It's important to start a new year off with a win; it sets up a winning attitude that can carry a person successfully through the next 364 days. Several years back I made a resolution to get a good night's sleep on new year's eve, and I am proud to report that once again I succeeded in sticking to my resolution.
The weather report said that New Year's day was going to be a total washout - and it was - so if I was going to get a year-ending picture posted it would have to be taken on the 31st. But I needed an idea of something that needed it's picture taken. As providence would have it I got a FB message from George Stacy about an old farmhouse on Simerly Creek road that he liked. The spousal unit needed to go to Elizabethton anyway, so the timing was right to swing by and see the house for myself.
It is a neat old house, sitting about 10 ft above the road. This angle is the best as there is a power pole with several guy wires to the right of the house.The gray skies made the surroundings a very unremarkable mix of browns and grays, with just a touch of green. Even the rust color on the roof was rather flat. I was hoping that some of the recent snow would still be on the ground, but no joy.
The clouds were rolling fast and the sun was popping in and out, so I waited until there was consistent cloud cover and snapped a three shot bracket that yielded this HDR. Since there was real lack of color in the picture I thought I would have to make it a black & white, but the HDR processing was able to bring out enough color to make it interesting.
Now that I know the house is a cool structure, I'll go back out there when (if) it snows again, and in the spring, summer and fall when the trees can provide some colorful backdrops.
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Directions: the house is 3.3 miles from the intersection of Simerly Creek Road and Route 19E (between Hampton and Roan Mountain).
