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#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMforMachinery Examples of farm machinery, in 3 of its common conditions: in use, moving fast because daylight's burning; used, at auction, because there's no way to keep going; for sale, shiny & new, because there's always hope. Photos from around Castroville, Texas.

A green tractor with yellow wheels drives across a field.

Large farm equipment, much of it green & yellow, is parked at an auction yard.

Tractor attachments for tilling and raking are for sale. They are yellow & black.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 19h

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMforMachinery Machinery from the old Pearl Brewery, on display at the Hotel Emma in San Antonio, Texas. Photos from March 2026.

Copper? Brass? Pipes? Control valves? A large & complex metal creation; I can't identify what it did.

Metal wheels at the ends of large metal pipes, appearing to be control valves.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMforMachinery Old machines for production of olive oil, displayed at the Queen Creek Olive Mill in Arizona. Photos from April 2025.

In an old olive mill, two stone wheels turn above a stationary stone, crushing olives.

An old olive press, built to squeeze olives between multiple layers, has a plaque indicating it was built in Firenze, Italia.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekLforLookingIn I stopped to see this nice collection of tiny droids in the window before noticing it was a radio studio. Headsets on the table here; when I passed by again later, teenagers were wearing the headsets, chatting with the DJ. Photos from June 2026 in Boerne, Texas.

Tiny models of R2-D2 and similar droids line the windowsill of a radio studio.

White text on a black sign identifies
BOERNE RADIO 103.9 FM / AM1500
RICHTER Studio

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

#ColoraDay #BlueTue Pomegranate trees should not be flowering now here, but they are. The city says my volunteer trees, too near the street, must be cut way back. So now street-side pomegranate flowers are in vases, wilting, while store-bought pomegranate fruit is in the refrigerator, ready to eat.

Bright orange pomegranate flowers are on a leafy green stem in a blue glass vase.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#ColoraDay #OrangeSun Among the treasures found while cleaning out an old greenhouse: fallen wings and rust.

On a rusty metal cart, two orange & black butterfly wings.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#ColoraDay #GreenSat What I'm reading now: Green Mars reappeared after a long absence, in a box that should've been unpacked years ago. I knew Green was around somewhere but I didn't wait for it, reading Red Mars and Blue Mars anyway, out of order. Finishing "The Scientist As Hero" section now.

A beat-up paperback book's cover shows scenes of Mars' red rocks with several examples of human technology. "Green Mars" is the book's title. Kim Stanley Robinson is the author. The title & author's name are printed in green. Smaller white text points out that this is the winner of the 1994 Hugo award for best novel.

A bookmark, sticking out above the top edge of the book, is red plastic with a green holographic image of a reptilian eye. The green eye, from what I've read so far, has nothing to do with the book. The bookmark came from a short visit to Cincinnati Museum Center. It was an interesting old building, formerly a train station; if Godzilla or anything else with that kind of eye was on exhibit there, I missed it.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekKforKn Some of the earliest human tools were used for knapping, knocking away small pieces. I've heard both of these small hammers called knappers. I don't know their other names. Knocking off small, rough mistakes smooths welding. Knocking chips from stones frees fossils.

Two small hand tools rest on a brown woven cloth on a wooden table.
One tool is all metal, all black, with a two-pointed head and shock-absorbing spring at its base. The other tool has a wooden handle and a black metal head, pointed at one end and flat at the other end.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekJforJocular From a 2012 birthday gift. I deflated this smiley balloon about 10 years later. Left in peace, it might have smiled on forever.

A mylar balloon is decorated as a shiny yellow face with black eyes and smile.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

#ColoraDay #OrangeSun If these orange rosehips were tomatoes, I'd gladly pick them now & eat them all, red, in a few days. Since rosehips are not tomatoes, I don't know whether these will ever turn red. I saved them from branches trimmed away from the sidewalk. Some whiny neighbors fear thorns.

A group of rosehips sit in a small white dish. The largest are firm & orange. Smaller fruits are firm & green, or dry & orange.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

#ColoraDay #PinkMon I saw at least 3 pink things in 1 August afternoon at the Pearl in San Antonio, Texas.

Hanging from a liveoak tree above outdoor restaurant seating at La Gloria, this is not a piñata but maybe it is a statue of an 8-sided star-shaped piñata. It could also be a statue of fireworks. Behind it, others are hanging in other trees.

The lower section of a statue of a cow is painted as a green field with some bluebonnet flowers, one tree, and several orange monarch butterflies. The upper section of the cow is painted as a colorful sky, with pink, blue, yellow, and orange streaks.

In a small pond, a pink waterlily flower rises above green lilypads.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The one about the cow jumping over the moon doesn't talk about those she left behind. I guess El Toro tried to jump up there, too, and only made it as far as the roof. Now what? Try again to jump? Figure out how to get down? Photo taken under the half-moon last week in Helotes, TX, at El Chaparral.

