Location One

Location One, originally uploaded by knledford.

Good Morning

DSC_4859, originally uploaded by knledford.

This photograph was taken near Shelbyville, TN. The sun came peeping over the hills and made for a beautiful shot as it showed itself, in perfect form I might add, over the top of this old country barn.

This photograph was taken while on a early morning day trip to Middle Tennessee with my good buddy Rachel. Rachel and I both grew up in and/or around Lookout Mountain, both of us still live within a half hour drive to the high topped wonder. Lookout Mountain is one of the prettiest along the App. Mountains, with some of the prettiest scenes known to man kind. Rachel & I, knowing this fact, packed our things on a Friday night, got nearly no sleep, awoke at 3:00am, and hit the road by 4:00am on our way to the Shelbyville/Franklin area. A trip that proved to be 3 hours of driving one way, a total trip time of 16 hours.

The plan was to be at a spot where we thought we might get a great sunrise shot, the break of day, first sign of the sun type of photo. Unfortunately we were just coming out of an Affle Waffle when we saw over the interstate, the sun beginning to rise. With no pretty anything in sight we knew we had missed our chance. After getting up at an inhumane hour we had missed the one thing we got up early to shoot. Granted, we missed it while just coming from the worst impression of a breakfast type cooking the south has ever seen. Both feeling a bit sick from the breakfast and the missed sunrise photo, we hopped into the truck and took off down the road.

We drove for what must have been 45 minutes before we came across a road that looked to be promising. A road neither of us had traveled before, a road just off of Hwy 41A N, a road that did indeed prove to be promising. Along this highway we found most of the locations we shot that day. We saw many "should've" shots, but taking into account they were on private property, and the fact that Rachel was most times scared to get out, we did not return home with as many award winning images as we could've.

Our first stop was the old barn, a very charming country barn, well used at one point in time, surrounded with cattle tracks frozen in the ground. We spent a half hour or more, capturing as best we could from the highway, the details and wide views of the barn and it's joining buildings. Nearly losing an eye to a small bush with large thorns and freezing our tails off from the 30 degree February cold. As we were leaving the old barn in search for our next location, we saw in our rear view mirrors, the sun coming alive atop the hillside. Slamming on the break, grabbing our cameras and jumping out of the car into the street, we got our sunrise photograph...and might I say, it was worth the wait!

to be continued...

You might be a redneck if...

You might be a redneck if..., originally uploaded by knledford.

...your back yard is littered with old rust car and truck bumpers that you keep around just in case you need them!

Ya know, the south is packed full of worthless things, if you think about it. Items that hold no meaning or reason, items that are unsightly, items that bring down the value of your home and/or trailer. Knowing full well these items will never be used or wanted, we southerners keep it anyway. Scattering junk throughout our yard as if it's on display. Most of the time, we have so much of it, it's hard to appreciate the ugliness of each individual thing anymore, but we grow to appreciate the ugly as a whole. Passerbys eyeball you, your kids are either ashamed of you or wish to inherit it when you die, and all the neighbors either envy you or hate you.

Think if the tourist we'd have if we all filled our yards with truly good looking things. Things like fountains and ivy covered pathways, well managed creeks and ponds, runable cars and trucks, and tires hanging from ropes in trees. Think of how well known we'd be to the world, visitors from other countries would come to see, they'd seek our backroads and well hidden trails. They' return home and tell others who would them come to see our great southern America.

Wait a minute, maybe that's the point. Maybe in the back of our minds, hidden deep, deep down inside our tiny brains lies a red paint stroke of genius. What if our unsightly ways are just a means of keeping unexpected bodies astray. Otherwise wouldn't we be run over with unwanted folk. If the rest of the world, knowing full well what southerns know about the south, wouldn't they want to come here, live here, die here? We'd over flow with those who seek a simple, easy going way of life. Those who dream of living in a place where people are armed for hunting reason, where everyone knows the names and busy of everyone else, a place where hair runs free and knowone cares...

My friends we must keep this land of ours a secret, otherwise, we'll become the dinner party victims of French snails and blow fish.

I say to you, my brothers and sistas, let us to continue the age old traditions of " if you can not spell it or sound it out, let us not eat it"... I say to you..."display your junk loudly and proudly"... I say to you... let us all be selfish and free!

Monteagle Waterfall

Mt Eagle Waterfall, originally uploaded by knledford.

