Merry Christmas Xanga

May each of you be blessed with the joys meant for all of us through the birth of the Christ Child.

If your color settings on your monitor aren’t in good shape you may not be able to appreciate this photo.  It’s the favorite of all I have taken this month of December, so far.  You can see the anticipation of the season, the quiet waiting.  I hope everyone can view it.

Merry Christmas,

 

Follow > this Link < to Visit and PLAY with 
the Weekly Photo Challenge
It runs for one full week from Friday mornings to late Thursday nights. 

The challenge beginning November 26, 2010 is:

“Tools of the Trade”
suggested by:  Jaynebug

 

On any of our drives, I see lots of tools pertaining to tools of the trade of shipping and otherwise.  Quite a few trades use trucks and big equipment.  So some views of biggggggggg tools of the trades.

My Photos

1- 

Roadwork, new roads and road repair, it goes on all the time and these tools of the trade always slow us down.  I’ve always felt if we are slowed or stopped by these workers, it may be that we are saved from something happening to us by being in a hurry.  It’s a big relief to think our lives may be extended by these fellows who slow us, sometimes to a stop.  Thank them very much!

 

2- 

This photo was taken not too far from our house and he is smoothing out an area to be blacktopped in a new widening of road with this particular tool of his trade.  You can’t tell from the photo but the depth it is working on is a couple of feet lower than it used to be.  I hope some of the dirt eventually fills holes, somewhere.

 

3- 

This rail car tool of the trade is doing double duty.  It travels the country carrying whatever it is that it carries and when sitting still, it’s the backdrop or canvas for graffiti artists.

 

4- 

I caught this sanitation (tool of the trade) truck as it was driving out of our street.  They are pretty much on time every week and work hard to keep our trash from building up.  Great guys on these trucks as most of the time one man drives the truck, gets out and collects our cans, dumps them into the recepticle end of the truck then gets back into the truck to drive to the next house.  I wonder how many times he gets into and out of the truck every day.  I’m betting he has great legs and strong arms, and I know from watching, HE REALLY EARNS HIS MONEY.

 

5- 

This firetruck is from the Loveland department in our small town.  I really admire the people who work on it and on the emergency vehicles.  These particular tools of the trades are well cared for under the hood as well as their shiny body parts.

 

6- 

I have no idea what this machine (tool of his trade) is but it was really big and I never did catch the front of it with my camera.

 

I have wondered over the years if I could drive a big rig, envious of going places, seeing things different every day.  I got to know some trucker families and like any job it isn’t always what you think.  Home in one spot has its benefits.  As for some of the other trade images shown, each one is so important.  What would we do without the sanitation workers, the firemen, the trains that travel the rails, the trucks that carry our groceries and the big equipment that works on the roads and more.  Our world revolves around them or maybe they revolve around each of ours.

I hope everyone is doing well.