Many see death.

But there is no death in life.

Only new beginnings.  ~ Rickie Traeger

Heres some of my photography ~ Click Here

Click Here to learn more about me 

Many see death.

But there is no death in life.

Only new beginnings.  ~ Rickie Traeger

Heres some of my photography ~ Click Here

Click Here to learn more about me 

So I been working on my websites for the last 7 hours. I got a lot done. But still have a lot to do. I guess thats the joys of web design. It doesn’t get finished right away, but it takes a long time to do. I wish the stuff I had to do I could do quickly, like most of the stuff. But I have been working on this over all about 2 weeks. Trying to get the codes and shit learned. I think i have got the majority of what i wanted done. I have to test run it here later on tonight or tomm.  The downfall, I don’t think the cell phones might not be compatible with the new codes. I guess time will tell.  

I am so fucking addicted to the new CRANBERRIES cd. I was happy to hear they came out with a new cd. And i bought it and OMFG this cd fucking rocks!  I listened to them back in the day a lot. But then they kinda disappeared for awhile. Dunno why, but I was happy to hear they are back  I highly recommend going out and buying this CD. 

Not a lot has been going on with me since I last blogged. Same ol shit just a different day.  Ya know how exciting my life is LOL.  I am looking forward to the next few weeks. I have a few photo shoots lined up. Its been a little slow recently, but it is starting to pick back up. My daughter got her report card today and she has been doing awesome in school. i am very proud of her!  Hard to believe shes 10 already. The time flies by and she is growing up quickly.  I brung her to go see her grandma Deb today.  I try to bring her to see her as much as possible.  That way she will never forget her. Once someone passes, all we have left is memories. And once the memories are gone, they are forgotten. And I do not want my daughter forgetting her grandma.  

I went to the mall the other day, it has been awhile since i been there. I needed to get a shirt printed up for Rockford Scanner. I wanted something that would be noticeable and they did a hell of a job on the shirt. The only downfall, it cost $40 for one shirt!  While they were getting it done I stopped in and seen a good friend of mine Megan. Always nice to see her and talk to her. Awesome girl, we get along good.  I still have that schoolboy crush on her though ;p  She still looks good as hell.  But back on topic. We chatted for awhile. Caught up on things. When i go storm spotting this year I am going to take her along. Always nice to have company while photographing storms.  She had to get back to work, so I left and walked around the mall a bit and waited for my shirt to get done. As I am walking through the mall, a group of women started to whistle and call me sexy names. At first I didn’t think they were doing it to me, but they made it well clear they were talking to me LOL.  Was kinda weird having women whistling and calling me sexy names. Because it is supposed to be the other way around, the guys doing that to girls. I guess times have changed and the women do it to the guys now LOL.  I went back to the store and got my shirt after they made it. It looks good. Bright colors. I am sure once it goes through the washer a few times they will fade. But it is still good quality and very noticeable, just what i was looking for. I chose the colors red, white, blue. because they looked good. Then after deciding on those colors, I realized it was the colors of our flag  

I was asked the other day why I have such dark art on my website. My favorite holiday is Halloween and I like dark art. It looks cool. People assume things, but in reality if you look at the art, you will see the true meaning. You have to admire art to understand it. Its like the saying, do not judge a book by its cover. Honestly, you can think whatever you want of me, cuz frankly I do not care what people think of me. I am who I am and I will never be someone I am not.  I enjoy art.  When I look at a photo, I admire everything in it. From the main subject to the little details that you don’t see on the surface. It is like a person. You have to admire the whole person to understand that person.  I like all types of art, but dark art is one of my favorites. So that is why I post it.  When you look at a photo, look at the whole photo. Then you will understand what the true meaning is. 

That is the beauty of art. One person might see one thing while another person sees another thing.  I think art is one of mans best talents. Freedom of expression. An artist gets to express themselves in all types of art. From a song, to a poem, to a photo, to a video, etc…  When you look at the photos on my site, they all have meaning.  Each and every piece of content has meaning behind it. That is why art is such an awesome thing, but yet at the same time so mysterious.

When you look at the photo below, what do you see? This will prove my point.  Art is an expression.
(From a google search) 

When I look at this photo,  I see that we are all not perfect and everyone sins.  I chose this photo, because when everyone sees a nun, they assume they are perfect. But in reality no one is perfect. We all have our flaws. We all have our secrets. We all sin at one time or another.  You on the other hand might look at this in a whole new prospective and think perverted things or you might think how offensive this might be.  Which proves my point, I post art because it is a freedom of expression and what you see is not necessarily what I see in the art. That is why art is amazing. That is why I post the photos I do.  

