Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Self Portraits

As a rule, I do not post pictures of myself.  After all, do people really want to log on to this site to see me?  Today however I will make something of an exception.  You see, I have not been able to do much photography lately, for reasons that will become apparent shortly.  I did, however have some interesting pictures taken of myself recently, so I have decided to share them.

Here is the first shot, a picture taken by my Chiropractor, Dr. Link.  I had gone in to see him for some neck pain.  The x ray he took of me is shown here:

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For comparison, here is an x ray of a “normal” neck.

normal spine xray

Well, after seeing some deformed vertebrae he sent me back to my regular doc, who ordered more “pictures”.  The picture he ordered of my neck, specifically an MRI, looked something like this (this in not my actually scan, but mine did look a lot like this):

 Sagittal cervical MRI of disc herniations at C4 and C5 disc spaces.

See how the spinal cord is pinched?  Here is what a normal spine should look like:

normal

Anyway, all of this led to a visit to the hospital, where yet another doctor worked some surgical magic on me.  The result is this final picture of me (take with a webcam, sorry for the poor quality):

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I want to thank everyone for they prayers and kind wishes before, during and after my recent neck surgery.  Everything has gone very well, and I am recovering nicely.  A couple weeks in the neck brace, and some recuperation, and I will be back taking pictures in no time!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Freighter in the River

I was able to catch a freighter coming down the Saginaw River a couple of days ago.  It is unbelievable that a vessel that large can sail up that river.  So here they are, a few pics of the good ship Lewis J Kuber.

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I know it was just a quickie, but I like freighters.  Except when stuck waiting for the draw bridge.  Thanks for visiting!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

A Gettysburg Quickie

Hi all, here are a couple pics from my trip to Gettysburg that did not really fit in with my earlier posts.

Our campground was very nice.  And they were very concerned for our safety!

Gettysburg Battlefield resort campground

Perhaps they need a sign for this lovely vine.  Anyone know what it is?

Gettysburg Battlefield resort campground

You know I could not let a wonderful flower like this go without taking a picture!

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Now to downtown Gettysburg, home of incredible history, wonderful people……And the ultimate in tacky business names.

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I thought we would have a little fun tonight, with some random shots.  Thanks for visiting!  Oh, that lovely vine?  Poison Ivy.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Skyline Caverns

Yep, still working on the vacation shots!  During our stay in Front Royal, VA, we took a trip a short way up the road to visit Skyline Caverns.  It was a lot of fun, and I would hate to have you miss it.  So, grab your flashlight and your miner’s helmet, because we are going down…

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Heading down…

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There are a wide variety of formations down here…

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I know, I know, the colors are not natural.  But you must admit the lighting is pretty.

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More formations…

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Nope, this is not mold.  It is a very rare crystal formation called Anthrodites. 

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Thanks for joining me.  I hope you enjoyed our brief tour of the caverns.  If you want to learn more about these caverns, they have a website, http://www.skylinecaverns.com/index.htm