7 days Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

Olivia ~ Sleepy Hollow #2

Well, we knew this was coming.
Illinois politics is corrupt right on up through the Supreme Court. It was a gimme that they would allow this fellow on the ballot even though he clearly could not run according to the law.
The question becomes, Why even bother?
I'm glad I don't live in that state anymore. It is the pit of the Nation in terms of corruption in government.

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Did you read about the poor kid who put a piano on a sand bar? You can read about it here.
They are trying to figure out if they can charge the kid with a felony now.
Had some idiot artist (I use that term very loosely) like Tunick placed it there it would have been hailed as a great thing. Now there is someone they should figure out a felony charge for and lock up for the rest of my life.

______________________________

Seven days and I will be with my moose in southern California.
For some reason a quote from Julia Child keeps popping into my head, "I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food."

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In the cities you have rats. In the woods you have red squirrels. Red squirrels are rats with fury tails. They are destructive and will chew a hole through the side of your house just for fun.
Lately I have been seeing a red squirrel up on my deck. I have been ignoring him/her in hopes it will move on. Thursday I was trying to figure out what the weird noise was coming from. I soon discovered a red squirrel chewing on my door frame. That was it. Time to declare war on red.
Well red squirrels are like rats in more ways than one. As of this writing I have executed 11 of them on my deck. Mr fox has been very happy picking the carcasses up every evening. He is having a hard time finding something to eat with all the snow we have so my contributions are right up his alley.

______________________________

This year my income tax work is going to be a nightmare. I have always been able to do my own. I am going to continue doing my own as long as my brain functions well enough, but this is going to be one rough bastard year.
And did you see the statement from the IRS? They admit that when people call with a question about their taxes....GET THIS....that person will get a wrong answer from the IRS 40% of the time.
Typical Government run business.
What I want to know is who audits the IRS? I think it is about time that should happen.

Have you seen my mother?

Sarah Jean

I'm flabbergasted that people who live in a large city think they have any rights.
They gave up all their right when they moved there, don't they remember?

Out in the country you can drill a well and get water on your property. In the city you can not. You must buy water from them. You gave up your right to do what you want with your own land.

In the country you can let your yard go to wild flowers. In the city they come and mow it down and fine you. Again, you gave up the right to even own your land when you moved there.
My brother lives in a city. He has to pay for a building permit to change his water heater. His water heater! I guess it is not his since he lives in the city and basically gave everything he owns to them as a condition of living there. All you are doing is renting a spot. You might think you own your home but you know better. The city owns it. Why else would you let them tell you what you can and can not do with your property.
Try parking your own sailboat in your own driveway. Ehhhhhhhhhhh! Can't do that in the city. You gave up that right too. Your sailboat...Your driveway. Hmmmmmm
These are not the people I want fighting for my rights. They give away rights for the convenience of being close to an opera house. Just imagine what rights of ours they would be willing to concede to having eliminated in order to keep their gas station close at hand.
No, when the Revolution comes I want to be hanging out with the country folk. I sure as hell don't want some city person standing up and attempting to lead us on protecting our rights.

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A bit of unknown news. McDonald's has gotten a trademark for McMom.
Not what the hell are they going to do with that I wonder.
My mind reels with thoughts of them opening a McDonald's restaurant in Borneo.

Mailmen use to have pride

Sarah Jean

If you were to ship something to me via Fed Ex, even if it were guaranteed over night delivery I would not get it for five days. Here is why: Fed Ex doesn't deliver to this remote part of Minnesota. They will get it to Minneapolis over night. Minneapolis is the last place Fed Ex will touch the package because they will then drop it in the U.S. mail for the remaining 250 mile journey. Their guarantee to get it there over night only applies to their last handling station.
They won't tell you that they are going to be putting it in the U.S. mail either.

Speaking of the U.S. mail. I sent a print via the U.S. mail (first class postage) to California. Took almost a month to get there. Pony Express did it in way less time.

U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan said that deliveries by the Postal Service have declined by 43 billion pieces in the last five years.
The Postal Service suffered a net loss of $8.5 billion in fiscal year 2010, which ended Sept. 30.
Do you think it is time to cut some of those Social Service jobs so it becomes profitable?
Just a thought.

______________________________

Now the talk is about phasing out credit cards. You will be paying for things via your wireless phone.
If that happens I am going back to cash. I'll be damned if I am going to carry a phone around with me like some dork.
I think they should outlaw cell phones. But that's me.

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CNN is in the business of making people get upset rather than just reporting the news.
For what other reason would they post this headline?

Plea entered as Loughner smiles
Whether he smiled or not has no bearing on the case. Is of no importance to report except to get people pissed off.
CNN is almost as bad as FOX News.
Now I remember why I stopped looking at CNN. That and those bloody pop up ads that jerk you all over the place.

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"Winning the Future"

He has got himself a tricky saying. Bush had his "Evil Axis", Kennedy had so many you couldn't count them, and Reagan had, "Well..." Nixon couldn't talk without his nose dripping down his upper lip so he just gave us the peace sign all the time.
Presidents have to have some gimmick to make up for their lack of competence. Seems, Winning the Future is going to be it for a couple more years.
Personally, I would like to think we have a better shot at it than if as though it were a game show and we could loose. Conquering the Future sounds a hell of a lot better. But then, none of it makes sense. The future is not something to conquer or win but rather a state of relative being.
But hey, it's Obama. Probably the best the poor lad can muster.
Winning The Future = WTF Do you think they thought of that when they picked that slogan for him?

______________________________

Sarah Jean above in what she referred to as, The Gecko Pose".

Nightime memories

Sarah Jean

"Why do I love you. I love you not only for what you are, But for what I am when I am with you. This is the all night Meisterbrau Showcase. I am Franklin MacCormack and that's my calling card."

Six nights a week I fell asleep with a radio under my pillow listening to those words as my favorite program came on the air.

"Have you ever held a beautiful woman in your arms, kissed her tenderly and then looked deep into her eyes? Well that's the same feeling you get when you take a long refreshing drink from an ice-cold Meisterbrau beer."

Dang if those words didn't want to make a nine year old root around under the kitchen sink for a can of Meisterbrau beer that his dad just might have stashed there.

