Good morning everyone,
Enjoy!
On The Road – SkyBluePink – Buddhas on WalkaboutPost + Comments (18)
Becoming One with Azalea – 1
On The Road – SkyBluePink – Buddhas on Walkabout
Alain Chamot began writing at Balloon Juice in 2015. He was a valued author and member of our community. Alain passed away on April 14, 2020.
Alain is dearly missed.
On The Road – J R in WV – Spring in the WV Woods, right outside the house
Good morning everyone,
Let’s get this week started well!
These were taken in February and March this spring, yes spring started last Feb when the first Wood Frog eggs were laid in our newly rebuilt tiny pond right outside the front door. These are the earliest frogs to wake up from winter hibernation around here, and are really shy, so I have no photos of them so far. They’re medium sized, brown and when stretched out floating on the pond surface about 4 or 5 inches long.
I’m sure multiple frogs laid these eggs over several nights, and there is one more egg mass that sank deeper into the pond, which is nearly 18 inches deep in the center. Those eggs will hatch later on since it’s colder down there. There are also some ferns and flowers in this set of photos.
All photos this time taken with a Panasonic Lumix FZ-1000 camera with a fixed Leica Vario-Elmarit 9.1-146 mm lens, 35 mm equivilent is 25-400mm so pretty long effectively.
On The Road – J R in WV – Spring in the WV Woods, right outside the housePost + Comments (22)
Outside the front door in SW WVaFebruary 2, 2020
This is the first frog egg mass laid in the newly rebuilt pond of last August. We were thrilled to hear the Wood Frogs chirping and splishing in the pond back in early February, it wasn’t until we heard that music again after years without that we realized how much we missed the frogs and toads outside the front door.
When the weather is good (not too cold, not too hot, not too many bugs) we leave the front door open to hear the froggy action while surfing the innertubes and snarking on Balloon Juice. There is a second egg mass deeper in the water, and I think they have all hatched as there appear to be hundreds of tiny tadpoles swimming near the surface of the pond in the sunshine.
Help the USPS
Folks,
The Post Office is in deep need of funds and the Feds under Trump are not playing nice. We could end up without mail in just a month or two.
Many folks are helping out by buying stamps and postcards. I just bought my Christmas card postage for the next two years as well as some “Forever” international stamps. And some “extra ounce” stamps to cover those situations.
Cost: $100 and some change. The value of my investment: priceless
If you can spare a little scratch, they can use a cash injection! Please pass along.
On The Road – Albatrossity – Springtime in Flyover Country
Good morning everyone,
Have a great day and weekend; the alternatives are worse.
Here’s the next installment of images from the spring of social distancing in flyover country. We are now under a state-wide stay-home order starting on Monday March 30. There are two cases (so far) of COVID-19 in my home town, and apparently one of them was likely to be community transmission (the other was a professor who had been teaching a Study Abroad class in London). We can still go out and watch and photograph birds and landscapes, however, so that is what i plan to do. It is remarkable how other vexations can just disappear when you are trying to coax a bird into the right spot for a photograph!
On The Road – Albatrossity – Springtime in Flyover CountryPost + Comments (27)
Near Alma KSMarch 19, 2020
When this part of the state was settled, there were no trees which could be used to build fenceposts. There were plenty of limestone rocks in the recently plowed fields, however. So the early settlers learned how to build dry-stone walls, separating fields and pastures from each other. Most of those were eventually replaced by barbed wire fences and imported fenceposts, but some relics still remain. Here’s one, with a winter Flint Hills pasture behind it.
On The Road – Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!) – Guanacos and chulengos in Torres del Paine, La Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena
Good morning all,
Another highlight of our trip to Chile late last year was taking the “Ruta del Fin del Mundo” the “Road to the end of the World” and going to Tierra del Fuego and Torres del Pane National Park in Patagonia. (Note: the name Paine is pronounced “Pie-nay” not “Pain” by Chileans)
Today I’m sharing a few of the pictures of the hour we spent standing among a herd of guanacos. We were actually looking for a puma and our guide Rafa and one member of our group got a brief look at one going over a ridge away from us but I didn’t see it. However, the scenery was spectacular and I’ll share some of that soon, but for today it’s the guanacos and ther wonderful babies, which are called chulengos For me they were the scene stealers.and we were within a hundred feet of them and they were all around us!
Patagonia, La Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica ChilenaDecember 3, 2020
“Ruta del Fin del Mundo”
the “Road to the end of the World”
On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Salvation Mountain & Slab City
Further south from Bombay beach and a few miles east of the Salton Sea’s shore is Salvation Mountain and Slab City. During WW2 this was a Marine training base, and after the war the land was given to the State of California. The State really hasn’t done much with the land except remove the old buildings leaving Slabs(hence Slab City). Folk have just kind of squatted on the land, formed a community and even built stuff. Salvation Mountain was built by Leonard Knight as his tribute to the Sinner’s Prayer. It was built with adobe and straw and covered in latex paint. You can climb Salvation Mountain by following the Yellow Brick Road up to the top. Further east of Salvation Mountain is Slab City, it features a preforming venue(The Range), a library and various art project. The area is home to both folk who drive their RV’s there for the winter as well as a hearty group of permanent residents that live in mostly rundown trailers.
On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Salvation Mountain & Slab CityPost + Comments (15)
Slab City, CAFebruary 9, 2020
Wide view of Salvation Mountain you can the God’s mailbox at the right.
On The Road – BigJimSlade – Getting Out For a Hike
Good morning all,
Another Tuesday, another day to be thankful for breath and good cheer.
Submitted March 6, in the beforetime.
Hello fellow Juicers,
Consider this part of the “On the daily walks” series. We are lucky enough to live near a handful of trails, so we only had to drive a few minutes to start this hike (but the drive cut out about 900 feet of elevation). This is in the Pacific Palisades area of the Santa Monica Mountains. Oh, regarding my nym (from the not-exactly-a-classic Kentucky Fried Movie), my real name is Mike, but I came up with that nym in a fit of divine, sarcastic inspiration while getting frustrated at having to come up with yet another username.
For the camera geeks, I’m using an Olympus O-MD E-M1, this time with their cheap, but decent, 40-150mm lens on it (it’s a micro four-thirds camera, so double those numbers for the full frame equiv.)
Enjoy and hang in there!
On The Road – BigJimSlade – Getting Out For a HikePost + Comments (23)
Temescal Ridge, Santa Monica MountainsMarch 18, 2020
A pano looking towards Mt. Baldy (50+ miles away) – I’m not sure just which one it is from this side :-/ Anyway, it’s got a nice pile of fresh snow :-)
On the left side, you can see part of Mt. Wilson (with all the transmitters on it), and a glimpse of the Hollywood sign, about 1/3 up and 1/3 from the left. The LA basin is on the right and the valley is to the left.