Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Jerry Jones

+ 10 more inset images above in notes! :) "Killer" is also slang for "cool", which is what this stunning, beautiful, gentle and non-venomous snake is! I found this amazing California Mountain Kingsnake on our property 1.5 years ago and when I discovered that this reclusive species is actually quite common in this area, we decided it would be ok to keep him as a pet. Affectionately named "Snakey McSnakerton", he's doing great and growing larger with each passing month. When I found him (we don't actually know the gender, but call it a male!), Snakey was about 10" long, and is now about 16". There are about 45 species of Kingsnakes, which also include Milksnakes. They come in a large number of colors from solid black to almost white, with a dizzying variety of patterns. In fact, some species, such as this one, mimic the highly venomous coral snake , which only lives in the southern States. (NEVER approach a snake unless you are SURE it's harmless!) Kingsnakes are among the most popular pet snakes due to their docile, friendly dispositions and ease of care. In the wild, they are secretive, usually moving about during the day, and eat rodents, reptiles and birds. If you would like to know more about Kingsnakes, Wiki has a nice page here: Wiki: Kingsnake This picture uses some texture in the background, courtesy of Jerry Jones: Soft-Faux-n-Grunge-Bokeh Explored on April 18, 2014. Highest placement, #2.

With petals edged in frost, this Zinnia was so lovely this morning! I wanted to get a very shallow dof for an abstract image, and I also used some texture to create a more artistic effect. Thanks to Jerry Jones for the border texture, "Not A Clue".

While Steve was getting the car filled with gas, I had fun taking pictures of the trees nearby, including this lovely little Maple tree. When I got home, I decided it would be a lot of fun to turn this into a textured piece, and used one from KayCeeArr: #13 -FaceOfSol... and two from Jerry Jones: OldPhoto5 and Painted Canvas 4

Aren't Ground Squirrels adorable?! I have always loved squirrels, but it wasn't until I moved to southern Oregon that I found out how destructive some of them can be. Ground Squirrels in particular, are problems because they can and will dig under your house's foundation, which can lead to expensive problems. However, we capture them and drop them off many miles away, and while they are here, Steve and I love to see them running around and being adorable! This one hears the dogs out front and is looking to see if they will come around the side of the house! (Thanks to Jerry Jones for his awesome textures!! I used Painted Canvas 1 of 8 and Old Photo 5 for this, as well as some Photoshop filters. I needed to do a lot of work on this image to pop the squirrel out of that busy background and the extreme contrast changes of fore and background.) From Wiki: The California ground squirrel is a common and easily observed ground squirrel of the western United States and the Baja California peninsula; it is common in Oregon and California and its range has relatively recently extended into Washington and northwestern Nevada. As is typical for ground squirrels, California ground squirrels live in burrows which they excavate themselves. Some burrows are occupied communally but each individual squirrel has its own entrance. Although they readily become tame in areas used by humans, and quickly learn to take food left or offered by picnickers, they spend most of their time within 25 m (82 ft) of their burrow, and rarely go further than 50 m (160 ft) from it. In the colder parts of their range, California ground squirrels hibernate for several months, but in areas where winters have no snow, most squirrels are active year round. In those parts where the summers are hot they may also estivate (spend a hot or dry period in a prolonged state of torpor or dormancy) for periods of a few days. California ground squirrels are often regarded as a pest in gardens and parks, since they will feed off ornamental plants and trees, and will burrow under foundations.

One picture above in a note! :) Steve and I collect Pumpkin's feathers and keep them in a special bag which we enjoy looking at every once in a while. Every one of her feathers is exceptionally beautiful, especially when light shines on them just right. I took this picture yesterday but just before I uploaded it, I realized that it really needed some texture to add some depth and interest. (See the original above as an inset) Do you disagree? I'd be interested to hear your opinion as to which picture you prefer. It's amazing to me how much interest a texture can bring to an image, to change it from a bit lackluster to something much cooler! :) The texture I used was Jerry Jone's, "Aborigine" .

3 more picture in a note above! :) A couple of months ago, I found out about a very special horse show happening just 30 minutes from my house! This show is for Gypsy Cobs and Drum Horses , which are very uncommon in the United States, so the opportunity to see a show full of them had me bursting at the seams in anticipation! :D And, it just so happened to be on my birthday weekend!! (9/29 is my 49th birthday!) I have been so excited while the weeks passed, and finally the day for us to go arrived!! Steve and I got up at 7am this morning so that we could be sure to be on time for the first class, and I got to sit and watch all the classe and take pictures of the horses. It was such fun!!! Going around to the stalls was fun too. It was a fantastic day and I came home with lots of pictures, as did my husband! :) I picked the above image as my Picture of the Day because this baby represents so much of what I love about these horses: spots, an interesting color, fun face markings, and a blue eye! What a gorgeous baby!!! (By the way, this image has a textured background as well as a frame from Jerry Jones, called PaperBox . THANKS JERRY!! :) Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her multi-award-winning talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show which was the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century and the greatest black philanthropist in American history. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world. Wikipedia: Oprah Winfrey Explored on September 29, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.

