Love that dirty water...

I don't know what she rolled in... but she paid the price for it!

The coolest Dudes at the Fair...

So we hit the Big E today... OH.. the crowds.. now I remember why we always took a day off from work and went down mid-week.. it was pretty crazy bad.. but not bad enuf to keep us away from the Finnish pancakes.. the steak n' cheese sandwiches... the chowda'... the steak n' cheese... OH.. did I eat those twice.. I guess I did.. the cream puffs with the filling that tastes almost exactly my Aunt Beverly's frosting (YUM!!! It's a German thing...) the fudge.... the candy apple... ok.. so those 2 came home with me for a 'later snack'... But it wasn't all food... only about 80% food... here's a couple of the coolest Dude's we spotted at the Fair.. that's right, I hucked the camera along for the walk.. so here's a couple pics for ya.. I've got to go scrape the melted cheese off the lens cap..

Later

Another Dude...

Stupid Blogger is only letting me upload one image at a time.. your gonna have to scroll... sorry...

Love the leather cuffs...

Evil blossom

I still don't know what kind of flowers these are but they look like if you stuck your finger in the middle of them, you'd pull back a bloody stump!

Bull's Eye...

Dragon fly landing strip.

Drive naked but not angry!

Have you seen this? Toyota is looking to develop cars in the next couple of years that have specially treated seats that will cure your nasty skin rash and will also warn other drivers that your in the midst of a road rage episode by changing the color of your headlights... nope... I kid alot but this is the real deal! You can go HERE to read about it for yourself...

So basically if you've got yourself a nasty case of butt rash, and I'll thank you for not emailing me and telling me about it, you can just drop trou, hop in your 4Runner and go for a little cruise around the block! Might I suggest however, that you not take your significant other along for the ride if your having a tiff and you wanna avoid discussing the problem with them... there will be no hiding behind the "No, I'm not mad." statement.. you'll just get "Oh.. come on.. I know your pissed about something - for pete's sake the freakin' headlights are so friggin' brite that airplane up there thinks this is the airport landing strip and he's lookin' to put it down in the middle of the highway!"

HA... and again... you can't win 'em all!

Later...

No wonder we're LOST...

So... if you read along you know I'm a Lost fan... and if you are too you know that last nite was the season premiere... Lovely... was great to see one of my favorite shows again... but frankly... the jury is still out as to my opinion of it... we got some great information... little Walt showing up soaking wet (did the Others toss him over board?)... but probably most importantly we got into the hatch... and that's where I'm torn...

I love a mystery... and I love to solve a mystery... but in order to solve it you have to have some clues... what I would like to know is, how are we supposed to solve it when the guy that lives down there only shows up in flashbacks NOW. Wouldn't it have been a little more solvable if Desmond had shown up in some of Jack Flashbacks.. oh.. say... in the middle of last season!

So now we're at a point of:
1. Who's Desmond?
2. Why and against whom was he racing around the world?
3. How did he end up down the hatch?
4. What's with the computer lab down there? (could it be as I predicted a gov. testing site?)
5. Why was it quarentined? (again, was I right? radiation experiments?)

I guess we'll have to all watch and see, although I fear it'll be a good long while before we get anymore information handed to us!

Later...

Kissin' Cousins.

or.. "What did you have for breakfast?"

Dog berry brain.

Dogwood tree berry... kind of looks like an evil brain!

Queen of the Garden...

Worship me, for I am Queen!

I thought the flower was freaky.

Get a load of the transparent spider thingy on it!

Some days.

Some days you just don't wanna be bothered!

Afraid to post...

sorry for the lack of postage this week, frankly, I've been a little afraid of posting... I've seen so much on the news lately that just makes me so angry I could spit and frankly I've been a little afraid of exposing all you dear readers to my spit-fests... That's not what this blog is about and I try really hard to keep it that way... I figure we all have our own reasons for being angry and there's just way too much anger already so I try not to open my mouth and mention something else that you can get angry about as well... Oh... but then we're all adults here, I think, and keeping quiet about stuff never did anyone any good... *sigh... hence, the dilemma that has kept me from the blogger window this week... that lovely old saying "If you can't say something good, don't say anything at all!" and yet..."Silence breeds contempt!"

