Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
the water’s fine!
Old cafe here.
Howdy, folks. ‘Afternoon, CG! Hope your weekend’s going well.
I’ve been back at the pond for a while now (after my hiatus) & just found the tag! Such a dummheit.
‘Course, as is my old habit, I’m checkin’ in just as I need to check out..
That’s a pretty amazing image up top. I won’t hazard a guess as to where (or whom) it’s from, though I probably could.
Hope to be back later & tip a few.
Hi WW! If you’d guessed Big Bend NP in SW Texas, you’d be right. CBtE took that last January.
How are you this weekend?
I’m doing all right, CG. Hope you’re the same!
Compliments to CBtE on that image. Looks like a fascinating place to be — such beautiful forms!
Alas, I truly must head out now — though I do love stalling (sez The Queen Of Extended Departures).
Bi for now.
Sorry I missed your drive-by but glad to see you, even if it’s after the fact.
Hope to see you again down below! (I mean, down below in the thread.)
Great shot! At first I thought it might be a very tiny JimF in the background, but now I see CBtE is the photographer.
how could I resist. Hi ID and I hope you are staying warm.
Awesome rock formations!
That’s Buckskin Gulch, the longest (13 miles) slot canyon in the world.
It looks like it could be difficult hiking, or are there relatively rock-free trails?
Almost all of it is rocky but some of the rocks are just cobbles while other parts are boulder-strewn. There also some holes that are full of water (and at certain times of year can be quite deep). The good news is that, other than a few pour offs, it’s basically flat.
Well it looks quite intriguing. I checked a couple of sites about it and found some more great pix and a detailed description of the entire route. Its also very far out there in remoteland too, but worth the trip, I’m sure.
While there’s nothing in the immediate area, it’s a very easy drive from either Kanab, UT or Page, AZ so I don’t think of it as remote. And there all kinds of great hikes in the area.
A completely unretouched image from inside one of the gorges at Karijini National Park. The red rock canyons are nearly pure iron ore. The waterholes are sacred to the indigenous people (and few of the large ones are considered homes to water dragon spirit ancestors – which you awake at your own peril), and visitors are asked to treat them with due respect.
Wow. This image is astounding, keres. Thank you.
What a gorgeous shot of a gorgeous place. And the park looks spectacular.
<blush>
Have I mentioned lately that I’m dylexic (it’s why I worship Dog).
It’s a fabulous park. Every inch of it holds some sort of wonderful thing, from: the birds to the grasses; the giant blood red termite mounds to the azure pools of cool water just 50 meters below the surrounding desert rim. I braved the dragon serpent’s wrath by swimming (quietly) several times.
Here’s a shot of what the rim looks like.
Lovely keres – thank you! Are all the red conical mounds termite habitat?
Are all the red conical mounds termite habitat?
Yep, and they are as hard as concrete.
Here’s one a bit more up close.
It’s just a tree by small rock pool above the rim, but it captures all the elements, especially the light and colors, so well.
One of Betty’s “cousins”, a Banded Blue-tongue Skink.
For some reason, in the Blotched Blue-tongues the body stripes got out of sync left to right, giving them a roughly harlequin pattern.
The reflection was so perfect I didn’t even realize it was upside down.
The photos remind me of the Colorado Plateau area.
I love red rock country, be it South Dekota’s red and white striped cliffs, Utah’s canyon lands, New Mexico’s mesas, or Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly, etc. It’s all beautiful. I’d live there if it we’re not so damn intemperate and generally removed from any vestiges of civilization. My days of “off the map” living are behind me, I’m afraid.
but I don’t think I can ever leave the woods. There’s nowhere, though, I’d rather go hike than southern utah/northern arizona/northern new mexico.
Yep, the four-corners region is fabulous. It’s one of the things that drew me to NM. It has a real “spiritual” (for lack of a better word) feel to me. If you’ve yet to get to Chaco Canyon (where both the Navajos and the Puebloan peoples believe their ancestors emerged onto this plane of existence), I suggest you put it on your list of things-to-see-in-this-life. The walk up to Pueblo Alto is a must.