He played all the good stuff. Music from the 20s 30s. Jazz, swing, all the big bands. And he knew them all, personally. Evey musician. He was friends with them all and often times had them on the radio as guests. Fred Waring was one of his favorites. A big band leader, but you might know him better as inventor of the Waring blender.

I listened every night with the radio turned down very low so my parents would not come in and tell me to go to sleep.
A BEST when it comes to childhood memories.

His show ran from 1959 until 1971, when he actually died on the air doing the show.
Radio has never recovered.

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Here is an interesting experiment to try out. I ran across this one by accident. I was sitting in my car one night and noticed in my outside rear view mirror some activity behind me a hundred yards or so. Being the lazy bastard that I am, rather than turn around with my binoculars and look I looked at my rear view mirror with the binoculars.
When I was finished watching the gal please her boyfriend I got to thinking...my binoculars do not focus that close. The rear view mirror was only about a foot and a half away.
Turns out you are not focusing on the mirror like you think you would be. You are focusing on the distance to the object you are looking at from the mirror. Weird!
You can take your camera and experiment. Point it at the rear view mirror (or any mirror) and focus. Then look at the distance scale on the lens. If you turn around and look at the object you had focused on in the mirror you will still be in focus. Weird!!! Whoda thunk.

I would have bet money you were focusing on the mirror.

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One more weird thing. This image above. A relatively non descriptive image of a non typical pose. Won't win any awards in my book. How about yours?
One of the better known idiot photographers that seem to be praised by so many others thought it was good enough to win best of show during a major juried art show in 2006 in California that he was hired to jury.
I suspect he didn't much care one way or another about it but picked it out of a hat because he was getting paid to jury the show. He seems to do that often. K.W. has always been a useless twit in my book and I have seen nothing from him that would make me change my mind, even if he did give me one more blurb on my art history sheet.

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The Russians are pissed. Now, watch how fast they find and kill whoever is responsible, unlike our Government that just wants to play never ending war games.

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From the, Makes You Wonder Why department:
This gal joined M.M. 3 months ago. Has not changed or added an image. Does however have 2,139 friends already. Think she is just using the site as a social network thing? What's a matter with Facebook? If you want to be a ditz and get off on making friends, go over there and be ditzy with the rest of the ditzy people who hang out there. If these idiots would keep this crap off M.M. it might actually run like it should.
I just wonder WTF (Win The Future) she did with her eyebrows.

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It is no secret that this Government of ours rules by fear. Keep the American public afraid and we can keep our war machine going.
This has been true under every president since Roosevelt and was at an all time peak with the Bush years.
But after awhile people start seeing through the wool. This is when the Government needs to instigate new things and get rid of old. So the Terrorist colored lights are going by-by and we will now have something new to scare the pants off of people.
Homeland Security needs to go. That was the biggest joke ever pulled on the American people.

Just think how much that costs us. I'll tell you. In 2010 it costs us 56.4 billion dollars. DHS has over 200 thousand employees.
In every other area that the Government is involved in there is acceptable loss numbers, so they really can't tell us TSA is there to protect peoples lives. The cost and man power vs loss of life is way to high. ie: When the Government built Hoover dam the estimated loss of life during construction was 100. 96 people died on the site while it was being built. Acceptable loss.
You can't tell me 56.4 billion dollars and 200 thousand employees in order to prevent someone from blowing up a plane is not over kill in their acceptable loss data.
It is all for creation of another Government agency in which to filter money. It is not about saving you and I from dying on an airplane.

Only in Marcell

It's A Winter Wonderland

I wonder if UPS has some super computer that calculates when the most inconvenient time it would be for their truck to pull up in your yard and then schedule their deliveries for just that time.
Just as the shutter was going off on this image in rolls the UPS lady. Of course she also needed me to sign for the package.
I didn't even try to explain. She knows me well enough not to ask. Although I did catch the corners of her mouth quivering in her attempt not to bust out laughing.
Comes with the job. Can't deal with reality she shouldn't have become a UPS driver.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann from Minnesota has got to be one of the biggest twits since Sarah Palin.

First Amendment ?

Emma

Why is it you can no longer buy refills for your car windshield wipers? Now you have to buy the whole bloody wiper blade at ten times the cost. This makes my life better how?

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For those of you who might live in the far western suburbs of Chicago, you have lost one of the finest places to eat. An old friend of mine and a place I use to frequent often when I lived in the area. The Mill Race Inn in Geneva. It is closing after 80 years. Another great thing succumbs to social changes for the worse.

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Seems we have a new law that eats away at our Freedom of Speech.
Harassing Communications
Appears I can't call you a fat, ignorant turd on my blog. The Mobile County Sheriff's office in Alabama thinks that is against the law. Maybe we don't have Freedom of Speech anymore.

Maybe we just think we do.
For those of you out there bellowing about how your rights are being violated daily by police and think you have those rights no matter what because they are in the Constitution, think again. They don't mean squat these days. Your soldiers are dying for control, not rights.

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A woman told animal control officers God advised her to hang and then burn her nephew's pit bull because it was "a devil dog" and because it had chewed her bible.
What if he really did? I guess it is OK for all these religious nuts to tell me I should believe in God, but when he speaks to me I guess I'm not suppose to pay any attention to him.
Make up your mind.

______________________________

Just to see who knows what.

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Another homophobic seems to be Chris over at Univers d'Artistes. Even though many nude male fine art images have been submitted by contributing editors, none ever show up on the site. Every once in awhile a male nude will be there but it is only because it is part of a body of work of female nudes by some well known artist that has slipped one in.
His site. I guess he can put up what he wants. I have lost interest in looking at art just because it is of a nude female. There are other sites that will fill my needs and show art for art sake.
Nothing here against all the fine artists that have been showcased on his site. I just don't like the way it is run.

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Go Jesse!!! God I love this guy. I'm for having him back as our Governor anytime. Far better than the last one we had.
The man is at least doing something instead of just bitching about it.
When the revolution begins I want to be on his side.

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So much for honest Illinois politics. Of course using "honest" and "Illinois politics" in the same sentence ought to send me straight to hell.
I thought things were going to be fair and just when the Illinois appellate court ruled that he could not be on the ballet, then this.
How quickly they jump in to save one of their own however. Full speed ahead, laws be damned. The Illinois Supreme Court should have said, No. We are not hearing this case. The law is clear and needs no interpretation. But hey, it's Illinois politics. Same place this idiot president came from.

