Road Trip Teaser

My wife and I had just finished a rough drive to get to a remote part of Oak Creek, about 10 miles outside of Sedona, Arizona.  We were hiking a creek side trail when this guy landed on a branch less than 10 feet from us. We think it's a Coopers Hawk. Whatever kind it was, it was HUGE!  Talk about death from above! This guy was pure predator.  He couldn't care less that we were so close to him.  I took so many pics of him that I got tired of it.  We have Internet for a couple of days, so I thought I'd post him as a teaser!

When we were in the Sedona area last year, I posted a bunch of photos of the red rock formations. This year I'm concentrating a bit more on the back road places and things like that. Of course, I'm taking some pics of the formations and will post them because I think Sedona is one of the most beautiful place I've ever seen.  I'll catch up on responding to comments and commenting on your blogs (if you have one) as soon as I have a chance.

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Yin and Yang in Action

The overjoyed young girl in the foreground is my granddaughter Tay. The sour faced curmudgeon in the background is a friend of Tay's great grandmother.

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We're leaving on a two week roadie this Friday. We'll be hitting parts of four states (California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada). We have a lot to do, but I hope to return with some decent photos to post.  I don't know when I'll have Internet access, so I'll post and comment when I can. It seems like every time I say that, I have no trouble getting on-line almost everywhere. So, "Until that time, Eustis, until that time." *

*Anybody know who said that?  How about who they said it to?  Movie name?  If you know the answer to all three questions, you will receive absolutely nothing except my undying respect.

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Worst Movies EVER

Welcome to another one of Alex Cavanaugh's blog fests.  I don't usually participate in this these, but the ones that Alex hosts, always have an interesting subject and are fun. If you don't follow his blog, you might want to check it out. It's good and he's a good guy. If you want to see the stinkers that others picked, just click on the word Alex.

Here are my top ten WORST movies in no particular order.

Battlefield Earth

Just for the record, I think this is the most stupid movie I've ever seen. There wasn't a single thing good about it. I can't even understand why it was released. It should have gone directly to the DVD bin at Big Lots and the 99 cent store.

Amityville II: The Possession

The first movie in this series was pretty scary and is said to have been groundbreaking.  This stinker, was only groundbreaking in how much it sucked. It's the first movie that I ever walked out on. I gave it a good long chance, when it never got any better, I left.

 Road House

Sorry ladies, there wasn't ANY part of this movie that I liked. If ever there was a person miscast in a role, it was this one. The plot was bad, the acting was bad, and this guy (rip) could NEVER be a bouncer.

Batman & Robin

I can sum this one up in two words "MAJOR LETDOWN!"

Zombies of Mora Tau

I admit to loving Zombie movies and there are a lot of them out there. This one is just plain stupid. Worst "zombie" acting ever.

Plan 9 From Outer Space

Maybe the most idiotic "special effects" ever! Add to that, the fact that is was so darn cheesy and it's on my list.

Mad Max (any of them)

Take it from me. ANYTIME a movie involves jet skis or dirt bikes, don't see it. To me, the only thing this movie (and those like it) does, is to keep stunt men gainfully employed. The fact that a major whack job was the star didn't help.

Water World

Ditto what I said about Mad Max. It's too bad, because I really do like Kevin Costner.

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I have many more that might have made my list, but you probably already stopped reading. It's okay....

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Weekend Reflections - Clouds

I took this photo last week. I'm so glad I noticed it.

For reflections by other photographers go to Weekend Reflections by James.

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Critters We Saw This Week

Ground squirrel. Not too popular because they undermine hillsides. Pretty darn cute though!

As the crow flies (or gull), we weren't that far from the ocean.

I don't know what he was. If you can spot him in this photo, maybe you know.

A shop in Julian had 5 hummingbird feeders out and all of them were being used.

A cottontail who didn't seem to mind me very much.

A crow riding the thermals. It may have been a raven, he was too high for me to really know.

A Horny Toad. They really aren't a "toad" at all, but a lizard. These guys are said to be able to squirt blood from their eyes (into yours) from five feet away. I don't know if that is fact or fable.

Red Headed Woodpeckers. These are guys who make thousands of holes in trees and then put acorns in the holes.

A covey of Quail at one of the camp sites.

Although my friend's dog is not a "wild" animal, he is one heck of a tether ball player. I've never seen a Boston Terrier jump as high as this guy can. Chuck (apocalypse now), this pic is for you! 

Those woodpeckers peck on everything. We were battling one who was trying to peck a whole in the roof of our RV!

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I also saw some deer and cottontails, but couldn't get a decent shot at them!

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Wild Fire Damage

Several years ago there were major wildfires in the area where we are currently camped out in our RV. Even though it's been quite a while, the damage is present everywhere. I'm posting some of the things we saw while driving around. Most of the damage was caused by the devastating Cedar fire. 

I'm not sure what this was, but it looks like it was pretty nice.

One of these days I'll do a post on the back story of this building.

An old volcano cone. I've tried many times to get it's reflection on Lake Cayumaca, but the water has always been too rough.

Lots of eerie looking silhouettes of dead trees.

Based on all the burnt trees and how many of these houses looked rebuilt, it must have been very scary.

Many areas are still closed to the public.

Being out of town so much, I'm really getting behind on the things I want to post. We're leaving again in a couple of weeks, so catching up is gonna take some time...

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Look Who Came for Dinner

We are up in the mountains again this week.  A few hours ago we were sitting at a picnic table eating dinner with a couple of friends.  Both ladies started pointing and shrieking excitingly saying things like "look at the size of that spider!" and "kill it!" This spider was walking towards us just like he was invited.

We took a few photos of it and my wife said, we need to put something by him so the photos can really show how big he was. She put a Pepsi can about 50 feet away close to it and when it strutted walked over to it, we took more pics.

Here's a photo of this guy next to a Pepsi can. Can you blame them for being excited?

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Weekend Reflections - Monterey Bay 2

For reflections by other photographers go to Weekend Reflections by James.


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