Police Activity Nearby

[Note: More details at the bottom of this post.]

At about 7:30 tonight, a young man was shot and killed in the parking lot of a small grocery store near our house. It seems that 2 cars parked at the corner of the parking lot, argued and shots were fired. At the time of this writing (11:20 PM), the roads are still blocked off as the police process the crime scene. As far as we can tell at this time, the youngsters in the 2 cars weren't from around our neighborhood.

This all started when we heard sirens coming closer and closer, then we noticed that a helicopter was practically hovering over our house.

The next thing we know, a couple of police cars stopped at the intersection at our house and blocked off the traffic. They were keeping the traffic from heading down the road across the front of our house.

After the helicopter left the scene, the police cars moved over to the grocery store, so we went out and could see that the area had been blocked off by the police cars and crime scene tape was everywhere. It didn't take long before bystanders and their cars started stacking up.

I counted over 25 vehicles related to the crime scene. At this point, we had no idea what the hub-bub was all about. It wasn't until we saw the Ten O-Clock News that we realized what had happened. Well, it looks like the "Big Bad World" is getting closer to our doorstep.

News Update: This was a drug deal / robbery gone bad. More details as they come up.

2011 Daytona 500

Since we received some complementary tickets to go to the Daytona 500 (Thanks Bobbi and Chris at Rexel!), we made a trip to what we call 'The Redneck Mecca', so we could attend the 500-Mile race since we had already gone to the 400-Mile race in July back in 2001 and the Bud-Shootout in 2008, we figured going to the 500 would be the last one of interest for us...

We got up at 5:00AM so we could get there with as little hassle as possible. As you can see, the fog was pretty thick and since some of the drivers around us seemed to freak out in the fog, the drive was a bit scarey at times.

So, we made it the parking area as you can see by the lineup in front of us, but the surprising part is that the sun had risen but the fog refused to burn off.

Off to our left was this kilt-guilded crew, but we're not sure what they were all about...

So we parked the van right by the transport buses (having arrived by 7:30), had breakfast from the stuff we had brought with us then took a nap while everybody else was still trying to get into the parking area.

After our nap, it was 'potty time' and the girls were relieved to see the "Reserved For Women" signs on some of them (the little white tag on the door to the left of Mr. Black Shirt). The bus trip to the back stretch stands was relatively uneventful, with the only exception being a question of how long we had to wait in the stop-&-go traffic on I-4 before we made it to the parking area. When we explained that we didn't have to wait because we came in early, boy did we get a dirty look...

Well, here we are, after making it through the security gauntlet. Since Katrina has on a dark blue tank top (hot & she's gonna sunburn!), we stopped by the merchandise trailers for a Dale Earnhardt Junior T-shirt for her.

The funny thing is, this the Daytona 500 and the area isn't jam-packed with people like it was when we were at the 400-mile race back in 2001...

Well, it's time to climp up to our seats...

We're getting up there! Again though, it's surprising that the area isn't packed with fans. I mean, the green flag with be dropping in less than an hour.

A quick look through the 'steel spiderweb'. See the bathroom plumbing up above? Bet that's gonna be busy soon with all of the beer being dispensed at the track...

"And the home, of the, Braaaave!" Play ball! Oops, I mean, "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!"

Here comes one of the jets on the return trip back to the airport behind us.

On final approach, coming in for a landing.

A close-up of what I think is an F-16. Gotta love Luann's camera...

And here they come, doing a couple of warm-up laps behind the Camaro pace car.

I made a crack at about the half-way point of the race that every so often, the race slows down so we can see that the Camaro is still leading the pack...

These cars were set up to look like Transformers. Unfortunately, they didn't look all that great, especially since one of them was belching white smoke.

Well, the racing has begun and we have our first spinout.

We were nicely positioned across from the Jumbo-Tron so we can see what's happening on the other side of the track.

A closer shot of the Jumbo-Tron

And how was the racing? Well, this little snippet of the race embodies what we saw for most of the race. Two cars team up and stay nose-to-butt in order to survive. This was totally boring...

The only exciting thing to watch was this husband & wife team yelling at Dale Earnhardt Jr, giving him instructions on how to improve his position on the track. I feel quite certain that he couldn't hear them, let alone see their wild gesticulations. At least, I don't think so, but I mean, he may have because this pair kept this up, jumping up in front of everybody just to yell at the passing cars.

It was at about this time where Luann, Katrina & I developed the concept of giving each NASCAR usher a paintball gun so they could see a person standing up in front of everybody and fire off a round into their backsides. This way, when the offender receives 3 paintball splats on their butt, they are escorted from the track by Security. Well, it sounded good in our heads anyway...

Katrina was so excited with the racing going on in front of us, she fell asleep. So, we left the track while the race was still going on to beat the traffic rush.

We passed these decommissioned war birds (no insignia) on the tarmac at the airport.

Passing a bus heading back to the track for another load of NASCR revelers. Well, our day is done, time to head for home. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a bad day at the track, it just wasn't half as exciting as an evening at one of our loacal racetracks. NASCAR racing has become pretty sterile...

Sunken Gardens - Saint Petersburg

Since I had a few coupons I had picked up from Groupon for the Sunken Gardens attraction in Saint Petersburg, we chose today to visit and practice our photography skills. As you can see, Karen and Parris joined us for the afternoon. Don't forget, 'Click-On-A-Pic' to see a larger version of the image.

Awww, don't Karen & Parris make a lovely couple? Looks like we're having fun.

Now, what the heck am I doing up in a tree? Well, the only reason I can think of that I would be up in a tree is that there must be a geocache nearby. If you follow my point of view, you might be able to see the container tucked into the knothole in the branch below me.

The geocache is located near a lake, so we walked around the lake to take some pictures. Luann got this great shot of a male anhinga with his prize.

Aww, geez! What am I doing in yet another tree? Yep, looking for another geocache... Did I find it?

Well, yes and no... It turns out the container is now mixed up in the nest this muskovy mama-duck is sitting on inside a big hole in the tree, so I took a picture in order to post a 'Do Not Molest' log later on the geocache's web page.

Ah, we finally made it to Sunken Gardens and started to work on taking pictures. I was showing Karen how to 'steal' an aperature setpoint from a differently lighted part of the scene to set the lightness or darkness you desire for the image you are setting up.

There were many great opportunities for shots like these...

Even Parris got into the act, so I took a picture of him taking a picture of the girls with his cellphone. His shot came out nice.

Karen remarked on how she liked these chairs, so Luann got a shot of them for her.

And then there were the flamingoes, busily battling over who knows what...

Click! Gotcha!

We really liked our jaunt through the Sunken Gardens, there were just so many things to see (and 'shoot'). By the way, this bridge is just the right size for a squirrel to run across.

Since it was about 3:00 in the afternoon, the sun was casting very useful shadows for our photography.

So, what was our objective? Oh yeah, to get some great photos! Looks like we're getting it done from several vantage points.

I really relished the opportunity to add to our flower catalog.

Sunken Gardens even have these very sassy parrots. I say it that way because as soon as I got close to the cage, the gold one came over to try and bite me.

There's our family tree-hugger, falling in love with more trees.

Well, it's getting close to time for us to leave, one more shot of a flower before we go.

See! I visited Sunken Gardens. Here's 'clicking' at you.