Checking The Corn

Driving by the fields this morning, I noticed this guy checking out the corn. He was writing something ona clipboard, presumably something about the corn. When I left, he was headed into the combine, to finish the harvest .

In The Gutter

Downtown Edwardsville, IL, sitting on the curb, waiting for the Homecoming Parade to start. Looking down..... What more can I say??

Leaf #33

I found this leaf in the front yard this morning, from the Redbud tree on the side….

Blue Ridge Mountain Skies

There's an old man, sittin' in a rockin' chair
He's got the best beagle dog in the county I've been told
But his shotgun done got too rusty
That 'ole beagle dog he done grown a little too old
As he stares up into heaven, I'm sure I know the reason why
He's thinking about that promised land in them Blue Ridge Mountain skies

Lyrics are Marshall Tucker Band, Blue Ridge Mountain Skies. I was listening to this one today (from the Stompin' Room Only" disc), and thought of this shot, taken this summer along the Blue Ridge Parkway.....

New River Gorge

Some leftovers from the summer trip through WV. At least I don't think they've shown up here... These are all the New River Gorge. It had been raining for days when we got there, and the river was high. The river-rats loved it. Above is a couple of the guides, waiting for the rafts
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The rafts coming downstream, as seen from the little 1 lane bridge that crosses just below (a tad upstream) the iconic Rt. 19 bridge
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My son and younger daughter watching the rafts, while their mom pilots the minivan. This is the bridge from the top photo. There was no place to park right at the bridge....
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A kayaker shoots the rapid...

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eBay Again

I first joined the eBay community back in January 1998. My brother and I got going selling some of our old toys, after cleaning out the parents' basement. I made some surprisingly good money, and had some fun doing it. Later, when we opened our sewing maching store, I used ebay to sell old trade-in machines, and get quick "turns" on them. And to clear out selected overstock items.

Anyway, almost 4 years ago, I had 2 bad selling experiences in a row, and kind of got turned off. Since then I've bought things 1/2 dozen or so times, but hadn't touched the sales side.

Well, I finally broke down last night and posted 3 used CD's, just to get back into it. Just a couple of things that I've ended up with duplicates of... I woke up this morning to find one had soldt(Buy It Now, with instant PayPal payment)!! Yee Ha!! It'll be interesting to see how the other 2 items do, they're not "out-of-print"... Regardless, I'm pumped now, and need to start auctioning off some of the "stuff" from the store, which has been closed for almost 2 years. Maybe I can bring myself to part with some of my old vinyl records, at least the ones I've bought on CD.

Sunset....

A repost from last September, sunset’s almost over….…. .

Fire On The Mountain

Ok, I'm pumped. I just snagged a CD copy of Charlie Daniels Band's classic 1974 album "Fire On The Mountain" off eBay. It's used, but I'm feeling really good about getting it for $15.78 (including shipping). I started w/ iTunes, but they only have it partial, without the songs "Caballo Diablo" and "Feeling Free". That won't do.

So I ordered it on Amazon. After 3 months of waiting, they finally gave up this week, said they can't find it. So, off to eBay. This was actually the 2nd auction I bid on, snagged it with a last minute bid... Really, I'm thrilled, listening to my beat up vinyl even now.

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I'll always remember when I discovered this album, on a mid-teens trip to WV to see my old best friend (Ned R.) from my hometown (Charleston). He had recently discovered this album, and introduced me. IIRC I returned the favor by introducing hem to Skynyrd. Lots of playing pool, digging the tunes and just hanging out. Good stuff. I haven't heard from Ned in probably 15 years. Seems I've let most of the people from my youth drift away.... sigh.

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Believe??

Here's a quick dozen "believeing" songs, now playing on my itunes:
* Believe Me - Poco
* I Believe - Moon Dog Mane
* I Believe - R.E.M.
* I'm A Believer - Monkees
* I Believe In You - Neil Young
* I Believe In Music - Gallery
* Believe In Humanity - Carole King
* You Still Believe In Me - Beach Boys
* True Believer - Ozark Mountain Daredevils
* Stone Cold Believer - 38 Special
* And Don't Believe Your Eyes - Eddie & The Hot Rods
* What A Fool believes - Doobie Brothers

Can you think of any others??

