Tag Archives: blog

An Announcement

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Somewhere in a very dark place resides any numbers of computer gods, digital demons and malevolent entities that lay in wait for the perfect moment to exercise their creative mayhem at my and possibly your expense. That is if you use a computer for any reason.

This usually coincides with my level of contentment at the time. If things have been going along swimmingly for too long I am at much greater risk of attracting their attention and giving them pause to notice me again. However, having said that, if things are really in the crapper, I mean rock bottom, OMG, what did I do in some past life to deserve this, they will often pile on and add to the misery just to see how much it takes to break my spirit totally.

This time they decided to mess with my blog, BigShotsNow. After a mandatory update to the inner workings of the code that runs this show they added a few little embellishments that would take hours upon hours off my life trying to figure out, let alone repair the damage..

Such as simply not allowing me to access the blog, period, I was locked out like totally. Then once that was resolved, I couldn’t get the images to load properly. After much inventive head banging I could finally post in what I thought was a normal fashion only to find out that those who shall not be named had locked up my total subscription list so that even tho I was posting the days post the emails that notify you, the people I do this for, were not getting sent the emails letting you know there was a new post. So from Nov 26 until Dec 22 no emails were sent. This may have been happening sporadically before then but I have no way of knowing how much or when. After a lengthy time speaking to all my new friends in Manila where my call center was located, I began to feel comfortable in Tagalog their native language (Mabuhay everyone). However with no results that fixed the problem.

Finally, doing what no sane person should ever do, I ventured into the inner workings of the blog where the holiest of holies resides, I’m talking about the code here that runs this whole enchilada. All those strings of incomprehensible characters that mean something to someone brilliant somewhere but are foreign to the normal unwashed laypeople who use this stuff, I found a little unchecked box. I checked it, and suddenly it allowed things to work again. That simple. But to be truthful I have no clue as to what I did or why it worked. All I know is that now the emails are flowing again like the pure rushing water out of the Well of Nazareth, so I will count it as, done, ok, get on with it, act like everything’s fine and post my little brains out.

Perhaps and most certainly this was way to much information and a normal person would have just said, “hey, it was broke. I fixed it.” and be done with it, as many of you know I can’t do that. But I wanted you to know what happened so you wouldn’t think I had abandoned you. You know, it’s Christmas, I wouldn’t do that. Hopefully things will go along as they’re supposed to but you and I know that’s wishful thinking. Anyway see you at the blog, Happy Holidays. Hopefully you’ll still get my emails.

1000th Post Published !!! Thousands Cheered

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BigShotsNow the Blog publishes its 1000th post!

Back on March 19 2013 The blog “BigShotsNow.com” published its first ever post titled http://www.bigshotsnow.com/how-this-is-going-to-work/  .  In it I explained how all this was going to work and with it I posted a smoke filled image of a Canada goose standing on a rock. It was the beginning of a love/hate relationship with the keyboard, the monitor, and my creative side. Now, approximately six years later here is the 1000th post, the result of fulfilling a long time goal of posting my favorite images with accompanying stories to amaze you, excite you, or stupefy you depending on how you received each post.

Prior to beginning the blog I had never written anything remotely readable (and some argue I still haven’t) and as it was painfully obvious, it showed. But did I let that bother me? Or even Stop me? Uhmm No, It Didn’t. I thought in my ignorance that my photography would carry me until I learned how to put more than three words together in a recognizable sentence. I’ve been a photographer for over sixty plus years, I have learned a few things about that side of the mix. And after all who was going to see the thing anyway. The internet was just a vague concept with so much in it no one would ever find my tiny literary attempt. But to my amazement some did and as of last count there are now readers regularly visiting the blog from over 200 countries. Thank you readers. Your support has enabled me to keep this up when many times I had given up hope.

One of the questions I get is “How do you come up with all the different stories you tell?” Well Virginia, the answer is I have many, many photographs in my portfolio, over a million. And when I get ready to write a post I go through them until one stands out and if a title appears in my mind I have the story already created and I simply type it out. I know, it’s weird but that’s how it works. No title, no story. That’s why so many of the stories have strange and crazy names. Poke around in the archives and you’ll see what I mean.

The stories have ranged from animal encounters, people encounters, and my incredible good fortune in being able to work with and photograph many of the Plains tribes in the West, has produced an amazing journey. Travel adventures are another subject explored at length, but my favorite all around subject ever, has been my association with the extraordinary, shadowy, surreal and not quite real connection with The Institute.

