I was all packed up ready to photo a youth league in Trussville, which of course got cancelled. I missed all the damn snow on Friday due to work so I decided to keep my alarm set for 5:30am so I could enjoy a snowy hike up Ruffner Mtn. Google says total distance was right at 7 miles, not bad for a Saturday morning hike… and even I got to the Whistle Stop Cafe by noon so I could eat fried green tomatoes mmmm….  I think most patrons thought I was a train hobo.

You can enlarge most of these by clicking on them!

The main intersection

The path below quarry. Notice the amount of snow still in the trees.  This was before sun came out.

my fav shot, the quarry walls… from south part of rim shooting north

Self portrait with downtown Birmingham behind me.  Do I look like it’s 23 degrees?

A tree at Hawk’s View Overlook

Speaking of hawks!!!  This beauty gave me exactly 3 seconds and she was off…

Female Northern Cardinal looking for some breakfast

The captive one-eyed owl at the Nature Center

I didn’t make it to the wetlands in time… everything was melting blah

Thats it!  I actually experienced some user error during the hike, so I didn’t get many shots in the middle of the hike.  I gave up trying to get rid of a “fEE” error on the camera, but then realized that it was because the lens I was using had it’s apeture manually closed up (like f11).  The camera only accepts the lens if its manually set to widest aperture… then the cam can control the ap.  All that said I’m glad I got to spend time just walking and not fiddling with camera gear.

Jake, my nephew, celebrated his 2nd birthday party by beating the crap out of Sponge Bob.

They decided to be photogenic in the rain, so I took some photos.

I took a small photowalk through the Botanical Gardens. It was a nice summer day and provided some great colors.