Some cool Dog Backpack images:

Poison dart frog behind plant


Image by Diego’s sideburns
Yellow and blaxk poison dart frog (Dendrobates leucomelas).

Poison dart frogs, members of the Dendrobatidae family, wear some of the most brilliant and beautiful colors on Earth. Depending on individual habitats, which extend from the tropical forests of Costa Rica to Brazil, their coloring can be yellow, gold, copper, red, green, blue, or black. Their elaborate designs and hues are deliberately ostentatious to ward off potential predators, a tactic called aposematic coloration.

Some species display unusual parenting habits, including carrying both eggs and tadpoles on their backs. Although this "backpacking" is not unique among amphibians, male poison arrow frogs are exceptional in their care, attending to the clutch, sometimes exclusively, and performing vital transportation duties.

Dendrobatids include some of the most toxic animals on Earth. The two-inch-long (five-centimeter-long) golden poison dart frog has enough venom to kill 10 grown men.One millionth of an ounce of the poison is enough to kill a dog. Indigenous Emberá people of Colombia have used its powerful venom for centuries to tip their blowgun darts when hunting, hence the genus’ common name.

Sunset at camp


Image by deborah.soltesz
Sunset at camp

On the third day of our camping trip on the Mogollon Rim above Sedona, we headed to the western end of West Fork. The canyon starts on the Rim, intersecting Woody Mountain Road, and cuts east, where it joins Oak Creek Canyon, a total distance of seven or eight miles. At the Oak Creek end, there’s an official trailhead (West Fork #108) at Call o’ the Canyon, which runs about three miles up the canyon. We decided to try hiking the canyon from the western end, where there’s no official trail… as a matter of fact, there’s a lovely Forest Service sign explaining that there’s no official trail there, you’re pretty much on your own, watch out for flash floods, and please don’t die.

From the bridge, there’s a well worn path that runs for perhaps 0.5 to 0.75 mile along the banks of the creek. Eventually, the canyon becomes too narrow, and walking on the banks is not possible, and it becomes a boulder hop down the creek bed. Fallen trees and very large boulders make the route a bit challenging. At this point, while the canyon is very pretty, it’s not family friendly or very dog friendly (we had to give ours quite a bit of assistance). Given the amount of scrambling, I don’t think this would be a very fun backpacking trail, but with an early start, I believe this could be easily done as a shuttle hike.

Trip report
All photos from this hike

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David Cross


Image by Mirka23
At the afterparty of a comedy show called "Clash of the Titans" in Los Angeles 2002. I love that he was wearing a backpack!

Mr. Show was performing, as well as The Kids in the Hall, Janeane Garofalo, and Triumph the insult comic dog.

West Fork of Oak Creek


Image by deborah.soltesz
West Fork of Oak Creek

On the third day of our camping trip on the Mogollon Rim above Sedona, we headed to the western end of West Fork. The canyon starts on the Rim, intersecting Woody Mountain Road, and cuts east, where it joins Oak Creek Canyon, a total distance of seven or eight miles. At the Oak Creek end, there’s an official trailhead (West Fork #108) at Call o’ the Canyon, which runs about three miles up the canyon. We decided to try hiking the canyon from the western end, where there’s no official trail… as a matter of fact, there’s a lovely Forest Service sign explaining that there’s no official trail there, you’re pretty much on your own, watch out for flash floods, and please don’t die.

From the bridge, there’s a well worn path that runs for perhaps 0.5 to 0.75 mile along the banks of the creek. Eventually, the canyon becomes too narrow, and walking on the banks is not possible, and it becomes a boulder hop down the creek bed. Fallen trees and very large boulders make the route a bit challenging. At this point, while the canyon is very pretty, it’s not family friendly or very dog friendly (we had to give ours quite a bit of assistance). Given the amount of scrambling, I don’t think this would be a very fun backpacking trail, but with an early start, I believe this could be easily done as a shuttle hike.

Trip report
All photos from this hike

5-frame HDR shot with a Pentax K20D. HDR generated and tone mapped in Photomatix. Metadata refined in MS Pro Photo Tools and Adobe Lightroom.

Some cool Dog Backpack images:

The Un-Welcome Center


Image by M.V. Jantzen
This sign is annoyingly stupid. It’s hilarious to see items that pose a threat juxtaposed next to things that are just messy. The guard by the X-ray machine was asking everyone if they had food in their backpacks and such. Of course most people have gum or bottled water – "food" is a rather broad category… these treacherous tourists are turned away. Note the "welcome" center isn’t even in the White House; it’s two blocks away in the Commerce Department building. Never before have I seen a "NO Chewing Gum" or "NO Balloons" sign. What about kites? Can I fly my kite inside the building?

