King o' the Hay Pile...

King o' the Hay Pile...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Try and knock me off.. I dare yyyaaaahhh...

Hangin' out at the local goat farm... Big doin's this weekend!

Hokey Pokey...

Hokey Pokey...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

You do the Hokey Pokey and you shake your head about...

When they told the Captain...

When they told the captain...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

When they told the Captain that the dinosaur was an herbivore he replied "Yeah... and it's my job to make sure it doesn't come back ever again!"

Jam on.. Jam off..

So it was off the Gov't Mule concert last nite at the Calvin in Northampton... a lovely small venue, frankly so small that it occurred to me that the auditorium at my old High School was bigger than this place... An awesome, cozy place to see your favorite musicians up close and personal... I've seen (and posted to a clients website) enough Gov't Mule pics that they are probably responsible for a full weeks pay for me over the last year, so I knew the setup... Warren is always on the left as you face the stage... so that's where I picked for our seats... 13 rows back - left side... and sure enuf.. there was 'the man' himself, dead ahead not 80 feet away... awesome... I do use the term "seats" loosely here tho... Unfortunately, they allowed general admission.. which means you had a bunch of rabid fans standing up in front of the stage, which normally is not too much of a problem... their kinda fun to watch actually, but at the Calvin, the first row of seats is at floor level... those lucky, lucky people that were celebrating having gotten front row seats for Mule just a couple days ago now had a perfect eye-level view of the butts of the entire mosh pit... nice... so... of course they stood up... which caused the second row to have to stand.. and the third... all the way to the back of the place... so yeah... I had a nice comfy seat with a great view of the stage but as soon as the music started my view changed to the baggy-assed jeans of the college kid in the row in front of me... damn...
Now.. the concert itself... I'd give it a 6 outta 10... that's right.. me... the number one, almost-stalker level fan of Warren Haynes gives it only a SIX? Well.. it seems I'm a victim of my own cd ripping... see.. in order to keep the cd's from getting ruined being thrown around my truck I rip them all to blank cds, put those in my truck and keep the originals nice and safe in their cases on a shelf... Well.. in the process of ripping them, I also remove any of the songs that don't appeal to me... you know.. the "Jamband" crap that just goes on for freakin' EVER... Yup... I managed to edit out completely the fact that Gov't Mule is first and foremost a Jam band... Well.. it came back to haunt me... the first half of the show was awesome... they stayed pretty true to the cd, even throwing in a few tunes from previous cd's... WOOHHOO... but then they came back from break and proceeded to rip it up... Now.. there is absolutely no doubt that Warren is a "Guitar God"... hell... Rolling Stone has him at number 200 of the best guitarists of all time... Awesome... now.. that being said, just because you can play like the dickens.. doesn't necessarily mean that you should... When each song drags on for 15 minutes, after awhile they start to all get the feel of Inagaddadavida by Iron Butterfly... arguably the worlds longest song... Throw in a 10 minute drum solo and a 5 minute keyboard rant and soon enuf it's time to go home... Now.. to be fair... the college kids in the audience seemed to really love it (and I did too for the first 2 or 3 minutes of it), but come on, enufs enuf... And you can't tell me that everyone enjoyed it all that much... seems to me there was a heck of alot of dancing going on (me included) until they hit the rifs... as Dick Clark would say "I'd give it a 3, it's got no beat and you can't dance to it." In essence it was as if the party stopped for a few minutes while these guys went off on a tangent... I was reminded of the scene from "Back to the Future" where Marty McFly plays at the prom and goes off into a Jimmy Hendricks rage and the 50's prom goers stand in shock at the violence of it all... Yeah... I felt a little like my ears had been assaulted...
So... 6 out of 10... the recognizable songs that they did were awesome... let me repeat that with a 'freakin' thrown in... the recognizable songs were freakin' awesome... but the Jam band - off on a rif - crap... yeah.. I could have really done without that... So... sad to say.. no more Mule concerts for me... I'll wait for the Warren Haynes Acoustic Tour and keep ripping out the Jam band crap from otherwise wonderful Mule cd's...

