No Messages for a While:

There will not be a message from me next month and perhaps not in December or January either. I am working on something bigger and I will be absorbed with that of course.

Also, the Red Alert which I put out in 2023-03-24 was quite real. The BUWI Sodomites always use Harbingers-of-Death to prepare the way for their attacks on the Real Iowa; which always include bribes to the appropriate County Coyotes. Now, the scum bags in Frankly Hideous County (formerly Franklin) are increasing their attacks against Wright County (just west of their cesspool) by multiplying the amounts of ButtUgly Windmills that they have placed right on the border between the two counties where Route 3 connects -- forcing all of the residents of Wright County to see many Frankly-Sodomite-Sphincters-In-The-Sky. It is a deliberate offensive maneuver against the People of Wright County. Historically, Wright County has always been for the RepuCraps and Frankly Demented County has been for the DemoQueers.

I was just in Frankly Putrid County and I went through the Coyote Den where the scumbags play, Hampton. I was looking for the Golden Sidewalks. Surely, with so much blood electricity money from the Sodo-BUWIs (given to them as bribes) they must have used those funds to glorify their Coyote Den with Golden Sidewalks!

Nope. Nothing is changed. Except bigger and fatter bank accounts for Coyotes and for their White Niggers that own and operate Forrid Abominations. If -- they share the spoils with their Sodo-Forrids.

So that atrocity is happening as I write and has to be documented, forever. Meanwhile, this horrible event brings up the topics of 'Border Sovereignty' and 'Border Security' and 'Border Hygiene'. Individual counties should have the right to protect their own standards of living and Human decency and quality of life by protecting themselves from the activities of neighboring counties that infringe upon their natural rights as a sovereign county. The sight and presence of so many awful ButtUgly Windmills literally looming over the border between Frankly Douche County (formerly Franklin) and Wright County is a criminal offense. It is offensive and downgrading to the People of Wright County. It does not matter that the inhabitants of Frankly Repugnant County are Sheep.

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About recent events in the Ukraine ...

I am updating you with 44 weblinks to world events that are part of the broader scenario of the War in Ukraine. These are the legitimate videos that I could find using the defective Youtube. Each of them is worth watching and I urge you to save them for your archives before they are erased by the Perverts of Tenderloin Valley.

As forever -- always avoid any contact with the false and deviate websites of the Queer Medias. Their awful logos are shown here. You will get nothing but perversions and lies from these terrible places.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlH3S-uLTIw

2022-01-14--How the radical Left turned America's cities into “slums”--Telegraph--Liars always despise the Sheep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ktPF9Hb7BU&t=31s

2023-08-25--How Russia has replaced Western brands--DW

The Russians have been creating artificial imitations of the western brands that used to sell their products in Russia. Products, that are now missed by the everyday Russian. This is another evidence that what the Russians need is their own asteroid to live on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NqhbOrUj-c

2023-09-01--Meet the Internet’s arbiters of truth running the Censorship Industrial Complex--Sky Australia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2zBYJLuTCI

2023-09-02--As China's economy stumbles should the rest of the world worry--Al Jazerra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0tC-nwe404

2023-09-02--Russia fields its Super Weapon 'Satan II' amidst the Ukraine war--WION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir0hJ64DFkE

2023-09-03--American First Amendment Rights obliterated by spies and leftwing activists--Sky Australia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyTO9b3S31c

2023-09-03--Ukraine breaking through the lines--TVP World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_l8t9W8ARQ

2023-09-07--Digital solutions for India's growth dilemmaーNHK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=273KS2IfRZE

2023-09-07--What's behind the wave of coups in Africa--Al Jazerra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbaRyjzaPwc

2023-09-11--Live Q&A--What is the current situation in Ukraine--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbwYBv_vARU

2023-09-13--Former NATO General--Western self deterrence only prolongs Ukraine war--Conflict Zone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUWe4r5KmzQ

2023-09-14--Morning review of world events--TVP World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEIR8A1CCQI

2023-09-15--Review of the most important events of the day--TVP

https://ntvkenya.co.ke/arts-lifestyle/the-relationship-between-air-quality-and-climate-change/

2023-09-17--The relationship between air quality and climate change--NTV Kenya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v9Y9TfqhpY

2023-09-19--Ukraine gaining ground in the East and South--TVP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stQHKRbEPuo

