my big backyard

The Memphis Botanical Gardens has a brand new area called "My Big Backyard" and it is a kids' paradise. There are playhouses and slides and mad-made streams to run and play in... swinging bridges and sculpture gardens... chairs and sofas made of vine and moss... huge birds' nests to sit and play in... funky birdhouses... giant metal sunflowers... and a place called "the storm stop". In the storm stop misty clouds build up for three minutes, then heavy rains fall for three minutes, then its calm for three minutes, and the cycle starts all over. The company I work for is a sponsor of "My Big Backyard", so I dropped by on opening day to take pictures, and I had a ball. The ribbon-cutting is Saturday, and my family and I are planning to be there, cameras in hand.

For more pictures in "My Big Backyard" visit my photostream.
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Song 592: Singing in the Rain
Artist: Cliff Edwards
First Notable Performance: The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Year: 1929
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I'm singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again
I'm laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I've a smile on my face
I walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just singin',
Singin' in the rain

Dancin' in the rain
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
I'm happy again!
I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain!

I'm dancin' and singin' in the rain...

Why am I smiling
And why do I sing?
Why does September
Seem sunny as spring?
Why do I get up
Each morning and start?
Happy and head up
With joy in my heart
Why is each new task
A trifle to do?
Because I am living
A life full of you.

twenty-mile creek

Looking for fossil sharks teeth in Twenty-Mile Creek near Frankstown, Mississippi. This creek is scattered with huge boulders [like the one I'm sitting on]. They're not boulders in the traditional sense though. They are 75-million-year-old concretions. Beneath these boulders is where the sharks' teeth tend to gather. To get to them you have to dig shovel loads of creek bottom out and sift it through a wire mesh to separate the sediment from the teeth and other fossils.

My wife and I woke up Saturday morning wanting to go on a field trip, so we loaded the truck with digging and collecting equipment, gallons of water, water shoes, a change of clothes for each of us and hit the road for a nice little 1.5 hour trip to Frankstown. I hoped we would be the only ones there, but alas when we arrived there were perhaps 20 other people there already. We worked our way upstream a few hundred feet and settled in for a few hours of collecting. My wife is much more productive at fossil collecting than I am, but we both did quite well Saturday. We came home with a number of sharks teeth, petrified wood, fossilized worm borings and several other fossils.
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Song 591: So Into You
Artist: Atlanta Rhythm Section
Album: A Roll and Roll Alternative
Year: 1977
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pinky out

Jennifer, my oldest daughter, received her degree in engineering in the spring and is now in graduate school. Her brain is always on fast forward... always looking for a challenge.

The hard drive in her Mac recently crashed [probably from trying to process as fast as she thinks], which started her thinking about what goes on inside a hard drive. Over the years I have had several hard drive crashes, so I had three of my old hard drives stored away in a box. That's one of them you see in this picture. I gave them to Jennifer to "experiment" with and she had a great time last night, taking the largest one apart. Then she put it back together and she has plans to turn it into a "found object" sculpture for her bookshelf.

Here she displays the proper etiquette for hard drive assembly... pinky out [with a blur].
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Song 591: You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Artist: Leo Sayer
Album: Endless Flight
Year: 1977
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industrial art

I had an incredible opportunity last week... a location photoshoot. While taking pictures of engineers and equipment I spotted these caps. I had no idea what they were but I thought they made an awesome industrial monolithic sculpture so I spent a few minutes photographing them. I posted a couple of pictures on flickr. One of my good friends saw the pictures and offered this explanation of what they are.

These are caps to a centrifugal cleaning system used in the paper industry. Water, wood fiber, and dirt enter the system and are spun at high speeds by pressure differential. The dirt separates from the water and fiber, and is rejected via a seperate chamber inside. The white residue you see in the photo, is dried wood fiber that has leaked out.

Thanks Canoe Master, for telling me what it was I was so fascinated by. Click here if you would like to see another centrifugal cap picture. Visit Canoe Master's photostream, if you want to see some incredible pictures. He has built his own cedar strip canoe. It is awesome.
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Song 590: Whatcha Gonna Do?
Artist: Pablo Cruise
Album: A Place in the Sun
Year: 1977
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... And all at once you're ready to hang it up
'Cause things din't turn out the way you planned
And all your friends they're calling you a fool
"Cause you don't know a good thing
When you got it in your hands...

last light

This could be my favorite picture that I have taken in recent years. I just really like the light in it. I stopped by the William B Clark Nature Preserve for a quick hike [which turned out to be a long hike timewise] but I enjoyed it so much that I stayed in the preserve for two hours or more. This shot was taken looking out over the wetlands as the last rays of sunlight filtered through the canopy of the thick forest. The light is framed by the boardwalk which winds its way through the cypress and tupelo trees. On this hot summer afternoon, the temperature inside the preserve seemed to be about 10-15 degrees cooler than on the outside. I totally enjoyed my afternoon there and plan to return very soon.

