Happy New Year.................................................................................

Hell Yeah

Am I ever ready for a three day weekend. Nothing planned. Maybe I'll go house hunting.

The President still has not called me and offered me the job. I am a little saddened by this as the economy is in such a odd state. It needs my help. If we do nothing about fuel prices and the continuing rise in the price of gas then the economy will fail to heal itself. We also need to understand that the job market is not going to get much better for a long long time. Companies have realized they can do without all the help they have shed over the last few years. If we want to put people back to work then we, as a nation, need to make a commitment to fixing the infrastructure of the United States. Roads, bridges, utility pipes, water pipes and so on are in dire shape. We could commit to fixing everyone of these issues over a ten year time span, there a lot to fix, and that would have a massive effect on unemployment.

Lastly for today. Unemployment, official numbers, is about 10%. That means there is 90% employment and that number is very good. We need to realize that every person can not have a job. That means we need to live within our means. That means companies should pay their employees a living wage and employees before stockholders.

Going to get my oil changed today and see about getting tires and rotors tomorrow morning. The truck is getting old and deserves some presents for the New Year.

President Obama I am waiting.

Steep Canyon Rangers and Steve Martin

Well spring is just around the corner. I have started getting seed catalogs in the mail. I think 2011 will be the year of the pepper.

My printer crapped out. Now I have another expense. UUUgggh.

Time to spend money on the truck. Oil change, tires, and rotors for the old boy. Got to keep it running for a another at least.

I need to upload pictures from my camera. Have three months worth on it right now. Who knows what treasures wait to be found.

My lease ends at the end of March. Time to begin the early search for a new place. Would like to find a house to rent. Really want to buy a home.

Wonder if I will get a raise next year? Not sure they are even giving them out.

Greetings

So unlike many travelers from the northeast I was able to make my way home before the blizzard hit New England. This is what greeted me in Raleigh. This is much better than being stuck in airport. Much better.

Christmas was very good. The family is doing quite well and it was good for all of us to be together. A short and rewarding gift/trip.

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas.

My mom and I both got Kindles. Now we can figure out how to use them together.

Got a great smelling body butter from Tammy's company, The Herbal Butterfly Essentials. It smells so good you may want to eat some. I see good things coming from this. 2011 emerging business of the year?

Nice snow here. It will all be gone by the weekend as temps slowly rise this week. 60 or so by Saturday.
Flooding the next mess here.

Have a wonderful Monday. 2010 is coming to a close.

Tammy & Willie

Happy Happy

Not our Mom & Dads Christmas song, but a great song it is.

The eve of Christmas eve. Off to the family and maybe some snow, I just don't know.
Face full of festive food, belly never full.
Wrapping paper around, gifts in hand. More food, I can not stand.
Family full of love, some full of fight.
Put them cookies out before midnite.

Be happy and glad for you are blessed.
You could be homeless, no place to rest.

Thank the pagans, or your lord.
That thing as the centerpiece is type of gourd.

Congrats

Congratulations to the Lady Huskies of Uconn. The win streak is a very amazing feat that you have accomplished. Do not listen to the naysayers who dismiss it and talk all kinds of trash about it. It is a landmark event in the world of sports.

I can not breathe out of my nose.

Do you have that Christmas spirit?

Can't wait to get home and have some of Mom's holiday treats.

Gotta run to the shower. Snoozed 3 times this morning.

Have a great day, my Christmas presents.

This is the band the Ritchie Blackmore has been playing with for many years now.

Did you get up and watch the moon last night. I did not. I decided to sleep instead. Actually forgot to turn the alarm on.

Spring is just around the corner. Can't you tell.

Still fighting off that cold. Of course everyone at work has a touch of it so it is a challenge.

Sending off the Xmas gifts today via UPS. HO HO HO.

Looks like I may have a white Christmas in CT., or maybe when I leave on Sunday.

Got to run. Toast and coffee is calling.

Hear N' Aid

Do you think Dio had much influence on the vocal stylings of the others here?

Off to get the last couple presents this morning, wrap this afternoon, mail via UPS at work tomorrow. Need to get to the stores before all the church folk flock to the stores after church.

Fighting off getting sick. It is on the verge but so far I have held it at bay.

I need a big bowl of chili.

Ok. Off and running. Want to beat the Christians to the store.

Have a heavy metal Sunday.

Madman

Well it's Friday. The countdown is on and the mad rush to mail packages is in full force. I will join that rush tomorrow.

