Free Theme #4 / 52 Cute

So I am trying to catch up. I would've gotten out this past weekend to take some pictures, but I had to work then was sick. I feel very behind in this challenge and I've made it a personal goal to keep up with it.

This is Sandi, I thought there should be a cute theme. She gets groomed every two weeks and they always give her a bandana. She knows it is her bandana, because if you take it off of her, she comes to my lap and holds her head and sticks her chest out so I can put her bandana back on.

#319 The Games We Play

My first hockey game. The Carolina Hurricanes played the Columbus Blue Jackets. They lost the game (5-1).

#213 Orange

A very 'orange' sunset over the Carolina pines.

#123 Go Fish

These pelicans seem fitting for the theme "Go Fish! "

#229 Sleepy or Sleeping

This is sleepy Sandi and she was trying to sleep, but I kept taking pictures of her. That's my North Face jacket she is sleeping on along with Pooh baby blankets.

#255 Red

Not my best work. Maybe that photography class I'm taking will teach me something about taking pictures of flowers indoors, or maybe not. Flowers were meant to be outdoors?
A red rose for Valentines Day.

#152 Hours, Days, Months, Years

This countdown clock tells us just how long we have left to complete the project. I used PSE to blur out the confidential details of where I'm at.
I think it would be interested if it self destructed at the end.

Update

So I learned today that the helicopter was looking for a flasher. He was reportedly seen in the area, so the law enforcement officials, even animal control, swarmed the area.
Umm, seems like a lot of taxpayer dollars for a flasher. He got away and wasn't found.

I hope he comes my way and I can take him down. Wouldn't that be funny, if one little girl did what 20 or 30 cops (and one helicopter) couldn't do ?

#34 Breakfast

Bojangle's a locally owned franchise, serves heart shaped biscuits on and around Valentine's Day. I was pleasantly reminded that cupid day was just around the corner when I opened my biscuit and found the heart. The first time I got one of these, years ago, I wasn't aware of the heart shaped biscuit campaign and thought someone had a crush on me there! Ha!Ha! Bojangles is where I go for breakfast almost every morning. Yeah, I need to get that exercise plan started!

#168 Law Enforcement

Here is the state trooper helicopter in the Carolina Blue skies. The heli was hovering nearby today, so it gave me an excellent opportunity to get this shot and fulfill the law enforcement theme. I wasn't sure how I was going to get this theme before, because I try to stay away from our law enforcement professionals.

#332 Tools of the Trade

So I had to post this picture. I conquered a fear. Here I am on the roof of the building we are constructing. The tools of my trade ALWAYS consists of hard hat, safety glasses, and safety vest.

#259 Repeating Pattern

I had shaky hands when I took this one, so I had tried to straighten it in Elements. I don't think it worked too well and I had to crop some of it. I have always been amazed at how the pier looks from down below. So I learned a lesson to take my time, hold the camera still, and who cares who's waiting on you?

#342 Underneath

I liked this pic and I wanted to use it. Of course, the fact that I got started late and I'm behind has nothing to do with it!!! I searched the list a few times to figure out what theme it would fall under...no pun here...underneath it is. I was 'underneath' the pier when I took the picture.

#360 Who Put that There?

So here's a shopping cart that someone rolled up over a curb and left outside of a construction site. I guess that would explain why some places want you to put a deposit down on the cart.

#297 Spelling Errors

I saw this misspelled word sitting at the stop light waiting for the light. I looked up the spelling for absorbent just to make sure.

#284 Silly

I thought this little fellow had a silly look on his face. It's as if he is looking at me and saying, hey I've seen one of those before and they usually have food. He was heading my way, but decided to go off another direction since all I could do was play with some little black box.

#353 Water

I have always enjoyed watching the waves roll in when I go to the beach. This is my favorite way to see the 'water'.

#84 Empty

Johnny Mercer Pier, Wrightsville Beach, NC

I loved this picture so much. The pier is empty in winter at sunrise. No fishers!

It used to be a wooden pier. It is the first pier I ever walked down and I clutched my mom's hand so tight because I looked down and could see the water between the wooden slats. My mother told me not to look down and of course, I didn't listen.

The wooden pier was destroyed by Hurricane Fran in 1996. The new pier, as shown here, is constructed of concrete and cement.

#311 Sunrise

I took so many pictures of this sunrise. It was hard to choose just one. I decided on this one with the waves in it. This was the first time I had actually seen the sunrise over the ocean. Probably the first time I've seen the sun rise!!!

#354 Water's Edge

What I always see at the edge of the ocean. Starving sea gulls looking for food. This one was looking for breakfast at sunrise.

#25 Beverage of Choice

I don't drink often, but when I do, I like a chocolate martini from the Outback. I lucked up this time and got a bartender that loves to make them and she got proud with the chocolate swirls.

#198 New

I got new camera fever yesterday, so I started looking for a new one. I checked out a few websites and ended up thinking this new Sony DSC H50/B should be my new camera. All the reviews I read touted it as being almost as good as a DLSR? Yet picture taking is easy, it even has an easy shoot feature. It also has advanced adjustments on it. There are filters and lenses you can buy for it. Oh wow, this new hobby of mine is becoming a monster! I am hoping to gain more skills from this challenge, photography has always been a passion of mine, but I have never developed it.

#1 One Hundred

I hardly ever win anything. I played a Super Bowl pool this year and I won for having the right numbers for the half time score. Here's the $100 I won. Helped to buy what you will see on my next post.
I used the magic wand and paint bucket to hide the wood grain of my desk.

#36 Broken

Here are the icicles when the weather warms up. I saw these lying there and asked Rachel if there was a broken theme and she said there was. I know they didn't break off, but they looked 'broken' to me. I guess because they were holding on and the sunshine made them break their bond with my car.

#292 Snow or Ice

Mother Nature was kind enough to send me some more snow to fulfill my snow or ice theme. So kind, in fact, that I had snow AND ice. Here is an icicle hanging from my car, you can also see the snow on the ground.

Free Theme #3 Contrast

Wikipedia says concrete is "Concrete is a construction material composed of cement (commonly Portland cement) as well as other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate (generally a coarse aggregate such as gravel, limestone, or granite, plus a fine aggregate such as sand), water, and chemical admixtures"

Since I work in construction, I am going to have many opportunities to fulfill the concrete or cement theme. I chose this one as a 'free' theme to show the contrast between the newly poured concrete and the concrete that has set and cured.

#260 Rest in Peace

In North Carolina, it's practically impossible to get from one town to another without going thru some farmland. On lots of that farmland are small graveyards, the past farmers that tended the soils. This was a particularly interesting tombstone, carved to look like a tree. I edited the photo to look like an old photo. I didn't get out to look at the tombstone, as I should have, but I do think it is an old tombstone. "What will you have on your tombstone?"

Free Theme #2 Scavengers

Who says you need to go to the beach to see sea gulls? I live almost two hours away from the closest ocean but, the economy must be bad there too because the seagulls are making their way inland. I caught these sea gulls scavenging a local farmers' field on the way to another town.