Mike Hendren, Your Castle Rock Realtor®

A few years ago, I was fishing on Lake Pueblo in Colorado and spotted this American White Pelican sitting on a stump sticking up out of the lake. I got my camera ready and, using the trolling motor, slowly drifted toward the big bird. I was lucky to get fairly close before he decided to takeoff and I was able to get about a dozen shots of him struggling to get airborne.

Then, I combined six of the images in photoshop to show this progressive sequence of the pelican's attempt to fly. They do have to work very hard to get in the air! :-)

Robert Swetz inspired me this morning with his images of the carnival rides atop a high rise in Vegas.

This black and white photo was taken in Spokane, Washington, at a small amusement park just off the downtown area near the river. It is a part of the structure that was holding up a huge array of lights. Of course it was in color to begin with and has been worked over in Photoshop, first converting it to gray scale and then really bumping up the whites and making the darks areas black.

It's been several years since I took this photo so I don't even know if that structure is still there.

Just three short days until the Vernal (spring) Equinox. Of course, here in Colorado, that does NOT mean the end of winter since April is one of the snowier months, here. We've even had snow during the first week in June!

This is also one of my favorite times of year (the autumn is the other - something about change) - the grass turns green, buds are appearing on trees, and flowers will soon be in bloom - - - sort of a renewal or new beginning that takes place each year.

We have the typical rituals of spring cleaning to deal with and, of course, the lawn mower will need servicing, but more importantly, I like to use this time of year to review my business model, see what's working and what needs tweaking, and try to stimulate the growth of my client relationships.

One of my new "tricks" to help that growth is rain - ActiveRain, that is. I'm very new here but working hard at getting the news and information out to our consumers that this is a terrific time to be a buyer of real estate, in most places in this country. And you are all helping with the amazing posts that show up every day, sharing news, tips, techniques, and "attitude" that can help propel us all to new heights in the coming months.

A few years ago, right after takeoff from San Francisco, I looked out the cockpit window and saw this pretty sight of the fog rolling in over San Fran. This was probably taken from an altitue of just three or four thousand feet as we were climbing out on the departure.

It reminds me of that quote: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." (Supposedly said by Mark Twain, but I've heard there is some dispute about this.) I know that I have certainly spent a few chilly days in July, there. :-)

I keep hearing on the news that this winter is trending toward being the driest winter on record in Denver. What that means to those of us who live here, and especially in outlying areas, is that we are all going to have to contribute to increasing fire safety awareness and doing our part to prevent these devastating wildfires. Colorado State University publishes a publication on the internet titled, "Forest Home Fire Safety". If you follow that link, you can find some excellent information about:

• Creating Wildfire-Defensible Zones
• Fire-Resistant Landscaping
• and More. . .

This is a photo of the terrible "Heyman fire" which burned thousands of acres of forest and destroyed many homes not far from Denver in 2002. I took this picture while flying at around 35,000 feet and you can tell that this plume of smoke must go above 40,000 feet and is miles across - as big as many thunderstorms.

It's been a wonderful winter - dry and warmer than average, but now we all have to pay the price of increased vigilance to try and prevent another "Heyman".