Later...

Pavlovian dog revisited...

How could I forget this one..

door bell rings on television = run to door barking like a rabid idiot...

MOST interesting.. considering we don't HAVE a freakin' doorbell and have never had one... Apparently Gretchen did in a former life... I guess a golf ball sized brain can still retain ALL kinds of memories... lucky.. lucky us...

Later...

Sweet Dreams...

Sweet Dreams...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Gretchen... the stupid little angry dog.. looking not so stupid, nor angry... Lately this is the only way I can get a photo of her is to sneak up on her while she's asleep while hiding the camera... She just learns too quickly... She see's me with the camera now and immediately runs to the door thinking we're gonna go out and take some pics... Funny how they get trained like that... She really is a Pavlov's dog...

Camera = goin' outside

Eric Clapton's "Layla" = run for the cell phone...

Theme song to Stargate SG1 = run for the couch cause Mom's gonna join me in a minute and I can sit on her.

Eric Clapton sings Layla in the late afternoon = Daddy's coming home, run to the back of the couch to watch out the window for him!

Sad really... LOL

Captain Randy hadn't been home...

Captain Randy hadn't been home...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Captain Randy hadn't been home in a VERY long time... He was shocked to find that the dandylions were waist high in the back garden, Franz, his faithful friend, no longer recognized him, and his wife had run off with the plumber. Captain Randy cursed himself for not having weeded the garden before he left, but at least that nasty leak was fixed.

Deforestation...

Finally... Idol voters did the right thing and voted off Forrest... actually.. her voice wasn't that bad but I found the dumb blonde act (ok.. so maybe it wasn't an 'act'..) a little too much to take... plus.. uummm.. yeah... she absolutely killed a beautiful song the other nite... "Unchained Melody" sounded (and looked) more like "And time goes by so slowly... as I stand here and murder this song..." Anyway.. so YEAH... Forrest is gone.. no more "Suds in a Bucket" twangy stuff... trust me on this, we're all better off for the lack of country music... case in point "Fancy", Reba McIntyre's big hit that Forrest sang.. come on... Do we really need a song that glorifies pimping your daughter out? "Momma's gonna bring you up town"... Sheesh... Ok.. well.. you don't wanna get me started on country music...

Bear update... still no sign of the bugger... but there did seem to be an awful lot of rustling going on at the edge of the woods last nite when we took the little dog out for a last potty call... I tell you, it's a little un-nerving when you realize that all the freakin' barn cats are sittin' up on the front porch staring out into the woods at the exact same spot... "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT??? DAMMIT! Quit it...Your scaring me..." **sigh... I suppose it's just as well that we don't actually see it, but frankly, at this point my imagination has turned this thing into a 700 pound grizzly with 8 inch fangs dripping with bear slobber... think.. think.. think.. think - Winnie the Pooh... oh.. that's better... at least until it gets dark out again...

Later....

Nice kitty...

El Diablo...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Don't ya wanna pet the nice kitty? Aww... soft and fuzzy kitty...

Neon Frogs

Neon Frogs
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

More toys... surprised?

Bearly Monday...

Ayup.. so it seems my bear is back... I hadn't seen any sign of him for over a week so I figured it was safe to start feeding the birds again... afterall they are nesting so it seemed the right thing to do... well.. guess again... even tho I only put out one of the small green plastic feeders the bugger still tracked it down.. I again found the hook pulled over to the ground and plastic bottle emptied... but even that wasn't the most alarming part... it looks like he took a little trip onto my front porch... I thought I heard a clunk out on the front porch when we went to bed last nite, but I figured it was the cats getting rambunctious again... but after finding the feeder raided, the lawn chair tipped over, and the cats dish licked clean I think it was a little more than a cat fight that took place out there! So.. unfortunately, I think the birds are on their own for dinner now... and the cats will just have to finish dinner right after it's served cause their dish is gonna disappear if they leave any leftovers... *sigh.. what a pain...

