Dog days of summer.

Dog days of summer. By the way, did you know John Cazale only made five feature films? Amazing. He sure established a himself as a character actor in a very short time. Reminds me a little of Gary Oldman for some reason - more for immersing one's self into character than for looks.

Anyway, the best I have is a good joke I received via email (above) and a 15 second video I forgot to put in last post. Have a nice weekend.

Another version: Bob(the cat) made me. I look at it this way: I remember having to work the night of the last *M*A*S*H* (VCR's were about $ 700.00 then and yes, I missed it, finally seeing about 5 years later (quick note: my boss taped it and invited me over to watch it. I couldn't do it ) and going back even further, missing the end to The Fugitive (such a tortured soul, David Janssen). If I can capture 15 seconds of any day and look back at it from any computer, anywhere, anytime, it's got to be cool in it's own little way. I love technology...

It's time for some Gazanias.

Too many things to do in the summer. Anyway, I was getting sick of seeing a gored man on top of my page. Instead, one of my favorite summer flowers (after poppies, sunflowers, dahlias, etc. Ha). Anyway, they sure give you a lot of color.

Bonus pictures of Rama, Cubbie, rusty lawn chairs (love 'em anyway - they add character), burn barrel, and burn barrel morning glories.

Harry, horns, puppets, and Grace.

Bad choice for excitement.

Michael Lenahan, 23, of Philadelphia, Pa. is gored in the leg by a fighting bull during a traditional bull run in Pamplona, Spain, Thursday July 12, 2007. Two American brothers were gored Thursday during the longest and bloodiest morning bull run at the San Fermin festival in the northeastern city of Pamplona. Lawrence Lenahan, 26, of Hermosa Beach, Calif. and Michael Lenahan, 23, of Philadelphia, Pa. were gored by a bull who strayed from the pack, turned around and ran the wrong way. The older brother suffered a eight-inch (20-centimeter) goring in the left buttock after a dangerous sharp right turn in the course Lenahan described as a 'dead man's curve.' The younger brother was injured shortly before the bull ring, the end point of the daily runs, after the bulls horn entered beneath his skin in his right shin. (AP Photo/ Inaki Porto)

Note the mystery code embedded in the paragraph above. Which brings me to the fact:

Dumbledore over dumb. I'd much rather deal with the occasional horned Grindylow or Unicorn from the safety of my lawn chair, armed with a dangerous drink, this weekend.

Another Potter, Grace. And the Nocturnals. She rocks.

Monday Night Pictures.

Liatris spicata. If you knew great. I didn't. Actually they are tall stalks of purple flowers about two to four feet tall. I took a picture looking down at a short one.





Phlox from the garden. Purple, white, and red flowers seem to be flourishing this year. Except for the sunflowers, all my yellow flowers are taking a beating. It seems cyclical. Some years it is the opposite.




I'm still trying to get the aperture mode right. On my old camera it was set the F-stop, focus and click. This one keeps trying to autofocus / adjust settings on it's own. Even with auto turned off (I think). Anyway, I want to give the impression of tons of them growing together. I'm impressed they all have come back from seed the last couple years.




Cubbie follows me around all over the yard and garden, and who do I take a picture of instead? Bob (the cat). He didn't even notice me.

English themed roadtrip.

This is a narrow little country road about two miles out of town. Notice the red triangle with a "Yield" on the railroad crossing sign (what other option do you have with a train?).

My neighbor told me a nearby roadside garden vendor was clearing out the last of their annuals. He gave me the impression they were free for the taking. I had a few holes to fill around the yard. Sounded great to me. After talking a bit more, I found out they were priced using the "Honor System".

What do you think about when you hear the word Honor? Obviously for neighbor Kenny, pay what you want, if anything.

I immediately thought of Honor Blackman. Cathy Gale from the British TV series, The Avengers. I love British TV.

Honor left to play Pussy Galore in the James Bond movie Goldfinger and was replaced by Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. It turned out to be a good career move for both of them. They are both still active.

This part of the road is about a mile from the farm I grew up on. I used to ride my bike on this road. Ahead on the left is a house where a young kid got his head blown off while playing with a shotgun. I was always scared to ride by the house. Haunted.

Below I took a 15 second video, panning the road and field. It's too windy, bad sound quality, but I like hearing the sound of my voice. Always experimenting; tip # 1 - don't do video on a windy day.

On the left side of the road was this straw field. It was really bright out and made for good colors. This made me think of that minor classic, Straw Dogs by Sam Peckinpah. Set in rural England, it starred a young Dustin Hoffman and a very cute Susan George. I liked it; it's worth a view.

This looking the other direction from the road. That is our old farm way back over the soybean field.

What did I buy when I got to the roadside stand? Begonias, of course (really, I needed some shade lovers). This time of year you can't keep anything looking decent in the direct sun. And I paid pretty much the correct price. I discounted a little bit because of their condition (they were not "spring pristeen").

Back at home. These cleome fool Clint and I just about every year. Starting out, they look like pot plants. I actually quit my illegal paper burning in the barrel behind the garage. Don't draw attention to yourself. Then they get a little bigger, grow thorns and I know they are flowers.

The leaves look like pot to me.

My illegal burn barrel. Have to take it easy anyway for the morning glory.

Backyard garden. All the sunflowers came back on their own.

In keeping with my occasional English references, a must see show for me is on PBS; Rose Mary and Thyme. (I case you are wondering Mike, Wednesdays.)

It is a British TV series - two women are gardeners who also solve crimes. It isn't Masterpiece Theater but it is an enjoyable little show.

My only complaint with the sunflowers is they bloom too early. Or don't bloom long enough.

Experimenting with no flash. The morning glories are starting to climb the garage.

Ending with two Lilys. Both are favorites. One is English. (Any excuse to get Lily in a post.)

I wish they WERE butts.

This caught my eye. I thought it was an ashtray with butts on the ground next to it.

Terrible flooding. Stay safe everyone and have a nice Holiday.

I read it in the paper. Of course it's true.

Here: This explains my last post. Just bad math. Clip from the article below:

Clarity check: Rest easy, 1 of 4 Americans aren’t HIV-positive.



A headline we wrote over a story that was published Wednesday might have led you to think that was the case.



After reading the story, that headline also might have lead you to think that we had bumped our heads on something hard.



In fact, neither was the case.



However, a headline that should have been worded “An estimated 25 percent of Americans with HIV are not aware that they are infected,” instead was cast in such a way that suggested one-quarter of the U.S. population was HIV-positive.



We corrected the headline in Thursday’s print edition, but I still was receiving calls about it as recently as Friday.



We’re sorry that we weren’t as precise as we should have been.