Not Exactly a Bird Bath

The birds fly around, picking things off of the bison. Do you think he notices?

Following in the Footsteps

I just used the holes left in the pavement by the tripods of the photographers that came before.

I apologize for the lack of Elko photos, I am still sorting photos from the old hard drive. hopefully back to normal soon.

Swan

A nice swan photo.
Thanks for all the suggestions for back up software via email and comments.
I was able to save the vast majority of my photos.
I did lose a few folders (not sure exactly how many images) to bad sectors on the hard drive.
A costly lesson in the end.

I signed up for the carbonite online backup solution. Thanks for the tip.
The back up is ongoing.

I should be back to posting normally in a day or two.

Technical Difficulties - Day 2

Still having PC Issues so another shot from the past.
This is Chatsworth House. I visited here many times when I lived in England. It was one of my favorite places.
The nearby town of Bakewell is quite famous for the Bakewell Tart, which is a nice jam filled pastry.
It was not a trip to Chatsworth without a stop in Bakewell for a tart.

This is both a trip down memory lane and a stark realisation that most of my photos from 2004 to present may be lost due to the PC crash from Thursday night. I am still working on it so all is not lost.
I re-installed to operating system on the crashed PC, last night and I am hopeful that I will be able to start accessing the image folders later today. I really hate not having a backup of them. I bet you can guess what the first thing I am going to do when I finally recover them... Can anyone suggest a good back up solution that is both easy to use and inexpensive?

Thanks

Technical Difficulties

Having computer issues today. It crashed hard and I am trying to save all my photos from oblivion. I am updating from a backup PC with photos that are several years old, until further notice.
This Photo is of the waterfall at Newstead Abbey in Nottingham, England taken in 2003.

The plan for today was to post something appropriate to the 8th Anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. But since the PC crash last night I have been preoccupied and will be lucky if any photos from the last 5 years are saved.
Back to normal as soon as possible.

Tethered to Earth

Icarus

This kite is flying too close to the sun.

Flight of the Bison

I guess I got a little too close. I was getting tired of the same old Buffalo shots so I went off the beaten path for this one.

Shooting from above the animals on the road produced many similar shots to what I shot here a in the spring. I wanted something new.

I spotted this lone Bison lounging at the top of a rise about a quarter mile away from the road. judging that I would need to do some walking to get the shot I set out up the hill.

I was concerned that I might stress him (or get charged) so I approached at alternating angles always facing it and never losing sight of it. I did not want to unexpectedly pop up out of a dip and scare him (or me). I moved slowly and watched for signs of agitation so I could leg it if necessary.

I did get a little too close for the comfort of the birds, but they are skittish anyway. Although the Bison never took his eyes off of me he never seemed to be stressed in any way so I continued forward.

I got my shots and walked back to the truck.

The walk back proved to be more dangerous than facing the buffalo. While walking back I tripped over a rock and nearly fell on my camera.

Ahhh! Graceful til the bitter end!

Balloon Fest

Balloon Fest

Phone cam photo of Balloon Fest today.
Better quality photos from the event tomorrow.

Ahhh! The Open Road

A lot of Americans will be doing something similar to this over the long weekend.
Not me, of course!
My plans to go to Washington for the weekend fell through at the last minute. Plans seem to be doing that alot lately.
Maybe I am just going about this all wrong. Who knows...

Anyway I will be out locally looking for things to photograph. Wish me luck.

Cheers

Zigged When I Should Have Zagged

This sign tells how it zig-zag'd in order to throw off the attacker.
You can see in the aftermath that it may not have read "How to Avoid Being Shot"

What Ya Doin?

This very inquisitive pony really wanted the green strips of grass like weed on the other side of the fence.

What can I say? I am a sucker for a long face!

Lone Pine in the Mist

Life Size Tonka Toy

On the first day of every month the City Daily Blog community host a theme day. Every month the theme is different.
The theme day for September 1st is "Big"

I happened across this scene while working in the hills north of Carlin, Nevada (Carlin is a town just west of Elko).

This is called a haul truck, this particular model is by Caterpillar. It is approximately 44 feet tall at the highest point (when the dump is raised). It has 15 foot tall tires and a 240 ton payload.

The job of this truck is to haul unprocessed earth, from the open pit, to a nearby processing plant where gold, other ore and minerals are extracted. There are many trucks like this in the hills nearby.

By comparison this is a medium sized haul truck. I have encountered trucks in this area that actually dwarf this one.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in the City Daily Blogs Theme Day

Old Fence Line

I have recently taken up walking on a regular basis as a way to lose weight. As I was walking down a dusty old road southwest of Elko I found this scene.
Actually the plan was to photograph horses but there did not seem to be any around yesterday. Not wanting to waste a good walk I turned away from the horse pasture and found this.

The moral of this story is; "If at first you don't succeed, turn around and shoot something else..."

Old Money

There are no electronic transactions, no scanners and no beeps here. Just the good old ka-chunk, ka-chunk sound when a button is pushed and the sweet sound of a bell when the cash drawer flies open to get me my change.

Good old money, when that tattered and torn, green and black note was backed up by gold. When that coin was actually made of gold, silver or nickel and it really meant something. It had a measurable value.

Nowadays it is all ones and zeroes zooming through the air, back and forth between computers at banks that tally the value of that particular string of ones or zeroes.

The string of ones and zeroes has no intrinsic value. It is valuable because we all agree it has value, certainly not because it has gold backing it up.

I just can't imagine how it all got so complicated and out of hand... can you?

Give me a good old chunk of gold any day.


Speaking of Gold!!!
CNN Money had this to say about Elko, Nevada
side note; if you read the CNN article, take a look at the third photo. In the bottom left corner of that photo you can see an old cash register.
Hmm! Now where have I seen that before...?

Before the Fun

The smell of popcorn and hot dogs in the air, the sound of the fun house and carousel in your ears, the dancing colors all around, the only thing missing is the fun.

The fun comes later... when the young and old flock to this spot. Where the children laugh and the grown ups scream. Where the lights twinkle and shine, like in a dream.
The anticipation rises with the sinking of the sun. We are all just waiting, waiting for the fun.

Stumped

Duck Soup, Lemon Heads and Neon Apples

Over Easy

Spinning