Super foggy this morning, Temps reaching the 40's today.

Ten years of war and we are no better off than when we began. Stop this crap and bring home the soldiers. The people of this country are sick of it all. Spend that money here doing something meaningful.

Ok, I got nothing else. Sorry. Maybe I'll have something after work.

Let it snow

We may get a snow, ice and rain event tomorrow so the folks that run this place were kind enough to put this letter in our door.


                                                   It really is that time of the year again!
                                                            The snow is falling!

We know that during this time of year if ( and when) the snow ( and ice) falls, your travel can become treacherous. So, we want you to know what we're doing to help you be safe!

What we clear:    
                                                         
Around the mailboxes    
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Problem travel areas (i.e. hills)

Around clubhouses and fitness areas


What you need to know:

Clearing these areas is important to us, and it is important to a lot of people.
Labor to clear these areas may be delayed, be we assure you that as soon as labor is
available, we will get these areas cleaned.

Sidewalks and general parking areas are not going to be cleaned.

Please, please, please be careful. Ice is difficult to spot and you are
responsible for your own safety.


WE HAVE ICE MELT FOR
YOU IN OUR OFFICES!
PLEASE STOP BY AND
PICK SOME UP DURING
OFFICE HOURS!


Here is what I have to say. Fuck you assholes, I bet 90% of your residents would rather have you clean the sidewalks and the general parking areas. Those are areas that we all use everyday you stupid @#$%@%&>. Most of us do not use the fitness area or clubhouse.
I think we should all fall on the ice and sue the fuck out you since you really do not care for anything more than collecting rent.
Do you think you are not responsible for the parking area and sidewalks. Bet I could find several lawyers would love to sue before the blood stops flowing from the skull I split open on your icy sidewalk.

Hope you have coal in your stocking.

PEACE OUT..............................................

Parasol's for Peace

Back a few months ago when I went to that outdoor concert they had a bunch a cool things there.
One of the neat things was an event called Parasol's for Peace. You donated $10, more if you wanted, and you got to paint a parasol anyway you wanted. They put them on display, after they dried, on this big hut type thing made out of  branches. They were going to use these in an auction to raise money for a charity that furthered the cause of peace. There were lots of them. It was a pretty cool idea.

That is it for this morning.

Happy Tuesday. Stay warm.

Slip and Sliding

The kids north of here in Mount Airy, Grayson County, Va and other schools have been closed since last week Monday. Due to snow and ice and they will be closed again today. Ice has been the big problem and most of those areas have limited abilities in ice removal. Big hills and tiny country roads are a big problem when ice comes along.

So the local cable company and Time Warner are in a pissing match over the ABC tv contract for this area.
They may suspend broadcasting ABC on the cable system. Its blackmail. This seems to happen all the time.
The stations need to hold out across the country and force the price down. Ultimately time Warner would have to cave if enough broadcasters refused to pay the price increase. The cost of cable and internet is totally unrealistic. Lets us pick the channels we want.

Twelve days.

16 for the low tonight.

Manowar Nessun Dorma

To all those out there who dismiss heavy metal vocalists, please clean out the wax. . This dude can sing this quite well. Love to hear songs from unexpected vocalists/bands and so on. The joy of music is freakin' cool. How do people not like music.


So I have sold nothing at the gallery yet. Need to find another one someplace. Might as well make a trek over to Asheville and see what I can do/find over there. More gallery's may mean more exposure.

Rain all day here. Snow on the other side of the hills. Brutal cold coming in this week. A low of 14 is predicted one night this week.

Christmas is close. Are you done?

Hope your weekend has been peachy.

PEACE OUT.............................

Rocking your Friday

Wake up with Rammstein. These guys are from Germany. I have this album and it rocks quite a bit. No I do not understand any German.

Its Friday. Decent weather for the weekend. Looks like a cold front will be moving in on Monday with lows around 17. I want snow to go with the cold.

Christmas shopping will be finished tomorrow. Then wrap and mail it off.

I see the a-holes from the Westboro Church are going to protest at Elizabeth Edwards funeral. I am all about free speech, but these people are just plain ignorant. These folks are really a bunch of media seeking whores who have some odd God they believe in. We should send the address of their church to the Taliban. :)

Did you see the students riot in England? Triple college costs so they can not afford to go. Nice way for the government to control and shape the future by limiting education. I want to see the passion of those students here in the U.S.