1 more picture in a note above! :) I have a very dear friend over on Flickr who goes by the name "Red Stilletto" , and she is the one who first called me a Pod Sister. Since she didn't have any problems when Flickr changed in May, and she didn't mind the new look, she didn't have any reason to leave, so Lisa and I stay in contact via Facebook. The other day she posted a picture of a cookie called a "Wagon Wheel" and it looked so delicious that I kidded that she simply must send me some if she wanted to live another day, and you know what? SHE DID!!! All the way from Australia, no less!! She sent bunches of them to me and my husband, as well as another kind of cookie called a "Tim Tam" in two different flavors! YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!!!! I have always been a Cookie Monster at heart, and the best way to steal my soul is by giving me COOKIES! Therefore, Lisa now owns me! :D THANK YOU SO MUCH, LISA!!! WE LOVE THE COOKIES!!! YOU'RE THE BESTEST!!! *BIG HUGS AND SMOOCHES* :) By the way, Lisa also included a recipe for Wagon Wheels, which you can see on her Royal Auto cooking blog, which also has more pictures! ENJOY!! :D Wagon Wheels Recipe on RAdish Textures used in this image: Jerry Jone's Sunrise and Notaclue1. Thanks Jerry! :) Cookie Monster is a Muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" (said through a mouth full of food). He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples, bananas, as well as normally inedible objects. However, as his name suggests, his preferred food is cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are his favorite kind; oatmeal cookies are his second favorite. In a song in 2004, Cookie Monster revealed that, before he ate his first cookie, he believes his name was Sid. Showing awareness of healthy eating habits for children, since 2006 he has said that cookies are "a sometime snack" and that he also likes fruits and eggplant. Wikipedia: Cookie Monster Explored on September 25, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

4 more pictures in notes above! (the picture of coins has two other versions to see if visit) I love it when Thursday rolls around because I get to participate in the Bokeh Thursday Challenge! :D This week's theme is "Coins", which had me bouncing up and down because I've been wanting to take some pictures of our leftover foreign coins for a while! We keep our odd coins in a box in the bedroom and of course I took my parrot, Pumpkin, out of her cage to help supervise! I let her romp around on the bed while I looked over the loot, and she was having such a good time that I decided to bring the camera and flash upstairs and let her play on the bed while I took pictures. We went downstairs together, she on a finger, laughing as we walked down the stairs, and then she made silly wine-cork noises at the strange stuff I was carrying back upstairs with me! While I took pictures, she proceeded to walk around on our comforter, making "chicken tracks" all over the soft plush blanket. This is so funny to see, but I couldn't get any pictures that showed how cute the footprints look, boo! Even though I was taking pictures of coins, I kept an eye on Pumpkin at all times while she played. She didn't want to have anything to do with the camera equipment, but instead busied herself by hanging off the side of the bed and chortling happily at me. She also crawled through a tunnel I made for her under the comforter and I snickered as I heard her making funny croaking sounds as she investigated her private clubhouse. I peeked over the edge of the bed at one point and found her making "creaking" sounds as she stared intently at a place where two pieces of wood came together, forming a crack. She loves cracks. They make her laugh! :D I finally finished taking pictures and gathered up my darling girl, covering her with kisses and telling her how much I love her. And as I plopped a treat into her food cup and swung her in a wide arc into her cage, she squealed happily, "WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" That's my girl. Best little friend in the whole, wide world!!!! Texture used in this image: Netherworld TOTD # 128 by Jerry Jones (SkeletalMess on Flickr) Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. Her birthday on June 27 is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and was authorized at the federal level by presidential proclamation by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, her 100th birthday. Wikipedia: Helen Keller Explored on August 22, 2013. Highest placement, page 2 (#40).

1 more picture in a note above! :) Ever since I got the hang of working with textures, I've found myself wanting to use them whenever I have an excuse! One of the only things I didn't like about moving from Flickr was losing the wealth of texture groups there, along with the thousands of amazing images to use, free of charge. However, I did find a nice texture group on ipernity, and after I posted a picture last night that used a texture I found there, I was told that a hugely popular texture artist had moved most of his textures here to ipernity!! Known as "Skeletal Mess" on Flickr (among other names), Jerry Jones has a seemingly bottomless pit of creative and awesome textures and other cool stuff to use with images. He generously allows anyone to use his artwork, provided they don't steal and repost as their own, etc. With people like Jerry, KaySeeArr and the many other creative and generous folks here at ipernity, there is absolutely no reason to both with Flickr anymore!! HOORAY! After looking at some of Jerry's textures, I was so excited that I ended up using three of them for pictures today! My Picture of the Day is one, this is another, and my other poppy picture has one too! THANK YOU JERRY!!! :D Texture used in this image: OldPhoto1 by Jerry Jones (SkeletalMess on Flickr)

Poppies are so beautiful with droplets on them, and this lovely blossom has such bright yellow pollen all on the stamens! I added some texture to the background: thanks to Jerry Jones for Fire Damage 10-21-09 TOTD # 87