The Rev. Jerimiah Wrong's $1 million mansion

I'm glad this story is hitting the mainstream media

Series conclusion....maybe

wetlandglow042608, originally uploaded by edrahe.

This is the last of my PhotoShopped landscapes, unless I go shoot some more, which I'm thinking that I might. I'm planning an urban photo excursion this afternoon, so we'll see what I get.

Neon Trees

cypress042608, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Here is another in my recent series of PhotoShopped landscapes. Cypress trees in the wetland wood.

House in plastic

House in plastic, originally uploaded by edrahe.

The magic of PhotoShop

Haybaler through glass

decay0426081, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I shot this one saturday and gave it the glass filter treatment. It is a hay baler that hasn't baled any hay for at least 40 years.

Experimenting with PhotoShop

decay042608, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I've been taking pictures for years at the farm so I tend to think of the place as boring. Sometime I think I've shot everything possible there. I happened to capture this one on Saturday and passed it through the diffuse filter in PhotoShop and came up with something new and interesting, I think.

The black and white version

forrestbw, originally uploaded by edrahe.

This is the black & white version of yesterdays picture. I don't know if I'm done working with it yet.

Mushroom hunting

L1010214, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I saw this shot when I was out in the woods looking for morrell mushrooms. I didn't find any 'shrooms, but I got an interesting shot I think.

A room of their own

Pie Room, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I was at a funeral today and attended the traditional funeral lunch at the deceased's Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod). These Lutherans thought of everything when they planned their new kitchen and dining area a few years ago. I would've never thought that pies would need a room of their own, but why not? A lot of pies are eaten in churches all over the country and they need somewhere to wait I guess.

However, I took a peek inside the Pie Room and there were no pies in it, nor was pie served at this particular funeral lunch. Hmmm.

This was the one and only picture I took at today's funeral even though I saw a lot of good shots during the church service and later at the cemetery. I think a lot of people think it morbid or in bad taste to take pictures at a funeral. I've even read that some people believe it is bad luck to take a picture at a funeral.

My thought is that as long as there aren't any photo's taken of the guest of honor why not have a professional photographer at a funeral? Think about it: Funerals, like weddings, are where you see extended family that you haven't seen for many years and probably won't see for a few years more. Why not gather everyone for a group shot? Maybe a few shots at the burial service while the deceased is being carried to the grave. I see nothing wrong with that and I think in several years it might be actually interesting to look at the picture and see who or who was not at the funeral.

I think I'm going to include a request for a photographer at my funeral, which will hopfully be several years down the road.

"Respond on the Quiet"

Right at this moment I'm in my office (referred to by some as The Cave), checking out the latest online headlines and listening to my police scanner. In addition to getting tickled by the headline I posted below, a fire call on the scanner just tickled me:

"Fire alarm sounding at the Central Institute for the Deaf. Respond on the quiet."

Okay, maybe I'm too easily amused.

Somali wild ass born at Zoo

You gotta love this headline!

I think I'll try to get to the Zoo in the next few days and get a wild ass picture.

Not looking good for the Delta Queen

Delta Queen, originally uploaded by edrahe.

After 80 years of safely carrying passengers on the Sacramento River in California, and since about 1948 on the Ohio and Mississippi river and navagable tributaries, the U.S. Coast Guard has declared the storied vessel is a firetrap.

It doesn't look like Congress is going to help with another exemption from the Safety at Sea Law which bars wooden vessels from carrying overnight passengers. Congress has granted such an exemption since 1971.

Read all about it.

This shot is scanned from a slide I took I believe in 2005.

Today's River Clips

I got my butt going early this morning and did a nice bike ride along the riverfront trail through downtown and North St. Louis. There was a lot of activity on the river.

A still shot from today's woodsplitting

L1010184, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Looking at this shot it seems like they're splitting the only tree for miles and miles.

Splitting wood

This wouldn't pass muster for a wood splitting safety video. Neither subject is wearing the proper safety equipment. Luckily nothing went wrong. But I was there today with my video camera to catch it if it happened. This is my Dad and our friend Roger working a somewhat homemade wood splitter. The wood is sycamore.

On the hoof

IMG_0029, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Way back when I was in high school one year I placed fourth in my FFA sectional livestock judging contest. That was somewhat surprising since I raised only hogs and had to learn from a book what made a good looking beef or dairy cow or sheep. This looks like a good piece of beef to me, but I really can't tell you why anymore.

A rooster

IMG_0015, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Shooting into the sun and had to blow out the background in order to get the rooster details.

Cat leads family to safety during Earthquake

Editor's Note: I received the following news release from our cat Pepper's public relations firm. While the timeline of events is accurate, the rest is cat PR BS.

