BACK SHORTLY

As I mentioned I have been on a mission. My mission was to move my complete household compound away from here. Although I had been here for 18 years, it was becoming unsafe to reside here any longer. I had to move all the rescued birds a rescued dog a one-eyed cat, a complete workshop 7 reef tanks hundreds & hundreds of plants cactus palms gardens flowers & whatever one can grow & propagate in that amount of time. I also was setting up another expansion of a cabinet shop about 20 miles from here. Throughout all this I had to empty the house I was moving to of a lifetime of memories left for two years unattended since the owner a dear friend had passed away. We had to pack up her life & get rid of all the foodstuff in the cupboards & refrigerator. I then painted the complete interior & did all neccessary repeairs. The aviary for the birds was completed just today & they are all moved in. Coconut would rather stay on my shoulder though. All my tanks are now moved but one. I`ll complete that one tomorrow & never return to my house again. The Karma I showed you at the yard sale is the karma around here that was making it impossible to stay. On to better things. One of my famous cactus blooms decided to give me a send-off & blossomed again last night. I had tried to make this a seamless move but due to the fire damage to the fiber optic cables in the area, my transfer of service has been delayed till the 9th of Nov.
I will probabl be offline till then ,as of tomorrow. I wish to thank you all for your wonderfull comments & thoughts for me mine & others which you have so wonderfully blessed my heart with. Please remain safe so that you may be all welcome back upon my return. I will miss you all immensely. Goodnight & till a better tomorrow. I will be disconnected as of tomorrow at 6:PM. If you have any questions I shall be glad to try & respond. Farewell till I see you again.
I posted some images that if you only look at onne or two a day, I should be back before you`ve finished. The post image is a brittle star making spectacles of himself.
Tony
Knucklehead.

JUST A PICTURE BOOK

Tonight I`m beat. Not to disappoint, I found a folder of underwater posers for you. Please enjoy the other ones linked to this big Puffer fish. I took this shot in my friend Darbe`s tank. I built this about 5 years ago, I think. It`s a fish only tank. so there are no live corals in this tank. it`s 350 gallons.
Good night & thank you for the nice thoughts for Kidspeak & Teach.

KIDSPEAK & TEACH

As I mentioned a few posts back, someone we know has lost her brother. I didn`t mention Kidspeak`s name for my reasons. Kidspeak & Teach have been very nice to me & I know are both well regarded in our gang. I`m dedicating this sunrise to both Kidspeak & Teach so you all may reconnect with your friends also.
I also put a little group of shots for them on Planet Earth. They are from Teri`s new Reef Garden.
This is from Kidspeak a few minutes ago. & my response.
Hi, Head,
We're back in motor city now. I'm sad that Teach and I weren't able to see you - but the circumstances were pretty bad. We are glad you are safe, and we hope the beasts around you are also ok.

My brother did die (not sure if Teach told you that), and with Malibu evacuated, we were shuffled around. Hard to believe he went down so quickly, less than a week from teaching his last class. I know that people are much more important than animals, but the cat crawled up into my brother's chair and howled at one point once we got back into the house.

We saw some terrible fires - best view, ironically, from the hospital. We did make it into Malibu via Kanin, eventually. Fire came down about 50 years ( yards, my edit) from their house, but not much was hurt.

Still, a downer trip all the way around.

It's been a hard fall - I'm not coherent yet from loss of sleep, and Teach is as demoralized as I from various vexations locally.

I do enjoy your pictures and comments. Thanks for the beauty.

(Oh, it was fine had you used our names when you mentioned us a few days ago. We know most of the folks who comment here one way or another.)

October 29, 2007 9:56 PM
Knucklehead said...
Thank you so much Kidspeak,
I wanted to protect your privacy. I know many of the people here & I are all mutual friends & always have thought highly of you both. I`m also sorry we didn`t meet, especially since we were so close geographically. I`m very sorry for your loss & would not know how to even feel, if I lost one of my brothers. I`ve lost the mother of my daughter when she was almost three & time does temper things, but again, that was many years ago. My daughter is now 26. It doesn`t go away though. Good memories are a big help in overcoming sorrow.
May we sometimes meet. Maybe on a moonlit night. I think of you guys everytime I see your flight overhead. "Kidspeak`s Flight".

