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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

No, it's not a current photo of the White House


Yes, in the Greater Washington, D.C. area we are covered in snow, ice, and more snow, but this image is NOT from the White House lawn.
And those penguins are NOT politicians in disguise, although they always have fishy agendas on their minds.


Monday, February 8, 2010

"Now you see him, now you don't!" "Before, and after".





The title is a joke, of course. :)
I could further joke that the guy is an avid researcher, member of several herpetological societies. He wrestles with his python once a month, so that's his Mont(hl)y Python. 
The lower image shows his Full...Python. Full of food.

Joking aside, the upper image shows a young boa, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snake,_Jersey_Zoo.jpg and the bottom shows an 8 meter-long sucuri from Pantanal, Brazil. That's a special boa, called anaconda - green anaconda, in this case. 
In the belly of the beast is a capybara, the world's largest rodent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara.

"Eunectes murinus (derived from the Greek "Ευνήκτης" meaning "good swimmer" and the Latin "murinus" translated into "he who predates on mice") is a non-venomous boa species found in South America. It is the most massive of all known snake species".
"Primarily aquatic, they eat a wide variety of prey, almost anything they can manage to overpower, including fishbirds, a variety of mammals, and other reptiles. Particularly large anacondas may even consume large prey such as tapirdeercapybarajaguarsblack caiman, and crocodiles, but such large meals are not regularly consumed"

I especially like that lower image, an actual postcard from Brazil. Someday, I'll create a maximum card, with a matching stamp.
Here are a few anaconda stamps:


Sunday, February 7, 2010

Blizzard of 2010 (p3): 32.4 inches of snow in Herndon, VA, near Dulles International Airport.




Look at the above car: it looks as if the snowstorm has put another car on top of it! :D :D :D
Toyota: Moving forward...but NOT at an alarming speed! Mine is a 2008 Corolla...




I want Spring!!! :)

Blizzard of 2010 (p1): 32.4 inches of snow in Herndon, VA, near Dulles International Airport.



A garden variety of snow depths.
The white plastic table sits on the back upper porch, 2 steps up from the base porch. Snow is deeper than it seems. Look at the snow "cake" on top of the table, after the wind polished it.
I could and should make some maximum cards with some of these images.
:)

Superb cover from Finland: 3D/lenticular/stereoscopic mini-sheet of 4 stamps Winter Sports


As you can see, it was sent to me.
At my special request, by my special local Finnish friend M.  Thank you VERY MUCH for this and your wonderful postcards and maximum cards.
BREAKING NEWS: I will send you a set of Disney movies maximum cards, that you like so much!
I created only 3 such sets!

We had an excellent exchange of maximum cards and postcards!
I would be ecstatic if I had at least 1 partner/friend like her in every postal autonomy in the world! :)

As I tilt the envelope, I see various positions and images. Super cool!
Congratulations, Suomi/Finland Post, for joining the philatelic ranks of Austria Post and only a few others, such as Bhutan and Tonga, in the category of  The Most Innovative and Open-Minded Postal Administrations!