Day 179

Again with the rain today. It is supposed to be like this for a while, raining every afternoon. I guess I shouldn't gripe 'cause we do need the rain. This was taken from our back porch with the screen door open so I coyuld stay dry.

Day 178

It was back to the lake for today's post. This one looked kind of like there was a hole in the sky that the sun was showing through.

Bonus Picture

Sunsets are great but this is the real sunshine in my life.

Day 177

Today I was trying out my new flash.

Day 176

The weather was not very good here today. It rained most of the day. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn't go out and work in the yard. What a shame. The cats sometimes become targets when I can't get out.

Day 175

Today's pic was an experiment in flash photography in total darkness. This is part of a hibiscus bud.

Day 174

I'm not going to try to BS anybody here. I was on the computer playing around with photoshop, playing minesweeper, and following the Cubs game on the internet when I happenned to notice that it was pushing 11:30 and I had not taken a picture yet. When I wait that long you guys have to suffer through the results.

Bonus (Makeup) Picture

Since I feel bad about the post tonight, I am going to add one that was taken some time ago.

Day 173

There are a bunch of these things in our front yard flower garden. I don't have any idea what they are called. Reba knows I think but if I wake her up, this will be the last post. The lady that used to live across the street had some of these and gave Reba a couple. You just pull part of one up, stick it near dirt and it grows and multiplies all over the place.

Day 172

These guys are harder to get to hold still than a kid! By the way, that really was the color of its beak.

Day 171

Anyone who grew up in the Central Florida area in the 60's may recognize where this picture was taken. This is the infamous Osteen bridge. The old abandoned one on the right was in use for many many years and was probably one of the most dangerous bridges around. At that time, prior to Interstate 4, (of course I was too young and have only heard stories) kids had to drive through Sanford to get to New Smyrna Beach. This involved going over the Osteen bridge. Now in reality, it wasn't really the bridge that was so dangerous but the way that kids approached the drive across it. It was right after a curve and many didn't negotiate it properly. Hardly a week went by without someone hitting the guard rail or missing entirely. Eventually it was taken out of use and the larger, safer one on the left was built.

Day 170

It was another rainy afternoon. On days like this it's hard to go out and look for a picture. With that said, I went as far as the back yard. I had mentioned (I think) the other day that no birds would come to our bird feeder since it was on the ground and the neighbor has cats. Here is the poor abandoned bird feeder. Hopefully I will have a chance top hang it up this weekend. Stay tuned.

Day 169 HAPPY FATHERS' DAY

Day 168

No long story here. Just a dollar.

Day 167

It was a nice day today. I had the day off from work and outside of mowing the lawn, pretty much did nothing. I went to the lake tonight for a picture. These are rocks that are normally hidden under water. I was surprised to see them tonight after all of the rain we had from Alberto but the river has gone down since last time I was there.

Bonus Picture

This poor guy had taken his boat out for a ride and it started taking on water. Eventually , as he was coming back to the ramp, the water got so high in the boat that it caused the motor to not run. (I think it's because it's a Mercury). He ended up paddling in. Since the water is shallow, he ran aground while paddling and had to get out and pull the boat to shore. Once on the trailer he could see that there was a large crack in the hull. I think it's time to retire that one. I tried to sell him mine but no luck.

Day 166

I was late getting this posted. Sorry.

Day 165

There isn't a whole lot to say about this one.

Day 164

Tropical storm Alberto blew through here today. Actually, it was north of here but we got a lot of rain and a fair amount of wind. Fortunately, there was not enough to cause any damage. This is a picture of a Peace Lilly against the tropical storm sky.
I'm putting up two shots because Reba liked one best and I liked the other.

Day 163

Skittles... 'nuff said.

Day 162

Since the weather has warmed up, we are getting a lot of birds hanging out around here. I put a bird feeder out last week but I don't have anywhere to hang it yet so it is sitting on the ground. I guess that the number of cats running around the neighborhood is limiting the number of birds that are partaking of the goodies. I think they don't want to be sitting ducks so to speak. This bird was in the oak tree in our front yard (Door yard for those from the foreign country of Boston). I spent some time on the internet trying to find out what kind he is and I think he may be a brown thrasher. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know.

Day 161

This was taken for a black and white contest. I don't expect it to do very well but I kind of liked the simplicity of it. In the words of Michael Reichmann of Luminous Landscape, "... because I take photographs first and foremost for myself, I'm the critic that has to be satisfied. If others agree with my assessment, then so much the better. If not, so be it."

Day 160

If you look to the lower half on the right hand side, you can see where we live!

Day 159

This was an experiment with some lighting tonight.

Day 158

This post is coming a little late. After work yesterday, I was asked to take some pictures of a friend's granddaughter. We went to a local park. This little girl knew how to play to the camera. This is one of the shots.

Day 158 Bonus Picture

Since I was late posting, here is a bonus pic, another one from the park.

Day 157

Some friends of ours usually are in some stage of raising a cow or two. This is one of theirs. I can't remember its name but it seemed to be a very nice cow. I had to be careful of the other one. It kept coming over to me trying to lick the lens.

Day 157 Bonus Picture

I thought about using this for my picture of the day but Reba said it would be udderly ridiculous.

Day 156

Tonight it was looking like we may get a storm so I went to the lake to see if I could get a shot of some lightning. I have never gotten a decent lightning shot and hope to accomplish that someday. While I was there though, I saw a flock of birds hauling a__ down the outside of a reed line in the lake. I zoomed , I shot and here it is. I experimented with this one . I wanted to get the softer feel of a painting. (BTW, no lightning)

Day 155 Anybody want to buy a boat?

They say that the two happiest days of a boat owners life are the day he buys it and the day he sells it. It was almost exactly 20 years ago that I bought my boat. Hopefully it will not be too long until it gets sold. Now for many uears, it brought me a great deal of enjoyment, from liesure fishing, to fishing bass tournaments, to riding down the St. Johns River with Reba and Matt. When the time comes though that you can't remember when the last time you had it on the water was, it is time to move her along to someone who can appreciate her. I pulled her out of the garage today to start up the motor and realized that the registration had expired two years ago. I guess that gives me some idea of how long it has been. The old girl did start up after a little coaxing and prodding. The inspiration for today's shot came while cleaning out the boat getting it ready to sell.

Day 154

It was just a very nice night out tonight so I took this picture of the moon.

Day 153 A bud in the hand...

Sorry I was late getting this posted.
This Hibiscus bud would have been a very pretty flower had I not pulled it off the bush to take a picture of it. Thanks to Reba for her assistance in holding it gently while I was photographing.

Day 152

Las Vegas is supposed to be a very fun place to visit. My Mom and Dad used to love to go there. Matt is going there tomorrow for a week with friends. One does need to be careful though and be mindful of the guy who went to Vegas in a $20,000 car and came home in a $200,000 .....................................Greyhound Bus.

Corrections

For those of you who have been going crazy knowing that for the last couple of weeks the day # has been off, the mistake has been corrected. I skipped a day back around 139 somewhere. In addition, on yesterday's post I referred twice to Nature's Cat Toy as NTC. This was of course supposed to be NCT. I was having a dyslexic moment. I want to apologize for any undue stress or inconvenience these mistakes may have caused. As for any mistakes that occurred prior to that time, if they are noticed or brought to my attention, they will be corrected but I am not going to look for them. Thanks you for your understanding.