A brown metal sculpture of a bull stands on the highest level of a tile roof. The next level down, still on the roof, cactus and yucca grow. Above, the bright blue sky shows a few white clouds and half of a white moon.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

#ColoraDay #YellowThu This roadside duck-crossing sign is much taller than many nearby signs, maybe to be sure it isn't easily bothered. What I want to know about it is this: Is that a bloody red handprint, or what, and anyway why? In Boerne TX, River Road Park, a nice walk last Sunday evening.

A reflective yellow warning diamond sign shows silhouettes of 1 large duck followed by 3 small ducks. Behind the sign, evening is falling so a streetlight is on and trees are dark.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

#ColoraDay #YellowThu In a construction zone today, a utility pole is supported by 4 twisted-steel cables, 1 with a yellow cover at its base (improving visibility?). The steel cables also support 1 wild sunflower, the kind we call Maximilianos around here. Summer is somehow never too hot for them.

A yellow sunflower with a brown center and green leaves leans against steel cables. Some shorter green plants also grow. Behind them, the land is dry.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekFforFilms All the Pretty Horses (2000) These are photos of artificial horses, made by humans. You can tell these are art because living horses move, even when standing still: a twitching ear or tail, a stamping foot. Also, horses in art don't smell or sound like real horses.

This is "Caballo Tamaño Grande" by Fernando Botero at the Central library in San Antonio, TX. Like Botero's people, the horse is short, thick, and muscular. Photo taken July 2026.

A white horse wit a large pale red blanket. At the San Antonio Museum of Art, June 2025.

A white carousel horse, decorated with flowers. August 2014, somewhere in the Caribbean, on Allure of the Seas.

A horse's head decorates the head of a stringed instrument at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo taken April 2025.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekFforFilms Children of the Corn (1984) Something seemed not quite right at the fenced edge of the cornfield. From a distance, the rest of the corn looked normal to me, but what do I know about corn? Photos from June 2026 near D'Hanis TX.

At the edge of cornfield, one plant is strangely deformed.

Photographed through a wire fence, corn is forming low to the ground on corn plants.

Photographed through a wire fence, a cornfield stretches into the distance, toward a ridge of hills. The sky above is partly bright blue, partly covered by white and grey clouds.

Corn flowers at the tops of corn plants, stretching toward a low ridge under a cloudy sky.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

#ColoraDay #BlueTue "1988" is etched on the base of this blue glass planet. I remember bringing it home from a business trip to Chicago; was that 1990? Today, I was surprised to find it in a drawer with 15 mousepads, 2 20-amp Buss fuses, & some old birthday cards. Can't guess why it was there.

Sitting on a bamboo table, a clear glass ball contains a design of blue stripes and a few sparkles of red and yellow. The ball shows a miniature reflection of a kitchen window.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

#ColoraDay #YellowThu My mind works in several directions--present observation, future imagination, past recollection--so I usually wait well, entertaining myself. Today, it was just so hot, and taking so long...then I remembered to find & photograph something yellow. Thanks, y'all. That helped.

In an asphalt parking lot, the concrete base of a light post is painted yellow. The metal post above it is painted grey. The asphalt is also grey. The sky above is bright blue, with scattered white clouds.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekEforEphemeral On a burning-hot afternoon, a burst of water can't stay long. A puddle forms briefly, then some water soaks down into the sandy clay; more steams up into the air. By now, the accidental water puddle is just a memory.

Under a faucet at the side of a brown brick house, water has leaked onto yellow caliche. The area nearest the house is in shade; all else is bright sunlight. In the far background is green brush, blue sky, and white clouds.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

#ColoraDay #RedWed Sometimes I wonder why, in a blue room, with 2 lights above it, when I look closely at a cool black cooktop surface I see 8 lights in a red surface. The kitchen contains mysteries far beyond "flip when [invisible] bottom is brown" and "season to taste, cook until done".

A ceramic cooktop reflects and multiplies the lights over it, the metal grid over it, and the tile grout behind it. I don't know where the red color comes from, but it's there, too.

In a kitchen, a black cooking surface has blue tiles behind it and a silver grid in the vent over it.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

#Alphabetchallenge #WeekEforEphemeral Every banana has one perfect moment. The trick is to find it.

Here are 4 bananas. 3 are yellow, slightly tinged with green. 1 is about half yellow and half brown.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

#Alphabetchallenge #WeekEforEphemeral This morning, I thought I'd clear the dust off of this white door. Now I think I'll try again this evening.

A light brown moth rests on the edge of a door panel. The door is white, with dark brown dust collected behind the moth.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekDforDark Last night, I walked into a room with no lights on. X-Files was on the TV; I stopped to watch. The Smoking Man was in this one. My life might really be a song.