Visit my flickr photostream for more recent photos.
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Song 589: Southern Nights
Artist: Glen Campbell
Album: Southern Nights
Year: 1977
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Southern Nights Have You Ever Felt A
Southern Night Free As A Breeze
Not To Mention The Trees
Whistling Tunes That You Know And Love So

Southern Nights Just As Good Even When
Closed Your Eyes I Apologize
To Any One Who Can Truly Say
He Has Found A Better Way

Feel So Good Feel So Good It's Frightening
Wish I Could Stop This World From Fighting
La Da Da Da Da Da La Da Da Da Da Da
Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da

Mysteries Like This And Many Others
In The Trees Blow In The Night
In The Southern Skies

Southern Skies Have You Ever Noticed
Southern Skies It's Precious Beauty
Lies Just Beyond The Eye
It Goes Running Thru Your Soul Like The Stories Of Old

Old Man He And His Dog They Walk The Old Land
Every Flower Touched His Cold Hand
As He Slowly Walked By
Weeping Willows Would Cry For Joy

organic showerhead [with its eyes open]

I saw this lotus pond beside the road today and my little truck just automatically came to a screeching halt. This is one of the organic showerheads [aka american lotus pod] inhabiting the pond. I spent a few minutes gazing at them and taking pictures. I seemed to keep hearing this quiet, whispering multitude of voices saying "there's nothing to see here. move along." emanating from the pond. It could have been the frogs... or it could have been the organic showerheads. Either way, I think I'm going to see them in my dreams tonight.

Click here to see more organic showerheads, and may the force be with you!
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Song 587: We Are The Champions
Artist: Queen
Album: News of the World
Year: 1977
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I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime -
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls -
You brought me fame and fortuen and everything that goes with it
-
I thank you all -

But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise -
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race -
And I ain't gonna lose -

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

train tracks

On the way home from a hike in the wetlands of the William B. Clark Preserve today I was thinking about train tracks. You see, there's this great public park near the train tracks that run through the small town near the wetlands. As I crossed the tracks I thought "huh, I should stop here and take a few pictures of the tracks." but I didn't stop. These tracks pretty much parallel the highway all the way to my hometown, winding their way in and out of the forests, disappearing at times behind the corn fields, but I know they're there. As I rolled into my town, I was still thinking tracks, so I took a left and within a minute I was at a railroad crossing. I parked on the shoulder and saundered over to the tracks. Normally there's a train on these tracks every five or ten minutes, but I didn't see one train today. I spent a few minutes walking the rails, figuring angles, setting up and adjusting the tripod, taking pictures.

That satisfied my need to take pictures of train tracks... for today. But I'll be back in the town with the wetlands soon enough. And when I am, I'm thinking... public park near the train tracks and the tracks just seem to go on forever there, slowly fading into the east. !click!

Click here to see more pictures from the train tracks.
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Song 588: We Will Rock You
Artist: Queen
Album: News of the World
Year: 1977
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Buddy you're a boy make a big noise
Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo� face
You big disgrace
Kickin' your can all over the place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Buddy you're a young man hard man
Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day
You got blood on yo� face
You big disgrace
Wavin' your banner all over the place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Buddy you're an old man poor man
Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day

You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

the story of the truck

Thirteen years ago I was searching for a new car. I wanted a Jeep. The father of a friend of mine had just purchased a brand new white Chevy S-10. It had wide tires and custom wheels and it was really nice. One day while my friend's father was mowing his lawn, a bee chased him down and stung him. He panicked. He wasn't allergic to bees. He was just paranoid of bees. He freaked out, had a heart attack and died. Several weeks later, while talking to my friend's mother, she mentioned that she still had the truck, and would love to sell it for just what remained to be paid. I bought it. I drove that little truck for thirteen years. Six years ago the air-conditioning went out on the truck. The cost to repair it would be $1300 so I decided to trade it instead. But my wife needed a new car so we got her one and I waited. Then my oldest daughter got her driver's license and needed a car. So we got her one and I waited. Then our youngest daughter got her driver's license and needed a car. So we got her one and I waited. In our quest for a car for Kelly [our youngest] we saw a bright red Toyota Tacoma with wide tires and running boards. Kelly and I both fell in love with it. We didn't get her the truck though.

My little truck just kept clicking along. The odometer clicked away 160,000 miles. Three seasons of the year it was a great pleasure to drive. Summer was totally insane. On days when the outside temperature was 100, the inside temperature of my little truck had to be 120! I dreaded the long drive home from work every day. I wanted a Jeep.

So last weekend I saw this bright red Toyota Tacoma and it just had to come home with me. I traded my little white truck away and the red Tacoma now sits in my driveway. I love it! Kelly is away for the summer [spending the summer in Maine] and when I texted her about my new truck, she called me back immediately. She's mad at me for getting her truck! Not really.... but she definitely wants her time behind the wheel when she gets home.
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Song 586: Serpentine Fire
Artist: Earth, Wind and Fire
Album: All ‘n’ All
Year: 1977
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When I see youre face like the mornin sun you spark me to shine
Tell all the world, my need is fulfilled and thats a new design
As long as youre near, there is no fear of a victory
But when Im away, influences stray my mind to disagree
I wanna see your face in the morning sun ignite my energy
The cause and effect of you has brought new meaning in my life to me

Gonna tell a story morning glory all about the serpentine fire
Gonna tell a story morning glory all about the serpentine fire

Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah, oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
I need to see your face like the morning sun ignite my energy
The cause and effect of you has brought new meaning in my life to me
The moments I find when Im inclined to do my best
Negative wins when I give in and then I lose the test (not many times)

Gonna tell a story morning glory all about the serpentine fire
Surely as life begun, you will as one battle with the serpentine fire

Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah, oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
Surely as life begun, you will as one battle with the serpentine fire
Surely as life begun, you will as one battle with the serpentine fire
Gonna tell a story morning glory all about the serpentine fire