Phlog Sunday

So, I decided to try using more pictures today.  I took a ton this week and none seemed to fit with the blogging events.  Below is some SOB who thinks it's a good idea to get up in the wee hours of the morning and ride his bicycle up semi-vertical roads and down again.  I have seen him a few times on my way to work and wondered just why anyone would do that.  I want to say, "You go guy!" but, I can't bring myself to it. I suppose I am too soft and need my morning coffee too much.  Honestly, though, unless there is a war going on and I am in direct danger, I see very little reason to do such a wildly insane thing.  Let's wait till mid-day and go for a stroll instead, shall we?

I have been making copies of our coloring books near the local bus terminal and I have seen some truly questionable grooming habits, a significant lack of manners, and more than a little mayhem there.  I suppose I should not be too surprised at who uses public transportation.  The days of getting dressed up to go to town are long gone and using your manners in public appears to have died with one of the Roosevelts, and it shows.  I have encountered language being shouted across long distances and mixed company that would probably make a sailor wince.  Various acts of violence have been played out.  However, the other day I pulled up and there was a surprising silence from the terminal.  I looked over, expecting to see dead bodies or some other reason for the silence and lack of cursing.  There was a policeman over there and everyone was acting with their...well, not best behaviour...but they were behaving.  Note the sleeping person next to the sidewalk...gotta love the inner-city when it comes to your town!  

I took a self-portrait.  I like this shirt.  Makes me look like a grown-up.

I used to buy Cora miniature daffodils about this time of year.  She planted them in the front and they came up.  I thought this was a pleasing "Alice in Wonderland" view.  I had run the sprinkler for a little while and the water was still on them...nice touch.  I did not see any hookah-smoking caterpillars, though.

I did see a dog...he was a reluctant model.

Here's another view of the Daffodil, which now resides on the kitchen counter.

I love macro, and I think it shows.  Have a look at dinner from last night from close up!

These veggies went on the barbecue and received a nice grilling.

I figured since the coals were already hot, I might as well grill some chicken for today's lunch.  I added smoke...I love hickory smoked everything.  After working over the grill, sometimes I am hickory smoked...and I'm o.k. with that.

Our guest arrived.  She is a very large dog that seems embarrassed to be a very large dog.  Pepper is one of the best dogs I have seen.  I enjoy having her around.  Last night she was sleeping with one leg straight in the air.

Cora and I took out the crayons last night and decided to try out the latest coloring book we are offering.  Cora did the pig...and I am the Walrus.  (if you get the Beatles reference, you get ten cool points)

We have a relaxing day ahead.  I hope you do too!

I've Been Absent

I have been gone and lots of things have happened.

We had a birthday party for my favorite niece (Still safe to say that). She is six years old now! It's unbelievable! Seems like yesterday (or at least the day before) that we flew up here from California to see my new niece! Now, you can see she is treated like Royalty.
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She knew exactly what she wanted. She instructed each family on how they should present their gifts to her.

Cora made my sister a dress for my beloved niece for her birthday. See the results? Cora is a mean dressmaker, seriously, when she's making dresses, she gets all mean. Well, not really...but it sounds good.

That little niece of mine make the dress look pretty fun!

Speaking of dresses, one of the men decided to wear one to the party, but I won't name names (Cough, Scott).

Of course it could be because he won best costume...even though I worked all week on mine. I had the idea to approximate the dress of European royals from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (note the sash and cane)

Cora looked pretty dazzling, too, though. Note the fluffy toes:

My nephew came as "Peetah" from the Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe...couldn't he just double as Prince Charming?

Here is Cora and me after we had stepped through the door...it was raining outside.

The next few photos are from Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This was the view into the Gap.

The fog from our side was spilling into the Lower Valley. It even came over the top of the hills.

I think it looked pretty cool, actually...

Well, those are the pictures you missed. We don't have any big plans for the weekend...probably some cleaning and relaxing with any luck. I hope the rest of you get to relax, too!

Let It Snow!

It snowed yesterday. I took the wife to work and put snow tires on her car...but I also had the camera with me...

The snow makes a very nice photographic back drop.

But the clouds did a good job, too.

Below you see our wonderful car...err, Cora's wonderful car which I sometimes get to drive. Doesn't it look fast sitting still?

Here is a local landmark. There is a winery that uses this as a trademark of sorts...ok, it is the Piety Flats Winery...I love their wine. If you are ever in the area, stop by and try their wines...they are simply...well...good.

I had a pretty good day. I felt better today than I have in a few. My cold may be losing ground...at least, I hope. Since I felt better, I cleaned. I did dishes and all manner of things since I am not working this week...its the least I can do.

