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If I controlled time, here are some of the things I would like to do:

* Spend an evening with Ernest Hemingway
* Spend a day with Ansel Adams
* Spend a day on a photo safari with Edward Weston
* Spend a few hours with Edgar Allen Poe
* Spend an evening with O. Henry
* Spend a few hours with Eleanor Roosevelt
* Spend a day with Auguste Renoir
* Spend a few hours with Mary Wollstonecraft
* Spend a day with Mark Twain

Most of all, spend time with my friends, old and new.

Happy 43rd Wedding Anniversary to Carolyn.

Just back from doctor. Got my shot. Keegan spent the night with us. That's all the news fit to print.

Resting a bit today. Too much walking last evening has my knee hurting and my foot swollen. Went back to the 'Chucky yesterday. Got a late start and didn't get any photos 'til almost dusk. The ones I got were, for the most part though, acceptable.

I've a doctor's appointment tomorrow, if I don't conveniently forget.

Out to get some photos yesterday. Had ISO on my camera set wrong, so got few acceptable results. In fact, only one photo with some sky in it turned out at all. Well, I'll just have to do them again, because one of them has something I dearly love to shoot; a rusty and very old piece of machinery. Found it on Cripple Creek Road in Carter County.

Now we've seen four juvenile raccoons instead of the three I mentioned earlier. The squirrel population is decreasing as the 'coon population increases. Must be some kind of connection.

The waterfall over the dam is or was just past Milligan College. Photograph was made about 1983. I took a chance in ruining my best slr camera by wading into the torrent, but this shot was worth it. My friend Steve Hill was holding on to a piece of 12 gauge Romex electric cable attached to my belt, just in case. We both had a beer or two in us and likely would've drowned if we went in.

We now have four raccoons and one less squirrel. The critter that was stealing bird food had some little ones to feed. Soon as the babes got old enough to move them, mama raccoon evicted a squirrel from its nest—which is located about 40' up a tulip poplar—and moved her family in. To add injury to insult, she killed and ate the squirrel.

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When all the baby Robins died and the adults abandoned the nest, Carolyn removed it from the speaker. If she had left it alone, all would have been fine, because the birds would have to look somewhere else for a nest site. Instead, they rebuilt the nest on the same speaker, and have started hatching eggs. I hope this brood does better than the last, but with the heat against the porch roof, it is in doubt.

Catching Up

Carolyn finally got her new stove a couple weeks ago. So far, she's managed one meal on it.
She's mad at me for posting her photo on Flickr.
Our Culligan water system went down and we were without water pressure for a while.
I'm waiting on delivery of a new polarizing filter for the cameras. Also a new tripod. I have a very good one from the old days, but it is made of steel tubing and is quite heavy.
Gotta go! Just had a brainstorm.

Rain

Face
Originally uploaded by annony_mouse

It's raining and I'm scanning. I've still got hundreds of b&w negatives to go through, plus a bunch of color prints and slides.

The handsome fellow pictured was caught looking at me in a shaving mirror. I think we need to see more of him, but he prefers to lurk in the shadows, coming out to make mischief and then blaming me.

A certain Meanie has caused me to get hooked on this Flickr thing, and I don't have time to work on my stories. As long as I'm busy...

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all Dads.

My dad and I were never close, and there were times when we couldn't stand the sight of each other. But when crunch time came, he was always the first to show support.

I never went without a meal, I never lacked decent shoes or clothes, I never lacked for the stuff he would buy me that I didn't deserve.

Wish you were here, John.

I am tired. Chasing barns all day.

Y'all have a good night.

Shot Day...

...but not a day shot. I carried my old HP camera with me today, and on the way home, I took a few photos near a RR underpass. Maybe something worth looking at; maybe not.

Looks like it will rain again. Even so, I'll try to get a photo or two.

Just a Thought

Not much going down today. Raining again. Supposed to be nice Sat. and Sun., so it's off the the Roan to see if the rhododendrons are blooming. The festival is the next weekend, and I don't want in it.

Meanie, those are Canada Geese, in case you haven't been back to the photo.

Just got back from Watauga Flats where I was looking for something to photograph. Used to be prime for the kind of stuff I like to shoot. Still a few places left, but you gotta be able to walk to get at them. But never fear, get them I will. Drove out King Springs Rd. to try for a pic of a semi-mobile fireworks stand that I spied a few weeks ago. Thought about stopping by to see Alice, but remembered she would be in church.

I'm ready for another Flickr birthday bash, as long as it isn't mine. The one over the weekend was a hoot.

Going to get my foot propped up as it is swelling.

