Fish or Take Pics

On Saturday March 24th Mike, Jamie (Mike's wife), Sean (Mike's issue), Chris (has issues), and I went up to Canyon Lake to do some fishing and later take some more HDR Pictures. We left at 07:30 and arrived about an Hour Later. We spent about 8 hours fishing, and barely got even a nibble. In fact the entire time we were there we saw one guy catch a half pound Sunfish. We also setup a Crawfish trap and caught nothing. So around 17:00 we packed up and took advantage of the light from the Sun going down to get some more good pics of the lake and surrounding area. Here's a whole mess of the HDR Pictures I took:


Here are some of Mike's:

The Incident

On 11-13-05 my 2 brothers and I set out on a hunting trip 8.5 miles Northeast of Florence, and 8 miles East of highway 79 just east of the Florence Military Reservation.

We parked at a location we have used before, started suiting up, and loading our shotguns. We started walking into the desert heading in a North Westerly direction.


We had barely walked 300 feet when as I was walking down into a small gully my feet slipped on the gravel and rocks that are prevalent in this area. I was worried that my shotgun would go off and hit one of my brother’s close by. Somehow my feet got tangled up and as I fell backwards I felt and heard my leg go CRACK.
I started yelling in pain and my brothers ran over to where I was. As soon as I untangled my feet I laid my right foot down sideways on the ground. I laid there until the pain went down and I was no longer in shock (20 to 30 minutes). Chris started taking the guns and other equipment back to the trucks while Mike and I tried to figure out how to make a splint. We had Chris get 2 Golf Club shafts, 2 Tie down straps and a Shotgun shell Belt from Mike’s Isuzu Rodeo.

We placed the Golf club shafts on either side of my leg and secured them with the tie down straps (cutting off the excess strap) then in the middle we wrapped Chris’s Shotgun belt. Mike cut off the upper 1/3 of the inside golf club with his leatherman so I wouldn’t poke my self trying to move around. Once I was able to get up I used both of my brothers as support and we slowly started moving towards the dirt road about 100 yards away. This took 20 to 30 minutes and was extremely painful and tiring. Once we got to the dirt road Mike got his Rodeo, Chris got my Truck and we headed slowly back to the highway (45 minutes). Once at the highway we called information to see if and where there was a hospital in Florence. Information could not find one and suggested we call 9-1-1. We called 9-1-1, and they could not find one in Florence. So we drove the 35 miles to Mesa’s Banner Baywood Hospital. As I had a broken leg I got right in.

The Emergency room staff were quite interested in the splint since most people who bring themselves in do not attempt to stabilize the injury. They took X-rays, put a temporary splint on my leg, and sent me home.


On Monday I called around and the nearest Doctor who could see me the next day is in Sun City West. On Tuesday I went in and after the Doctor looked at the X-rays he recommended an operation to correctly set the bone. That would take place on Monday 11-21-05. The day of the surgery came and they put me under. When I woke up they told me I had not had the surgery because I had developed a fungal infection on the foot and leg under the cast (I still do not believe this). I saw the doctor on 11-23-05 and there was no infection. When I saw the Doctor he recommended I go in for surgery on 11-25-05. They did not set the Leg during surgery as the Doctor reported the bones were stable. I did get 2 screws in my ankle because when I twisted my ankle I tore the ligaments that hold the 2 bones together. I received a permanent cast.

On 1-4-06 The cast was removed. I then got a “Cam-Walker” and 5 weeks later I had the screws removed from my ankles. I then spent the next 3 months in rehab and was able to get the ankle about 90 to 95 percent back to normal.

Of course my Brothers were very supportive and made sure I knew that their entire Hunting/Fishing season was ruined.

High Dynamic Range

Today we tried out a new photography technique called "HDR" or "High Dynamic Range". We got up early and went out to Tempe town lake, Downtown Phoenix, and South Mountain. The great thing about HDR is that with the right camera (and special software) anyone can take really incredible pictures. Here are some of the pics I took:

Here are some Mike took:

Chris's camera is not quite designed to do this so he only got 2 good pics:

We also went down to the river bottom south of Sky Harbor to see if we could get some decent pics of the planes taking off (we didn't take any that were really interesting) but we caught and then released a small snake. Possibly a baby Sonora Semiannulata (we always called them Red Racers when I was little). Anyone know for sure what this is?