Yep we’ve been to Chaco and have done the hike. It’s a wonderful place and I love that it’s enough out of the way that it isn’t overrun. It and Hovenweep are our favorite ruins sites.
I haven’t been to Hovenweep, what did you like about it? My second favorite ruin site is a toss-up between Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde, with Bandelier National Monument coming in third (although I haven’t seen it since the fire).
Hovenweep is way off anybody’s radar so you can have it pretty much to yourself and can really enjoy the ruins in great deal — which is good because the structures are remarkably beautiful and reveal a lot of about the aesthetic vision of the people who lived there — the stones are beautifullly fitted, there are round towers that are slightly squared, and one — my favorite — that incorporates and follows the shape of the rock it is build on.
Seconding ID — that is a great shot. CBtE has a really excellent eye. I love the way he framed the potholes.
g’day all
2″ of fresh powder on top of the remenants here combined, for some inexplicable reason, with fm’s snowfall and the nevada caucuses, and brought this video to mind…l humbly offer one of my favourite steely dan songs, done by the inimitable rickki lee jones: show biz kidz. [imbedding disabled]
enjoy
later
lTMF’sA
An enjoyable video. Its been a long time since I heard any Steely Dan. Thought I’d return the favor (embed disabled).
Hey FM, where’s the pictures of the snowmen/women?
Morning, Andi!
I’m wondering too.
TV showed lot’s of snow coming down in the south (and we have none…).
No snow here either but then it never snows when it’s really cold.
FM said he wouldn’t build one but he did say he’d take some pictures of the ones that got built. So I have just cause for my expectations.
I saw his slacking attitude in the comments 😉
Too cold for outdoor activities in your area?
Not too bad here (yet), we’re at 25, but headed for the teens tonight.
Oh I’ll bundle up and go — our high is going to be around 18 so it shouldn’t be too bad if I wait till alter in the morning. We just won’t go for as long as we usually do (and I can guarantee that not one of the dogs will complain).
Good morning! After all of the hype that caused people to empty the grocery store shelves, we got a half-inch of snow on the grassy areas and the roads were fine. It was actually quite nice to be out and about on the nearly empty roads.
I’m still betting there were still a bunch of accidents. People who aren’t used to icy/snowy roads always seem to be panic at the least hint.
After six winters here I’m inclined to give the locals some slack. You can be a good driver, but if they don’t salt or plow the roads you’re still not going to be able to manage all of the hills around here. I think they finally broke down and bought a salt truck, because I was stuck behind it for five miles last night on the interstate as it sprayed brine all over my windshield.
I lived for 8 years in Evansville where they basically got 1/2″ snow once or twice a winter and while I would cut them slack on the reason why they were horrible drivers (I think the city had one plow and a couple of salt trucks), that didn’t make it any safer to be out driving when it did snow.
Anyway, it’s nice to have snow in a place where it hardly ever happens just for the pleasure of seeing the kids so happy.
Everyone, young and old, was excited about the snow, and then pissed that the 2-4 inches turned into 1/2 inch.
I see that it’s 5 degrees in Cleveland with a refreshing 20mph breeze off of Lake Erie. Ah, the days….
Yep they had pictures on the news yesterday of kids out playing in the snow. To show you how thankful we are for ya’ll sending snow, we’ll send a few 105F temp days to ya’ll this summer. Enjoy! 🙂
I guess I ought to take advantage of the balmy weather we’re having now and take the dogs for a walk. Heck, it’s all the way up to 15.
See ya.
Enjoy the warm weather Andi and don’t get sun burned. 🙂
Morning Andi, Ask and SN.
Slept late today. No pictures Andi. I didn’t get out after going and getting batteries.
I need coffee!
Morning, FM – here, you can have a cup of my Kona. Snow still sticking around?
Thanks for the coffee SN. There’s just a tiny bit of snow still on the yards. No where near enough to build a snowman. Geeze I should have done it yesterday. 😉
Hay FM! I was hoping for photos of the snowman that you were to build with George.