2023-09-20--The main question in Russia is why it is taking so long--Conflict Zone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oqgwMSw_rk

2023-09-21--Biden's border falls apart as cities are flooded--Sky Australia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQRf_gEnC7M

2023-09-22--Ukraine claims it successfully struck Russian Black Sea navy headquarters--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVEuyC4Tx8U

2023-09-24--No changes on the eastern border (Poland) and World News--TVP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RPFvhPu-7w

2023-09-24--Why is Crimea so important to both Russia and Ukraine--Al Jazerra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1SXH5fq8QE

2023-09-25--Kyiv moves closer to Berlin--TVP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gYDOgO90II

2023-09-25--Why soldiers in Ukraines International Legion answered the call--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Vl8H7t5mc

2023-09-27--The neighbourly fight in the Aegean--TVP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u-bfjZFDoA

2023-09-27--Ukraine Kakhovka dam disaster creates ongoing water shortages--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW0V_JeFzEQ

2023-09-28--Amid growing migration crisis--SOS Méditerranée receives 'alternative Nobel Prize'--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4-ZC_fd19Y

2023-09-29--Decoding Putin and Xis blueprint for a new world order--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJfjFZiaCww

2023-09-30--Cash is king Rowan Dean urging Australians to use more cash over card--Sky Australia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf89XMbPGs8

2023-09-30--How Putin claimed to save Ukraine from neoNazis with a special mission--Telegraph

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s15jEUFYNyo

2023-09-30--Moscows imperialist inclinations--TVP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JykosSIjadQ

2023-09-30--What risks do China's shadow banks pose to the economy--Al Jazerra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNusRlJDnDw

2023-10-01--What does France withdrawal mean for the fight against insurgents in the Sahel--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD8X5M0ZMkQ

2023-10-03--UK has got their act together on womens rights--Sky Australia

https://ntvkenya.co.ke/news/el-nino-watch-nairobi-county-to-purchase-boats-and-rafts/

2023-10-05--El Nino watch--Nairobi County to purchase boats and rafts--NTV Kenya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBsSuW2c1pQ

2023-10-05--Is this the end of large scale support for the war in Ukraine--Al Jazerra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXKCYpARNu0

2023-10-06--WTO warns of dangerous fragmentation of global trade--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyPzDV01XuQ

2023-10-07--Waste management challenges in Nairobi threaten environmental health--NTV Kenya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk2sewqxAQo

2023-10-10--Climate resilient architecture on Property Focus with Peter Ngigi--NTV Kenya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sno2oaUahm4

2023-10-17--ATACMS deployed in Ukraine--Navy SEALS in Israel to help rescue hostages--Rock Rachon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLdODW0fsVo

2023-10-18--Will the conflict in Gaza weaken support to Kyiv--Lithuanian PM Ingrida Simonyte--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXI8LU-oU0A

2023-10-21--Africa Matters--Continental Trade Deals--TRT Turkey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tlZqoEQr70

2023-10-23--Putin's Waning Influence over Central Asia--TVP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfIJ7UzKFhE

2023-10-23--Recent developments in the Israel-Hamas war--DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pql6LeBluiw

2023-10-23--The Axis of Evil--Russian war in Ukraine is one of the fronts of the new Cold War--Rock Rachon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGk-rE5EWAM

2023-10-24--Dnipro Offensive--Ukrainians Advance--TVP

This latest video says that the Ukrainian Counteroffensive has bogged down and the Russians are making some counter-counter gains. For all of you Humans who are so good as to be following these weblinks from me -- let me explain something which is vital for your understanding.

Statistical Tie: Only in Politics does the actual count matter. Only in Idiot Voting does a difference of one thousand votes out of one million make a difference. On the battlefield a difference of plus-or-minus ten thousand out of one hundred thousand is still called a Statistical Tie, because the weaker side still has enough strength to turn the tables on the stronger opponents with the proper application of Strategy-and-Tactics.

The so-called 'initiative' in War is either temporary, such as with Statistical Ties, or major and decisive because the balance has greatly broken in favor of one side. Temporary Initiatives are as fleeting as snow flakes and seldom increase into decisive victories, which is why there is only one final victory per battle.

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I have made a video for you, showing my illustrious self, trying to explain that I am not going to make a message for November or December or possibly January too. I have something big to complete and it has been put off for too long already.

