Ryan's "The Right Place"

Saturday morning a number of us woke up way too early in the morning to go stomp through miles of prairie grass and weeds in search of pheasants. The pheasants successfully evaded us.

Driving home we came upon a truck pulling a boat on a trailer. Unfortunately the right hand wheel bearing on the trailer had failed catastrophically, allowing the wheel on that side to part ways with the trailer. Gravity quickly influenced the trailer and convinced it to just set the right side of the trailer on the highway. As it happened the highway was moving (relative to the trailer) some 60 miles per hour, resulting in a huge shower of sparks when it contacted the trailer. Some of these sparks took up residence in the grassy ditch along the highway and quickly started to reproduce.

I was once involved in a grass fire. They are amusing things to observe, especially when they have been ignited by someone else. I grabbed a fire extinguisher that I saw bolted to a bracket in the boat, and ran back to the fire to join the owner of the boat who was already there with an extinguisher. You know those little 1 or 2 pound extinguishers many people keep in their kitchens? They will effectively extinguish about 10 to 20 square feet of grass fire.

I was just about to ask someone to run into town and grab some hot dogs when some guys dressed as firemen showed up. Part of their Halloween costume was a couple of trucks with water tanks and hoses. They quickly ruined the fine grass fire we were enjoying.

I wish I had gotten photos while the fire was still going, but I was too busy testing the effects of a fire bottle smaller than a bottle of Coke on a prairie fire.

This is what it looked like as we were leaving. I was in the right place to help keep the fire from spreading back to the disabled truck and boat:



/rl

Cory's "The Right Place"

Maddy dressed up as a pirate for Halloween this year. She clearly went to the right place this year given all of the loot she has piled up.

Mike's "The Right Place"

It used to be, that if you were mid-town, and wanted a great place to sit down to BBQ then Fojay's on Saddle Creek was "the right place".  You were usually greeted with, "Hello, friend, what can I help you with today?"
Sadly, the owner had some health troubles and he had to let the business go.  There are still many great ribs places in Omaha that are not franchises.  Most of them as unique as this.

Next week: "Incomplete"

"The Right Place" due tomorrow.

/rl

Ryan's "Best of"

Maddy!



/rl

Mike's "Best Of"

I took a lot of pictures Labor Day weekend.  The weather was nice.
Sometimes when you go back through the old shoots and correct the colors, etc., you start to find some that grow on you a bit.  This the property adjacent to ours.  I don't get down there much, but its always pretty.

Next week: "The Right Place"

"Best of...." due tomorrow.

/rl

Cory's Best Of

It's early in the week, but I'm going to be in Boston this weekend and don't know if I will have a chance to post later. So here's my Best Of Whatever Time Period This Is Best Of post.

I actually took this picture just last weekend on the same trip that I took last week's post on. This is a view across Cañada Bonita, a meadow about 9500 feet up in the Jemez Mountains. You can see the trail I was on stretching across the picture from the left-hand side up to the split in the trees in the middle. Those trees were weird - all of the ones on the left-hand side of the trail had changed colors, but none of the ones on the right had. They're all aspens (with a few conifers mixed in), so I don't know what made the two groups decide to act differently.

Ryan's "Swiss Cheese"

So, I went out to shoot with some friends on Saturday. I found this plate of steel trying to look like Swiss cheese:
It's really not a great photo. I should have gotten a picture of this chunk of driftwood after everyone tried to shoot it down. I will enter that photo in another photo contest.

I'm not sure what made the holes through it. It was a decently hard piece of steel. I'm sure a Thompson wouldn't do it. An M16 or M4 is unlikely, and the holes are too big. I'm leaning towards something like this Japanese copy of a German MG 15. A Russian RPD is also a likely suspect. The M2 would definitely punch through, but would leave bigger holes.

We also tried to make pumpkins look like Swiss cheese, but some clown packed them full of explosives.

/rl

Cory's Swiss Cheese

I went for a long hike along the Guaje Canyon trail yesterday to take a look at the aspens changing colors, and along the way I saw this sign. I don't know what happened to it, but it looks rather similar to swiss cheese. Maybe somebody blew it up, or shot it.

Mike's "Swiss Cheese"

We were driving by this building a few weeks ago, and my wife says, "You should take a picture of that, it looks like Swiss Cheese!".  I think it looks like a barn with holes in it, but I did think "Swiss Cheese" would make a good topic.
Why?  Because I know what Ryan will do for the topic, if he has time.  He will blow something up, or shoot it.  I can't wait to see which.

Next week: "Best of since.... last best of..."

It seems about time for another "Best of." It looks like the last one was the first week of July, so post your best photo taken after July 8, 2010.

"Swiss Cheese" due tomorrow.

/rl

Ryan's "Workshop"

My workshop is incomplete. It lacks WD-40.



/rl

Mike's "Work Shop"

I don't really have "Work Shop", per say.  I have a man cave full of guitars, and camera stuff.
Lauritzen Gardens had 10 cent admission today for the 10/10/10 holiday and to celebrate ten years of being open.  This workshop belongs to a few men who have build an outdoor model railroad.  The actual "workshop" is off to my left.

I have to admit I have a pile of tools in the garage, but its not as clean and pretty as Cory's.

Cory's Workshop

Here's my new workshop in my new garage. There's more room in this one than the last.

Next week: "Swiss Cheese"

"Workshop" is due tomorrow.

/rl

Ryan's "Distant"

... will not be seen this week.

I wanted to stop and get a picture of a sign outside of Omaha that said "This way to Zion" with an arrow pointed down a side road, but it was on a busy road with no shoulder.

I give up.

/rl

Ryan's "Distant"

... is in the not-too-distant future. Tomorrow night.

I promise.

/rl

Mike's "Distant"

There are a lot of things on the "Distant" side of this lake that I have taken a picture of up close.  The water tower, the pigeons on the Comfort Inn, and Hardee's signs.
I shot a picture of the cranes at United Rental, and somewhere in there, maybe off to the right of the frame are some fishing docks.  Distant reminded me of term "relative" which I placed on my contest for a few weeks from now.  Bazinga!

Cory's Distant

At about 30 miles away, Santa Fe is somewhat distant from me. And yet, if I look hard enough I can still see it if I look in the right places. In this case, I noticed that they were doing a controlled burn in the hills behind the city. No, those aren't low-lying clouds in the center of the picture - that's the smoke from the burn.

Next week: "Workshop"

"Distant" is not distant. It is due tomorrow.

/rl