Friendship Flea Market (Part 3)

I have broken this series up into 3 parts in order for all of you to benefit from it's detailed awesomeness better. There are two posts about this event on my Psycho Carnival blog and the last post is on this blog. Click the link and it will take you back to the first part of the series that will better explain what this crazy flea market is all about.

I'm finally getting around to posting this last bit on the topic at hand. Sorry for being so late. I was busy enjoying the summer. I hope you weren't holding your collective breaths for this last installment. Better late than never, I suppose.

This group of photos is all about the Friendship Flea Market. A spectacle to behold! I went there clear back in July and it was hot and fun. We go here twice a year for our bi-annual dose of all that is good that humanity has to offer. Or something like that.

If you have any questions about what you see here, just ask. Some of the sights are kinda odd and I wouldn't blame you if you had some questions. :)

Here are but a few sights we saw...

The dog looks creepy. Remember Steven King's "Cujo?" That kind of creepy. Yeah. Of course, the Confederate flag rug/tapestry or whatever- that might be creepy to some, too. But, not so, in redneck country. :)

These dogs were cute, though.

There something wrong with this next picture. My guess would be the acupuncture guy at a redneck flea market. But what do I know?

These signs come in handy for whatever may cross your path or... hell... I forget what I was going to say.

They don't make them to last like this anymore. And this classic car has style. Something most cars are sorely missing today. I took a pic of this when we rode into town to eat before returning to the flea market again.

Here we have a hot blonde, a Sugar Glider and a big ol' guy named Steve.

And now, a little style... or something.

Danger! Danger! Danger!

This concludes the 3 part series, at long last. I've kept my promise and now I want your Hot Pockets, in return. That sounded odd. :) Take care, folks.

The Deer In Our Backyard

There are so many deer in our area these days, that they can be seen almost anywhere and anytime. I took these shots in the back of our place. They're still skittish, somewhat, of humans and other animals but not as much as they were prone to being, in the past.


They were a family of four, from what I could see. There might have been more members of their family in the woods nearby.

These animals are very pretty to look at but not when you're running into them with your vehicle- which has happened twice to us in the last two years. Others in this area have had frequent deer collisions, as well.

Still, when you see them up close and personal like this, they instill a sense of indescribable calm within you.

The deer stuck around for a good fifteen to twenty minutes until two stray cats happened by them, unsuspecting. The cats were spooked by the big strange animals, let out a big MEOW and scared the deer off, back into the woods.

Winter Wonderland Festival

Every other weekend during this time of year, one town in my area has what they call a "Winter Wonderland Festival".

Each festival will have different events, like skating or musicians coming to town to play and so on.

Last weekend, they had some pretty cool things going on. Huge tents were set up that housed booths where you could get hot chocolate, chili, home crafted Christmas wreaths and other holiday items. One booth featured ice sculpting. Yet another had a gifted glass blower who would create ornaments and holiday figures made of glass in front of you. You could ask for something specific to be made and he would do it.

Below, you'll find a few choice scenes of the festival that included reindeer, barrel train rides, a trolley and the town's Christmas tree.

Dolphinaris Cozumel

These are the fantastic shots taken of the dolphins and my wife and I while we were at Dolphinaris in Cozumel, Mexico. My wife and I had always wanted to get the chance of a lifetime by swimming and interacting with dolphins and we got it during one of our cruise excursions this past summer.

Dolphinaris was a great place to go for interacting with bottle nosed dolphins. Everyone took turns going in groups of eight. Each group had their own instructor. Our instructor's name was Thomas and he explained several facts about dolphins. For example:

Dolphins can live up to 35 years in captivity. They usually live only 7 or 8 years in their natural ocean habitat. This is due to their natural enemies... sharks, whales and humans.

The dolphins we played around and interacted with the most were named Bina and Seymour. Bina was a 3 year old female. Seymour was 15 years old.

This is a description of Dolphinaris from their website:

Dolphinaris Cozumel is a place like no other in Cozumel or in the Caribbean, nestled upon the shores of a glittering turquoise sea, it offers an unforgettable experience where guests can swim and interact with dolphins in their natural habitat, the beautiful ocean coves provide a safe place for you and for our dolphins to enjoy a truly unforgettable experience.

The instructor let us feed, swim and touch the dolphins. We were even allowed, surprisingly, to touch a dolphin's teeth and tongue. It was amazing. They were so gentle and loving, you could do almost anything with them. Thomas even taught us the hand signals that would let the dolphins know we wanted them to perform a trick or movement for us.

We were in the ocean water with the dolphins for about an hour. And in that hour we experienced many wonderful moments with these endearing marine mammals. They would come right up to us, sometimes rubbing against us, obviously enjoying human contact and interaction.

This is me, riding a dolphin. It took me from one end of a cove to another. Pretty cool, huh?

It truly was the experience of a lifetime. How many people can say they've swam with dolphins?