Fifty Million Hits – Never Forget Tribute

Fifty Million HitsThe statistics counter on the Never Forget Tribute should roll past 50,000,000 later this evening. Each time the graphic is served up on web pages that embed the tribute, the hit counter advances by one. Damsel and I thank those of you who have taken the time to embed the tribute on your websites. It’s people like you who know that America, and the World, can Never Forget. We are grateful that so many of you care.

The animation was originally inspired by an anonymously-produced PowerPoint slideshow making the rounds on the Internet and via emails after 9/11. I gathered some of the graphics and produced the prototype of the graphic to display on my personal website. After refinements and improvements suggested by Damsel and others, it appears as it does today. This is the graphic seen in the right sidebar depicting the attacks on America by terrorists. Recently, I added the U.S.S. Cole attacks in tribute to the 17 Sailors murdered by terrorists.

In August of 2005, I made the animation available to anyone. The offer was only taken by a few sites at first, but since then, many more have begun displaying the animation. As of December 2005, there were over 200 sites linking to it, and that number has been growing since. Sites in the US, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, the UK, Italy and several other countries, display the tribute on their pages.

Wildcourt Orchid

This pretty little orchid variety is called “Wildcourt.” The flowers are less than two inches wide and have the nicest pattern of colors. This sort of jumped into the cart at the garden shop today.

Click for the large image.

wildcourt.jpg

Not Exactly Your Average Street Vehicle

I stopped into a sandwich shop yesterday to get a ‘care package’ on the way to my Mom and Dad’s place. When I stepped outside, this was parked right there – right in your face. Bob thinks it’s a Ford ‘Hi Boy’ chassis, uhh, slightly modified. It looks like a lot of love and effort went into this interesting hot-rod.

hot-rod.jpg

Click to enlarge image.

Morning Glory

I have been visiting a lot lately at my Mom and Dad’s place to help out with Dad, who is convalescing from his illness. Mom can use the help. While I’m there, I take my camera into her garden and get some images of her beautiful flowers and cactii. This morning glory is one of the many colors in her garden.

Morning Glory

Click image to enlarge.

Damsel’s Coup d’ Grâce

We have a lot of fun when we go to the shooting range. Sunday, Damsel was shooting at a silhouette target with her 20 gauge Remington 870. She gets such a kick out of demolishing the last hanging vestige of the target.

I really love going to the range with her.

The Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale

very pink flowersSaturday, we attended the Cactus Show at the South Coast Botanic Garden. We also took a walk into the main gardens, but more on that in another post.

I have always loved succulents and find them fascinating – so many varieties, sizes and colors. I always manage to pick up a new succulent and bring it home from the sale. This is one of four new succulents in 3-inch pots that made their way to our patio. It’s called ‘Neoporteria senilis’ or ‘Eriosyce senilis’ but I couldn’t find a common name for it on the internet. All I know is that the flowers are going to be bright pink when they bloom.

I’ll post another photo with the blooms when they open. Click the picture to see full sized.