Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
– fade correction,
– color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
– selected spot and/or scratch removal
– cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject matter
– straighten image
Our first extended stay in the Black Hills was during the summer of 2007. Because of western wildfires, we had delayed our trip out west until late August in the hopes that the fires would diminish during our travels into September. Unfortunately, the air was smoky for much of our time in South Dakota.
Custer State Parke has more large wildlife than most state parks and many federal parks. While buffalo are the most prominent, elk, mule deer, white tailed deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, and mountain lions also inhabit the park. There is also a large population of feral burros1 (asses2). The burros are descendants of a herd that were used to carry visitors to the top of Harney Peak. When the rides were discontinued years ago, the burros were released into the park. They are known as “Begging Burros” for their propensity in getting food from park visitors.
1. burro: (noun) 1. The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E. africanus. In the western United States, a small donkey is sometimes called a ”burro” (from the Spanish word for the animal).
2. ass: (noun) 1. A hoofed mammal of the horse family with a braying call, typically smaller than a horse and with longer ears
Interior of the box at Ford’s Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Washington, D.C.
Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. Interior of the box at Ford’s Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Washington, D.C., 2007. Photograph retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010630766/. (Accessed March 01, 2017.)
Call Number: LC-DIG-highsm- 04782 (ONLINE) [P&P]
Notes:
After Booth shot Lincoln he lept on the stage from Lincoln’s box, breaking his leg. As he ran from the stage, some heard Booth shout “sic semper tyrannus,” which is Latin for “thus always to tyrants.”
Title, date, and subjects provided by the photographer.
Credit line: Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Gift and purchase; Carol M. Highsmith; 2009; (DLC/PP-2010:031).
Forms part of: Carol M. Highsmith’s America Project in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.
Highsmith, a distinguished and richly published American photographer, has donated her work to the Library of Congress since 1992. Starting in 2002, Highsmith provided scans or photographs she shot digitally with new donations to allow rapid online access throughout the world. Her generosity in dedicating the rights to the American people for copyright free access also makes this Archive a very special visual resource
Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
fade correction,
color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
selected spot and/or scratch removal
cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject matter
Just over a quarter of Nebraska is mixed grass prairie on grass-stabilized sand dunes, referred to locally as the sandhills. It is the largest area of sand dunes in the western hemisphere.
In 2007, we visited a relative’s ranch in the sandhills, a place of fond memories for me. The accompanying video was produced in 2011 from pictures taken during that visit.
The Nebraska Sandhills – Lincoln City Library: “The Nebraska Sandhills are the largest area of sand dunes in the western hemisphere. Over 50,000 square kilometers, or close to 20,000 square miles in extent (not counting some outliers), the Sandhills are fragile grasslands that are wild, sparsely settled, desolate, and beautiful in unexpected ways.”
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building following the Oklahoma City Bombing on April 19, 2015.
The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Downtown, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States on April 19, 1995. Carried out by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the bombing destroyed one-third of the building, killed 168 people, and injured more than 680 others. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius, shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, and destroyed or burned 86 cars, causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage. Extensive rescue efforts were undertaken by local, state, federal, and worldwide agencies in the wake of the bombing, and substantial donations were received from across the country. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated eleven of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces, consisting of 665 rescue workers who assisted in rescue and recovery operations. This was the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil until the September 11 attacks six years later, and it still remains as the deadliest domestic terrorism incident in United States history. (Wikipedia)
Tax day is normally April 15th, unless it falls on a weekend, so this year, taxpayers got a little extra time to get their taxes done because the 15th was Saturday, yesterday.
One would think that the next working day, Monday, would be the official Tax Day. But, no, it’s Tuesday, the 18th. It turns out that April 16th is Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia. Over 3000 slaves were freed on that day in 1862 in the District of Columbia under the Compensated Emancipation Act.
Of course, since the 16th is on Sunday, the official holiday is Monday. IRS regulations prohibit the tax filing deadline from falling on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. I guess this qualifies as the latter as the I.R.S. office is closed on Monday.
I finally got our taxes done earlier today. I really didn’t wait until the last weekend. It was almost finished at the beginning of the week when I discovered that the TurboTax online version couldn’t do line item modification of forms. I ended up having to download a PC version of TurboTax! Then I had to reenter all of the information into it that I had entered into the online version.
But it’s done for another year, though it seems like just a few weeks ago that I did last year’s. Before ya know it, it’ll be time for doing it again.
Back in 2011, I created a short video using photographs from the civil war and mixed it with a couple of medleys of civil war music recorded almost 100 years ago. I titled it “Torn Asunder–Images from America’s Civil War.” It can be viewed in high definition by going to YouTube.com and then selecting the full screen icon in lower right corner of video (move mouse cursor over lower part of video to see icon).