I am so ready for a vacation... I've been under so much stress lately, the past few days, I'm been seriously condiering packing my clothes and taking off to somewhere where nobody knows who the heck I am. I could get a job in a tiki bar serving food and drinks, live in one of the smallest appartments known to man and spend my free time writing and taking pictures. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. St. Johns has a camp site, you can stay as long as you want for 3.00 a night. I have a tent, I'm all about camping. Finally get around to reading the "old man and the sea" and all those Hemmingway books still on my book shelf collecting dust.

Hit

Hit, originally uploaded by knledford.

I've heard of robbing a place but this is a bit much!

The historic downtown Shelbyville, TN was set on fire last year, taking with it only the guts of 2 old stores, now a memory. Both store fronts still stand, with doors and windows and the lettering of once an important name. The inside however, not so inviting as it once was, though there is still a charm floating in the air.

Pot of Gold

Pot of Gold, originally uploaded by knledford.

I found the end of the rainbow... where's my gold?

Somewhere over the Rainbow

Somewhere over the Rainbow, originally uploaded by knledford.

I ran outside this afternoon after a terrible thunderstorm and captured this beautiful Rainbow. Isn't it amazing how there can be such a wrath of nature and then you can be treated with such a nature wonder.

Main Street

Main Street, originally uploaded by knledford.

This is a charming small town square, with an absolutely beautiful old antique bench, proudly displaying there true colors.

Waterfall

Waterfall, originally uploaded by knledford.

Wow what a day, a 2:00am bedtime, a 3:30am wake up call, and on the road at 4:00am with my good buddy Rachel. We headed out to Shelbyville, TN and traveled through what I believe to be all of Middle Tennessee, most parts more than once, unintentional, wow that HWY 96 is everywhere!

The waterfall photo posted above was the last stop of our day, naturally, one of the best and the closest to home. Granted if you knew the water came from a water treatment plant and smelled of... well.. hehe... let's just say it may lose it's charm.

A 16 hour day, a few hundred photos to sort through but most of all a great f* day! :o)
I've laughed more today than I've laugh in I don't know when. So far in my earthly travels I've came across 2 other odd individuals who share my warpt since of humor, My sister Kim and My buddy Rachel. Maybe it's because they were both raised together... which explains a lot actually!

Expect many more day trip photos in the weeks to come. Until then, I need water...waatterr...waaateerr... :o)

Bonus

flower, originally uploaded by knledford.

As you may have gathered, I'm leaving tomorrow morning earlier than anyone should ever be awake, shooting all day and planting my butt in the bed as soon as it hits the front door. So, you get a bonus post today, mainly to make up for tomorrow, cuz tomorrow, you aint getting one outta me!

Amazing Creatures

bird, originally uploaded by knledford.

This photo was taken at the Chattanooga Nature Center. It was taken some time ago, I have to admit I'm running low on blog photos but I plan to change all that tomorrow. My friend Rachel and I are going shooting. You can tell we're dedicated because we're leaving at 4am. Well, actually I'm not sure you call it dedicated or insane, either way I plan to be back tomorrow night with a few months worth of blogs. So, in other words, get use to seeing the same photo in hundreds of differnt colors!

Blog on!

moss

moss, originally uploaded by knledford.

I went shopping with my friend Ricki today. Ricki sold her house and bought a log cabin, in the middle of no where. Which means it's a good ways to a store. We went shopping for lighting fixtures, a bathroom cabinet/sink combo and outdoor ceiling fans, amoung other things. After 11 hours of shopping, 8 stores, 3 cities and over 100 miles we found 1/2 of what she needed, and none of it was exactly what she wanted. It's amazing how hard it is to find stuff for a cabin. The most logical choice would be lighting with deer antlers, and of course we found those and did she buy any? Of course not. It's incredible hard to find outdoor ceiling fans for a good price. By good price I mean something under 100 bucks, considering she need 5 outdoor fans. She did, however, find the coolest light for the dining room, made of a cast iron type material with a rooster on it, and if you don't know her, she loves those. It was incredible expensive however, so we searched all day long to find nice things she needed at a low price, therefore to justify purchasing the rooster light.

The old saying, shop until you drop, I finally know what that means. However, considering it's not my house, I'm not sure why I had to suffer though such torture! I think that "good person" exterior is all an act in order to hide the true demon that lives inside her! Frankly, I'd rather sit home and watch the moss grow!~ :o)

Airplane

Airplane, originally uploaded by knledford.

