Since I managed to figure out a way to stuff my lens adapter and lens filters in my camera case, it’s much easier now to use my polarizing lens when using my camera. That means it is much easier to get decent pictures of clouds. Still have issues if the sun is too close to the clouds I’m trying to get a picture of, but if I stay away from the sun, it’s generally okay.

Took this particular picture Tuesday night before leaving work.

Anyway, I was out of town over the weekend for my grandmother’s birthday. Also, I have been busy working on a client’s website. Worked on it all last week. Last Friday, I had to get the weekend posts written, so you’d have fresh new content–such as it was–each day I was gone. Will be busy this week with my client’s website. So, that’s why you haven’t seen much of me on your blogs this week or the last! But, I’ll be back to commenting on your blogs as soon as I finish this client’s site.

In the meantime, enjoy some photos.

I call this one the “Angry Sun.”

The sun has been working hard these past few decades to keep us warmer and warmer, then Al Gore turned around and took credit for the sun’s hard work on behalf of mankind.

So, the sun is pretty ticked right now.

Thus, the sun is teaching us a lesson by cooling down a bit.

But, alas, now Al Gore just calls it climate change and says mankind is still responsible.

The poor sun gets no respect.

Little Too looking out the window. Maybe she would like to go outside?

I’d write more, but, um, what? Don’t know. Out of ideas right now. Just look at the chihuahua. See the chihuahua? You are getting sleepy. You don’t need to see her ID. These are not the droids you are looking for. Move along. Move along.

Lame, I know. If there had been bricks around, I would have titled it, “Silly Rabbit, Bricks are for Kids.” Still lame, but would rhyme.

So, anyway, there you go. Rabbit. Tree bark peeling off the tree. You add the two together and see what you come up with.

What is Stone Saturday?

Well, it’s a day when you roll with the stones and rock on!

Rules are simple. Just post a picture of stones, rocks, whatever. Has to be on a Saturday, thus “Stone Saturday.” Then, tag some of your blogging friends!

I tag:

Deborah
Michelle (let’s see some vintage stones)
Pete
Speedcat
Zelda a.k.a. JD (she’ll take pictures of stones so you won’t have to, unless you’ve been tagged too)

Maybe it’s not vintage. I really don’t know how old it is.

Anyway…

Way back when I was in high school, I always wanted my own chalk holder. Why? Well, my motto was “semper paratus.” I had a multitude of tools in my backpack. I had a little unit that was a stapler, a staple remover and a whole punch. It had other tools as well. I also had a folding pair of scissors. Pens and pencils, of course. And other stuff. But, I was missing my own chalk holder.

I never did get one before graduation.

But, years later, thanks to the magic that is eBay, I finally got my very own chalk holder. Yay!

This was a few years ago. I still haven’t used it. I don’t even have a blackboard.

But, at least I am prepared with a chalk holder.

Not to worry. It was just a DDOS attack. (See “Ongoing Denial-of-Service Attack” on the Twitter status page.)

Don’t panic. Twitter will be back soon enough. Remember to breathe. Just breathe. Grab a paper sack if you need to.

Facebook came under attack too. Few people noticed because Facebook is slow and bloated anyway.

It was a dark and stormy night, and things only got worse from there.

The place was old Manhattan. Not New York, but Manhattan, West Virginia.

The time was the turn of the 20th century.

The bar was empty, except for Billy.

“Hand me that spanner,” said Billy.

The bar was empty, except for Billy and Joe.

“Hear you go,” replied Jim, as he handed the tool to Billy.

The bar was empty, except for Billy, Joe and Jim.

“Do you hear something?” asked Joe.

“It’s just the wind,” said Billy.

“Sounds like someone talking,” said Joe.

“It’s nothing,” replied Billy. “Hand me the electric drill.”

Joe obliged, handing the yet-to-be invented tool to Billy.

“There it is again,” said Joe.

“What?” asked Jim.

“The voice. It’s talking about us,” said Joe.

“I don’t hear anything,” said Jim.

