Thursday, November 20, 2008

Sky Watch Friday #19

Sky Watch Friday has on it's own site. Please check out the site and link in if you wish to participate. There were 371 people last week with beautiful Sky photos. You can link in from my side bar or at the start of this post.

Sometimes you get the feeling something special is going to happen. I had a friendly sky as I drove home last Friday and as the Sun began to set you could feel that something was going to happen with that low cloud and the Western sky.
This all took place in 5 minutes and I tried to take a shot each minute as the Sun sank toward the horizon. I thought this hook cloud was so interesting, maybe a fisherman's promise.
The hook was burnt out but the sky was ablaze.
I was enjoying the show as I went down a hill into valley.
The bottom of the hill was reached and a flock of crows filled the sky. You could hear the crows talking and saying to each other let's head for a roost before dark comes creeping across the sky.
Just that quick the sun was gone and the darkness started to envelope the sky. That was the end of the photos but it was an exciting time as I had traveled through the beauty of the sunset. This is five minutes later and the darkness came soon behind.
Five minutes turned to ten and the sky turned to a that of a night which was quickly approaching.
The beauty of the sunset can readily be seen
it will be with us only for a shot time, not long.
I hope that it is always a show which is truly keen
so watch it with your heart filled with a song.
Travel around the net and see the other beautiful skies of the world.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Wednesday Potpourri # 5 and an Award

My Wednesday Potpourri will consist of shots that I have taken in my back yard over the Summer and Fall.

This is a dragonfly from two weeks ago. I was cutting the grass and it landed on my block for a rest. I never disturbed it as I took some shots. I tried to look up the type but was not successful. It had an unusual color with some red in the brown. Check out the little spider to the bottom right.
It had an unusual tail so I thought it was some type of a club tail. It was an Autumn Meadowhawk, Tom of Ohio Nature let me know.
Mr. and Mrs. Bunny grazed in my yard one day in the Summer.
This bunny was by the garden eating a dandelion. It is near my fish cleaning bench.
The final animal was my nemesis the Groundhog. I was lucky and they never broke through my fence this year. This was in the Fall and the tomatoes were done. I do hope you enjoyed my photo journey through the back yard.

I received this award from Chrissy's photo blog this past week. She does the Meme's that I participate in so we have gotten to enjoy each others sites. I think it is a neat award.
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate other blogs for this award (it said 10 but I don't think that quantity is as important as quality).
4. Add links to those blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs
6. Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool.
I am passing it on to the following cool blogs.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Snow, Snow, Go Away

I woke up this morning to 8" of snow on my car and truck. The driveway was well covered and I shoveled it off. It was still dark when I was ready to go to work but managed this shot of my house. I saw this Cardinal sitting out and enjoying the weather. It looks like a healthy bird.
I was able to capture the little bush in front of the house at noon.
Check out what I thought was an appropriate photo of a Christmas Tree Farm with the trees decorated on white.
The bench at work was well covered with snow.
The Canadian Geese seem to be bedded in for the night.
The Mallard Ducks and Canadian Geese seem to be enjoying a swim in the middle of a snow storm before bedding down.
We are supposed to get three more inches tonight with no end in sight. As I said to a friend today, it looks like we are heading for a White Thanksgiving. Wait a minute, that certainly doesn't sound right.

Monday, November 17, 2008

My World #5

This is the fifth posting for the My World meme . It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar,Sandy, Wren, Louise and myself. Last week there were 115 people showing their worlds to us. Won't you join, I want to see where you live. Come and see My World.

Today for My World I go West across the Main Street bridge and at the next red light at Route 43N I reach the Kent Free Library. This is an important part of my life for books and DVDs. The library was started in 1893 and the building was built in 1902 with a philanthropic gift of $11,500 from Andrew Carnegie (The founder of U S Steel). That portion of the Library still exist on the corner of Main and River Streets.
There was a major expansion two years ago and that can be seen to the right of the Carnegie wing with the front entrance. The taxpayers funded the expansion of the library.
I was a little artistic and took a photo up the clock tower.
This is looking back from the tower and the rectangular part is part of the first expansion of the library. The round tower and entrance is part of the second expansion.
The library even has a drive through feature for getting and returning books.
This is the parking lot and the entrance I always use.
The best feature of the library is that it is tied in by computer to a group of five libraries in the Portage County area. You can by computer request any book, book on tape, CD or DVD that is located in any of the other libraries in the area. They inform you when it has reached your library and you have five days to pick the item up. I normally have up to the fifteen reserve limit on request so I can get any item I want from the system. They even have recently released DVDs for your use. I hope you enjoyed this small part of Kent and a large part of my life. Most of the staff know me when I come into the building and I am there usually twice a week.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Today's Flower # 15

My friends Luiz, Denise and Pupo run the Today's Flowers Meme, check it out. Come and join with your flower photos. Sunday at 7GMT is the post time.



The flowers of the North have faded but we are getting a lot of color from the Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) This is a deciduous shrub from the Staff-Tree Family (Celastraceae).

This plant is so colorful in the Fall.

It is hard to miss as you drive down the street.

This plant and the closeness to the tree made this so special to me.

I hope you didn't mind the beauty of the Burning Bush with the bright red colored leaves for one week as we adjust the seasons.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Camera Critters #32

Camera Critters by Misty Dawn, go here to see who's participating.

I was going to a little pond to see if I could get a nice reflection water shot. I went up against the split rail fence and heard some leaves rustling. There were five Grey Squirrels just having a fun feast. The pond idea was gone and now it was Camera Critters only. You must adjust to what is happening for your camera. Sixty three photos and 8 minutes later I felt I had just had one neat Grey Squirrel show. It was hard to choose just eight for you to see. The squirrels put on their normal show with a lot of activity and back and forth can you see three in this shot?
They were posing on the tree in that down the tree pose.
Then a youngster decided that it should come to my area. I obliged by being quiet and snapping away.
He got even closer and gave me those 'Do you see me posing'.

I must admit I'm not sure what this pose says, unless it getting closer to nap time.
He even got closer and came and played on the fence right next to me.
I did find what all the excitement was about. The mighty Oak Tree was dropping its acorns and the squirrels were having a feast and storing them for the Winter. Click on the photo if you can't see the acorn.
Go visit some other critter sites today.