RAY BANS

Tonight`s sunset is from the same yard where the bottles are. I have been out of touch because of fire damage to the fiber optic cables in the area.
This is the first day of clean air as the ocean breeze has cleaned up the coastal zone.
This was taken during a rain shower.
There is another image from the same vantage point behind this one & for Olivia, (a major player in the creation of this picture window), I put in a set of the red flower from the header, in the collection, called "BLOOD ON THE SHEETS". The red flower in some provocative images of innocence is in the set named "Candle in the Wind".
On Planet Earth, a White Honeysuckle, I happened to notice. Strangely, it was the only one that decided to attract my eye, after days of dry winds & desicating heat & smoke. I put up a little study of this paired blossom.
Hopefully my fiber optics remain at 20/20.
You all enjoy a day of rest. I`ll be wicked for a little while longer, & as you know, there`s no rest for the wicked.

MENDED FENCES

These images mark the end of a day, the end of a time, the begining of a new night. The dark days of the past are shown in the multiple repairs in the fence. The spirits in the bottles through which many dreams were concocted along with the cocktails of despair, have gone with the wind & hopefully the mended fences will hold. A neglected one never will. I keep fixing the repairs & hope to one day banish even the fence, like the dissipated spirits in my mind. The harshness & spikes of doubt are gone along with the spines of guilt for things I have no direct knowledge of having done. That`s one reason why cactus blooms are so important to me. From gnashing & cutting of needles & pikes the underlying beauty of the blooms overshadows the darkness of the beast. With me the beast was always the bottles & the needles. In these shots I see the light through the bottles whereas in the past I only magnified my troubles when looking at them through the bottom of a glass. Many years have past & don`t you you think the fence looks good.
Here, kids are treated to as much fun as possible. On Planet Earth, you can see to what lengths adults go to scare the children. It`s a fun fear or as they say a "Good Grief".
Hah I love that one. I think Wavey Gravey coined that one.
In the header, an unidentified flower that I caught blooming today. I`d been watching it progress & did not expect this result. I have another I`m watching & hope I`m just as surprised, especially since I already have an expectation of something, which may or may not be, what I see it in the future, to be.

RESCUE MAIDEN

Who are we & why do we do the things we do. As you may have guessed, our home is filled with animals that come to us mostly by chance. They are always welcome to whatever help we can offer, some to stay permanently, others till we can find a suitable home that meets their needs. On Planet Earth is a beautiful Bearded Dragon, that I rescued to place in a home suitable for it.
This dragon was a therapy dragon for kids with special needs. You may remember my little buddy Shane that I sometimes write fantasy stories for. This dragon was in his classroom till the school closed. Shane`s mom, an amazingly loving person, could not bear to have the lizard at her house with nobody to hold it & take it out for walks, as it was used to at the school.
I picked up the dragon & brought her to my young friend down the street who`s brother has the large reef tank I help with.
So there you have it, another successful rescue. I should return to where I started this post.
The young lady in the posted image is also a rescuer. Here she is with two little kittens. Funny where things start. That young lady is my mom.
We only ever have one. Call yours, remember her if she`s gone & always be nice to ladies, they may eventually be someones mom.
Have a nice day,Please.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU

As you can see from this image when compared to the last posted image, the fire has not advanced towards our place. This is in part, because of the nature of the beast itself & a steady onslaught of water droppers.
I know I`d told you I would be just fine & had been through these fires numerous times, but it obviously didn`t allay your concerns, for which I`m grateful.
Then there`s the "Why didn`t you call" gang. All roads were shut down except in Malibu itself. All fiber-optic cables were burnt through, & having my phones & internet connected to these fallible devices did not permit me to contact the outside world. It also kept most people here, having to depend on CNN or outside news feed for information about what was going on a mile away. We had no local news only satelite feeds. There was no gas for anybody because the power was out at many locales, so gas could not be pumped.
For everybody who expressed concern, you have no idea how bad I felt knowing you would be concerned, & that I was OK but couldn`t let you know.
For those who know me personally like Evangeline & Landsailor, you all know there`s a special place for me to burn & it`s not here. I may have the hellfires out before the devil gets me anyway. There`s also another sad story here. One of our friends from the BooMan Tribune & his wife are here in Malibu for a family tragedy. I don`t feel like I could name them here but will ask them. Please say a prayer for their family. I have been in touch with one of them by phone & hope to meet them here today but it`s hectic for them & with the roads closed & the sadness involved it may not be possible. I do hope to see them though.
Everything is as back to normal as could be expected here, so please don`t fret, & say a prayer for those who need one desperately at this time. It`s too late for me, hah.
Tony