PublicDomainBlog.com

Spring and Summer are favorite times of the year for me on a number of levels. I prefer a warm breeze over snow, flowers over snow, yard sales over snow…I think you get the picture. This time of the year also brings with it something else I love…book sales! One of my favorite annual sales happens next weekend…I’m excited!

When you consider that there is a minimum of 85 million books in the Public Domain and only 4 million of those are available online, it makes events like a good book sale seem like a magical treasure hunt for content…or maybe it’s just me

The best way to find out what book sales are happening in your area is to use the same website I use: Book Sale Finder (http://www.booksalefinder.com). It’s not the most beautiful website in the world, but they deliver the information you want…where is the next sale? Simply click on your state and check the listings.

Something you may also want to consider, especially if you travel a lot, is to check listings for the area you’re travelling to. You never know what book adventure may await!

When checking the listings on Book Sale Finder, you will find that there are a number of different types of listings with regard to what is being offered at the sales. What you want to pay attention to are the sales that feature 100% donated books that are NOT picked over. I’ll use the listing for the local sale I’m attending as the perfect example for what I mean. Here is the listing:

50,000 books; 100% donated; 65% hardcover; sorted; not ‘picked over’; no buyer restrictions; plus maps, sheet music, A/V; paperback .50; hardcovers up to $15

There are several key points to note here…

1. The quantity listed (more is better)
2. 100% donated (provides greater opportunity for “goodies”)
3. 65% hardcover (most older books in the Public Domain are hardcover)
4. Sorted (makes it MUCH easier to find what you are searching for quickly)
5. Not picked over (increases your chances for finding books of value, content-wise)
6. No buyer restrictions (means you can buy as much as you want…a good thing)
7. Other offerings and prices (always good to know).

Here are a few more “Book Sale Survival Guide” tips:

Take a bag, cart or box. You will want something to put your books in…trust me, if you start finding a lot of books, this will make your life easier.

Grab now, sort later. The name of the game is to grab ANY book that looks like it could have potential for you. Delaying could result in you NOT ending up with the book. You can always sort later before you pay.

Check Copyrights on the spot. If you think you’ve found a gem, you can check its copyright right on the spot by using your iPhone or Blackberry. Log into the Standford University site (for books 1923 - 1950) or the Copyright.gov site (for books 1950 - 1964) and conduct a search. It could save you some time and money!

Book Dealers. They’ll be there, so be aware. They are easy to spot. You’ll usually see the scanning books with a barcode reader to check the “sell” value of books. What’s funny about that is that they’re hoping to find cheap books that they can, in turn, sell for a profit. Spend $1.00 and sell for $20.00. Of course, our approach is MUCH different. Spend $1.00 and make $1,000’s be creating new products. But again, be aware that some of the books you are after, they are too…but not all!

Stay focused! Whenever you are faced with sorting through 50,000 books, it’s really easy to become distracted. Go to the sale with specific niche topics in mind and search for those books first. After you’ve explored those topics THEN look around for other possibilities. This is super important! Lots of people in a room with lots of books can challenge the best book junkies, so go with a plan. Consider even writing a list of specific authors or titles so you don’t forget to check for them in the flurry of excitement.

Book Sales are a LOT of fun, but don’t plan to attend thinking only a few people will be there. If it’s a big sale, plan to go early…there WILL be a line! Just remember to have fun…enjoy yourself…and look forward to finding those “hidden gems!”

Recently I was on the phone with one of my new friends from the Useppa Island Mastermind I participated in and he REALLY wanted me to talk to his Mom about the Public Domain. So I spent about 5 minutes sharing the basics and then we discussed what she did for a living. Turns out that “Mom” is in a very cool niche and has a list of 20,000+ subscribers who are very active and motivated to purchase products related to that niche.

I shared my experience with product creation using Public Domain content and offered to research for content that would serve her market well and a deal was struck. I’m absolutely confident that I’ll have NO problem finding content for a product that her customers will love. The call lasted just half an hour, and with a little research and product development time, we have a good shot at adding some serious cash to our bank accounts.

