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Here and There…Now and Then |
Marking My Keys
I’ve been meaning to mark my keys for a while but I actually did it this evening. Each of the steel rods in this set have a different letter or number. They are placed on the surface to be marked and whacked with the metal hammer. I hate having keys and not knowing what lock they fit. You feel like you can never throw them away, just in case.
Mertensia virginica (Virginia Bluebells)
Cathy and I walked to Bluebell Island after work today. Unfortunately the rains last night raised the creek too high and we couldn’t get out onto it. I turned around when the water was up to the top of my thighs and I wasn’t even out in the fast water yet.
We enjoyed the flowers on the near bank, anyway, including bluebells (Mertensia virginica), Downy Yellow Violet (Viola pubescens), Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata), and Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides).
This photo was taken with the camera on the ground looking up at the bluebells, which accounts for the white sky.
Tap and Die
When I demonstrated simple machines to the second graders a week or so ago, they asked how screws are made. So, I got out my tap and die set to show them how threads can be cut, both on the outside of a screw or bolt and on the inside of a hole to receive it.
Water Heater
Yesterday I came home to a house with no hot water. Turns out there’s a leak in the tank. It’s not a big leak but with plumbing, a leak is a leak. Anyway, the water leaking out caused a short, blew the breaker. The plumber came today. This is the last I saw of the old water heater.
Chionodoxa lucilae
I thought I’d try some extreme close-up shots today. I can’t say they are award winning pictures but after all, the challenge was to post a picture a day, not to win any awards. Anyway, Chionodoxa, or glory-of-the-snow, is one of my favorite flowers.
Wood Carving
This is a wood carving on my mother-in-law’s living room wall.
Ripples
I admit that I have a thing for ripples in water. I can just sit and watch them. I don’t really know what it is about them that I like, but I think they are cool.
Rapid Oxidation of Wood
Also known as combustion. Fire, if you will. My mom went with me to the farm this afternoon and we pruned some plum trees, cutting out black-knot (see Project 365 Extras). We burned the cut branches and this is from that fire.
Flags at Half Staff
In honor of Frank Buckles flags were flown at half staff today. This one is at the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland. To all of our brave men and women in uniform, I thank you.
Hat With a Hat
When she was in graduate school, my mom made this bust of her classmate and friend, Hat (and Hat made a bust of my mom). Anyway, she was using it to display one of my grandmother’s old hats. So, this is Hat With a Hat.
Rain
That’s pretty much the word for the day. It rained all day, sometimes softly, sometimes quite hard. This is the brake light of the car in front of me (stopped at a light — we’re not moving, don’t worry), through the rain on my windscreen. Need to turn on der drizzleflippen.
Rushing Water
After the rain on Sunday the stream in the field next to my office was high. It was still high today (and the ground was very wet). I took quite a few pictures of moving water and like this one best.
Chandelier
We stopped at a lighting store in Rockville today. It was raining very hard and the light from this chandelier through the water soaked windscreen was beautiful. The chandelier is slowly turning, which made the lights move and sparkle.
18 Markers
This is a set of 18 colored markers that Dorothy got somewhere or other. I really like the bright colors.
Glass Anemone
This is a paper weight that we bought in Venice in 2000. It’s like a little sea anemone locked in glass.
Another Blank Wall
took a bunch of pictures of folks after church this morning but can’t pick one of those to post over all the others. I’ll post some of them in the Rock Creek Folk gallery from a few weeks ago. For here, I’ll post another picture in the “blank wall” series. It probably would be better if I put some wine in the glasses and got some color in the picture. Maybe next time.
’63 T-Bird
This 1963 Thunderbird is in the parking lot next to my mechanic. He doesn’t own it. It does need new brake lines at the very least but I understand that for $3,500 it can be yours.
Fire
I really enjoy watching flames and we had a nice fire in the fireplace this evening. What do you see in this image?
Barbed Wire
It’s gotten cold again and it was raining off and on today but I went out anyway. I took a few pictures of birds but Dorothy and I both like this better than the bird pictures, so this is today’s entry. There’s a picture of a woodpecker in Extras.
Reflections
I took pictures at the WCA basketball game today but didn’t get anything I’m anxious to share with the world. The pictures of the fans were better than those of the game but even that’s not saying much. So, here’s a picture of reflections. This is the rec. center at the corner of Key West and Gude Drive.