Lake Nevin after a Drought

Messing about with stitched photos. Click on the image and you can see it better. This is where I was mucking around (literally) looking for great blue heron foot prints this morning.

Union Endorsements

The Professional Porch Sitters Union, Local 1339 endorses the following candidates:

John McCain for Senator of Arizona
Sarah Palin for Governor of Alaska
Joe the Plumber for Flash in the Pan
George Bush for Most Likely to Obscuriterization
Dick Cheney for Waterboarding Team Captain
Mitch McConnell for somebodys fishing buddy
Anne Northup for St. Matthews block-watch chairwoman

and...

Barak Obama for President of the United States of America
Joe Biden for Vice President of the United States of America
John Yarmuth for Congress, 3rd Kentucky District

Feel free to print this out and take it with you to the polls on Tuesday.

Makes Me Wanna Pee More Creatively

This is cool but I heard that someone had worked out a way for an ink jet printer to build human organs. Instead of ink in the cartridges they put a slurry of living cells. The printer spits out a layer of cells and then they pass it over the same "page" again and build a new layer of cells on top of the first layer. Keep doing that while changing the cell pattern with each layer and apparently they can build a heart, or a kidney or whatever chittlin you need. Do you think meat vending machines are in our future?

Bag O Cameras

People that know me would probably find it surprising that I take time to promote something technological but I found something so cool I'm gonna. First...two little facts as way of providing back story: My favorite camera is the cheap plastic Holga, and, before I got my iPhone all I had was an old school rotary dial phone.
Since iPhone opened up their platform for the development of new "applications" I have spent a little time looking for things that would make my phone more useful. There's not much out there that has really tweaked my interest but I recently found one called CameraBag. It allows you to apply effects to the photos you take with the iPhone so they end up looking like they were taken with different style cameras. The top photo is of a zennias taken with the 1974 option. It gives you those tweaky saturated colors like old postcards. The second one is of a black oak I took with the Lomo feature. Those photos print out with a nice white border around a square image. Love that. And the bottom photo is of a maple I took with the Holga option. You get the vigneting at the corners and the dirty square image the Holga is famous for. In the actual application they call them Lolo and Helga as a cheap ass attempt to avoid trade mark infringement I suspect. You are still limited to the camera capabilities of the iPhone but like all tools you begin to learn what they do well and what they do poorly. The other camera options with the application are cinema, Ansel Adams, 1962, and infrared. If you have an iPhone and like taking pictures you should check it out. You can also apply any of these camera options to your existing photos. It cost me less than two cups of coffee. You'll probably see more photos on this blog soon. Having fun with it.

Walnut Revisited

Here she is again. If you go back to earlier posts you can see this walnut before she started shedding leaves. Isn't this sexy? Keep posted and I will give her to you bare. Just trunk and branches and stems. Naked. Save for the miscellaneous leaflet. Just enough to tease.

Haunts of Billy Goat Hill

In our neighborhood folk really dig Halloween. A number of the families that have lived here for generations have been employed in the surrounding cemeteries as grave diggers. As All Hallows Eve draws nearer I'll capture and post a few more. My personal favorite is the home to Timmy Texas. Timmy owns a hearse. And unless he has a storage shed somewhere his house must be absolutely jam full of decorations all but one month of the year when they all get trotted out into the yard. Timmy Texas also has what has become my favorite business card of all times. It is plain white and all that is on it is... "Timmy Texas - Services" That's it. No number, no address, no explanation of exactly what services. He's a man that cuts to the bone.

Perfect Sitting Weather

As founder of the Professional Porch Sitters Union International and in my capacity as janitor of PPSU Local 1339 I hearby declare today's weather "PERFECT" for porch sitting and invite "we the people" to take advantage of said weather.

Rockin Chill Ruby

All worked up and stressed. Or not.

Profusion of Greens

At the farmers market today there were greens options. Kale, collards, mustards, turnips...at almost every stand. A few cool nights, a bit of rain and they start popping. Fine by me. Carmen and I eat greens of some sort with nearly every meal. One of my favorite fall meals is greens and skillet fried corn fritters. Throw in Carmen's acorn squash and blackbean dish and... ummmm. This is today's haul from the Bardstown Rd. Farmers Market.