For Alice

Today has been spent scanning old prints and waiting for Meanie to get some photos posted with her new Canon SLR. I don't think she will disappoint us when she has everything in order.

I was about to try to catch a few shots myself, but it has begun to rain, and I fear my sweetness will melt away.

Alice, if you've looked on my Flickr in the last day or so, a gentleman thinks that I ought to do a portrait of "Nessa. From the photo he saw, me apparently didn't think you and I were worthy. I always thought we were two of the "beautiful people".

Tired

Drove to the top of Buffalo Mt. on Dry Creek. First time in 15 or more years I've been up there. Such a disappointment. Grown up with trees so much that there was no view, except of trees. Who would ever have thought that there would be trees on a mountain? Managed to get some shots on the way back down, but some of them were with the old Nikon, so I'll have to wait 'til they're processed.

Happy Birthday, Meanie

I LOVE SUNDAYS!

I wonder if I've offended...? Again?

Now I'm really mad! In the middle of a fight with Best Buy. We bought a stove from them three weeks ago, and it was finally delivered yesterday. Thats just the beginning of this sad tale.

Hell, I don't want to talk about it!

I don't want to talk about it!

Engraved on a headstone:

As you are once was I
As I am soon will you be
So prepare to follow me

Scrawled below that by a local philosopher:

To follow you I can't be content
Cause I don't know which way you went

Resting a little today, hoping some of the swelling will leave my feet and ankles.

Finished the time sheets and paid some bills.

Downloaded a trial copy of Photoshop Elements. I have a reasonably fast computer, but that software is pathetically slow to render anything. I tried Paintshop Pro 11 last week, and it is also snaily. I'm going to stick with my old reliable and fast Paintshop Pro 8, and I like to use The Gimp some, because I use Linux more and more these days. The Gimp has versions for about everything. Also, Photoshop plugins work well with both of the later.

Posting some of my manipulated creations to Flickr. No one will ever know.

Fred Gregory. September 19, 1946—June 4, 1980.

Seems like yesterday I'd see you getting out of that big Ford, your shirt unbuttoned, sweating as if you had been working. Cowboy boots and a black cowboy hat. Yeah, you were one bad Texan. Friday nights playing deuces-wild poker with everybody knowing that you were cheating but not being able to catch you. Laying out of work on Thursdays. Being a dumb-ass and breaking your arm while riding the Odyssey. Camping at the lake. Getting stranded on Rich Mountain on a cold November night. Those god-awful farts that only you knew the recipe to generate. Your worst vulnerability was being too good to people. That great summer on the houseboat. Your complete inability to catch a fish. The time or two that we got drunk. We really miss you. Being around you changed our lives in many ways, and when you left us, we were never the same.

Thanks for the memories, Bro. We loved you then and we love you now.

I would have posted a picture of us together, but it would have embarrassed both of us. Orange and white Texas Instruments softball uniforms. Worse yet, it was Texas burnt orange. Humiliating.

The Tramp and the Bagel

I'm all alone... Carolyn is working today. It's just after noon, and I'm having plain bagels with butter and homemade apple butter piled on thick.

I'll tell you how backward we were (are) in this neck of the nowheres. I was born in 1944, graduated high school in 1963—they insisted I stay and make up for failing algebra three times—finished a four year apprenticeship as heavy-construction electrician, and hadn't even heard the word bagel until 1970 when I went on the road to Pittsburgh PA as a tramp electrician. When I saw my first one, I thought it was an over-sized donut. Worst yet, I never ate one 'til the 1980s. Almost the same with pizza and subs! Never saw either one before 1963. Folks, this ain't one of my tales. We were just plain ignorant.

Next time, and if I think of it, I'll tell you what a tramp electrician is and about my adventures as being one.
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For Meanie; Have you remembered to breathe?

Got my shot. I guess I've felt better today than I have in a long time. I always feel better when people aren't fussing at me. Now if I could just sleep at night. "Gloom, despair, and agony on me; deep dark depression and excessive misery." Bet you think I've been watching Hee Haw reruns.

All the baby birds died. Too much heat where the nest was built. Tried to warn them, but you can't tell a robin anything. Hardheaded.

The young raccoon is getting to be a problem by being aggressive. I'll probably have to phone the animal control people, and while they're at it, they may as well try to catch the foxes. When I was growing up in the country, never once did I see a 'coon in the wild. Now that I'm in the burbs, I'm lousy with them.

I want to again thank everyone that has commented on my Flickr photos. And I appreciate C. for turning me onto the mosaic maker. Be assured, I'll try harder to be a better photographer.

Meanie...? There's a full moon!