Its getting hot in here

Wiki Wiki Wiki.. The cyber war is heating up. The companies who have caved to pressure from the U.S. government found themselves being hacked and shut down for periods of time yesterday. MasterCard, Visa and a few others were shut down at various times yesterday. What will today bring? I find this whole thing completely fascinating.

Where was all this outrage when Valerie Plame was outted as a spy by our own government.
While there is all this rhetoric saying Wikileaks has done all types of damage to the the U.S. and the world ultimately, you did not hear anywhere near as much when Valerie Plame was outted by Dick Cheney.

Cold the last few morning. 19 or 20 when I get up. Brrrr. May hit the low fifties this weekend before the next cold wave comes through. The 50's will seem like a heat wave. My skin is parched. Taking a moisturizer bath everyday to keep from drying up.

Busy at work. Have a bid due everyday for the rest of the year.

Picture of habenero peppers drying in the truck.

Where are you John?

30 years ago today John was killed. We could use some words of wisdom from you today. We are still a violent world. Sorry my brother. we did not listen.

Peace

66 years ago today the world began its major change and while the war was won by the right side one has to wonder if the governments of the world learned a god dam thing.

The world is all about power and control of its people. It seems we have learned nothing from war. If they control the people, they control the money.

Here is a list of the folks who got bailed out by the feds.
Nice list. Where are the little people?

http://bailout.propublica.org/list/simple

It's Gone

Well we got a little over 2 inches of snow Saturday, Now its all gone. Just warm enough yesterday to melt it all away. It was nice while it lasted. Really did not do much yesterday. A low key Sunday for sure.

Hope the Carta family enjoyed the Christmas party. My Saturday evening was spent watching Dexter on dvd. It is a really great show. Check it out if you have Netflix.

Need to take so aspirin. Have a nice little sinus headache this morning.

My nephew was mugged by three Mexicans at gunpoint on campus Friday night. He did not call the campus police. I told him he should since it may be happening to others on campus. Scared the crap out of him.

Have a happy Monday.

Picture from the Droid X of a sidestreet in downtown Greensboro.

Take it with a grain of salt

Hell yea, its snowing. If I had a girlfriend I would like to go out and have a quickie in the snow.

Went to the farmers market this morning and bought olive bread, eggs, farmers cheese (goat), purple and yellow cauliflower, and freshly ground coffee. I loveeeeeeeeee the smell of freshly roasted and freshly ground coffee. With my shitty sense of smell it is one of the things I can smell quite easily and I love it. Makes me happy.

Think I'll brew some coffee and go sit outside on my porchette, I call it that because it is so tiny, and enjoy the coffee in the snow.

Maybe I'll watch some dvd's of Dexter this afternoon and clean the apt. I saw the dust bunnies get into a fight last night. Figured that was a sign.

This has to be one of the coolest Xmas songs out there. Robert Earl Keene rocks.

Yea

It's Friday. Woo Hoo. Busy week at work and that will continue today. Lots of bids right now which is surprising for this time of year.

Looks like the President is going to cave on taxes. When is he going to switch and become a republican. Uggh. What next.

No plans for this weekend. Need to fins something to do. I can I can wrap up my Xmas shopping for the most part. What are your plans?

Seems the United States is putting lots of pressure on Wikileaks. If I was them I would dump more as soon as possible before they get shutdown. You know that is the aim here. Shut them down and make them look like they are not credible. The truth hurts and the gov't can not take it anymore.
What next.

Looks like winter may finally be here. Temps only in the 40's as highs for the next week.

That's about it for today. Time for a cup of coffee or two.

Silver Spring

Fantastic song written by Stevie Nicks to Lindsey Buckingham when he broke up with her in the 1970's. Listen to the lyrics closely. Think she felt a little pissed at him.

Well it seems Julian Assange is a marked man. If he gets caught want to be the United States tries to get him over here for a little visit with a jail cell.

Some crazy heavy rain last night. Snow flurries to the west. Ken may need a shovel.

Running late for a shower, again.

Xmas

Cool flash mob video.

Looks like I am going to be making a short trip home for Christmas.
Getting home at midnight on the 23rd and heading home on the 26th.
My grandmother is coming up from Florida.

Yesterday at lunch I went to the grocery store and got a sandwich at the deli and then picked up a couple things. I bought some toilet paper that according to the sign was on sale. $7.99 to $5.99. When it rang up it did so at $7.99. I told the cashier and they went and checked the price.
I was right, sort of. The sale had ended a couple days before. Instead of honoring the price, they gave it to me free. That is their policy. Now that is customer service.