Many see death.

But there is no death in life.

Only new beginnings.  ~ Rickie Traeger

Heres some of my photography ~ Click Here

Click Here to learn more about me 

Tonight just before it was getting dark I decided to drive through the Greenwood Cemetery at Auburn and Main.  I dunno why, I was just driving by it and it seemed like it was calling my name to go in there. So I drove in there and was looking at some of the tombstones. The ages on some of those stones were back in the 1800′s.  I began to think of the history of the cemetery and the history of the people in there.  It looked like the cemetery was recently vandalized, because the above ground vaults had there doors missing. And the cemetery staff had boarded them up. It is sad to see that someone could do that to the dead. And honestly to whoever did that, i hope someone pisses on your grave. But back to what I was saying.  I sat there and just took in the scenery. All the tombstones, the colors from the newly developed trees and flowers, the sounds of the birds, etc… and then I began to think of how lucky we are to be alive right now. because when it is “over” it is OVER. I began to think of how I was surrounded by the dead.  Figuratively and Literally.  How I am the only alive person in the cemetery surrounded by all these people who passed away. Kind of an eerie feeling. Then I began to look at the tombstones and realized many of those people in there, have been in there many years.  It is a beautiful cemetery and a big one. i am looking forward to spending a day in there taking many photos.  Such beautiful scenery and lots of history.  

Theres a chance for severe weather here in a few days. I am getting excited. I know it is a slight chance, but hell it is a chance! I am excited to get a thunderstorm. When there is a thunderstorm, there is always lightning.  And I plan on doing a lot of lightning photos this year. My goal this year is every thunderstorm i am in, to get at least one lightning photo.  As of right now, theres a slight chance of thunderstorms everyday for the next few days. Not a big chance, slight chances. But hell I am excited. Bring on the thunderstorms. Maybe I should do a rain dance LOL. 

I reported my coyote encounter to the Illinois Department Of Natural Resources (DNR) today.  He told me that there have been several people in the last week that have reported the same thing. He thinks there might be a den close to the trail, and when people walk by it, they get territorial and aggressive.  He said he will send a few workers into that area to search for a den. And put up some signs so that hikers are aware of the situation.  

It is always nice meeting fans of Rockford Scanner.  I have literally thousands of fans. But have only met a handful of them so far. It is always nice to meet them and hear their thoughts and opinions on RS. It is kinda weird being out and about and people recognizing me. But I know it comes with the territory.  I am just happy to know that what I have did, has brung the scanner hobby back to the Rockford area.  I always enjoy hearing the opinions and ideas that people have and the support they have for RS.  Many thanks to all my fans. 

Anna Page Park

Click Here For The Park Details

My hiking videos are posted below

My first hike at Anna Page Park on March 24th 2012

I decided to choose this park, because I seen a lot of geocaches there. My original goal was to go geocaching. But after i got there, i realized my GPS wasn’t working in the park. So I decided to go for a hike.  When I first drove in, I had no idea where to go. I seen to the right, was the frisbee golf area, so i went left. I drove past what looked like a maintenance shed, and kept going and found a parking area down a lil further on my left. So I parked there. I seen a walking path and decided that was the path I was going to take. It was an easy to moderate path, mostly easy. It was muddy at times from the recent rainfall we had. But there was a few things that got my attention. A lot of fallen trees, a stuffed animal in a tree, bright yellow flowers in the middle of the woods, and sadly a place where a young man lost his life a few weeks earlier from a snowmobile accident. It was a fun hike. It looked like it was going to open up and rain at any time, so I was trying to hurry a lil bit, because i didn’t want my equipment to get wet.  So I wish I could have spent a lil more time there. But overall, it was a fun hike. New places are always fun. I plan on going back out here more this year.  I would rate my hike as a 7. I give it a 7, because it was fun and seen a few interesting things. But there was a lot of mud and fallen trees and i was kind of in a rush.

I am an official Skywarn Spotter now

Week #7 of 52 “Serenity”  I was out hiking yesterday, and  I knew this was going to be my photo of the week.  I was in awe when I seen it. During the same day, I also got an awesome sunset photo as well. But I decided to choose this one, because it is more at peace. And that is what we are all looking for in life, is peace.