This is a photo of a piece of my Grandfather's iron work. It serves no real purpose but for as long as I've been around it's sat with my Grandmothers flowers beside an old cidar tree on top of a metal table my grandmother uses in the spring to display her potted flowers and plants. The table sat only a few feet away from the old rusted Cowboy statue, a piece I wrote about last month. When I was young and my neighbor Richard and I use to play we would pretend that it was the shifts and gears to an old airplane. As you can see, the tallest tip of the iron work serves as our gear shift, the knobs in the center was what controlled the landing hear and jet propelled weapons, and the lever on the bottom left controlled the breaks. We flown the oceans and deserts, over mountains and valleys, rains, winds and storms and survived plane crashes and explosions. Luckily everytime we would crash we'd always find our horses nearby and of course a shootout with the bandid would await right around the corner. My grandfathers imagination provided me with thousands of hours of fun when I was a kid, in a way, they still do...

Foggy Evening Church

fog2, originally uploaded by knledford.

Monday evening brought a beautiful sunset and a foggy presents as it moves in on this distant Church.

A Valentine's Day Love Story

grandparents, originally uploaded by knledford.

My Grandparents, William Rice and Mamie Lee Clark married on September 21, 1936. They lived only 10 miles from eachother in there childhood, growing up as friends. My 17 year old grandfather purposed marriage to my 13 year old grandmother on Sept 20 of 1936. The following day he surprised her while on her lunch break from school with a preacher and a promise to love her for the rest of her life. They married by a creek bed that afternoon and began the first day of there 65 year marriage. My grandfather served in WWII, worked in the coal mines and fields, mills and factories, heat and cold bringing home as little as $7.00 a week. A pastor in a Baptist Church and a life long Christian man. My grandmother had the hardest job of all, she was a full time mother of four children, a home maker, a field worker, a light of the lord and the glue that held her family together. They shared good, bad and worst times but stayed true to eachother there whole life long. My grandmother once said that my grandfather was the only man she ever loved and the first time she ever saw him she thought he was the most handsome man she ever saw. My grandfather, a man as tough as nails, couldn't live without her. A Marriage that produced 12 grandchilden, 22 great grandchildren and 8 great-great grandchildren. A life that produced 6 and a half decades of happiness, memories, an unbreakable bond and a love that stood the test of time.

Sinking

Sinking, originally uploaded by knledford.

Sinking in a pool of icky love crap on this simplity lovely v-day.

I made this photo in Adobe, odd effect isnt it?!

Arty Bark

Arty Bark, originally uploaded by knledford.

Long Exposure

Long Exposure, originally uploaded by knledford.

This is an "As Is" photo of the moon in a long exposure. I've had those for a few years and I still don't know what to say about it. Odd...

Rock -n- Chrome

Rock -n- Chrome, originally uploaded by knledford.

Dear Readers -n- Viewers,

Please excuse my updaters absences for Thursday & Friday. She was out of town, She went to Shelbyville, TN to photograph eBay items and teach the confused of the wacky world of scrapbooking, eBay and Kandi-ism. Please send a list of all homework assignments to me, I will then trash them and claim I don't know what she's talking about when she asks. That's what she gets for ignoring me!



"Where I Was"
I've spent the past few days educating the dazed and confused on the world of eBay. My other mother, Laurel, has a 1/2 mile by 3/4 mile warehouse full of items waiting to be listed on eBay. For some reason I agreed to photo these items. I made the journey to Shelbyville, TN on Thursday morning, I traveled though cold weather and snow, which I didnt photograph, why I don't know. I had a good time, we went shopping, it was then I decided she was evil. She took me places with cheap stuff and the potential to sell on eBay. In turn, I spent too much and now I have hours and tons of devoted eBay time ahead of me. I've read about people like her!

Breaking News...
When I began writing this blog, deep in thought, writing away, the phone began to ring. Laurel on the line, an eBay question. Secretly just missing me I'm sure! While talking to me on her cell phone, she panics because she can't find her cell phone. Yes you heard me right, the one in her hand, stuck to her ear, she couldnt find. I had a similiar situtaion this morning, I went outside early in the AM and started my car for it to warm, went back inside for a bit. Went outside to leave and was standing beside the running car and went into a search for my keys. Yes, my keys, the ones in the ignition inside the car. (Not locked inside luckily!) Goes to prove people are nuts!

