Monthly Archives: August 2008

Golden Dragon

Posted on by
Reply

This is a great time of year to hit any small body of water and check out the dragonflies. I’m sure they love all those little annoying bugs that do so well in this type of weather. I think they eat mosquitoes…if that’s the case, they’ve got plenty of food available!

This year hasn’t been so good as 2006. That year I saw so many different types and colors of dragonflies and damselflies, it was amazing. Hopefully they come back in equal numbers sometimes soon; they’re pretty interesting to watch!

The not-so-mysterious face on the Memorial Bridge

Posted on by
Reply

No, I’m not talking about anything that Richard Hoaxland found on Mars’ Cydonia region… this is simply evidence of someone putting some joy into their work, and it’s sticking out of the side of the approach to the old Memorial Bridge.

You can see it as you approach it from east or west on the new bridge; simply look at the end of the beams holding up the approach to the old bridge on the Mandan side. What I figure is that it was necessary to cap the end of the old beam with concrete when they tore down part of the approach to make room for construction. When putting the concrete in place, I suppose a worker with a sense of humor added the smiley face.

Hat tip to Brucellosis for spotting this back the rest of us were still confined to the old bridge. He spotted it while on a walking tour of the bridge, and I’ve been waiting patiently to see it for myself. Thankfully it was still there once the new bridge opened; I’m not about to go trespassing. Now one can see it simply by driving by, but be careful! You don’t want to have an accident while rubbernecking, do you?

Consolation and blessed memories

Posted on by
Reply

Last week I took my 35,000th photo with this camera. What more suitable way to chalk up such a milestone than by documenting a fun time playing with my son? I was feeding our 19 month old, PJ, while his little brother Jonathan, now almost 9 months old, played with his toys on the floor nearby. Little “Sparky,” as Jonathan is often called, gets the honor of being the 35,000th picture.

I just got done spoon-feeding Jonathan tonight, as one does with such a little baby, and it reminded me of a story I heard this weekend.

Click on the dreaded Windows icon to hear two brief examples of consolation.

I know, I am no huge fan of Microsoft or Windows. If you have a Mac and want to listen to it, simply click here to download the components to play Windows Media files in the Quicktime Player on your Mac (free). I use them to listen to ASX, WMV, and WMA files on my liquid-cooled, quad-core G5 Mac at work. They are fantastic, and they are free.

Back to the audio. Touching stuff, huh? As a relatively new daddy I was floored by these two stories. They were spoken by a missionary to the Pacific who visited our church this weekend. I’d love to give him direct credit, but some of these guys take a risks being in the field, often political and sometimes physical. Putting their names on the Internet can sometimes cause unintended harm and I’d hate to do so.

Hopefully by electronically enabling you to hear this man’s words, which moved me as I struggle to be a good daddy and provide my little boys with blessed memories, I can pass along some of that consolation he was talking about.

The hardest part about being a chalk muppet? The giant ants, of course

Posted on by
Reply

This was one of the more eye-catching displays I caught during my brief romp around the Capital A’Fair today at the state capitol. I refer to it as the “Capitol A’Fair” with an o instead of an a because it’s on the capitol grounds, but I suppose they could use an a because it’s in the capital city.

Saturday was muggy as heck, and Sunday looked like it might have some rain in store, but it actually turned out to be a perfect day for perusing artwork at the capitol. Canopies lined the road surrounding the capitol mall, the food court occupied its familiar spot in the west lot, and turnout looked to be pretty good.

This was a really neat display: concrete molds of giant leaves, coated in a number of different finishes. Many were pearlescent, and some even glowed in the dark. The process is shown on the signs adorning the front table (right side of photo).

Kindred spirits Ron & Kathy Linton were there, featuring photography from the Black Hills. I met them last year, when Ron noticed I had the new Canon 10-22mm lens on my camera. He’s since bought the same lens and really likes it. I took a few minutes to say hi and chat, but had to move on because of a Superbike race I wanted to catch this afternoon.

I didn’t know in advance that the A’Fair was happening this weekend. I suppose that’s because I don’t read the paper, rarely watch television, and don’t spend much time around a radio. Thankfully I was able to make a quick trip up there this afternoon and look around, find a couple of neat sights to investigate, and enjoy an afternoon walking around the capitol grounds. Next time I’ll try to find out about it earlier, so I don’t have to skip the snow-cone stand in order to save time!