In this video I explain webcam usage on Youtube, and problems with that, and I complain about some malfunctions of the Youtube site.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18bWYCGya7aXlXbFX40AKCDRR_Vb1UoCU/view?usp=sharing

I use Appropriate Language in this video towards the end, to properly explain what is wrong at Youtube.

I made an effort here to explain how to get a simple webcam to work better, however I am not satisfied with the webcam I was using for this so I threw it out after I made the video. In the trash can. Gone forever. It was not auto focusing properly. I will use the SX-70 or a Camcorder instead from now on. Webcams suck. The videos that I have linked you to (above) clearly show what I am talking about.

Incidentally, what I say in the video about Auto White Balance applies exactly to cell phone cameras taking 'selfies'. A large percentage of 'selfies' are way off color because the Auto White Balance controls are either not being used or are not being set up properly with color screens.

My final comments about Youtube in this video are very appropriate and true, and represent a dire situation for the Internet and the populations that use it.

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Getting back to the War in Ukraine, there is an unknown documentary from MGM (1970) that addressed the development of Mankind and used some of the costumes from '2001 A Space Odyssey' (also from MGM). It is notable for its brief debate about the reasons for Mankind's tendency towards violent confrontations and territoriality. It is called 'The Man Hunters' and is available at the following website. Today, Eastern Europe and the Middle East are saturated with violence and territoriality. Why? Is it instinctive and inevitable, or it is learned socially generation after generation?

I would add the question -- is aggression and territoriality necessary everywhere because of the constant Negative Aspects of Mankind, such as Greed and Avarice, and Politics which combines both? After all, what is the alternative? Slavery? Obliteration? Cruel Despotism? Queer Medias? Voting?

https://archive.org/details/themanhuntersreel2/themanhuntersreel1/themanhuntersreel2.mov

I know that some of you are struggling to keep up with these messages, and I do not mean to denigrate your efforts, but if I am wrong about this then why are the classic examples of Greed and Avarice and Lust for Power and Territoriality used as the plot elements for so many movies and books about this society?

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See You Later Alligators.

Markel Peters

https://voices-of-iowa.blogspot.com/

https://voices-of-iowa-concise.blogspot.com/

Here -- 05-17-2015:

Please remember that these photographs are free to all Humans everywhere. I include some of them just for their value as desktop screens. Others, I include as I know some people will have the time to actually look at pictures; without having to do something else, like mandatory listening to liars on the medias (etc). Some people actually have their own Privacy these days -- now that Human Resistance has made them free of lice and ticks and perverts.

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Click on the pictures to get the bigger sizes.

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It has been a very busy time for me since the beginning of the year, and I have not had many chances to get out and photograph Iowa as I would have liked to. Also, the weather and the temperature zone are colder up here in Iowa, as opposed to Kentucky and Southern Illinois where I am usually working. When I would return to Iowa, ready to take pictures, it would either be raining or there would be nothing green to take pictures of.

Perhaps that is for the best, because when I finally did get a chance to take pictures -- they turn out to be good to semi-spectacular.

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Looking south.

This photo spread was taken over four separate days in April and May, and begins with a reference shot from last November. This was taken in my neighborhood. Which is not saying much, since my neighborhood is this Continent. I included this one to illustrate how different the winter-time scene is here in Iowa -- from the summer-time pictures you are about to see.

Day One.

This shoot started late in the day, at sunset here in Wright County. I have boosted the saturation of this picture to show the color gradients that actually exist and are never seen by Human eyes.

This cloud caught my attention. It is shown here as it actually was in the light of the sunset. You will notice that below it, is a kind of ground smoke that covers much of Iowa at this time.

I often look above, to see if I am missing anything. I was able to take some pictures of a jetliner passing overhead. I have accented the details of these three photos, but not the colors.

This is an attempt to photograph the moon, using the automatic features of the Sony A series camera. I used my two Sonys (18-55mm and 55-200mm) for all of this ‘Here’ episode. They are not as high resolution as the Nikons are -- which produces a more artistic result -- that being what I wanted. Except, that is, when I use Sony II at 200mm and shoot macro close-ups of insects -- which can produce very sharp pictures. I am drifting into photographic art, as this ‘Here’ episode will illustrate.

I call this photograph of the moon -- ‘The Coyote’s Eye’.

