On Guard
There is nothing like a guard elephant looming suddenly over the roof edge to scare the crap out of a trespassing photographer.
Reliable sources tell me that Curtis has a son-in-law in the roofing business, a busy son-in-law.
The fright ought to teach me for trying to emulate Melinda Green Harvey’s very fine series depicting decrepit buildings in Texas. I figured, while in Washington, do as the Americans do. I forgot about guard dogs. And that things are different south of the border; and bigger. *
I reckon an elephant instead of a Doberman is in the same league of one-upmanship as an AK-47 rather than a pellet gun, when the problem that needs solving is bush-rats at the summer-house. Or togs sneaking around at night.
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* This brings to mind former prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s statement, made to the Press Club in Washington (DC), that “Living next to you [USA] is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant.”
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Canon 5Dii, Canon 200mm/f2.8 macro lens, ISO100, f4.5, 1/800th +/- 2.0 E.V. Processed in Lightroom, Photomatix and Topaz B&W Effects.
burnt embers 
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Quite surreal, I think, I like that.
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I agree about it being surreal. In some ways it is even more so in colour – shiny gold against dark conifers.
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Zowee!
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Run away! was my first impression from this angle.
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An impressive guard dog! The roof must be well built to support that. Excellent lighting.
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Isn’t it! The lighting very much enhanced by this guy having a shiny gold coating that reflected the light very nicely.
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Oh wow, what an interesting sight!
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Thanks David. It is actually gilded, or shiny gold painted. A very flashy elephant.
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I like this a lot, and hope you’ve been able to recover from the fright of an elephant on a roof…
(Thanks for the link over to my blog, too!)
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I am recovered, and relieved to know there are 20 miles of ocean between me and Curtis’ roof. And you’re welcome for the link, though I don’t see much traffic leaving my blog for yours. I think we blog in much the same circles already!
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I had two clicks from your site; I think there is a pretty big overlap between our two sites. We must have cornered the market on intelligent and discerning blog readers!
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Totally right, very discerning. Too bad there are so few of them;)
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Although this is a wonderful elephant, I really don’t need one because Emo is ever vigilant. I always know when someone is coming to the door because he runs and hides in his Fortress of Solitude (aka: bedroom closet).
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I have vigilant cats too. One added herself to my household in the past couple of weeks. Her FoS is behind the piano. The top cat, She Who Must Be Obeyed, has an FoS under the covers on my bed. No room for elephants in either of those places. And in fact, I don’t have a room big enough in which to put an elephant. So, I don’t get one either.
My office has plenty of rooms with elephants in them, mostly unacknowledged unless someone unwisely points to them. Any wrist attached to the pointing finger gets slapped, probably on some subsonic command from the matriarch of elephants. This is why, acknowledged and nearly invisible, they breed. Which is by way of lead up to saying I know where to get one. If you ever change you mind let me know, and I will start building a crate. You, however, will have to deal with the matriarch.
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My cat’s FoS is the upholstered chair in my office. (She’s taking a much-needed nap in it right now.)
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