Saturday, July 23, 2011

STORMY WEATHER

While traveling on our way to the woods
I noticed a big thunderhead forming on the horizon.

The big cloud quickly mushroomed.

By the time we reached the campground, the sky was 
filled with potential storm.

Then summer rain.

But it was just a passing cloud burst. Soon the air was clear...

..and the big cloud moved on to dump elsewhere.

The loaded mini-van pulled into the only remaining campsite. Four children leaped from the vehicle and began feverishly unloading gear and setting up the tent. The boys rushed to gather firewood, while the girls and their mother set up the camp stove and cooking utensils.
A nearby camper marveled to the youngsters’ father, “That, sir, is some display of teamwork.”
The father replied, “I have a system — no one goes to the bathroom until the camp is set up.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There were these two guys out hiking in the woods when they came upon an old, abandoned mine shaft.  Curious about its depth they threw in a pebble and waited for the sound of it striking the bottom, but they heard nothing.  They went and got a bigger rock, threw it in and waited.  Still nothing.  They searched the area for something larger and came upon a railroad tie.  With great difficulty, the two men carried it to the opening and threw it in.  While waiting for it to hit bottom, a goat suddenly darted between then and jumped into the hole!  The guys were still standing there with astonished looks upon their faces from the actions of the goat when a man walked up to them.  He asked them if they had seen a goat anywhere in the area and they said that one had just jumped in the mine shaft in front of them!  The man replied, "Oh, no.  That couldn't be my goat, mine was tied to a railroad tie."

Thursday, July 21, 2011

YOGI BEAR AND OLD FAITHFUL

As I’ve mentioned before, we live less than two hours from Yellowstone National Park
I’ve been there often and have taken a LOT of photos…
 Pictures of the thermal springs from every angle with and without people…

 Pictures of the hot pools that seem to go all the way down to the fiery heart of the earth…

 Blurry photos of a wolf taken from far away with my zoom lens…

 Deer and elk and moose…

 Countless amounts of buffalo in every season of the year…

 The view of Yellowstone Falls from the same 
scenic place that everyone else has stood for generations…

 And then there is the star of the show—Old Faithful Geyser.  
Old Faithful shoots thousands of gallons of boiling water 
almost two hundred feet in the air every sixty-five 
to ninety minutes depending on the length of the last eruption.

Explorers discovered Old Faithful back in 1870.  Of course the native people knew about it long before that.  The explorers recorded using the geyser for a laundry.  They said garments placed in the crater during quiescence were ejected thoroughly washed when the eruption took place. They found that linen and cotton fabrics were uninjured by the action of the water, but woolen clothes were torn to shreds.

Now no one is allowed near the crater; but tourists show up all year round to watch the water gush into the sky.

Anyway, I have a pretty good collection of Yellowstone Park photos, so the other day when we went with some family from California I didn’t drag along my Nikon camera with the huge zoom lens.

So when a bear wandered across the road in front of us 
the only camera I had was a little Powershot in my purse.   

I haven’t seen a bear in the park for years.  
For the safety of all involved bears have been 
discouraged from frequenting people places 
even though they were there first.

 As we drove slowly by Mr. Bear moved off into the trees…
 and went on about his bearsness.

For your further entertainment---a shaky video of the famous geyser.

Monday, July 18, 2011

GLOW STICKS--Episode Two (just follow the rules and nobody gets hurt)

Time to start the activities!

 Let’s have some fun!

 No, like this!

 Let’s go do somethin’ flippin’ awesome.

 And it got dark.

 Crazy eyes!

 Ninja vanish.

 They look like big colored missiles.

 Do it.  They’re blue and red and yellow!

 Ninja vanish.

 I know you’re out there, you weirdoes!