The Institute. It’s hard to say the name of that august body without my chest swelling up with pride and getting a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. The more you personally learn about the workings of The Institute the more your stomach may swell up and you’ll get a funny feeling in your chest too. I could literally write a book about the effects The Institute has had on Science, the Government, The Director, that shadowy hidden figure whose name can never be mentioned but whose initials are Dwight Lutsey. Their good deeds could fill a small spiral bound notebook, even maybe another half of one and still you wouldn’t know the entire story. I don’t either and I’m the one making it up. If you must know more about The Institute, and you know you do, simply click on this link, http://www.bigshotsnow.com/the-institute/ . Or go to the home page and click on the Tab labeled The Institute. Then be prepared to be amazed, astounded and did I mention amazed, because I’m running out of descriptive words here, so just do it. You’ll be glad you did.

This is just a small effort on my part to try and express my genuine thanks to those of you who continue to read my blog, and as I have noticed that some of you have fallen asleep I will cut this short and simply say Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Three thanks you’s in some cultures means roughly three times the thanks so you know, thanks again. Rest assured that BigShotsNow the blog will continue to produce and post less than stellar attempts with occasional moments of grandeur for as long as I can see the keyboard and remember what I’m supposed to write about. Until then, Seeya in the Funny papers and oh yeah, Thank you.

Dwight Lutsey

Yellowstone Passes Inspection

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Those of you who follow the blog religiously or even non-religiously, know that we have just been on our bi-annual inspection trip of Yellowstone National park. We let you know of our plans to inspect the park in this posting http://www.bigshotsnow.com/the-words-out/ . Well we’re back and we are excited to announce that Yellowstone has passed its inspection with flying colors.

As mentioned before we went up there this year with a new research vessel, aptly named The Mothership, a newly commissioned, completely overhauled and refitted land yacht, large enough and strong enough to be able to tow our shuttle craft and haul the nearly eight dozen interns we intended to use as bait animal aggressiveness testing investigators. We had decided on a new strategy this trip which included dressing our interns up in various animal costumes, to mimic small prey and injured or helpless larger animals such as an elk calf with a damaged leg, etc. to see if the predator population in the park would act in an appropriate manner or not.

We have good news and bad news as to the success of that strategy. The good news was the predators acted in a completely predictable way when confronted with our bait animal aggressiveness testing investigators. The bad news is it resulted in a complete loss of every single one of our interns. That’s a great big oops on our part. We were hoping that at least a few of them would make it through the different testing situations but that was not to be the case. However we are able to completely verify that a wolf will always be a wolf and a bear will always be a bear.

After completing the section on our report titled “Predator population still aggressive in its pursuit of prey” we were able to check that item off as a yes and get on with the rest of the inspection. This resulted in The Director, who is of course me, having to handle a much larger work load than originally considered. (Note to self: Consider holding back some of the interns in the next inspection this fall to do all of the crap work required.) But as one who leads from the front we sucked it up and got on with all the remaining tasks involved in completing an inspection of a facility as large as Yellowstone National Park.

There are many, many areas to be checked to complete this task and over the following days we will attempt to show you the various areas and critical events which must take place to keep the park functioning at the level expected by the visiting public. Are the young being born on time? Are the thermal events turned on and operating properly? Are the predators doing their jobs? Well we can cross that one off now. We know the answer to that one. Are there the proper number of smaller activities being performed, birds doing bird stuff, plants situated in the most scenic areas, large overviews of the park like snow being on the peaks in the Lamar valley, rivers running up to their banks but not over, all the usual stuff the public doesn’t notice until it’s not there.

We can state at this time that park is functioning exactly as required. Our first function check, the one we do right before we release the interns, is to see if the Buffalo, especially the bulls, are placed strategically throughout the park and in the proper numbers. As our inspection of the park always begins through the West entrance of the park along the Madison river, it is imperative that a master bull, one of the better looking more regal appearing ones, be stationed just past Seven mile bridge, in the first major meadow but not too far from the road, so it can fulfill its duty as the official icon of the park. We checked that one off as done.

Watch this space for further reports on your very favorite national park. Tomorrow should bring something interesting.

No Services revisited

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To celebrate our 500th post on BigShotsNow we are republishing some of our more popular posts. This post first appeared on February 26 2014. If you have any suggestions of previous posts you’d like to see again drop a note to dlutsey@enchantedpixels.com and we’ll try and honor that request.