About an hour before the previous post’s sunset photo, from the concourse at MSP airport. These flags were on top of the jetway. Which was broken. All three AA gates lost power to their jetways, and the departing jets couldn’t push back. The plane I’d be taking to Chicago (then transfer for St. Louis) sat out on the tarmac, waiting for a place to “dock”…. They got it fixed, and we all made it home. On a could and windy late afternoon, with Autumn in the air….. .

Sunset at 25,000 ft.

Flying home from Minneapolis last night, caught a cool sunset from 25,000 ft (-ish)…. The photo doesn’t do it justice. .

You're Magnetic Tape!

A got a letter not long ago from one of the credit card companies, notifying me (and millions of others, I'm sure) that computer tapes with our personal information were "inadvertantly thrown out". Frankly, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but I did do a quick (really-free) check of my credit reports, just to be sure. It's amazing how much "Stuff" was in there, going back years and years, including many accounts long closed. ANYWAY, it all reminded me of a song. Way back in 1969, the Moody Blues did a spoken poem called "In The Beginning". From the "On The Threshold Of A Dream" album, the spoken intro to "Lovely To See You":

I think….. I think I am….
Therefore I am!!
I think….

Of course you are, my bright little star
I’ve miles and miles of files, pretty files
Of your forefather’s fruit
And now, to suit, Our great computer
You’re magnetic ink!

I’m more than that… I know I am...
At least…. I think I must be.

There you go man, keep as cool as you can.
Face piles of trials with smiles.
It riles them to believe that you perceive the web they weave
And keep on thinking free...

Clouds

Watching my son’s 6-y/o soccer game this morning, and I happened to look up. The cloud patterns captured my fancy, so I

Logo!

I found this fun logo generator over at my friend Frothy's blog, and gen-ed one up. I plugged in one of my leaf shots rather than one of their "emblems"....

Now I'll need to figure out how to put it on my sidebar!

Photo Challenge

From my Yahoo group, the assignment is “Shadow”. Here’s my response:

Let The Mind Create The Tree
"Every man has a different idea of what's beautiful, and it's best to take the gesture, the shadow of the branch, and let the mind create the tree" William Faulkner.
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More Shadow Shots

Some previous shots that fit the theme:

Leaves!

I have a sort of “thing” for leaves, and Autumn is my favorite season. Here’s some leaf portraits, in reverse chronological order, from yesterday back through Fall 2004:

Quickie, Pt. 2

Last week (Tuesday 9/5), I promised some semi-random shots from the slush pile.... until Blogger choked. Let's try it again:

Not much to say... The sun behind a cloud, momentarily.

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The Keys to the Highway. with subtle reference to my birthplace, Charleston, WV

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The last one is the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, just a few miles north of St. Louis. Looking across the Missouri, with the Mississippi in the background. Not quite as dramatic as the confluence in Pittsburgh....

What Are You Listening To?

Here's the 10 most recent from my itunes:
* Oh I Wept - Free (now playing)
* Crossfire - Stevie Ray Vaughn
* Old Love - Eric Clapton
* Don't Think Twice - Gatemouth Brown
* Losing Kind - Kenny Wayne Shepherd
* Underway - Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green era)
* Too Young - John Lee Hooker
* Filthy Teddy - Roy Buchanan
* Alseep In The Desert - ZZ Top
* Funky Music - Rick Derringer
What're y'all listening to?

Kicks (Just Keep Gettin' Harder To Find)

YMCA scoocer is in full swing, my son’s team had their first game last weekend! A couple of changes as they move into first grade: First, it’s no longer co-ed. That drops a couple friends from the team, but is all part of life, I suppose. At least they're still playing, too. Second, GOALIES! For the past 2 sessions (Fall & Spring of Kindergarden), they played with an open goal. Now they have goalies, and molst of the kids want to be there! My son played a quarter “in the pipes”, and didn’t give up any goals (phew!). He even made a save, of sorts.

Of course, the next best great thing is getting chosen team captain (on a per game basis, not all season or anything), see below…. This year the team is sponsored by a local Pizza joint, sounds like an “end=of=season” party will be in order! It'll be fun to see how they progress this year, it's starting to look more like soccer and less like a shifting herd!

The Sky Is Crying

A grey Monday here in the heartland, but only a few drizzles. No drought-buster yet, but the weather channel is still saying 80% chance of thunderstoms today and tonight. We need it. Here's an old photo, from last November. And a setlist of "rainy" songs, now playing on my iTunes...

