Day 151

As I was on the porch tonight, I noticed one of the most interesting creatures in nature, the elusive NCT. If it weren't for these guys, many households would be a very boring place for some of the occupants. I know that they provide hours of fun and games around here. Notice the shortened tail section. This is caused by interaction with the local residents. By the way, I'm sure you are wondering what NCT is...Nature's Cat Toy.

Day 150 Happy Birthday Matt

Matt turned 21 today. It is amazing how fast they grow up.

Day 149

Tonight's post was another experiment. This is a picture of a small jar of colored stones with a backlight. I added the stained glass effect in Photoshop.

Day 148

Today's picture isn't really pretty. This is an odd looking frog of some kind. This all started while sitting on the back porch. Reba noticed that the clock we have outside (it was so we could tell what time it was while swimming before we took the pool out) was slow. She went out to set the clock but when she took it down, our little friend and one about twice his size were living behind it. Needless to say, Reba, who does not like small creatures, screamed and dropped the clock while running for the safety of the porch.

Day 147

This is being posted late as I got busy yesterday. It ws taken on time but I didn't feel like posting it last night.

Day 146 Time for a baseball picture

This was inspired by a couple of things that made me decide that a baseball picture was needed today. As I'm sure you know if you follow this rag at all, I am a Cubs fan. It is getting harder and harder with each loss but we Cubs fans have learned those four little words that keep us going..."There's always next year". It was a particularly hard game to watch today and I thought I needed something that resembles real baseball.

Day 145 Oh but to see with the eyes of a child

This was something that I have been wanting to try for a while now and just never got around to it.

Day 144 Anatomy of a Strawberry

This was not exactly what I had in mind when I started this tonight. By the way, strawberries are apparently very good this time of year.

Day 143 Finally caught up!!!

Yay, I have finally gotten caught up after the trip. I had a ton of stuff to go through and then did a house shoot this weekend too so I was pretty busy. Things will get back to normal now though and hopefully I will be able to spend more time on the submissions.

Day 142

I'm not really sure what kind of plant this is. (or would be if it were real)

Day 141

I thought I would try something more on the abstract side today.

Day 140

Two cats sleeping.

Day 139

Finally it was time to come home. As good as it is to get away sometimes, it is always good to get back home.

Day 138

Today was pretty much a baseball day. The game started at 1:20 pm. We had decided to get tickets for this game in the bleachers. Bleacher seats are general admission so the lines start forming early, again meaning we needed to get to the park early. I found out that everyone should see at least one game from the bleachers at Wrigley. I was amazed to find that the average IQ has to be about 70 points lower there than in the stands. It is a whole different atmosphere but one that has to be experienced to be appreciated. We were fortunate to have a kid in front of us that was so drunk, that he fell asleep, leaning back on the knees of the guy behind him. His friends were putting peanut shells in his hair and generally abusing him but he slept through it. Apparently however, security in the bleachers is very observant and he was soon removed. He was soon replaced with someone equally if not more annoying and who unfortunately stayed awake the entire game. The Cubbies lost this one and it was off to dinner and to relax for the trip home.

Day 137

We had decided not to attend a game today so that we wouldn't feel rushed when were running around the town. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed off down the interstate to town. There was a lot of construction so the trip was slow each morning. We did finally arrive and find a place to park. It was one of those lots where you give the attendant your key and hope for the best. Did anyone ever see Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Of course the Chevy Cobalt that we had rented was not as likely to be driven all over town as was the car in the movie, but it was still a bit scary turning the keys over, especially after seeing the way they packed the cars in. I was glad I had gotten the extra collision insurance. We stopped first at the Sears Tower and took the ride to the observation deck. Very impressive if you ever have the chance to go there. We then hopped one of those trolleys that you can ride all over town, getting on and off as you please. (Also highly recommended. Chicago is a big a__ town, too big to walk all over the place.) After a day of being tourists, it was back to the hotel for pizza and a good night's rest.

Bonus Picture

I liked this one and thought I would throw it in. This was taken from outside the aquarium.

Day 136

Since we were very close to Wisconsin, we decided to drive to Milwaukee today. It was a shortened day for sight seeing because of the game tonight. We did have a chance to visit the Miller Brewery and take the tour. I was amazed to find out that this brewery serves ten states but 40% of the 500,000 cases a day that it turns out are shipped to Chicago. It's amazing that they get anything done there.
The Cubs played today at 7:00 which of course meant that we needed to be there by about 5:oo to catch batting practice and soak in a little of the Wrigley Field ambiance. We arrived about a half hour before the gates opened so we walked around checking out all of the locals preparing for the game. One of the most famous parts of Wrigley, aside from the ivy covered outfield walls, is the sign out front that always welcomes fans to the "friendly confines". I was amazed at how small the stadium is compared to some other major league parks but it is so full of baseball history, it's hard not to be impressed, even for the casual fan.

Day 135

Today was the day we left on our annual trip to see the Cubs play. We flew up this morning and spent the afternoon driving, sightseeing, and learning our way around Chicago. As evening set in, a strange thing occurred. I had seen it happen a couple of times while watching games on TV but it was really amazing in person. A fog rolled in from Lake Michigan which hovered over the town, completely obscuring the tops of all but the shortest buildings. It also became evident how the town got its nickname "The Windy City". The lake looked almost like an ocean, much rougher than the Gulf of Mexico. Between the wind, the fog, and the cold, it really had an eerie feel.

