Crazy Jacks

Day 150



In celebration of Day 150 of this odyssey, I set off a really old pack of Crazy Jacks fireworks. Nothing was destroyed, although there was a smoldering patch of grass afterwards. Thanks to everyone who has been following along thus far. I hope to have some good stuff for you in the next 216 days.

Loose Screws

Day 149



These have sitting around on my desk forever. I think they go to a computer that is now in the basement being used by the kids. Glad I was able to get some use out of them.

Ka-Pow!

Day 148



This clematis plant in the backyard has been a fairly frequent subject of mine over the last couple of years. You may remember it from Day 102.

Magnet

Day 147



I think of this wooden refrigerator magnet as a Tiki statue, not unlike the one that caused so much trouble for the Bradys on their trip to Hawaii. I may be completely wrong about what this magnet is, but even so, magnet + macro lens = today's photo.

Snout

Day 146



This is the title character from Pig Pickin' 3: Triple Figures. I wish that this picture was scratch-n-sniff, because believe you me, this was a fine smelling pig. Even better than the smokey aroma was the taste. Best pig yet. Good one, Dave!

Bullock's

Day 145



I used to live in North Carolina, and one of the things I miss most is barbecue. My favorite restaurant at which to get said BBQ is Bullock's BBQ in Durham, NC. We managed to visit Bullock's on Saturday, and got family style - which is all you can eat BBQ, Brunswick Stew, fried chicken, hush puppies, french fries, green beans, and cole slaw. It was even better than I'd remembered, and I ate so much I needed a designated driver. Even so, it was only the second best BBQ I had this weekend. Stay tuned.

Duck Black (and Yellow)

Day 144



Four Roths from Illinois, one from Pennsylvania, and two from Maryland went to our nation's capitol today. On the edge of the little reflecting pond (the one outside the Capitol Building) we found a duck family. Being cool city ducks, they did not mind me getting really close for a photo-opp.

Seven Silver Platters

Day 143



Four of these DVD+R's contain an archive of several months of RAW files. The other three are blank, but I used them anyway since it is not the Week of Four. The funky green light is thanks to my trusty Mini Maglite, which I shined onto the scene for some ambiance. Never say I didn't give you ambiance.

Mega-Picks

Day 142



A funny thing happened on the way to taking my shot of seven for the PhotoChallenge.org challenge. I took the lid of the container of multi-colored toothpicks, and saw this. Sometimes, seven is not enough.

Concentric Sevens

Day 141



Good day, and welcome to Day 141. I took a walk around my kingdom this evening hunting for the number seven, when I saw this flower, which is the closest thing we have to yard art. I had considered shooting this back during Entropy Month, but I am glad that I waited, especially now that the Irises are in bloom behind it.

Good to be Back

Day 140



The Object PhotoChallenge continues, and the object du week is the number seven. The challenge is not eight, nor is it six (unless you then proceed to seven). Nine is right out. Anyway, I stole this idea from KCcad.

Phlight

Day 139



Sunday took us into Philly for celebrating the recent wedding of my cousin Bob. I took this shot while walking back to the car afterwards. In the spirit of the city, click here to see a better shot that my brother took on the same walk.

Non Chameleon

Day 138



We spent the weekend in PA, and my brother and I did a mini-photowalk at our old high school. Owen J. Roberts (the name of the school, not of my brother) has really been cleaned up since we attended there in the 1980's.

Croc Hunter

Day 137



I do know this is pretty stupid, but you try to take interesting pictures of some stupid red plastic shoes for now six days in a row, and see what you come up with.

Two Feet In a Yard

Day 136



The taking of this shot probably caused whatever neighbor who was looking out their window at the time to question their choice of neighborhoods. The subject and I were both laying in the grass, while I had a camera pointed at his feet. There goes the old property value.

Climbing The Stairway

Day 135



Shoe Week continues, and I'm learning that the "challenge" in PhotoChallenge is to find new and interesting ways to shoot the same subject, day after day. I had to rely on some PSE trickery for this shot, since we don't actually own this many red Crocs.

