Did You Ever Wonder?

Did you ever wonder why some semis (as seen in great numbers on the interstate) have rear doors that look like flexible metal stamped in a diamond pattern?

Installed where it is, it can’t be for enhanced wind resistance, my go-to for all other truck-design elements. Is it a branding thing? No, apparently this “diamond pattern stainless steel door skin” has functional attributes:

  • Reducing sunlight/headlight glare (for the drivers behind)
  • Being easy to clean
  • Resisting corrosion

Did you ever wonder why not all semis have this add-on, as shown, for instance, by the other truck in the photo? Follow the money. The skin itself costs from $800 to $1,000/truck – I’m assuming these are USD – and usually comes in a package of trim upgrades running between $3,000 and $4,000/truck.

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Posted in Laughing Frequently, Wired | Tagged , | 12 Comments

A Morning Stroll

Beep, beep, beep.

If I had a back-up alarm, it would be going off right now. My casual perambulation down the causeway path has just gone into a rather more-urgent reverse gear. Where the heck did that gator come from?

And that’s the more-or-less true-distance view after I backed up. Yikes.

I wasn’t seriously wondering where he came from: his angle of repose and wet hide indicated he had just walked out of the pond behind him. What I was wondering was why I hadn’t seen him sooner. But as other casual perambulators walked between him and me, ignoring my sputters and not asking what I was filming, I stopped wondering why: Dead still, he blended pretty well.

And then he stood up.

Join me on my morning stroll and catch the whole encounter (& more besides!) in the short (1:18) video, below. And if you like to take a coffee on your gentle walks, try Nature’s latte (Or should that be a cappuccino?): an all-natural concoction of pond water and pollen.

 

Posted in Feeling Clearly, Laughing Frequently, Nature Videos, Photos of Fauna | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Swamps and Sunsets

Pausing at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge outside Decatur, Alabama (That clarifier of the State is necessary since there are 17 cities and/or 46 communities in America that go by that name, all named for one Stephen Decatur, a naval hero of Barbary-pirate and War-of-1812 vintage. Funnily, I don’t need to specify the country: As far as I know, there are no Canadian communities named Decatur.), anyway, as I said, pausing at Wheeler (Named for General [Fightin’ Joe] Wheeler of Confederate vintage, also little recognized in Canada.), anyway, pausing to see if there were any sandhill cranes still hanging about, I took a brief out-and-back walk on a boardwalk through cypress swamp (after sighting 32 said cranes at a considerable distance).

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Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Feeling Clearly, Photos of Landscapes | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Every One

Coon Dog Cemetery

Not your thing?

Stagger Lee’s Lounge

Still no?

Pickle in a Pouch

These bits were on a highway sign, on a fine drinking establishment, and on a special point-of-purchase display in a gas station, respectively. Now, I get that the things that strike me as funny or unusual (often the same thing, I find) may not be to everyone’s taste. But I’m sure everyone will enjoy this highway sign:

Hitchhikers may be
escaping inmates.

Unsaid, but surely implied: So, for the love of God, stop and pick them up. I mean, wouldn’t you want help, if you were escaping from inmates?

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Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Feeling Clearly, Photos of Landscapes | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

This is Me, Staying Up

In a Sargasso Sea of messages in Russian (cyrillic letters, at least) and in randomly generated sets of nominally English words, it’s a pleasure to come across a blog comment of some refinement. Some discernment. Unaccountably, my filter filed this in “Spam.”

I am extremely inspired together with your writing
skills as smartly as with the structure in your blog.
Is this a paid subject matter or did you modify it your self?
Either way stay up the nice high quality writing,
it is uncommon to see a great blog like this one today..

Good news, website owner/administrator of garage-sale listings: I intend to stay up the nice, high-quality writing. Thanks for your encouragement!

Posted in Another Thing, Language and Communication, Laughing Frequently, Wired | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Button, Button, Tile & Button

I don’t like tile.

Oops. Did that just come out of my mouth? In a, you know, tile store? Yes, yes it did.

I’ve carried the shame of that moment for more than 30 years, which really is a shame since what I said isn’t even true. I mean, it would be one thing–not a good thing, exactly, but at least an on-the-other-hand thing–if I had stood up rudely but fearlessly for some principle. If I had spoken truth to power. Instead, I just spoke frustration to a tile salesperson.

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Posted in Day-to-Day Encounters, Laughing Frequently, New Perspectives, Thinking Broadly | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

OK, OK

My photographic focus? Chasing photos of birds. OK, and reflections. OK, OK, and bridges. Indeed, when it comes to photography-and-me, it might be unreasonable to use “focus” in anything but its strictly technical sense: Getting the subject in the desired degree of sharpness. Which brings us to last week and some bees.

While chasing birds (OK, OK, and bird reflections), I was momentarily diverted by some tiny bees, maybe half the size of most bees at home, in the largely shaded flowering bush right beside me. Their size alone would be tricky enough, but I also had my longer lens on, the better to capture the target birds. That meant I had to be farther away from the bees to get them in focus — far enough that, to my aging eyes, they were mere specks through the view finder.

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Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Laughing Frequently, Photos of Fauna | Tagged | 6 Comments

A Morning in the Life

It wasn’t a vermilion-flycatcher day: There was no Gasp! moment. On the other hand, when I got home out of the glare I found that it had been a good day, nonetheless. Thank goodness for a camera that sees more clearly than I do.

What *was* that bird-shaped lump across the pond? A bird!

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Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Laughing Frequently, Photos of Fauna | Tagged | 6 Comments

Are You Ready to Order?

I’ll have the Combo, please:
crepes with mixed berries.

I pause before specifying how I want my eggs; before choosing sausages over bacon. On Shrove/Fat Tuesday, this pancake house is full. I’m trying to be considerate by optimizing my use of the server’s time, but there’s only so much information a guy can take in at once.

I glance up at the young server. I mean, they’re all young these days, but he’s high-school young. Right now, he’s head-down over his iPad. His fingers are not flying. He’s looking for something. He speaks slowly, mostly to himself.

You want . . . the Combo . . .

Ah. He’s still finding the overarching category for my order. I sit still. I sit quiet.

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Posted in Day-to-Day Encounters, Laughing Frequently, Thinking Broadly | Tagged , | 10 Comments