Jeepers creepers, what kind of winter is this turning out to be? Just before Christmas Ottawa got blasted with more snow in a few days than we got all told, all winter, the year before. Now, a couple of weeks later, it's 10 degrees outside and the white crap is rapidly disappearing. Three days ago there was two plus feet of snow right outside my window. This morning, there are patches of green grass showing on the lawn, right out in front of me. What a change! Part of the global warming effect? Could be. I know the last five or six winters have been NOWHERE near as wintery as I remember as a kid. Less snow, milder temps and just plain, shorter winters. Not that I mind, now that I'm a little older and have mellowed out a little about being out in the freezing cold all day. :-)

I used to ice fish a lot in the winter and I've spent many New Years days in the past, out on some frozen lake or river somewhere. In the last four years, I've cut holes through the ice a total of two times. Looks like I'm slipin' a little, eh? Truth be told, one day of open water fishing, is worth to me at least, three or four out on a frozen lake. In terms of efficiency alone, one good cast in the summer, covers more water than you can fish in one day, from a hole in the ice, easily. What are the odds of you cutting a hole through the ice, right over the top of a spot that has fish right there?

Nowadays, I use this frozen water period, spent indoors, to work on some of my fishing tackle and to build my deadly little killer jigs that will plain spank the Crappies, Perch and Bluegills in my home lake, come April and May. Winters have also become my time to write in my blogs more and to dig out pictures from my archives to be readied for inclusion on my websites and blogs for the benefit of all my friends and readers. Because I am also a bit of a collector of many kool tiny little thingys, I also use my new Digital camera to photograph some of my goodies, to be sold on my two favorite FREE ad boards. If you'd like to view some of these neat little items which I have been releasing to the general public at crazy low prices, then just take a tour over to Kijiji and/or UsedOttawa.

This sweet little Pentax camera which I've been using since late last summer, is the totally coolest and smallest recorder of still life, that I have ever had the pleasure of using and owning. Over the past thirty years I've shot an awful pile of 35mm film through Pentax, Cannon and Minolta bodies and lenses. This tiny but very powerful new little Digital camera is again, a Pentax and did NOT put me in the poor house. A MAJOR consideration for this ol' puppy! :-) For about the price of a good accessory lens for one of my past 35mm's, this light-weight and VERY awesome unit, surpasses whatever I've used up to this point so far in my long Photography education. Because of it's weight/size or instance, it's so small that I always have it with me. That alone translates to MORE pictures being taken. It travels in it's own slick belt pouch and is barely noticeable there. Don't need any gadget bags loaded to the brim with heavy junk, in order to shoot Super pics with this sweet little kooly boy. Another plus? It's easily as "smart" as any camera I've owned, when in any of it's auto modes. It's light calculation system is totally bang on as is it's color rendition capabilities of real life and low-light situations that I put it through!

So, after all that, if YOU want a really hot yet totally cool new-tech camera, highly recommended by this ol' outdoorsy photog, then check this little bad boy out when you get a chance. It's official name/model is a Pentax Optia E30 and remember, it will not put a very big dent in your cash-flow. Oh ya, it also easily plugs into my USB port on the computer, for fast and easy downloads of any or all of the pics, so as to free up the 2 gig card I've got her stoked with! :-) Man, that's a sh__tload of pictures in such a tiny camera. I LOVE this new-technology, as long as the power doesn't go down...

Here is another sample picture of a little group of neat old soda pop bottles from yesteryear, shot with this amazing E30, that are now looking for a new home on the ad boards mentioned above. :-) So, from outdoorsy shootin' of flowers and bugs and fish and scenes etc all the way to doing indoor studio work, this sweet little digi-cam ROCKS! Anyone remember any of these neat old bottles? The Coca Cola bottle is an old, short, embossed model, date stamped on the bottom with '57, meaning 1957.

Some Old Pops

Hey, that's older than a lot of you out there, reading this. Kool! :-)