Air Photo Stories

I've been in Texas for a month now and for the most part I've decided that the people in this area are a very private bunch. EVERY one has gates so getting past them has proven to be a challenge. The responses I've gotten from the homeowners have ranged anywhere from challenges of invasion to gratefulness for being persistent. This last spent over $500 on a canvas print. But a couple have stood out.

One man flew out of his house and berated me for upsetting his dog. I had not even gotten out of the truck yet and his dog appeared to be just fine. Dude had huge bug eyes. Scary.

Another man had a beef with the helicopter and swore the pilot had flipped him off. He said the chopper had buzzed his house for days and harassed him to the point where he went out and took pictures of the chopper in order to get the pilot's license pulled. There actually was a man in the picture standing in the driveway and he said it was his son taking a picture of the chopper. So apparently SOME thing had taken place. I believe the man was definitely annoyed with the chopper hovering so long around his property but I don't believe for a second that the pilot flipped him off or that he spent days buzzing his house. Anyway, after he chewed me out for about 10 minutes, I left him a door hanger so he could vent to the people in the office and we left.

This other guy we contacted loved the picture but didn't want to commit until his wife had seen the print. We agreed to return on another day at a certain time and when we did, no one was home. It took a couple more call backs to catch the wife at home and when we finally did catch her, she looked at me like I was a Darth Vader. I explained to her who I was (since her husband obviously forgot to mention it) and when her husband came around the corner of the house she gave him a look like 'have you lost your fucking mind?????' Me, being the perceptive person that I am, made the obvious statement, "So I'm guessing you don't want the print?" "NO!" she says and then *I* get 'the look.' That's all I needed to hear. I'm out. Jeez, lady, take a chill pill.

I got my first dog bite last week. It was a Lhasa Apso. I had been to the house twice before and the homeowners weren't home. They had three dogs. Two Lhasas and a lab. I've had Lhasas before and I know they can be VERY territorial and I was bitten by one many years ago (when I was trying to groom it). These dogs were threatening but I went calmly about my business of knocking on the door. The third time at the house we caught the homeowner at home. I was invited in and waited while he showed the photo to his wife. The dogs were watchful but relatively calm. Ultimately, they decided not to buy. As I was walking back to my truck, the female Lhasa zoomed up behind me and bit me on the back of my leg. My jeans took most of the bite but she still managed to break the skin and I had a bruise there for a few days. Oh well. Not much I can do about that. I am an uninvited guest after all.

I have more but I'll post them later.