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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

World Bird Wednesday XXXI


A Bad Hair Day Rant!

Anhinga Anhinga

      Paying the Stupid Tax...

    It might start with a slight miscalculation, like the time I tried saving money by cutting my own hair the afternoon before prom to help finance my dates corsage, or perhaps the tedium of repetition makes one incautious and so begins the avalanche of self inflicted misery we call the stupid tax. Like other forms of taxation it is as inevitable as your being served banana pudding at a monkey convention. Unlike other forms of taxation it is all the more damnable because it is self inflicted.
   I paid the stupid tax this week when my laptop caught the Bird flu and from the micro-chip Chicken coop that was my hard drive about twenty-five hundred recent captures flew off forever.
  You won't have to suffer the thumb thumping pain of hammering yourself with the stupid tax like I did if you'll remember to back up your precious files regularly and resist the urge to cut your own hair.
  Can I get an Amen!


A self administered haircut almost always goes wrong.


                                                                                                              The Pink '57
 I, like all the world's people, have the option of learning from my mistakes and so it was I gave up going to proms long ago and forever. It was a bad idea from the beginning, but I have kept on cutting my own hair. My locks are gray these days, at least those brave follicles that still persist. In my hay day my hair was shoulder length and limp, my ears stuck through and when sunburned gave the back of my head all the same appeal as the rear fins of the Pink '57 Lincoln my Dad got a deal on. My Pa was a self employed plumber with arms like a light heavy weight boxer, biceps earned from swinging four foot pipe wrenches. I was riding shotgun in the Pink Linc' when my eldest brother smashed it. He had to face the Old Man and pay the stupid tax. I stood with him and cried.
                                                                                                                      Roasting a Marshmallow...The length of a man's hair is not the social statement it was back in the 1960's. In this era anything goes. These days I have chosen for my...style, what might be called a minimalistic approach. I set the clippers to their closest setting and so the wonders of my bean shaped head are revealed. In the spring of each year it is required I toast my tender scalp slowly in the hot sun like you might carefully roast a marshmallow to a golden brown over the coals of a campfire. If I broil it to quickly a weeks worth of painful skin peeling reveals a splotchy Pinto pony look I find it hard to be content with. God forbid my marshmallow head should melt off the stick and fall into the fire! There is no recovery from that. 
                                                                   (Please double click the storks picture, you won't be sorry!)



When Good Hair People Go Bad!
  
    When those of my loved ones, so blessed with thick hair, have an unfortunate bad hair day they will often and unaccountably call me, a bald man of all people, to share their angst with.
    They think they can get to me! 
    To  help ease their "suffering" I urge them to ponder this bit of sage advice mined from a fortune cookie many moons ago.

             "Complain not about your sore toe to a man who has no foot!"

      Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday!

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most beautiful treasurers, the birds.


World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through midnight on Wednesday.
You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents.

CLICK THIS PICTURE!


#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST North America through Wednesday midnight and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

You don't have to be a Bird Watcher or expert photographer to join in--just enjoy sharing what you bring back from your explorations and adventures into nature.
The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!



The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs. Click on them and view their beautiful posts.

                      Come On it's your turn!

35 comments:

  1. oh your little hair tirade was priceless! like the fins on a lincoln! :) ha ha!!! thanks for the laughs!!!

    and your header photo is GORGEOUS!!! so sorry you lost so many photos!!!

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  2. haha, what a story! Well, to the birds. The Anhinga shot is soo cool. And so are the wind blown egrett. :)

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  3. Amazing pictures as always Springman; and the words had me laughing out loud.

    But I'm sorry to hear about the pc problems. Something I've had to endure twice recently. A nightmare!

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  4. Amen and pass the peas please
    and I for one love you, bad hair day n all

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  5. You still managed to find some ruffled feathers to share. I'm sorry you lost so many images, they are not easy to come by.

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  6. As always your shots are astounding!
    Absolutely loved how you tied the story and pic together.
    I'm leaving here smiling.
    Carletta's Captures

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  7. commiserations on the Follicular inadequacy!
    In any rate, great shots! Love the first one!

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  8. I'm speechless! The top shot is AMAZING! What a capture. And I also like all the others, including the car, of course. :-)

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  9. Welcome to WBWXXXI
    Thanks for enduring my little rant. It's been quite a week! Computer problems are something we all share on this page and I appreciate the listening ear. I hope my experience will encourage us all to back up those files regularly. In any event I have been out already with a new vigor getting more stuff. The new header is one of those. I had taken so many egret shots in particular over the last month I began to feel a little obsessive compulsive about it. No more. Full speed ahead!

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  10. Wow, 2500 images? I hope for you they were all bad ones and no time wasted on processing them! The one you are showing here are magnificent! Birds never had a bad-hair-day!

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  11. re your question on Costa Rica. I have teh entire journal on my Travel blog. Most of it in english. (not the first days though but a traslator is available.) Then there are some posts on my main photo blog. Enjoy. :)
    NF Travel CR
    NF Photo label CR

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  12. Very clever! And the bird pics are just perfect with the descriptions!

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  13. Amen to that! Wonderful text, I can't help it, but I really enjoyed your ranting ;) Great shots btw, and that car, they knew how to make them back in them days!

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  14. I have just spent the weekend in distress as my old PC stopped working telling me the hard drive was full.
    I bought a backup hard drive thingy (I haven't got a clue) and managed to download all my images just before everything else imploded.
    I bought a new desktop upgraded to Windows 7 which will take me ages to work out but at least I saved my pics.
    I do feel your pain but I'm sure someone will recover them for you.