View the rest of the project ~ CLICK HERE

Interesting Daily Facts

March 14th

Chicago-O’Hare

· 81 at Chicago was 3rd earliest 80 degree reading for Chicago.

March 15th

Chicago-O’Hare

· In Chicago…this was the 2nd consecutive 80 degree day, breaking the previous record earliest recorded back to back 80 degree days. The previous earliest back to back 80 degree days on record in Chicago were April 1st and 2nd 2010.

· Chicago tied their record for most number of 80 degree days in March at 2…with the only other March with two 80 degree days occurring in 1986.

Rockford

· 82 at Rockford was the earliest 80 degree reading on record. Previous earliest 80 degree reading was 82 on March 23, 1939.

March 16th

Chicago-O’Hare

· 82 degrees at Chicago-O’Hare was the earliest it has been this warm in Chicago. Previously…the earliest 82 degree reading was not until March 27, 1945.

· Chicago set a new record for most number of 80 degree days in a March with three…the previous record for greatest number of 80 degree days during March was 2 set back in 1986.

· March 16th was the 3rd consecutive day above 80…which shattered the previous record for earliest in the season to have 3 consecutive 80 degree days. Previously the earliest Chicago has ever seen 3 consecutive 80 degree days was back on April 14-16 1976.Rockford

· Rockford tied their record number of 80 degree days in March with two. The previous years which also had two 80 degree days in March were 1907, 1939 and 1986.

· March 16th was the 2nd consecutive 80 degree day in Rockford, which established a new record for earliest in the season to see back to back 80 degree days. Previously the record earliest back to back 80 degree days in Rockford were on March 23-24 1939.

March 17th

Chicago-O’Hare

· Chicago extended the new record for most number of 80 degree days in a March with 4. It was the 4th consecutive day above 80…which broke the previous record for earliest in the season to have four consecutive 80 degree days. Previously the earliest Chicago had ever seen four consecutive 80 degree days was back on April 14-17 1976.

Rockford

· Rockford broke its record for number of 80 degree days in March with 3.

· Rockford also broke the record for earliest three consecutive 80 degree days. Previously, the earliest Rockford has ever seen three consecutive 80 degree days was back on April 4-6 1929.

March 18th

Chicago-O’Hare

· Chicago extended the record for most number of 80 degree days in a March up to five days. March 18th was also the 5th consecutive day above 80…which broke the record for earliest in the season to have five consecutive 80 degree days. Previously, the earliest Chicago had ever seen 5 consecutive 80 degree days was back on April 23-27 1915.

Rockford

· Rockford extended the record for most number of 80 degree days in a March up to four days.
March 18th was also the fourth consecutive day above 80…which broke the record for earliest in the season to have four consecutive 80 degree days. Previously, the earliest Rockford had ever seen four consecutive 80 degree days was back on April 23-26 1915.

March 19th

Chicago-O’Hare

· This was the sixth consecutive day the record high was at least tied.

Rockford

· The record warm low of 62 was the earliest a low temperature of 62 had been observed on record in Rockford. The previous earliest 62 degree low temperature was on March 26, 2007. March 19, 2012 and March 26, 2007 are now both tied for the second warmest low temperature on record for March in Rockford, with the warmest low temperature on record for the month being 63 degrees, observed on March 30, 1998.

March 20th

Chicago-O’Hare

· This was the 7th consecutive day the record high for the date was at least tied.

· It was the 6th 80 degree day this March, extending the record for number of 80 degree days in March.

· The 85 degrees observed was the third warmest March temperature on record in Chicago, only surpassed by 87 degrees on March 31, 1981 and 88 degrees on March 29, 1986.

Rockford

· This was the 5th 80 degree day this March, extending the record for number of 80 degree days in March.

· The 83 degrees observed was the third warmest March temperature on record in Rockford, only surpassed by 84 degrees on March 31, 1986 and 85 degrees on March 29, 1986.

On Records

· The all-time record high for the month of March in Chicago is 88 degrees set back on March 29, 1986. For Rockford, the all-time record high for the month of March is 85, also set back on March 29, 1986.

· Chicago and Rockford broke high temperature records five days in a row between March 14th and March 18th. While Chicago tied the record high for March 19th, the string of consecutive days with new record highs set ended. It also ended at Rockford, which failed to tie or set a new record high for the date on March 19th. It is extraordinarily rare for climate locations with 100+ year long periods of records to break records day after day after day, though it is very difficult to precisely quantify just how rare it is because as the period of record grows the likelihood of seeing so many consecutive record breaking days decreases. New record highs are likely again on Wednesday 3/21 and even possible on Thursday 3/22, with current forecast highs in the middle and upper 70s.