In an unlit room with blue walls, a television shows a blurry scene from X-Files. (Mulder was climbing into the space under a mall escalator, pursuing a suspect.)

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekDforDark #ColoraDay #BlueTue #AnimalArtTuesday This long-lost good dog still works just fine, after I got all the dust off. How did I let it get so lost for so long? I remember where I was & what responsibility I was shirking when I bought it so that sales clerk would relax.

In the shape of a purple dog, a USB hub 4-port splitter rests on a dark surface decorated with stars. The dog's long tail connects to the primary port; it's 4 legs provide 4 additional USB ports; an LED on its body illuminates when it is active. The dog's head serves no observable purpose except to look like a dog's head.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekDforDark #ColoraDay #BlueTue #AnimalArtTuesday When the room is dark and the bedside lamp is on, the peacock's shadow appears.

On a blue wall, a shadow repeats the design of a peacock holding small items of jewelry.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

#ColoraDay #PinkMon Some of the small decorative birds hanging around in my house have had to migrate to safer spots. This cloisonne hummingbird now occupies an unused glass pitcher. It's not bothering anyone there and can probably stay long-term.

In a clear glass pitcher with a green glass handle, a decorative hummingbird hangs from a chain on its back to a hook on the pitcher's lip. The bird is enameled in pink, blue, and gold. The pitcher stands on a clear glass shelf. A cloth hangs behind the shelf. The cloth is white, with a floral design in pink, blue, & green.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

#ColoraDay #OrangeSun It's hot outside this afternoon. Time to move into the shade, away from the Sun.

An orange ceramic sun, decorated with a human face, hangs from a white metal trellis.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekCforCurves A globe is a handy round model of Earth that fits in my office. A friend was thinking of travel to the Galapagos Islands & wondering about the weather; this photo showed that Galapagos is under the tape that marks the globe's equator. That answered the question.

A photo of a section of a globe, modeling Earth, consists mainly of blue areas of water. A thin, contiguous strip of land separates the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean Sea. At its widest, the globe is belted by a blue tape over a brown tape. The Galapagos Islands are mostly under the brown tape.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

#ColoraDay #PinkMon Samples of last week's rain are still in the cups of Curcuma flowers in my garden today.

A pink Curcuma flower is arranged as multiple cups, each holding some rain.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

#ColoraDay #GreenSat I trimmed Caesalpinia branches yesterday and noticed that I could see 2 shades of green in the jumbled stack: the top surface, dark green & glossy, normally facing up toward the Sun; the underside, softer green, almost velvety, normally facing down toward the Earth.

Leaves with 8 leaflets each show 2 shades of green, a stronger green that normally faces the Sun & a pale green that normally faces the Earth.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

#FoodOnFriday I had pizza for lunch today. Then I had to spend the afternoon contemplating the messages on the box.

A brown cardboard pizza box is decorated in red. The center of the box contains, in large text,
"If pizza isn't the answer
ask better questions"

Smaller text says "Made just for you" and "We make pizzas to make you smile".
It also identifies the source of the pizza, "South FLO Fresh Pizza", from an H-E-B grocery store, because the chain was started in FLOresville TX.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekBforBehind Garden work did not happen today. It didn't happen yesterday, either. Standing between me & the trees is heavy rain, with some thunder and now lightning. I'm not going out there. Maybe tomorrow.

In the foreground, vertical silver streaks of falling rain. In the background, trees.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

#AnimalArtTuesday This wooden bench is in a shady spot, with a stone wall behind and a stone floor beneath, cool on a hot afternoon. I've sat there myself a few times, waiting for that office to open. The carving on the back is mysterious to me: maybe a large bird, or some mythical winged monster.

A bench made of well-polished brown wood is decorated with a winged creature in the center of its back. The creature's wings are raised up and spread open. It's head might be missing.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

#ColoraDay #OrangeSun Bright colors create visual camouflage, as demonstrated by these orange flowers in a garden reflected in an orange truck parked nearby. Nothing beige can hide near a garden.

An orange truck is parked beside a Caesalpinia bush with many orange flowers. The flowers and leaves are reflected in the body and window of the truck.

In the foreground, an orange Caesalpinia flower stalk. In the background, an orange truck.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

#ColoraDay #GreenSat The solar light in the birdbath changes color every few seconds; sometimes, the light is green. I don't know what causes the other small sparks of green light out there in the dark garden.

In a low basin partially filled with stones, a globe shines green. Other specks of light, also green, are visible on or under plants.

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Dr Yechiel @elisdream.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

#ColoraDay #RedWed Texas Star hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus) has been growing in my garden for some years but this is the first year I see flowers. There will be many flowers, it seems.

A red Texas Star hibiscus flower is open on a sunny day; green buds surround it, promising future flowers.

A red Texas Star hibiscus flower is high on its bush, so this view looks up under it from my height.

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