Straight Up

Groom Cross
Sat. July 21

Never had taken a shot from this perspective and really wanted to lie on my back and take one, but...there were SO many people around and I was gathering a few curious views as I did my usual crawling around the statues, getting up close and personal.

I snapped this single shot with the "generic setting", not even taking time to frame it properly as you can see how I cut off a foot of the upper right cross arm of the structure.

Stormy Weather

Once again the Panhandle is getting a storm rolling off the mountains in New Mexico. The large tstorm just developing over the top of me looks like the worst will be to the east, but there are other storms developing off to the west.

The sky is ominously dark off to the south, and I'm thinking that maybe the storm clouds behind the Groom Cross might make for a stunning photograph.

Then again, they have hail, strong winds and frequent lightning strikes. That reminds me, I need to see if the builder of the cross knows if it's been hit by lightning. I'm sure it's grounded, but the tall structure should still be a magnet for lightning, wouldn't you think?

And Another Angel Angle

Angel atop empty tomb
Groom Cross

Afternoon Angel

Late afternoon, looking west northwest
Groom Cross
June 2007

Another Angel Angle

Angel atop empty tomb at the Groom Cross

Montage-a-Google

From the website:

Montage-a-google is a simple web-based app that uses Google's image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user. Not only an interesting way of browsing the net, it can also be used to create desktop pictures or even posters.

Nifty website! I've made quite a few of these since discovering this site, but some would not be appropriate to upload to my blog. (or any other blog, for that matter)

Here's one I did from using "Groom Cross" as the search terms:



Montage-a-Google

The Face of Jesus

Groom Cross
Last Supper Exhibit
Late afternoon, looking west

As of this date, the Last Supper exhibit is still unfinished and has quite a ways to go. A new statue has been added (and will post photos at some time in the near future) to the two already there, but there are ten more disciples to go.

I was told by one of the gift shop workers, a lovely local lady, that each bronze costs upwards of $30,000 (thirty thousand dollars) Even with my Miami High School edgy-cation, I can figure that it's going to take from between a quarter and half a million dollars to complete this exhibit.

Angel Against Blue Sky

Angel atop empty tomb
Groom Cross
Spring '07
Late afternoon facing west northwest

Blue Sky, Green Grass, Fat Cattle

Just across the road from the Groom Cross
Late afternoon, June '07
Facing southwest

Crosses Against a Stormy Sky

Crosses on the "hill"
Groom Cross
June '07
Late afternoon, looking west into the growing storm

Veronica

Veronica wiping Jesus' face.
The sixth station at the Groom Cross.

Read about Saint Veronica at Wiki

Zach Is Back

The Dallas Cowboys have announced the signing of Zach Thomas to a one year contract: 1 million in base salary, a million in the form of a signing bonus and a million in incentives. (not announced, but generally geared to the percentage of plays during the season and/or if he makes the Pro Bowl)

Personally, I was against the signing. Dallas has quite a few pressing needs such as shoring up the defensive secondary and finding a receiver who can stretch the field. (IOW, has "speed") The linebacker spot is one that Dallas is deep in personnel and at first glance, it seems as though Thomas is a "biscuit shy" of being large enough to play an interior LB spot in the 3-4 which Dallas employs.

Still, Miami used the 3-4 over the last few years and Thomas excelled in that alignment, making the Pro Bowl each year except for this last one. Something that has been thrown out in the hundreds of forums discussing this signing is the fact that Thomas has more tackles in his career than does any other defensive player now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Very Impressive.

Another concern of mine is Thomas' age (he's 34, think he will turn 35 before or during next season) He's getting on up there in age where the end of his career is definitely in sight, so I was glad to see Dallas not break the bank or mortgage the future to sign him.

Also worrying many is the fact that Thomas missed most of last season with a concussion (given to him in the Dallas game) and then was in a car wreck with his new bride and suffered from a concussion and subsequent migraines.

Since this was a "bargain basement" type signing, getting Thomas for not much more than the NFL minimum for a veteran, then I will have to give my reluctant approval to the transaction. (not that MY opinion counts for a damn thing)

The funny thing to me is that Thomas' public statements said he was proud to be a Cowboy, but in my conversations with his own grandmother (I sort of know the family, his uncle lives only a few blocks away, but have met Zach only once. More on that later) when Zach entered the NFL draft, I found out that Thomas didn't like the Cowboys and was glad he wasn't drafted by them.

Of course, people can change their minds, but I believe money talks louder than anything else!

His grandmother said the rest of the family would've been happy to have seen Zach with a star on his helmet, esp. since half of his games would've been played in Dallas, fairly easy for his family to attend.

As I've mentioned in here before, Zach's father is responsible for building the Groom Cross, and that's one of the reasons I bring up a football related topic. The main reason I posted this is because Zach is from this area and played his last year of h.s. football here in Pampa.