I told you about the smoke cover that is over much of Iowa, and the Midwest, during April and up to May 15; this is Fire Ecology in action. Farmers all over the Midwest set fires to enrich their fields. It produces a pall of smoke hundreds of feet high across much of the central part of the nation. As I drive across the Midwest, often I see these many thousands of fires, usually burning in the cooler temperatures of evening.

Day Two. Looking east.

In Hancock County now, north of Wright County.

This picture gives you a real look at how ButtUgly those BUWI windmills are. On their own, they are something that only a greedy egomaniac could love. Set against the Nature Beauty of Iowa, they are Thrice Repulsive -- Repulsive to begin with -- Repulsive in comparison to Nature -- Repulsive to Nature itself .

I Am Still Looking -- And I Still Do Not See Any Flocks Or Formations Of Birds (Of Any Kind) Flying In OR Among The ButtUgly Windmills.

Same Oasis. This is one of my ‘Nature Photography’ contributions, per se.

Coots. Fulica americana. The American Coot. They hit central Iowa by the many thousands during the spring migration. They are always seen in or near larger water bodies, as they are unable to lift off from land, and must run on the surface of water in order to take flight.

 

A ‘Presence Shot’.

Nearby, is a sluice that feeds a river from a lake. These fish congregate in the oxygen-rich waters there.

On the lake itself are many species of waterfowl and Canadian Geese, of course.

Coots again.

Frog 1.

Nearby, is a wetlands of grass. Many of the types of frogs, that I have shown pictures of before, are there. While I got these two to sit still for a while, many dozens of other frogs were bouncing all around us.

The last time I showed pictures of these animals, I was at a different pond many miles away -- but, they are all identical except for unique markings. Same Species.

Frog 1.

Frog 1.

Frog 2.

Frog 2.

Looking north.

In Cerro Gordo County now, east of Hancock County. I take pictures like this even when the lighting is not ideal. It shows the isolated island nature of many farms out here on the ‘Flatlands’.

Looking north.

Looking south.

I liked this look, and I was taking its picture when a farm machine passed on the road behind me. I took several shots of this, and then turned to snap two pictures of the farm machine going down this dirt road.

Looking west.

These two photos are shown in their real colorations.

I turned away from the farm machine and made some adjustments to my camera and cleaned it again -- I am always cleaning cameras out here. Then, I turned again to look down that road and a vision appeared to me -- of how typical this scene is of sunsets over dirt roads from Toledo to Denver. It is a time of day and a ‘sensation setting’ (or event) that gives you a feeling of great expanse and simple furnishings. At times like this, you can actually see the curve of the Earth and feel the ‘size’ of the planet -- with the star above in such seemingly close proximity. It happens only rarely, and more often in the Midwest than anywhere else in the Continental U.S. If you have the senses for it, in places and times like this, you can actually feel and ‘understand’ the physical size of the Earth. You feel as though you can actually touch the entire planet, take a hold of it, grasp its entire meaning.

IF.

If you have the brains and the senses.

That immediately excludes anyone who watches TV, and/or was educated in an NEA Public School. And, I mean that.

This brings up a point that I have stressed before in the ‘Here’ series. I offer photographs that I am sure many people (who want eye candies) will slough off and/or ignore as something that I should not have included. Well, neither they (or you) are the only types of Humans looking at these pictures. I have to consider the many Humans that have somehow recovered from NEA programming and/or do not watch TV. Those people have the minds for this, but they might also be shut-in for a variety of reasons and cannot get out into Nature as I can. Certainly, they are not out HERE.

There is only me, and the coyotes, and the birds, and the farmers -- HERE.

I adapted this original picture into an artistic rendition of the impression that the scene gave to me.

Looking east.

This, and the next two pictures were taken from atop an overpass above I35. I am looking for sense of distance and feeling of ebb tide and day’s end.

Looking west.

Looking south.

A hidden pool. One of hundreds that exist across Iowa. At this time of the year, they are always being used by geese and ducks of many kinds. The Coots prefer the bigger lakes, so you seldom see them in smaller places like this. Such ponds are always surrounded by a protective layer of trees, however that gives them an island appearance -- and with so many farm islands out here it is impossible to know which ones are ponds and which ones are farms, unless you can see some outer buildings.

I called it quits for that day. Which always means I will have more pictures to take on the way back home.

 

Finally, I got the moon to picture right. This is using 1/400 with f5.6 and ISO 100 -- in Manual mode of course.

Day Three.

Looking north.