Anyway... that's about that... now... about the pics on here lately... funny... I run them on here and I run them on my Flickr account... on here I get comments like "have you lost it?" and yet on Flickr I get people that have gone out and purchased toys just to photograph them (and VERY nicely give me credit for the inspiration!)... Really wierd... so anyway.. if you've got an opinion on the 'toy photos' speak up... love 'em... hate 'em... think I've gone insane? Whatever... lemmeno!

Later...

Sweet funky...

Sweet funky...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Sweet funky monkey love!

Technicolor....

Technicolor....
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Technicolor dino war!

So... Jeff and Sasha showed up today... and they had this guineau pig with them... and... well.. the rest is obvious... ;)

Later...

Sometimes...

Sometimes...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Sometimes your the horse...
Sometimes your not.

Flower Set

Flower Set
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Love the Flickr Toys - great for making mosiacs and stuff!

Orange Segment

Orange Segment
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

view large (by clicking on it) for best colors - Crazy Daisy Segment

But I don't want...

But I don't want...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

But I don't want my picture taken!

Blurry - squirmy kittens... can't get much cuter than that!

Tawnie would...

Ethel would...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Tawnie would get all gussied up at least once a year whether she had somewhere to go or not... Mostly she would head to the pharmacy and hang out near the prescription counter and talk to any older, well-dressed, gentleman that happened by... preferably ones with really bad coughs...

Puss finally...

Puss finally...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Puss finally gave that stupid donkey the boot.

Dandy

Dandy
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

and one more to chase that ankle on down the page.. this one is best viewed large (click on it and you will see it bigger)...

Christmas Cactus

Christmas Cactus
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

More pretty pictures to make up for the nasty ankle!

Robin

Robin
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Thought you might wanna look at something other than the nasty bruised ankle...

Fun with photoshop... saturation... sharpen.. spotlight... canvas... heavy grain... basically anything you can do to a perfectly acceptable pic...

Later...

He don't need...

Nope.. he don't need no stinkin' x-rays!

Later...

Quote of the Day...

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
-- Albert Einstein

Bearly Sunday...

So what did Sunday bring? Well.. here's a pic...



Seems there may be a bear in them thar woods... He bent my shepards hook completely over... smashed my cedar thistle feeder... disassembled my 2 green plastic feeders... and left his scent to drive the stupid little angry dog nuts... We're just lucky he didn't crash his way onto the screened-in back porch where the giant bag of seed was stored...

It's kind of tempting to leave the feeder up and try and get a shot of him with the camera.. but for the sake of the little dog's life... I think not... We did refill it and put it up for the birds today, but I removed it and the bag of seeds for the nite... hopefully it's long gone by now.. but you never know... I'll be checking carefully before stepping out onto the porch for a little while at least... and of course.. keeping the camera at the ready!

Later...

Captain Randy figured...

Captain Randy figured...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

why walk when you can ride... Peter had other ideas however...

Captain Randy knew...

Captain Randy knew...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

if he could just make it to those tall weeds he might be able to save himself...

More fun with toys! :)

Later...

Taxes, swollen ankles and fried drives...

Sheesh.. what a week...

Monday... Back up laptop hard drive - failure imminent - send away for new drive

Tuesday... install more memory in old clunker computer - laptop failure imminent

Wednesday... Laptop Hard drive failure

Thursday... Realize that I didn't get everything I needed off the laptop - husband sprains ankle but continues to work anyway.

Friday... Take a lovely day off to do my freakin' taxes... Realize my bookkeeping software will not import into my tax software unless I update it... $210 and an hour or so later I begin my taxes... offer once again to take husband to hospital as his ankle has now turned purple and swelled to twice it's normal size... he went to work anyway... Finish taxes 6 hours later... Hard drive arrives.. Learn my son got the job he applied for in Connecticut.. Realize I may never see him again... Cry quietly at my desk... stupid taxes!

Saturday... review and submit taxes... pray quietly to the anti-audit Gods... install hard drive and 500 miscellaneous programs.. 6 hours later Laptop almost back to normal... offer to take husband for an x-ray... he went to work anyway...

I just can't WAIT to see what tomorrow brings!

Later...

Look at me....

