Warm Weather Returns

Been a bit pre-occupied the past few days with my Final Four web site, but now that the bulk of what I need to do to get it up and running is over, I can concentrate here once again.

I can't say it's as warm out and as green as it is in the photo contribution by swc, but it's getting closer as each day passes. The water falls in the photo can be found in Hastings off of Highway 61 as you cross the Vermillion River.

Mallard Ducks Part Two

Contribution photo from swc....this pair of mallard ducks made their way into the front lawn of http://www.twincitiesdailyphoto.com/labels/swc.html during the spring of 2008.

Spot The Differences

I received a contribution photo from swc over the weekend. On January 16, I posted a black and white photo of the Vermillion River while standing on a walking path bridge facing west. The contribution photo is from the exact same location, facing west, but taking during the peak of summer. One can hardly tell these are indeed the same location. The river bank on the left is fairly easy to make out in both photos. Also on the left bank, there is a crop of birch trees, those are, in my account, the easiest to make out between both season photos.

Marquee Theatres

I've been told the marquee theater sign has changed at the Mall Of America. This contribution photo from Dave R was sent to me last week. I'll certainly get out to the mall soon to see it. I've always enjoyed the various displays the theaters have outside their doors. Hopefully marquees will be one tradition in the United States that survives. It would be a shame to see them all disappear over time because they use evil light bulbs. I still have trouble coming to grips why an incandescent light bulb is bad because it uses more electricity, yet at the same time, the average power supply in a computer today is rated at 400 Watts. 2012 is when we start saying goodbye to the 100 Watt incandescent light bulb and completely phased out by 2014 with the 40 Watt. We are asked to put CFL's in the sockets instead, but my concern is the small amount of mercury in them.

Foshay Tower Lights Up The Night

This is a contribution photo by Eric of the Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis. The Foshay Tower was built in 1929, modeled after the Washington Monument and stands 447 feet tall, plus an antenna that extends the structure to 607 feet total. It has been credited as the first skyscraper west of the Mississippi. It remains the second tallest concrete skyscraper with the Empire State Building in New York as the tallest.

Normally the lights on the Foshay Tower go unlit. I believe I heard it had been 15 years since they were last lit up. The reason they were powered on was to mark the opening of a new beginning for the Foshay Tower. It has been converted from an office building to a 230 room 'W Hotel'. Ralph W Burnet and Ryan Companies have spent over $90 million in the renovation process.

This great contribution photo and more can be found found at the authors flicker website.

Dad, Grab You Camera

My son walked into the house and started yelling for me, "Dad Dad" he said, "You should grab your camera because there is a cool looking cloud to take a photo of". Hearing him say that gave me a surprised and curious look to my face. I certainly had to take a look at what he was talking about. So I grabbed the camera and we headed out side. He walked over to the our drive way and sure enough, the view in today's photo was the photo opportunity he was talking about. He then said, "I bet if you put this photo on your web site it will get lots of comments". I handed him the camera so he could take the photo for today. I must admit, the way the passing thunderstorm cloud looked as the sun was setting and framed between the neighborhood trees, it was a great vision at only the age of 9.

My sons only question now is, how many comments will his photo bring?

I Can't Believe Someone Threw Away A Perfectly Good Car

Has something ever caught your eye as you were driving and you had to turn around and go back and see it again? This contribution photo from swc was one of those instances. When I first saw the photos, I was a bit puzzled by it. Looking at what is printed on the side of the roll off box, it is nothing more than advertisement by the publicly funded bus system encouraging you to throw away your car and start using public transportation. Yep, that's my tax dollars paying for that odd, but very eye catching advertisement. I'm curious how much this cost for this setup and is this the only location that is advertising in this manner? Hummm....

 

Feeding Time

At first glance, I didn't catch it, did you? Who is feeding whom in the photo? This outstanding contribution photo from swc capture a mother bird feeding her young. If you have not looked closely, baby birds open their mouths to be fed. The smaller of the two birds is feeding the larger of the two birds. The mother bird is the smaller of the pair. The two birds obviously are not the same and I would have to speculate that another bird laid it's eggs in this mothers nest perhaps?

 

Xcel Energy Smoke Stack Falls

Live, from St Paul, Xcel Energy smokestack is demolished as it is no longer needed. This contribution photo from Claydough shows the 570 foot, highbridge tower as it falls to the ground. Explosives were used for the initial blast, then gravity took care of the rest as the tower fell leaving a great big cloud of dust. Claydough took over 100 photos of the day's event. To see the rest of the photo set, you can visit his flicker website.

Photo contribution from Clay Johnson Photography