Sunday Stills (07-22-12 Up In the Sky)

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is to photograph things we see up in the sky. Around New Mexico, spotting a hot air balloon is a common occurence.

The clouds were unusually heavy on the mountaintops on this day and the moon was still visible in the day-time sky.

This contrail is straight up and down. I wasn't sure if I could get the photo because the sun was right there, but I think it came out pretty cool.

Everyone sees stars in the sky, but stars made of clouds? I don't know if this was caused by one plane playing or what, but it was very cool.

Here are two experimental planes out for a morning soar.

And lastly, it's always a bad thing when one sees smoke in the sky. This was from a recent fire in the bosque (little woods) down by the Rio Grande river and within city limits. It spread quickly, jumping the river and threatening to engulf houses but, fortunately, was put out before causing massive damage (like Colorado Springs) other than a few hundred acres of trees. On my way home from work, I drove under the smoke and it was very eerie, causing everything I saw to take on a golden hue for a few seconds.

For more Sunday Stills, please visit here. 

Friday Foto

Meeting the dogs...

Sunday Stills (07-15-12 Pick Two)

I am choosing Roads from 07-01-12 because I missed that challenge and Weather, because I took photographs while driving through a thunderstorm. This curvy little road is a steep downhill grade with cliffs on the right hand side. It's scary, especially when you come across a roadside cross or bent guardrails, where you know someone has had an accident or died.

Here are some pretty cool cloud formations

then the storm clouds moved in,

 

the heavens opened, and it poured.

Next thing I knew, the skies are clearing and I'm wondering if it even rained here.

 I do love this little country church and road.

Oh the crazy things you'll find on roads.

Port-a-potty on the go, anyone?

For more Sunday Stills, please visit here.

Friday Foto

Maybe they didn't have a level at the time??

A day well spent

The day started out with my son's car not starting. So, it's off to the store to buy a battery which, fortunately, fixed the problem. Whatever happened to $59 or $89 batteries? This one cost $119.00!

I've been carrying around an eyeglass prescription for several weeks, meaning to order a pair. Since my son was with me yesterday, I put him to the task of helping me select the right ones. I detest choosing glasses on my own. I know what I don't like, but I don't feel secure enough to pick them out without a second opinion. So, several hundred dollars later, I am now waiting on my sunglasses and clear lens glasses order. I decided to go far vision only on my sunglasses and mono-vision on the clear ones. I've never tried bifocals and I don't want to start.

Then, it's off to a gas station. Gas prices vary from 3.19 to 3.59 in a fifty mile radius. Thank goodness, my cars only take 10-12 gallons in a fill-up. The person before me at the gas pump rang up $90!

My mother was telling me she heard on the news about a little pizza place in town that was voted not only one of the city's finest, but also one of the best in the whole United States. I called my son and his girlfriend to meet us there. When my younger son and I arrived at the pizza place, we decided we had better make alternate plans. There were about twenty people lined up outside and the place wasn't even open yet. I guess other people heard about the top ratings too. So, I have a Groupon I purchased several months ago for Pizza 9 that was getting ready to expire. I called my son to meet us there. Then I realized the coupon said to call ahead. So I did and they told me the coupon had been used. WHAT? How, when I've never even been there before? So much for that! I will never buy any Living Social or Groupon coupons again. I've had several expire on me and now, this! Well, we decided to go ahead and eat there anyway since we'd made arrangements to meet up. But, when we got there, it's take-out only. See, I've never been there before! So, we decided to go across the street to Weck's, a breakfast and lunch only restaurant.

Yummy! My younger son and I split a taco salad. My older son and his girlfriend split a meal too. There was so much food and boy, was it good!

Afterwards, my son and I went cat shopping. Since Terra died, mice have moved into my garage. We stopped at a pet store where PACA, a rescue organization, was holding a kitty sale. They had four kittens: one was spoken for, one was a maybe, and two were available. It didn't take long for us to decide to buy them both. They have been spayed and neutered, micro-chipped, had their shots, and are confirmed healthy with blood tests. Without further ado, please meet

Ramona (Mona Lisa)


and Gerry (Geronimo). 
 

Ramona is so tiny! 

