Day 182 - Carnival time

If July start is here, it's carnival time in our area. The local fire and rescue is a volunteer effort and carnival week raises a significant portion of the funds to support the organizations. There are one or more carnivals every week from late May to early August in Frederick County. Most are run by fire and rescue services of the various towns, along with a few other organizations (Lions, school) joining in the fun. Today, I just took a few photos from outside. We'll probably go back later in the week and spend a few bucks to support our local heroes. There will also be a fireworks show later in the week (Frederick City has dibs on the 4-th).

Day 181 - Late sun on the wheat field

Just a beautiful late afternoon in rural Frederick County.

Day 180 - Cats in waiting

As I started to go upstairs this evening, I was greeted by two wide-eyed cats peering at me. I turned around and got my Kodak camera and took this shot. With their eyes so wide open, I was surprised at the lack of "red-eye".

Day 179 - And the rain came

The rain from the storm clouds I posted for Sky Watch Friday passed by us, but today we got our share of water (Karin, I just can't quite get with the theme schedule).

Day 178 - Watering the lawn

We have an inground sprinkler system that we did not need until a couple of weeks ago (lots of rain in April and May). Some spots in the yard were looking too dry, so today I checked the system (and took a few water shots). I found a few problems so I will be calling the service people tomorrow. The one above is working fine.

Day 177 - Wheat harvest

Today, the wheat harvest began in the field behind us. The first clue is a roar that keeps getting louder and louder. With camera in hand, I went to investigate. This machine separates the grain from the chaff, leaving straw and a cloud of dust. Last year, they cut the wheat green and baled it for fodder.

Day 176 - View from Marianne's bench

After finishing the border on our side garden, I took a few shots (posted on my other blog) and sat down on Marianne's bench to enjoy the view and the pleasant late afternoon.

Day 175 - Rear window view at dusk

This photo was taken at 9:13 PM during a thunder storm. I was trying to capture some of the lightning in the distant clouds. I set my camera on a tripod at the window with no lights in the room and took 11 photos, but did not capture any of the lightning strikes.

Day 174 - Hot and sweaty work

Today, it got back to our normal high 80's and humid. After lunch I went out to finish replacing the old plastic garden border with new granite blocks. I also got expanded the garden area by about a foot, so there was grass to remove before placing the blocks. I did the small area above the heat pump several weeks ago. I need a few more blocks to finish and then tackle the snow on the mountain (light green plant) that is about to devour the lily.

Day 173 - Gold tipped roof

One of the victorian era houses in Frederick.

Day 172 - Critters around

The critters were in abundance at our house today. I spotted our front-yard squirrel near the car and went into the garage to get a shot through the garage door windows. He obliged by lying still for a few moments. The birds have been busy chirping, bathing and flying about. This robin was about to take a bath. The hawks came soaring by, but all I got was a blurry glimpse through the trees as one flapped his wings to gain altitude. See Marianne's post for the bigger visitor!

Mean while, Buster snoozed the day away.

Day 171 - Early morning shadows

A cool, sunny end to spring and nice shadows in the early morning.

Day 170 - White hot!

What is it you ask? . . .

When Marianne wants to take indoor pictures at night, we get out the trusty photoflood that I bought years ago to use with film that just did not like incandescent light. (Neither of us has taken the time to learn to use the white balance settings on our cameras.)

And after being on a minute or two, this light and reflector gets very hot!

Day 169 - Hot off the grill

My youngest sent me a Grill Bucket for Father's Day. Tonight I used the butt rub and bar-b-que sauce on a chicken breast (cooked in on the George Foreman grill). The butt rub has chipotle in addition to other spices. The bar-b-que sauce is a standard vinegar/tomato type sauce. The result was more of a tang flavor, rather than HOT, HOT, HOT. I enjoyed it along with Marianne's "crash hot" potatoes. (She was having the other half her Bonefish Grill trout that she saved from Sunday.)

