Headbangers--Surprise!

Whose turn is it to choose the theme for the Headbangers this week?

Surprise! It's your turn. It wasn't really but once again some switching around had been done and it truly was a surprise to me. And the team really had to be informed, so what better theme under the circumstances than "Surprise!"

And honestly, I had no idea what to post in my header for the theme. And almost no better idea this morning as I prepared my ABC Wednesday post below. (Dave, if you are reading this, you had better scroll down to the next post as it is at your request.)

As I did that post I remembered how surprised I was as that balloon rose directly over our heads. Why was I surprised? What did I expect? Not sure, but I do know I was not expecting this blast right then. Did you know that the blast of the heaters is quite loud?  Maybe that is what was surprising.

I cropped it to fit my header style. It might do.

Then the weekend came and after a movie (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close with it's theme based around someone lost in the World Trade Center on 9/11 could have been maudlin, but it is instead quite awesome. See it.) I digress, after the movie we finally had a chance to try the new Texas Roadhouse restaurant --earlier visits either found them closed because we were too early, or with an hour and a half wait time on New Year's Day. We were enjoying quite delicious kabobs and hearing several birthday celebrations around the room when

Dope slap!!!

DUH!!

It's hubby's birthday (well, not quite but the Monday.)

So I got up to go to the Ladies' Room. Well, that's what hubby thought, and I didn't lie, I did go. But on my way I nabbed our waitress and told her, and so, in a few minutes here they came with a saddle on a sawhorse. "Huh, what's this? I don't understand." I really got him. I really got him. 

So:

Which was the best surprise possible and I am glad that I caught it with my new cell phone. I texted it to my daughter who e-mailed it to me, which is pretty much the only way to get pictures off the stupid phone.

I am glad that I got a picture, but  it is truly a lousy picture that I will not use in my header. I have my standards as to the quality of my header photos and the shape of them. I insist that the header does not take up so much space that you can't see the start of the posts below.

So I still needed a surprise header. What surprises recently? Surprise, it's a cancer of the blood! No, not quite right for a header. Surprise, it snowed? No, that doesn't work. Snow is not that much of a surprise. An upside down snowman was cute--hubby is taking a picture of it for me today as it is in the next town and he has errands there. I will save it for my next Odd Shot--unless the message comes back, surprise, it melted.

So a happy surprise for me last year was an invitation to join hundreds of TCs from across the world at Google Headquarters for a Summit. Wow! You know, you get all sorts of scams and spams in e-mail--most filtered out by the spam filters. But no, this was legit. And so, my representation of my surprise in the header, the Google bikes that employees  (known as googlers) ride when they have to go from one part of the Googleplex to another. Googlers, unlike myself, are young and fit. And so these surprising bikes represent my surprising invitation. Thanks Google!

I have to add the surprising comment when my four year old granddaughter asked me why my T-Shirt said Google on it. I told her it was a souvenir from when I visited Google. Her surprising reaction? GRANDMA, you can't go to Google. It's in the computer!

Oh, by the way, check on the other headbangers and see what surprised them. Their links are in my sidebar.

ABC-Wednesday B is for

 A couple of weeks ago, when I used the photographers at the Prosser Balloon Rally last September for my Photograph the Photographer header, headbanger Dave (who was the one who found nine photographers in the shot) commented: It'll be interesting to see all the balloons in flight that these avid photographers are taking pictures of.

So, Dave, here you are. I don't think I have ever put quite this many photos in one post before, but they show why so many photographers were so intent. If you ever get a chance to go to a balloon rally, don't forget your camera.

ABC Wednesday Round Ten--B is for Balloons--the hot air kind--in abundance.

We begin with the balloon laid out carefully on a tarp. I followed this balloon through its inflation and launch, and was surprised to realize that it was the first to rise.   

fasten the vents

check everything

top

up

the light of the heat blast

Hold on

Airborne

another blast

neighbor's up now too

rising

did you notice how small those baskets are? (Couldn't help it--another B)

overhead

keep the hot air coming

Other balloons join the first.

There are some of our photographers.

So, as I say, if you go to a balloon rally, take the camera. Photograph the Photographers, and don't forget to photograph the balloons. As if you could forget. In fact, if you weren't planning on going to a balloon rally, find one. It's fascinating. And you will have a B for the next round of ABC Wednesday.

Odd Shot--sign fun

We saw quite a few fun signs when we walked around in Virginia City, Nevada this last November.



This is my last Odd Shot from that trip. I will have to start watching around for a new shot for next week.


Have fun with your odd shots.

Sunday's Psalm--Third sunday in Ordinary Time

Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;

teach me your paths,

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my savior.

Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Remember that your compassion,

O LORD,

and your love are from of old.

In your kindness remember me,

because of your goodness,

O LORD.

Teach me your ways,

O Lord.

Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice
and teaches the humble his way.

Teach me your ways, O Lord.

from Psalm 25

Visit Daily Athens for other illustrated Psalms.

Well, here again, ABC Wednesday, Wednesday Blackout, and Headbangers Challenge merge

First of all, it is almost Wednesday, and all over the internet there are folks who have made their sites go black to protest the American House of Representatives' SOPA bill. Monday it was announced that that bill had been effectively killed. We still have PIPA in the Senate, but the fact is that some forms of protest seem rather ineffective, and blacking out the blog seems one of them. Although I suppose it might bring awareness of the issue to the surfing public.

I don't remember what SOPA stands for, but PIPA is the Prevent Internet Piracy Act. The doom and gloom crowd declare that it would effectively destroy the Internet as we know it. More moderate minds are skeptical. But it is a good thing to be informed, so look it up--but not on Wikipedia, because it will be blacked out.

ABC Wednesday enters round ten with the letter A. I left Round Nine with the Zoo, and since the Headbangers theme announced by Fishing guy is "Look at this ( ) Animal", I will go back to the zoos (and parks) for more favorite animals.

hoary marmot

Some animals from Mt. Rainier National Park. You have probably seen many of these pictures before if you have hung out here for long.

black bear

doe and fawns

frog

 This photo is not zoomed in. She is right there at my elbow. This little beggar hangs out at Second Burroughs Mountain to see what hikers she can talk into sharing their lunch. Not a good thing, as hiker lunches are not the best food for Golden Mantle Squirrels, and becoming dependent on hiker food dulls the food foraging skills for when the hikers are no longer there.







And now a couple of Zoo visits--mostly from the San Francisco Zoo trip in fall of 2010.

red lemur

I don't know what this bird is, other than a show off.

and talk about show offs!

What a poser!

Can you call these tortoises at the Phoenix Zoo lovebirds?

 But ready to go into the header--

"Look at this (family of ) animals":

Baby Hasani again, and his adoptive mother  Bawang. He was about a year old when we visited them.

For the best ever animal header in the blogosphere, visit Max-E in South Africa.  I love going to his blog even when he hasn't updated for a while, just for the header shot. Scroll through and see some of his adventures as well.

Last Week's Headbanger's Conclusion

Putting the number of photographers to rest, I think I found the other three that Dave found last week.

And we'll call that a wrap!

Odd Shot

Only Odd because this was the meerkat enclosure.




The meerkats did eventually show up.