Starting in Wright County again. I wander east, up onto the backbones from which I can see in all directions.

Looking east from the backbones.

Looking west. A panorama of this was used for one of my website cover photographs.

Looking east again.

Driving north of the backbones, I think there is a house in there somewhere.

Close by, looking east again. These pictures are all being taken before most of the crops have broken ground. In many cases, the fields have not been sown yet.

Looking west from the same point.

I start wandering east again, leaving Wright County and going into Franklin County.

One thing about the ‘Flatlands’ of Iowa, it is hard to die of thirst out here. The entire landscape is laced with water canals, ditches, streams and rivers. In the southern and hilly parts of the state, there is actually much less access to ground water than there is here, due to that terrain being impossible for irrigation courses.

A very stout and strong tower structure, which is not being made any more (for some reason).

I told you about the dispersions and diasporas that have happened out here in Rural Iowa, before. This is one of the ruins.

Still wandering eastwards, I took three pictures of this guy in his tractor. He probably thought I was the Internal Revenue Service.

From here I keep zig-zagging across Franklin County, looking for pictures.

Stopped for a few minutes to listen to the singing.

Northeast of Geneva now, soon I will be in Butler County.

At ‘Big Marsh’ in Butler County, the state’s largest marsh area.

Last shot of the day. Still at Big Marsh.

Day Four.

This day starts off calmly enough. There is no hint of any big events to happen. However, before the day was over I had taken 1,422 pictures, in about seven hours -- which is a record for me. I kept 372 of them. You will see eighty-seven that I consider to be World Class, or of interest to people who can never see such things for themselves.

By the way, I have no idea what that thing is out there in that field. A high-rise chicken coop? It is built like a walk bridge.

Three pictures of Swaledale. I am up in Cerro Gordo County again.

Looking west.

Three pictures of Beaverdam Creek just east of Swaledale.

Looking east.

Just south of there.

Now, at the same place. Looking Northeast across a vista.

Looking east and further east. I was trying to get a long distance aspect of Rockwell, but it never happened.

So, I went into Rockwell and took these three pictures of the town. I was only passing through, and I have shown pictures of this town before. Somewhere.

Looking east. East of Rockwell, another vista view.

My objective now is the next town east and northeast, which is Rockford (not Rockwell).

Most of what follows, happens between Rockwell and Rockford further east and northeast; also northwest of Rockford -- except for the parts in the Rolling Hills and at Eagle Grove.

Looking east.

Light behind me is failing. I am experiencing many moving shadows cast from behind me.

Looking west.

Usually looking forwards for photo opportunities, I went down a dead end to a closed bridge over a stream. There were no pictures possible there, but as I turned to look west it became obvious that a huge storm front was moving in on this area from Nebraska.

I intended to hit Rockford ahead of the storm, and drove north. As I went, I saw this farmer zipping around a field with his tractor, trying to get in a few last passes before the floods descended upon him.

Looking west.

I began a weaving course towards the northeast, and Rockford. Up on an elevated height I stopped to take pictures of the advancing storm.

Looking east.

Same point, opposite direction. You can barely see Rockford to the far left.

Suddenly, I realized that I was in a transition zone. For perhaps half an hour, there would be special lighting effects spread across long distances; with far eastern clouds still illuminated by the local star.

You would not know, of course, but this one (and the next) are some of my better photographs. This is photography imitating Van Gogh.

You can clearly see Rockford in the background.

Looking east.

The roads made me turn south, and I saw this.

I want this to look dark. It was dark. The light is fading, due to the approaching storm behind this photographer.

And this.

Then, Rockford.

Looking east.

East of Rockford. Slim light in this direction. I began to take pictures that could be changed later to show light beam variations, which most people do not see. I see them through a kind of double overlay vision technique. I see more than is immediate. Most people just accept for granted that what they see at first about something, must be all there is to it. It never occurs to graduates of public schools that there are three dimensions, instead of the two dimensions of TV and teacher’s faces.

I turned northwest into the storm, determined to get pictures from within the lightning cells. Throughout my brief stay in Rockwell there was a great roaring of thunder from the west.

I found a roadside viewpoint of the approaching lightning and began to take hundreds of rapid-fire shots in an effort to catch some of the action.

Can you see the pressure waves over the farm to the right?

In the following photographs I sometimes computer enhance the pictures to bring out the light variations caused by pressure waves.