Self Portrait
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

I'm on the blog!

Hard Workin' Man

Hard Workin' Man
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

I probably should have told my brother I was taking pics of him and putting them on the internet... but he doesn't have an online service.. so I guess he'll never know!

I sing dead people...

Exactly WHO is responsible for picking the 'theme' for each week of American Idol? Frankly I think THEY should be the next one voted off the show...

Freddy Mercury & Queen... come on'... The only person that can do justice to a Freddy song is Freddy himself and I don't think he's gonna be singing anything anytime soon.. Surprisingly tho.. the contestants really didn't do ALL that badly... even little Forrest.. Forrest Pickler did ok... and when I say "ok" I mean, I didn't shut it off but I wouldn't wanna sit thru it ever again... So who's next to go IMHO? Ace... but then it's been really hard to prognosticate this season.. Mandisa NEVER should have been booted this early, but these things happen...

Oh.. one thing I DO know... the best quote of the night... goes to Bucky with:
"Freddy Mercury is the last guy I'd wanna jump up behind."... HA! Bucky dear, I don't think Freddy would have minded... not so very much at all.. and I'm no Bucky fan, but you did ok on his song too..

Anyway... I'll start the petition...

Dear American Idol Theme Selector:

It has come to our attention that you apparently stopped listening to the radio somewhere around 1978. Your selections of Queen, Barry Manilow and Kenny Rogers as themes for the week on the program only serve to display this point. It is our humble opinion (see the signatures below) that you need to seriously get yourself into a new decade. A rule of thumb that may help is to ask yourself "Did this person's music ever come in the format of an 8 Track Tape?" If the answer to this question is "Yes", you may wish to refrain from selecting their music and at least move onto those stars that first appeared in Cassette Deck format. We have no wish to completely traumitize you and insist that you move straight into vinyl or (god forbid) DIGITAL... but we would be very grateful if your theme selections included at least one week where the "Theme artist" doesn't need viagra just to get out of bed in the morning.

Sincerely,
Your loyal audience

Clear 'nuf? Now, get back to work!

Later...

Mandatory definitions...

Ok.. so I want to start a petition to include "rules of the game" on every party invitation ever written, created or sent... Maybe it should be more of "What constitutes pleasant dinner conversation and what does NOT."....

If you happened to be at the party with me last nite allow me to apologize to you in advance for what I'm about to say unless you happen to be that one woman at my table that just doesn't get the concept of "PARTY"... But then maybe my definition of 'party' is different... I see a party as a gathering of people to enjoy stimulating conversation and good fun... you... Lady across the table from me... apparently feel differently... You obviously define party as "The perfect time to monopolize the table discussion (even if it means interrupting others) with complaints about my 10 year old daughter, the fact that I HAVE a 10 year old daughter, her crappy school, her bitchy teacher, and her ability to lie."

Oh.. you did discuss other things.. like listing everyone that you ever knew that now has cancer and how many breasts/ovaries/organs they have left, how your too sick to work but boy is money tight, how your medication affects your memory, and the ridiculous price that various families in East Brookfield are asking for their real estate.

Maybe I'm just not with it anymore.. granted it's been awhile since I've been to a party... Did the rules change while I wasn't looking? Are you supposed to end the night feeling that every ounce of energy has been lipo-sucked out of your very soul? If that's the case... well.. WHAT A PARTY THAT WAS!! WOHOOO... ROCK ON!

Later...

An Accident Waiting...

So... I've been a little slacker in the laundry department these days... and frankly things are getting a little sparse... like socks that match... and underwear that haven't been washed and over-bleached so many times that a thong would probably cover more of my butt... (how's that for a mental picture for ya! HA!)

I really feel like an accident just waiting to happen... after-all.. isn't that what we were all told as kids "Make sure your wearing clean underwear, what if you get into an accident?"... I must admit, that as I was driving to Wallymart this morning (seems I've been a grocery slacker as well) all I could think of was... "What if"... OH MY.. what would the EMT's think? So.. I began to formulate a plan...