Potential for a couple inches of rain today and bad/high winds. Mountains may get 2 - 4 inches of rain and winds up to 55 miles per hour.

Got to run. slept late today.

What is it good for?

Thanksgiving:  Boring

Friday: Boring. Did get some Xmas shopping done at a small local store.

Saturday: Boring. Did get a couple more things at a small local store.

Sunday: Boring. Cold this morning. Headache in the afternoon. Oh wait Wikileaks happened.

Wow Julian, you stirred up a shit storm this time. Tsk Tsk Tsk. Now the U.S. government may be really pissed at you. Please make sure you are hiding real well or you may end up going on a vacation in Cuba.
Wonder who is behind the denial of service?

Really I am quite glad to see these get posted. Not that I am surprised by anything I have seen, but I suspect many others will be. It really just confirms the sleazy nature of politics, politicians and governments around the world. Oh sure there will be embarrassing details and damaging news to come out of this and it will most likely drive many government decisions further into the recess of transparency.

If we acted more like a kind brother or sister instead of a bully we may find that thimgs would work much better for us the rest of the world.

Of course this will not happen as long as we continue to vote for the same fucking sleazebags time and time again.

FIGHT THE POWER.

Thanksgiving Prayer William S Burroughs

Steppenwolf Don't Step on the Grass Sam

Killer tune by a kick ass band. Enjoy.

They are full of s...

So the news story over the last week is about those stupid scans and pat downs at the airport. Yes I think they we have gone too far. Taking off your belt and shoes is also just plain dumb.

The thing is the same people who are raising their collective voices are not complaining that you have give a urine sample to get a job. That you have to take a test, an honesty test, to get a job. They are not complaining about the fact that we are putting cameras all over the country so everything we do is filmed in the name of security.They are not complaining that everything we do in our daily lives is monitored by somebody someplace and that information is stored for us against us in some way, harmful or not.

Doesn't it seem odd that most of the people making the most noise on this issue are the people who preach the politics of fear everyday and it is not the people on the left who are raising their concern..
Be careful about who is raising the issue because the hidden agenda behind may be worse than the product they are bitching about.

If they are concerned about the scanners and pat downs then they should be concerned about drug testing for a job, cameras everywhere you go, the use of your credit report to get a job and a whole host of other issues that invade our privacy on a daily basis. No issues with any of those items then shut the fuck and go get scanned and let them touch your junk.

We the sheeple of The United States of Paranoia must push back against all these intrusions as a whole, but we won't. We are being pushed down a path into the universe of George Orwell.

Over Again

It starts all over again. All least this will  be a short work week. Not sure how busy it will be.
The open house was moderately successful. Nowhere near what I had wanted it to be at all, but we did have departments from a decent distance come to the event. More from agencies away from Greensboro than close to here. Hard to figure.

Lovely weather weekend. Almost perfect in fact. Went to the gallery Saturday and she had a couple pictures on the main display right when you walk in. However she had not put the other pictures out yet. Ugghhhh.
Needless to say I did not leave anything for her to put out. A little disappointing. She is having an open house on Sunday December 12 from 1-4. You are all invited to attend.

Went grocery shopping Saturday night and bought a ham for Thanksgiving. They gave us a gift certificate at work to help with purchasing our holiday meal. Thank you.

Got my Mom some pottery for Christmas. Except for my niece and nephews I am going to try and get handmade items for everyone for Christmas. I think I am going to get my Dad a walking stick from the gallery. This guy carves these things and they a pretty darn nice. Since he likes to do some hiking I thought that might be a neat thing  to get him.

Really did nothing yesterday. Kind of just messed around all day.

Working on a budget so I will have some extra money when I start looking for a house to rent this coming spring.

Peace my friends.

Savannah College of Art and Design theater.

Working at home

Spent a little over two hours mounting pictures to frames last night. Have about 40 or 50 more I can bring to the gallery on Saturday. I really want to go down and see if I have sold anything. Figured I might as well bring some work with me and drop those off. Bulk up inventory for the holiday season.

Other than that it is all quiet at the home front. Going to start Christmas shopping this weekend. Want to get that done as soon as possible. Christmas is fine, standing in line at a store is not.

The leaves here are very good right now. Hopefully I can get some good pictures this weekend. They will not be so vibrant for much longer.

Turkey Day in a week............

Picture is of neon under an awning at an old theater in Savannah. Droid X shot.

