Grab

 

And a miss.  Juvenile bald eagle feeding on the Mississippi River.

Tracks In The Snow

Starry Starry Farm

 

If Vincent Van Gogh had been a photographer.  (And had Photoshop.)

Shuttered Windows

What's Wrong With This Picture?

 

The Shadow knows . . . 

Have you ever heard a rebroadcast of the radio drama "The Shadow"?  It debuted in 1937 and no, I'm not old enough to have listened to the original, thank you very much.  The "official" radio drama that many Shadow fans know and love featured a 22-year-old Orson Welles as Lamont Cranston, a "wealthy young man about town." It ran every Sunday evening through 1954.

The opening became a national sensation when radio veteran Frank Readick, Jr. raised the hair on the back of listeners' necks with his echoing question,  "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"  He voiced it in such a way that you just knew it was evil with a capital E, and that such a thing exists in the world.

Some things are better left to the imagination.  A strange pronouncement from a photographer, I know.  But your own imagination is more powerful than a thousand cameras.  Try it sometime.

Crispy

Man's Artificial Boundaries

It's Boom Or Bust Time

The fall harvest is well underway.  Single-minded activity and concern to get corn and soybeans safely under roof before the weather turns.  These brief few weeks right now provide the only paycheck a grain farmer will get for the next 12 months.

Rural Sculpture

Who Says I Don't?

 

A friend sent me a link to some fine animal photos:   http://rense.com/general96/shots.html

He said, "Why don't you take pics like this?"  Hmm.  The short reply, I guess, is that I don't have the cash or the inclination to go on safari to Africa.  People get eaten by lions and stomped by elephants there, am I right?!  The somewhat shorter reply is, "Who says I don't?"

I do the best I can with vacations and what I have available in the Midwest.  Not that I wouldn't sell my grandma to live in a photographic paradise like the Rocky Mountains, for example.  (Granny passed away from natural causes long ago; just kidding.  Mostly.)  Anyway, the goodhearted jibe got me looking through my pictures, as if I ever need an excuse.  So for your viewing enjoyment here are a few that I'd stack up against the ones above without embarrassment.

And to the friend who prompted this I say, with loving affection, "Pthbbbbbbt!"

 

 

Composition In Black, White, And Red

Unstoppable

Schrodinger's Cat

Hint:  the tree has green and brown leaves simultaneously.  Okay, it's kind of a lame example, because we know (or at least I know) that the tree is hale and hearty.  But it was the first thought that crossed my mind.  Thank you, Big Bang Theory!  (We'll just gloss over the fact that I had to learn about the nature of matter at the sub-atomic level from a TV sitcom . . .    [facepalm] )

Evening Breeze

Speechless

Lights Are On, Nobody Home

Cicada husk.  They're singing in the trees and have been for several weeks.  A sure sign summer is winding down.

Peeling Away Layers of Summer

Almost Time

Power To The People

Things Present But Unseen

Endless Variety

Cacophony

The Best Of Summer

No, Not Really

Just wishful thinking.

Blistering Shade

 

Hot Hot Hot and humid.  With bugs.  Have I mentioned yet that I hate summer?  It's true.  There's nothing remotely redeeming about a humid Midwestern summer.  Like the Wicked Witch of the West, when exposed to too much water I melt into a little whining puddle of ill will.  "What a world, what a world . . . . . . . . . "

Dazzled

Wandering About In A Fog

No snarky remarks, now!  ;)

Chrysalis

All Show, No Go

Summer Contrasts

Rarin' To Go

Out In The Country

Unnoticed

Uh . . . What?

 

Unlimited Limited Liability Corporation??  I find oxymorons entertaining.  Yes, I'm a word geek.  ;)

Flee-ting Glimpse

Boys And Their Toys

Two Too Adorable

Running For Home!

Ruffled