I really wanted a Japanese Bobtail for my next cat but they are very rare and expensive! Int the photo above, little Ramona looks like one, except for her tail curled around her feet. JBTs are the model cats for Hello Kitty and Maneki Neko, or waving cat, which is considered good luck in Asia. Oh well, maybe some day. Meanwhile, our new little kitties celebrate their three month birthday today. Happy birthday kitties, and welcome!

Sunday Stills (07-08-12 Winter Pictures)

For this week's Sunday Stills photo challenge, we may use archival photos, unless we can find fresh snow. ;)

Louise seems to like the snow, Thelma, not so much. See little Sophie at bottom right, only a month old.

Although beautiful, snow makes for treacherous driving conditions.

Skyy loves to frolic in the cold wet stuff.

Here's a younger Skyy in action. 

Snow can be so pretty and peaceful, and a reminder of work set aside.

On a winter's morning, I look outside my window and see...snow!

 

Snow reminds me of the Christmas season.

Here's Sandy surveying the foggy, snowy morning.

This is my backyard, a winter wonderland.

Here's fuzzy Yalla! after a roll in the snow.

For more Sunday Stills, please visit Ed's website.

Friday Foto

Here's to living on the edge...

Happy Fourth!

I hope everyone has a very happy Fourth of July!

Bowie on Springwatch

A British program, Springwatch, recently name checked 49 Bowie song titles in one television episode. The host, Chris Packham has been playing this game, unbeknownst to the other stars on the show, for several episodes now. On other shows, he mentions The Smiths and Manic Street Preachers song titles. He does this entirely ad lib, because the show is filmed live, so he has to have a good knowledge of the artist's catalog. He says Bowie is one of his favorite artists. Can you guess them all? See below the video for complete listing. Here is a link to the story.

 Chris' David Bowie references in order: 1. Changes 2. Sound and Vision 3. Cygnet Committee 4. Aladdin Sane 5. Watch That Man 6. Scary Monsters 7. Fantastic Voyage 8. Kooks 9. Be My Wife 10. The Prettiest Star 11. Subterraneans 12. Sweet Thing 13. Starman 14. Speed of Life 15. Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed 16. Future Legend 17. Fame 18. What in the World 19. Station to Station 20. Wild is the Wind 21. Heroes 22. Golden Years 23. An Occasional Dream 24. All the Young Dudes 25. Ziggy Stardust 26. The Width of a Circle 27. Young Americans 28. The Jean Genie 29. Rebel, Rebel 30. Moss Garden 31. Fashion 32. Up the Hill Backwards 33. Big Brother 34. Blackout 35. Drive in Saturday 36. Oh! You Pretty Things 37. After All 38. Somebody up there Likes me 39. Hang on to Yourself 40. It's No Game 41. Boys Keep Swinging 42. Life on Mars 43. Repetition 44. The Man Who Sold the World 45. 8 Line Poem 46. Space Oddity 47. Across the Universe 48. Cracked Actor 49. Diamond Dogs

Friday Foto

I spy a headless pigeon!!?!

With a little help from friends

A blogger friend, MiKael, of Rising Rainbow Arabians, is applying for grant money to help her ranch get through some health and economic hard times. Please vote for her ranch here.

Sunday Stills ( 6-24-12 Browns)

This week's Sunday Stills photo challenge is the color brown. I decided to go with a rather unusual stone wall I saw in Santa Fe.

And here's my alpaca herd, bedded down for the night. Louise is bay black, the baby, Sophie Rose is a shade redder than Louise and Thelma is a reddish brown.

And this one is for Ed, a brown horse, Yalla!

For more Sunday Stills, please visit here.

Friday Foto

Sunday Stills (6-17-12 Clouds)

Today's photo challenge is clouds. Ahhh, one of my favorite pastimes is looking at cloud formations, one of God's miracles.

One day, I watched in fascination as this multi-layered cloud

reformed into a UFO.

On this morning, the clouds completely covered the mountains with a white froth.

This particular morning, there were layers and layers of horizontal clouds

or do you prefer vertical layers?

How about an extraterrestrial handprint?

Add a little sunset and you get stunning shades of pinks

and oranges, because, after all, you can't have a spectacular sunset without clouds, can you?

Gosh, I could go on and on, but I'll just let others share their photos instead. Visit here for more Sunday Stills.