Oh... ok.. so it's not all 'trying to spare you readers'... I have some definite opinions about things... and admittedly, alot of them are not very popular... and others can be VERY harshly misinterpreted... so it's a matter of instead of having to risk offending someone (cause we all know someone somewhere WILL be offended no matter WHAT the statement is cause you can't please all of the people, all of the time)... or at the very least having to spend countless hours arguing my side of the story and fighting the misinterpretations... it's just easier to say nothing...

hhhmmm... so do we "get along to go along"? Say nothing cause it's easier? Roll over and play dead so someone doesn't get so pissed at you that they could kill you? Do you really have to "Pick your fights and let the little things go?"... but then "it's the little things that'll kill ya!" A mentor of mine used to use the phrase "nibbled to death by ducks"... it's only a little chunk at a time and it only hurts a little, but you get enuf ducks taking chunks out of you and before you know it, your dead in the water...

I still haven't decided whether to air some of this crap on here or not... I guess for now I'll just go with "There's a time and a place for everything!" and assume that this is neither the time.. nor the place...

Later...

Priorities?

Ok... so watching Larry King the other nite he had a stellar lineup of stars doing what they could to raise money for Katrina relief... I watched some of it... UNTIL...

Celine Dion... *sobbing** hysterically and furiously flicking the tears off her cheeks with her 3 inch press on nails as she went on a tirade of "I can't drink my coffee... I can't sing... why is noone helping these people" was just too freakin' much for me...

She then made the announcement that she has sent a check for 1 million to help... now... any amount is much needed and appreciated.. and she certainly didn't have to donate anything... but lets get a little perspective here...

When she renewed her vows with her manager husband back in 2000... JUST the decorations in Ceasar's Palace cost 1.5 million! See the article here... just the freakin' DECORATIONS.... not the 5 star meal from the personal chefs that were flown in just for the occasion for 235 people... not the Austrian Crystal Tiara she wore... not the Gold Wedding Gown... Not the pay for the 4 beautiful young burly guys that carried her on a platter to the altar... just the freakin' decorations!

Ok... so do we have a clue where her priorities lie? Save your tear flickin' tirades for your fans Ms. Dion, maybe they'll believe it...

Later...

What did they think would happen?

So... you've got thousands of people with nothing but what they have on their backs... so what do you do? You yell "Hey... Get your 2 THOUSAND DOLLARS HERE" and then you wonder why you have to lockdown the Astrodome and call in the cops to control the fights, and the pushing, and the screaming, and the growing line of people, and the people collapsing from the heat and the wait... ok... so everyone at once - point at the people who set this up and scream "DUMB-ASS!!!" There you go!

Just another instance of "WHAT were they thinking would happen?"... Not one of these organizers and I use the term 'organizers' EXTREMELY loosely here, thought.. hhmm.. maybe this isn't such a good idea... Maybe we should make announcements the day before... post some signs... with some rules here.... like:

1. We will call a letter out - in random order - if your last name begins with that letter then get in the line.

2. If you get to the front of the line and your last name does NOT begin with that letter you will be docked $50 and will have to wait in the PROPER line till your letter IS called to collect your $1950!

3. If you are caught pushing or cutting in line $50 will be deducted from your debit card for the first incident - go to the back of the line - $100 for the second incident - again, to the BACK of the line - and 3 strikes your out "NO MONEY FOR YOU! Get the hell out of the line!".

4. If you are caught littering while online, (if you've seen the pics note the piles of garbage on the ground - pick up your shit people *see the note about "don't shit where you live rules"!) you will be fined $10 for each instance of littering.

