High Water on the Mississippi river

Driving across the Chain Of Rocks Bridge yesterday, the Mississippi River was as high as I remember seeing it.  I presume it was higher during the flood of '93, but I don't remember.  (I know it was higher in Alton, don't know about this spot).  Anyway, headed into Missouri, I noticed just how high the river was on the water inlet towers. 

 Sadly, there really isn't a way to get near enough to take a decent photo at the moment.  So, for the drive home I preset my camera, and on the eastbound crossing snapped 5-6 photos out of the car window.  No look, no zoom, just hoped to get lucky.  All the same:  don't try this yourselves kids!

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They're not good photos, hardly even snapshots.  But they do give an idea just how high the river is.

By comparison, here's some previous photos of these structures:


April 2003, from the Old Chain Of Rocks Bridge

September 2018, from the Old Chain Of Rocks Bridge:

Stats and Other Pointlessness...

So...  Blogger has a Stats function.  Which allows me to track page views and traffic sources and such stuff.  Perhaps meaningful if I were a business.  Or perhaps if I had any meaningful traffic here.

Since neither is true, so it is pretty useless.

SO....

What's my most popular post of all time?

Blue Meanies, from May 11, 2011.  What is kind of funny is that the post it was inspired by my discovering the Stats function.  It notes that my most popular post at that time (May 2011) was titled Sky of blue and sea of green In our yellow submarine from 9/5/2010.  That post is still my #2 all time.  Combine those two posts and, they account for 1.7% of my total page views over the past... well however long it is (this blog has been around since September 2004, but I don't think the stats go back that far.  The page view graphs don't even go as far back as either of these two "Top" posts).

Clearly, I need to do more Beatles related posts.  Or keep re-posting this image:

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Meanwhile, Looking at the past month (and past week), my most popular post is Vacation, from all the way back to August 1, 2007.  Quite simply, That Don't Make No Sense.  A twelve year old post about vacationing in Aurora, Kentucky (no Beatles connection there!).  A 12 year old post where all the photos have been deleted (back when I used AOL for my image hosting!)...

What can it all mean?  Probably nothing.  But it keeps me interested.

Color or B&W??

Refelctions of the Old Courthouse building in downtown S. Louis.  I took this with color in mind, and was happy with the way it turned out in color.

But then I decided to do a B&W version.  I really like both, probably equally.  But the overall feel is certainly different.

So, which do you prefer?  Color?  B&W?  Love / Hate both equally?
Let me know in comments.

ACC105 - Goat Catfish - When You're Through Changing, You're Through

Time for my latest entry to the Album Cover Challenge over at 365project.  This is one of my favorite challenges over there, as it combines two of my passions:  Photography and music.  Yee-Haw!  Details on the challenge here.

Anyway, my randomly generated band name was "Goat Catfish".
And my randomly generated album name was "words in the English language"

As with challenge #104, I decided to start with an old image.  Here's how it turned out:

(click for larger version)

Following my recent trend, I'm creating a Spotify playlist inspired by this, I'll update this post with a link when it is done.


Check out all of my album cover challenge entries here.

I'd buy a raccoon but John already has one...

Person:  I wish I had a glass Of water.

Other Person:  Why?  You thirsty?

Person:  No, I want to see if my neck leaks!


(from the Monkees' song "Gonna Buy Me A Dog")

Wide Open Spaces

Taken with my iPhone, while my wife was driving on I-24.  Not too far from Newstead, Kentucky.

More Birds, Backyard and Beyond

Still digging my Fujinon 55-200mm zoom lens, seems to call me to taking bird pictures!  

Pretty sure this is a Carolina Wren, perhaps the same one I posted 5/28.  I'm thinking this is a juvenile, based on the small wings you can see below:

 It had just spent some time fluffing the feathers on its chest, then stretched its wings.  Rather short!

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I beleive this is a female Red-Winged Blackbird, based on suggestions from Facebook, and subsequent internet digging.  This one's not in the backyard, but is at Watershed Nature Center.

I especially like this photo, She seems almost regal, and struck a nice pose.

R.I.P. Dr. John

You've probably heard by now, but American musician Dr. John, died last Thursday, June 6, 2019.

Dr. John (real name Mac Rebennack) was a 6 time Grammy winner and 2011 inductee to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. One of the great piano players in rock and roll...

I believe I first heard Dr. John with the single Right Place, Wrong Time, which peak at #9 a week or so after my 13th birthday.  And I'm pretty sure I remember when Such A Night was out, which just missed the Top 40 a few months later.  I certainly remember his performance in The Band's Last Waltz.  So, for a long time, a musician I knew of, and respected.  But I didn't actually own any Dr. John music until 1989's In A Sentimental Mood, featuring a fun duet of Makin' Whoopie with Rickie Lee Jones, which got a lot of airplay on MTV (back when they played music videos!).

