2 fer Tuesday

Hello Winter

and good-bye to Fall, the best season of all.

For me it was an autumn to remember

Two casts

Nice day, Babe!

Nice night, Babe!

My son watched my dad ride his dad's motorcycle, with big smiles all around

Nice shot, Clyde.

The noisiest place I've ever set up shop. It also has the best company.

Nets are for sissies, we don't need one.

Again. Nice shot, Clyde.

Nothing beats fighting a fish down a rapid. Brace yourself, we're going on a ride

A lucky criminal in a generous relocation program

C'mon, smile! Fall doesn't last all year.

Discoveries and Mysteries

Gotta love a good discovery. It appears these have moved with me at least 10 times. 120 roll film,, wonder if anyone around here still develops these, wonder if anyone remembers what a contact sheet is, wonder how the chemistry is holding up, wonder how much stray light has made it to the edges, wonder if it really is from the Mt. St. Helens eruption, wonder what else I was taking pictures of in the early 80s with Grandpa's old twin lens reflex Rolleicord.

I suspect the anticipation and expectation will be better than the pictures, but that is the essence of a mystery, isn't it?

Water and Rock

I am guilty of giving a sh*t about desktop background pictures. Would never have guessed that about myself, but the truth hurts sometimes. It is nice to see a pretty picture every now and then. The picture has to be interesting but without too much detail to swamp out the icons or make them hard to find, maybe even a little bland on the left where I like my stuff. An interesting yet subtle texture really works. Sometimes I take pictures knowing that they would make a great background. Here are a few of my pictures that I think are brilliant for the task. I left the files pretty big because I like good pictures. Njoy.

Winter Took Me to Spring

Besides the snowman, the sled and the flying snowballs, the absence of color struck me today. The snow reminded me that the last time I made a snowball, I was in east Germany. Those two ideas combined in my mind and the orchids of Jena precipitated out. Can't think of a better day to share these reminders of more colorful spring days to come.

Goodbye Farm

Sorry to have to break this news to all the folks who love coming to Uncle Mark's house. We are looking for a new place to live. Things have changed on the farm and it just isn't home anymore. Not having to spend so much of my life caring for this old place feels more like a relief than a loss. One door closes, another opens. I'm sure the next chapter will be just as fun and exciting as this one has been. We've spent 18 years way the heck out in the country, and we were hardy enough to enjoy it all. What a great experience. I'm glad to have had the chance to share it with so many people. Cheers to the memories!

This is making me laugh today

Lost Species Found

Our house is in the middle of a massive rearrangement. Remember that refining a while back, well we are pretty much refining the whole damn place. But the work comes to a complete stop sometimes depending on my mood and what is found. I completely read the diary I tried to keep one year in Junior High School, I refolded an unruly stack of maps, and I found the lost Louisiana Beauty, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Well,, at least the only pictures I have of it.

Moving my books around I came upon my 1932 The Book of Birds. Buried deep in volume II is the story of the expedition to record the voice and capture the first pictures of that elusive and soon to be extinct, red crested, yellow eyed and sharply demarcated black and white woodpecker. It tells of mules hauling carts miles through the swamp, setting up the best listening equipment, optics and cameras of the day, and sleeping on a pile of palmetto leaves in the swamp. Sounds like it was a rousing good adventure: wish I was there. Anyone got a time machine and want to go back to that swamp with me? I can't think of a better reason to slap mosquitoes for a few weeks.

I didn't miss noticing that in 1932 the Pileated, now North America's largest living woodpecker, was notably taking second place. I saved the captions because the whole book is written this well, and it seemed a shame to crop them.

Of all the numbers,,,

this is the one chosen to be "firm" about?!?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what is for sale.

Flight of the Blue Aphids

We call them blue fairies and they really are about as pretty as an aphid can get. The flight occurs on calm sunny days after the first frost. They usually only fly for a day or two, but when they do it is impressive. Maybe not worth a special trip to see, but quite a spectacle. Even the local radio people can't stop talking about them. Then the last orgy of summer is over and we know winter will soon follow.

Too Many Good Titles to Pick Just One

Three Peas and a Pod

Alone in a Crowd

Odd Man Out

Which one is not like the others

Where's Waldo?

Three blind mice and a minister go into a bar

Peter, Paul n Mary and Some Guy

What the f*ck is that? You aren't going to eat that are you?

Doug and the Thugs

Three points define a plane. Four points just make a plane and a point

I can count it as a keeper, I kept it

What did the Whitefish say to the Steelhead? Let's get smoked

Something Smells Fishy Here