Hump Day

Who knew Gwyneth could sing so well. Her first time singing live. Having Vince Gill as your backup is a nice little score.

Have to start getting the store ready for the open house on Friday. I expect it to be very busy. We are having free bbq so you had better stop by for free lunch.

Switched my main email from Road Runner to yankeepez@gmail last night. For some reason Road Runner has a block that does not allow all its emails to come through on the Droid X. Since the Droid is Google based that problem will go away.

Looke like a lovely weekend is on its way.

Humanoid Cartacus

While we were at Kellers Flea Market on Sunday morning I discovered a new flower that looks quite a lot like Mike. The Humanoid Cartacus is a very rare species of blooming flower that shows up in the flower gardens at flea markets throughout the southeast late in the fall.

One of the fun things we did was go to the Oyster Bar and have a bucket of steamed oysters and several Bloody Mary's. It was quite a good time and it is a good combination. We also got to see several zombies walking downtown along the river. Zombies, oysters, Bloody Mary's what more could a tourist want.

They say were supposed to be getting rain. Have not see any yet. It missed us yesterday. My plants would like some water from mother nature, today.

They are starting to have curfews at malls and other places around the area because they say the teens are not safe. They want to have a curfew in downtown Greensboro. The only problem is that all the trouble in downtown has been with adults over 21 with guns. Try and fix that problem first.

Have a Humanoid day.

Picture with the retro camera app on Droid X.

Peace Train

I had a great weekend. All too short as a weekend tends to be.

It was great seeing Mike and Tammy. Although it has been close to a year it seemed like yesterday. That is was is great about seeing friends that you have not seen in such a long time. The gap between visits closes up and things are like they always were. That is what it was like this weekend.

More to come. Pictures and things. Observations and views.

Have a great Monday.

Savannah

Off to Savannah after work today. Leaving work at noon so I should arrive in Savannah around 6 pm or so.
Autumn will be getting in this afternoon and Mike and Tammy will be arriving in the morning. Will be an excellent weekend of relaxation, exploring, getting caught up, and generally just having a good time.
Weather looks to be perfect. Not sure what we are going to do and that is the way I like it. No plans, just let things happen. Maybe we can get out to the beach for a stroll.

Outside of that been busy at work getting ready for the open house next Friday. Hopefully this goes as well as the grand re-opening. Could been a nice little pop for agency and retail business for the end of the year.

Have a great weekend my friends. Have to pack a few things, shave and get ready to head off to work.

Old tourist destination in the Florida Everglades.

Veterans Day

As much as we proclaim to be such a patriotic country one has to wonder why veterans day is not a national holiday to be celebrated like Memorial Day or the 4th of July. Why is it that the biggest way we pay tribute to the soldiers who helped the United States be the country it is today with such things as a sale on a refrigerator or some other mindless sale on a product we really do not need. These men and women have not sacrificed so much for corporations to have sales that are totally meaningless and in my opinion a shameful tribute to them.

Since the end of WWII the American people have become more disillusioned with war because the government has lied to us and the men and women of our armed force about the reason we are going to war and they still send thousands of to fight for things that quite often seem suspect at best.

Why do we not go to war in Africa where there has been genocide committed on its people by the corrupt and ruthless governments. Is it because the people are black, there is no oil or no American corporations have any real money invested in these struggling nations.

When we commit our boys and girls to war it needs to be for real threats to the nation, it needs to be for real humanitarian interests. We need to be told the truth. War is one of the most horrible things that we as a species does to our fellow man and the way it is used is completely disgusting. We send the poor, we send the uneducated, and we send the patriot. When they return the government turns it back with little to care after they come home. The government should be ashamed of itself.

We as a nation, who proclaims to be so great, should pay better tribute to its armed forces with a real holiday and not some hollow sale at your local retailer.

The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald

Thirty Five years ago today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Edmund_Fitzgerald

Time for a Change

The time change sucks. I do not like it being totally dark at 6 p.m. Why do we do this? I have never really understood the need for this. Have you?

This picture is one of the famous muffler man statues that dot the United States. There are many different variations of these roadside giants. They are a neat little find that many people look for and photograph as they travel across the country. I  have found a couple as I have traveled around. Need to find more.

When are there going to be more new American Pickers. I suspect the show has done much better in the ratings than was expected and they are shooting like crazy to get new shows in the can. With winter coming in Iowa I think anybody who lives in the south better keep an eye out for them. They may turn up in your hood.

