Walking Stick

I had found this cool stick on a Hocking Hills hike way back, oh, 6 or 7 years ago when Barbara and I were just friends. It had a cool knot so I decided to keep it and make it into a walking stick for myself. So, I am carving a "self-portrait" using the knot as my mouth. Then I have to fill a few, no, a lot of cracks in with wood filler, sand and stain and then do some embellishing on it such as some studs, leathers pieces, rubber end cap and a few National Park plates that I have for it. May take awhile, but an "end result" photo will eventually be posted.

09-30-11

Welcome Home

This was our first full day back home from Yellowstone. We entered Ohio late last night with rain. wind, cold and falling leaves. Falling leaves?? Already?  (Sigh) These are my trees in the back yard. They all had leaves on them when we left!

09-29-11

The Lone Dot

I love stuff like this; the bright blue with a stark contrasting lone white dot, along with the intense shadowing! Just makes me feel good to look at it. This was a curb at some roadside rest we had stopped at. I was waiting in the van for Barbara, looked down and saw it, grabbed my camera and there ya go!

Couldn't think of any other name for it. Any suggestions?

09-28-11

Indiana Farm Scape

An Indiana Farm Scape. I loved the way the cloud's perspectives drew my attention to the distant farm.

09-27-11

Illinois Landscape

This was taken on our way home from Yellowstone. It is a view of the Illinois landscape as we shot through the state. It was an awesome "cloud" day!

09-26-11

The Badlands

The Badlands is full of rugged mountains, mesas and gullies all with a variety of textures produced by volcanos, rain, rivers, wind and sun. I particularly liked this "elephant skin" ridge in the foreground.

09-25-11

Red and Green

This is the edge of a pool of run-off from one of the many hot springs that are found in Yellowstone. I found the contrast of the "soon to be overtaken" clump of grass and the reddish water to be interesting.

09-24-11

Old Faithful Raven

Ravens were everywhere at Yellowstone, even at Old Faithful. Right after it spewed, several ravens swooped in and flew around it. Not sure why, but they are very cool birds.

09-23-11

A Yellowstone Bull Elk

The Bull Elk were in full rut (mating) while we were in Yellowstone. It was awesome to hear them bugle all day long. Even more so at night when we were settling down to sleep. THIS is probably the best wildlife photo I could have ever dreamed of taking. What a magnificent animal!

09-22-11

Mammoth Falls "Crystal Tree"

This is a photo of a small twig that fell into the hot springs at Mammoth Falls in Yellowstone National Park. It is actually underwater and has been collecting the lime and other minerals that come up out of the boiling ground. 

09-21-11

Mid-Day Moon

While on a hike in "Grizzly Bear Country", we stopped at a small lake to look for animal tracks. The lake was very beautiful, but I found this simplistic design with basic elements to be even more captivating. Thats the moon above the top branch.

09-20-11

Old Snaggly Tree

At a pull off on the way through the north pass into Yellowstone we stopped for a break. I found this snaggly, rock-hugging tree. We were always amazed at where mountain trees would take root and manage to grow. Survival.

09-19-11

South Dakota Sunflowers

Sunflowers. Acres and acres and acres of sunflowers. It was truly a beautiful site to see. If they look a bit blurry, it's because I snapped the photo while Barbara was cruising along at 75 mph.

09-18-11

Illinois Farm Land

When you're heading to Yellowstone for vacation, you don't have time to stop and smell the roses. Thankfully we did make time to stop at roadside rests. This was a pretty farm setting behind such a stop, over in Illinois.

09-17-11

Indiana Sky Portal

After work, we headed out on vacation to Yellowstone National Park. In route, I snapped this photo of a cool sky in Indiana. Made me think of some kind of portal, thus the title.

09-16-11

Ace Is The Place!

I know. Kind of weird, huh? This is the cupola of the new Ace Hardware Store in Sunbury. Not sure what else to say about it.

I will tell you that this is the last photo that I'll  be posting for the next couple of weeks. I'll be on vacation and will only have limited internet access at the best. Definitely not enough to upload and post photos. BUT.... I WILL be taking photos each day and keeping track, so in a couple of weeks I'll be playing "catch up" here on Project 365.  See ya soon!

09-15-11

OSU Memorial

A lot of love and thought was put into this Roadside Memorial for an Ohio State Buckeye fan. A very colorful display and even a couple of solar powered night lights for evening viewing. I didn't walk over to see if there was a name on there or not. I put the passing motorist in this photo to try and capture the idea that even in death, life rolls on by.

09-14-11

Bright Silo, Country Living

Another beautiful, warm, sunny day. Came across this bright white silo and barn. To me, this just reeks of country living. 

09-13-11

Bark: New Growth Bark

This tree was lying as horizontal as a tree could lie, seemingly completely uprooted.  Yet there, at the very center of it's length, was what looked like new life growing out and reaching upward. It's hard to imagine, if left alone, what this might look like years from now.

09-12-11

A Sign of Fall

Behind my house and along the creek, Fall is slowly creeping up on me. <SIGH>

09-11-11

Market Egg Plants

Lots of color at the Mount Vernon Farmer's Market this morning. I found these purple egg plants to be pretty enough for a photo.  :-)

09-10-11

Bark: Slithering Bark

Remember the post a couple photos back of the tree bark that emulated the leaves? I found the same type of tree on a walk along the creek, only this one had fallen across the trail. It reminded me right away of a big boa constrictor slithering through the woods. Not the I've ever actually SEEN a boa constrictor slithering through the woods, but if I had I am sure it would have looked like this. Sort of. Kind of. Maybe.

09-09-11

Bang Bricks

This is a close up section of the garage at Bang, Ohio's "Haunted Mansion". VERY COOL place and worth another trip back to poke around some. Thanks Sharon R.!

09-08-11

Rainy Day Silo

Rainy day today. The negative side of rain is lack of contrast not only in the sky but on the subject matter. The plus side of rain is that it seems to intensify the colors, especially blacks. I found this black silo peaking out from behind a nice red barn.

09-07-11

Bark: Leaf Pattern Bark

On again, off again sunshine today. Mostly off. As a continuation of my "Bark Series", I took a photo of this tree. I like the way that the bark seems to emulate the pattern of the leaves.

09-06-11

Wet Weather Toad

Another wet day today and another walk out back. Found this little toad deep under a canopy of limbs. I took several photos of him but this one really captured his natural camouflage. 

09-05-11

Deep Wood Flower

Wet day today. I walked out back and down along Alum Creek to find this bright splash of yellow in an otherwise pretty dark woods. This is a beautiful color!

09-04-11

Windowed Oil Lamps

Oil lamps that were sitting on the window ledge of a Lancaster antique store. I think it was called Shoe Factory Antiques. Hint: The basement held the more interesting stuff. Lots of real cool junk!

09-03-11

Bark: Wild Wood Flowers

Still shooting photos for my self-imposed "Bark" subject. I like this one as it has such wonderful contrasting colors and textures. I think I should have taken the aperture down just a wee bit more to get better depth of field. Or perhaps I was just standing too close to the subject. It's all a learning lesson.  :-)

09-02-11

Soy Bean Silos

I found these silos to be striking against the beautiful blue sky that we had today.  I am also realizing that silos such as these are disappearing from the farm scene. It seems that most farms are updating to the shorter, stouter metal dryer bins. Not a drop of personality in those things.  :-(

09-01-11