These Don't Blow

We had a couple of days of much needed rain this past week, but now all the leaves piled in the yard and on the deck are too soggy to blow off.  Well, maybe that one in the lower left.  It'll take days of warm sun before they'll be dry enough.  I may have to just rake (yuck!!) them.

2 Things Challenge: Warning/Authority

 The 2 Things Challenge this week is Warning/Authority.  This set of signs, along with a locked chain link fence topped with barbed wire,guard a nearby cell phone tower.  They provide ample warning of the dangers inside, and if you look closely, there are even additional warnings and danger signs on the power panel behind the fence.  I guess if you went inside without the proper authority to do so, and they caught you, you would be in some kind of big trouble, and perhaps even slightly toasted.  The signs clearly say don't climb that tower, like I would really want to.



Nipped in the Bud

This Confederate Rose bud just got started too late, so alas, it is the flower that will never be.

Black and Orange

The Lady Bugs were crawling all around the siding, in and out of all the little cracks.  Looked to me like they were looking for a warm place to spend the winter, but I don't really know if that's how they survive.

Lemon/Strawberry Maple

This yellow maple seems to have some minor crossover with a red maple.

What's This?

Any ideas?

2 Things Challenge: Dull/Sharp

The 2 Things Challenge this week is Dull/Sharp.
The surface of the berry seems a little dull to me, but the holly points are definitely sharp, even if most of them are outside the focus field.

Brick and Blue

Bright blue sky, rough textured brick, and a macro lens.  'Nuff said.

2 Things Challenge: Emerging/Satisfaction

The 2 Things Challenge this week is Emerging/Satisfaction.  One of my most satisfying treats is an IceDream cone from Chik-Fil-A.  Something about it just tastes more like home made.  I think it is that they actually put a little vanilla in it instead of just sugar.  Anyway, I called the nearest Chik-Fil-A and asked the manager if he would let me take a photo of the IceDream, true satisfaction, emerging from the machine.  The wimpy weekend manager said I would have to call back on Monday and talk to the General manager.  Too late, buddy, it's due tomorrow.  So I settled for something closer to home, the local McDonald's.  The machine is similar, but what's emerging just doesn't produce the same satisfaction.

Then on the way home, the little McDonald's cone in my belly, I passed the other hamburger chain in town, Jack's.  They serve hand dipped Blue Bell ice cream milk shakes, so I got one for my wife, and I got one for myself.  She prefers some of the crunchy flavored ice cream, but I definitely like the orange sherbert milk shake.  Tastes just like the dreamsicles I got when I was a kid.  Here the straw is emerging from my future satisfaction.

And here, if you look down in the straw, you can see some of that dreamsicle satisfaction emerging.



Oak Leaf Camo?

We placed the empty rind from a yellow watermelon on the deck before taking it to the compost pile and when I walked by a while later this guy was sucking up the juice.  I thought it was just one of the 2.6 million or so leaves in the process of dumping from our big oak by the house until he flew away.  I got the camera, hid behind the glass door, and he came back, along with a couple of his buddies.  The upper sides of their wings are orange with brown spots.  That would be a dead giveaway amongst all the brown leaves, so they kept them closed except when flying.