Bright Angel Turkey

This turkey was really something to watch. I woke up in the morning after a beautiful night under the stars and while I was getting packed up and ready to head back up to the top I noticed this and another turkey going from campsite to campsite foraging for food. Well I thought I would take some pictures of them. I took this right before it decided that it didn't like me taking pictures of them. This thing had me penned back in a campsite against the rocks. Well I got around it and it followed me. So for about 50 yards down the trail I was trotting backwards being chased by turkeys. I got back to my camp jumped on the table and waited for it to decide that I was no longer interesting. After a few minutes they headed off down the trail. It was quite entertaining and a little scary to get chased by them. You see these things were quite large.

Spire In The Sky

Its late and its Justin's Birthday today. I feel awful because he turned 30 and instead of being able to spend his birthday with him I got to spend the evening home alone. I actually feel awful in another way though, I think that I have an infection in my mouth. I have pretty good hygiene but for the last couple of days my jaw has gotten more and more sore and tight. It actually is even hard to open my mouth wide enough to eat. So I have been using salt water and hydrogen peroxide to rinse my mouth with in hopes that I will be able to kill whatever is bugging my body. I only think it is an infection because my cheek has gotten all puffy to go along with being tight and sore. Anyhow I got a little more graphic then I intended to. I miss my brother and wish him the happiest of birthdays. After all he really sounds happier now then he has in at least 15 years. Why shouldn't he though he has a pretty cool life going right now. A girlfriend he loves who is going to give him his first child, a new motorcycle, a decent car, a job that he doesn't hate which pays him enough money to live on comfortably. I guess I am a little jealous of some of what he has going right now. But I am more happy for him being happy. He deserves it and has earned it. I Love You Justin, Happy Birthday.

Snow On Tree

I took this at about the same time as the image I posted yesterday. I miss the snow a lot. You know that this week summer has finally started to feel like it has broken. But with this whole global warming thing summer never really goes away anymore. Oh wait I live in a desert thats why its so damn hot for so bloody long. Regardless of whether global warming is real or imagined deserts are usually hot. Not to mention that I live in the city center and there is about 80-100 miles of pavement in any direction from where I am. There is a noticable heat island created by the city and it is really uncomfortable during the summer. Anyway I do think that global warming is real, however I also believe that it is a natural cycle that the earth goes through. And so long as we don't treat the earth as if we were a swarm of locust devouring a crop of grain, then we should be OK.

Snowy Bench

I thought since yesterday I spoke a little bit about death I would put something up today which adequately shows some beauty I have found in a cemetary. I took this in the cemetary in Grand Canyon National Park. I waited and waited and waited for it snow that winter and finally one morning I woke up and it was snowing. So I grabbed my camera and ran out the door to this spot to take this picture. I took several frames along the way and my gosh its really hard to get a good exposure on a snowy day.

Not My Headstone

So since I am never going to die this won't actually become what my headstone looks like in 200 years or so, but when I drew this I was kinda thinking about what my headstone might look like. Anyway I am curious about what actually takes place when our body stops functioning. I know what I was taught growing up and I believe stuff; but honestly none of us, absolutely no one here on earth knows what happens to our mind/spirit/soul/whatever when our bodies die. I choose to believe that we are more than just bodily functions. I don't really have a clear idea what it will be like, but I can say that I am sure it must be beautiful. All one has to do is look around to see beauty and magic. I don't mean outside I mean literally everything in front of your eyes is an example of beauty and magic. Remember folks that it wasn't more then a few generations ago that what we call science was thought of as magic. Everything is beautiful, even death. If it weren't for the coffins which we encase these shells we call our bodies in then they would return to the earth as the elements which they are composed of and provide sustenance to other creatures.

Bright Angel Rocks

This is something I took at the Bright Angel Campground in the Grand Canyon. On the morning that I took this I also got chased by a pair of turkeys it really was pretty cool. Anyhow this rock formation was right in the campsite that I slept in that night. If you can't tell by now I don't really like taking pictures of people but of things.

Orpheum Theatre

This image was taken of the SouthEast Corner of the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix. It was recently renovated but other then cleaning the exterior was largely if not wholly unchanged. This building is among the oldest in the city. You see Phoenix has this habit of tearing things down and rebuilding about every 10-15 years. In the words of Eddie Izzard "That building is over 50 years old, whoa no one was alive back then. Let's knock it to the earth and we'll build a car park there." I don't think I got the exact words but I am sure I almost got them.