Burner

Back in September I had the opportunity to take photos out on the field at a hot air balloon race. As soon as I took this picture of one of the burners, I knew I wanted it in black & white. Yes, the burnished copper fittings were interesting, but in a way it just looked dirty.

WATCH OUT!

And make sure no one turns the gas on while your looking at it close up :)

Speaking of black & white, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my friend Mark over at Musings in Monocrome (http://www.highton-ridley.co.uk/blog/2009/10/october-freebie-prize-draw-now-open.html). He is once again giving away three signed, mounted prints in the month of October. You really should visit his gallery (http://www.highton-ridley.co.uk), choose your favorite and recommend it to others. Then, head over to his blog and let him know you want in on the giveaway. You can see all the details here.

Fire Escape

I follow the photo blog of Heighton-Ridley whom I believe to be a pretty fine monochromatic photographer. His images have a very dramatic quality and I can't help but to study them so I don't miss anything.

He's having a giveaway in the month of September in which you can win one of his prints - you can see all his work at his main photo site (http://www.highton-ridley.co.uk). I personally like Church Yard Sentinals. I suggest you stop by and check him out and get yourself entered in the contest - you actually need to enter on his blog. To see the rules, visit September Freebie Prize Draw now open!.

Please let me know if you enjoyed my monochromatic image today by leaving me a comment!

Guardians

To see other Wordless-ness, click here.

First Game

NUMBER ONE SPEECH

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

"There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don't ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.

"Every time a football player goes to play his trade he's got to play from the ground up - from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That's O.K. You've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the field second.

"Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization - an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win - to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.

"It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That's why they are there - to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules - but to win.

"And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.

"I don't say these things because I believe in the 'brute' nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he's exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."

--Vince Lombardi

Cockatiel

Although cockatiels are part of the parrot order, they are better at imitating whistles than speech. They may learn to whistle different tunes. Although they can learn words, the only understandable parts of the words are the inflections, while the consonants are not easily discernible. Their whistles and other mimicking sounds such as 'lip-smacking' and 'tutting' are almost perfect imitations of the sounds their owners make. Although some cockatiels do learn to repeat phrases, males are generally better at mimicry than females. It is said that some females cannot "talk" simple words and this is true, it mostly occurs in males. Cockatiel speech often comes out as a "whistle" when they do annunciate, the voice being soft in volume and difficult to make out. Cockatiels can mimic many sounds, such as the bleep of a car alarm, a ringing telephone, the sound of a zipper, the beeping of cell phones or microwaves, or the calls of other bird species such as blue jays or chickadees and loud weather like thunder. They can also mimic other pets such as dogs, occasionally barking back.

~Wikipedia

Sabino Canyon

Native Americans of the Anasazi culture who were builders of the ancient cliff dwellings found in the canyons and on the mesas of the U.S. Southwest, principally on the tributaries of the Rio Grande and the Colorado River in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. It was once thought that these ruins were the work of an extinct aboriginal people, but it has been established that they were built (11th–14th cent.) by the ancestors of the present Pueblo. The dwellings were large communal habitations built on ledges in the canyon walls and on the flat tops of the mesas. Access to the cliffs was very difficult and thus highly defensible against nomadic predatory tribes such as the Navajo.

~The Columbia Encyclopedia

Grasshopper

Insect: Grasshopper

The grasshopper is found worldwide and is one of the larger types of insect, with most grasshopper being about 2 inches long. The grasshopper has wings meaning it can migrate large distances when the weather gets too cold.

There are 11,000 thousand known species of grasshopper on Earth, that live in grassy areas and forests. The grasshopper is known for being able to jump extraordinary distances.

The grasshopper is also a stable food source for many creatures around the world including reptiles and birds. It is common for humans to eat grasshoppers in places like Asia and South America where the bigger grasshopper are, and there is a less readily available alternative protein source.

~a-z animals

Ice Storm

Pure liquid water is transformed to its solid state, ice, at a temperature of 32°F (0°C) when the pressure is at one atmosphere. Interestingly, the density of liquid water at the freezing point is 62.418 lb/ft3 (0.99984 g/cm3) but decreases to 57.23 lb/ft3 (0.9168 g/cm3) when that water organizes itself into crystalline ice at 32°F (0°C). This density difference is due the large open spaces within the crystal lattice of ice. The increased volume of the solid lattice causes pure water to expand by approximately 9% upon freezing, resulting in ruptured pipes or damaged engines when the process occurs in a closed vessel. Ice is one of a very few solid substances that is lower in density than the corresponding liquid state. Surface ice floating on a lake or pond helps to insulate the water below, reduces mixing, and can prevent the water body from freezing solid.

http://science.jrank.org/pages/3498/Ice-Physical-properties-ice.html#ixzz0IyyOktO1&Dhttp://science.jrank.org/pages/3498/Ice-Physical-properties-ice.html#ixzz0IyyOktO1&D

Pout

pout

–verb (used without object)

1. to thrust out the lips, esp. in displeasure or sullenness.

2. to look or be sullen.

3. to swell out or protrude, as lips.

Who's There?

Knock, knock

Who's there?

Olive

Olive Who?

Oh, that's so sweet. I love you too!

Sisters

The best thing about having a sister, is that I always had a friend

~Cali Rae

From the Inside Out . . .

My blog, my photo library . . .

"Be a little careful about your library. Do you foresee what you will do with it? Very little to be sure. But the real question is, What it will do with you? You will come here and get books that will open your eyes, and your ears, and your curiosity, and turn you inside out or outside in.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

From the Outside In . . .

Since this blog is my photo library and it's the opposite view of From the Inside Out, I thought this was still appropriate.

"Be a little careful about your library. Do you foresee what you will do with it? Very little to be sure. But the real question is, What it will do with you? You will come here and get books that will open your eyes, and your ears, and your curiosity, and turn you inside out or outside in.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Which Came First?

Nick: Here's a thought. Why don't we get an egg and start our own chicken farm? That way we'd have all the eggs we could eat.

Fetcher: Right. We'll need a chicken, then.

Nick: No... no, we'll need an egg. You have the egg first, that's where you get the chicken from.

Fetcher: No, that's cobblers. If you don't have a chicken, where are you going to get the egg?

Nick: From the chicken that comes from the egg.

Fetcher: Yeah, but you have to have an egg to have a chicken.

Nick: Yeah, but you've got to get the chicken first to get the egg, and then you get the egg... to get the chicken out of...

Fetcher: Hang on, let's go over this again.

From the movie Chicken Run

The Barnyard

Life in the barn was very good—night and day, winter and summer, spring and fall, dull days and bright days. It was the best place to be, thought Wilbur, this warm delicious cellar, with the garrulous geese, the changing seasons, the heat of the sun, the passage of swallows, the nearness of rats, the sameness of sheep, the love of spiders, the smell of manure, and the glory of everything.


From Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Red Hen

Cluck, cluck, red hen,
have you any eggs?

Yes sir, yes sir,
as many as your legs.

One for your breakfast
and one for your lunch;

Come back tomorrow
and I'll have another bunch.

(variant of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep)

Down on the Farm

This is the first of a series depicting the Pleasantville Farm. It's still in it's infancy. In fact, many of the animals are still babies themselves. Here's one now!