tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70927189246567058442011-08-03T12:44:54.524-04:00Random thoughts, tales of adventure and other stuff.Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.comBlogger321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-69248458154557840082011-07-22T22:43:00.000-04:002011-07-22T22:43:17.865-04:00

During a recent business trip to Tennessee, I needed to stay over the weekend.  An opportunity to get out and do some sight-seeing presented itself so I drove out to Reelfoot Lake and found a beautiful wildlife waterfowl preservation area.  On my way there, I found a lot of opportunities for some photography. Abandon grain silo in Tiptonville, TN. Abandon grain silo.   Tiptonville, TN Twin

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-71439440986192524752011-06-08T15:29:00.000-04:002011-06-08T15:29:40.019-04:00

Jessica and I were sitting outside again over the weekend in our favorite spot, reading and just chilling out watching our birds and Koi. Several birds kept coming down to the waterfall and getting a drink while we sat right there. One robin, in particular, is a bit of a stalker. He follows Jessica around the yard and waits for her to sprinkle him with the hose. We found out that he also is

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-49725598496445175662010-10-18T19:41:00.002-04:002010-10-18T19:57:40.207-04:00

I'll start by making a long story short and just say that it was only through a strange set of circumstances that I had my camera with me today. Also another circumstance that we had a fire drill at the office and so everyone headed outside. There, sitting on a wire was a red-tailed hawk. I went to the car to get my gear and change lenses. When I walked back, he was on the ground. It looked

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-58103947294975847762010-08-16T14:28:00.006-04:002010-08-16T15:04:50.080-04:00

It was hot today, like all the rest have been lately. Since I had a lot of programming work to do I decided to spend the day working from my home office. Everything was nice and quiet until about 2:00 when I began to hear a lot of commotion outside. Several birds were making a lot of racket. Sometimes thats not all that unusual since there are several nests around and there are the occasional

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-15347348562849079772010-03-21T10:54:00.004-04:002010-03-21T11:31:53.246-04:00

I just returned from an exciting trip to Poland. The company I work for is building a new plant there. So, unfortunately I did have to work most of the time :( However, I managed to squeeze in a trip to Wrocław, Poland and also Prague, Czech Republic. The trip to Prague was interesting because there isn't really a highway to go from Bolesławiec (where we were staying) to Prague. So, we

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-69104584819946656702010-01-14T21:48:00.003-05:002010-01-14T22:03:17.537-05:00

So I'm sitting around in sub-freezing temperatures thinking to myself what can I do to get me out of the house for awhile. Those of you that know me know that there's almost anywhere I would rather be than inside - no matter what temperature it is!A couple of friends of mine and I packed up our gear and headed into the Red River Gorge to do some shooting and hiking. I've been experimenting with

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-55520870784588091992009-11-28T17:51:00.003-05:002009-11-28T18:18:45.616-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I know this is a couple of days late but I wanted to wait until I had something decent to show you. I took this picture of a beautiful Tom at Shaker Village in Harrodsburg, KY today. We spent the better part of the day there today, it was a very pleasant day to be outside. Just a little chill in the air and not a cloud in the sky.As you can see, Jessica is looking

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-63808127389386778062009-11-08T10:04:00.005-05:002009-11-08T10:48:29.464-05:00

We spent the day yesterday in Louisville for the state marching band competition. Because Jessica is so involved with helping the band get ready, we didn't stay to watch many performances. I think we saw about 4 bands perform in the 5A category. Our kids did great! We put on the best show we've had all year and we were all really proud of the band and everyone who helps to put on the show.We

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-6745437736544871292009-10-04T03:43:00.016-04:002009-10-04T17:41:46.543-04:00

This weekend was pretty special. Many of you know that I've been going to Spain quite often lately. It's a work project, and I'd like to say that I'm a travel photographer or something cool like that but alas, such is not the case. So, while I'm here I make the best of it. I've seen Valencia to death, been to every beach, castle, pub, orange grove and outhouse within 100 miles. So, this

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-5871979157980265792009-09-09T20:31:00.015-04:002009-09-09T21:47:41.134-04:00

I'm back again with more tales of adventure, or at least some sightseeing. Several of my coworkers and I drove to Barcelona to spend a day. Here is the quick rundown: we left Valencia at 6:00 AM and got back at 2:00 AM the next morning, one guy was pick-pocketed within 1 hour of arriving in town, we walked 8 miles, road various buses all over town, saw the big cathedrals as well as the street

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-28525364674266883652009-08-08T20:41:00.004-04:002009-08-08T21:10:52.778-04:00

