A Mississippi River Tree
Because I like to take pictures of trees. With the moon, if you look in the branches. We went to the Memphis Zoo while we there, so I have lots of pictures there too. I highly recommend it if you get the chance. It was amazing and full of good, healthy looking animals. And I so want to keep this up every day! I am going to try to be better, she says, yet again. But I promised four and delivered four. I have that at least. January 3. Still raining. 34 degrees. Thank you for spending some of your day with me.
The Kids Wanted To Touch The Mississippi River
So I let them. I let them climb down a rocky, steep embankment, to lean over and touch the freezing cold, fast moving, dangerously currented big river. I was nervous they would slip and fall in and be lost forever. They swim good, but this is a big, fast, scary river even when it looks slow from the side. I know because I also climbed down there like a dum dum to touch that cold ass water, and I don’t swim as good as them so I probably really would have drowned if I fell in. Tourists. But I was fine. And they were fine. And there’s the picture.
November Near The Mississippi
We went to Memphis for Thanksgiving. It was really nice actually. That’s where the BF’s family lives. We went to Graceland. We took the tourist picture. I’m going to post it as a bonus, just for you, my special friends, who actually take the time to read this sketchy blog every few months or so. Please enjoy this piece of American culture!
Happy New Year In Four Fast Photos
This was Christmas and New Year’s. It’s January 3. These lights are gone, put away already. It was the only holiday stuff we had up due to some house painting and carpet replacing we did this winter break. No Christmas tree, stockings, decorations, etc, versus that fresh new house feeling? So worth it. And the house really does feel sort of new considering most of our stuff is still outside in the garage. I’m trying to de-clutter, so if it stays out there long enough we don’t need it right? Luckily I have been working every day so I missed most of the mess and most of the manual labor. This “re-filling” of the house could take awhile. And, no snow. Thank you Midwest weather. Seriously. Thank you. True to Chicago fashion, our “Winter Storm Alert!” is 33 degrees of rain. Not a problem as I see it. It can just keep on raining. Anyway, that’s it. I’m still here. We’re all still here. And I’m going to post 3 more pictures going backward now to catch up from October. Then we’ll be back on track. Even got some new bird pics to share. Yes fair readers, it’s true. Crows. Three big crows. From I don’t know where. They came, they walked around the yard, they flew away. 2015, here we go.
Snow Progress
The first snowfall. When it was pretty. And we were all like, “Yay winter!” Then it just became annoying. Now it’s all gone. At least off the table.
This Is Really The Last Picture Of The Famed Icicle
Mostly because it is totally gone. All of it. The icicle and the snow. We are back down to the sidewalk and rocks. I took this right before I left for work. By the time I got home, winter halftime melted almost everything around this majestic beauty. In Chicago, we get a few days every winter, smack dab in the middle, to remind us why we live here or don’t live here, or why we need to get our pneumonia and flu shots every fall. Temps go up, dumbasses walk around in summer clothes, and then can’t figure out why they are deathly ill the next day when the temp drops back into the teen range. Except that it only stays there for a few hours before going back up into the 50’s and raining like it’s springtime. Not raining like you might have. That’s baby rain. That’s amateur hour outside of the Illinois borders. But raining with thunder and lightning and 50 mph winds that are blowing the half melted icy snow across the road to cause some kind of watersleetsnowicefog mix that causes us all to crash into each other on the expressway. And then at night, just a touch more snow, like the icing on the cake. It’s actually more like vanilla powder on a cake that already has icing, flowers, writing, sprinkles, shavings and maybe some glitter. It’s overkill and we are not impressed. Only Indiana can rival us with snow weather. They get a lot. Mostly due to our strategic placement of Lake Michigan. Ha. Suckers. But their biggest problem this year, I hear, is something called “expansion joints.” Apparently they keep popping up in the middle of the roadway and causing a bunch of flat tires and accidents. It’s not funny at all. But it kind of is. How about you all do it like we do it in Illinois (and everywhere else) and just make the road in one long piece? Then all you have to worry about are the giant potholes that can swallow an entire Mini Cooper in one bite! Come on Indiana! Step it up and get all those flat tires the good old fashioned way. By driving into, and out of, a huge hole in the ground! In Illinois you get a 50/50 chance of coming out of it ok. Whereas in Indiana, I don’t think you have even a slim chance of not getting a flat, or worse, when the whole roadway separates into two, non-connected, pieces. It’s probably because our roads go through our state, not over it. Let’s bring it to the ground I-N.
Anyhoo, let me end here. I don’t want to start any wars. Winter blows all over this middle part of America. Every place around here has their own private hell. Sometimes you win, mostly you lose. So it’s a draw. I think I have one ugly pic of the front of the icicle and a blurry pic of the road that I drove home on the next day. (More snow. Can you believe it?) I’m not using them. I want to forget. I’ll just post some of the other random pictures from the camera and phone and call it a wrap for this wave of weather. It’s holding steady around 30-35 degrees. For 2 whole days now! A little melt. A little freeze. I don’t know why I stay here. Later.
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.
Drop Picture With Brick
I always say, if you are going to do it, over do it. Words, pictures, icicles. We have a big one hanging off the corner of the house. This is a small part of the large object. The tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Believe me, I got pictures of that too. No worries. I’m doling it out slow, so as not to cause a mass influx of views to this site, thereby potentially shutting down the system with all the people crazily clicking and scrolling, hungry for snow and dripping ice pics in the dead of winter. In the Midwest. From a stranger. Especially since most people in this general area of the world can look outside and see it for themselves in real time and feel the cold that comes along with all this natural beauty. Blabbity blab. There I go again. Let me filter and sift through more pics and be back. Later.
just shy of pretty 