Pray For Rain - Guadicanal Diary * * * * The Rain Song - Led Zeppelin * * * * Rainy Day Crossroad Blues - Doobie Brothers * * * * Alabama Rain - Jim Crocce * * * * Kentucky Rain - Elvis Presley * * * * * Cold Rain - CSN * * * * Let It Rain - Eric Clapton * * * * All Night Rain - Atlanta Rhythm Section * * * * Mandolin Rain - Bruce Hornsby * * * * Buckets Of Rain - Bob Dylan * * * * Buy For Me The Rain - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band * * * * Ashes The Rain and I - James Gang * * * * Everytime It Rains - Kenny Wayne Shepherd * * * * The Rain Came Down - Thompson Brothers * * * * Have You Ever Seen The Rain? - Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Never Forget...

5 Years ago today, 9/11/2001, terrorists struck a series of coordinated attacks against the United States. Between the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and Flight 93 (which crashed in SW Pennsylvania), around 3,000 people were killed. Much like Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 (12/7), this day will go down in infamy. And much like the attack on Pearl Harbor, the attacks of 9/11 awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve. The resulting War on Terror continues, time will test our resolve.

I was supposed to be on an airplane from St. Louis to Seattle that morning, should've been in the air at the same time as those planes. But a last minute glitch cancelled my trip. I was very thankful on that day that my wife didn't have to worry about "my flight" during all the confusion of that day.

Meanwhile, I was only in the WTC once, while on a business trip to NYC. I arrived by the subway, late afternoon, while most people were leaving. I was blown away by the swell of people, more people than live in my small suburb of St.Louis. On 9-11, as we all watched the towers fall, I kept thinking about "all those people". It's franky a miracle that only 3,000 were killed.

Friday Night Lights

Friday night in middle America, time for High School football! Our main reason for being there is to watch my daughter in the marching band / color guard, but the game is usually fun, too. My 6/yo son was really getting into it, he’s starting to catch on to what's happening. It helps that the home team did well; it was 42-6 when we left (1 possession into the 2nd half). Here’s an extra point, with Edwardsville making the kick…. .

What're You Listening To?

Here's the 10 recent songs from my itunes:
* Love, Building On Fire - Talking Heads
* Jet Fighter - The 3 O'Clock
* We Walk - R.E.M.
* Nobody - The Doobie Brothers
* Milkshake - Peter Tork
* Give It Up - ZZ Top
* I Just Wanna Have Something To Do - Ramones
* Don't Cry No Tears - Neil Young
* Doolin' Dalton - Eagles
* Mama Told Me Not To Come - Three Dog Night
What're y'all listening to?

HHR

On a recent business trip, I needed to rent a car. Avis gave me a Chevy HHR, their response to the Chrysler PT Cruiser… In review? Let’s just say I won’t be rushing off to buy one. On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of the PT Cruiser, so I’m not exactly the target demographic. It’s not a bad little car, overall, but just didn’t “wow” me. One GLARING problem, from my standpoint, was the sloping roof. Now I’m not exactly a giant (6’0” on a good day), but sitting in the driver’s seat, the top of the windshield seemed to be just about at eye level. So I felt like I was looking DOWN through the windshield, and had the urge to hunch down to see out. And the rearview mirror seemed to be really in the way of normal vision. I’ll bet this sucker would really be a pain on a long drive, my neck hurts just thinking about it! I tried to figure out how to lower the seat, but couldn’t. Maybe lean it way back and drive like a 16 year old (in full recline)?

New Toy!

I finally broke down today, and bought a new “point ‘n’ shoot” digital camera!! No, I won’t be retiring my Nikon D70 DSLR, but there’s a lot to be said for a camera that can easily fit in a pocket or briefcase. Especially for work related phots. SOOOOO, I’m no the proud owner of a Nikon Coolpix L2. With the same 6Mpx resolution as my D70, it ought to do pretty well. And the price was under $200! Here’s one of the first shots, straight from the camera, with no post-processing. Hope y’all approve!!

Quickie

On the run, running behind.... But here's something, semi-random shots from the slush pile....

at leat it was supposed to nbe. 'Till blogger choked. sorry!

Fence Posts

With yesterday’s fence theme entries, I decided to browse my archives. So here’s a handful of previous images that feature fences as significant elements:

Antietam Battle Field, Antietam, MD
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Overlooking Lewiston, ID
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Here in humble Glen Carbon, IL
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Not far from Iowa City, IA
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My son, playing T-Ball
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Lake Little Grassy, near Carbondale, IL
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