Gotta run. Breakfast calls.

Shots

So the whirligig fest was not all that great Saturday. We had light rain a good portion of the way there so that prevented any shooting on the trip down. We did get to go to Vollis Simpson's field where he has his massive whirligigs and we got very lucky then as the sky broke and was quite blue and windy. Got a lot of great shots and got to see the them turning in the wind. Lots of pictures there and a few more stops on the way back. It was a good day though as I had not seen Jacob in a couple years so we had a good time all in all.

Yesterday I went out and got some shots of another roadside art seen called Shangri-La. Those also came out well as it was a clear blue sky. Some more decent shots after that and called it a great day.

Really did not do anything else yesterday.

Decent weekend, hope your was the same.

Savannah this coming weekend.

Vollis Simpson

Here is a little movie about Vollis Simpson and his Whirligigs.


Snow in the western mountains of NC. Some of the ski areas will be open this weekend. Below freezing the next two mornings.

Out for a day of shooting tomorrow with a buddy of mine from Waynesville.
Should get some nice shots. A day of Fading America shots.

Have a happy friday friends.

More of the same

Well now the elections are past. We can have more of the same gridlock that has been the Washington norm for years.

Time to get ready for the next few weekends. Roadtrips await. Whirligig fest this weekend and Savannah next weekend. Woo Hoo.

Very busy week at work. Crime pays me, every week.

Do it..........................

Please go out and vote for the Democrats today. We do not want any tea bags as our leaders. They are wet, soggy and end up in the garbage shortly after use.

It's Changing

Well the weather is going to be changing rapidly from this point on. They are saying there may be flurries in the mountains this week. Goodbye to wearing shorts for a few months.

Saturday I went to the gallery and got the prices all set and signed everything so hopefully the sales will start to roll in. This should be a good time to start as the holiday season approaches and money frees up just a little.

I went to the big farmers market yesterday and that season is just about at its end. There were only about a dozen farmers there and the pickings were slim. Mostly potato's, turnip and things of that nature. The only green I saw was peas and collards. Time to prep the fields for next year.

Not much else going on. Quiet weekend for the most part.

Have a happy Monday.

Mountain Dewd

One year ago today a bald evil man, who always hated me, fired me from my job.
Two months later I was living in the foothills of the mountains of North Carolina working for the competition.
Ha Ha Ha. Oh how fortunes have changed. While the company I work is rising to the top my ex employer is making the long slow journey to the bottom.

It has been a good year if I analyze things from where I sit today. Much happier in my new job. Work for and with people who appreciate what I bring to the table. I get to go the mountains on a regular basis, explore new areas of the United States and meet new people. I also have my photography being displayed in a gallery thanks to a dear friend from high school.

Of course I greatly miss the beach and most importantly my family and friends in Florida but in reality getting fired was a blessing. I absolutely hated my other job and was getting sick of the long hot summer and was looking for things to change.

So here I sit today in a new state, with a new job, art for sale, temp of 49 and my head in a better place.

Thank you John Noone for firing me. I won.

Robert Plant Jimmy Page No Quarter Live

This is a fanstatic dvd. Well worth buying.

Jack Booted Tea Party Thugs

This is what will happen if the asshole Tea Party gains any type of control.
Assholes in the first degree. Go the fuck away.


Bad storms in some areas around here last night. Nothing at my place, but tornados were in thr area.

Rain Rain

Have had a decent bit of rain between yesterday and last night. We need it as things have been fairly dry around here. Many leaves have been going from green to brown fairly quick, Hope this helps the color around here a little bit,

They are saying frost in some areas around here Saturday or Sunday morning. Time to prepare a couple plants for the indoor growing season.

Interesting how gas is going up right before the election. Guess the republicans needed to raise so money to pay for all the smear campaigns they are running.

Not much else going on. All basically quite.

Have a nice day.

The Beginning

Dropped off 40 matted 4 x6 prints, 5 4x 6 framed prints, 3 8 x10 pritns and one frame with 3 pictures at the Green Goat Gallery in Spencer on Saturday. Hopefully they will get put out this week, The gallery will inventory and price them this week. Would have had more but I ran out of mounting adhesive. So my project this week will be to finish them and bring them down this Saturday. At least that is the plan for now.

Ineresting how the leak from Wikileaks is not getting any real play in the media. Nice job of censorship being done by American media. There are many things in there that show why much of the world is losing respect for America and we as a nation do understand this, or maybe we just do not care.