Anyway, Less than a minute after hanging up with Laurel, the phone rings, Laurel on the line, another eBay question. Dazed and Confused I tell ya. I answered the best I could and we said goodbye. A few minutes pass when the phone rings again, I'll give you 2 guesses as to who it was... no not Ed McMahan fool, it was Laurel. Does eBay have an EA with the famous classic 3 step program? ( please, direct all answers to my agent )

Within 15 mins I've answered the line 3-5 times, it's the "All Laurel, All the time line" Gotta love her.

I kid, isn't eBay great, I fear if I ever lost my power I'd flip out without the good times to check eBay auctions.

I think I should go into business, open me up a global eBay teaching company. I could travel the world bringing eBay to the masses! I could invest in eBay stock and slowly but surely become insanily rich! Even have a super hero eBay master name, Yoda o' eBay, or eBay-Electria. Have a reality show following "The Donalds" , a cross of Survivor, Fear Factor and the hosting attitude of Simon from American Idol ...Good Times, Love ya Laurel!

Trapped

Trapped, originally uploaded by knledford.

I took this photo of my neiece Summer during a really bad storm. My mother is scared to death of storms, so anytime it storms she calls everyone she knows and forces us to go into the storm shelter and wait for it to pass by. I tell you this so you don't think I'm holding some little kid trapped in my basement, I just don't need that kind of smack.

Speeding Train

svtraxweb2, originally uploaded by knledford.

A fast moving train speeds down the trax.

Country Railroad

rxtriple, originally uploaded by knledford.

The Trax, Details and Train. Classic scenes on an old country geogia backroad.

Sunny Rail

svtraxweb, originally uploaded by knledford.

A warm sunny winter's afternoon on the backroads of georgia.

Eclipse

Eclipse, originally uploaded by knledford.

Well it's finally happened, my brain has melted into a puddle of nothing. I went to Chattanooga today to go to Staples and thought since I was in the area I'd stop by the Target to pick up a few things. I weeded through the busy streets and found a parking space only a half mile from the building. I turned off the car, grabbed my purse, hit the lock button on the door handle and shut the door. Then it hit me, my keys were still in the car. All the fitting four letter words came to mind and the usual "what an idiot" phases. Naturally my spare key was an hour away, mainly because 2 days before this debacule I took it out of my purse for safe keeping. So I did the next best thing, I reach into my purse and I pull out my cell phone, without thinking, my fingers on the numbers, I began to dial. An expression of retardation came over my face when I remembered, the phone doesnt work, mainly because I'm po' and haven't paid the bill. Now that I think of it, it seems silly to still carry it around... however it is good for a shot of reality. Everytime I see something in a store and I dig into my wallet for some cash, I see my little helpless, lonely phone, and I think, do I really need this, 9 times out of 10 the answer is no...

Back to the key's story... I dug deep in my pocket until I found a quarter, I wondered up to a pay phone and had the quarter ready to release, when the words " Local Calls, 50 cents" struck my eye. Fifty cents, for a limited 2 min phone call. All I can say is holy crap that's a lot. A few of those and I could pay my cell phone bill. So without a choice I pony up the half a buck and call up my sister, Kim. Kim is a mom of a 3 year old, and a sick 3 mon old, so sleep is like gold. The phone rings... and rings... and rings... and... "hello" (in a muffled tone) " Hey whatcha doin'?" "Sleeping, you?", "Well could ya do me a favor and get up out of your nice warm bed, drive an hour and bring me a key", " A key to what?" " My car, i'm at target and I've locked myself out of my car" " You retard" " Yeah I know, could you please please bring me a key" " Yeah okay give me alittle bit" ...

So, I've locked my keys inside of my car and I've woke up someone who's had maybe 10 hours sleep in the past month. I figure my best choice is to just live at the Target, rather than face the rath of her when she arrives, but I brave on...

I walked around looking at all the home decor stuff, ya know Target has such cute things. I glance at the clock on my cell phone (hey it really is good for something) A half hour passes and I continue to roam. I cover the toy section, pushing the button of ever loud, annoying thing there. I catch a few weird looks, seeing I'm playing with toys and I have no child with me. I figure this must look odd, so I hang out with a bunch of little kids, I figure well, random passerbys will think one is mine and I'll seem like a caring parent. While I was grinning at the thought of this genious plan, all the caring parents grabbed there kids and ran for it. Prolly just off to the hygene products, I thought to myself, those kids really did stink.