A climb for naught?

Sarah Jean

I have always liked shots taken from above. It gives a perspective not often seen. The trouble is locations to shoot from are not readily available all the time and sometimes you have to improvise by climbing a tree or cliff. This was a cliff day.
The Rock Sarah Jean is on is quite tall and sat in the river so that it flowed around it on both sides. Her job was to find a way to the rock and get on top while I began my climb up a nearby cliff face. She would be about 20 feet above the river when she reached the top of the rock and I needed to be well above that.
When I finally reached a location where I could set my pack down and not worry about falling off the cliff face Sarah Jean had managed to get where I wanted her to be without going over the waterfall and wasting my climb.

When I was ready I noticed that she had changed her pose from what I originally had intended and I was not liking it all that much. But yell as loud as I could we were not communicating over the noise of the waterfall so I decided to go with it.
Good, or just to add insult to injury a tree decided to go over the waterfall as I took the shot, I have not yet decided.

P.I.T.S. Anonymous

Sarah Jean

I broke my New Years resolution once again. 21 days! 21 days I went without peeing in the shower. Then BAM! Wheels fell right off the wagon.
I tried to join P.I.T.S. (pees in the shower) support group but I didn't care for the religious aspect they were trying push. I don't know what God has to do with my desire to mix my bodily fluids with flowing, warm water. Actually I was a bit suspicious of the group leader when he tried to get me to video tape myself peeing in the shower and bring it in and have the reset of the group critique it. I often think P.I.T.S. is no more than a fetish group that has some religious cult thing mixed in. I just want to pee in the shower in the morning, I don't want other people watching me, nor do I need to confess my shower activities to some big guy in the sky. He probably pees in the shower too. Think about that next time you want to go for a walk in a summer rain.

______________________________

Down right balmy this morning compared to Thursday's 43 below zero temp I woke up to.

A camera for memories

Emma

There are some photo shoots that stick in your mind forever. This was one of those shoots. It is the only time I worked this particular river.
This shoot cost me a camera and lens. I believe it was a Nikon D100 and a 24-70 2.8 D, which totaled around $3,000. at the time. As you can tell from the image above I spent as much time in the river as did the two models I was working with. At one point my camera and tripod got swept over and that was all she wrote.
I did get a few image that I liked before that happened however and the micro drive was readable.

Emma is six feet tall and it was hard to work with her on rocks because she had just too much limbs to try and wrap around things.

I was waste deep in some pretty strong currents most of the time so it was bound to happen that I would topple the tripod sooner or later.

Carol & Emma

This image above was the last shot. The gals asked if I would join them on the rocks for a shot with the photographer. I put the self timer on and was wading my way through the current to them when the whole works went under.

Carol

There really was not that much to work with on this stretch of river but it was a grueling hike back to where these shots were taken and I was not going to leave empty handed.

A long time ago but still fresh in my memory.
Good company, nice weather, water and rocks, and a few images that I like. I would say it was a fair enough trade.

New Jersey?

Abigail

When you are scrolling through a site like M.M. looking at models from all over the United States, are there any states you automatically skip over?
I find myself skipping a few. New Jersey, Texas, California and Florida are the ones I usually don't bother looking at. California, Texas and Florida because most of them have overly fake looking breasts and I get frustrated having clicked on a portfolio only to find massive silicone balloons where breasts should be. I get very pisses that they have wasted my time pretending to be models.
I must make a note that my Moose, Cheryl is a California lady that is all natural, but they are few and far between.
I don't know why I shy away from New Jersey. Maybe something from my childhood, or maybe it is just because I can't believe anyone would purposely want to live there and therefore can't be of sound mind.
States I do look at even though I will never get around to working with a model from there include Maine and North Carolina. Maine models always seem so wholesome. And North Carolina has more nude models than the rest of the U.S. put together. I don't know what's in the water over there but... damn.
Then there is Oklahoma. There is not a woman in Oklahoma that would take her clothes off for any photographer. I take that back. I did see one listed from Oklahoma, but trust me, you don't want to see her with her clothes off. I thought I was up for photographing any shape of a woman, but I was not ready for that one.
Again, a state where you can not be right in the head if you want to live there.

______________________________

I have been immersed in print making the last four days for a show I have coming up in March.
One of these shows were the images were selected by the gallery back in 2008. 33 images that I consider old hat, but what are you going to do. The good news is the gallery is located in a city where a good portion of my collectors hail from so I'm hoping that sales will be somewhat brisk.
I will deliver these framed images toward the end of February and take back a few that they have been storing for me for the last three years. I'm sure when the show is over they will ask me to leave a few of the leftovers with them once again.

______________________________

17 days until I head to southern California to work with my Moose. Just to be able to walk around outside without snowshoes will be a treat. And temperatures 100 degrees warmer than here. Wow! Hope my body doesn't crack.
Note the temperature over on the right hand side of this page.

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Itasca County Sheriff's Report for Jan 1-15:

Wednesday, Jan. 5 — Bigfork Fire Department responded to a chimney fire on Highway 1, Effie, at 1:42 a.m.
Thursday, Jan. 6 — Found a vehicle in the ditch on U.S. Highway 2, Deer River, at 11:07 a.m.
Found a vehicle in the ditch on U.S. Highway 2, Deer River, at 2:38 p.m.
Found a vehicle in the ditch on U.S. Highway 2, Deer River, at 4 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 7 — Responded to a horse on the road on Highway 46, Deer River, at 5:01 a.m. The owner was located.
Wednesday, Jan. 12 — Responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle on County Road 39, Deer River, at 2:28 a.m.
Bigfork Fire Department responded to a carbon monoxide detector on County Road 4, Talmoon, at 9:54 a.m. Everyone was fine.
Thursday, Jan. 13 — Responded to a report of domestic assault on Hawk St., Deer River, at 12:28 a.m. No arrest was made.
Received a report of trespassing on a snowmobile on County Road 128, Deer River, at 2:43 p.m.

Holy crap, this area is going to hell. Getting time for me to move north.

The Rock

Sarah Jean and I were staying in Phoenix one winter, working the desert nearby. One day we stopped at the city park in Phoenix just to see some local stuff and this rock was in that park.
Well we couldn't let that go, so Sarah Jean started loosing up for the climb.

That rock is a lot taller than it looks in these images. Click on the first image to get a perspective next to a 30' tall cactus.

After a bit of limbering up we began the climb. Something fun about climbing with a naked female. I'm not sure what it is. It is not that she is naked and you can see her nakedness because I saw her that way all day long, every day. I think it is the toning and muscle usage you see as the body exerts itself on a serious rock climb. With clothes on you don't get to see the muscles working. It is something to experience.

This rock was covered with little caves that we experimented in as we went along. It was also not a friendly rock to climb. Like most desert rocks it was rough and crumbly. You didn't want to scrape your body against it.

A couple of years after this I took Abigail and Erin to this park and we did some more work with the rock.

But that is another story for another time.

New Rule

Sarah Jean ~ "Nose Hair"

Don't pretend to me that you do it for art. I'm not your wife and I don't give a rat's ass.

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I know I have bitched on this subject before but damn. I am tired of dealing with kids that think they know everything, so I have made a pact with myself that I will not photograph anyone under 30 years of age.
Hmmmmmmm. The pool is getting shallow.
But, I will be creating decent work rather than endless fodder just to be making photos with anyone who is willing to step in front of my lens.

The new rules:
1) No one under 30 years of age (Brain has not been installed yet).
2) No augmentations (Looks like shit).
3) No more than one tattoo and it can be no larger than 3" in the biggest direction (Looks like shit).
4) No hardware above the waist. None. No eyebrows, no lips, no tongue, no navel, no nipples (Looks like shit).
5) No escort (Do your homework and check references).
6) No shaved pubic hair (If you are an adult, look like one).

I know there are many of you who disagree with me on this...but I gave up valuing your opinions long ago when I realized you were not in this for art, and the images you create are just a by product of your desire to see naked girls.
There is nothing wrong with that, but your suggestions become meaningless to those of us who want to create a quality piece rather than snap shots of things that make us horny.

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As long as I am making new friends today let me relay this story.
I was coming in my road off the highway, which is a car and a half wide in the summer and almost a car wide in the winter, when I met a neighbor lady (she is from the cities) coming the other way at a sharp corner. One of us was not going to stay on the road so I made the swerve and ended up in four feet of snow. Buried. Of course, she didn't even stop.
Now if I lived in the Cities I would call a tow truck and have them pull me out for $75. or whatever it is these days.
What I did do was call Merle, a local who was there within five minutes and pulled me out of the snow and back onto the road. I attempted to give him some money but he wouldn't take it. He did say that when I go to southern California in a few weeks, would I kindly bring him back a pocket full of sand from the desert.
Seemed like a fair trade to me.

Empty

Katy_T

Today I am once again feeling lost and missing a portion of myself. Same thing happened about a month ago. But I suspect I will be alright come Thursday.

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I'm surprised Palin did not show up at the Tuscon gun show and buy some assault rifle and a flack jacket while being filmed by TV cameras. It would have been her speed. Probably got some advise from someone with a brain not to do such a foolish thing. I can't believe there are people out there that would even consider her for president. Enough other countries are laughing at us right now. We don't need them falling on the floor, clenching their guts too.

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If women didn't exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning.

mnartists.useless

Abigail ~ From the Cliff Dweller series

The image above would be much more impressive if I could have been able to show you the floor below Abigail. But that was about two hundred feet down there and my lens was nowhere near wide enough. Actually from the location I was perched at I was lucky to get this because I was hanging on for dear life as well.

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A few years ago Minnesota came out with what sounded like it was going to be a grand data base for artists in Minnesota. A place where all artists could connect with one another and things like shows would be posted; juried shows would have a place to be posted; classes were listed; notifications on shows and areas of interest would be sent out to other like artists. It was going to be the ARTIST DATA BASE of all time. mnartists.org
Like most grand ideas it is a total flop. Yepper, it is there. And probably most of the reasonable artists in Minnesota are members and have their information stuffed in there. But that is where it ends.
It is not at all user friendly. I'm not stupid but I can't find anything in there. If I want to look at photographers that do similar work as my own....I can't find them. If I know their name they are listed under....maybe.
Then the notification don't exist. A monthly newsletter that might highlight their favorite artist gets emailed out, but that's all.
There is no point to going to the site. Nothing there to look at unless you just want to kill time scrolling through various artists of all types.
mnartists.org reminds me of the dictionary that is sitting on the bookcase behind you. When was the last time you pulled it out of there and looked something up?
It was a grand idea when it was conceived but it is run by a click of high class idiots in Minneapolis that have ruined the dream of what it could have been, and they show no signs of relinquishing their hold on it so it could be made a useful tool.
If I have a show coming up I can get a better response by posting a note on the bulletin board at the local post office, even though it is in a town of 24 people and my show might be 600 miles away in Chicago than if I submitted a notification to mnartists.org. No, unless you are one of their click members someone would have to go to the site and hunt for my notification on a show, and they would have to know who I am and when the show was. So what would the point be?
I see that mnartists.net is available for a domain name. I may just buy that and launch a real artists site. I couldn't do any worse.

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Wrapping up my cold for the year. I seem to get one cold each year, right about this time. It ends up being a whopper with all the ugly symptoms you really don't want to hear about.
I get it from Abigail.
Well it is out of the way and I am good to go for the next 11 months and three weeks.

Gray day on the river

Neighbor Lady ~ Big Falls

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

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From the doctor I get a prescription for Motrin (McNeil Labs Ibuprofen). The directions tell me to take two, 1200 mg tablets.
For giggles I go into the bathroom and find an over the counter bottle of Ibuprofen, 200mg tablets.
Does anyone out there believe that doctors prescribe the best medication for you?
My neighbor was a person that wrote contracts for drug companies. The drug companies go into hospitals and offer their best pitch. That usually means heavy kickbacks to the hospital and the doctors each time their drugs are written a prescription for rather than some other drug company, and the cost of the contract to the hospital. These contracts are in the millions of dollars for a reasonable size hospital.
Once the contract is signed the doctors must prescribe this companies drugs, even though a better drug may be on the market.
The FDA? They are a pawn in the game. They are there to ensure no one manufactures over the counter drugs that might cut in on the drug companies prescription drugs. In return the drug companies fund elections with money and influence.
Want to lower drug costs? Get rid of the FDA. Watch how fast Proctor & Gamble comes out with the same drugs for 1/100th of the cost, and over the counter.
There is no mystery to controlling health care. Get the Government out of it all together. Let the drug company wars, and the health care facility wars begin. Then watch how fast health care costs drop. Watch insurance rates for health care plummet.
The Obama health care plan was the worst conceived piece of crap put out there yet to date by a presidential administration. The man should have been removed from office for even bringing it up. Gad, even Bush had more brains than that.
So when my prescription of 1200mg tablets runs out I will go to Walmart and buy 200 mg Ibuprofen tablets in the jumbo container. I will then take twelve of them to equal my two prescription tablets. And I will have saved thirty five dollars over the cost of refilling the prescription.
Walmart will profit a little, some little drug company of over the counter Ibuprofen will profit a little, and McNeil Labs will get none of my money. McNeil has reported third quarter profits as $15 Billion, a bit short of what they had anticipated.

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I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who lives in the Tucson area. This has nothing to do with what has been going on down there. He is an over the road truck driver and is on the road for months at a time, returning to his home near Tucson for a couple of days only to head back out again. He usually calls me once a week from somewhere just to chat. Today he called and said his girlfriend was going to move into his house when he returns home next time. They have known each other for some time now and talk everyday on the phone. I suppose it is the natural next steep in a relationship, but I was thinking that maybe he might have skipped a step or two somewhere along the way. Like, meeting her. They have never actually met.
But I do know my friend and I wish him all the best. I have spoken with his girlfriend on the phone and she sounds like a wonderful gal. In this case there is probably not much to be learned about each other in an actual face to face meeting that would change the course of their relationship at this point.
May you be forever happy, G&J.

I also understand how one can fall in love with someone you have never actually met in person, and I would be willing to bet a relationship based on words will tend to be much stronger than one based on looks.

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A shot from one of my winter adventures with the neighbor gal about six or seven years ago.
As I recall I fell in the river shortly after this image was taken.

Nothing a smack up side the head with a 2x4 wouldn't cure

Sarah Jean ~ Somewhere in Illinois

If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance.

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Back in the days when parents knew how to raise children you could turn your child loose in a shopping mall for two reasons. First, you knew the child was going to behave themselves, and second there were not going to be any nuts to worry about because other parents also knew how to raise their children.
These days children are complete animals, undisciplined and down right obnoxious. Parents fault 100%. They don't know how to raise children anymore. And all children are that way, thus creating the ones you don't want your children to come in contact with. They are the same as your own, but parents don't see it that way.
The skill of raising a child to be well behaved was lost in the late 60s. I don't know if Dr.Spock was to blame but he was certainly a factor. People learn from their parents and each generation looses something. The parents of the early 70s lost about fifty generations of child raising knowledge all at one time.
Today parents are no more than kick out a kid and toss him into a corner until they are old enough to leave home. Make no attempts at raising them properly to be responsible human beings that act like human being should act. Just let them be total assholes.
I think we should do this as a society. When someone is arrested for a crime the parents of that person should also be made to serve the same amount of time in jail. I don't care how old they are. If a kid is sent to study hall in school for not behaving, the parents should be pulled out of their job and sent there too.
Maybe things would not change. Our jails would probably just be stuffed with parents because they don't get it.
Maybe some new laws that say you can't have children until you can pass a parenting test. If you do have a child without certification you get the electric chair.
Just thinking out loud.
I do know that if the kids of today have children...this country is doomed to total chaos.

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OK, it can quit with the snow shit (to use the favorite cuss word of a friend).
Plowed three times yesterday, last time just before going to bed.
Waiting for it to get light enough to see the trees so I can plow again this morning. Plowing my driveway in the dark is asking for an accident to happen.
At least it is not snowing at the moment, but we did get a good belting last night and I have plenty to keep me busy for the next several hours.
Guess it keeps me busy and out of trouble.

______________________________

I thought quitting drinking was going to be a hard thing for me to do. Wasn't. The hard part was figuring out a way to socialize with the locals without drinking. People do not order a soda or a non-alcoholic beer in taverns around this part of the woods. Tarred and feathered comes to mind. Not that they would carry a non-alcoholic beer anyway.
Can't go anywhere else to socialize because a tavern is all we have.
So the other day I got this crazy idea.
***I have been known to have crazy ideas before and lived through them. Like the time I was bored one evening so I put on a short, pleated skirt and headed over to the tavern. That didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, but I lived.***
If I am going to go into the tavern to socialize and drink water {Don't drink soda} I might as well really get their attention and get the pain over with as quickly as possible. I carefully unpacked my Christys Bowler hat, positioned it correctly on my head (forward with a ever so slight cock to the right) and set off for the tavern.
If you don't know what a Bowler hat is, think John Steed, only in the proper black color rather than those silly gray or tan ones he wore.
Now in Marcell Minnesota a fancy hat is one that says, Husqvarna chainsaws on it, camo in color or florescent orange if it is near deer hunting season.
My fear was not as much for my safety as it was for the safety of the hat. I could picture it being manhandles by grease covered fingers and maybe being used as a beer mug before I would be able to wrestle it free.
But off I went. Heck, what else is there to do in the middle of the woods in the middle of winter beside plow snow?
To my surprise, only one person commented, and that was, "Nice hat". Not another word was said. I ordered my water and talked up a storm with the locals. I think they were in shock. That had to be it.
So now, everyday I go out I have been wearing the Bowler hat. I have been waiting for someone else to turn up with one on but I'm not holding my breath.

Random Stuff

Sarah Jean

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

______________________________

It use to be that you needed to be somewhat intelligent to run for office.
"If crime went down 100 percent, it would still be 50 times higher than it should be."
--John Bowman
"On this Memorial Day, our nation honors its fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience here today."
--Barack Obama
"Every week we don't pass a stimulus package, 500 million Americans lose their jobs."
--Nancy Pelosi

"President Washington, President Lincoln, and President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale."
--Alberto Gonzalez

______________________________

Xe
What is it? It is a company. Pronounced "zee".
What do they do? They are mercenaries that contract with the U.S. Government.
Why don't you know about them? You do. They were known as Blackwater but were brought up on charges of killing civilians; smuggling weapons; and organizing jail breaks. The Blackwater contract was not renewed by Obama, so they changed their name.

______________________________

Why do people say, "It's always the last place you would look." ?
Of course it is. Once you fond it why would you keep looking?