Christmas is nine weeks away. Get shopping.

Blind Boy Chocolate and The Milk Shieks

These guys were one of the bands busking on the streets of Asheville during Belle Chere.
http://www.myspace.com/themilksheiks

Well I will be bringing pictures to the gallery tomorrow and my march to fame will now start.
After that Autumn and I are going to head down to
Charlotte to Ikea. I will get a bunch of picture frames as they usually have frames at a decent price.

I think we are going to a corn maze someplace in the area. Not sure where one is around here but I suspect there are a few in the area.

I know what an ant feels like when it is under a magnifying glass. When I come home the sun is low enough in the sky and hits a window of the building behind mine and the heat/reflection coming off it is so intense it is amazing. At its peak you can not stand in the spot where it is at its most intense.
Sorry Mr and Mrs Ant.

Full moon weekend. Are you going to howl.

Peace.  Practice good thoughts for the good of others.

Half Way

In a writing slump. My mind is like sludge and my posts have been weak lately. Must break this cycle.

Got my matting yesterday so the next few days will be spent mouting pictures do I can go to the gallery Saturday.

Follow up sinus doctor visit today. Expecting nothing to happen.

So much

So much to say and bitch about, but I'll complain about one thing.

Why is it that the media does not do its job when politicians put out ads that are complete and total fabrications about their opponents. If they lie in an ad to get elected they lie after they elected. Lying in an ad to get elected is a crime against democracy.

A while ago I bought a book called "Daily Om" by Madisyn Taylor. The book is an inspirational book with positive messages each day. It is a great book that I am trying to use to be a little less negative.

Here is a little piece from yesterday's  message.

"The universe wants to see you accomplish yours goals. No matter how long you have dallied or hesitated, it will always be there, ready to put its plan for you in motion at the first sign of your faith. Nurture your dreams but do not attempt to micromanage every detail along the way"

Good message to start your day.

Bring the Boys Home

I thought I would start the week off with this song I heard yesterday for the first time. It was written by General Johnson who passed away last week.

Good weekend, weather was perfect, leaves were good, more on that later.
I will say it seems that this coming weekend will most likley be it for much of the parkway leaf watching so get out now or you will have to wait until next year.

Roadtrip Saturday

If all goes as planned I hope to make tomorrow a nice long gas wasting roadtrip.
I think I am going to head towards Boone and do some shooting then hop on the parkway and head down towards the Linn Viaduct and capture the leaves in that area.

Depending on how it all goes I may head towards Mount Mitchell after that and see how it all goes.
Looks to be a long day of shooting, However it should be well worth it. The weather looks perfect and all signs are pointing to the Boone Asheville area being at peak colors.

Have a fantastic Friday.

Got Nothing

Really got nothing this morning. Do not feel like complaining about politics and all else seems quiet.

Congrats to the team of people who brought the miners out. That is the type of thing the world should be about.

Thunderstorms happening right now. Cooler weather to follow.

That's it. Done writing for now.

Happy Thursday.

Happy Hump Day

Tired

Had a headache last night and slept poorly. Hope today is not to busy at work.

Guess I will go to the mountains this weekend. The matting and backerboard are supposed to arrive this coming Monday. That's just a day short of two weeks from when I ordered them. All I ordered was white matting. Not sure why it is taking so long. They claimed most orders shipped within a day. Kind of messed up my plans for getting stuff in the gallery. I wanted to get stuff in there this weekend.

Hot the last few days. 85 yesterday and will be close to that today. Close to record breaking heat for this area. Then maybe a little rain the next few days.

I just heard about a movie, documentary, called "Budrus" about a town where Hamas, Fatah and Israelis work together to save a town from destruction. A true story and it seems to be very interesting. Something not covered by the mass media.

Off to shower and wake up.

Good Morning

Did you all have a good weekend? Mine was quite fine. The concert at Shakori Hills on Saturday was pretty cool. A great site for a show. Its out in the country a decent distance with some rolling hills and plenty of trees. Very nice area. Lots of great bands on four different stages. Mostly bluegrass or mellow rock music for the most part. Good size crowd with a great vibe. Lots of people of all ages. Lots of kids and they had plenty of events to keep the kids happy and busy. Very well run event and worth going to and seeing again.
Autumn had a great time. Excellent day.

Did not go to the mountains yesterday since from all reports I could find online are still saying the leaves are still mostly green.

