Such A Liar
This is with my phone camera. Phone. Camera. I really have a problem. Ya think? Here’s another one:
Also with the phone. I just wanted to see if I could. It did take longer with more blurries, but I ended up with 3 pretty good shots. Only 2 are being shared. Nothing was missed, so you don’t have to scroll through looking like I know you were about to. You are all caught up on icicle water drops. Happy day! Now that I’ve transferred these pics I can clear my phone gallery and get ready for the next wave of nature. I’m about to post the last pics of our giant house icicle. FYI. It reached about 50 degrees a few hours after I took the pic and the icicle is gone now without even a trace of evidence that it was ever there. That’s how we do it in the big city. Later.
The Last Ice Shot. As Promised.
Yes, that is a sun beam. I know. I took about 10 pictures of this too. I may see a pattern on where all my time goes in the days that I don’t physically go to work. Oh well. Don’t care. I like it. And now you can see what I see. Sleep sound. Dream sweet.
The Ice Curtain
This is from the front door. It was really cold when I was taking these pictures. Like, zero cold. But see how clear and blue the sky is? Such a trade off for all that thin atmosphere.
Another angle. The longer you look at these pictures the more they look like ice monsters.
Kind of the front. If I truly wanted to get the “front” angle, I would have to go stand in 2 feet of iced over snow drifts. No thanks. You’ll have to take my word that it’s pretty thick. It really doesn’t look all that impressive here, I will admit. But it goes all the way to the ground. That’s got to be something.
That’s the top. We really can’t even break it off right now, in fear that it might take the whole gutter down with it. I have a lot more but I’m going to stop here because you get the idea. I have been trying to get pictures of other people’s houses with the curtain of ice all the way across, but I haven’t had much luck photographing them. I better hurry though, it’s supposed to warm up to 50 degrees by next Wednesday. Fifty! Degrees. That seems wrong, but this is Chicago, so it will probably get to about 65 and cause a flash flood. In February. You heard it here first. Next post is going to be my own, personal, ode to self-interest, gratuitous icicle glamour shot. Mostly so I have something pretty to look at when I view my site, in case I get caught up in my job tomorrow and have to leave it as the title shot for a few days. I’m on call this weekend so you never know. And blue is my favorite color, tranquil and serene, in case that wasn’t apparent. Thanks for checking in and leaving a kind comment. It’s those small things that really make you feel connected in this big world. Have a great night. Stay warm and toasty wherever you are. Later.
101 Birds
101 visible birds. I counted them. At least I tried to count them. I may not be exact, because if you click it and enlarge it, there are a lot of spots and smudgy parts that look like birds but could be part of another bird or a camera flaw or a picture defect. I used my best judgement. Plus, they were already pretty far away when I had the genius idea to take the picture. There were SO many I couldn’t believe it. This is just one shot that I finally thought to take. I just stood there in awe of nature and the flight of the weather bound. They were loud too. Geese ya know. Flying south. And truthfully I was thinking that with so many flying over my head, what if one, or 10, pooped on me? Would that still be considered good luck? I was paralyzed by the sound and sheer numbers. I was doomed until I shook myself out of the bird haze to grab my phone. Anyway that’s my rough count of what I captured in the frame. Feel free to waste just as much time as I did counting them over if you feel strongly about this number issue and send me your best estimate. There’s no wrong answer. Here’s the small wave that flew by right after. Late to the party, but just as loud. 18 more. Later.
Sunset Sunday
Random picture. Not time traveling or living in another time zone. Cleaning the files out. Purging. I don’t like that word. Sorry for using it if it makes you feel yucky too. And yet I’m going to type it again. Purge. Blech. Later.
Post Tornado. Skeleton Trees.