Here's our standard greens cooking method:

1. Wash the greens and rip them.
2. Start a pot to boil with a cup of stock and a glug of olive oil.
3. Add pepper flakes or a diced hot pepper.
4. Wash the ripped greens.
5. Wash the ripped greens. (This is not redundant.)
6. Transfer the dripping wet greens to the boiling pot and cover.
7. After greens wilt, stir and add a dash of cumin.
8. Reduce heat to simmer and let em go till the rest of dinner is ready.

Optional: Add a half teaspoon of bacon grease after 10 minutes.

Predicting Peak Color

I shot this photograph last year on November 11th. And that's my prediction for when the peak color is coming again this year. And to those people thinking that a dry summer will spoil all the color...that was the case last year too. Patience.

Morning at the Office

Top: Bernheim Visitor Center hiding in prairie dropseed.
Bottom: Looking up at a pecan.
(How do you say "pecan.")

Dirt Diggin Gay Bunny Boys

When you have a child your friends give you books that were important to them in their childhood. This is one of the illustrations from The Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes which Ali gave us this past weekend. She knows this book by heart. Thank you Ali. This book would probably have been one of those banned by Sarah Palin because these bunnies are gay. It says so right there in the book (and this photo.) Marriage, after all, is for one man and one woman. Not a couple of dirt diggin gay bunny boys. Life must me harder when your tolerance is down.

Gossip

We think this chicken is beginning to be a bad influence on Ruby. She pees her britches after talking to this chick.

Spider Logic in a Fog

While we chat about the pros and cons of bridges the spider builds them in a night.

Soft In

Fall is moving in with stealth this year. Quiet. Hidden behind campaign rhetoric and economic collapse it cares less.

Let's Play Louisville Guess Where

Okie Dokie all you Sterling fans. Be the first to name the cross streets for this location and win a valuable prize.

I'm Biased. So What?

Here's my transcript of the angry old man's debate rhetoric.

"My friend this...
My friend that...
My friend something or other...
My friend
My friend
That one... (points at Obama)
Sure, it'll be expensive...
My friend
My friend
My friend"

So, I guess I'm gonna vote against my friend and go with Obama.

Sarah Palin Bib

One of Erin's friends made Ruby a Sarah Palin bib. Thought I'd better get a picture of it before sour spit up milk covered the toothy grin and frameless glasses. By the way...I think Sarah Palin would make an AWESOME governor of Alaska. That way she could keep an eye on those pesky Russians for us. Not to mention those troublesome Canadians. I say VOTE PALIN for governor of Alaska in 2009.

Halloween on Billy Goat Hill

My neighborhood gets into Halloween in a creepy careless kind of way. I'll try and keep you posted on all the half ass decorations that pop up between now and the haunting hour. My favorite thing about this door decoration is the boney mix of patriotism and plastic crap. I especially like the taped on bones.

A Ruby Update

Out of onesies and into britches. Thank god. I hate onesies now. How humiliating.

An Invitation

I think Mark Twain said that whiskey was for drinkin and water was for fightin. We just tricked out a new room in our spare house for drinkin. Come on over. If you want we can fight too.

English Hornbeams (summer/fall)

What a difference a day makes.

On My Way to Work

One of the pleasures of working where I do is getting to see trees in different light each morning. In the weeks before the fall time change I arrive at work when the light is perfect. This walnut tree is a favorite.

A Sharpie Little Girl

Future tattoo artist.
This is not my photograph. It was sent my way.
This is not my little girl.
And... I only have ultra fine tip sharpies.

The OTHER Meltdown

If you listen to the politicians and the economists and the pundits these days you would come to the conclusion that the meltdown on Wall Street is a dangerous thing that we simply MUST address NOW or people will be eating soup and wearing sweaters more than they would care to under normal circumstances. There is agreement on the danger if not the details.

Wonder what the response will be when our ecological debt puts their panties in a wad? What will happen when water is the limiting resource and not money? When that day comes all bets are off. And that day is coming. Drink up boys and girls.