    Great images Springman sorry the read wasn't as positive.

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  15. Another great photo series Springman! Love the Anhinga.

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  16. What were you 'on' when you wrote this?
    Something hiding in a side pocket in the remnants of that pink car? [Looks very similar to our 57 Fleetwood of the sixties :-)] Whatever the substance, it produces great writing.
    My husband described his latest no-back-up crash as "cleansing".

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  17. What can Ii say? Stunning post, as always, and the first photo is awesome!

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  18. Oh Jocodeane,
    You have called me out! There is definitely something of a flashback going on in this post, funny I didn't see it. My worry is that because I have so much private ranting time I could easily teeter off the pier of comprehensibility occasionally. It's not like it hasn't happened before.
    You pay me a nice compliment. That you follow my drift means I'm still tied to that pier at least just a little and that gives me confidence I'll make it through one more "cleansing!"
    Thanks for throwing me a line!

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  19. DANG--sorry bout the lost photos--I bought an external HD and thank goodness I had one crash and saved everything..BUT I dont double Dip so its NOT backed up from the back up there is a limit...I used to put stuff on CD's but they dont hold enough...
    Well I cut my own hair all the time and Ive threatened to use clippers a time or two--
    Awesome photos--love that Anhinga portrait!!

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  20. Cracking post Springman. Sorry to hear about the lost photos. The curse of modern technology. So much for making life easier.

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  21. Springman -- Hi from the road. I've had my stork post ready to link for a couple of weeks and I did it before I saw your picture. I should have read your post first (but then I would have been embarrassed to add mine!). We've had all kinds of computer problems on this roadtrip, so I am in sympathy; just praying I haven't lost any photos.

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  22. Goodness...I haven't had to pay that "tax" yet. It sounds horrible to lose so many photos but you turned you pain into a funny post.:-D)
    Outstanding photos (as is expected)but the Stork is something else! He reminds me of a portrait of an older person. An incredible image which really does need to be view larger to appreciate fully.

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  23. You are the best, Springman! Wonderful reading and your amazing shots... You can carry your pain, can't you? You will produce 100 new wonderful images, with or without hair, on both - the photographer and bird!

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  24. Oh no. :(
    It pains me like it had happened to me personally :/
    I hate it when Hardware fails, but paying the stupid tax on top of it? *sigh* (we lost our digital wedding pics in 2005 - and god knows what else, I didn't dare think about it).
    Since then I do Backups. Just had one external fail on me,... *sigh again*

    You cracked me up with the scalp burning, but what in the heck did that poor stork do? Dang!

    I love the photos of those 'fluffbirds' :D
    Looks like me on a windy day ;)

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  25. Hi there - death and taxes - thats about all we really rely on, and when your hard drive packs up you get both at the same time.

    Once I get this done I'm going to back up my stuff!

    Nice pictures (as per normal!) Cheers - Stewart M

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  26. Now that we have established that you definitely have a sense of humour ( see your comment to me) My poor old Prof has been holding down his chair for almost 49 years and his retired grad-students scattered around the world, also retired Profs, still keep calling him Prof. After a life like that, how can I refer to hin as 'hubster'???

    OK, tongue to other cheek . . . Love your bad hair day pics and post!!!!
    I've been cutting the Prof's hair for the last 54 years, ever since we got engaged. A few blips but not too many in that time and all with comb and scissors. My own has not always been quite as successful . . .

    The heron in the first shot is spectacular, and the skin of the stork is like elephant hide. Really smashing photos. I an so glad you started this meme and I got to meet you through it.

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  27. Sorry to hear about your computer problems, but your post had me chuckling! These photos are wonderful and go so well with your narrative (you're right about the Stork pic). The header shot is spectacular! I hope you can recover your lost images - I'm sure there are some beauties among them. l love WBW!

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  28. AMENNN!
    You have no trouble taking awesome pictures,sorry you lost some,but I`ll look forward to your many more,as for the bald head,please put sunscreen on or wear a hat!!!phyllis

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  29. I feel your pain. It happened to me last year. I have TWO back up drives now!
    ...(I still cut my own hair, at this point in life, who cares!)

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  30. Re archives: Going through mine will take me a Lifetime (90.000 photos to go or something like that). But I have 3 hot summer months ahead of me and nothing much else to do.
    Just make sure you back your stuff up. Harddrives are fairly cheap these days, your memories and data ain't ;)

    And I just now realized that your storks look so totally different than our 'old world' storks it seems.
    Will post some next week (have the black stork already somewhere). :)

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  31. I shouldn't post before my first coffee. It was Andrew who didn't loose everything.... argh :/
    You guys and your computers ;)
    Sorry for the mixup!

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  32. Huge thanks to everyone for another great WBW. It is my great pleasure to click on your blogs and enjoy your adventures. I appreciate your comments on my silly efforts more than you could ever imagine. Your recognition and this community, and ours is the world don't forget, is astounding to me in its kindness and peaceful spirit. ;-)WBW

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  33. Nice shots, Springman! I especially like the night heron in the new banner too. Sorry to hear about the hard drive crash. Glad to hear your good-naturedness about it though, and I really enjoyed your commentary about haircuts and the "stupid tax". Hope you have a great weekend!

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  34. The photos just blow me away! And I like your description of the stupid tax. Seems I recall having paid it a few times, myself!!

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