Reckoning my current position, I decided that the storm was going to pass over Mason City; so I relocated to a closer position. You cannot know it, but Mason City is directly underneath the explosions that you are going to see. What follows in the next thirteen pictures is a mere pittance of the pictures which I took here, which captured a mere fraction of what really happened. However, it would take hours to explain all of them, and some are repetitious. I am showing you the highlights that can be explained easily.

Still looking towards Mason City. Throughout all of this I was sitting in the Cashmere with the motor off and all windows open; to have a solid surface to brace the camera with and to keep the air temperatures the same as the outside environment. Being there was like being at one of Napoleon’s Artillery Duels with the British, an endless barrage. Many strikes were right overhead and the car shook, but it was rocking on all four tires anyway because of the approaching winds. In this picture you can just barely make out that a curtain of rain is descending out of the storm cell.

Here, the rain curtain is much more obvious as it crosses the field towards me. Rain drops are starting to fall on the lens.

I had thirty seconds before the wall of rain hit. I jumped out and started to take pictures straight up into the clouds over me, which had been producing such loud explosions.

The rain came down in a uniform manner. Which is to say, everywhere with the same density. I had the idea to re-position myself down south at Rockford, and to get pictures of the lightning effects with the town in the foreground.

This picture, and the next four are shown as is -- with no attempt to change them. I am doing this to show what it really looks like in such a storm.

I found my way back to Rockford, and positioned the car diagonally to the Middle School on the east edge of town.

This coloration is caused by the timing of the camera to the explosion, and which shift is being illuminated at that instant.

To Humans with slower eyes and different processors, each explosion would just appear as a fast and huge flash of white light. This actually shows you something that you have always been missing.

A huge and prolonged boom directly over the Middle School. So intense that computer editing cannot reveal the bolt inside, so I just left it as is.

Some vehicle passed in front of the camera at this moment.

I looked at the camera, and it said I had already taken more than a thousand pictures. I said to myself -- “time to mosey back to the corral!” On the way out of town, I saw a locomotive sitting on some tracks in the darkness. I stopped and readied the camera. Each time there was the beginning of a lightning flash, I took a picture. I got about eight that worked, of which this shows the most details conventionally, with a flash from directly overhead.

Looking south.

I kept this one entirely because of the silhouette of the house on the far left.

Deep in the dark. By dead reckoning, I was closer to Eagle Grove but still in Wright County. In the rolling hills actually. I came to a stop facing south, and shut off the motor and opened all of the windows again. I had expected to leave the storm behind, back north by northeast at Swaledale and Rockwell and Rockford and Mason City. No such luck. Three more storm cells were now where I was. One directly south, probably over the Boondocks. Another right on top of me. A third off towards Eagle Grove.

Not to worry, I took another two hundred pictures from the top of the Cashmere, which you will see as a reflective surface in the foreground. Of those pictures, I have chosen this one and the next five as samples. The coloration is what the camera sees. I also saw some blues and violets, but not as intense as the camera picked up.

Looking east.

Those are the lights of Belmond in the distance.

Looking southwest. The green light is a small household out here.

Looking southeast.

I got soaked, again, of course. I got back in the Cashmere and closed the window and started the heater. I turned around in the road and began to drive. I had a hunch that I was near Morse Lake, where the very first cover photo of this website was taken. Under much different circumstances, of course. I drove along the winding roads, remembering that last winter the roads here were closed by huge mounds of snow. I reached the dock on the east shore, and there I took this picture of the rain in the headlights.

Enough was enough for me. I usually say that several times until I finally reach my own house, dozens of pictures later.

Well, there was this one rise in the road -- from which I could picture a light tower and silhouettes of trees -- and a fantastic light display was on the boards. I stopped and shut off the motor and rolled down the windows and began shooting.

You can get more detail out of these pictures if you increase the contrast of your monitor or laptop (temporarily).

In this rarefied environment I was ready to expect anything; like scarecrows running for cover, winged Ladies of Light dancing in circles around the central light beam, and a huge beanstalk descending from the clouds with a little boy named Jack hanging on for dear life.

Finally. Back at Eagle Grove, and the place was being roasted in lightning sauce. I stopped nearby, and got out and used the roof of the car again for a support. Took about a hundred photos here.

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Markel Peters

http://www.voices-of-iowa.blogspot.com

http://www.voices-of-iowa-concise.blogspot.com