Hey, despite the rumors I’m not dead yet! I know it has been a while, but spring has sproinged and I’ve been busier than a beaver with 2 dams to build. It has just been hectic. Which is strange because I don’t even have a job. Well keeping things rolling around here is a job I suppose.
Anyway while I have been absent from the blog, I have been taking pictures when I can. I finally got them loaded up in the computer. Remember to click the photos to enlarge. These pics cover a lot of territory, so let’s go! EDIT: Apparently I did not upload these pics full size, so they do not enlarge (at least for me). Sorry about that. I am not going back and doing it all again!
The wife and I were getting our taxes done, our accountant is setup in an old house that has been converted to a multi tax person office. With the house being old, it has old windows that happen to have beveled edges. As we were sitting there waiting to see our tax guy, I looked down on the floor and saw this. The sun coming through the beveled glass produced a really neat prism effect. Being the thing that I am I had to get a shot.
This next one is a result of some heavy rains we had. I am aware of the hydroplaning areas on the highway, this guy apparently is not. Note how after initially running off the road, and taking out the sign, there aren’t any tracks leading to the cars location. There was a lot more water there when this guy went off the road. He must have really been moving when he hydroplaned out into the field. You can see the wrecker in the background.
Spot the turkeys! This and the hydroplaned shot were taken through the car windshield. This is the road we live on that leads to the highway.
Bookends! I saw these dogs hanging out of both sides of the vehicle and could not resist getting a shot with the iphone. The wife of course was having a mild heart attack since I was driving at the time, but we survived unscathed 🙂 For the record I am not a left lane camper, once I got the shot I immediately took the right lane. I despise left lane campers, even if they have dogs hanging out the windows…
I like clouds. This was right after a nasty storm moved through. I’m not sure but I think this cloud that was rolling to the ground, was glad to see me 😉
Another cloud shot I was unable to resist.
As I mentioned spring has sproinged and as a result the lilac bush bloomed quite nicely. Which in turn attracted a lot of butterflies. I thought what the heck let’s shoot some butterflies. This was several weeks ago… An Eastern Swallowtail, followed by a couple more.
Funny how one thing leads to another. While I was shooting butterflies I saw a few things I had no freaking idea even existed. My first thought was “was that a hummingbird?” Then I noticed this thing had what appeared to be a furry back much like a moth. Well as it turns out there are these critters known as hummingbird moths. And they were in my yard. These things were notoriously difficult to shoot as they would alight only for a couple of seconds, then move on. There are a couple of different types, or some variation between the species/gender, or whatever. They were notably different, 2 types or subtypes or gender differences.
Pretty cool huh?
Then I noticed these things. I believe they are some sort of Beefly? Again very hard to catch these little buggers. Note in two of the shots you can see their proboscis. The one in the middle looks like a cross between a fat tick, a honeybee, and a mosquito.
I heard about some nesting Eagles and thought I’d try to catch a shot or two. All I found at the location was a pair of nesting Osprey. I took this shot through my trusty ED 80 telescope from at least a quarter mile away. The day was very windy and chilly, the shots did not turn out all that great but here is one.
Finally some religion themed atrocities. What kind of sick and twisted A-hole revels in the fantasy of their ficticious dog oppressing mankind? I thought about blacking out the license plate, then said “ahh fuck it, they deserve to be recognized.”
Ummm no. And double no! Got to get em while they are young and impressionable eh? And what kind of dipstick has to resort to some childish make believe that they are speaking for the dog?
Let’s not forget to advertise our desire to demonize and oppress the gays. “That’s ok, right?”
Assholes, all of them.
I guess it was mixed up metaphor day. And yes this is the same church sign as the other one over the course of a few weeks. I am aware of the term “getting the monkey off of your back” and “when you fall off the horse, get back in the saddle” but this?
You take your humor where you can find it 🙂
Well that wraps up this picture day content. I hope you enjoyed the experience, and I will be back.
Evidence Based Reality 
I will tell them to not spread rumours anymore.