I feel confident in being able to find the content (and great content at that) because I use the SAME tools and websites I share in my products. The process works! And here’s the thing…pay CLOSE attention to this…what I just described was NOT a difficult process! Picture this…a guy introduced me to his Mom and I leveraged my ability to find content in an effort to work together with her in a mutually beneficial way.

You can do that, can’t you? Oh COURSE you can! This is NOT difficult!

You see, I don’t have experience in her niche, and I certainly don’t have a list in that niche…but she does. So my product creation skills with Public Domain content together with her relationship with her list makes for a perfect “marriage” of skills toward a common goal…to make money!

So let me ask you…

How many “Moms” or “Dads” are out there online serving their customers in specialized hot niches who you could partner with to create income opportunities with? PLENTY! And it’s highly likely that there are several in the same niche. Using proven content from the Public Domain, you can easily research and create products that would perfectly compliment the efforts of those “experts”…all the while, creating money-making, cash-building opportunities for both of you. It’s honestly a win-win situation and one that you’re going to see me doing a lot more…well, perhaps not “see” me do…I may not reveal some of those private opportunities. But no worries…there are PLENTY of other goldmines waiting for you. Just get out there and find them…and you might want to start by finding out what some “Moms” are up to online!

It can become real easy to write off using Public Domain content as “hard-to-find” or “old” but I’m here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. And to prove it, I’m going to share a couple sites with you that I’ve been “playing” with lately to find high-quality Public Domain content. These sites also happen to be the first three sites I include in the “Government Sites” section of my new e-book, “Public Domain Profit Centers.”

First, I’ll share the sites…and this is excerpted straight from the book.

America.gov
http://www.america.gov/ 
This site delivers information about current U.S. foreign policy and about American life and culture. It is produced by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs.

Consumer.gov
http://www.consumer.gov/ 
Consumer.gov  ? is a “one-stop” link to a broad range of federal information resources available online. It is designed so that you can locate information by category ? such as Food, Health, Product Safety, Your Money, and Transportation. Each category has subcategories to direct you to areas within individual federal web sites containing related information.

ConsumerAction.gov
http://www.consumeraction.gov/
The Consumer Action Website is maintained and updated by the Federal Citizen Information Center and provides consumer topics that allow you to access tips for purchasing specific goods and services,
like cars, home improvement, insurance, and more. It also includes handy information about spam, identity theft, credit, travel, utilities and more.

Now let me tell you just how amazing these three sites are. On these sites, you can find some of the most relevant, up-to-date content I’ve seen anywhere. And consider this…first, the content was written by government experts whose job it is to make sure what they share is accurate. Second, YOUR tax dollars paid to have this content produced (which is why it’s in the Public Domain to begin with). So do you want to “write” an e-book on how to save your home from foreclosure (a VERY relevant issue right now)? You can find great content for it on these sites. Do you want to produce a product on how to protect yourself from identity theft? There is a ton of great info on these sites.

My point is simply this…you NEED to be using Public Domain content to make your product creation easier…AND…you have no excuses to NOT use it. Now the sites I shared in this e-mail are just 3 of over 230 websites I included in “Public Domain Profit Centers.” If you haven’t picked up your own copy yet, trust me, you are missing out because I found some truly amazing sites with Public Domain content!

You can pick up your own copy by following the link below…and YES…it’s still at the introductory price…and YES…all the bonuses are still available for a limited time. Get yours now and jump-start your next product right away!

http://www.publicdomainprofitcenters.com

To your continued success!

Tony Laidig
The Public Domain Expert

I want to share some valuable lessons I’ve learned through a method of research I use to determine the best niches to sell in and the types of products to develop for those niches. I will also share some unique insights with this method that you may have not considered before now, but that can have a profound impact on your product creation process.