A lousy 4 freakin' rules and this all could have been avoided! What the HELL!

DUMB-ASS!

Later...

Mind wrapping...

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around all that I'm seeing coming out of the aftermath of Katrina.

Forced evacuations versus victim's rights. Yes... save them.. save them all.. whether they think they need saving or not.. MAKE them get out... but wait.. what gives them the right to make people leave what little they have left.. their pets.. their homes... if they want to stay it's their right and government should NEVER interfer with it's citizen's rights... NEVER...

I don't know!

These people are insane for staying versus I don't blame them... disease.. rubble... no food or water and yet they want to stay, these people are freakin' NUTS! Would I want to leave my home under dire circumstances? It would have to be VERY dire to get me out...

I don't know!

Fire all the incompetant a**holes who left these people stranded versus let's not point fingers, lets just fix the problem... Someone needs to be held accountable for the lack of assistance... my god... people DIED while the powers that be stood by saying they weren't aware of the problems even tho ALL the news stations and newspapers had full color LIVE pictures of the suffering and death for days... HELL... let's press criminal charges against these people.. point them out... dig them out of their cushy cocoon offices and parade them thru the streets of filthy water in downtown New Orleans... don't tear down the Superdome make it their new home.. dammit!! But then.. that won't solve a thing... it won't get people food and water and medical care and housing... let just get this job done... figure out what went wrong and learn from it...

I don't know!

There was a mandatory evacuation and warnings days before the storm hit and these people didn't leave, it's their own faults that their starving and risking disease versus it's no ones fault and some people understandably couldn't get out... They were told it was going to be catastrophic... they were told to get out... and yet they stayed... as my Dad would say "You made your bed, now you lie in it." Stand up and take some responsibility for yourself... got feet and a thumb? Start walking and try and hitch a ride... Don't just stand there in a pile of your own filth and cry "Save me"... You've got the strength to go raid Walmart and the Piggly Wiggly and to rape that little 13 year old girl... and to take potshots at those that are there trying to help... use some of that energy to get yourself outta there! sheesh! And yet... when you've got 30 bucks in cash and 8 people your responsible for, HOW do you get out? You don't, until someone helps you get out, why didn't the government line up every bus, every taxi, every truck, every train and get those out that couldn't get themselves out? There is no excuse...

I don't know!

What I do know... it's probably a good thing that I'm not the one having to make these decisions... either as a government offical or as a victim... I can see both sides of the issues and understand the reasoning behind each... but as to what the right answer is... I have NO clue! So now they are talking about a committee to investigate what happened here and hopefully to draw up a plan to fix any shortcomings that are found... if these people ignore their parties lines and their own personal opinions it is going to be a horrendous job... one that I wouldn't want... it really does come down to peoples rights... and government rights (local versus federal)... Anytime that you have to remove some of the rights of people or the right of the local government to take care of their own people, YOU LOSE! But then again, when life-saving actions are not delivered and people die needlessly, then YES... Someone has failed and deserves to have their rights stripped from them... and... once again... "Third Base"...

I DON'T KNOW!

Later...

Wild Grapetitude...

Psycho Lily...

You know I had to photoshop at least ONE of the images! I went for a tie-dyed psychadelic effect on this one... The rest of the pics are un-retouched - just as nature intended - not even a poster edge in site! Amazing!

Yellow Lily...

Who knew water lilies come in yellow?

Lovely Lily...

Another lovely water lily...

Blue Lily...

Today's foray - a lake in Sturbridge.

Blankie...

The Stupid Little Angry Dog and her favorite blankie!

A crappy pic...

A crappy pic of what I do with the prints of all my 'good' pics... That's a magnetic white board that I've put up in my home office specifically to display all my prints... I can change them out or around as I like without punching a hole in them or spending a fortune on frames... it works...

Later

A lesson to be learned....