Hopefully I will be able to bring some prints to the gallery Saturday and start making some money and get my work out there. Also gave some to Autumn to sell at a show down at Edisto this coming weekend.

What the hell is it with all the gay bashing in the news recently. Now you have that jack off who is running for governor of New York popping off. What a messed up world.

Happy a great Columbus day.

Happy Anniversary --- Sorry I forgot your Fucking Card

Yesterday marked the beginning of ten years of war in Afghanistan. What the fuck. Tens years and we have not been able to accomplish a darned thing. Think about it. Ten years. How can we not have been able to win this "war". We have been able to garner more hate for the United States. That's something the government should be proud of. Thousands dead, billions spent, more terrorists. Yup, sounds like something to be proud of as a nation. Of course most of us are totally disconnected from the war and could not care less about what is going on unless someone they know gets killed in the war.

I am sick of the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Fuck em. Let them be controlled by the Taliban and they can go back to being third world backwaters as the rest of the world progresses around them. Let the people of these countries rise up against their own governments if they want to join the rest of the world.

Have a hippy Friday.

Sleepy Time

Feel asleep at 9:30 last night. Nice long nights sleep.

They are building a volleyball court outside my apartment. Just what I asked for.

Gonna be a busy weekend. Autumn is coming tomorrow and we are going to a concert all day Saturday.
She has never been to anything like this. I will fun. Check it out. http://www.shakorihills.org/ Big time hippy type fest. The camera will be taking lots of shots. Maybe head to the mountains on Sunday.

Working on a big manufacturers day at work for mid November. Vendors and hopefully the people we sponsor for the hunting show on tv will be there also. Need to do something to kick up the sales a little more.

John Lennon's seventieth birthday is Saturday.

Peace.

The Prints

Although I would have loved to use the company Ken recommened for getting prints done there is no way I could afford to use them for now. I ended up getting my prints done with Shutterfly and the bought matting and backer board from Redi Mat. It cost me $225.00 to get that done. Down the road I will use a professional printer to get prints done. I just need to sell some prints to get some money generated.

Did you see this story about the toxic sludge that spilled from its holding lake. Killed a few folks. burned them. Just lovely.

Its only money

I wanted to print some pictures last night and ran into two problems. My black and white pictures are much darker than the photo and I also kept getting a green streak at the end of the photo. Not sure what that is all about. I really do need to step up and buy a real printer.

I was going to order prints from Shutterfly. I have 50 pictures I was going to order 5 prints of each until I saw I the cheapest I could get them was .69 each if I signed up for a yearly plan at $29. That would give me 30% off all Shutterfly prints for a year. Otherwise they are .99 each.. Guess I will cut back on the group for now. Can not afford to spend that kind of money. All that before I even get large prints mounted and framed.

Time to go. Have coffee, shower, toast and off to work.

Sleep

Well this weekend was the weekend for insomnia. Slept like total crap both Friday and Saturday night. Did not end up going to the mountains Saturday since I did not sleep that good and the fact that Ken said the leaves have not really started to change that much. Seemed pointless

The weather has changed quite a lot. In the upper 40's the last two mornings. Quite nice. The days in the low 70's.

Seems some of the pictures I took at the beach down at Autumn's have generated some interest from people she has shown them too. She asked me to print some for her to sell at an art show she is participating in on Edisto Beach. I am going to mat some and I am going to mat and frame some also.

Did you hear how the U.S. government secretly did syphilis and gonorrhea testing on citizens of Guatemalan citizens in the 1940's. What the fuck is that all about. How would anybody even deem anything like that to be acceptable? One has to wonder what other awful testing they have done to people without their knowledge.
Sick bastards.

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays for winning the American league east pennant for the second time in three years over the high payroll Yankees. Lets win the World Series.

TGIF

Thankfully its Friday. This has been a pretty good though. Nothing to complain about really.

Thanks for the picture reviews. I am going with those for the most part. I have one or two I am going to change out. But those are the ones basically. Now to get the large ones mounted, matted and framed.
The small one will get matted and put in those little sleeves you see them in at art shows.

Lots of rain this week and the temps dramatically colder. Upper 40's tomorrow morning. Going to head towards the mountains tomorrow and see if the leaves have changed at all. Not sure where I am heading. Depends on how I feel in the morning. Will also look at some leaf watch websites and see what they have to say.

Goodbye Rahm Emanuel, glad to see you go.

Post Four

Post Three

Gice me your thoughts here. I am going to order prints tonight. A wide variety in all three posts, I think.

Post Two