Morning Boran.
Actually I had the idea of packing snow around George to make a snow dog, but I couldn’t get him to agree.
You need to convince him how cool he’ll look.
Nope I needed to convince George how cool he would have looked. He would have been the one getting the snow packed on him. 🙂
OK next snow, I’ll get pictures of a snowman/snowwoman. I promise. 🙂
My friends and I made a lewd snow woman one time when we had drunk some cheap tequila in high school. It was a work of art, as I recall.
Oh to have had digital cameras back then. 🙂
I ran across the old fashioned picture of that not too long ago. Me all glassy eyed and young with a bad perm…
I’d like to see some of your high school photos, FM.
I never had any taken. I was too tall and gawky. I was so uncoordinated that anytime someone tried to take a picture, I would trip over my own feet. 😛
I loved tall, geeky guys. Well, not in high school, but I was young and stupid back then. Now I think they’re impossibly hot. 🙂
Well unfortunately now I’m a tall, pot bellied, bad back kind of guy. Yep growing old does have its advantages – I think. 🙂
Yeah we need to be able to live our lives in reverse so we can make our youthful decisions with all the living behind us. 😉
Well, that was a quick walk! Did your nose hairs freeze?
before the walk. Back now and yes, my nose hairs and everything else froze. My legs still feel like blocks of ice. 🙁
Good morning all – brrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Morning ID.
We’re at 29 down here at the moment. I think our high today will be in the mid-40’s. Of course I’m sure it’s much colder up there.
I just looked and its 8F in the shade. I think Andi said it was considerably warmer at their place – well 15ish.
Yep I guess you have to take the warm weather when you can get it. 🙂
As long as I don’t need to go outside, all is ok! It is rather pretty with a cloudless sky and lots of interesting shadows patterning the street out front.
Today’s soooooo cold, I may have to wear pants. Of course, considering I’ll be working with power tools I should wear them instead of shorts anyway. Not that that usually stops me. Good thing I’ve very, very careful.
Hi. Hope everyone’s keeping warm & well.
Personally, I’m thankful for this cold front — since I’m currently in South Florida & not sweating my hair out. Temperature is about 65, with a moist breeze.
Stay off of messy roads if you can, dear people!
We just can’t seem to end up in the same place at the same time. 🙁
I know you are in Florida now but how are things going back north in the mountains?
Oh how I wish you could bring some of that wonderful Indian River citrus back north for all of us. I became addicted to it when I lived there and had mature trees in the yard. Enjoy the warm while you can. It was 2F at our house this morning.
This has to be one of the most beautiful collection of pictures…makes me so jealous of everyone’s travels. Can you help me out? I used to have a blog bookmarked where the writer was a guy named Chris…who did lots of hiking, wrote poetry, lived in N. Cal, had a raven on the front of the page, had these great stories about his dog…ring any bells?
chris clarke creek running north
lTMF’sA
thankyou thankyou thankyou!!!
Sadly, Zeke (the dog) died last year. But Chris has done several wonderful tribute posts that well worth reading.
Yeah, actually Zeke was one of the reasons I wanted to go back and take a look.
Isn’t this cool?
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/11/08/helix-wind-turbine-small-wind-gets-smart/
very cool! for some reason it reminds me of the movie The Abyss.
And off topic, but I get ‘Sloop John B’ in my head each time I see your user name (it’s a good thing despite the lyrics) 😀
It’s ok, I’ve been associated with worse.
Name comes from a time when my dad was on an extreme long distance sail, got caught in a white hurricane, survived with no mast, no rudder but one oar…got to shore where my mother greeted him. Suffice it to say they were pleased as punch to be alive and I was born 9 months to the day later.
an amazing story!!! thanks so much for sharing it.
I want one!
I’ve always liked the Savonious style of wind turbine, but this is by far the most elegant example of the design I’ve seen.
Enough said.
Yep you’re right. It’s another great Monday. 🙂