Day 274 - Rain and after

A brief thunder storm rolled through late this afternoon. Then the sun came out again, making for some nice shots through my office window.

Day 273 - Maple leaf and seeds

Leaves around here are beginning to drop from the trees, but have not yet changed color. This photo is of our from front walk. More of the oak leaves and acorns have fallen, but the leaves just turn brown. I have added a leaf watch gadget to my sidebar and will update it weekly to follow the changing colors.

Day 272 - Yellow crane

In my travels today I spotted this crane parked in Frederick. These kinds of things fascinate me and it is yellow fitting Karin's theme for the week. WO Grubb is a company specializing in heavy steel erection. The main boom (below) was on a second truck, and a jib (not pictured) was on another trailer. The main boom has a height of almost 200 ft. and a lift capacity of 550 tons. The jib can extend the height another 240 feet. A smaller crane (right in 3rd photo) was also parked with this monster. I don't know if this is going to be used in Frederick or was just passing through, but I will keep an eye out for it in action.

Day 271 - Religious insect

Late this afternoon I found this creature saying his prayers (for another insect to come close I suspect) on the siding of our house. It is unusual to see one in plain view. Also, my DSL is working again, so I will visit more of you than I did last night.

Day 270 - connection problem

I am connected on slooow speed for a few days. There should be 4 green lights on my DSL modem (the 2 that are on tell me the computer is ok). Verizon support says there is a problem and the central office will fix it some time in the next 72 hours.

Day 269 - Yellow lily (and Photoshop)

Our other lilies quit blooming earlier in the summer heat, but this one just kept on blooming. I don't usually do much more than an occasional crop or brightness/contrast adjustment. But I decided this photo is a good subject for alteration. First cropping, then adjust brightness and contrast to deepen the yellow, finally sharpen to bring out the texture of the blooms.

Then I messed with the color on this one.

Day 268 - Yellow light

The street light on the corner near our house is under a tree and gives off a yellow light.

Day 267 - Yellow sign, left behind

While Marianne was getting her hair done (very nicely, by the way), I noticed this yellow sign a few stores down from the salon. This store has sold different brands over the years, but is empty now. And as a bonus picture, a look across the parking lot shortly after sunset.

Day 266 - Did you ever ...

... look a hummingbird in the eye? Today Marianne's hummingbird returned over and over to the flowers on our patio, took a sip of nectar and then would dart to the patio door for a peek inside. Marianne called me every time she spotted the little feathered friend and we each took over 100 shots. See her blog for another view.

Day 265 - Fences

A view through the gate beside our house and the spider web on the gate.

Our neighbor's gate and fence.

Day 264 - Tall shadow

I liked the angle of the sun when I went out to get the paper this moring, so I got a picture of me, the mailbox and paperbox. Around back the sun made the yard and field look like this.

Day 263 - Big problem, expensive solution

You won't find many political statements here, but I have to add my comment to the BIG news of the day. President Bush, with Bernanke, Paulson and Cox at his side, announced a plan for the federal government to intervene in the economic mess that has erupted on Wall Street. What ever you think about the big companies that are failing, they are also taking a lot of our money with them. Even if we are not directly invested in mortgage-backed securities, our retirement plans very well may be invested in some of these financial instruments. Let's hope the Congress and the administration can also address some of the high-risk ways that investment companies use our money.

Photos of our TV during broadcast on Washington channel 7.

Day 262 - Farm weapons (big shots!)

Pumpkin cannon

Fall fun and games has returned to area farms. The two major activities are shooting things (not animals) and getting lost. As I was on my way to a local orchard to get some apples and cider I passed Winterbrook Farms. They have setup their pumpkin and apple cannons with an array of targets. For a small fee you can stop and shoot at theses targets. And the corn maze is for anyone wanting a long walk in tall corn, with lots of dead ends and loop backs. Last year the theme was pirates (remember the Black Pearl?); this year the theme is treasure chest. There are several other mazes in Maryland and Virginia. The maze at Winterbrook is done by Maze Play, a company that provides mazes at farms across the country. Check out their web site or Google "corn maze" to find one near you.

Targets

Second boat target

Apple cannon (yellow on right)

Day 261 - Early morning light

Water drops on the fence (click on photo to enlarge)
Sunrise

Day 260 - Deer in the corn

It's a nice cool day here in Maryland and the critters are active. Since we remodeled our family room, Marianne can watch the back yard out of one corner of her eye while checking everyone's blogs. Today, as I was quietly reading the paper, she yells "DEER" and points out the sight pictured above. We both proceeded to take photos of these beautiful creatures as they munched on the weeds along the farmer's corn. In years past, we occasionally saw deer in the field, but not near our house. Below, mother and daughter check out our yard for more appetizing food.

The young buck is nibbling just a few feet away.

Mom says its time to leave,

but daughter wants one more bite before disappearing into the corn.

Day 259 - Big and little

When I picked up these acorns yesterday, my thought was to title the picture "and baby makes three". After checking Karin's theme for this week, I rethought the title. Both our oaks have begun dropping loads of acorns (see yesterday's post). The squirrels should not be hungry this winter.

Day 258 - Fall is coming

The leaves and acorns are falling and soon I will be raking!

Day 257 - Swirls and curls

Marianne found these vases online last year when we remodeled our family room. I love the swirls and curls in their design.

Day 256 - Peaceful pug

This little pug has graced different areas of our house for many years. He now resides in my office beside the sofa. I moved him to the hearth (his former home) for this photo op. Marianne had a real pug long before she found me.

Day 255 - Satisfying

We had a couple of Omaha steaks left in the freezer and together with the twice baked potatoes that Marianne made (with a little broccoli) made for a very satisfying meal. Steaks were cooked on our new George Foreman grill.

Day 254 - Bird watcher

Marianne's hummingbird came around for a late afternoon snack and I happened to be nearby with my camera. Buster also noticed and went to the patio door to get a closer look. He watched quietly while the bird sampled every bloom on the flower. Below is a closer look at the little hummer.

Day 253 - A peaceful day

Marianne had a regularly scheduled check with her Doc today (she got a thumbs up!). After her checkup we headed for Baker Park in Frederick with cameras in tow. The lake there is always a peaceful place to sit and watch the ducks, or walk around. Today we did both. Water has always been peaceful to me. The creek that runs along side the lake also provides another peaceful interlude.

We then went downtown to one of our favorite places for dinner on the patio (beside same creek). Spending time with Marianne is at the top of my list of favorite peaceful things to do!

Day 252 - Red leaves

This red coleus caught the afternoon sun and my eye.

Day 251 - Verbena last gasp

Even after our hot, dry August our hanging verbena still gives us a few blooms.

Day 250 - Hanna was here

Hanna passed through Maryland/DC/Virginia today, leaving some flooding, power outages, road closures and accidents. For us, Hanna was a steady rain starting about 9am and ending about 4pm. I took the picture above of our front yard about 1:30 (see Marianne's post for the back). We were on the western edge of the storm with little wind damage in Frederick. I also found an interesting USGS water watch site that provides maps with water flow at monitoring sites around the US. They put up a link to show the effect of Hanna on streams and rivers in her path. Our rain was just over 4 inches for the day.