Welcome - Oslo Ryder Gegg

Thursday we were joined by our fourth grandchild, Oslo Ryder Gegg. Oslo is in keeping with the capitol theme, joining his sister Olympia. At 9 pounds 5 ounces he came in as about half grown already! We got online with them on Skype last night in dad's room. The little guy brought a big smile to his face except dad was upset that Oslo has more hair then he does.

Interview Released

http://www.fly2houston.com/hasVideo

Not sure how long the link will be up but this is a video about the 40th anniversary of the Houston Intercontinental Airport. It just so happens that the airport opened on the day we got married AND my dad worked the first shift that the new airport was opened, starting at midnight on 6/8/1969. He came home from work in the morning, slept a little then got dressed and was at the church for our wedding. Our little portion of the video is short and near the very end if you have the patience to wait for it to show up. There is also a quick shot of dad sitting in the cockpit of a 727 at the new airport.

A Week of Ups and Downs, but mostly Downs

Last Friday we lost our dog of 13 years, Ranger. Dad was fairly well upset about it as this dog was very special to him as well as us. Dad, at 92, has been having some difficulty breathing the last few weeks. We took him to the ER last night and he has been in the ICU portion of our local hospital since then. We were here with him until late last night and back again this morning. I am staying in his room. Cindy went home to pack. She is on call to go to our daughters house to take care of our 5 year old grand daughter. Jenny is 8.999 months pregnant and will need someone there to help for a few days. We are sharing duties here and I need to be here with dad. We have our fingers crossed that dad gets better and can come home soon.

Ranger and Colet

Our daughter has a cat that got along OK with Ranger. It was not a matter of him getting close to her. She had to let him get close. One year Colet, the cat, sent Ranger a Christmas present of his own to open. When Ranger had finished passing out the presents that morning, we told him this one was for Ranger. His eyes lit up and he tore into the package like a three year old kid. When he had the small football out he tossed it around a few times then brought it to me to throw for him. I tossed it into the air so he could catch it.

More Ranger

This time a video of his favorite "trick"; well not so much of a trick as a service to mankind:

Ranger was really proud of this one. It took a total of 6 takes to get this final version that was edited down from all the different shots. He waited patiently while I set up each shot. The amazing thing is it took no more than 5 minutes to teach him to do this and he was always ready go get one for us!

Our Friend - Ranger

I went through some of the photos we had of Ranger and made a small composite in Photoshop. Some of his favorite things. I also have a couple of images with Ranger and our grand daughter, Olympia together. She was sad to learn that Ranger had died and wanted to know where he went. We told her he had a room full of tennis balls and someone to throw them for him as well as a laser light to chase whenever he wanted one.

The snow shot in the composite is not very easy to understand so I will add a short video to explain. Even this spring when he was not feeling well and the cancer was keeping him slowed down he begged to go out in the snow with us to "help" shovel.

O's Birthday Party

After a short drive - 4 hours - we went to Olympia's birthday party at the YMCA on the south side of Lincoln. We had the pool for 90 minutes then time for cake and ice cream in the pavilion! She is now 5 and really getting to be a young lady.

Cut Short

Our extended four day weekend in Colorado with Boyd and Barb Norton was cut short with a simple phone call on Sunday morning. My dad had been taken to the emergency room with some pains in his chest and shoulder. We packed up and headed back. Within about an hour of leaving we learned that they didn't think it was too serious, no heart problems, but at 92, we take everything serious with dad! We elected to keep driving home. My brother was able to drive up and be with dad until we got home that evening. We took a short detour off Interstate 70 to visit Castle Rock again. This time the truck was home and we were in the Honda van and hurting for ground clearance. I am not really afraid of bad roads as long as they are not muddy or icy. The Honda has very low ground clearance but if you know how to drive it, the roads there are mostly passable. We had to go slow over some parts and take some small detours but we did get to all the places I wanted to see. Excellent! The clouds were perfect. The lighting was a little "young" but we dealt with it.

Fourth of July Hike

My friend Duane Graham and I took a short hike in one of the open space parks in Evergreen, Colorado. We are in Evergreen with our wives having a great visit with Boyd and Barbara Norton, www.wildernessphotography.com - check it out. Nice recollections of our trips together to Tanzania, the Galapagos Islands, Photo Workshops in Colorado and Wyoming.

Kansas Sunset

I was headed home from Arkansas this evening, called home and found out the farmers were burning the wheat stubble left in the fields. This always makes for great sunsets so I diverted my route from the fastest way home to the best chance for a sunset in the Flint Hills which took maybe 15 minutes more. I barely made it to a slight hill to be able to screech off the road, pop the trunk and grab my 100-400L IS and Canon 40D. No time for a tripod so I braced off the roof of the car. Time for 34 exposures before the sun was down. I like this one the best; double processed to get the foreground to show a little.