I glance at my watch, almost an hour it's been, so I gather my selections ( all of which I didn't need but got because I thought it would be rude not to) I paid for my things and I made my way to the snack shop, which was a full frontal view to the door. I thought, well I could see her when she comes in... I bought a bottled water and found a seat. I pretended to read the paper that was laying on the table, looking up every few seconds waiting for my key deliever to arrive. I wait and wait and drink water, and wait....

still waiting...

45 mins into this waiting game I finally see that this is some cruel joke. I begin to plot a murder, plotting, sipping and waiting....

Finally, a head I recognize came in the door, not my sister but her Husband Joe and Cousin Lynard. My key in hand... I was glad to because at this point my butt was numb.( Oh and by the way, thank you Joe for bringing my key.) I grabbed my key and headed for the car, thankful for the fact my sister didnt come to kill me. I was so glad to finally be out of the target. I hopped in, cranked up and headed straight home. It didnt actually occur to me that the entire reason I went to Chattanooga in the first place was to go to Staples until a 1/2 hour AFTER I got home! So now, I have to go all the way back to that dreaded place.
I don't know what I did to deserve this but whatever it was I'm sorry! Geez you start back to church, you try to be a good person and this is how the world repays you.

I'm moving to St. Croix, selling tiny hats on a beach, buying a sail boat with auto start and living happily ever after............



Man that is the longest story I've ever read, pointless really if you think about it... You'd almost think I was playing a cruel joke on you by making you read this long stupid thing. Oh wait I forgot that was the plan to begin with. What do you expect, I've had a crappy day and I wanted to spread alittle of that sunshine onto you... :o) It's almost impossible not to luv me isnt it! What's sad is you're still reading this... it reminds me of a time back in St. Oliffe, Charlie and the kids would be milking the cows and momma'd be gathering eggs.... Oh, no wait that's a Golden Girls episode. What were we talking about anyway? ...Well my fingers hurt, bye

Jumbled Mind

Jumbled Mind, originally uploaded by knledford.

This image reflects my mental frame of mind right now. I've had a bad cold for 4 days now and I'm not at all happy about it. My head hurts, I've got a stuffy nose, Ive got 1 ear stopped up, when I try to unstop it, the other one stops up. Somehow that's not at all fair! In my condition Ive had tons of time to surf the web. I've been looking on eBay and Ive found some odd things. For example, a potato chip with a 999,999.99 buy it now price. A Pine Casket, A Lucky Booger, yes a real one from someones nose(with a bid on it). Someones hair, some finger nail clippings, A Heart-shaped potato as a valentines day gift, with bids.

Lets think about that last one shall we... your going out with a guy, you have your hopes up that this valentines you just might get that diamond ring, the moment comes and he pulls a potato in the shape of a heart out of his pocket. On the other had, You could order the pine casket, hair and finger nail clippings... frame the owners of the hair and clippings with there DNA by leaving them in the pine casket with your Ex's cold dead body and chucks of potato.

The eBay item that really takes the cake, is a genuine real turd. My question is this, why would anyone, sane or not, want to purchase that? Don't answer that, I fear the answer would be much to awful to read. If the nut hut has openings, they should really check out the sellers on eBay, however if someone's buying this stuff, I suppose the buyer needs it more than the seller. Or, maybe they could put them in the same padded room, they could compare priceless lucky boogers and debate of the funkiest nail clippings!

What a debacule...

Battle

cannon, originally uploaded by knledford.

This cannon sits on top the Snobgrass hillside in the historic Chickamauga Battlefield of the War between the States. This photo comes from a series I plan on selling at this year's Lookout Mountain fall craft show. It was taken over a year ago when my good friend and target for payback, Rachel, had me get out of bed at a highly unusual hour to photograph fog. We arrived at the "fog blessed" location to be greeted by an hour of total darkness, wet grass and in the end, no fog. Luckily I capture some good shots, otherwise, I may have laid her to rest at one of the many memorial status located in the massive open wooded area. >;o)

Darkness

Darkness, originally uploaded by knledford.

"When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others."

- Bertrand Russell ,1872


"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

Dorothy Parker ,1893

"Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient."

- Eugene S. Wilson

Chattanooga Overlook

Chattanooga Overlook, originally uploaded by knledford.

A Point Park overlook of historic Chattanooga.

Funky Butt

Funky Butt, originally uploaded by knledford.

I believe that a store's name should clearly explain what that store is selling. In this case, I just hope I'm wrong. Let's all ponder that shall we...