I think we can all take a lesson from the devastation and the aftermath of Katrina... Did anyone see this coming? I sure didn't... I have always had the opinion that tragedy and dire circumstances brings out the best in people. I may have to rethink that. I have an old friend who was of the 'survivalist' persuasion. As he would go on about how if there was ever a natural or man-made disaster that things would quickly take a dive into complete anarchy and lawlessness I would scoff and say people are better than that... I think we both have to rethink our opinions...

I saw alot of kindness and alot of horrors coming at me thru the tv. I guess there are as many reactions to hardship as there are people suffering. Good people will rise to the ocassion and the bad will quickly sink into animalistic behaviour. Unfortunately, I also now believe that the longer the hardship continues the more previously 'good' people will turn to a 'whatever it takes' mentality.

Despair does horrible things to people, the lack of leadership seems to be even worse. Time after time I heard the evacuee's say "There was no-one to tell us what to do!" So, is that what happened? Was it because there was no-one available to tell people not to steal, not to rape, not to murder, and apparently even, not to shit where you live. From the reports I've seen (and I realize here that you can't believe everything you see on the news!) this is what has become apparent to me.

Right or wrong, that is what I see when I watch the reports. I have come to believe that if someone of authority had stood up at that Superdome and got some organization going - pick up your trash and put it here... give me your names so we know who you are... misbehave and you will be punished... bathrooms don't work, you 30 guys go out back and dig a pit, everyone MUST use the pit to deficate, don't use the pit and you will be punished... everyone MUST share and help out their neighbors... I'm sure that it would not have solved all the problems, but I think it would have gone a long way to keep a cap on it.

Another option, to me, would have been to get some bullhorns in there. I'm not a religious person myself, but this is the Bible Belt here. Get the bullhorns in there and lead all those folks in some prayer. If you can't get the National Guard in there with their M-16s, at least get a little fear of God in there. There have been reports of the Scientology recruiters being on site. They have taken alot of flak in the past for 'taking advantage' of disasters as a recruitment tool. As much as I don't agree with that, I think they do have the right idea. Organized religion is a tool of control, tell people that there is an invisible being that sees everything that they do and knows everything that they think and that will hold them accountable for their actions and punish them with hell for all time if they don't do the right thing, and you may stand a chance of altering their behavoir.

Well.. I really didn't intend this to turn into a rant here, and I'll stop now. I guess my point here is there are alot of lessons to be learned from all of this. I know I have learned alot just from the little I have seen. Let us all hope that the powers that be are paying attention as well and something like this never has to happen again. I blame no one for the horrors, and I give alot of credit to those that kept their heads under such dire circumstances. I guess I'm mainly disappointed... I really hoped that my vision of all people rising up to make it through the disaster was completely correct and that my survivalist friend was completely wrong about the anarchy. It seems it is somewhere in between the two.

It's a sad lesson to learn.

Later...

There are no words...

Sorry for the lack of postage here this week... it's just that there are no words... only emotions... as I type this I have Fox News on the tv, tears in my eyes, a lump in my throat and a growing pit in my stomach. I won't even pretend to know how to fix this growing horror, all I know is it is an emotional roller coaster, ranging from pity, sorrow, horror, anger and even amazement at the human will to survive.

My heart and my thoughts are with all those suffering so horribly down there. May you have the strength you need to make it thru.

Later...

We have a winner.. or TWO!

Ok.. so here we go.. as promised we have the first winner of the nifty 5x7 contest... actually... we have 2 winners... I decided to split the entries into 2 catagories.. Family & Readers... so.. without further ado... here we go...

My first Family winner! Deb, from all the way down there in lovely (or so I'm told) Georgia... Congrats Deb... your 5x7 of "My Ride" is on it's way...

The first Reader winner! Scott from over at Blog Beat! Congratulations Scott, your 5x7 of "Fall Wall" will be sent out to you shortly...

So there you have it.. guys you'll be receiving confirmation emails shortly... and the rest of you all.. better luck next time... don't forget to re-enter for September's giveaway!

Thanks
Later....