FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Very expressive, I must say!

Ahhh, so good to relax!

Aw, shucks, I didn't win an Oscar.

Go, go, go!

I'm sooo embarrassed!

I'm not gonna like this

I didn't say that!

I'll get him while he's asleep!

Ooohh, that's cold!

I swear! The fish was THIS big!

Don't you look at me like that!

BEAUTIFUL ANTARCTICA

Some of these are from stills, and a few I took from a video.
Enjoy!

Say 'Cheese'

Small ones

Smaller ones

 

Fun -

Bessie and Myrtle have been friends for many years.  One day Bessie says to Myrtle, “You have such soft beautiful skin!  How do you do it?” 
“I take milk baths,” says Myrtle.
“Really?  Is it pasteurized?”
“No,” says Myrtle, pointing to her waist.  “Just up to here.”

CHRISTMAS DELIVERY

Slender and clean-shaven, Duane Brusseau won't be mistaken for Santa Claus as he drives across America this month to make a special Christmas delivery.  But the 65-year-old retired truck driver from San Jose is sure to bring some holiday joy all his own as he guides a new Mack truck splashed in green and red from Sonora to the nation's capital.

Brusseau has the unique job of hauling a 60-foot Sierra white fir from the Stanislaus National Forest outside of Sonora to Washington D.C., where it will take its place this holiday season as the "People's Tree" on the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol.  Along the way, Brusseau and an entourage, including wife Bobbie and armed federal agents, will stop at a number of small towns and big cities to show off the tree at parades, swap meets and skating rinks.

"I feel fortunate to have this" job, said Brusseau, who is a volunteer driver. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To tour the country for a worthy cause and meet all these people and make a lot of little kids happy, it's kind of overwhelming.  "I'm really thrilled about this whole thing."

The holiday tour unofficially kicked off as the 118-year-old tree was paraded through downtown Sonora hours after being cut down.

California was selected this year by the U.S. Forest Service to provide the Capitol Christmas Tree. The U.S. Forest Service has provided the official tree since 1970.

The convoy will also collect and deliver 5,000 handmade ornaments from children and adults in California, which will be placed on the tree in time for the lighting ceremony Dec. 6. The group is also collecting nonperishable foods during the tour of California, which will be delivered during the stop in Gallup, N.M.

To make sure the tree is not a pile of dry pine leaves when it finally arrives at the Capitol, it is carefully placed on its side inside a custom-made cradle that supports the branches, preventing damage while maintaining the tree's shape, according to the Forest Service. The base of the tree has been fitted with a rubber "bladder" that is filled nightly with water. The 8,300-pound tree is expected to absorb about 60 gallons of water daily on its journey to Washington, D.C.

The Forest Service is also providing an online tracking service that allows people to track the tree. The Forest Service credits private donations for making the Capitol Tree program possible.
Once it arrives at the Capitol, the U.S. Capitol architect and a team of workers will spend more than a week decorating the tree with 10,000 LED lights and the thousands of ornaments. The tree will be dropped into a hole 5-feet deep and secured with cement.

"Just being part of this whole thing ... I'm overwhelmed and proud to be doing this," Brusseau said.


Humor --

 

THESE ARE A HOOT!

Amazing birds!  I never knew there were so many varieties.  Comments by yours truly.

Here’s lookin’ at ya kid.

Mom, pop, and the teenager

Coming in for a landing

I’m on lookout duty

I’d invite you in, but the place is a mess.

I’m the wise old owl, with the accent on ‘old’.

Aren’t I beautiful!

But he’s not as gorgeous as I am!

A home in the tree beats one in the ground

Yeah, I’m a little sleepy.  I was up all day.

Ok, so we look a little funny!  So what!

A FEW GOOD THOUGHTS…

                    Don't let your worries get the best of you;
                    remember, Moses started out as a basket case.

                    The good Lord didn't create anything without a purpose,
                    but mosquitoes come close.

                    Some minds are like concrete…
                    thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.

                    Forbidden fruits create many jams.

RUPERT

I think I've posted before, some months ago.  But for those who may not have seen him, here he is again.




This tiny deer was delivered by Caesarean section at a Wildlife hospital after a car killed his mother.
Little Rupert, who is so small he can fit in an adult's hand, was born after vets failed in their battle to save his mother.

At just 6" tall and weighing just over a pound, he is now in an incubator in the intensive care unit at Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Ocala, Florida. He has only recently opened his eyes.

Les Stocker, founder of Tiggywinkles, said, "Rupert's mother had very severe injuries. We brought him out and got him breathing, and then he went into an incubator on oxygen. He is now being fed by a tube"

Rupert in an incubator.

Rupert pulls a striking pose for the camera.

Asleep: Rupert takes 40 winks.

 Fun --

Two old ladies have been friends for a good part of their lives.     One day they are playing cards, and one old lady looks at the other and says, “Now don’t get mad at me. We’ve been friends for fifty years, but lately I don’t remember so good and now I can’t think of your name. I’m trying, but I just can’t remember it. Please don’t get mad. Just tell me what your name is.”

The other old lady glares at her. She sits there in silence, glaring at her friend, as long minutes pass.  
Finally, she says: “How soon do you need to know?”

DARWIN AWARDS, part 2

A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer... $15. [If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?]

Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly.. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape...

As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti , Michigan at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast... The man, frustrated, walked away. [

When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street by sucking on a hose, he got much more than he bargained for.. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline, but he plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

Cartoons --

GARAGE DOORS, concluded

Someone thought these might be Photoshopped.  I don't know.  Any opinions?

Where’s the construction project?

Show me the Red Baron!  I’ll get him!

Ah, the wine cellar

Outta the way!  I got a war to fight.

or --  Tanks for the memory!

Impressive, no?
(Don’t you dare say no)

Hey!  Off the tracks!

I just love riding on the fire engine!

Get ready for a night on the town

Dangerous

We have all the instruments; now we need musicians.

Going up or going down -- pick one.

Humor --

The locomotive - number 6, reminds me of a very old joke:

How do you pronounce 'two'?
Two

Ok, how do you pronounce 'too'?
Too

Good.  What is the last name under which Samuel Clemens wrote?
Twain

Very good.  Now put those three words together.
Two, too, Twain.

Excellent.  Now tomorrow I'll teach you how to say "locomotive'.

(Go ahead, shoot me for that one.)