Catch of the Day

We went fishing on Sunday March 4th at Vista Del Camino park There's a lot of Bass in the "lake" there, Some Catfish, and Misc. Sunfish. I have caught several Bass there in the past ranging from 1 to 3 pounds. Mike caught one weighing 4 pounds. This time I was fishing for Bass and Catfish. I was using raw shrimp for bait (for the Catfish). I didn't catch any Bass or Catfish but I did catch a turtle on a treble hook baited with shrimp. While Chris and I tried to get the hook out of it's mouth without hurting it, some little girl about 3 or 4 came over all excited about the Turtle. She kept saying she wanted it. I wasn't paying much attention at the time, so when we got the hook out we threw the turtle back in the water (not that I would have given it to her anyways). Well... this little girl had a fit that lasted almost an hour, because she didn't get the turtle. I believe this was probably the first time in her little (spoiled brat) life she hadn't got her way.

The Follies of Fire chasing

From time to time my brothers and I go fire chasing. For those not in the know that means you listen to you scanner and if you hear about a fire nearby you go to it and take pictures or just watch. On occasion we actually get to a fire before the Fire department does, usually we don't. So for anyone else out there thinking of doing the same, here is a list of "The Folly of Fire Chasing".



1. - Nothing interesting happens in your immediate vicinity.
2. - When an interesting call comes in it will be on the opposite side of town.
3. - If an interesting call comes in and it "IS" nearby you will not be able to go to it due to: traffic, job, or the scanner is not on.
4. - Any attempts to reach the site of a call will result in failure due to: unintelligible address given by the fire department, address not found in your map software, overly efficient fire fighters get there before you and extinguish the blaze, traffic congestion blocks your progress, or the police get there first, and will allow anyone else access except you (because you have a camera).
5. - On the rare occasion that you reach the scene it will turn out to "NOT" be worth seeing, you will forget to un-pause your camcorder, or you don't have your camera .
6. - If you have your map, GPS, someone to help navigate, all your camera equipment, it's the weekend, and traffic is sparse there will be no calls of interest whatsoever.
7 - You are more likely to stumble upon a fire than hear the call and be able to get to it.
8 - If you do manage to get to the scene of a working fire and take lots of pictures, many of your pictures will not turn out well for whatever reasons.

Desert Photography

Hello and welcome to Men Hardly Working. This blog is for my brothers and I as a record of the times we spend not working. My name is Robert, and My Brothers are Chris and Mike. Chris is on the left Mike is above me in the Picture to the left. This weekend we went out in the desert to take some pictures and hunt rabbits. The desert north of Florence, AZ is quite beautiful at this time of the year. The area we went to is just east of the Florence Military Reservation, where the National Guard goes to practice firing their 155mm Howitzers. Although the area won't green up for another couple of weeks we will return then for more pictures. We set out at 5:30am for the 60+ mile trip so we would arrive before sunrise to catch the best light. I brought my Minolta Maxxum 7D, Mike brought his Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, and Chris brought his Fuji Finepix A500. Here are some of the pictures I took:

Here are some of Mike's:

Here are some of Chris's:

After taking a couple hundred pictures we went hunting for rabbits. This involves walking through the desert making lots of noise so as to flush any unsuspecting rabbit from the underbrush. We may walk anywhere from 1 to 10 miles at a stretch. This time only Mike was successful, here is the Lucky hunter and unlucky rabbit:

On our drive home we ran into the 2nd Battalion - 180th Field Artillery of the National Guard. We were hoping to get some pictures of them firing their howitzers. We attempted to get permission but lack of hearing protection, no helmets, and time prevented this. We did get a few pics of them setting up.

For more on the FMR Click Here. Here is a map of the FMR:


The Red area is off limits, but for most of the northeastern end there is nothing other than signs to stop you.