Dwayne seems to have

Dwayne seems to have
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

a disconcerting effect on Priscilla!

We had a visit from the Sun, his girlfriend and her piggies today - so of course some strange photography ensued!

Later....

Name that farm animal!

Name that farm animal!
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Maybe we got a little too close to the farm animals!

Any guesses as to what kind of farm animal this might be?

Welcome to Hell - have a seat in our waiting area

OH.. things just keep getting better and better round here... STILL no cell phone service, and of course I'm getting 2 different stories from the 3 different people I've talked to at Cingular... so how am I calling them if I've got no phone... I'm using Skype.com and talking thru the computer... really kinda cool.. only problem being no one can call me... I just have to keep calling my voicemail on the cell and getting messages and calling people back via the computer... anyway I digress... yesterday they said "your tower is down, we're working on it as we speak, you'll have service back this afternoon"... and of course.. today.. still no service.. so I called again.. this time I got "they switched your towers, but it takes 24 hours to take effect and you'll have a BETTER signal than before after 2pm." Now.. correct me if I'm wrong.. but technically can't I connect to ANY cell tower in ANY vicinity... and if this 'new' tower is the stronger one - why haven't I connected to it before?? Luckily I logged Cingular's help line number in my new Skype interface cause I KNOW I'll be calling them back come 3 or 4pm and I still have no service... Welcome to Hell...

OH... where you going?? My rant isn't over yet... Seems the whole neighborhood was awakened (us included) at 3am this morning... why? Cause the Electric Company was down on the road - raising a rucus - checking out our electricity situation... you see we lost power at 1:30am last nite... That's right.. no cell phone.. no electricity.. no water.. no freakin' nothin'... Did I welcome you to Hell yet?? Figuring ok.. their working on it.. we went back off to bed only to awaken this morning to no electricity.. no cell.. no water... funny.. but they were working on it last nite.... so.. around 9am I finally... well.. morning constitutionals tend to wait for no woman with no way to flush a toilet... so I hopped in the truck and took a run downtown.. of course taking my non-functioning cell phone so I could check my messages (cause of course.. no electricity.. no Skype to be able to take the long frickin' way around to getting my phone calls)... Good thing I did.. I figured what the heck I'll call the electric company while I'm out and poopin' about... So.. after a visit to McDonald's rest room and a MUCH needed cup of coffee... I placed the call.. "Gee... we have no record of any trouble out your way.. but we'll get right on it.." WTF??? So who was that at 3am??? Turns out it was indeed the Electric Company however, because there was a tree limb down on our wires, they didn't turn the electric back on till a tree crew came out and removed it... Long story short... Tree Company at 9:30... Electric Company at 10:30... Power restored at 10:40.... YEAH... which then of course allowed me to fire up the computer.. b*tch to you people... b*tch to Cingular Wireless again via computer.. OH.. and we must not forget to welcome you people to Hell... Take a seat, someone will be with you shortly.... YEAH RIGHT!

Later...

Yogi sighting!

Ok.. so it's a really crappy picture and you kind of have to fill in a few details with your imagination... but here he is... our BEAR!! We took a ride up the road after dinner tonite and then on the way back we saw him cross the road not 50 feet away... right onto our property!! He's a big one... and seemed to be alone so maybe it's a male which frankly I'd prefer to a female with 2 or 3 babies just waiting to grow up and eat my Stupid Little Angry Dog™!!! So... of course.. there we were face to face with the bugger and where's the camera?? In the house... so we zipped it up the driveway and waited.. and watched... and sure enuf.. I caught a glimpse of him coming up the side of the stone wall at the edge of our property... As Mr. 9 2 Bay ran outside with the camera I ran from window to window tracking him... the big b*stard did a 90 degree turn and came up the back of the property not 30 feet into the woods... SEE!



Like I said.. a crappy pic... but hey... you go tromping thru the woods and get a better one! But your not taking my camera with you, I understand blood stains are really hard to clean off of a lens...

So.. our suspicions have been confirmed.. in a REALLY big way! So now it's triple check the porch and yard before stepping outside...

Later...

Get your pole climbin' gear!