Herewith the text of the sign:

The Following Are Prohibited Inside The White House Visitor Center

NO Food or Beverage
NO Chewing Gum
NO Smoking
NO Balloons
NO Explosives
NO Suitcases, Duffle Bags, or Oversized Backpacks
NO Animals (Except Guide Dogs)
NO Knives
NO Arisol Containers
NO Electric Stun Guns
NO Guns or Ammunition

By entering the White House Visitors Center, you hereby consent to the search of your person and/or all hand-carried items.

You will pass through an electronic weapons detection system and your hand-carried items will be electronically and/or physically inspected. Any device(s) or weapon(s) discovered, which are in violation of the District of Columbia Dangerous Weapons Act, are subject to immediate confiscation.

Individuals found in violation of the above are subject to arrest and prosecution in accordance with applicable U.S. and/or District of Columbia codes.

nothing to add nothing to contest


Image by Kalense Kid
I remember mercifully little about cricket except that games go on day after day, until someone wins, loses or draws. Being a mine of useless information, I also know that cricket has Laws, of which 3.9 allows the umpires to suspend play if the light is "not suitable." Incidentally, that link is worth following, if only to see a doofus showing how the ground crew marshal a plane into its parking slot. If you’re British, you, like me, may know nothing at all about cricket except that "bad light stopped play." I think it happens with tennis, too, but in the last minute or so my interest in these odd pastimes has abruptly reached a new low.

I think that you can see where this is going.

So far my Spanish trip had been dogged by grey weather and rain. But now I was in France, and the south of France at that, a place whose sun and light is famous throughout the world. This is why, at 09h30 on the dot, it clouded over and stayed clouded over, raining a bit now and then to relieve the monotony.

All the towns that are in the Michelin Guide are underlined on my Michelin map, just as all the pretty roads are rimmed in green. Moissac is underlined; perhaps it is famous for its hand-crafted manhole covers, or its annual schnauzer-gliding contest, but I don’t really care. Well, OK, it’s a World Heritage Site of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela – but isn’t everywhere? I can no longer say that I’ve never been to Moissac, but bite me if I ever go again.

From there north to Lauzerte and Montcuq its interesting country. There would have been some great photos, including some good plantain avenues, had there been any light. Montcuq, one of the stops on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, is a small mediaeval town, full of earnest-looking people with backpacks.

Montcuq is the butt of many jokes – as is Pussy, a village whose sign I snapped last year. This year in Spain I passed, in reverential admiration, a sign for Cuntis.

Since bad light had stopped play, I decided to go to Cahors to buy some jeans. The ones I was wearing had this alluring aroma about them, and were probably older than my daughter. Hell, they were probably older than my sister. The pocket I use to keep my wallet in had developed an inconvenient trait – two major holes – and there was more ventilation between my legs than was seemly. Reluctant as I am to cast aside old companions, I decided, nevertheless, to buy another pair. But I arrived at Cahors at 12h35, and Cahors was shut until 14h00.

The D653 is an astonishing road. In the middle of one of the most densely populated bits of the planet, this road streaks out for miles across the Causses du Quercy, a vast wilderness with (mirabile dictum) No People. The sky was various shades of pearl grey. I cut across country north of Figeac and south of Mauriac, through the Pas de Peyrol to end the day in Murat, deep in the Auvergne, on the southern flank of the great Massif du Cantal.

It looked suspiciously like rain. I couldn’t face another soggy start, so found a cheap hotel just before the heavens opened. I’ve seldom seen a storm like it. I was in a bar, looking out at the ankle-deep torrent that was the street, when I realised that a puppy-sized frog was sitting on the sidewalk looking back at me. His drain was flooded, and he looked distinctly unhappy. Even for him, bad weather had stopped play.

Date: 2007 08 28
Geotag: N 43 00 30.4 W 000 41 13.2
Title: Bloc Party Waiting For The 7.18

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the burning house – 365grateful 016


Image by hlkljgk
this is a project within a project: "The Burning House – If your house was burning, what would you take with you? It’s a conflict between what’s practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question."

Name: Heather Leigh Dunham Katsoulis
Age: 36
Location: Western Mass
Occupation: Photographer
Website: HeatherKatsoulis.com

List:

* Husband & daughter (not pictured)
* Dogs, Dharma & Liam
* I need to figure out how to quickly save the fish…
* Camera/laptop backpack w/camera & laptop
* External hard drive with photos
* Wallet
* Cell phone (doh – hiding behind water bottle)
* Wedding album – back in the days of film
* Crate of old film photos and letters; also included are a bag of my husband’s keepsakes and a hat I began knitting for my daughter when I was pregnant with her.
* An ongoing photo album of the life I started with my husband
* Jewelry box, but not only because of jewelry (all I care about is what I wore for my wedding); it also contains many memento type items: first wind up Snoopy watch, concert ticket stubs…
* Water bottle
* Glasses

I guess that’s pretty much in order of importance.

Find out more at 365 Grateful Photography Project.