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Why are they called stairs inside and steps outside?

We are in trouble

Morning After ~ Kat

When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity; when many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.

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It is that time once again, another birthday rolls around.
They seem to come at much faster intervals than they did when I was younger. I think it has something to do with the expansion of the universe. Time shortens the further we get from other large bodies in our galaxy. Stephen Hawking would be able to explain it in better terms than I.
Other things have changed too as the universe expands. Gravity has gotten stronger. Heck, when I was a kid you could jump way up in the air. Now....I am lucky if I can get a foot off the ground. Hiking with this stronger gravitational force becomes a chore also. Use to be able to hike all day.
I'm glad I won't be around in fifty years. Those poor people won't be able to get out of bed and the seasons will flip by like pages of a book. About the time you get your leaf rake out of the garage you might just as well bring along the snow shovel. Basketball will be a thing of the past as no one will be able to break free from the gravitational pull enough to reach the rim.
Golf will be reduced to a game much like marbles where the ball rolls on the ground rather than flies through the air.
Nope, not a place I want to be.
As it is I foresee things getting pretty much out of hand before I die. These geek scientists should be working on gravity and time problems rather than micro cell phones and MP3 downloads. What good are those things if you can't get up off the floor?

Arizona is pissed now

"Eggs Benedict"

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

______________________________

I'm looking forward to seeing what Arizona does to retaliate for the shooting of an elected official. I hope they shut down the borders and throw everyone out of the state that is not an American citizen. Close the damn borders completely and shoot anyone attempting to cross in either direction. If you are not blond haired and blue eyed you better have your birth certificate pinned to the outside of your shirt where it can be seen.
Go Arizona! Profile the hell out of everyone who does not look like they grew up in central Wisconsin. So far the only state showing some backbone.
Got to love them. They are the only ones actually running this country and not just going along for the ride. The only ones that are not only trying to uphold State laws but the Federal laws as well because this pansy ass Federal Government is afraid the limp wrist liberals won't re-elect them for another term if they actually do their job.

______________________________

One of the more annoying spam on my computer is chain emails. Most are based on the inability of people to think on their own. Just mindless twerps passing the letters on. And most of them are about how soldiers are dying for your rights, or the ones who like to use the phrase, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it." Noble.
Where are these people now? Why are they not in Arizona banging on the Governor's door.
Myself? I think they should arrest the assholes that plan on protesting the funeral and leave them in Joe's jail for a year or so.
But the soldiers that are suppose to be dying for our rights, and those who will defend those rights....where are you now?
I guess there is another exception to your rule. You are sounding just like the people you are pretending to defend me from.
If you are not fighting Arizona legislation on this ban, don't ever open your mouth about how they are racial profiling. Because once again you have lost all credibility by showing us you are only in favor of protecting our rights so long as they apply to you.

The Dating Game

Abigail

I get a kick out of these models who post on their bio page on M.M., "This is not a dating site."
I beg to differ. It is a site to get a date, get laid, and see nakid chicks. That is why M.M. thrives while other hard working model/photographer sites (noble as they may be) wallow about and never really get off the ground. All the young people who want to socialize and get laid are on M.M. attempting to do just that. M.M. has the numbers and the sponsors because of it. M.M. knows exactly why people want to be on their site and they cater to that. Sites who want to get away from the children and be a professional model/photographer site don't have a prayer even though I hope each time one emerges that it will attract enough people who are somewhat professional to make it. To date it has not happened. Mass stupidity rules in a democratic society.
One of the big problems these wannabe new sites create is confusion. In order to offer something they create these search categories that narrow your search down to what shade of brown eyes the model you are looking for has. We don't want to spend a lifetime checking off boxes, we want to find a model. When your site has been in business three years and you are showing one model that has signed up that lives in the same state as I do, I don't give a rat's f-cking ass what shade of brown eyes she may or may not have.
I'll go over to the dating, getting laid site and find a model from their seven thousand that are listed as living in my state.
Don't get me wrong, I hate M.M. with a passion, but it does have a good pool to choose from. Everything from casual sex to long term relationships, cheap motel photographers to fine art photographers, eighteen year old sluts to high society runway models. Somewhere in there, there is something for everybody.

How long?

Abigail ~ "Red Light Fish House"

How long should you wait to create a toy of a notable disaster? Why should you wait? Or should you create the toy at all?
Let's take the sinking of the Titanic. We have made many movies about it to entertain people. Why should we not create a toy? A plastic boat that kids could have in the bath tub and a plastic floating iceberg. When the ship hits the iceberg a piece falls off the hull and it sinks....slowly. The little removable lifeboats could have decals on them telling the child, max. cap. for this boat is 24 people. It would not only be a fun toy but a learning tool of history.
We could have a model of the Hindenburg made out of tissue paper. When it flies into a candle it goes up and the basket full of people crashes to the ground.
I can tell, so far you are thinking, "Why hasn't some toy company come up with this idea already. They will sell like hotcakes."
***Just remember where you heard it first***
But then, what if they made the Challenger space shuttle toy? You fill it with water and pump it full of air, then when the pressure is high enough you turn it loose and it rockets skyward only to blow apart twenty feet up. Of course all the parts can be reassembled and shot over and over again.
But now you are saying, "That's getting a bit close to home. It wasn't that long ago. With the Titanic and Hindenburg there is no one alive that remembers that first hand. The Challenger is different."
And my response is, "So what?"
Now
I want to talk about the World Trade Center toy. Twin towers that your little plastic airplanes can fly into about a third of the way down from the top of the buildings. The breakaway portions there would allow the little plastic planes to enter the building and red lights would come on inside. Fake smoke would billow out of the windows. Then the main supports of the buildings would mechanically fold up and the towers would fall apart into a pile of bits on the living room carpet.
"Whoa!", you say. "Bad taste!"
Why? Why would the Titanic toy boat be okay and not the World Trade Center toy? I give you, toy soldiers. Toy soldiers have been a mainstay of toy companies for generations. My father player with ones made out of lead. Mine were plastic. A toy that is a depiction of war where millions of people were killed at the hands of people. What is the difference?
I'll tell you. Sentimental slobs that send emails to people telling them to remember, as though these people who send this crap have any clue what they are even talking about. What they are good at is jerking your emotional string so you send the email on. It is these week minded slobs that make people think one thing is okay while a similar thing is not.
Me? I'm waiting for the Chernobyl Plant toy to hit the market. I hear it comes with a large game board of the Ukraine and little people that represent ten thousand persons each.