This article isn't about Thomas' signing so much, but to mention the back-and-forth going on about it all in the football forums. Some are more than pleased with the transaction, while others bemoan that it is the beginning of the end of hope for this current crop of players and that Jerry Jones (DC owner) is once again meddling with the team, forcing it into mediocrity--once again.

I thought of making the following the theme of this post, but decided against it. "Zak is Bak!" was more in line with what I was thinking, esp after this post. (a fair example of the level of posting in football forums...heck, ANY forum)



I'm curious as to just how much money a chicken costs?

I dunno, guess it's just me, but if I don't know the meaning of a word, I don't use it. Also, if I don't know how to spell something, I will go look it up. I'm sure many of us do the same thing - we're all guilty of the occasional typo now 'n then - but I'm anal to the point of being mortified if I let something like "poultry" escape my keyboard into the Internet Ozone, especially if I meant "paltry".

John Lennon, when once asked if McCartney had written the lion's share of their collaborative efforts, replied "That's such a paultry question; I refuse to answer it. "

Where do you hang crooked politicians? Why, from the pol-tree, of course!

I could go on, but won't. Aren't you glad?

Angel Atop Empty Tomb

Angel atop empty tomb
Groom Cross
Taken mid-afternoon, looking northeast
Spring 2007

Sunflowers in Late Afternoon Light

July 21
Groom Cross

Feel My Ubiquity

From my Excite start page:



This is an inside joke; so much "inside" that it's only inside my head and no one else is privy to the humor. (Well, "humor" might be stretching it some)

The first time I think I ever heard the word being used (and not just in a book) was on the Howard Stern show and as his guests were these two goofballs who wanted Stern to use their song in his movie. The song was titled "Feel My Ubiquity". The title was intriguing, but the song sucked big-time. (so does Stern, but....) They said, in a play on the song title, that they wanted the song "Feel My Ubiquity" to be ubiquitous.

I'm sure they confused a lot of folks with that word; after all, it's not a common one. What they should have said what they desired for their tune was for it to become another "Hotel California".

A couple of years ago I was writing some commentary to go along with a presentation of my pics in an MSN Group and wanted to describe the ugly utility poles and lines that are in the background of many photos I take and want to take, especially at the Groom Cross. It wasn't a day later when I was doing the same thing for something else and was looking to describe those posts and wires and thought "Ubiquitous" will work just fine...again!

Since that time, I've used the word a little TOO much...in essence, being ubiquitous with the word "ubiquitious".

Jesus on the Cross

Jesus on the Cross
Cross of Our Lord
Groom, Texas
June 2007

Double My Fame!

Yep, that's right; one of my photos is going to be featured (AGAIN - woohoo!) on the KVII News at Five and is featured on their website home page. (also in the community section archives)

I'm nearly famous, huh?

When you submit a photo, you can also submit a caption and it is read by the news anchor doing the photo of the day commentary. I put this with the pic:

Groom Cross through a thin thicket of thistles thirsting for last Thursday's thunderstorm

If they can read that without stumbling, then they're probably ready for a larger market, maybe even Des Moines.

The way I got it figured, if I can get them to publish 58 more pictures, I'll have my fifteen minutes of fame in fifteen second increments.

Goodnight Tornado

Had this up with a CNN video the other day but thought it might be conflicting w/ the other vids. The problem wasn't that, but one of my own. My YT issues have been fixed.

(well, except for posting too many videos on "one page".)



I've got the posting column set at 500, think it is, and I use vids that are 480 wide w/ the YT code. These tornadovideos.net offerings are usually 560 wide and on up, so I altered this one, hope it renders OK to everyone.

BTW, this Goodnight is not the same as the city downstate; it's a ghost town and parts of the classic movie Hud were filmed there and is also not far from the Groom Cross.

Another Angel in the Afternoon

Angel atop empty tomb
Groom Cross
Late afternoon, looking west northwest
June '07

Snakes Alive!

I went over to the Groom Cross the other afternoon and took a shortcut down this county road and (nearly) ran into this guy, a prairie rattler, about three foot long.

It wouldn't even move when I got out and threw some pebbles at it, didn't even rattle. For a minute, I thought it'd been run over and squished already because it looked so flat near its tail.

I had absolutely nothing longer than my arm on me except the tripod for my camera, and I really didn't want to wave it at the snake, esp. since I would soon be using it.

To be honest, I really didn't want to harm it. Now, if it was in my yard...

It moved a bit, so I figured it was only wanting to be left alone to soak up the setting sun's last warmth, some solar energy storage for a night's hunting. I really wanted it to make it coil up in strike position for a good shot, but didn't want to get close enough to make it assume that position.

I inched my truck up to it, the tire barely touching it and then I'd move the steering wheel, making the snake move but it didn't budge on its own, responding to this danger with nothing more than a lazy flick of its tail, not even a decent rattle!

I backed up, then drove right alongside it.

It finally started moving a little bit after I poured some water on it and I could finally hear an audible rattle, absolutely spine tingling. If you've ever been walking in tall grass and heard that sound, it will freeze you, root you to the spot!