Lake Blackshear Sunset

Above and Below: May 24, 2008 sunset over Lake Blackshear

Geese

Geese on Lake Blackshear. They seemed to be rather camera shy.

Schwobilt Matchbook

An old Schwobilt matchbook (still with matches on the inside.) I found this bit of history while cleaning out the cab of the new '65 Chevrolet C10. It was tucked up under the gas tank. The Schwobilt name ceased to exist in 1976. I love stuff like this!

Also, while cleaning out the cab, I found stamps... from 1963, two years older than the truck!

Sources on Schwobilt: Columbus Museum.com and "Do You Remember..."

Looking Like A Farm Truck

The New Old Truck

The new old truck! A 1965 Chevrolet C10 Fleetside, and I love it! It almost runs, too - just needs a fuel pump and a master brake cylinder. This truck is very similar to Ken Green's long gone 1965 Chevrolet C10 - also a Fleetside.

It has a wood bed... the first old Chevrolet that I have ever seen that still has a wood bed. It's not the original wood, and does need a little work, but still - I think it's very cool. These old trucks used to come with wood beds, but most of the time people weld in sheets of metal when the wood gets weak - or just let it rot out.

A Chevrolet C10!

The interior. The black plastic was covering up the driver side window, which was "lost" inside the door.

The gauges.

The horn button... with the red bowtie... another "first time I have ever seen that!"

The One That Didn't Get Away...

The days catch from Lake Blackshear.

American Alligator

Shady Days In Gay

Photographs from Brian Mallard's performance in Gay, Georgia.


Recording the performance... with perhaps more than enough tripod for camera?

Brian and Brent sing his songs.

Brian Mallard with his acoustic band.

For more infromation on Shady Days In Gay, visit shadydaysingay.com

Brian Mallard and Lead Guitarist

Brian Mallard (background) and his lead guitarist of the night (foreground) play the Fountain City Coffee Shop.

Brian

Brian Mallard in an Indiana Jones style photo - judging by the lighting, he is perhaps exploring an old mineshaft.

Farm Land In Taylor County

'65 Chevy in the Back Pasture

Stopped under a tree looking at the neighboring pastures. This is a very nice area in the back pasture. Would be a great place for a picnic!

The same location as the picture above, but facing the truck - and our pasture.

Same location as the other pictures... doesn't the truck look small here?

Toad From The Chattahoochee

A friend and I were sitting on a rock beside the Chattahoochee when this cute little creature happened to wander out from a hole in the rocks beside us. Of course it had no idea that it was about to be faced with the ultimate torture... being photographed!

Sunken Barge on The Chattahoochee River

Above and Below: A sunken barge in the Chattahoochee River in Columbus. I think it's cool, I'm into this sort of thing! I would love to know the history of it!

Big Black Pinchin' Beetle

A Big Black Pinchin' Beetle... well, that's what I have always known them as. Not quite the scientific name. They don't pinch, however they do hiss when you pick them up!

Midnight Train

"The midnight train is on the track..."

Above and Below: A train passes over the Chattahoochee River from Alabama to Georgia.

Carolina Anole

The other day I caught a Carolina Anole - aka a Green Anole sunning on the spare tire in the back of my truck. Of course, it should have known that the punishment for sunning on my spare tire was being chased around with a camera! It doesn't look so green there does it?

After some getting the heck out of Dodge, and my chasing it around, it eventually just laid out on the back of the bed of the truck to sun. It was quite patient with my capturing all the angles and sticking a camera in it's face.

"Look over your shoulder... yes, just like that!"

Eventually it decided it was time to move on and jumped onto the nearby tree, and I let it go in peace... after another quick photo.

My Truck!

Above and Below: Most of you should be familiar with my 1961 Chevrolet Apache 10 by now. If not, here it is again. A couple of black and white shots. In fact, the first pictures I have taken of it since I have moved it.

I have often wondered what kind of history my truck has behind it. Well, I finally found out some of it. The other day I was sitting in the cab reading the Patrick McManus book, "The Night The Bear Ate Goombaw" when I noticed a raised square on the dashboard, where the black paint was peeling. I had noticed this many times before, but had never really thought about it - until then. I set the book aside and began scratching away the black paint to reveal - a sticker, (I guess that's what you would call it,) and it is pictured above. It reads, "No job is so important, and no service is so urgent, that we cannot take time to perform our work safely. Bell Systems." Finally! Some history on the truck! It was once owned, and probably originally ordered, by Bell Systems. A telephone company truck.

Due to the peeling red paint, I have always known the truck was not always red. The cab was a dark green. The bed was a happy light blue. I figured that the bed was not original to the truck - it's never sat quite right on the truck. It's the right kind, it just wasn't mounted right. Of course, my theory on the bed being from a different truck led to some disagreement from my "hired hand." Well, I took a look at the paint code - only to find SPEC - instead of a number. I am assuming that means special - and it was ordered by Bell Systems in that green.

Finally, I did something that I do not know why I had never done before - I decoded the vin number. Ah! My theory was proven. The bed could not have been original as the truck was ordered without a bed. A Cab/Chassis.

Disappointly, for me, that's about where the known history of my '61 Chevrolet Apache 10 ends. It was probably mounted with a utility bed by Bell Systems, and sometime later down the road someone put a true bed on it. I wonder how long it served as a Bell Systems truck. Was it used until Bell Systems 'broke up' in 1984? I do know that two owners before me the truck was owned by a drug dealer - which explains the happy red color, mag wheels, and Corvette engine. The drug dealer paid his lawyer with the truck. Then it was sold to Brian Mallard in the mid-90's, then I inherited it about three years ago.

But what of all that unknown history? I suppose I can only wonder!

Spider

It's a spider. Not really sure what kind. Maybe a Florida Wolf Spider, but I don't know for sure. If someone knows - feel free to identify it for me!

Pretty ain't it?

An Old Gas Station

Above and Below: An old gas station located down a dirt road in I don't know where, Taylor County, Georgia. There was another building beside the old gas station, which you can see in the picture below.