When the 2 CD anthology Mos Scocious came out in 1993, I snapped it up, and savored the experience.  Over time, I picked up Television (on cassette!) and Duke Elegant...

Overall a really broad range of music, but most of it with a great funkyness and groove.

I highly recommend Mos Scocious, it's on Spotify.

World's Largets Catsup Bottole

It has been a while since I posted an image of this Collinsville Landmark, but I know it is not a first.

Anyway, this is the Brooks Catsup bottle, towering above the former "manufacturing" site of Brooks Catsup.  A certified "Roadside Attraction", with its own web site. They used to have their own festival, but it ended 2017.

Of course, all of this just brings up the sticky subject of Catsup vs Ketchup.  Given that I grew up in Pittsburgh, home of H.J.Heinz, it will always be Ketchup to me.

Backyard Birds

A couple of shots from our backyard.  Both taken with my Fujifilm X-T3, and my Fujinon 55-200mm zoom lens.  I'm still a big fan of both...

Presumably an American Goldfinch, maybe a breeding female?  This one was quite aggressive, repeatedly attacking the window (presumably its reflection).

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Pretty sure this is a Carolina Wren.  I even found a site with recordings of their call....  I thought it was interesting that it tucked its tail when singing....

Also posted on Instagram and at 365project.

Grand

The marque for the Grand Theatre in Alton, IL. Built in 1920, closed since 1977.  As of last November, there was a news story that the building had a new owner, and would be renovated.  But nothing seems to be happening 6+ months later.

It would be cool if they can turn this into another version of the Wildey.

Just Another Sunset...

Taking an after-dinner stroll with the wife, at Schon Park. This is SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera), no editing.  From my iPhone 8.

Now I'm not one of those SOOC purists, who get all indignant about anybody adjusting images using imaging processing software.  Quite the opposite, actually.  I was doing some level of tweaking back in the 70's, in my basement darkroom.  (crop / rotate / exposure / contrast adjustment).  And, though most of my editing is pretty basic, SOOC is quite rare.   if you scan my photos here (or elsewhere) you'll see more highly edited images than SOOC.  All that said:  this one is SOOC.  Taken on my phone, directly uploaded when we got back to the car.

Aside:  Maybe I'm just not following the chatter as much, but it seems there';s a lot fewer of the SOOC Purists around these days.  Back when I was active at BetterPhoto, it seems that there was a group of folks who would spend their days commenting on any photo that was obviously modified (and some that were only probably modified). 

Aside II:  If I were to do any "photoshopping" of this image, I would probably clone out that bird that is just to the right of the sun.  Distracting, that one is.

ACC104 - I Row After Health Like A Waterman

Time for my latest entry to the Album Cover Challenge over at 365project.  This is one of my favorite challenges over there, as it combines two of my passions:  Photography and music.  Yee-Haw!  Details on the challenge here.

Anyway, my randomly generated band name was "From A To Z-Z-Z-Z".
And my randomly generated album name was "I row after health like a waterman"

After some thought, I decided to start with an older image, which I though fit well.  And here's how it turned out:

And as I did last time, I came up with a various-artists song list of what I envision the band to sound like.  Complete with a spotify playlist.    In this case, I also added a little mock press release for my mock band, read it here (https://365project.org/lsquared/fourth/2019-05-15).

Check out all of my album cover challenge entries here.

I Yam What I Yam

...  And Dat's All What I Yam.

Statue of Popeye, at Clarksville, IL.

As it says on the plaque:

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"POPEYE

This statue is erected in tribute to

* * * Elzie Crisler Segar * * *

Born In Chester, Illinois, Dec. 8, 1894

Died in Santa Monica, California, Oct. 13, 1938

Mr. Segar created Popeye from his recollection of

Frank "Rocky" Fiegel - Jan. 27, 1868 - Mar. 24, 1947 - Local scrapper.

Popeye first appeared in the cast of 'Thrimble Theater' Jan. 17

1929.  William 'Windy Bill' Schuchert - Mar. 8, 1857-Feb. 20, 1941

ester opera House owner and Mr. Segar's benefactor

Appeared as 'Wimpy' the hamburger fiend."

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Don't beleive me?  here's a photo of the plaque, knock yourself out:

And a bit of a longer shot of the statue:

Asian Carp?

Taken Sunday, at West Alton, IL.  The Mississippi River was at Major Flood Stage, and had backed up into Alton Slough / Ellis Bay to the point of topping over the road into Teal Pond.

As I was watching, there were these rather large fish that seemed to be flinging themselves around the pond, where the water was pouring in.  I'm guessing they're some sort of Asian Carp?  Probably 2+ foot +.  Can anybody confirm / enlighten me?