Splat is a good thing

Camille

I'm not a real bossy photographer. That is to say I pretty much let the models do whatever they want. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't work to my liking I will be a bit firmer on the second shoot.
By the time I have worked with a model three or four times they understand what it is I am after. I will still shoot what they want for their portfolios also but the two differ greatly most of the time.
My work does not revolve around posing as most models associate with posing. I'm not interested in arms curved over head, fingers that are placed so it appears like you are telling a story with them, or legs bent with toes pointed as to be looking like a ballet dancer.
I'm looking for SPLAT. Like the model was dropped out of an airplane and went SPLAT. A good looking SPLAT mind you, but still a SPLAT.
When I go to southern California next month to work with Cheryl we will be doing SPLAT. Lots of SPLAT.
I have little interest in a beautiful pose on a rock, I want the model to be looking like a giant bird dropping on that rock.
It takes a bit of getting use to. Erin was a tough nut to crack that way and she would almost have it down except there would be that wrist thing she would throw in to make it look like a model pose. Finally she got it after I kicked her in the ribs a few times to get my point across.
The model should not be posing on, she should be sculpted into. It is rare to see one of my outdoor images where the model is standing. Doesn't work most of the time in my eye.
This image above of Camille is pushing the limits of a normal model pose in my book that is acceptable.

Studio work in the middle of winter is something different however. SPLAT doesn't work in the studio. Mostly because there is nothing to SPLAT onto, like big rocks. There model posing has its place.
I even SPLAT when modeling outdoors.

Yours Truly ~ By Aiden

Most models on the other hand do not want SPLAT for work in their portfolios. A few do, mostly the fine art figure models, but not your average model who sees herself in the next Playboy issue. They want their face and their gorgeous figure highlighted, not something that makes them look dead and anonymous.
So we do both, images for them and images for me.

Time for snow angels

Abigail ~ "One Last Angel"

Snow on the lake is getting hard to walk around on as it is over your knees. In the woods where it is not wind swept it is over your waist.
Too much for modern day snowmobiles that are designed for riding on groomed trails, as are cross country skis, we are left with either mountain sleds or snowshoes for travel off highway.
I, like most folks in this part of the country do not own a mountain sled so we are left with our shoes. Snowshoes have some advantage over mountain sleds too. They are quieter, don't pollute, don't run out of gas or get stuck. They are never hard to start and can get around in the really dense tree areas.
I have spent many hours during that last several days hiking about in the woods on snowshoes. About the time you wake up and are reading this over your morning coffee I will be out there prowling about, inspecting the tracks in the snow where an owl came down and grabbed a mouse, leaving wing impressions in the snow and a drop of blood. The mouse track will end where the wing impressions are so you know it was not lucky enough to have escaped the owls grasp.
There will be otter tracks that look like someone has dragged a log because otters don't walk, they slide on their stomachs through the snow.
There will be the wolf tracks. And another set twenty yard further that parallel. And another set twenty yards further. They are spreading out as they move in on their prey. From above it looks like a systematic football game play. Likely a fawn that is having a hard time with the deep snow. If you were to investigate you would more than likely find a pile of hair scattered out over packed down red snow just a bit further in that direction. Any remains left behind will be cleaned up by the eagle and a little red fox later today.
Traveling through the woods I will scare up a few Snowshoe hairs. And every time I will laugh my ass off. Snowshoe rabbits don't hop like normal rabbits. They run full tilt, or they are stopped. Sort of like mechanical toys that have an on/off switch. There is just no in-between. Full tilt or stopped.
As I stop and pause for a few minutes to take a good look at a tree that has been around five times as long as I have, a Chickadee will land on my head and move about until it reaches the edge of my hat brim where it will swing over and hang upside down, staring me in the face. Again I will laugh as I think he is saying, "Got any seed?" Chickadees are just oblivious to any threat from humans and consider you just another thing to hang on while looking for something to eat.
The other day when I was out I stopped for a break and took a Snickers bar out of my pocket. I opened it and then set the unwrapped candy bar on the snow while I took off my gloves. While I was putting my gloves in my coat pocket a small screech owl swooped down and took a grab at my Snickers bar. I think he thought it was a mouse. I ended up with my candy bar as he dropped it almost immediately.
There is that urge to flop on your back and make a snow angel, but you quickly remember just how difficult it is to get back up on your snowshoes should you be foolish enough to try. There is no ground to push against. That is three feet below the surface. You have been there and don't ever want to go back.
You have learned to travel slowly. It is better to take a break every few steps than to work up a sweat. That will just make you wet and cold. No more than an average speed of one mile an hour. Any faster and it becomes work and you are trudging, you miss what there is to see, and you will not be enjoying being out on snowshoes.
If you are serious about using them, don't ever buy these metal frame pieces of crap that are two feet long and have some plastic canvas type of stuff for webbing. They are okay for yuppies to walk from their house down some snow covered sidewalk to their neighbors house but not for use in real snow. If you own a pair of those, throw them in your car trunk for an emergency situation in case you get stuck out in the middle of nowhere. You can then wedge them under your car tires in hopes they might supply a bit of traction. As something to put on your feet they are money down the drain.
A good snowshoe vs a piece of crap snowshoe will make walking in the winter enjoyable compared to a really stupid thing to be doing. A good snowshoe will shed the snow through the webbing when you pick it up rather than pick up the snow too. A good snowshoe will have a tail that drags on the ground as you walk so your shoes will stay going in a straight line. A good snowshoe for an average man is a 10X56 shoe. 10X46 for an average woman. Don't buy big snowshoes just because they look cool. If you have ever tried to walk in those big hooped Michigan style snowshoes you will know what I mean. You couldn't give me a set. Ten inches wide is more than enough, but at least forty six inches long with a curved up toe. Any longer than 56 inches and you will have a hard time turning about trees in the woods. Those 66 inches ones are great for open plains where you are on a straight line mission. And good bindings. Slip on binding are also slip off bindings, and have one slip off when you are walking on four feet of powder snow and your one leg is straight down into it up to your crotch while your other foot is still up on top in the snowshoe that didn't come off and you can get an idea of why slip on bindings are as worthless as these small metal framed yuppie snowshoes they sell at REI.
I'm at that age where I carry ski poles when I go out on my snowshoes. Helps me balance a bit better when traveling on hillsides and over fallen trees. they also make for a good push stick to help you get up if you sit down and take a break. But the best thing is you can use them to point something out to whoever you are traveling with instead of raising your big mitten up and jabbing it in some direction. That looks silly, but a ski pole looks cool as you point and say, "Steller's Jay".