Wanna join me? I'm gonna go climb a cell tower today... That's right.. if freakin' Cingular won't fix the cell tower for me.. I'll do it myself! We've come to the conclusion that it's not us - it's them! We take our non-working phones and we can sit right next to that tower that USED to supply us with our signal - have a clear line of sight to the tower and still don't get a signal. But if we drive over the top of the hill and pick up the next tower we get a perfect signal! Now... it's great to know that it's not something as permanent as the tree line that's blocking our signal but just try and get Cingular to agree that it's the tower... you see, we've got to go over the hill and get a signal from the next tower, call them, and then they trace us back to the "good" tower, and then they say - well.. your tower seems to be functioning perfectly... HELLO.. yes.. the tower that I had to drive freakin' 10 minutes to get to, what about the one that supplies my house with a signal... GEEZ...
Frankly I'm not sure what to do... Do we go with say a prepaid cell phone from another carrier that might work in our area (but then if it's the tower will that one work?)and have our regular cells transfer to that number while we're at home? Which for me is just about freakin' always! Or do I look into Comcast Digital Voice - which will whack us for another 45 bucks a month, but at least there's no early termination fee, so if they fix the tower in a week or two we can just cancel? Get a landline again? There's also "Skype" a free internet VOip service but of course I can't find a microphone for my computer to test it out... Or do we just wait it out and hope that all our neighbors also complain to their cell carriers about the lack of signal and they finally figure out that something IS wrong with that tower...
Well... I've got to run to Wallymart later anyway, maybe I'll pick up a microphone down there and give Skype a chance, I've been wanting to check it out anyway, a friend of mine really likes it... so I think I'll start there... failing that.. Maybe the Comcast Digital Voice will be the way to go...
SHEESH.. and Monday continues...
In the meantime.. leave me a message and I'll get back to you the next time I run out of milk and need a run downtown...
Later...

Is it Monday?

I swear it's gotta be Monday and nobody told me... I want my Thursday back... I discovered this morning that since the sun has come out all the trees have popped their leaves.. thereby completely BLOCKING my cell phone signal!! DAMN... It wouldn't be so bad except that I'm totally cellular and well that means - I'VE GOT NO PHONE!!! Unless of course I hop in my truck - drive down the street a couple hundred feet and get my messages - several times a day!! It's either that or get out the freakin' chain saw and hope that I get my signal back before I've clear cut the forest from here to downtown! My only other hope is it's a temporarily low signal from the tower and/or that Mr. 9 2 Bays phone comes in better and I can swap with him (he always did seem to get a better signal with his same make and model phone than I did)! *sigh... have I said before that I hate Cingular wireless?? Oh that's right - I think I have - SEVERAL TIMES!

Later..
OH.. and if you were considering my camera - you've gotta go thru ebay now as I've just listed it...

Camera for Sale!

So I finally decided on a new camera.. WOOHOO... bumping up to a 7 megapixel from a 5... YEAH... I hemmed and hawed... read and re-read reviews... thought and thought about what type I wanted... I eventually settled on a Canon Powershot A620... yeah.. another point and shoot (although it does offer the same deal where I can get an adapter and add filters and a couple of different type of lens adapters, telephoto and wideangle)... I tell you.. it was a tough decision... I almost went with one of those snazzy dslr setups, you know.. the Rebel XT at around 700 bucks with no lenses but then though "Do I really need a thousand dollar setup to take pics of plastic dinosaurs?" and well.. that was a bit much to rationalize... So I stuck with the point and shoot... but with awesome picture quality reviews!

So... watch for some new extra-clear, extra-large shots coming soon.. and in the meantime.. anyone wanna buy a Konica-Minolta Dimage Z5 (complete with filters and adapters)... I'll give you a good deal! (Holler fast cause it'll be up on ebay in the next couple of days - along with the old Dimage Z1!)

Later...

Get your buns outta bed...

Get your buns outta bed...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Lorimar was always the first one up, so naturally, making breakfast for the others always fell to him!

Anyone else?

