Knoxville Zoo

We went to the zoon on Sunday. It was a bit hot and most of the animals were pretty lazy and snoozed in the shade.

One of the chimps had a baby about a month ago and it seems the new baby boy was of interest to even the zoo keepers. The pictures are not that good because the chimps were behind thick glass with a really horrible glare. I post-processed heavily to try to salvage them.



The baby was born about 1 month ago, in mid-July. They are not sure of the exact date because she had the baby sometime after they left for the night and came back the next day. Apparently, the chimps are not telling.

Here is one of the baby by himself. Like I said, not a great picture, but you get the idea. For a while it was fun to watch the baby and mom's interaction. The chimp is learning to crawl and momma laid down on her stomach and was face to face with baby for a while, giving him some encouragement. Unfortunately, no images of that.


And one more image. These guys did not mind the heat too much. Can you figure out what it is. It should not be too hard, but you might want to let your kids have a guess.


Here is another. Surely you can tell with this one.


OK, OK. Were you right?

Future Olympian

I am not sure she will rise to that level, but Sarah and I miss the Olympics.

More X Games Action

Nick wanted to do some jumping tonight. And he wanted pictures of his action so he could see how he was doing. Here are some images for him and you.

Some More Lake Fun

Sarah and I took the pontoon boat out for a while. Nick and Yvonne played on the houseboat. OK, so Yvonne was really cleaning the houseboat and Nick was playing, but that is another story.

Sarah and I had a blast tubing. I will say that since the lake was fairly empty, I could drive the boat and take pictures at the same time.

Sarah was not sure she could tube by herself, but she did great and now has all the confidence to do it again.

I took the 300 2.8 to the lake today. It was a bit tougher to hold on target with the wave action and all the bouncing around, but the results were pretty good and with the longer lens, I did not have to crop these at all, so essentially, they are full frame. The sun only peeked out occasionally, so the images lack some punch in the colors due to the overcast day, but all in all, it was a fun day on the tube and behind the camera.

Some late season lake action

The lake levels are way down, which can only mean the fall draw-down has started and it won't be long until boating season ends. We took one last quick trip to the lake before school started last sunday. My parents were in town and due to Nick's quadruple header football schedule Saturday and Sunday, we only had a few hours of time to hit the lake.

The kids had a ball playing in the water and showing off for Grandma Roey and Pops while tubing, even it was only behind the slow pontoon boat.

They also had some fun playing in the water under the watchful eye of Grandma Roey and Pops.

You win some, you lose some.

So far, Nick's football tournament is not going so well. They lost both games Saturday, one in a romp and one in double overtime.

Here's a good summary of the day from the "romp" game.

I'll post some more later. For now, we are off to the Sunday games. It's only 6:52 am, but we need to get to the fields.

Sarah's getting ready for some softball

Are you ready for some baseball? Sarah's team is almost ready.



Just a couple from tonight's softball practice.


The sun had almost set by the time it was Sarah's turn to bat, so the images are missing that good end of the day light.


Here are a couple from a few minutes early with the nicer light, but Sarah did not want to pose for any pictures for me.

Football Scrimmage with cross-town rival

Nick had a pre-season scrimmage today with a cross-town rival. It was all fun today, though and all of the boys had a great time. The coach let everyone carry the ball at least once, including all of the lineman. Pretty funny to see some of these heavyweights carry the ball. During the season, if you weigh too much, you are marked with a big green X on your helmet, signifying you can not carry the ball. So, today was their day of glory.

Speaking of glory, Nick started the day off right. In the first series of the day, Nick's team faked the hand-off to him about 3 times in a row. I told him he probably would not get the ball much today because his speciality is running it up the gut (middle for you non-footballers) and in flag football, that does not always work too well.

Anyway, about the 4th play of the game, they give it to him and he promptly runs about 80 yards for the score.

And then, on the ensuing defensive series, he intercepts the 2nd pass attempt and runs that back for touchdown. He (and his dad) were both smiling after that.


Oh, I've got a few more (hundred) online for the parents of the other players to look at on my Hatpix.com website. Of course, there are a few of Nick there too.