There are a number of effective methods for researching niche markets to identify which are the best for achieving success, but the one method I want to focus on in this article is this: Using current print magazines as research tools. There are some huge benefits to utilizing print magazines for niche market research, and while some are obvious, others may be less apparent. Let’s look at these benefits as they apply to effective niche research:

1. Magazines Help Identify Niche Trends. If there is a niche you are interested in pursuing but you’re having a hard time finding print magazines related to that niche, it’s likely that the niche is a waste of your time. Of course, as in all things, there are exceptions to this rule, but I’ve found that this is a rule worth paying attention to for a number of reasons.

First off, magazine publishers spend a LOT of money doing market research as well when producing or preparing to produce a magazine. If there is little interest in a topic, the readership (also known as circulation) will not be there and neither will the advertisers; and it’s in those two areas where the money is in traditional magazine publishing. So, in a sense, we could say that you need to “follow the money.” If there is a strong readership/circulation AND an abundance of advertisers for the magazine, then it’s likely that the niche will have sales potential. A good resource to read that I highly recommend is the 2008-2009 Magazine Handbook found here: http://www.magazine.org/consumer_marketing/circ_trends/index.aspx. You can also find a wealth of magazine trend information here: http://www.mediainfocenter.org/magazine/magazinecategories.asp. Also, if you have access to it (check your local library), the SRDS manual can shed valuable insights into the true circulation numbers for most magazines. It’s worth checking out!

Another feature to watch for when searching for magazines in a specific niche is how many magazines there are for that niche! If you can only find one or two magazines for a niche, it’s likely that there is not the same public interest there that you would find for a niche that has 10 magazines in it. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should still consider the niche with only a few magazines in it, it just means that the market share is likely to be smaller.

2. Magazines Help Identify the Best Content Demands. What topics are the magazines you found writing about consistently? As you study the various magazines you find, you’re going to see trends…again, pay attention! There is a reason why those topics are coming up over and over again—it’s what the consumer is looking for! When doing this type of magazine research, I would HIGHLY recommend that you purchase copies of EVERY magazine related to your niche so that you can study the articles and content. As you review the magazines, make a list of the content topics that are the SAME in every magazine…this is valuable data that can help to focus your own product efforts. If you find that all the magazines related to your niche offer certain types of data or content, you NEED to offer those same types of data as well! This seems like an obvious point here, but not surprising, most marketers never pay much attention to this.

3. Pay Attention to the Advertisers. Just like you will see trends in the articles and features, you will also see trends in the advertising. Pay attention to this. Advertisers are paying a lot of money to be in the magazine, and many are there on a regular basis. Learn to leverage advertiser’s research and money expenditures for your own benefit. If advertisers are consistent with offering certain types of products or services within the niche your magazines serve, you need to note that and pay attention to it as well!

4. Learn From the Design and Layout of the Magazine. This point is one that most people overlook and one that can be extremely valuable for you! I’m sure I’ve been more sensitive to this because of my work as a graphic designer, but it will serve you well to deliberately consider the design and layout of the articles, features and regular columns. Here’s why…THIS is what your target audience is USED to…it’s what they see (and expect) from content in this niche. You WANT to give your customer what they want, right? Then you need to know not only what “what they want” is from a content perspective, but also how it’s being presented to them. I ALWAYS look for these design trends. Consider these questions when flipping through the magazines:

a. What fonts are being used?
b. How are photographs and artwork being used? And what types of artwork?
c. Is there secondary or support information included with the articles? What is it and how is it presented?
d. What colors are being used for headers or for backgrounds?
e. How effective are the article titles?
f. How is the Table of Contents designed?
g. Are statistics, charts and graphs used? How?
h. Are there Q&A’s, step-by-step articles, editorials, interviews, testimonials, etc.?
i. Is the content presented in bite-sized chunks or in long form? What is the balance between the two?

These questions and others help identify the design and content trends for your niche. Again, a lot of money is spent identifying these trends and then designing for them…leverage that research for your own benefit! Use the magazine design to spark ideas for your own product design, layout and creation! It will only serve to improve your product and presentation.