I made dinner and was waiting for Cora to come home! Could not wait. Amazing how boring it gets when you don't have a job to go to. I went to the local store to get some rice and as I was walking down the isle I heard a noise and a case of beer jumped into my arms. Well, it was SOOO friendly, I decided I could not just leave it there. I had to bring it home with me. It is now sitting calmly in an ice chest just outside the back door. Everyone is happy!

This evening it began to snow. I was sort of happy about that. Then it began to REALLY snow. Then Cora got happy, well, it pleased her that it was snowing. We both stepped out and enjoyed the atmospheric phenomena. Here, you can see me enjoying the snow. Yes, I am not wearing shoes.

See, Cora is smiling, too!

The snow inspired her to work!

She shoveled the walk!

She's crazy efficient when it's snowing! And yes, she's in her PJs...and a coat...and a hat. you'd think she was cold or something. Me, on the other hand, well, you'll notice that I am very brave and warm blooded and strong. That picture of me, above, almost looks like I have a little of the Captain in me...

Some of those foot prints are bare, you'll note.

Who knew It Could Do Such Things!?

This is about our camera, which we have had for 2 years now. It has shot tens of thousands of pictures, ranging from cool things we got in the mail, to birds on the front lawn, to aircraft. That last subject is my favorite.

I took the camera with me on a drive this morning. I like to take a camera with me. You never know if you are going to see something worth blogging about, and if you have a camera it makes a post cooler to have pictures. Plus, I am hoping to one day prove the existence of UFOs, Bigfoot, or the Yakima River Monster (No such thing, just made it up...but that'd be cool, huh? and anyway, you can't prove there ISN'T a Yakima River Monster! HAH! Got you!) and if you don't have photographic evidence, no one will believe you!

So, I took the camera on a drive. I found an appropriate subject and began snapping pictures. It was foggy out and I wanted to use the fog to make nasty things look nice by erasing their backgrounds. So, I am snapping pictures, going through the various modes that I have used a hundred thousand times. I push the button one more time and WOW! What's that!?!?!? A wide screen mode? I never appreciated widescreen pictures until I got a widescreen computer. Now I simply MUST have this! I selected it and look at these photos!

Did I mention I am partial to sepia?

and I am kinda likin' lichen!

Oh, and I like using macro...didja notice?

Anyway, I was really pumped by the way this thing works. I love this little camera and have since we got it. It is simply a Canon Elph powershot. It takes pretty good pictures, though I would love to get a large Nikon SLR. I can only imagine how these photos would look with a camera like that!

Oh, yeah, so my point was I know I have seen this option for widescreen before, but I don't think I ever tried it out...which is strange, since I don't feel right about a camera until I know it inside and out. I had obviously forgotten something! How very disappointed I am in myself! Still it is a happy discovery and these will give me some photos to put up as my background. What do you folks thing? Do you like my photos?

OK, the grass was forced, but I SOOOOO love macro!

The rest of the day was spent making the kitchen ready for the frantic baking party Cora and I are going to hold tonight...I promised to help her...I may even get to lick a beater! Now the house looks pretty good and I am pooped. Go figure.

Pictures! And Narrative.

Looks like I finally managed to get my pictures up again. I guess I just needed to catch my computer by surprise. Above you see one of my wonderful nephews on my shoulders. This was at my Sister and BIL's birthday party. She is older than he...guess he got a wildcat feral cat...I don't think she quite qualifies as a cougar.

My lovable sister likes for everyone to participate in somewhat humiliating games when she has a party. This was no exception. This time we were given "handicapts." Note the guy with the glasses? He's blind. The guy next to him, in the Florida shirt, is mute (did the tape over his mouth give it away?). I had small rubber balls shoved in my shoes to simulate some sort of foot malady. We were to all go into a store and buy a pack of gum and then take a picture in the store...hence the picture below.

Below, the mute guy is carrying the blind guy.

All in all, it was a very fun day and we got to spend some time with friends and family that we don't often get to see.

I managed to put up hooks for our new pots last week. I like to have them within reach...it might not look very pretty, but they are useful!

My sister got dogs and below you see the product of that choice.

I tore the corn out of the garden and put the stalks around the front door for Halloween. I think they look good and scary. The 9 year-old neighbor girl thought it was only "SO-SO" scary...I think she thought she was being generous. Still she lied to save my feelings...sweet, ain't she?

I have been busy this week. And sick. Well, not totally sick. A little sick. I think I am handling the thing remarkably well. I know I have mentioned it before, but I think it is weird how when I have a cold I stay awake and can't sleep at night, but during the day I feel fine.

