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The Irish Virgin


In a tiny village on the Irish coast lived an old lady, a virgin and very proud of it!

Sensing that her final days were rapidly approaching, and desiring to make sure everything was in proper order when she dies, she went to the town's undertaker (who also happened to be the local postal clerk) to make proper "final" arrangements. As a last wish, she informed the undertaker that she wanted the following inscription engraved on her tombstone:


"BORN A VIRGIN, LIVED AS A VIRGIN, DIED A VIRGIN"


Not long after, the old maid died peacefully. A few days after the funeral, as the undertaker--postal clerk went to prepare the tombstone that the lady had requested, it became quite apparent that the tombstone that she had selected was much too small for the wording that she had chosen. He thought long and hard about how he could fulfill the old maid's final request, considering the very limited space available on the small piece of stone.

For days, he agonized over the dilemma. But finally his experience as a postal worker allowed him to come up with what he thought was the appropriate solution to the problem. The Virgin's tombstone was finally completed and duly engraved, and it read as follows:

(are you ready)



(bet you can't guess)


(her tombstone reads:)


"RETURNED UNOPENED"


I will be most busy this weekend. I may post something for Photohunt but other than that I will not be around. I would like to take the time now to wish everyone a very nice weekend. Oh and happy April Fools to those of you that are so inclined. P.S. Had to bring back the original do also. Take care.


Strangely, I feel like staying at home... and doing my homework... and flossing... and dying a virgin. --Buffy the Vampire Slayer

St Patrick's Parade Part C - The Final Edition

This looked neat to me. Having been in marching band in High School I have a thing for straight lines and straight diagonals, I only wish I could have snapped this a split second sooner so the persons cover was not "covering" the person next to him.

























OK, confession time. Now you know where I got my current avatar from. I can't say I have ever worn my hair like that although some mornings it does look rather strange for sure. I still say, at least for me, that would make an outstanding Halloween costume.

























Do you believe the nerve of this gentlemen. There were police all over and her he is using a bong as he heads down the parade route. It must be a pretty cool little town that they did not bust him. Maybe I should move there.

























Now this picture is one that I enjoy. He seems to be trying to untangle the beads so he can toss them to people attending the parade. To me, however, I see him working with a particularly complicated rosary or prayer beads. Not that I am super religious or anything but I did grow up Catholic. The other thing I really like about this picture is it was pretty blurry and, with the use of photoshop I turned it into a fairly respectable picture. I like that, good to know.


















Now what parade, at least over here in the States, would be complete without a lot of noise makers, all the fire engines, rescue vehicles and police cars. It was amazing how loud they all where this time. Even if you could not hear you could just feel how loud they were. I hope you understand because it is kind of hard to explain.

Anyway I do not remember if I mentioned this but there was this couple (I think) next to me. The guy was holding this yellow lab pup throughout the parade and the pup was doing really good. I am not good at guessing age and even worse with dogs but I would guess probably four months old, maybe younger. Anyway when the fire engines came through and were so loud that puppy still was not fussing. The guy grabbed the puppies ears and tried to shield them from the noise and after a while the puppy just wanted him to let his ears alone. I was amazed that a dog would tolerate all the noise like that. Nope, no pictures of said puppy but I did pet him a little. I am a sucker for dogs and yes cats too.


















And now lets close down this parade with this picture. I thought it was cute especially when they almost seemed to pose when they saw the camera. How could I not take a picture of that.


















Now you saw my unconventional take on the parade. Yes I could have shown you a few floats but you probably have seen that like 1000 times before. Sorry I did not see any leprechauns, I went back and checked. There were no big marching band units but there were several piper bands but once again, old news at least here in Michigan. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.


Robo-puppy mistreatment alert. Robo-puppy mistreatment alert. --Futurama

Barman School of Photography

Welcome to the Barman school of Photography. Learn specialty techniques from the master. Soon you too will be taking picture like this close up of the street...












Or this picture of clouds.












Next week we will learn the amazing technique of taking picture in the dark without a flash and moving the camera while taking a picture. These are truly master techniques.

Now I actually did take the cloud picture on purpose for possible future use. The street shot however joins the outtakes. Now you know why I take 300 to 500 pictures at almost anything. You are bound to get lucky ... Can I open my eyes yet?



