For Dad

Humidity can be pretty.

This is for my dad because he said, "Where are the skies, the flowers, the dog pictures?!?" And apparently, I respond well to guilting. ;-)

Much Prettier in Person

Seven-Layer Sunset

Steamy Sunset

Who knew manufacturing could make something prettier...

Sunsets R Us

In the Midwest, the sky makes up a big part of what you see. It seems to always be attracting my attention.

The Final Frontier

Sirius made it on the bed.
He didn't stay long because I squirm too much.
Boy was Lex surprised. :o)

And, sunset reflections.

Pink Cartoon Guts

The traditional New Year's Piñata gutting... The photos of the actual smacking were too dark to see anything, but here's Luther removing the pink piñata innards...
Note that we all spent a few minutes getting coated and mittened up before going out into the frozen night.
And, the last sunset of 2007:

Grit-ty Sunset

Home Before Sunset

My Charlotte...

Though I haven't heard her say, "Salutations!" and her web hasn't declared me "Terrific," this is my barn spider (Araneus cavaticus). I call her "Aranea." :) She sets up her web every night in my mimosa tree, then sits calmly in the center of it waiting for dinner.

Here are a couple of uncropped ones that almost show her web (if you blow them up to full size and squint a little):

Ever since we convinced her that the porch really wasn't the best place for a web (by walking through it a couple of times--bleh), we've gotten along really well. Sometimes I leave the porch light on for her to draw a few extra bugs. ;-)

In case you needed proof that there was something not-so-nice going on at Wal*Mart:

And a sunset photo (taken at a stoplight) to round out the weekend:

More Skies

Already it's starting to be sunset time as I leave work.

OK, so I left work at about 6:30, but still...

Grounded

For Jeanne-Marie: Here's how I touch the earth. (In my favorite new-ish sandals.) :) Try to ignore the bug bites...

And for contrast, here are a couple cloud photos that were impossible to resist later in the evening. (Note the bird in the first.)

Fireworks of Many Kinds

The day started out quite lovely. Me indulging my fascination with clouds. (I'm continually amazed at how well the phone takes pictures of clouds. I took 43 pictures of clouds today.)

Then I drove into this:

Some pretty hard rain followed (I slowed down to 50 mph). Then out the other side:

[Ed: Between the this pic and the one before there was reportedly a tornado touching down "near Hoyt" (which is half a mile off the road I was driving on).]

More cloud pics available here.

And, to keep with the "Jacque-a-day" theme... :-P

She was smiling some of the time, really, but I love the look on her face that's kind of a cross between awe and fear.

And, the end of the day--

Sharing My Woods

Today I got to take Max and Ethan to the woods on the farm. We had great fun. I mentioned the fossils that I used to find there, and a few feet farther Max said, "I think I found one!" And he had. I really enjoyed sharing it with them.

A couple of other random images of where I grew up:

And, of course, the sunset over Topeka (be sure and check out Khaentlahn's version, too). . .