Here’s a beautiful old farmhouse and barn south of Gallatin, Missouri on State Hwy 13. It’s always sad to me to see these old parts of Americana disappear into the sunset, sometimes never to be seen again, which is why I have preserved so many of them in this blog and in my Barns! Barns! Barns! flickr photostream.

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 799 members and 7,086 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

Last Friday afternoon I decided to go for a ride around the countryside and remembered to take along my camera just in case I found something that . . . well . . . I liked. And what I liked the most, at least on this day, were old barns and farm houses in a state of disrepair, and I wasn’t disappointed. Here is one old barn that has definitely seen better days.

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 770 members and over 6,300 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

It’s amazing what a little bit of saturation can do—okay, maybe a LOT of saturation can do.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Transmogrify

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 501 members and over 3,000 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

Old barns are one of my favorite things to take photographs of. They are what made America great—albeit the farmers had something to do with it. While this barn is still in use, there are so many relics that have fallen into disrepair and many have fallen to the ground. This particular barn is in Daviess County, Missour,

Link back to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Houses and/or Barns

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 501 members and over 3,000 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

Looking out the window I see snow in all its variations: the pure white driven snow of poems and photographs—on the ground, trees, houses and cars; human, fowl and other animal footprints in the snow; snowbound tire tracks; polluted, blackened snow of ashes and soot from the wood-burning stove to give tires more traction; pathways shoveled in the snow; snow tracks in the house which quickly turn to small puddles—all of which point to one thing: I HATE SNOW! AND I HATE COLD!

Ah, but Spring now. That’s the ticket, along with summer and even fall. These photographs leave me with the hope that this global warming, freezing snow and cold will soon be another thing of the past. Now, THAT’S being OPTIMISTIC!

Comments are always welcome.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Optimistic

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 318 members and 2,080 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

Blossoms, blossoms everywhere! One of the first signs of Spring, one that often fills the air with sweet smells, as well as stark beauty.

While Day Lillies are not a sign of Spring, they are a sign of newness of life, which continues throughout the year, beginning with Spring. They are also very beautiful.

At first glance, I thought these were ferns, but I don’t believe they are. Nevertheless, they green up the landscape and make the browns of winter fade into memory.

While I don’t know what these flowers are called, they do beautify the roadsides pretty much everywhere in rural Missouri.

These appear to be part of a patch of Jerusalem Artihokes growing in the wild. Can you find the bee (or whatever it is)?

As near as I can tell, this is a bloodroot blossom and was the first sign of life one Spring day near Gallatin, Missouri. I’m not 100% positive but it’s as close a match as I could find.

Oops can take many forms. We’re going to skip the embarrassing ones for now. Enjoy these.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Oops

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other related items. There are currently 305 members and 1,773 photographs. If you like barns, you’ll love this!

On my way to Iowa a couple of years ago, just outside the city of Maryville, MO, I was tooling along when I noticed this maze of beams and electrical wires that looked really cool. As it turned out, the sun was just to the point of completely disappearing and I thought I might be able to get a cool pic if I could just get back there in time and line the two up.

So, I slammed on my brakes, pulled over to the side of the road and practically ran back to a road that went into some business property. The sun was about gone and I knew I had to hurry. However, I was able to get off several pictures but this one was the only one that turned out decently. Nevertheless, I love it. It’s one of my favorite pictures. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to comment.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Grid

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other related items. There are currently 255 members and 1,506 photographs. If you like barns, you’ll love this!

Here is a little piece of Smithfield Reservoir north of Kansas City, Missouri. I wanted to do this in black and white, which is something I don’t normally do, because color just didn’t do it for me. I beefed up the contrast 100 percent and cropped out the extraneous part of the photograph that I originally thought more highly of. I believe I sharpened it just a bit also. I hope you enjoy it.

Smithfield Reservoir, north of Kansas City, Missouri

June 17, 2015 was a good day. Not only did the Kansas City Royals roll over the Milwaukee Brewers 10-2, but I was able to get a few decent photographs as well, perched up in the stands between third base and left field. The final photo will show you where I sat.

The first photograph is of Lorenzo Cain, last year’s MVP of the American League playoff series. The second is of Mike “Moose” Moustakis, the third-baseman, watching a foul ball that had already whizzed past him. Every time Moose does something in the field, even just catching a ball and throwing it to first base, or just walking up to bat, the entire crowd (seemingly} yells out “M-o-o-o-o-o-o-se”. To the uninitiated it might sound like, “B-o-o-o-o-o-o”. The third photo is Ryan Madson, one of the vaunted relief corps of the Royals.

It was a great day watching the Royals light up the scoreboard, but alas, no home runs for the Royals. Fortunately, none for the Brewers, either. (Did I actually say, “alas”?)

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Today Was a Good Dayy

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other related items.

Lorenzo Cain takes a swing at a Brewer fast ball. (They’re all fast to me, curve balls, sliders, off speed, etc., notwithstanding.)

Mike “Moose” Moustakis watching a foul ball head toward the left field corner

Ryan Madson came in for relief of Joe Blanton in the late innings

The Crowd, not quite a sellout, but pretty close

What’s beneath my feet?

The sand,

The water,

The flowers,

The things that crawl and fly.

However, the one thing you never want

Beneath your feet

Are people.

 

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Beneath Your Feet

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other related items.

Grand River, near Gallatin, Missouri

B-21 Lake, near Osborn, Missouri

Woods near Gallatin, Missouri