Pepper the cat of St. Louis, Mo., this morning saved her humans from certain death during a major Earthquake that shook the midwestern United States.

Sensing impending doom shortly after 4:30 a.m., Pepper roused one of her humans, Ed, from a deep slumber, and led the way out of the bedroom to the safety of the livingroom. "Oh, it was really no big deal," said the humble Pepper, "but I hate to think what might have happened if I hadn't gotten my humans out of the bedroom in time. Who would've fed me my breakfast?"

The Post Office strikes again

mailboxtag, originally uploaded by edrahe.

For years and years I never had a complaint with the U.S. Postal Service. In fact, I thought it was unfair that postal workers are the butt of a lot of jokes and are usually portrayed in movies and television as bumbling idiots. I admit, I enjoyed the Newman character on Seinfeld, but I took him as an over the top parody. After my experiences of the past year with the post office I'm beginning to think Newman is all too real.

It would happen every couple of weeks. We would get mail addressed to our neighbors. Okay, that can happen once in a while. But then it started happening regularly so I called the local Post Office to bring this to the attention of the local Postmeister. I was assured that additional care would be taken and that seemed to solve the problem for a while.

Then it started happening a few weeks ago and a pattern began to emerge. We live at 433 Elm Street (the address has been changed for this narration) and on a regular basis we were getting mail for 433 Pine Street (also changed for this narration), which is one street over. We would still get random pieces of mail addressed to our neighbors on Elm Street.

I called the local Postmeister two weeks ago and explained my displeasure at the situation. He was very apologetic and explained that he would "flag" our address. We were to be sent a sticker to put on our mailbox which would remind the mail carrier to double-check the accuracy of our delivery.

It seems other neighbors have called to complain about misaddressed mail. It took two weeks but we finally received a sticker to put on our mailbox. It was addressed to the house at 433 Pine Street! That's right, a sticker that is supposed to remind the mail carrier to make sure we don't get our neighbor's mail was sent to the WRONG ADDRESS.

I called the Postmeister again this morning and explained what happened and clearly told him that I have absolutly no faith that having a sticker on our mailbox is going to solve the problem. However, based on my my most recent coversation with the Postmeister think our mail carrier is going to really get chewed out today. At least I hope so.

Snakes are out

IMG_0005, originally uploaded by edrahe.

The weather has finally warmed up for the snakes to come out. I think this might be a species of milk snake. I hear they maked good pets.

Playing with Movie Maker

Okay, so today you get three posts. I'm still four behind for the month of April.

I'm continuing to have fun with Windows Movie Maker. This afternoon I was down at the farm getting my hands dirty in the garden. My Dad got out his favorite tractor, a 1952 John Deere 720, and hooked it up to the disk and made quick work of plowing up the tomato patch.

The subject was right for aging this film clip to make it look like it could have been shot in the 1950s.

A cover shot

IMG_0028, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Since I haven't shot much this month I'm playing blogging catch-up. Today you get two posts.

This shot would be perfect for the cover of some sort of farm magazine. The mud on the subject's face can be easily removed.

A day at the farm

Today was the first really good day of spring so I was able to get to the farm and into the garden. Of course I shot some pictures and videos for everyone's enjoyment.

High Water on the Mississippi River

The Mississipp River at St. Louis is running at 31.3 feet today. According to the Corps of Engineers' forecast this is also the crest. Levels are expected to fall throughout the week. The mv. Larry Strain is seen running with the fast current under the Poplar Street Bridge in St. Louis this afternoon.

Fire Door

L1010156, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I just thought it was interesting.

UFO

UFO, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Can you spot the UFO in this photo?

More from the Library of Congress Collection

Church near Junction City, Kansas (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

If you thought flu season was over I'm hear to tell you that I caught the tail end of this year's virus (no pun intended). Today is the first day all week that I've had the strenghth to type, much less enough to get out and take pictures.

So today we revisit the Library of Congress' pilot Flickr collection of color slides taken by FSA or OWI agency photographers during the 1930s and 40s. This shot is of a church near Junction City, Kansas taken in 1942 or 1943.

A video clip from the river

Winter leftovers

L1010060, originally uploaded by edrahe.

In honor of our first truly spring day in April I'm posting a not so spring day shot almost exacly one month ago.

Nine Deer

ninedeer, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Unfortunately hunting season is months and months away. Yesterday, while visiting the farm, I noticed these nine, maybe 10 deer, milling about. I took this from the front porch of the ranchette with my 300 mm lens all the way out.

The things you can find on YouTube

Warren Buffet playing the ukulele with the Quebe Sisters Band. Its odd, but I like it.


I found the above number when I was looking for performances by the Quebe Sisters Band. These young women have been on the scene for a few years and I'm surprised that they don't have a wider appeal. Here's another clip sans Warren: