Chilling on the lanai

This is one of those pictures, could be from any time over the last 50 years and could be from just about anywhere... Truth be known this is from the North Shore on Oahu, a little more laid back than down town Honolulu or Waikiki.

My own yard art

I told you a while back that I had a son-in-law that had a strange sense of humor. Well, he can also weld and he used those two attirbutes to make this muffler moose which now stands in my yard. Sometimes I worry about the boy and other times I think he is pretty smart!

Why they invented cell phones...

Don't know about you, but I would't touch one of these phones without surgical golves on and I definately wouldn't put my mouth or ear near the reciever! YECH!

Micro-Burst

Three days ago we had a freak storm come through that did more damage in ten minutes than some of the big storms that have lasted for hours. One minute it was sunny outside and within 30 seconds it was almost as dark as night. The storm blew in, knocked out the power, destroyed a hotel, shredded a few miles of crops and trees and then just disappeared. It literally peeled the roof off of a hotel and then the sun came back out. The local news had a helicopter fly over the hotel and you could see down into the rooms as if there was a glass ceiling. Nothing in the rooms had been touched but the whole roof was gone.

Somebody apparently did something Mother Nature didn't approve of!

Rush Hour

It's that time of year again... Tourist season. First I see them with their fancy new trucks and campers towing their fishing machines flying down the road in front of my house then later on out on the water still rushing here and there at break neck speed! You'd think they were all after the same fish!

What a stressful time this relaxing vacation time must be for these tourists as they continue doing everything at their blistering city speed... Or maybe us locals out here in the sticks just live at a slower more thoughtful pace. Guess I'll wander down to the river and throw a few sticks for the dog while I think about this some more.

Trail Riding

It was such a nice day my Step Son and I went for a bike ride. Eventually we found ourselves on what was a once familiar trail. The further we went the more overgrown it became.

Eventually all I could see ahead of me was my Step Son's head and shoulders moving slowly through the tall green weeds! In jest I called ahead "A GOOD RIDER DOSN'T NEED TO SEE WHERE HIS WHEELS ARE". Shortly after that I fell off my bike into the tangled mess.

A tranquil setting

I was traveling through Kansas the other day and came across this setting. It seemed almost perfect. All that was needed was a lounge chair by the pond with a six-pack of beer, a fishing pole and me!

The Venerable Grumman Goose

Origionally designed as a flying yacht in 1937 this versitle and rugged amphibious aeroplane quickly gained the attention of the US Airforce, Navy and Coast Guard at the inception of the Second World War and were used in numerous rolls during the war years.


Only 345 of these planes were built from 1937 to 1945 by the Grumman Corperation. Today aproximately 50 are still in airworthy condition.


On the West Coast these versitile planes are still used on a daily basis for up to 9 passengers and or freight.

Over the years I have flown countless times to many locations on these planes. Though not the fastest at 140 mph I've always been delivered saftely to my destination.

Another big cat photo

This is the same cat from before but just a few seconds later. I thought he was going to yawn for me and I started shooting so I could get his mouth wide open but he never yawned, just licked his lips some more.

Logging by railroad?

Yes Railroad logging is alive and well on Northern Vancouver Island.


Beaver Cove dryland sort and booming grounds pictured above recieves a good portion of it's wood by rail from the Nimkish Valley and has since 1917.

The dryland sort receives 110 to 120 rail cars of wood each day from various points along its 76 miles of track. This method of moving these volumes of wood have and continue to prove very cost effective.

Another Kansas City Fountain

A tribute to the brave people who fight fires.

Twins

Port Hardy by virtue of is location has a Coast Guard Station. A few weeks ago I did a double take as I drove by the wharf, there were two identical Life Boats tied across the dock from each other! Normally only one Lift Boat is stationed there. So I took a picture or three. Later I found out that one was up to fill in for the other which was to go in for regular maintenance.

Kansas City Fountains

I was in Kansas City, MO on business and happened to be close to The Plaza. This is a place where they have all of the fancy and expensive shops and restaurants and there are several fountains for the tourists to look at.

These are photos of one of the fountains. I had to do a little bit of post editing to take out some people, a couple of trash cans and two high rise cranes that were in the shot. I didn't quite understand why they would have a nice fountain and then surround it with trash cans. There were four permanent trash cans bolted to the concrete within just a few feet of the fountain. I was able to crop two of them out of the photo and hid one behind the fountain. The other trash can, three people and the high rise cranes in the background had to be cloned out of the photo.

Sharing the road

Usually you don't see this size of logging truck on public roads, however there are several areas in the North Island where public and private roads are shared. Today I set out to get a picture of one of these large trucks and shot three of them within 4 miles.

Never any question who has the right of way either! LOL

Here kitty, kitty, kitty..................

I was out treasure hunting this weekend and ran into this guy. Well, sort of. My treasure hunting trip got rained out and on my way back I came across a "big cat sanctuary" on the Kansas-Missiouri border. I was able to talk my way in to get a few photos and this was one of the best out of the bunch.

I'm not sure if he was licking his lips because I was closer than I should have been or if he was just trying to give me a good photo opportunity!

Mystery flower

For 19 years I have traveled down the same 1/2 mile stretch of gravel road on a daily baisis, usually by truck but many times by bike or walking also.

This year for the first time I spoted this flowering bush growing in the ditch beside the road and only in the one place. Whatever it is is well established and appears to have been there for many years, but only in this one place.

It appears to spread by root so I'll have to dig a bit out and see if I can get it growing in the yard.

Interesting...

Jack of all trades

I was traveling through a small town in Kansas this weekend and came across a building from the 1800's that had been restored, including the painted advertisements that were originally on the outside of the building. This one caught my eye. I guess they just don't do things like they used to!

Happy 4th of July!

Pictures from Hawaii

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July!

Stormy Skies

We woke up to another round of thunder storms this morning and as the day went on it started to clear off a little. You know me and skys, this one presented itself so I took a photo.