Sometimes a walk is like that. Ostensibly, my goal this afternoon was the bank -- and I did make it there. But on the way, I couldn't help stopping to grab a picture of this and of that distraction.
My one disappointment: the loud to-do among the acorn woodpeckers. Some five to seven in one pine tree, shouting loudly about Something of Great Importance to acorn woodpeckers. I'll never get a good picture of birds such as these until I graduate to a grown-up camera and expensive lenses!
In compensation, I was introduced to Linus. He is the Central American parrot sitting on neighbor Bill's shoulder. I also enjoyed a brief tour of his backyard garden (below).
Further along my route, free books, on a bench in front of the Dinner Bell. Somehow the preprinted plastic bag, although maybe a good idea during the monsoon, takes away from the spontaneity of the gesture. The books? A Lewis Gizzard and a John Grisham.
The seeds and the leaves of this tree along Granite Creek literally shout, "MAPLE!!!" Indeed, the boxelder is "neither a boxwood nor an elder, but a maple," says my
Shrubs and Trees of the Southwest Uplands guidebook. One un-maple-like disappointment: no brilliant red leaves in the autumn.
Still further on my walk, after a session at the bank, where I foolishly left my walking staff, I spotted this brickwork at the Underground, a religious operation in the basement at the corner of Gurley and Montezuma.
Next pretty thing catching my eye -- parasols in a shop window across from the Courthouse. I've already bemoaned the
passing of the parasol from our sunny state.
And, finally, ceiling fans at The Raven, a new bistro over on Cortez, where I stopped, hoping to learn more about
Coyote Radio which currently resides there. Nobody was home so I had a huge (really huge), yummy club sandwich instead. By the way, it took more than a little PhotoShopping to make those fans visible...
There you are: a partial look of my picture-taking afternoon. Be warned by my experience: the more you shoot those nearly cost-free images on a digital camera, the more you see to take pictures of. Already I've got over 2,000 stored on my computer, awaiting the right time and place!
Andrew Johnson-Schmit aka Coyote Radio finally went live this evening at 1610 on the AM radio dial. My way of congratulating Andrew -- a Celebration of Antennas. Can't think of a better time or reason to post the antenna pictures I've been collecting. Just wish I'd been there when he added one more on the top of The Raven building.
The radio station is just the beginning of the realization of an 8-year long dream of Andrew's. But I'll let Angie, his wife, tell you all about it here and here.
As you can see, I've been collecting antenna pictures from all over: Mt. Elden north of Flagstaff ... Tower Mountain down by Crown King ... Yarnell Hill, plus a lot of local broadcast electronics below. Unfortunately, I haven't been near the arrays up on Mt. Francis for many years.
These heavy-duty antennas overlook Willow Creek Road.
The fellow above and those drum-like thingies below are downtown resident. If I had an idea of their function (beyond propagating electronic waves), I'd include it here. I just like their other worldly appearance, especially the mountaintop arrays.
And I haven't been down in the desert where, I read, the ubiquitous cell phone tower comes disguised as a sahuaro cactus or palm tree. My mother has lived to nearly 104, in good mental/physical shape after years with my father's 10-meter radio ham arrays -- so I really don't worry about RF radiation like the guy I'm linking to here simply because he has several great pictures of cellphone tower camouflage. Further: Wayne's World has an excellent article on the natural history of cell phone trees.
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