In that case, I would like to take Photography 101. --A Small Circle of Friends

St Pats Parade Part Duo

I so enjoy doing things in this small town. Easy in, easy out. Lots of interesting little places to go and fun things to do. The St Patrick's Day parade here was fun. I think this is the sixth year for this parade and it was my second time attending. Without further ado, here is the first part of two of the actual parade pictures.

Now this parade probable lasted between 30 and 40 minutes and I am telling you they were stretching it out. How do I know. The first two picture are a sign of that.

The first picture is of this years Queen and I suppose her court. Now if you ask me the first person (on the left) looks the most Queenly but I can not blame the queen for wearing a coat. It was a bit chilly that day. But I do have one question... a stocking cap? I know it is green but a stocking cap? Not very Queenly or Courtly at all.

















Now here we have something I have never seen before. Here is prior Queens. Say what? Now that is why I say they were stretching the parade. Still it was a very nice little parade. Nice car by the way.

















The three young ladies were sure enjoying themselves. I must say pretty much everyone in the parade seem to be having a fun time. The only question I have for this ... Is the one in the center a little bored or maybe just tired? So what did these ladies do other then represent a group??? Well pass out beads of course. Everyone passes out beads.

























I do not know what is is about this picture but it tickled my fancy. Maybe it was all the feathers in the hat. Oh come on, that was funny, wasn't it? I know, don't quit my day job.


















This was one of the grand marshals of the parade. One of? Yep, one of. Isn't he just perfect for a St Patrick's Day parade marshal? He so looks the part.


















Yet more bead passers and happy campers.


















Lets end this set on a cute note. Definitely a couple of cuties. Oh and g-man, should you be reading this... look, there is some (maze and) blue just for you on the right hand side of the picture.

















One more set to follow.

Seventy-six trombones led the big parade / with a hundred and ten cornets close at hand / They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuosos / the cream of every famous band! --The Music Man

The crowd at the St Pats Parade

OK here is part 1 of the St Pats pictures. This will be crowd as I found some interesting people. You know, I really should consider focusing more attention on people as I really enjoy people watching.

This lady was actually in the parade handing out green strings of beads but I could not pass her up. Green glasses and the local University hat, green of course. But that look on the face does it for me. She is having a good time.


OK, another something from the parade. This is our local Senator. Now I want you to know, normally she has nothing but purple on. Well as far as I know. I mean I have never seen her underwear or anything. So here she has on green pants. That is a huge sacrifice for her.


OK, I want me one of those green head thingies.


I took several pictures of these ladies never really happy with what I got. Then they must have seen me and walla, much better picture. Gotta love the jester hat.



Where is Irish Waldo?


You can not see it clearly here but these really do sparkle.



Parade to follow.


Yeah, it was a few years ago on St. Patrick's Day. I was bombed on green beer, and she was as cute as a damn leprechaun. --That 80s Show

A preview

I promised St Pats parade pictures but have been running out of time. So to force my hand I thought I would put out a teaser or a preview if you would. I thought this was a much more interesting picture then your typical parade picture. More coming later.

Saturday's Photo Scavengar Hunt - EMPTY

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.
This weeks theme is EMPTY.

I wondered if I would ever get to use these pictures. What you see here is a small series of photots that show the abandon EMPTY vault of a former bank. You will notice the EMPTY safety deposit boxes. Believe me they were EMPTY, I checked. I had the pleasure having my office moved for a few weeks into a former bank. One of the treasures was this old bank vault.






Not everyday you see a bank vault or at least not every day you can take pictures of one.


Thank you very much for visiting. Have a wonderful weekend.

A Couple of Pictures From Lunch

Today when we showed up for lunch it became apparent that Sign and G-man had been talking. I mean I showed up in my car. Well actually it is a mini van. Look at what THEY showed up in.





Here are a couple other pictures, one of g-man, one of Sign. If you want to see the group photo you can go here. Mine is very much like Signs so I figured why post it.



Hope everyone had a nice day.

Guess Where I Was?

I will not do that to you. I was just out to lunch. And who did I meet for lunch you might ask...

Go ahead, I will wait



None other than Sign Gurl and G-man. What a nice lunch. Sign was not able to give g-man a run for his money today because she was not feeling herself ... wait that did not turn out correctly. Still she exchanged more than a few rounds. What a fun time. There is one thing however... at one point Sign Gurl put her camera under the table and next thing I knew the flash went off. Now I was not asking but...