Eat your heart out

There are just some things in this world you have to buy. Things you don't need but MUST own.
I ran across one of these the other day and I am so giddy about purchasing it still that I must share it with you.
So I'm in this store (The needle has been changed to protect the record). Sitting there on the shelf is this child's book. You know the ones, 12 pages each as thick as a dinner plate. The first book you read to you child when they are two or three years old. They can play with the book as you read because they can't bend the pages or rip them.
There is only one copy and the price had been slashed to 1/8th of what it had been priced at.
My friends will tell you I am not much of a reader but I do collect books of interest. This one I just had to have.










Now, did I buy one of the best purchases of 2011 already or what?

Props, not propellers

Brooke ~ "Tuckered Out"

I have decided to move my photography into another branch. My main body of work is nudes in landscapes, which I will continue to do most of the time. I have a branch that is rim lit studio work that entertains me during the cold winter months. I am seriously thinking of venturing into props. Up until now I have shied away from using props because they did not fit into either category I was interested in. But I am coming to the realization that props can be a category all their own where I use them not in the styles I have been shooting but create a whole new style around those props.
Sometime in the next day or two I shall do a little experimenting with a few props and see who salutes. Of course it will have to be me as the model (So Suffer) as I don't have one available at the moment. If I like what I am seeing I will be bringing a few of the props to southern California next month where I will embarrass Cheryl by making her use them.

______________________________

Brooke after enduring several hours of modeling for light painting in the Northrup King bldg. in Minneapolis.

No talking

Brooke ~ French Canyon

Just enjoy the image.

Welcome in 2011

Jolene

Question of the month:
Why, with all the brilliant scientists in the world can't we come up with a way to turn grass into milk?

____________________________

Word of the month:
Caducity Transitory; the state of being impermanent or perishable

____________________________

This month's person of interest:
Amateur French photographer, Eric Jean who has managed to take photography of the male figure to a wonderful new level.
An even better display of his art can be seen here.

____________________________

Censorship continues to worsen. In this latest publishing outrage another battle is lost.
If we are going to remove or change words in literature because someone finds them offensive, let's change all offensive words then and be done with it.
It amazes me that people think they live in a free society here in the U.S.
If this is what they claim our soldiers are dying for, they can quit dying anytime now because they have lost the war.

_____________________________

This just confirms that people are total morons. Where I live we have mountain lions (cougars) running all over the place, as do many states. The mentality of, "Kill it" is something you find in areas of the United States where people never got beyond third grade and have large things in the middle of their front yard covered by blue tarps, but don't remember what's under the tarp, or, they live in Minneapolis. Same thing.

Not talking snow today

Cheryl

"Squeeze me
Stomp me
Make me wine"

So said the grape.

____________________________

I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing about snow so I won't bring it up today.
Bloody white shit.
The Weather Service says we have only had 28 inches here. They certainly are not measuring it in my driveway.
Without snowshoes I sink better than waist deep in the yard. Can't walk, have to swim, and doesn't that look silly.
But I'm not bring up snow today.

____________________________

How about temperature?

	Current Conditions

Marcell, Minnesota

Updated: 6 min 31 sec ago

-33 °F Clear

Can't wait to see where it will be come morning. At least I won't have to go out and plow bloody snow. Oops!

Brick walls that can't spell

Cheryl

OK, we have a whole new year ahead of us and time to make things right. Let's start by getting rid of silly baby talk and now boring catch words.
"Viral" needs to go the way of the Dodo. We heard it way too many times last year. The sound of that word is not cool any longer. You just sound like someone who is a day late and a dollar short on being cool when you use it.
"Apps" needs to disappear. If you can't pronounce the whole word maybe you need to go back to school and learn how.
"Kiosk" needs to go. We got along fine when they were information counters. Making up new names that sound hip doesn't work.
2010 was not as bad a some years for garbage words, but it was not the best either.Seems Americans just are not happy with the English language and have a constant need to invent new words for old things. Most of them last about a year before everyone gets tired of hearing them and reverts back to English.
I'm afraid proper use of punctuation is lost for good however. Anything that you can text on should be outlawed immediately in an attempt to save what little knowledge people have in that area. If not there should be a built in spell checker that would not allow the message to be sent unless everything was spelled correctly and the proper punctuation was in place. Hey, now there would be a worth while contraption. Something that forces proper use of English before a message can be sent. Sort of like when your teacher kept handing you back the paper until you got it right. I'm for one of those "Applications" to be installed on every electronic piece of equipment sold in the U.S.

Good things that happened in 2010:
I met someone who I want to spend a whole lot of time photographing. I will leave it at that.
The majority of Americans have finally realized they elected an inexperienced, dunce to the White House. Why they took a new guy from the most corrupt state in the Union to be the leader of this country is still beyond me. Gullible people is all I can think of.
People are finally starting to fight back against TSA and other Government organizations. I only hope they continue and get stronger about it rather than throw up their hands and give up, which they will do because they are wimps who would rather complain than actually do something. You know, if everyone in the U.S. said, "We are not getting on a plane until TSA goes by-by, within three days TSA would fold up and be gone. That's all it would take. Three days. Three days of airlines with no passengers and TSA would disappear.
But I'm taking to a brick wall. The people have gotten bored listing to reason and are off looking for another cool, minority person to run for the next election.

Merry New Year

We say Merry Christmas, which always seemed a silly thing to say. So, Merry New Year too.

It is that time of year where I make the posters for the local ice fishing contest that is held in February. I am the official photographer for the contest and produce a large poster after the contest with most of the 150 people who had entered being shown on it. There are the fish houses, the silly hats, beer, the fish that are caught and weighed in before being released back into the lake, beer, food, beer.
I forgot about the contest when I made arrangements to go to southern California in February, but it turns out fine as I will (or should) get home the day before.



Oh, did I mention they like to drink beer?