Rain!?!

We had pouring rain all day Thursday. Does that mean we have to change the rhyme from April Showers brings May Flowers? Around here btw, that is April snow showers usually.

How about: January rain makes you want to take the train.

It was a nice warm rain, not a freezing rain, of course as soon as the sun disappeared it started to get slippery. I spent my shift at work putting signs on the doors, because people don't remember that January rain means it will be slippery. Then I went around all the bldgs and scattered gravel and ice melter...for all the good it will do. Within a couple of hours, the ice melter will be frozen up and the gravel will be covered with new ice. Today is supposed to be sunny and warm, then we are going to drop below freezing again, but not by much and only for a few days. Weird weather this year.

You may have figured out by now, that I have nothing to post about. I just thought I should let you all know I am still around and doing alright. I have been practising with Gimp (like Adobe photo shop) to see if I can do anything with my photos. I like Adobe, but can't afford it right now and Gimp is a free download. So, I am learning how it is set-up and what the new names are for the things I did in Adobe. I haven't used it enough yet to decide if I hate it, or just need more time to play with it. For the next little while I suspect you will be getting straight photos, little cropping and adjusting will be done.

Well, that is about it - have a good day all.

Haiku & photos

So, Gary over at Pottery Blog asked us to do haiku for our pets in his comments. Mine was pretty bad, but was inspired by this photo, so I figured I had to show you all:

I don't do haiku
Sibu won't look when he plays
when I'm bugging him

I think if you click to enlarge, you can just see the tip of my finger as he is trying to grab it. So, the rules of Haiku are three lines, first containing 5 syllables, second 7 syllables, third containing 5 again. I thought I should give it another try.

View world upside down
Whiskers act as antennas
Call mothership down

That works for both of those photos. That is kind of fun, as you can tell I have never done Haiku before. Give me your best Haiku about your pets, or drop over and give them direct to Gary.

Have a good day all.

Just a hello!

Just thought I would do a quick post. I spoke to the staff at the Dr.'s, they just received the x-rays, but haven't had any word from him to call me in... I asked if he could call me, so we will see how that goes.

In the meantime, some photos I just haven't had time to post. Click to enlarge if you please.

Can you see a face in this one?

Pinwheel in the wind.

Cool pattern.

I'll update if I hear from the Dr.


Have a good weekend all.

16.00 hrs - Still haven't heard from the Dr. so I called again. This time he had left a note on it that there was no reason to call me in. I assume that means it is not broken, but for F-SAKE, a phone call only takes a minute.

Random Friday

Just some photos that I didn't get put up anywhere else that I thought I would share. Please click to enlarge.

I really like this with the baby on the back of mommy. This was at the zoo and daddy kept charging the glass walls. It took us a while to see the baby and figure out what daddy was up to.


This was at the zoo too, right around the birds of prey... cocky little bugger!

My Sibu, loves the spruce trees.

Fall is here.


He loves to eat grass.


The only way we see red in the autumn around here is if people plant maples in their yards.


This is what you get when I get up in the mornings.


This is outside a grocery store in Hinton.


This was pulled for my sister's garden.


This was from a backyard in the neighbourhood.


Have a good weekend all.

Photos from the Ranch

Last week, as you may remember, I went with some friends to visit my sister the Bag Lady, who ranches a bit further North in AB than where I live. These are just some random photos I took around the ranch before we got soaked walking through the pasture meeting the cows.

Click to enlarge.


I found this weed pretty. Purple Loostrife


It has been a bit wet.


Apparently this is a noxious weed. Or not


As I said, a bit wet.


This is from her Clematis.


A lone Viola, still blooming.


Remember, I said wet.


A lone sentinel in the pasture.


I couldn't leave you without a calf.


I think this is Pegasus. Sis will correct me if I am wrong though. Yes, it is.

Thanks Sis! I just remembered to put in the link too, I think I got distracted earlier.

Have a good day all.

Visitor! Decadence! Kitty!

I had a visit (in person) from my cousin Leah (of The Goat's Lunch Pail) on Wednesday! She had to come into the city for a few things and needed a native (well sort of) guide. We went for lunch when she got here which was quite an experience, one I am sure she is blogging about, if not today, then soon.

We then went and did the bit of running around she had to do and she was kind enough to drive me over to do some errands that I had to do. Then we came back to my place and ate two wonderfully decadent desserts! Each! By the mighty horns of Thor's helmet! They were good!

