I have started to write twice about this event that occurs locally... but it's a lot to explain - and I gave up. But it's quite fun, so I'll attempt to tell you again.

Twice a year our church hosts these nights, once for middle school and another night for HS. It's sort of a military event - where the kids are split up into teams, and the idea is to get from one end of the playing field *at night, uneven terrain* to the command post at the other - without being captured and WITH a set of 'orders' to be stamped upon completion. Sounds easy, eh?


Well, peppered on the darkened field are rangers *dressed up in camoflauge* that are just waiting to capture you and tear your orders in half. Once captured, you can only be 'sprung' by a team mate giving up a stamped set of orders. Imagine all this going on - with search spotlights scanning the sky/ground... and a sound track of air raid sirens... The object is to be the team with the most stamped orders at the end of the evening.

The kids LOVE it and the adults LOVE acting like kids for the night! Winning team gets a commemorative T-shirt.

This photo is dedicated to my pal out in Midland - Jannn. She just loves the lens effect and I think of her every time I take a photo like this...

Long dry spell. Guess what today's theme is?
yep...
- glorious, drippy, droppy, wet RAIN -

this next photo is a bit odd, but work with me. It's a droplet hitting the surface in a pot - making the indentation on the surface before the ripples get sent out...

What a task! We are only a few days into teaching the furry beasts how to recognize the flags on the wireless fence. For it to be effective, you have to either lift them over the 'invisible barrier'... or drive them over it when you go for a walk. Sam is around 100# so that's not going to happen... now my morning routine has changed some, we pile into the car and drive off somewhere to go for a long walk.

I can't tell you how many times Cassie has decided to come from the very back to come sit in the front seat. NOT GOOD. I'm not all about having fur and footprints all over the inside of my car. SOOO

I just got done installing a wire barrier system we had purchased for our old Expedition... I thought it was specifically for only that model - but as luck would prove, it fits beautifully in my Volvo. No more wandering clay-footed-furrry-monster-flying Cassie wandering around the inside of the vehicle!

Doesn't this just scream 'Made in China' at you in a high pitched a wail? It just doesn't look like something produced by Mother Naure.
THIS is the glass color that lampwork artists hunger for. It's growing in the woods - on a rather unassuming bush at a gentle curve of the walking path. I've been stalking it for months now - waiting for the berries to turn... and since my earlier attempts to capture a fitting image have proved unsuccessful (you try balancing two dogs and a camera), so today this branch segment came home with me. Currently living in a vase - to be admired on a whim (many whims). As I recall - QTFISH had identified it as an American Beautyberry Bush... Very pretty!

Is this not a hoot? Outside our favorite burger joint there is a micro-parking lot. Solely for golf carts... Imagine - even smaller than the Smart cars... able to leap tall buildings in a single bound... and be driven by teenagers. Scary thought.

See who was outside last night as the dogs went out for the final time. He was about the size of a red globe grape...