Here's one from the archives. Back in '98 I went on a tour of the NASA Goldstone Deep Space Network dishes (mondo cool) with a university group, & then went wildflowering at Death Valley, Joshua Tree, etc -- this was during a spectacular bloom brought about by the rains from a strong El Nino. NASA Goldstone is located on Ft Irwin in the S CA desert, which is the Army's tank-training base. We were allowed to take pics on the NASA inholding, but not on the military portion -- National Security & all that. And indeed, I dutifully passed up some nice wildflower shots (which I'm now kicking myself for -- it's not like there were MP's standing around the middle of the desert) -- but when I thought about the juxtaposition of these 2 signs, I absolutely had to have a pic of the TANK XING... throw me in military detention, give me the 3rd degree, confiscate my camera & film, I don't care -- no wait, I take that back, I care about the camera & film.
Taken back in the Analog Age with a Nikon Lite-Touch point&shoot on Seattle Filmworks film. Much more heavily Photoshopped for appearance than they really merit (and they still look like sow's ears); content is unchanged.
Tags: desert signs roadsigns tortoise tank turtle CA California Fort Irwin Ft. Irwin tank crossing tank x-ing tortoise crossing tortoise x-ing turtle crossing turtle x-ing humor sign roadsign h-tag diptych film 100v+10f topv2222
This is our beloved kitten Hyde. (She was ~16 when this was taken, but still & always a kitten.) We normally positioned the stock of paper towel rolls to block her access to the top of the kitchen cabinets (if nothing else, because her means of getting down involved landing on the rangetop). But this time she managed to find a gap, so here she is, looking pleased as punch with herself.
Tags: people cat kitchen cabinet climbing Hyde humor
The Great NJ Wildflower Bloom of 2005.
Yes, that's it. That's the wildflower. That's all, folks. You can go home now. Nothing more to see here. Move along :-)
Why yes, I've got desert envy -- what gave you the 1st clue? :-)
Actually, I'm sure we'll have wildflowers later in the season. But is was 75F & sunny yesterday, & I went out birding, & this was absolutely the only thing I saw in bloom.
And to make matters worse, it turns out to be an invasive European species. www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesGS.asp?sort=1&c.... says: "Eurasia native... Introduced as a garden plant, Lesser Celandine has naturalized in many areas and poses a threat to our native spring woodland wildflowers. It forms carpets on the forest floor, preventing delicate spring ephemeral such as Trout Lily, Dutchman's Breeches, and Virginia Bluebells from sprouting." And that's exactly what I saw it doing -- growing along a wet, wooded canalside, forming fairly extensive carpets. Not much else has sprouted yet here -- this one does indeed seem to come in early.
This is called Lesser Celandine to distinguish it from Celandine, which is much larger & in the poppy family rather than the buttercup family.
Tags: Ranunculaceae wildflower flower flora spring yellow invasive p4100330 D & R Canal Delaware and Raritan Canal Lesser Celandine nonnative WFGNA manypetals Manville New Jersey NJ humor RWO Somerset County April Ficaria verna Ficaria
At least, that's what we dubbed this rock at Devil's Punchbowl.
Tags: geology Devil’s Punchbowl formation sedimentary sandstone breccia rock Angeles National Forest CA California devil's hockey puck Devil's Punchbowl hockey puck humor March
Laughed out loud when I saw this, but I imagine it was traditionally used for cabin roofs. It's an interpretive sign on the highway south of Denali National Park; I believe it's in Denali State Park. (There are 2 viewpoints shown on the map; it's 50/50 whether I geotagged this as the right one.)
Tags: Alaska sod roof sign Denali Denali State Park Parks Highway humor funny I-A3 Interstate A3 August