Anyway I just had to post this to one up Sign who will no doubt be first to post a picture. No can do from work.

Thank you so much Sign and wonderful meeting up with you g-man. Let's do it all again next month. :)

One Nuke, Two Nuke, Three Nuke, More

OK, I am sorry but this one is going to be a negative post. I will try and get it over quick.

We have a microwave at work that was there since before I joined (over 18 years now). We are a group of 16 people. Well part of our group decided they were going to go off on their own, buy a microwave and only they would use that. Of course the problem with that is we were not suppose to do that. That uses a lot of power but no, they brought in a microwave and a fridge and management did not do a thing about it.

Fast forward several years. We have been limping along with our microwave that I believe is about 25 years old. We have talked about replacing it but not much was done. I researched it at one point and still no one would make a decision. I got tired and dropped it. That is until today. Today I noticed this on the THEIR microwave. Personally I think they should have just said something to the person that was using it that they did not want using it. I mean I have not been using THEIR microwave. But for some reason this stupid sign pissed me off.


I did a little research and found a microwave on sale. I made the decision to just go buy it. I am not asking for money but if anyone gives me any that would be nice. So tonight I went back to work and replaced this


with this


I figure if I am replacing the microwave myself then I should get to pick the color. Can you guess what my favorite color is?

Anyway now I feel like putting a sign on this microwave like this.


Luckily, I talk myself out of things like this. That and I am usually a very easy going person but not always. I know better and rarely act on a thought like this one.

Anyway that was my negative post. I know I am being childish. I know it should not bother me but for some reason it just does. Sorry, I just needed to get it out of my system. I will do better. I know, how about some St Patrick Parade pictures and one of me (waves to Gab). That will be next.


Napalm? Why don't you just nuke 'em while you're at it? --Evolution

And Now Something Really Different

I got to thinking last week when G-man posted his tats. There was that most impressive Harley Tattoo. I just had to do something but what, then the idea hit me.

First let me apologize to Crabby as I plain old ripped of her picture of Milkmaid. Secondly sorry if any of these are to terribly disturbing...

And now he we have some of our gang. I would love to have added others but I don't have needed pictures.


First we have Top Cat. Some how I think this bike suits him.


Next up there is our little rebel Sign Gurl.


That brings us to Lady Roxanne. I must admit, try as I could, I just could not do you justice.


This is Milkmaid. This actually is Crabby's picture. How could I improve on that.


Manny would be next. Wow, liking the tattoo.


Here we have Gab. Looking mighty fine on that there bike.


Even though KJ no longer visits, I could not help but think of her when I saw this one.


And now the man of the hour that started this all out, G-man who is on a Harley of course. I should have found a much more impressive looking bike.


I saw this while I was a surfing and just could not pass this up for Crabcakes.


OK, I was going to leave me out but I guess that would not be right. So here I am, Barman.


OK, Crabcakes and Gab decide to pair up and hit the road with cow in tow. Oh no Bob, it appears Crabby has another new pet. And you though Lucy left land mines.




I am the bike whisperer... NOW LIVE MY PRECIOIUS! --URBO: The Adventures of Pax Afrika

Saturday's Photo Scavengar Hunt - DRINK

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.
This weeks theme is DRINK.

In keeping with my looking for a twist for the weeks theme, have you ever heard the phrase, she is a tall “drink” of water? Well I did a little research on this and there seems to be a bit of variation on it. The thing that people seem to agree with most often was that it is talking about a tall thin woman.

With that let me present to you a few pictures of one of our members of the Michigan State University women’s basketball team. Allyssa DeHaan is a freshman and she is an impressive 6' 9" tall. I think if you were able to find “Tall Drink of Water” in a dictionary you would see a picture of Allyssa.


I have never meet Allyssa in person but the day I did go to one of their games with my camera she caught my attention right away. It is not surprising as Allyssa stands a full 6 inches about any one of her team mates. That and she seemed to be a real super person. She was not all full of herself like she could be. She seemed to get along well with her team mates. I also found several articles like this one that enforced my opinion of her. Anyway if you were interested here is a link with information about Allyssa.





This last one I thought I would toss in for fun. The person on the left you see with the light green shirt collar is their coach. In real life she is probably slightly shorter then normal. Here she looks really short standing near Allyssa.



Thank you very much for visiting. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy St Patrick's Day should you be so inclined.