Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, I've been working every day since Christmas.  I get to help send up people to work in a fish processing plant in Alaska.  That means my commute has gone from 6 minutes to around two hours a day.  It's OK, because I get to ride the train to the airport.  Fun!  I really like it, folks.  Anyhow, here's a squirrel.  Enjoy!

Merry Xmas!

This slightly weird creation is also courtesy of Cousin-in-law Sergei.  The creeps upstairs woke me up this morning just around 7:45, so I'm just waiting to head off to my sister's house where we'll have our gift-frenzy.  All I want is a sub-woofer.  It's about the only remaining way of dealing with the aforementioned creeps upstairs.  Anyhow, enjoy the day.  

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, this isn't mine.  Cousin-in-law Sergei sent it to me.  At least I think it was him.  You remember Cousin-in-law Sergei, don't you?  He drove Cousin Arsen and me to Chernivtsi back in September.  You can read about it here.  It was a great jaunt and Cousin-in-law Sergei was a fine fellow.  I think I might have told him that I was looking to photograph a red squirrel or he may have simply read this crappy blog.  You don't even need to know English to figure out what's going on here.  Anyhow, many thanks to him for the squirrel and multilingual Xmas wishes.  And if it wasn't Cousin-in-law Sergei, then who the heck was it??

The Dream Is Over

OK, this isn't news, because it happened a few weeks ago, but the squirrel stop on 4th is gone.  I predicted it!  But sadly, I was right.  And now the stop has been hauled God-knows-where and has probably already suffered some undignified fate.  Well, it was nice while it lasted.  Why couldn't it have been the stop at 7th & Blanchard.  I mean, that one's not great. 

These Are the Ducks I Saw

These guys were on Lake Union this morning.  They sure were pretty.  And almost majestic-like.  In any case, their manners put the nearby Mallards to shame.  I'm thinking they might be Canvasbacks.  If anybody else knows better, please tell me. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

Check out this guy's many moods.  I swear to God, in between these pictures, he was doing regular-squirrel things, but he was really quick.  So this is the only time I could get a decent picture - when he was being boring.  It's not the squirrel's fault.  To him, I'm just a huge predator, so he's always ready to dart to the next tree.  This is just him plotting his escape route. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

I haven't had much of a chance to go to Denny Park lately, what with the impending Holidays and bar mitzvahs and temp work and terrible weather and whatnot.  But I have many very nice shots from the past.  This is one of them.  All I can imagine is that life isn't so great for squirrels at the moment.  I hope that this fellow is at least warm and relatively dry.   

Sunday Morning Surprise

As I was heading off to the gym this morning, I considered bringing my camera.  But usually there's absolutely nothing to photograph.  Very little goes on at Westlake at 8:00 on a Sunday.  Sure, there are a few crazy people wandering around, jabbering strange things and a handful of sane people waiting for buses, but generally nothing outside of the morning calm of a mid-sized city.  Not this morning.  Nosiree.  I saw quite a few people in both running and yuletide gear as I approached, but once I hit Westlake, this was the scene:

Once again, pardon the cell photos.  I didn't expect to see thousands of people at Westlake early on a rainy/dreary Sunday morning, but there they were - all decked out and more or less ready for the Jingle Bell Run.  There were many Santa hats and quite a few women wearing tutus - I have no idea how that relates to Christmas - and, of course, thousands of bells.  And to be sure, a great gathering requires great toilet facilities.  Here they are:

Impressive.  After my version of exercise was over, I had to make my way through the crowd.  It was nearly impossible.  I had no idea whether the race had already been run or which of the jinglefolk had won.  It was chaos.  Still, it's nice to see that many people gathered in the middle of one's city.  Just think of all the people who got up, looked outside and went back to bed. 

More Dath Vader Sunsets

Pardon the cell phone photos (and the window reflections), but these shots were too good to pass up. 

I really like working in the Darth Vader building, but all good things must come to an end.  Wednesday will be my last day, but I hope they'll have me back sometime. 

The Worst Christmas Card Ever

First a little background.  So I've been working at the Darth Vader building for about three weeks now.  It's a fine admin job and I like it.  One of my chores is to sort the mail.  Today we got this Christmas card that was addressed to the place next door.  I thought, "OK, fine, I'll just run it over to the neighbors."  Then I turned it over:

Where to begin?  I apologize for the BW scan; I put this on the copy machine to preserve it forever before dispatching it next door.  I never opened it.  I didn't have to.  There was a clear window on the back that made the entire card visible.  These people seem overly proud of their creation.  Only the child seems horrified.  And for good reason, too.  If my father was wearing a diaper, I'd be upset.  They obviously spent time in planning and executing the card - I can appreciate that - but the result?  It's truly one of the more disturbing holiday cards I've ever seen.

Anyhow, if by chance you're the creator of this card, you might want to rethink your concept, say, matching sweaters or something - anything - that isn't this.        

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, so this is a blurrel - this fellow moved right when I took the picture.  But that doesn't account for his tail.  It shouldn't be like that.  Squirrels' tails don't fall forward like that.  It's anatomically impossible.  How did it happen?  Unknown.  So let this be this ultimate blurrel - the combination of a quick squirrel and a slow camera.  Enjoy!

Another Lousy Sunset...

...from the Darth Vader building.  Keep in mind that I'm taking this through smoked glass.  It was built during the seventies and that was the style of the times.  But honestly, it really cuts down on the glare.