I love this method of research using current magazines because it gives you the ability to benefit from millions of dollars of research for a niche market, and all for the cost of a few dollars! Think about that…the publishers have spent millions in research and the advertisers have spent millions in research, and you get ALL that for $5.95 or whatever the cost of the magazine is! Now that’s leverage! Niche research just doesn’t get better than this…so use it to maximize your own efforts and enjoy the success it brings. I know I do!

Ever since Creative Commons released the new CC0 license, there has been a growing trend on Twitter of people releasing all their Twitter posts into the Public Domain. As you would expect, I’ve been investigating this and have made some rather interesting discoveries. First, the Public Domain release statement being used by Twitterers to release their posts is almost universal. It is as follows:

@tweetcc: I license my tweets under Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication license

Of course, the question on your (and everyone else’s) mind is, “Can we even find any usable content on Twitter for product creation with the 140 character limit of Twitter posts?” It’s a great question…and one that needs an answer. Along with that, I also wondered whether the released posts will be little more that simple or stupid conversations between friends. Part of me wants to dismiss it all and say, YES, the content is worthless, but there is another part of me that is prompting me to investigate further.

There are two factors that stands out to me the most with this trend. First, more and more people are releasing their Tweets into the Public Domain, which means new content is being added to the Public Domain on a moment-by-moment basis! Every day more people are jumping on this bandwagon and as I’ve tracked the development of this new trend, it’s been interesting to see how the inspiration of it seems to run within certain countries and regions. Someone in Germany releases their Twitter posts into the Public Domain and then their German friends see it and do the same. And the trend continues to spread across the globe. In a sense, you could say that it’s organic, viral marketing at its best.

The second factor I’ve noticed (and just alluded to) is that this movement isn’t just limited to the United States. As a matter of fact, based on what I’ve seen so far, I would say a third to half of those Twitterers who are releasing their Tweets into the Public Domain are from other countries…especially from Central and South American countries and certain European countries, like Germany. I find this prospect very curious.

I spent a little time reading through Twitter posts by some of those who have released their copyrights. I wanted to see if I could even find any usable content in the posts that could be repurposed in some form. Below is one interesting example that I came across from the Twitter ID @fasteasyrecipe:

# ingredient swap: try these substitutions for less fattening baked goods: - instead of white flour use whole whea.. http://tinyurl.com/czezdh

# What’s for dinner? http://twtpoll.com/xdl4r7

# chocolate play dough: What’s better than play dough? Play dough you can eat. Here’s our recipe for chocolate pla.. http://tinyurl.com/b5jv6g

# feed your mind, and the rest will follow: Ever wonder which foods are brain foods. Below are the vitamins that m.. http://tinyurl.com/74hstj

# caesar salad with garlic: 2 ounce chopped anchovies1 tablespoon minced garlic1/4 cup lemon juice4 .. http://tinyurl.com/3o2hdm

# better be balsamic: The right balsamic vinegar can make all of the difference. The older the balsa.. http://tinyurl.com/5cvehf

# happy salad day: labor day. salad day. it’s all good. this month we’re focusing on salads. there’s.. http://tinyurl.com/6glnl7

# treat yourself to a leftover makeover: it’s amazing what you can do with some staple items. here a.. http://tinyurl.com/5hkovd

# more $$$ saving tips: buy the less convienient option — boneless chicken breasts cost a lot more .. http://tinyurl.com/59n9ck

Finding these posts encouraged me that perhaps there are some content possibilities available on Twitter through this new Public Domain trend. I decided to keep searching for more examples, and after reading a lot of useless posts, I came across some posts from @quantumbrands in Amsterdam:

# Turkish Airlines plane was not so much a crash at Schiphol - more like a controlled landing

# local new crews now broadcasting on NOS with images from Turkish Airlines plane crash at Schiphol

# no fire or smoke seen at Schiphol plane crash - treating passengers for injuries

# plane crash at Schiphol - Turkish Airlines known for bad reputation with maintenance and not permitted to fly in NL until recently again