Last night, Kyle and I drove down to the Red River Gorge to get some sunset pictures and try something new. If I would have planned better, we would have just spent the night camping primitive but I didn't think about it until we were on our way (typical).We setup on Chimney Top Rock which gives us a great view of the river valley to the West and also an incredible sunset view of Half Moon Rock

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-55973770076405175952009-06-30T22:17:00.006-04:002009-06-30T22:52:55.524-04:00

I've had this frog in my pond almost since I built it a few years ago. Actually, as of this year there are 3 frogs in there. I have no idea where they came from but they've taken up residence and they aren't paying any rent! To add insult to injury, these guys don't know when to shut up. They croak day and night. My mom knows this because while we were talking on the phone the other day,

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-37408849076850879682009-06-28T13:13:00.004-04:002009-06-28T13:26:24.910-04:00

Kevin & I had an opportunity to do some fishing this weekend. We borrowed a boat and headed out to the lake. Kyle and Jessica were busy with some other things so it was just the 3 of us (we brought Sasha). I can tell you that after much effort, there are no fish to be found anywhere near my fishing pole! We didn't even get a single bite.However, we take some time out and pull up to a beach

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-51265673990313710552009-06-07T16:27:00.005-04:002009-06-07T16:58:48.923-04:00

I had the opportunity this weekend to spend some time sightseeing up the coast of Spain. We are staying in Valencia and traveled about 1.5 hours North to the town of Peñíscola. There is a beautiful castle there that was built around 1307 by the Knights Templar and became the home to Pope Benedict XIII. Follow this link for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeniscolaThe castle was

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-82957381802526278562009-05-29T13:32:00.002-04:002009-05-29T13:39:18.159-04:00

What could be more perfect in form, more pure and unblemished then the relationship of a boy and his dog? The answer is that very few things are as precious. The family was out on the patio last week, as we are almost every night, just enjoying eachother's company and talking about the day. I was messing around with my camera as I often do and managed to capture this moment as Kyle and Sasha

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-62720831833165244872009-04-23T12:06:00.004-04:002009-04-23T12:21:08.245-04:00

I haven't posted anything in awhile so I decided to put up some pictures I took while fooling around with my camera recently. Every so often, I try to get my Koi to cooporate but they don't behave well. You have no idea how hard it is to get a school of fish to pose for a picture! I have another Koi that is mostly orange and some white and black but I couldn't get a decent picture of him.I'm

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-54189421868002306262009-02-08T20:32:00.004-05:002009-02-08T21:05:24.450-05:00

Here are some quotes from some people who we should probably be paying more attention to these days, as well as my thoughts on each quote. "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies" - Thomas JeffersonBoy, how true THAT quote is today! And, the comment about "standing armies" has a very specific meaning with Thomas Jefferson. He was not talking

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-18552472302734017092009-01-29T23:58:00.005-05:002009-01-30T00:27:51.670-05:00

While on a business trip this week, the ice storm hit the region that I happened to be in. I took the photograph below from my iPhone while trying to navigate the road. In many places the 2 lane split highway was reduced to a single lane or less from fallen trees. As I made my way further into this corridor of destruction, a logistics problem began making itself apparent. I was running out of

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-14230453829894534452009-01-16T19:31:00.002-05:002009-01-16T19:48:34.326-05:00

This morning I was awoken a little before 6:00 AM by a knock on the door. I noticed the house was very cold and dark as I stumbled downstairs to see what the commotion was. It was a guy from the utility company trying to get into my back yard where the transformer is for my area of the neighborhood. I put on my coat and some shoes and grabbed a flashlight to help this guy out. My gate was

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-54414579885726207932009-01-08T07:54:00.002-05:002009-01-08T08:05:44.763-05:00

I've been avoiding jumping on the social networking bandwagon for a long time now. I like to blog and don't mind posting a few pics, but didn't want to be involved with "MySpace" or a few of the other social networking outfits. For those of you who don't know what "social networking" is, here is a link that can give you some idea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networkingBut, after a few

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-74501536243394242652008-11-21T19:12:00.007-05:002008-11-21T20:20:33.806-05:00

Well, this will be a different kind of post. I realize most of you are not of the technical nature so if this bores you, I'll apologize in advance. However, there are a few of my esteemed colleagues who may appreciate this.A couple of weeks ago, I was approached by a friend of mine with a project that he wanted some help with. I have to tell you, this is one of those guys who has nearly every

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-9983519182410643392008-11-02T12:08:00.008-05:002008-11-02T12:41:56.201-05:00

Our day began promptly at 6:30 yesterday so we could get the kids up and off to school at 7:30 to be ready to go to Louisville for the State marching band competition. We carpooled with our friends and arrived at the stadium in time for opening ceremonies. There were 16 bands in the 5A category that competed at Papa John's Stadium. Categories A to AAAA competed at other locations around