Regarding 80 degree temperatures in March

Chicago-O’Hare

· In Chicago…prior to this year there had only been 10 days in March with highs in the 80s, which means on average, Chicago only sees an 80 degree high in March once about every 14 years. Already this month, there have been six days at or above 80, with an additional 80 degree high likely on Wednesday. Including the six days at or above 80 this March, there have now been a total of 16 March days at or above 80 in Chicago. This means about one third of one percent of all March days have been in the 80s in Chicago.

· The last time Chicago saw an 80 degree temperature during the month of March (prior to this year) was over 22 years ago back on March 12, 1990, when the high temperature was 81.

Rockford

· In Rockford, prior to this month, there had been a total of 12 days in the 80s in March dating back to 1906, which means Rockford averages an 80 degree day in March approximately once every 11 years. Therefore, only about four tenths of one percent of March days in Rockford have high temperatures in the 80s. There have been five days at or above 80, with an additional 80 degree day likely on Wednesday. Including the five days at or above 80 this March, there have now been a total of 17 March days at or above 80 in Rockford.

· Prior to this year, the last time Rockford had an 80 degree day in March was on March 26, 2007, when the high temperature was 80.

More Interesting Statistics on the Historic Warmth of March 2012

Through March 20th, Chicago has seen six days at or above 80° this month and five at Rockford. If the forecast verifies Wednesday, the area will add another 80° day to the tally for both cities. To help put into perspective just how unusual this is…here are a few more 80° statistics.

· 80° warmth is not very common even in April, let alone mid March. Chicago only averages about 1 day in the 80′s in April each year. Only once in the 140 recorded years of weather observations has April produced as many 80° days as have been observed this March. That was set back in 1977, when 8 days peaked at or above 80°.

· In Rockford, 80° warmth is slightly more common in April due to its greater distance from the cooling effects of Lake Michigan. Rockford averages 3 days in the 80′s in April. Its record for the highest number of days above 80° was set in April 1915 with 9 days. There have been three April’s that have recorded at least 7 days in the 80′s. If the forecast for one more day in the 80′s verifies, Rockford would tie the record for the 3rd highest amount of 80 degree days in April.

· If the forecast for one more day in the 80′s verifies, it would also would mean that 7 of 17 (roughly 41%) of Chicago’s 80° days in March, dating back to 1871, would have occurred in March of 2012. For Rockford, 6 out of 18 (roughly 33%) of Rockford’s 80° days in March would have occurred this March of 2012.

· If the 80° forecast verifies, Chicago’s average temperature for the first 21 days of March would be 53.4°. Not only would this shatter the record for the warmest March ever, it would tie for the 7th warmest April ever in Chicago. Similarly for Rockford, the average temperature for the first 21 days of March would rank above the 19th warmest April.

A Final Word

- In Chicago, the warmest March on record occurred in 1910 and then in 1945, which both averaged 48.6 degrees. Through March 19th, the average monthly temperature for March 2012 for Chicago-O’Hare was an amazing 51.4, which would already break the record!

- In Rockford, the warmest March on record was in 1945, with an average temperature of 48.2. Through March 19th, the average monthly temperature for March 2012 was 49.4 degrees, which would already break the record for warmest March.

- With a few more days of record or near record temperatures this week, and temperatures forecast to remain well above normal through the weekend, these average temperatures will only continue to increase. Thus at the current pace, it is almost a certainty that Chicago and Rockford will not only break, but shatter their current record warmest Marches

source ~ click here

 Taking A Break From R.S. For A Few Days

I am going to take a break from Rockford Scanner for a few days. I can only monitor it for so long. I am in need of a break. Yes, it is an active scanner time right now with it being a warm weekend, but I have decided to take a break for a few days. Feel free to monitor the scanners on the website and if you hear anything of interest, email the info to admin@rockfordscanner.com and I will post it.

When I get back, I am going to be working on a few projects for R.S. so I want to get some rest and relaxation before I start on these projects.  I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on why there won’t be any posts by me this weekend.  My admins will be monitoring, and will be posting stuff on the fan page.

I have had this song in my head for the last few days, check it out.  ~