Happy Halloween

Be safe and enjoy....

Partial St Paul Skyline

A partial view of the downtown St Paul skyline from the Wabasha Street Bridge.

Really Fresh Fritzie Fresh

From The Archives

Looking through some of my photos from last summer during the Republican National Convention. This capture stood out seeing all of the police in their riot gear, making their presence known and keeping the peace.

To Brighten Your Day

Our weather around the Twin Cities has been a bit of a downer lately. Below average temps, lots of rain, a few inches of snow and very little sunshine. We just seam to be in a cloudy funk for the entire month of October. I'm posting some yellow color today. It's a contribution from swc of a giant sunflower.

Deja Vu

A different day, a different location, but surprisingly I had the same idea in mind for the same subject. I was looking through my archive of photos for some that I've overlooked in the past. To my surprise, the last two days were of the same subject, same location and nearly the same cropping. Personally, I like today's better than yesterday's because of the added green from the trees.

Four Horsemen

A portion of the Minnesota State Capitol building.

Just A Rowing

A little bit different view from last months similar subject, which can be seen here.

More Snow

Another capture from last weeks unusually early snow storm in October....

Ghost Ads - Zenith

One more ghost ad contribution from swc for the week. This one is that I recall growing up to be quite prominent in the electronic industry. Then again, at the age I was, perhaps their best days were long gone.

Ghost Ads Up North

This wonderfully captured Ghost Ad contribution from swc can be found up north in downtown Duluth.

And I'm Back

Where did I go? I didn't go anywhere, but I did spend a lot of time sleeping. It turned out, I had 100% of the H1N1 symptoms. Yep, the 'swine flu' caught me and caught me good last week. I just didn't really have the energy to turn on my computer for a few days. I had heard late in the summer they predicted the H1N1 would peak in October, before the vaccine would be available. I believe we are pretty close to peaking. So, the good news is, now that I've had H1N1, there is no need for me to get the vaccine.

But alas, I have returned to the daily photo and will start off with a simple indoor photo and back to the Twin Cities photos tomorrow.

We Set A Record

My understanding is, the last measurable snowfall in the Twin Cities has set a record. Four inches of snow fell on Monday, this is the earliest record we've ever had that amount of snow falling in the Twin Cities. We're not alone, I'm sure you've noticed the cooler temperatures where ever you are reading this.

About 48 hours after the snowfall, all of my plants are dead, I've seen several trees where ALL of the leaves have fallen off the trees over night. Like that, winter has started.

Very Early Snowfall

I had to do it, I had to break out the camera for this season's second snowfall in Cottage Grove. A few days earlier it had snowed, but melted before I could get a fresh battery in my camera. This snowstorm produced quite a bit of snow with plenty of photo opportunities. This was very wet and heavy snowfall while many of the trees still had their leaves. This was also a very early snowstorm for us as you can tell by all of the green in the photo.

It was there when I took the photo, but this store at the Mall Of America has since closed.

Roadside Nursery

Goodnight Vehicles

Oh The Drama

In 24 hours, I've watched the Minnesota Vikings destroy the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. The Minnesota Twins play a one game playoff game to decide the American League Champion for 2009. They came back twice to win. Then the Minnesota Wild win their season home opener, another comeback being down 3-0 and winning in overtime. I'm so not used to Minnesota being in the spotlight and coming out on the victorious side of things.

Turning Wood Into Electricity

That smoke you see rising out of the top of this building is actually steam. I've featured this building many times in the past, but always from a distance and refered to it as the 'smoke factory'. The purpose of this building is electricty, heating, and cooling. It burns 1000 tons of wood chips per day. It's fancy technology boils water very hot, creating electricity in it's turbine blades. The hot water is the pumped through underground pipes heating nearly all of the buildings in the downtown area. There is also a really fancy technology called a steam absorption chiller that condensed the steam vapor back into a liquid, cooling the water down to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This water is also pumped into the downtown area into air-condition units to keep the buildings cool in the summer months.

Right Here, Right Now

This is the place to park....indeed it is.

To The Other Side

From the bluffs of downtown St Paul. The Science museum, the building on the right, the High Bridge in the distance with the Mississippi River flowing through the photo....

Theme Day: "Contrast"

Greetings fellow CityDailyPhoto bloggers as you make your way through all of October's 'contrast' theme day. The photo I've selected with outrageous contrasting colors was taken in my flower garden over the summer. It features a macro shot of a katydid resting on my lily's. He really stood out with the bright orange background. I initially thought a leaf had blown onto the lily, but a second glance, I realized it was an insect. Ran into the house to grab my camera and hoped it would still be there for my return. Success!

To see additional theme day photos around the world, stop by the portal page for a convenient thumbnail view of all participants. As the time zone changes each hour, more photos will be added.