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Phlegm Catarrh’s World Famous Trading Post!

Cold Soda! Post Cards! Bus Stop! Greyhound station! Customs! ATM! Fishing Licenses! Gas and Oil! Party Favors! Maps! Pony Rides! Moccasins! Information! Taxes Done While You Wait! Indian jewelry! Fry Bread! Mechanic On Duty! Bible Verses Explained! Passports! Barber Shop! Rodeo Tickets! Water! Water To Go $8! Brakes Inspected! Flare Guns! Box Lunches! Wills Made Out! Internet Café! Babysitting Done Cheap! Snake Bite Kits! Message Board! Immigration advice! Notary! Cabins to Let!

These signs and more greeted us as we pulled up to the rusty gas pumps. Everything was covered with the fine red dust that makes this country look like a movie set on Mars. It was desolate but we were just happy to find someone alive. After getting Powell the pump dog to move we stuck the nozzle into our gas tank and flipped the lever up. Several minutes went by with nothing happening. Clicking the handle, flipping the lever up and down, smacking the side of the pump, nothing worked. Finally we heard the Screendoor slam and out came an older fellow, unshaven, kind of tall, kind of covered with the same red dust, who we guessed was Phlegm himself. He came out to the edge of the porch and said “Ain’t no gas. Truck hasn’t been here in three years. If you need gas you’ll have to take the short cut down to Potash rd. then onto 279 until you come to 191. That ought to take you into Moab. I heard they got gas.” How far is that, we asked in our bravest voice, we’ve got less than a quarter of tank left. “Shoot, no problem just head on down the hill here and try not to use your 4 wheel drive too much.”

Are the roads marked, we don’t want to get lost, you can probably tell we’re new around here. “You don’t say, Hell Yes They’s marked! Sorry Ma’am. The school bus driver put up fresh piles of stones at all the corners so the new driver wouldn’t get lost. Damn fool wound up way the hell , sorry Ma’am, back behind the Hopi reservation last week. We didn’t see the kids for three days.” I’m not sure we understand the stone marking system, how does that work? “You people really are new ain’t you. Where you from, New York city? Listen up then. The first corner you come to at Potash there’s a big flat rock and on it are two kinda smaller, rounder rocks with the littlest one pointing up the road where you’re supposed to go. It’s simple you can’t miss it. How much gas did you say you got?” Little less than a quarter of a tank. “Hmmm, you might want to coast the first 7-8 miles down the hill then.”

Don’t you have any gas at all you could let us have, we’d really appreciate it. ” No, can’t really spare any but I can sell you a map. It’s pretty close. They made some changes to White Rim road though after the rockslide tore it up. Buried the town grader under 20′ of rock. Damnest thing you ever saw, sorry Ma’am, if old Ed hadn’t stopped to take a leak, sorry ma’am, we still be digging for him. Come to think of it you may want to coast a little farther down the hill, you’re going to need 4 wheel drive to get through that stretch.”

How much is the map then? I guess we better have one. “Well, seeing as it’s the last one I got and it’s almost a collectors item, I can let you have it for 20 bucks.” 20 bucks for a map? That’s a little steep, isn’t it Phlegm? ” Well, I don’t know, young fellow. You got a Map?” So we paid our money and started down the hill. It was a very steep part of the hill with a sharp bend to the right when we saw the faded sign that said ” No services for the next 128 miles.” Phlegm had not mentioned this to us and as there was no place to turn around for as far as we could see and we couldn’t back up, we walked the half mile back up to the store to ask Phlegm what that meant.

Phlegm! There’s a sign there that says No Services for 128 miles! Is that right? “Yup that’s right. The signs there for sure.” We can’t go 128 miles on a quarter tank of gas! ” Well, son, then don’t miss that flat rock with the two smaller rounder rocks on it. If you do, then it’s 128 miles to the next Trading Post, but it ain’t as well stocked as this one, so look close.” Do you have a phone Phlegm? We need to call Triple A. ” Nope, used to, but the last tow truck that came up here slid down the hill. Took out three of our poles and phone company hasn’t sent anyone out since. You folks better get going if you plan on making it out before dark. That roads tricky at night.”

How much are your cabins Phlegm? “Well son, I can let you have one with two beds in it for 250 dollars a night. The ones with one bed are all taken, You like Fry bread?, by the way, do you folks need your taxes done? Come on over this way, watch for snakes now if you need to use the crapper, I mean the facilities, sorry Ma’am.”