Making New York City even less appealing

 blather, Crazy, Meh., photography, Utah  6 Responses »
Mar 222014
 

Sometimes an attempt to explain just how awesome a thing or a place is… just makes it look freakin’ horrible. Take this article for example:

This East Village Triplex Has A Retractable Facade

In short, it’s a 1900-square foot condo with a garage door in place of a wall. And for only $2.1 million! And with only $1521 in real estate tax (per month)!!

The article states (perhaps ironically, I dunno, I’m not well versed in Hipsterese):

You will never live in this place, or anything nearly as beautiful, but maybe just that it exists is nice? Just imagine how great it is for some family to wake up on a perfect Sunday spring day and retract the entire front side of their East 14th Street building so they can look out onto this great city.

Yeah… no. That’s not my idea of beauty, but rather horrible urban claustrophobic dystopia with some set dressing.

On the other hand, I took this photo yesterday from my driveway. I think I’ll stay here, thanks.

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 Posted by at 9:41 pm

And so I’ve entered the modern age

 blather, cats, critters, photography, Utah  3 Responses »
Mar 192014
 

For a long time I had a mediocre flip-phone. Last autumn it crapped out on me, and got replaced with a truly cheap flip phone ($14, WalMart). My phone contract provides for a new phone every two years, and that time came at the beginning of March. So, I finally got a smart phone-type-phone thingie, a Nokia something-or-other. As it turns out, it actually takes reasonably fair photos, though not nearly as good as you get from a *real* camera. Behold:

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If you downloaded and liked the photos, please consider a donation. Suggested: $1. Of course, more is always appreciated.

 

Photo Tips


 Posted by at 1:33 pm

And then THESE showed up

 blather, critters, cyanotype blueprints, photography, rockets, Utah, ಠ_ಠ  5 Responses »
Mar 062014
 

Twenty minutes or so ago, there I was, minding my own business, reading up on fusion microexplosions when a fargin stampede stampeded past my window. A trio of neighborhood horses had escaped their enclosure and, as always, ran to *my* back yard to commune with the horses that are already back there:

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And while I’m out there taking pictures of them (because why not), there was one of those sounds that sounds *really* creepy: an air raid siren *waaaaaay* off in the distance. Seemed to be coming from over the hills to the west, from ATK. The siren ran for thirty seconds or so, then shut down. Time on the clock: 1PM, Thursday. And then the ICBM motor fired up. Holy crap, that was LOUD; it was a sound that sort of filled the world. Ran for 50 seconds or so and didn’t do the horses skittishness any favors. Several minutes later the exhaust plume finally popped up over the hills:

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NOTE: for those few of you awaiting cyanotypes… check out the sky in these photos. This is what I’ve had to work with for *weeks.* The cyanotypes require strong, clear, consistent sunlight. Hasn’t been much of that lately.

 Posted by at 1:29 pm

And then THIS showed up

 blather, critters, photography, Utah  12 Responses »
Feb 252014
 

As anyone who has read the blog for more than a few minutes knows, I’m fond of cats and try to make my property a reasonably safe and welcoming place for them. I am, at least so far, not a whackjob about it… not a cat hoarder, nor do I try to provide for all the needs of all the cats in the region. Just a place where they won’t get chased and can get a bite to eat from time to time.

I’m a cat-guy. I’m not a horse-guy. Still, I have several acres of farm-yard that weren’t going to be used for farming, and I have several neighbors with more horse than property, so I have allowed my property to be used as a grazing/socializing/running-around spot for local horses. It’s been sufficiently successful that a half-dozen or more times I’ve been awakened late at night by the sound of a horse (sometimes a bunch of horses) running flat-out down the road out front and turning into my yard to go hang out back with the the others.

And so… today this Shetland pony was dropped off. The four horses that were already there had clearly never seen a Shetland pony like this before… they initially clustered around it like rubes at the freak show. Within an hour or so, they had all become friends.

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UPDATE:

Well, THAT didn’t last. Within a few hours, the pony found one of the several gaps in the fence big enough to allow it to escape… and it escaped. But even though it made it over the wire, it stayed right there, communing with the Big Horses. A trio of local girls tried to round it up, with my dubious assistance. PROTIP: two feet is all a Shetland pony like this needs to build up a head of steam sufficient to plow into a sizable guy and knock him right on his ass.

Ow.

FURTHER UPDATE:

When the Smallest Horse On The Planet steamrollered me, the only bit of me that was hurt was my pride… it was slightly embarrassing to get centerpunched and pitched in front of three giggly teenager females. But no physical damage  was detected apart from a small cut of no consequence. Until several hours later. My shoulder is now quite impressively painful. Apparently something got tore up. Yay. You’d think I’d learn… no attempt at a good deep goes unpunished.

 Posted by at 2:18 pm

Scattered Showers

 photography, Utah  No Responses »
Feb 232014
 

A panoramic photo taken last October as a small rain cloud dumped its load to the north-east of Thatcher, almost on Tremonton.

 

You can also download the very much larger version by LOOKING HERE (over at my long-disused photo blog), good for printing and such. Permission granted for personal use.

I’m trying something new here. For several years I have attempted to sell my panoramic photos in a number of venues; those who have been reading this blog for a while may recall that it has been one financial failure after another.  So… screw it. I’m going to try *giving* the high-rez digital photos away. However, I’ll add a donation button to each photo posting. If you like the photo and want to toss a few coins my way… well, there ya go.

 Posted by at 7:39 pm

Moonrise

 art, blather, Hmm..., photography, Utah  No Responses »
Feb 202014
 

The moon just behind the Wasatch range a few nights back, lighting up the clouds.

 

You can also download the very much larger version by LOOKING HERE (over at my long-disused photo blog), good for printing and such. Permission granted for personal use.

I’m trying something new here. For several years I have attempted to sell my panoramic photos in a number of venues; those who have been reading this blog for a while may recall that it has been one financial failure after another.  So… screw it. I’m going to try *giving* the high-rez digital photos away. However, I’ll add a donation button to each photo posting. If you like the photo and want to toss a few coins my way… well, there ya go.

 Posted by at 10:10 am
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