“Neither do I,” said Billy.

“It’s quiet now,” said Joe. “But it’s definitely a voice.”

Billy continued his work, while Jim scoffed at Joe.

“There it is again!” exclaimed Joe.

“You’re mad,” said Jim. “You need to see a shrink when we get back.”

“You don’t hear that?” asked Jim.

Billy pressed on, hard at work, tangled in wires, tooling around with a machine that didn’t seem to belong in the early 20th century.

Jim sneered at Joe. “You’re imagining things.”

“No,” said Joe. “Didn’t you hear it? It said Billy was working, tangled in wires, which he is. It said that you sneered at me, which you did.”

“I don’t hear nothing,” said Jim.

“Can you hear me?” asked Joe.

“Yes!” said Jim. “I’m standing right here!”

“Not you!” replied Joe. “The voice. I was talking to the voice.” He paused. “Can you hear me?”

Yes.

“There!” exclaimed Joe. “Did you hear that? The voice answered!”

Jim just turned away, waving Joe off with a flip of his hand.

“Who are you?” asked Joe.

Does it matter?

“Why are you talking about us?”

I’m telling your story.

“Our story?”

Yes, your story. I’m writing all about what happened to you on this fateful night.

“Tonight?”

Yes.

“What’s going to happen to us?” asked Joe.

I can’t tell you.

“Are we going to die?”

Two of you are. Well, no. Sorry. I can’t tell you. It’s going to be quite a tale.

“We’re going to die? How? When?” asked Joe. “Can we stop it? What can we do?”

Billy and Jim continued work on the machine. Joe decided he should jump in and help as well.

“I didn’t decide that,” said Joe.

So, Joe decided to jump in and help finish the repairs on the machine.

“Nah, I haven’t decided that yet. Is using the machine what gets two of us killed?”

Joe decided to stop talking to himself and pitch in to help Billy and Jim with the machine.

“Why do you keep pushing me toward fixing it? Will fixing it save us and get us away from danger, or will it take us to the danger?” asked Joe.

After a long hesitation, Joe decided to help Jim and Billy repair the machine.

“You flipped Jim and Billy this time. Why? Is there some significance to that? Did you move Jim closer to me because we’re the two that are going to die? What’s going to happen?”

Since Joe wasn’t helping repair the machine, Billy and Jim decided that, when it was time to go, they would leave Joe behind.

“They’re leaving me behind? Does that mean they’re going to die?”

Meanwhile, Jim snuck up behind Joe, carrying a heavy metal pipe, planning to hit him in the head, possibly killing him, just to get him to shut up.

Quickly, Joe spun around.

“Hey, Jim’s not there! You were trying to trick me!”

Suddenly, the machine roared to life.

“It’s fixed!” exclaimed Billy.

“We can go home!” exclaimed Jim.

“Wait!” exclaimed Joe. “Should I let them go? Will they die if I let them go? What if I break the machine? Or, is trapping us here what results in two of us dying? Oh, what should I do?”

To be continued…

…by Speedcat!

The bad story meme is like a never-ending story. Or, maybe someone will end it. Who knows? Let’s see how far it goes. Anyway, so what you do is write your part of the story and then tag someone else to finish the next part. I’ve tagged Speedy!

A sky beetle says what?

What?

A sky beetle says what?

What?

A sky beetle says what?

Um, hello?

So thus ends the dialogue with the sky beetle. We take the time to thank the sky beetle for deep thoughts on a busy Tuesday. Thank you, sky beetle. Thank you for sharing your wisdom of the ages. Please come again.

What?

There’s almost no fooling Deborah.

She guessed that the “Lesions of Followers” image was of lesions on a brown leaf.

She was mostly right.

They were actually pink lesions on a green leaf.

I used Photoshop to adjust the green to make it a skin tone color. So, it could have been lesions on a palm or sole, but, nope, Deborah still recognized it as a leaf.

So, Deborah wins the envy of her fellow blog reader. Congratulations, Deborah, Michelle now envies you.