Spontaneous Combustion

So my friend* OMSH has been posting Daily Moment photos on her blog because she's crazy participating in Blog 365 and the Daily Moments Flickr group. Inspired by her, here's one of my Daily Moments:



I see this warning every time I do laundry, and every time I'm drawn to the same bit of text:



Is it just me, or would a spontaneously combusting washing machine be the coolest thing ever?

*Anyone else refer to their blogosphere buddies as friends? It makes me sound cool: I have friends in Canada, the UK, New Zealand, etc. ;)

LOC on Flickr!!!

Looking for something to keep you busy during my extended blogging absences, which will only become longer and longer this semester? Check out the Flickr Photostream of the US Library of Congress! No, really! There are over 3000 old photos and slides from the LOC's archives, and they're incredible. I've only looked at the first few pages, but they're just stunning. Another cool thing is that, at least for the ones I've looked at so far, they have no copyright restrictions, so you can download them and use them for whatever you want. Here's my favorite of the ones I've seen:



She's checking electrical assemblies at the Vega Aircraft Corporation, in Burbank, CA, in June of 1942. In a beautiful blouse and full makeup. I love it! Hopefully one of these days I'll get to look at all of them, and hopefully you will too! =)

Props to WWdN: In Exile for the heads up. Yes I read Wil Wheaton's blog. Yes I was in love with Wesley Crusher. Wanna make something of it? ;)

New Years in New Mexico

I left Houston really early so that I could drive straight through to Philmont and get there before the roads got icy. So early that, a few hours after I'd been on the road, I saw this:



In case you're wondering, it's really quite difficult to take an in-focus picture of the sunrise in your side mirror while still driving, haha. It's also difficult to stay focused on a 15-hour drive all by yourself. I listened to a lot of knitting podcasts, and took lots of pictures of the scenery. West Texas and Eastern New Mexico are pretty boring, but occasionally there are some neat things to look at, like this lonesome tree:


(If you remove the tree, that's what most of the drive looks like! I told you it was boring!)

Or all the old-fashioned windmills that run well pumps to provide water for livestock:


(See that snow on the side of the road?!? Snow!!!)

Or the way that the colors of the landscape change when the sun starts to set:


(Please forgive the dust/dead bugs on my windshield, which are also illuminated by the setting sun...)

But the best thing to see is this sign, signaling my entrance into Colfax County:



Shortly after that sign, and conveniently right as I was waiting to turn onto a different road (so I could actually stop and take some better pics), the sun dipped behind the mountains:



Gorgeous!



See the plane streak up in the top left? I thought about editing it out, but decided to leave it. I think it gives the photo character. What do you think?

I finally made it to Philmont, stayed a few days, rang in the New Year at the good ol' St. James, and took about a zillion pictures of the mountains. Don't worry, you don't have to see all of them. ;) Here's Tooth Ridge:


(I know Montana likes to claim they are Big Sky Country, but I really think New Mexico could give them a run for their money!)

Last but not least, my heart belongs to tall, steep, cold, rocky, dear, sweet Baldy Mountain:


(Hi Mountain! I miss you!)

Happy 2008 y'all! I hope it is a wonderful new year! =)

I Heart NM

Another successful Philmont New Years! I'll post more pics soon, but in the meantime, you can read about last year here, if you're interested. This year's visit was a lot less stressful! =)