So... sister dearest seems to be having trouble reading the comments attached to the "Where Did That Come from" post... Anyone else? She does use a company computer to read during breaks and they have censored me in the past but for the life of me I just don't see anything that could be construed as "sensitive" in either of those comments! Maybe her system admin is a Katherine fan?? LOL OH.. or maybe the have the title of the show blocked? If you notice I always just refer to it as Idol... but Anonymous used the entire title of the show in their comment... hhhmmm.. could be it... I'm not sure if I can just edit comments or if I have to delete them... I'll check later... but no.. I won't delete, I sent the text of the comments to her in an email so as long as she can get in and comment on other entries, no big deal...

So what a lovely freakin' weekend eh? So sick of the rain! I ended up house-bound all weekend playing with my toys (watch for the pics or go to Flickr and check 'em out) and the Stupid Little Angry Dog™ hasn't gotten off the couch for a week! It was kind of nice having Mr. 9 2 Bay around tho.. no LawnCare for him this weekend, although that just puts him behind schedule for next weekend..

Mother's Day was nice... it would have been nicer if my son had been here, but he did call... (unlike me, who hasn't called "Mother" in light years! It's not that I don't want to wish her a "Happy Mother's Day"... Love you Mom, but I've made a vow to avoid any situation that makes me want to get out the Country Music cd's, the beer, and the prescription medication. Ok.. I'm kidding.. Mom doesn't really make me wanna drink beer.)

Anyway... I feel I've been negelecting the blog these days in favor of Flickr... so I'll try and do better... Things have slowed down a little at work so I'm hopeful that I'll have time to do a little of both...

Later...

Menacing Shadow

Menacing Shadow
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Corporal Tulip never stood a chance!

I can't believe I didn't blog this one... it has made (along with my chickadee pic) the top 500 pics for the day on Flickr.com... The Chickadee has since fallen off the boards, but this little guy is somewhere around #340 for May 6th! How cool is that? I told you my toys were pop'lar!

Where did that come from?

Wow.. quite the Idol shocker last nite... I still can't get a handle on who's voting in this years program... In years past it was easy to figure out - it was the teenage girl that ruled the phone lines and pulled Bo, Fantasia, Ruben, and Kelly into instant stardom. They all had that quality that appeals to the teenage girl... OH WAIT... it IS still the teenage girl that's voting... she's just getting older...

Let's see... at 15 she's more likely to want their "girlfriend" to get ahead - so we got Kelly...

At 16 she starting to get into guys but she's still kind of into "Velvet Teddy Bears" so enter Ruben...

At 17 she's probably had her heart broken by the freakin' guy she thought was a Teddy Bear but turned out to be an immature jerk, so lets bring back the girlfriend... Hello Fantasia...

At 18 she's starting to get rebellious... Enter the 'bad boy'... HELLO BO!

Now she's 19 and her mind is starting to turn to things a little more stable but still she's wanting that 'party' attitude... She's probably had enuf of the antics of her "bad boy" boyfriend... yeah.. she wanted "bad" but not THAT freakin' bad... Bo went off and got married and had a baby with someone else.. how DARE he... so she's not gonna go there again and uh oh... Chris is already married with a couple of kids... so yeah.. He's OUT... Katherine is still around cause every 19 year old needs that "girl in the same situation as me to cry with"... but as soon as Ms. Idol Voter decides on which guy is the 'winner' Katherine will be left standing in the wings wondering what happened...

So... The question seems to be "How mature is our 19 year old Idol voter?" Does she want the guy that 'looks old' but still acts like a 12 year old? Or does she want the guy that acts like a 40 year old but looks like a mature Eddie Munster?

My bet.. she's still young.. she's gonna go with the grey haired 12 year old... He looks 'stable' and she's probably betting that she can make him into a stable adult!

Too bad Elliot didn't wait a year before entering the contest... He has a wonderful voice but the average Idol voter isn't gonna be mature enough to wanna date him till she's at least 20 or 21...

It could be worse... he could also be "second husband" material in which case he'd have to wait at least 3 years before entering the contest... You know.. after Ms. Idol Voter marries the immature guy (Taylor), then dumps him for Mr. Exciting Idol Contestant (a Chris-type), then goes back to hanging out with her girlfriend (a Mandisa type - a more mature woman) and then she'll finally be ready for an Elliot...

It's all in the timing...

Later...

Feelin' a little crabby today?

