Can You Believe Your Ears?

I found this neat-o 7" EP last week, and I've been wanting to share it ever since. This is Hearing Is Believing (RCA Victor SRA-7-1, 1954). I saw a full size LP with this cover once, but it was in terrible shape so I passed. Now I have the 7", which to me is a little cooler than the full size record, even if it is shorter. I won't bore you by sharing out the audio on this record, it's mostly classical stuff, as recorded back in the 78 RPM days and the "New Orthophonic" recordings, albeit in mono. The date on this is 1954, so stereo as we know if was still three or four years away. Anyhow, I just love that little guy with the big ear. Maybe his other ear grew to similar proportions after the advent of stereo. I threw in an image of the flip side below, in case you want to read up on how High Fidelity is your friend.

Christmas Is Coming

Just a quick note to brag about the fact that I reached over 1000 recorded Christmas tracks today. That's just for this year, by the way. Since starting sometime in June, I've gotten 1006 tracks recorded from vinyl. I think I shared out 112 of those back at Christmas In July, and there were 12 or so from the Mike Douglas LP. All the rest are either things I wanted for my own listening pleasure or things I want to share during the holiday season. So stay tuned, you won't be disappointed!

Moon Over LA

I've been remiss in not posting more of my few shots from LA. (For that matter, I still have lots of pictures from Ohio that I wanted to share, but haven't yet. (Even worse, I drove four hours to Palm Beach today, didn't take any pictures, then drove back four hours. What's wrong with me?)) Anyhow, the picture above is the moon rising over LA when I was out there. I guess the smog acted to give it the incredible color you see here, which is usually only present in full moons, and then only when it first comes up over the horizon. I tried to get some of the many planes that were buzzing about into this shot, but those didn't come out. The planes were stacked up over LAX waiting for clearance, as many as 10 at a time were visible from my vantage point, all lined up in neat little rows.

The Middle Of November

So, where am I today? Unfortunately, I'm back in Florida, which really isn't a bad thing I guess. At least you get a new calendar page to look at. Unfortunately, it's a Dead End. But what a view! This happens to be in Siesta Key Village, a small city on the island of, you guessed it, Siesta Key, Florida. The little road I was on wasn't much more than a sandy strip of old, crumbled asphalt.

Seven Miles Up

Here's another amazing view I caught from the plane on my way back from LA. I haven't figured out exactly where this is yet, but it's from well past Lake Mead. I'm guessing Utah, maybe. Anyhow, it's a populated place, as evidenced by the small marina in the left center of the shot. The lake is obviously created by some dam downstream, so in theory I should be able to find it. We'll see.

The View From Above

When I saw this scene from the air, it took me a while to believe what I was seeing. After taking the picture, bringing it home and comparing it to what I saw on Google Earth, I was sure of what I saw. On the flight back from LA, via Kansas City, we passed right over Lake Mead, and if you look closely near the center of the picture, that's Hoover Dam, the same site I brought you after my trip to Las Vegas back in June. What are the chances we'd fly right over this? I only wish the picture could be better. What you see above is after I spent half an hour in Photoshop cleaning and tinting, and as you can see, it still looks pretty poor.

Flying Rocks From Outer Space

Hooray, I'm back from LA! What a hectic two days. The best part of the trip turned out not to be the time I spent on the ground, but the time I spent in the air. It's a beautiful country from seven miles in the air. The most amazing thing I saw was totally unexpected. I was sure I would see mountains and valleys, rivers, streams and canyons, but I had not expected to see a meteor crater. But that's exactly what it was. That's the Barringer Meteor Crater, located just off I-40 near Flagstaff, Arizona. I spotted it just before the pilot came on the intercom to mention it. He mentioned the 50,000 year old crater, and noted that it had barely missed the neighboring I-40. Ha, that's funny stuff. Anyhow, it's not the best picture in the world, since I shot it through three levels of plastic in the airplane window. (Would it hurt them to clean those windows once in a while? Honestly...) Stay tuned for more shots from Air Ernie!

It's A Plane!

Hey, hey, I'm in LA. This photo brought to you by Southwest.com!

Goin' Back To Cali

Tomorrow morning I have to get up at 3 am to catch a flight to Los Angeles, California. Yep, I'm headed for the City of Angels. I'll be there for 24 hours and 15 minutes. It's a business trip, and that's all the time I could get. I don't know if I'm going to be able to squeeze in any picture taking, but I hope so. I went to California three years ago for a wedding in Berkeley, which I turned into a sort of mini-vacation. That's when I spent most of a day driving through the Marin Headlands, and where I got the shot of the Golden Gate above. I still have friends in the area, and I hope to get back someday. Looking at the pictures I took back then, I wonder what I could do now, with more experience and a better camera. Someday...

November Marches On

The page for this week is a rather nervous-looking box turtle. I found this guy at Joan Durant Park on Longboat Key here in Florida. He was minding his own business until I grabbed him and took his picture for about 10 minutes, which I'm sure just ruined his day. I saw something on TV the other day about how to tell male and female box turtles apart, but I don't remember the way it went. Something about the color of their eyes...

1 x 10^5

Well, I finally made it. I got my 100,000th hit today. It's taken about a year and a half, with a full 40,000 of them coming during last December's Share-a-thon. Thanks to everybody who has helped me get here, and here's to 1,000,000 more!

When I Die And They Lay Me To Rest

You gotta go where the pictures are, and in this case, the photo was in a cemetary. I think I have a shot of this same cemetary from my January trip, but I can't find it right now. This was in some little town in Ohio who's name escapes me. It's a weird little intersection where 5 or 6 roads come together. I'll have to look it up. Northfield, I think that's it.

November Begins

First day of the month, so you get a weekly calendar page in addition to the monthly page I just shared with you. And again, we're in the city of Cleveland. This time the picture is the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, located in Public Square near the base of Terminal Tower. When I was here a couple of weeks ago, there was massive construction going on around the monument, so you couldn't actually get very close to it.

November 2006

Welcome to November! And that means a new calendar page. Here's another view of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland. Don't mind the construction equipment down below the round part, I'm sure the rumors of the building falling into Lake Erie are exaggerated.

Happy Halloween-Again!

Happy Halloween from the friendly vultures at Lake Myakka!

The Day Before Halloween

Here's a photo of the full moon behind a spooky old tree I promised you the other day. Pretty nice picture for the day before Halloween, don't you think? This picture seems to pre-date the blog, which explains why I haven't shared it with you before.

Rats With Racing Stripes

Did I show you this guy already? I don't think so. Ohio seems to be overrun by these rats with racing stripes. Or, if you prefer, chipmunks. They are certainly fast! I got few pictures where they are standing still. And they don't let you get close at all. I shot this guy from six feet away or so, then had to crop the picture quite a bit.

The End Of October

For the last few days of October, here are some fall gourds. I shot these in Ohio sometime last year. They were plentiful during my trip this year, too. They love their fall up there!

Deer Me

I saw plenty of deer this time in Ohio. There were some on the way in from the airport, some in people's yards, and these in the woods at Bedford Reservation. There was a third one in there somewhere, but he didn't make it into this picture. Well, she didn't, I mean.

Daybreak

After days and days of rain and snow in Ohio, this was the sunrise on my last morning there. I think maybe they were happy to see me go. And there are those crummy power lines, again!