# 50 unwounded passengers they - from Schiphol plane crash

# crash plane at Schiphol came from Istanbul

# Schiphol plane crash foto from @catorghans http://tinyurl.com/afmfyt

# plane crash Schiphol - Turkish Airlines - closed off the A9 - not clear what happened - nose broken off - plane seems to be in 3 pieces

# news about plane crash Schiphol Amsterdam - 135 passengers, missed the A9, Polderbaan

As I read through the above posts, it suddenly occurred to me that what I was looking at…the reporting of a news event as it happened. This could have huge potential with certain types of product creation…especially if the accounts were first-hand accounts! After all, we DO live in an age of instant information! Of course, not all Twitter posts that share about a current event are in the Public Domain, but an increasing number of them are, so I see this as an encouraging possibility!

Here is one more example of quality information I found from the Twitter stream now in the Public Domain. These insights are courtesy @paulhyland:

#hubspot First rule in “word of mouse” marketing - use the language of the people you’re trying to reach.

#hubspot - Second rule: no coercion required. Don’t trick people into clicking on your links. Back button third most used feature on web.

#hubspot Rule number 3 – don’t be afraid of your fans sharing your stuff. Example: Grateful Dead. FYI David Scott and HubSpot CEO Deadheads!

#hubspot - was that rule #4? If you want to reach an audience you need to go where they are.

#hubspot Rule number 5 - Create triggers to encourage people to share. Easy w/ AddThis/ShareThis. Or encouraging discussion/Q&A w/ hashtag.

#hubspot last rule: Play Nice. Not like 3M - used cool idea, didn’t want to credit originator, pay a little money, turned into PR disaster.

The conclusion I’ve come to so far with this new Twitter trend is to not discount it as no big deal. Yes, there will be a lot of useless posts that are released into the Public Domain, but that’s true in any case. My challenge to you (and to myself as well) is to look beyond the obvious and the useless to “see” the potential…to explore what may be waiting in the Twitter stream for you. And perhaps the most exciting aspect of this trend is that it means new content is being added to the Public Domain EVERY day!

One of my subscribers is taking books and booklets created by the U.S. Government and is making them available in print form through Amazon. He downloads them for free from the Government websites, tweaks them and publishes them through a POD company. Then he has them listed on Amazon. It’s a simple, yet brilliant process with zero cost involved. And here is the sweet part…they’re adding thousands of dollars to his bank account on a very regular basis…thanks to the Public Domain.

There is another subscriber who is downloading Public Domain images and creating composite images of them to sell to the Scrapbooking and Graphic Design markets. Her ideas and designs are amazing and there is zero cost involved for her, and yet she is adding thousands of dollars a month to her bank account…thanks to the Public Domain.

Recently, I have created some video products where I took images and text from the Public Domain and used the online video software, Animoto.com, to turn them into cool video clips that I recently began selling as a package for thousands of dollars to Fortune 500 companies. Zero cost for the content and thousands of dollars in sales…thanks to the Public Domain.

I could give example after example…just from fellow subscribers like you! So let me ask you…

What about you?

The Public Domain is the single greatest source for proven content on the planet…period. And in many cases, the content is freely available…zero cost to you! Millions of Public Domain works are available at your fingertips right now, thanks to the world wide web! It’s sitting there waiting to be used…by YOU!

I use a simple formula for producing successful products. It goes like this:

Proven Content + Creative Innovation = Successful Products

In my new release, “Public Domain Profit Centers,” I address this formula at length and how you can use this simple process to achieve your own success with Public Domain works. I also include 230 or so new websites to find that content…many of the new ones I’ve been using to get my content. All the ones for the examples above are also in there.

The thing that’s great about this new release is that it applies to nearly ANY market, ANY niche, ANY type of business you may be involved with. The information I’ve included in it is not just geared toward Internet Marketers…it’s practical so that everyone can find it useful and helpful…including you.