While we were having our lunch, we had brought my camera and it's manual along and Leah was helping me out with learning the manual features. She is a photographer and journalist for those of you not familiar with her blog. We took a few silly photos and got the manual settings explained in small words of two syllables or less so that I could understand them and maybe remember them.

I went out later Wednesday night, after she headed home and tried to get some shots of the almost full moon. Even with a tripod, they were shaky so I need to practice some more. When I came back in though, I tried out a few shots of the cat, here are the best. I photoshopped colour in & out of a couple.

The purrfect pose and I don't know how that colour came to be, but I liked it.


Rub my tummy! It was a bit blurry and I couldn't get the colour balanced so removed it.


This is kind of neat. Except he moved before the shutter closed.



He is getting bored and tired of me taking his picture.


And has now given up all hope of getting to go to bed anytime soon.


We had a wonderful day, got some shopping done, ate far too many sweets and played with the camera. There is more, but I think I will wait a day or to to get the final results before I confess all.


Have a good day all.

Hi, cholesterol!

I get a phone call from my Dr.'s office late Friday afternoon "your labs are back and there is something the Dr. wants to discuss with you, but it is not urgent." Alrighty then. Why didn't he just make a note to talk to me the next time I was in to see him? Which will be at the end of this month, because he won't write a prescription for more than 3 months at a time (money grubbing Pr@#$k).

For someone such as me (who worries about everything anyway), cancer survivor, smoker, feels like crap most of the time - telling me it is not urgent doesn't mean I am not going to worry myself sick!

I go into the Dr. this afternoon and of course, can't see my regular Dr. but can see another one there. Fine, he looks at the labs, and looks around the rest of my file, goes back to the labs, cocks an eyebrow and then asks if I am a smoker. So, because I haven't had any luck quitting yet, then yes, my cholesterol is high enough to be of some concern. If I weren't a smoker, it wouldn't be worth mentioning. Now, if I remember correctly my labs from 6 months ago were fine all across the board. No concerns, no suggestion that I watch what I am eating or anything like that.

I get a phone call this evening from my friend and she asks if I want to go get coffee with them. As we are sitting drinking coffee (Caramel Corratto - Second Cup - divine!) with a load of whip cream on it and full of calories, it dawns on me, that I have been going for coffee all summer with them at least once a week. Anyone else seeing a connection? I guess I am going to have to cut down on some of the other full fat things I enjoy so I can continue to drink that coffee. Oh, for all my friends down in the States, it beats Starbucks hands down.

On the way home, the moon was racing the sun to set in the west, but I managed to catch this photo. Yes, that is the colour the sky was. Not a cloud around.


Unlike the night before.




I really have to start taking a pad and pencil out with the camera, so I remember what I had it set on in order to repeat the process.

Well, I am off to research cholesterol diets - blah!

Have a good day all!

Gull darn it, anyway!

Well, I had quite the day Monday! Lots of seagull encounters. The first was when I was out getting pictures for the WWC. I stopped to photograph this lovely sky...

And saw this woman chasing after a gull with a piece of burlap.

It seemed to have a couple of injuries and with the help finally of her spouse, they managed to capture the poor thing.

I think this might have been the mate of the injured bird - he was certainly keeping an eye on things. As they were leaving (on a Vespa type bike) to take the bird to get it some help, it seemed to be following them from the sky.

This little video shows my second encounter quite well. I had to do a bit of editing to make it watchable, then I had to re-do sound, so I gave you my best "Audubon Narrators Voice" ;)

I am tempted to re-edit & post it to youtube along with the stills I got of their faces (and a different dialogue). There is a reason it is called the fight or flight response! They just would not leave the poor birds alone! Of course, it would then start a trend for youngsters everywhere to chase seagulls and other birds, so there is no point.

I am also tempted to plaster their photos all over the neighbourhood, with "Shame on You" in red across the bottom. If they are our tenants (which I think they may be) I will slip a photo and explanation under the door for momma to take care of the matter!

Yes, I can be that kind of a bitch.

Am I over-reacting? I don't think so, walking through is one thing, deliberately chasing them over and over is cruel.

Have a good day all.

Monday already!

