Today's churches

Churches are another thing I love to photograph. These are from the trip...I almost wish I had asked to turn around and go back where I got the last photo shown. There were two of these churches, side by side and the quick glimpse I caught of them they seemed to be identical. I was lucky to get this of just one of them, but I will always wonder what the story behind the churches are.

Icebreaker Mackinaw

This is the Icebreaker Mackinaw, decommissioned in 2006. It has a length of 290 feet with the lower hull being constructed of steel plates 1 5/8 inch thick, and steel beams being 16 inches apart...just like the studs in our homes. Instead of cutting through the ice as we normally think of, it is made to be propelled up on the ice and the weight of the Mackinaw breaks the ice.

It can carry 46,910 gallons of diesel fuel, has 6 huge diesel engines that provide the electrical power to turn two 14-foot diameter stern propellers. It also has a brow propeller that is 12-foot, weighs 7.2 ton...it first draws the water from beneath the ice ahead, which weakens it...thus sagging under its own weight..and it sends water back along both sides of the hull reducing ice friction.

The day is done...almost

I looked for this photo last night and couldn't find it...I forgot I had not downloaded yesterday's photos. I just love this one...not sure why. It is another one from Illinois....as are all the others.

Fields were/are starting to be harvested. We seen this plume of 'smoke' off in the distance, only when we got closer we found that it was dust from this combine.


I may have found a new thing to photograph...grain elevators. I wished I had counted how many we seen....


And got to photograph a corn crib...
And this picture just makes me smile to look at with all those birds on top.

I have been busy today doing laundry and I mowed most of the yard. And I made a big pot of chili which I will probably be mine alone. Other than the one bowl Roger ate, that is. I wanted to make chili before we left, but no one else wanted any. So all the time we were gone, I craved chili. I did have a bowl at one place that tasted a lot like my own...it was good. There was just not enough of it...when I crave chili or vegetable soup, I make a pot and eat on it all day long. I told Roger it was the first thing I made when I got home, but it was actually the second, because I did fix a bite of breakfast this morn.