Learn more about “Public Domain Profit Centers” HERE

As a former commercial photographer and graphic designer, I was naturally drawn to the images side of the Public Domain first…even before books! It was from selling images that I made my first dollars from the Public Domain…thousands of dollars actually! Of course, images (photographs, illustrations, fine art, ephemera, maps, etc.) are those images whose copyrights have expired or that did not qualify for copyright protection. For this article, I want to focus on the latter option…how to find images that do not qualify for copyright protection.

Many people do not realize it, but most content created by our Federal Government does not qualify for copyright protection because, when created as a part of a Federal employee’s regular duties, the content is paid for by taxpayer’s dollars and is therefore “owned” by the people. Simply stated, that means that you are free to use Federal Government-created content (books, images, videos, audios, etc.) in any way you see fit because YOU paid for it! So let’s take a quick look at what your hard-earned money paid for in the way of image resources.

There are a TON of image resources available online (and offline) related to images…in this article, I’m going to focus on two of the best. One of my personal favorites is the U.S. Government Photos and Graphics site (http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml) Most of these images and graphics are available for use in the public domain, and they may be used and reproduced without permission or fee. However, some images may be protected by license, so you want to make sure you thoroughly read the disclaimers on each site before use.

When you visit this page, you will discover that it is actually a directory of government website links where you can locate photographs and graphics. Nice of them to make it easy for us…guess they should since we paid for it! As you scan down through the list, you’ll quickly discover that there are LOTS of photos available to you from this portal…literally hundreds of thousands of them!

Some of my personal favorite websites listed on this page include:

America’s Historical Documents (http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/)

Earth as Art (http://earthasart.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.htm)

Grand Canyon National Park (http://www.nps.gov/archive/grca/photos/index.htm)

National Park Service (http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/imagebase.html)

Portraits and Stock Photos (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/pix/)

There is another Government-image site that I really enjoy digging through called “Government “Resources for Science Images” found at the Sciences Reference Services (http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/selected-internet/imagesources.html). This is another image portal site for Government-produced image content specifically related to the sciences. Yes, I admit it…I am a science geek…always have been! Anyway, there are a few sites that were also included on the previous resource website, but there are many new sites listed here as well. One of my personal favorite sites from this portal HAS to be the USGS Maps and Imagery site (http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/) the very first Public Domain anything I sold (and made a lot of money from) was a USGS map of Atlantic City that was reproduced by the printing company I managed. Having access to big printing presses has its advantages! I was selling these maps 20 years ago at flea markets…now you can download them digitally and sell them literally anywhere! And again…because you paid for their creation, it’s your legal right to do so!

I always say that you can’t find what you don’t know to look for, and I hope that this brief article has peeled back the curtain just a bit to what is available to you image-wise courtesy our Federal Government (and your tax-payer dollars of course). In a future article, I’ll share some ways you can profit from all the image content found on these sites, but until then, let me leave you with one simple thought: Where do you think ALL the books, posters, t-shirts and all the other Obama-related products available out there got their image content from? You guessed it!!

In my popular e-book, “Easy Money Picture Project,” I go into great detail on how to locate and use Public Domain image content to create successful, money-producing image-based products. In the book I share a long list of websites where you can find Public Domain images of all types, how-to sections for actually creating products from Public Domain images, case studies of those who are using Public Domain images in successful business ventures and SO much more. I normally sell this 200+ page e-book for $97, but for a limited time, you can get it for $30 less HERE.

It was late afternoon on a warm Saturday and my nine-year-old mind was whirling with excitement. There we were…my Dad, his buddy and me…laying on our bellies in a cow pasture looking out across the field. “I can’t see anything, Dad!” “They’ll be out…just watch!” Soon, a groundhog appeared about 300 yards away. He was what we were waiting for.