I guess, I should give a narrative, since that is what I advertised in the title of this post...of course, maybe that was simply a clever ploy to gain readers. No, probably didn't work anyway.

We may get the chance to meet the Famous Bishop from Burundi again this weekend. I won't get into it much, but we are hoping to get some concrete details about BB. I hope we get a good chance to grill him on things like "What does he eat, OTHER than bread?" and "What size of clothing does he wear?" and most importantly, "When are we going to get him?"

So, when we got our phones last month there was a rebate. A significant rebate. I had gotten the rebate page and the associated necessities (Proof of purchase, receipt, etc.) and sent them away, after having Cora check to make sure I was not missing anything. Today I got a card in the mail explaining that they would not give us the rebate because we did send the receipt. I DID send the receipt. So, I drove into the Sprint Store and asked if they could print me out another darned receipt (I wanted them to help me, so I did not use the choice words I wanted to). To my surprise they had not problem with it and even filled it out for me. To top it off they filled out two for me so I can at least get one...fine by me. I was more than a little annoyed by Sprint's antics, because you know that has to be a gimmic for them to get out of sending off semi-large sums of money...who keeps that receipt. OK, some people do, but I am not THAT organized, and I think those bastards were expecting me to be pathetic and give up. HA HA HA! They were wrong!

Well, Survivor is on...I gotta go watch Russel weed out the rest...I don't like him, but he seems to be doing a decent job.

Mismatched Thursday

This morning I watched the news and noticed that they were not showing video that matched the story. They were talking about a mental hospital/asylum, and showed images of kids walking out of what appeared to be a local fair...so I thought I would experiment with it today in my blog. I wonder if you will notice whether the pictures match the blog material today. Will you prove that you don't actually read this blog by commenting on a photo that doesn't match? We'll see.

I guess it is a similar tactic to answering questions you don't like. I have at times done the same thing. I have answered different questions than were asked. Especially in a few of my History classes, on tests. If you can baffle the professor with a torrent of information, there is a chance that they will forget the answer they are looking for in the deluge of pointless and mismatched information you are throwing at them.

I was sitting here at the computer this morning watching for a job. I was getting fairly discouraged, since it was drawing nearer 6:30am. All of a sudden the phone rang. I got a job. I was ecstatic!

I taught first grade. I enjoyed it. They were...energetic. I did have one little boy tell me he wished I was his dad. I was a little taken aback. I said, "Why?" He said "'cause you have those cool glasses and you have a beard!" Oh, ok...that makes a little sense...or is that a little less sense? I decided to take it as a complement. He's a good kid who sometimes has difficulties controlling his actions...did I say sometimes? Still, he is one of the kids I look for in that school, and he brings a smile to my face with his unconditional devotion and determination to saying "Hi!" to Mr. H.

When I got home I sat in the back yard. I put bird seed in some of the little shallow bird feeder thingies I have on the fence and was greeted with the flutter of little wings. Amazing the number of birds in the back yard! They showed little fear of me!

And finally, Cora made her wonderful pork chops with quinoa! AWESOME!!!!!!!

Now, I sit at the computer waiting.

Military Escort

So, I dropped by the 4th Battalion, Bravo Company HQ today. I took pictures of the T-72 tank there. Built in the Soviet Union and captured in Iraq during the Gulf War (Desert Storm), it was the much touted main battle tank that our forces...or at least the talking heads on the news...were worried about. Turns out they did not need to worry. Our M1A1 tanks, often outnumbered, took the fight to the enemy and knocked them out every time! At one point, 5 M1A1 Abrams encountered an enemy force of about 35 armored vehicles (Tanks, too) and destroyed them all in a matter of 20 minutes. Often, our forces would show up and the Iraqis would jump out with their arms in the air, surrendering...

I had to be buzzed in. I was escorted by a marine. I had to sign in, wear a visitor tag, and was instructed to avoid taking photos of vehicles in the parking lot, the fence, the gate, the buildings...basically, if it was anything other than the tank, I was to avoid taking pictures. For security reasons. I then had to walk back in, sign out and return my tag. Still, the Sergeant who escorted me was most helpful and very friendly. I was surprised he looked so young...guess I am getting old.

I think I did pretty good avoiding other things.

Note the bullet holes in this tank(below), it was knocked out. Note also the wheels...chipped rubber. I could not identify a place where it was hit by an anti-tank round, but, it is still interesting to look at. I will be posting these on my airplane/history site when I get a decent article wrtten up.