"It's ok... my thigh bone always juts out like that... I'll just run home.. get cleaned up and go into the Doctor's later for an xray.."

"Blood... what blood? OH... the stuff all over my pants? NO... I was just drinking a Bloody Mary on my way to the store... Maybe you should arrest me rather than taking me to the hospital.."

"It's ok... really... my sneakers always get jammed under the dashboard like that... the swelling will go down in a little while and I'll be able to get free."

Well.. maybe I should just go do some laundry! Now to navigate those cellar stairs...

Later...

Sittin' the Fence

Sittin' the Fence
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Sometimes I'm actually glad when my husband leaves his stuff lying around...

He pulled it off the mower this weekend and this was as far as it got... but then again, I told him not to throw it away.. I love the colors and it makes a great photo prop...

Later...

Snowlace

Snowlace
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Ok.. it's depressing... but yet strangely beautiful... (best viewed large and if you click on it you'll see it bigger!)

White lacey trees... I hope it doesn't last!

April Showers...

Bring May Flowers... Apparently this May will be filled with Snowdrops... nothing but Snowdrops... *sigh***

Later

Spike and Henry...

Spike and Henry...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Spike and Henry had an uneasy friendship...

Spike had developed...

Spike had developed...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

When Spike developed a taste for cats... Miss Kitty never stood a chance!

I'm in the process of cleaning out the home office, formerly known as "the kids room"... I'm finding all kinds of neat photography models... ok.. so I bought the kitties... just wait till I break open the package of rats I bought at the same time!

Stressin' Monday...

It's not bad enuf that it's Monday, and less than 2 weeks to the tax deadline... but I've got a dentist appointment today for a cleaning... Frankly I'd rather have every tooth in my head pulled and replaced with an implant than get my teeth cleaned... Root Canal?? Sign me up! Just DON'T clean my teeth... I swear it's not psychological.. I've got some wierd stuff going on in my mouth... Nerves.. where no one else has ever had nerves... touch them wrong with sharp metal pointy objects and it's highly likely you'll be scraping me off the ceiling.. The hygenist has finally given up on me... we've tried topical numbing crap... electrical impulses that are supposed to mask the nerve impulses... I had that thing cranked to the max and no go.. I swear I was pulling so much electricity that the lights dimmed in buildings 3 blocks away... water pick type cleaning, all I got outta that was a cold shower and another trip to the ceiling.. nothing works... So now we've taken to novocaine... only problem is they can only do one side at a time and I STILL hate it...

You know.. I can't help but wonder if maybe my mouth really is different than everyone elses... I mean.. I found out a couple of years ago that my ribs aren't normal either... I had gone to a chiropractor for my intense back pain and he took an xray - seems I'm missing a rib on my right side... freaky.. and to top it off the Chiropractor was this extremely religious kinda guy that frankly was looking at me like I could be the second coming, or at least a direct relative of the original Adam himself.... Hey.. who knows... But at times like these, with a tortuous cleaning just minutes away, all I can think is.... Stupid apple... I bet there was no need for teeth cleaning back in the old Garden...

Welcome to my hell..

Later...

Miss Kitty...

Miss Kitty...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Miss Kitty couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

(I may have to give Thor his own photo series... he's just too cute!)

Thor...

Thor...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Sends his love!

(Still playing with the light box... trying to master that white background and minimal shadow crap... oh and a little macro photography thrown in for good measure!)

Thor knew...

Thor knew...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Thor knew he wasn't like the others but he hoped no one would notice..

Best Burger in Town...

Here's an incredibly crappy pic of the most incredible burger in town... Where can you get one? Country Kitchen in Ware... Route 9 at the old Cumberland Farms building... We've decided to let them feed us rather than shopping, cooking and cleaning up after ourselves from now on... OH.. and the best part... 8oz's of beef.. cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo and BACON with chips (I sprung for some of their extra yummy onion rings here!) and a pickle.. 5 BUCKS! AWESOME...

Ok.. commercial over.. we now return to our regularly scheduled program...

Later.. like after lunch...
OH.. and ps... their grilled prime rib on Friday nite rocks as well!