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-80700661409269076362008-10-16T16:17:00.005-04:002008-10-16T16:43:47.199-04:00

This past week we were blessed with a visit from my Grandparents and my Aunt Cindy! We had been talking about this visit for a long time and we finally just made the time and did it. Thank you Cindy!!! Cindy was nice enough to take some time off and bring everyone out from New Jersey. We had great weather so we took advantage of it and had a great time. Sitting on the patio having a nice

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-81359806320710830262008-09-14T17:42:00.005-04:002008-09-14T19:56:47.087-04:00

Someone has been complaining that there haven't been many posts from me recently. Well, that's what happens when school starts and I no longer have the time to myself to go running off cliffs or hangliding at night on the 4th of July. However, there has been no less excitement in our lives lately.Most of the day and well into the night last night, we were watching marching bands from a number of

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-3452186065317045952008-08-09T21:17:00.011-04:002008-08-09T22:24:51.443-04:00

Saturday was a great day. I was invited to go rappelling with my friend David and a couple of his friends, Ted and Jarrod. Since I had never been rappelling and it sounded dangerous I naturally accepted. We drove to the Red River Gorge and Ted found a cliff that had a nice big tree to anchor from. After some careful instruction, and watching everyone else go first (have to make sure that rope

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-6770340233383649872008-08-03T16:29:00.004-04:002008-12-09T15:56:28.142-05:00

This weekend was spent caving, hiking and camping with a couple of friends of mine. We went to Carter Caves in Kentucky. After obtaining the proper permits, we spent the first part of the day exploring 3 different caves. All were wet. We geared up and headed off into the darkness. At one point, a cave became unpassable unless we waded through a couple of feet of water. We only had a little

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-30443599473718461652008-07-16T00:21:00.004-04:002008-12-09T15:56:29.252-05:00

Greetings once again from beautiful Northern California. On Sunday, we headed over to Half Moon Bay and hung out for awhile. We took a nice walk along the coast along a cliff overlooking the Pacific. It was very beautiful and we just stood for awhile watching the gulls and pelicans float along over the beach. Occasionally I would see one with a fresh catch in its mouth, heading back home for

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-72171287784621854132008-07-14T03:05:00.010-04:002008-12-09T15:56:35.795-05:00

Whale watching cruiseFirst, I want to thank SF Whale Watching (http://www.sfbaywhalewatching.com/) for the incredible tour we were given. This was truly an amazing tour with a ton of wildlife to see and thanks to the crew and experts with us, a very educationall trip. When I got back and downloaded all my pictures, I realized that I had taken over 500 photographs! I picked out just a few to

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-73037478715209375182008-07-13T12:29:00.006-04:002008-12-09T15:56:38.175-05:00

Muir Woods National MonumentJessica, Kevin and I went to the Muir Woods to see the giant sequoia's (giant redwood) trees. Muir Woods is located just North of San Francisco near Mill Valley. Those of you that are M*A*S*H fans know that Mill Valley is where B.J. Honeycut is from. It was a beautiful forest with trees over 1000 years old! It was amazing to see some of the fire damage on the trees

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-87773516519281674842008-07-07T23:30:00.011-04:002008-12-09T15:56:41.286-05:00

We just finished up our 3rd full day in San Francisco and I decided to take a few minutes and post some pictures. So far the trip has been great. Day 1 - Spent some time in Alameda touring the USS Hornet. Not only did she serve with distinction in WWII and Korea but she was the vessel that recovered the astronauts from Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions after they walked on the moon! We then went

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-90084798614502493222008-07-01T23:23:00.004-04:002008-12-09T15:56:41.999-05:00

Kevin has been asking for awhile to go on a kayak trip so in June, I took him on one. We went with my friend Mike and his nephew a few miles down a nice river. It was a nice afternoon and we saw some interesting critters. We even saw a bald eagle! But, I couldn't get a clear shot of him so there are no pictures. Sorry, you'll just have to take my word for it.I don't know why this is but it seems

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092718924656705844.post-36131295773730837072008-06-20T07:26:00.001-04:002008-06-20T08:07:08.136-04:00

Just like a satellite in a decaying orbit must eventually succumb to the laws of physics and smash into the Earth, I have finially come over to the dark side and begun my life here at Google. I had stayed away from Google for a long time, admittedly due to some stubbornness to see the web companies I have been loyal to thrive and grow. But alas, after struggling with photo sharing issues with the

Brian Landwehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14950097496149377556noreply@blogger.com0