and "old" 6D or 1D4 at that point.

For now, I'm completely content with my 5Dc and 1D MKII for my primary work horses. I dabble with my EOS-M and other various APS-C's.

Very best,

Whenever I get the urge to upgrade, I go see the 5DC image sample threads and I'm always impressed by the images coming from this so called "old" camera. Doing this immediately puts out the flame to upgrade. If I'm honest with myself and avoid gear lust, there's no reason for me to upgrade my current gear for many years to come.

I think the technology has arrived to the point where improvements will be minor and practically impossible to tell the difference in real world use. Those "differences" become a little more apparent in lab test and 100% cropping of images....but none of that is real world use.

I shoot weddings, family and events and I'm extremely please with the results I get from my current roster of cameras/lenses...I can't see that changing anytime soon !

Patbil10 wrote in post #17440457
...

I think the technology has arrived to the point where improvements will be minor and practically impossible to tell the difference in real world use. Those "differences" become a little more apparent in lab test and 100% cropping of images....but none of that is real world use.
...

+100!

Titi