The farmer had called Dad to come to visit the farm because of the reputation Dad had for hunting groundhogs. They were particularly bothersome for cattle farmers because the cattle would sometimes stumble into the holes and break a leg. So there we laid…Dad and me on a stony ridge watching the old groundhog eating near his hole. Dad’s buddy, Dave, was only a short distance away. I don’t remember why I looked up, but as Dad was preparing to bring the “pig” in his sights, I looked over at Dave. And there, straddling Dave completely was a cow…two legs on one side and two legs on the other. The funny part was that Dave didn’t even know. I poked Dad and pointed to the unfolding scene. Suddenly the groundhog didn’t matter anymore. One quick move and Dave would be trampled. Well, after a while, the cow backed away and walked on down into the pasture. And the groundhog…he met his ancestors another day…but for now his life was spare because of the curiosity of a cow.

I share that story because when I was young, some of my fondest memories were those hunting with Dad…and so it was fitting that Dad would choose to cross over into the next life on, of ALL days, Groundhog Day. Happy hunting Dad…smile.

Photography has always been a part of my life…and it was because of Dad. I remember spending hours running all around Upper Strasburg where I grew up with my Great-Grandmother’s Kodak Hawkeye Instamatic camera that took square pictures on 126 film. I snapped pictures of buildings, flowers, sunsets…anything outdoors because those were the kinds of pictures Dad loved to take. As I got older, I took more and more photos and I dreamed of having the ultimate camera…a 35mm SLR. I remember cutting “actual size” photos of the Canon cameras out from the photography magazine ads just so I could pretend holding them. One day, and I remember this SO vividly, Dad and I were standing in the kitchen of our home there in Upper Strasburg and he was encouraging me to take more pictures…he saw that I had an eye for it. And I remember telling him, “Dad, what I really need is a good camera…one with interchangeable lenses.” And he said, “You mean like this one?” From behind his back, as if by magic, he presented me with a Canon FTb. I was speechless…didn’t know what to say, I was so surprised. I’ll never forget that day as long as I live.

That gift secured in me one of my great loves and passions…a love I continue to this day. The funny thing is that, even though Dad’s ability to take pictures waned due to his health, he actually had more camera gear than me. The last lens I bought for him just a few short months ago was a Canon 85mm f1.8. He saw my lens and the pictures I shot with it and wanted one. I don’t know if he ever actually had the opportunity to use it, but it made him SO happy to have such an amazing lens that his son used to snap some pretty cool car pictures. That was Dad…always the photography buff!

Dad was always conversational and outgoing, a lover of cameras and trains and a collector of model trucks. During his life, he was a truck driver, a security guard, a sound engineer, an electrician, a maintenance worker for the local school district and much more. He loved to debate the Scriptures, talk about UFO’s, help me fly model rockets and reload his own ammunition. He was tenacious but friendly, a wise guy but also always willing to help and serve. He was very sentimental and always praying. That was Dad!

Now he is among old friends and new ones…he is there with Kola and with other precious loved ones…a special little girl comes to mind. Perhaps he’ll get to know your loved ones as well…he IS a talker! In any case, he is no longer suffering but rather, taking pictures of the most exquisite scenes he’s ever laid eyes on…and I think that’s going to keep him busy for a while…at least until I get there, whenever that might be in the future. He will be loved and missed, admired and respected…and always my Dad!

I’m deeply saddened to share that my husky, Kola, had to be put down last night due to an aggressive form of cancer. What made this extremely hard was that my girls and I hadn’t seen him in a week because my ex-wife had taken him to live with her at her new house 4 hours away…so we weren’t able to say goodbye. My ex-wife and her boyfriend were with him when he was put to sleep. After he was gone, they smudged his body with sage and tobacco as an honor to him and wrapped him in a blanket. I’m glad they were able to do that in my absence.

Kola came to be pretty well known, at least with my subscribers, through my Yard Sale site at http://www.tonysyardsale.com. Of course, he will continue to be a part of that site as a memorial to him. We had some great times together…I always joked that he was the son I never had. Kola was actually a wolf/husky hybrid, something many people didn’t know…and as such, was incredibly intelligent, and big (95lbs.). So today, I honor my friend…to say thank you and goodbye! You will be deeply missed!

If you would like to see more pictures of my amazing dog, you can do so here: http://tinyurl.com/ninjadog

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