Battle Creek Winter
Battle Creek, near the spillway at McPherson County State Lake (Maxwell).
This post debuts a new feature on this site. On select posts, you can now click on the image and see a larger version, all without leaving the page you're viewing!
This feature is commonly known as a lightbox, and is implemented using the Drupal Lightbox2 module.
Go ahead, give it a try by clicking on the photo of Battle Creek above!
Glass Art Objects
Corning hand-blown glass flower.
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Glass flowers.
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Coral inspired paperweight by Rick Garnett.
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We purchased the flowers while visiting Lawrence a while back, and the paperweight was one of Sheryl's Christmas gifts last year.
All of these images were processed using HDR techniques. More, and larger versions of both HDR and normal versions are available on Flickr, and there's also an HDR only set.
Bald Eagles in Flight
I took these photos last Monday, which was the nicer of the 2 days we spent in Lawrence. We enjoyed our little get-away, taking bald eagle photos at Clinton Lake, eating and shopping at the antique mall.
To our delight, India Palace offers a delivery service, so we ate in one night. We were also able to satisfy our cravings for sushi and Thai during our stay; yum!
We found an interesting Corning hand-blown glass flower at the Lawrence Antique Mall, and a nice set of glass flowers, including a vase, at a near-by shop. I'll probably post some photos in the future; here's a link to a similar glass rose we found in the fall of 2008: glass rose.
Following are some photos of bald eagles at Clinton Lake. The middle image is of a female, and she's got a fish in her talons!
In the Spirit of the Season
A first this year: an artificial, white Christmas tree. It's beautiful when lit by the included soft pastel lights.
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The rest of these photos have been given the HDR (High Dynamic Range) treatment.
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Our large Swedish Jul Bok adds character to the scene.
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Pancake man is one of our oldest ornaments.
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Can't skip the Swedish Dala Horse!
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Nice 3D look into the interior of the tree.
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Another view of the Jul Bok.
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Health Care Lunacy
I've been sick with a slight fever all week, so maybe I just don't understand what's going on regarding the proposed Health Care Reform bill, but here's what I see as of this date.
To cut to the chase, I believe the proponents of this bill are, as my British colleagues might say, barking mad!
As I understand it, they propose to FORCE people to BUY insurance and then CLAIM they've expanded coverage for millions.
Yes, read that again. The United States Senate is proposing to force people to pay for-profit companies for what are basic services in first world, civilized countries (such as Sweden). When you hear the term mandate, they aren't talking about wide-stance Republicans, they're talking about taking money from the pockets of poor people and giving it to insurance companies.
Here's a fact: most folks that I know that don't have insurance or adequate health coverage can't afford it. How can you force poor people to buy something they can't afford? Rent or groceries will always come ahead of insurance when you run out of money before you run out of month.
Scratch that. How can you force any American to buy a product from a for-profit company? It truly is unthinkable to me.
Sadly, and I've said this before, we know the answer. Senators do not vote for the interests of their nominal constituents; they vote for their true constituents, those who help get them elected. Party affiliation has no bearing on this.
Or maybe it's just that democrats don't know how to act when they're in power. They seem to be much more comfortable being in the minority (at least then they have an excuse for not doing anything, and a real reason to ask for money).
And they wonder why they wear the tag of "spineless."
All this brings to mind the old question Ann Landers used to ask: "are you better off with him or with out him?"
And to that question there's no doubt in my mind. So I'll still vote the way I've always voted, but the checkbook is closed.