I'm Back

In case anyone was wondering, I have been out of town and unable to access a computer since Monday. This was the annual Cubs trip with Matt, a tradition that was started 3 years ago and if all goes according to plan, will be an annual trip for us and any offspring that he may eventually spawn, assuming they are old enough to understand the trip and have any kind of interest in baseball. I did have my camera on the trip and did take some pictures every day. I just haven't had time since I got home tonight to sort through them. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will be all caught up.

Day 134

Reba has saved I think every one of these stupid dollars that she has ever gotten. I forget what they are called but we have a few now. This photo tonight is in honor of the way the tax cuts over the last few years have provided a boost to the eggconomy despite what the main stream news tries to tell you.

(Please, make me stop!)

Day 133

Another beautiful Florida sunset. It makes one realize that me must be ever vigilant to protect this fragile eggcosystem.

(Help me, I can't stop!)

Day 132

These are not eggs. (Although they did come from eggs and will result in many more)

Day 131

I promise that tonight will be the last egg picture. I had a tough time with this tonight. I tried a couple of things that just didn't work at all. It was really eggsasperating.

Day 130

"Eggsistentialism attempts to describe our desire to make rational decisions despite eggsisting in an irrational universe. Unfortunately, life might be without inherent meaning (eggsistential atheists) or it might be without a meaning we can understand (eggsistential theists). Either way, the human desires for logic and immortality are futile. We are forced to define our own meanings, knowing they might be temporary. In this eggsistance...


THE INDIVIDUAL DEFINES EVERYTHING." *


* http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/

Day 129

I decided to stay with the egg theme. I won't take it to the eggstreme though.

Day 128

Tonight's picture is a study of white objects on white background. I was going to name it something like "The Three Eggmigos" but thought that might be stupid (You know eggzactly what I mean).

Day 127

I don't know a lot about flowers but this one of unknown identity was in a pot on our back porch. It was there, it did not charge a modeling fee, and will not sue if I publish this picture. If only everything was that easy.

Day 126

Reba and I went to Gainesville today to see Matt. It's hard to believe that he has just finished up his junior year. He has finished his finals and got a couple of A's and a B. Way to go cg. While we were there, we had a nice lunch at a place called Harry's something or other in downtown G'ville. It was very nice. Good job Harry. If you are ever in town, give it a try. After that we drove around for a while and then went to the U of F Museum of Natural History. I had been there many years ago (not going to say how many). Bands I was in used to play at a lot of fraternity parties there and sometimes we would need something to do between gigs. It was a lot smaller then. This is a picture of one of the dinosaur skeletons. I don't remember what kind he was but he doesn't look too friendly does he?

Day 125

Near our house is an abandoned power plant. They still use the transformers and stuff but the building has gone unused for many years now. I think that sometimes old abandoned buildings look great if you get the right angle and the right light. By now you may be wondering what that has to do with tonight's picture. Nothing, at least not directly. I did set out to look for the perfect "old abandoned power plant with broken out windows" shot but couldn't get what I wanted. I had left the house without my wallet and the way the homeland security thing is now, I really didn't want to be wandering around a power transformer yard with a camera and no ID. So... back to the river. This is an old stump that used to be in the water. Someday it will rain again and the stump will be returned to its underwater home.

Day 124

I had to run to the store tonight so I decided to take my camera with me and stop somewhere for a photo. I was drawn back to the riverside again. Did I mention that I really like it there?

Day 123

This is Max. It's not the first time that Max has graced the pages of my PAD and it may not be the last. Several of the neighbors' cats like to hang around here. We find them in the flower beds, on and under the cars, and sometimes just hangin' in the front yard. For Cindy, that's "doh yad" (She'll understand). The next door neighbors cat was out this evening which generally means at least one of ours is watching it from the window. Tonight was Maxie's turn to stand guard.

Day 122

Happy May 2nd. We are now officially 1/3 of the way through 2006. It's amazing isn't it. It doesn't seem like that long ago we were all waiting around for our computers to die and planes to crash when 2000 arrived. Another much lesser known milestone has been reached. During my session (photographic, not psychiatric) tonight, I passed the 5000 picture mark on my camera. Todays pic is actually #5017. The very first official PAD post on January 1 was #1284. I figure that should put me somewhere around 12,000 by the end of the year. Many thanks to the guy who invented digital cameras. Thanks for checking in. See ya' tomorrow.

Day 121

The inspiration for today's photo came from a contest I was considering entering. The theme was "things that go together". Naturally, being a fisherman, I thought of "hook, line and sinker (as in fell for it). In order to get what I was looking for, I had to break an editing rule so I am not able to enter this in the contest but it can still serve as my POD.
On another note, I mentioned in yesterday's post that I had gotten a hard time from Reba regarding my picture on Saturday. I have since heard from Melissa who added her two cents in today (See Melissa's comment). First I would like to say that you are both correct. I did sort of half-ass that one. However, I do remember why I started doing this thing and it was 'cause I love photography. I would like to note though Moe, and I think all married people can relate, that photography is a lot like a spouse. You can love them to death but some days you just don't feel like putting up with their sh__.

P.S. Moe, I really do appreciate your comments. Thanks for viewing.