So, after last weekend, this weekend was quiet! Didn't do much of anything except work. I did play around with the tripod that my friend is lending me, so I have some photos to share from Friday.


From the garden, this is the the mystery plant that survived from last year. Cousin Leah's Hubby ID'd it as rock wort (I think). Pretty blossoms and it is doing really well.

Click to enlarge

These are the yellow marigolds. Such a great yellow.

These are the vines I am growing this year, the yellow flowering one is Canary Bird Vine and the other is Creeping Charlie. (with more yellow marigolds)

This is the Love Lies Bleeding that I had to move after I read the card. I started them in pots and they are about 3 feet high now.


This is the sky looking east as the sun is setting - 21.21 hrs according to the camera.

This is looking east at 21.24. By the look of the clouds I thought that would be it.

Then just before 22.00 my friend called and said to go look at the sunset. This is 21.58 by the camera.

This just a minute later.


There were many more, but none as good as these and still the colour is not great, it was much redder and more intense. I did try adjusting it in photoshop but couldn't get it right.

Tomorrow's WWC will be Sign & Graffiti, I have photos I didn't use the first time, so will post those.

Have a great Monday all.

Round up

I think I mentioned earlier that I was cat sitting for my friends while they are in Jamaica. Well, these are their two kitties. One male - named Blueberry; one female - named Zoey.

I think this is Blueberry, the photo really doesn't do justice to his beautiful coat.


This is Zoey, she is much bolder than Blueberry and has been letting me touch her since day one.


One of them has been throwing immense hairballs up since day one. I think it is Blueberry, he isn't sure that I will come and feed them everyday and is worried that mommy won't come back. He is cleaning Zoey all the time and then gorging on the food when I put it down. Yesterday was the first day I didn't have to clean up after him, so maybe he is a little more relaxed and they get back Sunday night.

*****************

You asked for a grin about my hair, well, here it is!

My eyes disappear these days in fat and general old age puffiness when I smile, so that is all you're getting! I am going to have to cobble together a photo one day from all the good bits from several photos!

***************

I hate it when I dial a wrong number and will usually realize it before the call goes through. If it has already rung on the other end, I will stay on the line and apologize. Seldom am I paying so little attention that I don't realize I have made an error. I have been given plenty of wrong numbers and I will usually take the time to verify that the number I have is the one I dialed and then apologize.

This has a point. I received a call this afternoon and the conversation went something like this:

me: Hello?

caller: Hello -um - who my talkin' too? (very demanding)

me: Who are you looking for?

caller: This isn't (company name)?

me: No, you've dialed CLICK incorrectly....

Which was much more polite than the call I very kindly made last weekend. I had a message on my machine for a wrong number. Now I mostly ignore these, but this was for a person who had just purchased a property and the keys were wrong. It went like this:

me: Hi, someone there (they didn't leave a name) called about keys but they...(interrupted)

him: yes, (and started in to explain)

me: excuse me, I was just calling to let you know that you left the message at the wrong number.

him: oh - CLICK!

What ever happened to telephone manners? Even in calling a business these days you are treated to poor grammar, bad enunciation and appalling manners. I get teased by the people I work with that I sound different when I am on the phone, yes, that is my professional voice, I don't have any idea who is on the other end (well, a better idea these days with caller ID) and it could as well be head office as a wrong number.

Well, before this turns into a really long pointless rant I will sign off. I hope you all have a good weekend.

WWC Sign & Graffiti

It is Tuesday once again which means time for the Weekly Word Challenge. Our beautiful host Tink at Pickled Beef will probably be absent this week due to a death in the family. I am sure everyone joins me in sending condolences her way.


The words she left us with for this week are Sign & Graffiti. Some of these are from my cell camera, some from my Olympus. I had a hard time finding graffiti, I thought I might have to make some!


I like the shadow play on this SIGN.



Some of the neon is burned out on this old SIGN.


If you look closely, the Buddha has a Martini glass in his hand on this SIGN.

These SIGNS are also GRAFFITI.


SIGN and GRAFFITI in one.

GRAFFITI was hard to find here, this is on a bus bench.


I have no idea what this used to have mounted on it, but it is now the home of GRAFFITI.


The back door of this store has a cute frog for GRAFFITI.


This is actual art work, but is still GRAFFITI.


Well, there we have it. If you would like to see more work, we have a Flickr group site here.

Have a good day all.