Feelin' a little crabby today?
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

I know I am... there definitely was NOT enough weekend available to get it all done...

Anyone wanna take a swim?

Anyone wanna take a swim?
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

HEH...

Cold Spring Barn

Cold Spring Barn
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Another version of the barn (Go here to see the others). I've photographed this one many times and it still fascinates me. Such a beautiful barn! These have to be my favorites tho... Blossom Time and sunset to boot! Not a bad picture in the bunch! I'm sure as time goes on you'll see more of them.

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

My lovely niece... Who is actually a Nurse Practitioner with a thriving practice now.. yeah... pretty old photo! LOL

Apparently I have a death wish...

Apparently I have a death wish...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

:) Sister Dearest - 1985

HEH.. Luckily the "Tip Jar" can also double as a "Payoff Pot"... ;)

Red Hot Motorcycle Mama...

Red Hot Motorcycle Mama...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Gee.. Could that be Big Sister Deb - on Big Brother Mike's Candy Apple Red Honda 125! OH.. the 80's... weren't they FUN!

By Request...

Purple Hyacinth
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

So I got a request for some actual sunshine rather than the liquid type... So here you go "Anonymous" - some real sunshine... And yes.. I picked this picture in particular - killing 2 birds so to speak... If you happen to live in Western Mass, make sure you pick up this weeks "Sunday Republican" as this photo has been selected for publication in the Masslive insert! WOOHOO... Almost as good as getting a "tip" in that lonely little tip jar over there in the margin... hehe... That would be THREE... THREE BIRDS WITH ONE ROCK!

Later...

Worlds Messiest Desk...

Worlds Messiest Desk...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

aka "The Horrible Shelving Incident of 2006"... *sigh... It was quite the spectacular crash at 11:30pm last nite... frankly we thought the neighborhood bear had let himself into the house.. turns out it was just 2 of my 8 foot overloaded shelves giving up the ghost... I'd almost rather have the bear... ALMOST...

ps.. if you click on this pic it'll take you to my Flickr account. There are notes attached to the pic so if you scroll over it it explains what all this stuff is!

Yup... still raining...

Yup... still raining...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Good thing we need it...

Tools and Jewels...

Tools and Jewels...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

"Tools and Jewels" is an idea I've had for a very long time now, for a Boutique to satisfy both men and women!

Anyone wanna invest?

Liquid Sunshine...

Liquid Sunshine...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

It rained today.

World's best sandwich...

I wish I could take credit for this, but I had one of these at the Pelham Country Store this weekend... AWESOME...

A nice hearty bread (Baker's Inn Honey White works well)
Shaved Turkey
Bacon (crumbled)
Red Onion
Lettuce
Tomato
Mayonaise...

Sound like a regular Turkey Club?? Well, it is.. but here's the kicker... before you close up the sandwich... drizzle the turkey with a little bit of HONEY... I'm tellin' you... that was the BEST sandwich I ever ate... and I'm still eating them... I picked up the fixin's at the store yesterday and have been making them for breakfast and lunch... OH... and that's gonna be tonite's dinner as well... YUM!

Later...

Jeff at the walkathon

Jeff at the walkathon
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto.

Picture courtesy of Sasha... yup.. that's my son facing the camera.. and he even knows that it's online cause she uploaded it, I just stole it from her.. Let's see him DARE to complain about it being public now! HEH HEH...

I suppose I should be flattered...

But mostly I'm just pissed... It's always flattering when someone thinks your photos are worth stealing but when the theif is a freakin' Spam blog for "Caribbean Deals" it really gets my goat (see the goat below!)... I discovered that these slime bloggers have taken 2 of my photo's off my Flickr account even tho they are ALL clearly marked "all rights reserved" and posted them to their blog... I don't care that they gave me credit.. as a matter of fact that just adds insult to injury... Now people think that I actually approve of this kind of lower-than dirt type blog... SHEESH... So last nite they got a nasty comment on their blog demanding immediate removal and this morning they got turned into Blogger.com for violating their 'terms of service' which specifically prevents you from posting non-authorized copyrighted content... I suppose I'll just have to keep an eye on things and see what happens... SHHEESH... Welcome to Monday!

Later...

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!