Those are great photos. I like them all. I find the church signs humorous
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Thanks Mak. I know I can count on you to help quell the rumors 🙂
I got probably 75 photos of butterflies over the course of several days. Only posted the most photogenic. Then a lot of shots varied between iphone pics and camera pics, and a lot of those are through the car windshield because you just don’t have time to stop and get out of the car to take pics. It is work taking pics, loading them up and sorting them out, so I appreciate the appreciation!
The church signs are almost always humorous, anger inducing, or cringe worthy. Seldom you will see a mundane announcement…
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Maybe I know who started them 🙂
Taking pics, good pics, is work, I think a lot of work.
One day when I am free I should take shots of church signs
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Take shots AT them. It’s more fun.
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they may get me arrested, you know they have delicate gods and sensibilities
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Use water balloons. It’s fun.
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Great pics. Why did the turkeys cross the road? To get away from the hunters trying to chop off their heads.
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Mmmm, turkey 🙂
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Thanks for sharing. I definitely don’t see that much Jesus-ing in my part of the country, so this is a rather fascinating glimpse into that culture.
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Fascinating in a sense. If you find creepy cults, ala Steven Kings Children of the Corn fascinating, then yes I can see that 🙂 When you see it on a daily basis it is a reminder to stock up on ammo. 😉
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“Glad to see you” … was that a reference to the ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ movie? Subtle … ya gotta be subtle.
Love that wee lesson for the aqua-planer guy. As you say, he must’ve been airborne until the sudden stop.
I read somewhere that for the average tyre if you’re doing over sixty you are aquaplaning. No problem at all, but without an adequate rudder it’s hard to follow the curves in the road …
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Well the glad to see me thing is referencing an odd looking, somewhat penis shaped protrusion coming out of the cloud. Without looking at it, Im going by recall here, it should be far left about halfway down. Frankly I am glad someone appears to have got it 😉
There is an old line from a movie I think? “is that a pistol in your pocket, or are you glad to see me?” I have heard it through the years, not sure where it originated.
You know even with new tires you are pushing your luck at 60. There are a lot of places out on the highways, usually where a driveway or another road (either one, with a hill running down intersecting the highway) that just funnels a lot of water into the road. If you don’t know where these places are and hit them at high speed in the midst of a frog strangler downpour, off the road you go.
I was coming home one day from Nashville, had dropped someone off at the airport, and encountered a rain I can only describe as a tropical downpour. This was on an interstate 4 lane highway. The rain was at least a 1/4″ deep on the road, it was coming down faster than the road could shed it. You could see the drops hitting and they would bounce back upwards an inch or two. It was RAINING. Total grayout came with it. Could not see 3′ past the hood of the car. And people were still driving like it was a dry road! I had slowed to around 45 and was afraid some idiot still doing 75-80, and there were many of them, was going to slam into us. I pulled over onto the shoulder at one point, the cars whipping by us were rocking the car. Terrifying. So I got back out there and next thing I know I see a teddy bear in the highway. Odd. Then an eighteen wheeeler looms up out of the gray, turn sigal on heading for the shoulder. I got past him and saw the car he had hit, the rear bumper was now in the backseat. I wanted to stop and see if they were ok, but was fearing for our lives. I had to keep going. I finally reached an exit. I took off up the exit and waited for around 30 min hoping it would let up. Took off again and it started back up again. It cleared up after what seemed an eternity, and there were cars everywhere. Just dozens and dozens of cars out in the median, off in the ditch beyond the shoulder. It was like a scene in some disaster movie. I take the threat of hydroplaning seriously.
The wrecker services made a killing that day. And I happened to learn just how many idiots are out on the highways at the same time. There are probably still indents on the steering wheel of the car from where my fingers were clinching the wheel.
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Hah~! You must’ve seen Roger Rabbit (unless it appears in other movies?) from memory I’d say you got it word perfect. I fell madly in love with Jessica Rabbit until she was supplanted by Merida (‘Brave’) and more lately Anna (‘Frozen’).
Not enough people take hydroplaning seriously. (Here in New Zealand most think of it as a new cocktail). They’ll learn.
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