Croc Dog

Day 134



Shoe Week continues, and since the real owner of these Crocs was in bed, I drafted my erstwhile friend and assistant to be a shoe model. She was none to pleased to be involved in this project, but she went along with it anyway, because that is just what she does.

Croc Delight

Day 133



Though I did not use yesterday's photo here, today is the second day of the Shoe Week of the May PhotoChallenge. That means that the goal for this week is to take a shot of the same pair of shoes all week. As you can see, I chose my son's red crocs, based on the fact that they were around when I was taking the first shot.

Water Color

Day 132



My dad is in town for the yesterday's birthday party. His gift to my son was a fishing rod. The two of them, along with my daughter were out it the back yard practicing their casting. Though it has been raining a good bit, they did not catch anything.

Cake Trooper

Day 131



This is a Clone Trooper who is serving as a decoration on my son's birthday cake. Maybe not the most macho assignment a trooper can get, but it has to beat fighting droids or betraying Jedi.

Dr. J For President

Day 130



Another shot of food in the kitchen, taken in nearly the same spot as yesterday's, in case you are curious (though I can't imagine why you would be). Before you go congratulating me on making a healthy snack choice, you should know I used slices of this orange to festoon several pints of Blue Moon beer.

I Scream

Day 129




Probably the best thing to say about this shot is that it keeps the streak alive. As much as I have to try to have a photo a day, I have to try equally hard to not have a bowl of ice cream a day. This day I was successful in the former, but not so much in the latter.

Leaving Home

Day 128



If you remember way back to Day 115 of this photo-a-day jaunt, there was a bunch of unborn Praying Manti dreaming of the day when they could venture out into the world and do whatever it is that Praying Manti do. Well, today was the big day. Somewhere around 100 of these little guys hatched into what had previously been a butterfly habitat. They were all quite small - each one could stand on a dime (and perhaps turn on one too, I suppose).

Purple Petal Power

Day 127



I tried to take another car shot for the May Challenge. Really, I did. Nothing I tried was worthwhile, so instead I ventured into the backyard with the tripod and a spray bottle of water. This was the result.

Light Year

Day 126



The object for the second week of the May challenge is an automobile. I'm not much of a car guy (or Motor Head as they were called in the day), so I'm not sure how many car shots I'll do this week. But Lightning McQueen was still on my desk from Day 95, so I figured, why not?

Finish

Day 125



Congrats to Shelley on finishing her first marathon and turning 36 all in one weekend. Details here.

Cap Off

Day 124



This is the final beer shot for the beverage week of the May challenge. Notice how I never actually showed any beer in any of the shots. You can call that creativity, or maybe I just couldn't take a decent shot of actual beer.

Bottle of Suds

Day 123



"I think a man workin' outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds. That's only my opinion." - Andy Dufrense, The Shawshank Redemption

Screw Top

Day 122



A new month, and a new challenge from Trevor at photochallenge.org The May Challenge is to shoot a new object every week. For the first week, the object is: A Beverage. My beverage of choice (for the challenge and for life in general) is: Beer. Today's shot is looking down on a bottle of Lucky Kat from the fine folks at Magic Hat.

American Spirit

Day 121



Taking pictures of people is not a strength of mine, especially if I don't know the people. Since one of the main reasons I am doing this photo-a-day thing is to improve, it makes sense that I should work on stuff at which I am weak. When I was walking to work on my third day in NYC and took an accidental detour through Chinatown, I saw this scene. I figured it was worth a shot.

A River Runs Through It

Day 120



This is the view from my company's office in New York City. The foreground is New York, the background is New Jersey, and the Hudson River runs through it.

Three Lights

Day 119



After scrambling to nearly miss my train to New York City, working in an office for the first time in years, exploring a bit of the city and eating some really tasty pizza, and getting settled into my hotel, I realized the day was nearly done and I had yet to take a picture. There is not much worth seeing inside a hotel room, but this eerie urban scene was just outside my window.