Thinking about spring......

While walking the neighbor's dog a few days ago I spied this old tiller against their old garage.  It don't think it is going to to run as a tiller anymore but it made for an interesting photo.  It was too cold to worry about getting it in focus so you get what you see from my one shot.

Broken but now restored.........

Angel boy was brought in from the cold with his snow blanket still partially intact and he wasn't feeling well. He had fallen and damaged his head. Good plastic is hard to come by these days.

An Iowa Sunrise......

An early morning sunrise over an Iowa landscape. My neighbor's dog and I were out walking early in the morning. We had above freezing weather on Friday.

Penny.........

Penny the wonder dog, who loves plastic bottles,  is my neighbor's dog.  I am dog sitting her while her owner takes time out for surgery.  She is such an energized dog but after the first fifteen minutes of flying through the air when you first see her, she calms down. Her Mum comes home on Friday afternoon and Penny will be very happy about that. 

A closer look.......

An antique can that held coconut with an "A." The can did not hold 24 lbs. of the ingredients.  I don't understand why it had that on the label.

Coffee and tobacco cans..........

Another closer shot of the cans in my collection.  The can that sits on it's side is one that held pouches of loose tobacco.

Glass insulator plus.......

While digging for my can collection to photograph I found this glass insulator inside of one of the antique cans.  As a kid, the country roads were lined with short ten foot poles with a horizontal board on them.  The boards were filled with vertical wooden screw threads on them and the glass insulators were threaded onto them.  They were holding the telephone wires that ran along the roads. The insulators came in difference sizes and colors.

Glow fish.........

Another special effects day, meaning in reality that I got a bad photo with my point and shoot.  He does look like he is glowing and very warm. It is a heated aquarium so he probably is warmer than I am.
This is a cichlid that was given to me by a student five years ago. I let him live outside with the goldfish and koi in the summer and then he comes back inside for the winter.

I searched for the photo that I took last year of the same fish and this is much more acceptable visual.

Jack Sparrow with an attitude.........

Photo by guest artist Della Burgus

Jack knows how to escape his cage and I really don't blame him for wanting to be out of that space.  He gets out and then immediately squawks though because he wants me to put him back into his cage.  It is an exercise for him, escape and return.

Today he was so cute as he sat on a shelf behind things.  He would peak over at me and see if I could find him.  He kept ducking his head and all I could see is the top notch moving up and down.

In order to catch him in a friendly way, he turns his back to me and I pick him up with a dish towel.  One needs to cover his head so he won't turn and clamp that beak on the soft part of you hand between finger and thumb. Oh that does hurt when he does that.  He doesn't struggle but I think he thinks he needs to hang on to me while I move him back into his cage. They use their beak to climb and move around the cage.

One of his offspring in another cage plays with the vertical sliding doors and once in a while discovers it will stick and stay open for him.  He acts the same way and also turns his back to me so I can place the towel on him to lift him back into the cage. 

D.B.

He is a pretty bird.  He really is very friendly pet that we enjoy very much.

Another blooming day........

When  you have an oxalis plant that does well one must share it.  It is doing well in the cold corner of the room sitting in the window with a view of arctic weather.  I  lost the other oxalis plant that had reddish leaves and bloom white little flowers.

Geranium, garden variety........Pelargonium

It is a small reprieve from the very cold temperatures outside to have this window box blooming again this winter.

A large supply of future blooms makes the effort of bringing them in all worth while.

A quick cold shot in the out of doors...........

A few blurry burning bush berries with a nice background.  The high was 13 degrees and I didn't stay out there for very long.

Abstract mood.......

Let's go play.......

As I kept putting the track together it kept crowding out the things on the dining room table, so just like a kid would do, I just worked around the stuff.

Sepia Santa........

I knew that if you saw one more Christmas ornament from me that you would scream or banish me or turn me into the moral authorities.  So I drug you in on a Sepia surprise. 


I had to buy this guy because he had such a great expression and he also was cheap!!!!!!!!

Get your ducks into a row........

These were a gift from a friend of my wife's.  The friend had a sister that always commented on her every move.  The sister kept telling her she needed to get her ducks into a row.  So my wife's friend went out and bought on a close out sale all these little ducks so she could organize them.  We have two of them decorating our bathroom.
The macro does make them into a fun photo.

Nature's own designs.........

Stay inside and stay warm and enjoy the weekend.

As the world tilts back.......

I think that December 21st was when the earth actually started to make it's tilt back up.  This is taken looking southeast and the sun seems low.  That is because it is winter and we are far away from the sun while South America is very close to the sun. The sun will eventually be far enough up in the sky that it won't shine in the south window.

A birch tree beauty.......

I owned a property in Minnesota and dug this  birch tree out of the ditch along the road.  It is standing tall and probably is 28 years old now.  Every ten years they cleared those ditches so it really is a rescued birch.

Backyard stairs........

The railing always develops wonderful snow drifts when it snows with little wind.

On my desk right now..........

I am still working with my wife to get decorations put away but we don't have a tight time schedule. We were late getting them up so I am still finding a few to photograph.

This soldier guy is really fun.  I didn't get the mallard ornament hung this year as it just sat next to my computer screen.  The photo in the back is this neat drawing that I bought from one of my wife's close blogger friends who is also an artist from Texas.  Vernita Bridges Hoyt is the artists and I bought her drawing over ebay last year.  Check out her blog right now and you can see her giving a demonstration of a Red Hat painting.

I tend to keep things on my computer screen shelf just to view and enjoy.  I eventually move them off and put up new things.

Seeing Sunshine on Friday.......

Snow is coming soon to our neighborhood.  It isn't going to be fun when the wind starts to blow. I will try to take the same view again once it  has snowed for two days.

Color my world and yours too........

Have a great day!!!!!!!

Prehistoric fish or just a koi....

The koi is keeping warm in my basement aquarium.  He and my camera were not cooperating.  It is a special effects day for photos I guess.

The koi really does have metallic qualities as it is black and gold and the light reflects off of his scales.

The stare.....

Button is not so sure about the old clock.  He was concerned that it was invading his space.  He finally went over and sniffed it but he still kept looking up and giving me the stare.

Unkown rock......agatized something.....

A rock solid macro!!!!!

I found this in the garage as it had fallen behind a shelving unit.  It doesn't look like an Iowa rock and it could have been purchased as a rock show. It is very shiny and has a lot of striations in it.

Wednesday with Summer Nostalgia.....

Brownware and croquet anyone........

Monday's special effects.......

Calipers, thimble........and

The things you find while digging through junk.  The thimble was a free item from an animal feed store.

This is small and made from wood.  It maybe was attached to something else but it is worth saving.  It is a mystery.


I am not stopping blogging but I am going to slow down for a while. It may be just pictures and a title for here on out.

I have a right hand with problems that I have to deal with for awhile.  My hammering hand, my hand that get's hit by falling items, and the hand that just does a lot of the major work on the end of my arm.

Diet may be the problem with too much sugar, cold weather may be the problem, an accident to the hand a year ago may have been it, and I don't want to say arthritis because that would mean old age.  Whatever the problem, I don't think keyboarding is the problem and yet I am going to give the hand and arm a rest. A couple of fingers are the ones with the major pain.  I will still be here and using the working of the mouse isn't  the problem.  The rest is a wait and see thing.

I will check in on a good day and say a few words even though some of  you are probably saying, the guy is going to finally shut up for a change.

Jack Sparrow

Friday's ice storm was distressing to our cockatiel as he wants to be able to see out of his window.