Lots of noise. A strange, continuous roaring sound to the north of our location. Sirens everywhere. No actual sighting in my town. Confirmed visuals in Coal City to the South and Frankfort to the west. And as everyone knows by now, Washington, IL, out in the middle there. It is VERY windy now. If you turn on the TV to the Bears game in Chicago, you can see that our wind is extra windy. In case we forgot that our weather patterns here in the Midwest don’t just stroll in all leisurely-like, changing over the course of a few days or even hours; but prefer to burst out of the atmosphere like fireworks in the sky. Boom, flash, done. It’s dark. It’s light. It’s dark again. One minute you are outside just milling around and taking pictures, marveling at nature in all its raw beauty, and the next minute a powerful gust of wind crackles through the high branches of your fragile, breaking trees, pushing you, the garbage cans, and one of the plastic chairs you are standing next to, across the patio, almost giving you a heart attack. I literally covered my head because I thought a limb was coming down. I know the sound. So you decide you should probably go inside and close all the windows because it was 65 degrees mere minutes ago and now its 50 with all your blinds blowing inside the windows trying to come off the hinges. I have work to start and finish because I wasted my day on all this weather and I may slip in a drink or two to count my blessings tonight with my family. Say a quick prayer, send a thought, or help if you can, for our neighbors to the south. It’s getting dark now and the weather looks like it’s staying. Good luck. Stay safe. Winter is pretty much here. Only four or five more months until it’s spring. Cold hands, warm hearts. I think we say something like that. Later.
Halloween. Bare Bones Style.
Not a single decoration. No scary movies. Rain all day, but so, so warm. I bought just enough candy, apparently. Thank goodness. I have about 20 pieces of chocolate left in the pot. The rush came between 5 and 7 pm. But I am happy that I get to be here tonight. Day shift is good sometimes. At least now I don’t have to de-decorate. I will update this here bloggy thing as soon as possible. Thank you to my 2 new followers and all you wonderful people out there who are still checking and reading the same old thing every day. I am funny and relevant and have things to say. I just don’t have as much time to say them anymore now that I have my new job. Soon. Soon. Tomorrow is All Saints Day. Then the Day of the Dead or All Soul’s Day. Since I am lazy, I will link all my cool past posts here, and you can be amazed and hungry for the next thing I might write. Click the holiday to read about it! In the meantime, here is a giant spider that was in our house. We have had a lot of them but this is the only picture. And it’s blurry with the eyes all flashed out. But I post it because you can clearly see how big it is. Each one of those small squares is 4 inches in area. That spider is taking charge of at least half of those inches. Now 2 inches may not seem like a lot, but this is a house spider. Wolf spiders mostly. Go get a ruler and look at 2 inches. Really look. We forget how big an inch is because it’s always portrayed so small. 2 inches of spider is just a little bit too uncomfortably big to kill with a kleenex. And there seems to be a rash of these giant mutated spiders all over the Midwest this year. We all better be careful. Focusing too much on zombies and forgetting the real, live, predator threats that crawl around our houses at night when we are all snuggled in bed. So you are welcome for that. Have a safe and happy Halloween. The dead will be rising in a few hours and I need to go get a spell casted to keep the spirits where they belong. And dinner. Later.
Contrails
On a perfectly clear, blue, still, Tuesday afternoon sky, in September. Last Tuesday. The 24th. I told you I was a bit behind. I have never seen them criss cross so perfectly. I even got a close up. And now, on to October.
Monday Was A Good Day
Two quick pics to keep this site interesting and I am going to get ready for work. Monday was a good day for my viewing numbers–Thank you all for following me!–and it was good for life in general. I felt very good and healthy. Very glad to be alive and thankful for life and family and a job that allows me to have days off during the week. Living the dream, for realz. Haha. Anyhoo, I also managed to accomplish most of my list goals, including shop for food for the fam for the rest of the week while I am at work, and laundry. Sort of. It’s not piled up on the floor, so it counts. I had a hawk in the backyard, first thing, yesterday morning, 7 AM. A hawk. Just sitting there, on the ground, under the bird feeder, scaring away every other species of wildlife in the area. No joke. Not one other animal-like creature, be it bird, squirrel, butterfly, chipmunk, rabbit, etc…, was in my yard the entire time the hawk sat there. And it was very quiet too. No sounds. Not even bugs and insects dare make a peep when the top-of-the-food-chain predator for our little suburb decides to pop a squat after a long night of hunting or whatever it was doing. Of course I got pictures. About 100. Wait until you see them! This is the enticing, hanging story line, that I am using to bring you back tomorrow. I have to sort the pics and pick out the non-blurry ones. And I truly do not have time. As usual, I am pushing my “wasting” time into my actual “need to go” time. If it’s a good night tonight at the old general store, I will post them later, if not, then in the AM when I crawl out of bed. This is the nice time of year for weather around here so everyone enjoy and I will be back. Later.
just shy of pretty 