Day 168 - Gazing at reflections

Karen's "hot" theme just wasn't working around here today, so I took a picture of the sky, tree, house and me using the reflection from the gazing globe by the deck (no visitor this time!).

Day 167 - Deer in the wheat

My post "Remembering Dad" contained pictures from the past. However, I did take a few yesterday and this one is to keep my streak going. When I walked around the house to finishing mowing the lawn, this little guy was peering at me near the fence. I ran back inside, grabbed my camera and returned to take some pics of him. He was by then nearing the woods on the other side of the field, with only head and ears above the wheat.

Day 167 - Remembering Dad

Dad - age 91, a few months before he died

My Dad was a quiet person with a lot of interests, Family, church, gardening, science and photography. His profession was physics professor and he remained active with the college in retirement as professor emeritus (which gave him a good seat at my eldest daughter's graduation.) Dad's interest in photography began before I was born and I don't remember family events without him having a camera in his hands until near the end of Mom's life. He left a lot of slides, albums and rolls of negatives, which I hope to digitize.

Dad and my eldest at her graduation

Dad, Mom and me, 1987 (photo by Marianne)

Dad taking a picture

Dad's photographic legacy

Day 166 - Gazing globes and visitor

After a late afternoon rain, we both went out to take a few pictures in the waning light. We have two gazing globes in the flower beds next to the house and deck that provide interesting reflections. These shots were taken with flash. It wasn't until I looked at the results on my computer that I realized there was a creature on top of the globe shown above. The blue one below is my favorite.

Day 165 - Clematis update

In April, I posted a sequence of our Clematis growing up the light. This week it has been in full bloom. Thought you might like to see it now.

Day 164 - Marianne shoots a moth

It lives! More photos and full story here.

Day 163 - Late sun and shadows

Two views from the same spot as yesterday at 8 PM - no clouds, low sun angle with bright spots and shadows.

Day 162 - Storm passing by

We had another hot day, but around 4 PM the thunderstorms started coming. With some rain, the temperature dropped from 97 to 72 in Frederick. A little after 7 PM this one passed by to the south of us with distant thunder and lightning.

Day 161 - Stopping for a drink

While finishing up work on the flower beds in back of the house, this little butterfly flitted around me to the hanging basket. I went inside, grabbed my camera, and it was still flitting from bloom to bloom. The white spot on he wing looks like an elephant to me.

Day 160 - Looking up at going up

Gas in our part of the world has stayed below the $4.00 mark, even at the stations that like to stay 10 cents ahead of the rest. Today when I was out, a number of stations were over $4.00, but not where I usually buy gas.

Day 159 - A horse's "coat of many colors"

In recognition of the possibility of Big Brown winning the Triple Crown, I bring you another colorful horse that stands along US 15 near Lucketts, Va.

Day 158 - Flowers above

I finished pressure washing and sealing the deck before the rain storms a couple of days ago. We added three hanging baskets yesterday. Marianne will be posting more photos of the flowers. And here is the view from above.

Day 157 - Up on the roof

Everedy Square and Shab Row is an old section of Frederick that was restored about 30 years ago and became home to small businesses, speciality shops, antique stores and restaurants. Everedy Square was once a manufacturing plant for kitchen utensils. Shab Row once housed the artisans who serviced stagecoaches that traveled the National Pike (now US 40) that ran through Frederick. Marianne and I were sitting on a bench across from this currently vacant Shab Row building when I looked up and saw that the roof needs another restoration. See her blog for more pictures.

Day 156 - Storm clouds at sunset

We had some severe weather pass through here this afternoon, with lightning, high winds and almost an inch of rain at our house. There was more damage in the DC area and south and east of DC with trees down and many power outages. I went out after dinner to look up and got rain drops in my eyes. Then at 8:30 I tried again and got these shots, looking to the southeast. I did see some lightning in the dark, distant clouds, but the sun shining through the clouds created a nice effect.