Day 2, Carlo's 2008 vacation.....

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O.K., day two. I woke up with a scratchy throat, must be delayed reaction of all the people at work walking around for weeks hacking, sniffing and sneezing. This had better go away, and quick!! I stayed in much of the day, went out only to pull a little snow off the house roof, and later to put wood in the stove, throw out a little corn and change the memory card in the Ottercam. Did some catch up photo organizing on the puter, snoozed in the recliner, etc........ We'll see what tomorrow brings.




These are the turkeys I mentioned before. I think there were 42 out there.




Not a good photo, but it catches the nocturnal activity around the area.......






Yee, ha!!! Rafting on the sidewalk!!



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Day 1, Carlo's 2008 vacation.....

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Yes, that's right, start of vacation for me. I'm off now until January 5th, 2009.

Today started well, I took some coals from the boiler and put them in the stove in the lodge, added some wood and had an instant hot fire in there! Then I cleaned ashes out of the boiler and restocked with wood. I shoveled the path to the front of the house and garage.

I decided that I needed to plow the road for the first time, so I got the tractor started, put the blade on and started plowing. While by the mailbox I decided to go over to Johnson's place and do their driveways, got about 2/3 done and ran out of gas.... Doh!!! Walked home and dug out the gas cans and got the van out and ready to go.

I realized that today is the last day to apply for the spring turkey permit drawing, so I decided to go to Extra Innings in Ogema to get that, and have lunch while I was there. I had a California burger and a bevy and struck up a conversation with a guy, turns out to be Duane Barr, older than me and he was in school with uncle Larry!! I needed to get the application postmarked today's date, so I had to wait around the saloon until 1:00, so I talked to Duane and Sandy(bar operator) and had another bevy or two.....

Went to post office, stopped for gas on the way out of town, filled the tractor on the way in and finished plowing. Fired the boiler and lodge stove...... I think this is the point I started goofing off for the rest of the day. Going O.K. so far!!!


This morning started with 27 turkeys flying into the field from the woods just to the east of the house. Some others walked in from the south..... this photo was an attempt to show the startings of the sunrise. Blow it up and it looks a little better.



This is one of the turkeys that I scared out of the yard when I went out. It looks just like one of my decoys!! Go figure.....



This was from the weekend, but it looks much like it did this morning. This is from the Otter1 camera that's about 2 feet off the ground near the lodge.



Those birds have been searching for the little crabs from the tree on the south lawn. It was all snow covered out there, but now it's all scratched up around the tree by the turkeys.



O.K., here is one last example of how this chalk art is made. Here we see a lobster ready to eat a baby. That's what it appears to be, but look at the view below. It's taken from the other side and it shows how the pictures is drawn to give it that wonderful 3D effect when viewed FROM ONE SPECIFIC POINT. Note that those antennae are flat on the sidewalk and actually extend down the sidewalk between the people out there. Pretty amazing.



I gotta go finish my first vacation day....... Carlo


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Just stuff.....

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The snow has started.... it's also been quite cold up here! Highs in the teens. I don't mind winter too much, but it could at least get well into the 20's during the day.



It's always amazing how fast wood can dis-appear! As you can see, the snow on the roof of the boiler is not melting, so it must have good insulation inside. I like that.



By now, that first row of wood is about 1/3 gone. Hope the pile lasts all winter.



The house chimney is pouting. It has nothing to put forth and that's just fine with me.



On the other hand... or roof.... the lodge chimney shows that the weather is fine indoors.



I may have used this one before, but it is so good for demonstrating this anamorphic artform. This chalk drawing appears to show a 3-D globe with a little dude on top. But this is how it looks only from a specific vantage point. Below you see the same drawing from the right side and it is drawn flat on a sidewalk. The guy looks so small because of how far up the sidewalk he actually is.

So this is the basis for all the chalk drawing illusions by Julian Beever (and others). They are drawn flat, to be viewed from a specific spot to appear as 3-D objects. Cool.
Here is a link to an explanation of anamorphic art and you'll find some good links there.



At this point, I again run the risk of repeating myself. I'm including this link to a short story I came up with several years ago. I still like it, give it a look.

I gotta go, Carlo



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