You are right that elections have consequences. I can't speak for anyone else, only myself, but I am going to accept Biden as president, but will never believe the election was legitimate because as I read the Constitution almost all of the election rule changes that were made to accommodate covid were unconstitutional and they had a huge impact on the election.

I know that most people are arguing fraud. I don't know if there was fraud or not. I think there probably was, but I don't think it made as much difference as the election law changes. So, fraud or no fraud I don't believe it was a fair election and that isn't going to change. I just hope they clean up the rules prior to the 2022 midterm elections.

Remember that in the Rasmussen poll 10 percent of democrats believe that the election was unfair, it isn't just Republicans. Something very weird happened in this election. 19 of the 20 bellweather counties voted for Trump. Typically only one bellweather county is wrong or they are all right. That's why they are bellweather counties. Trump took Ohio and Florida. Republicans always win when they take those two states. So, there was a lot of weird stuff going on fraud or no fraud. Oh, and way fewer absentee ballots were thrown out for not matching signatures than usual. That is also odd as you would expect a bunch of first time mail in voters to make mistakes. So, really odd election results and I think that historically it will go down very much like the JFK vs Nixon election where there is still questions about who really won.

We bring out St Nick every year to display and sometimes photograph. In the past it was just a simple shot of him in front of the tree. This year I decided to do something a bit different. First thing I did was to go onto Pixaby.com and see what was available in a snow scene. I found this one shot and offered by Kordula Vahle • Wendeburg,Germany.
Next I wanted to get the same angle of light when I shot St Nick. I got the proper light using a strobe with strip box and a second strobe with 24" defuser. I liked the results and then decided to add my own face in the St Nick Doll.

The Morning Glory blooms are gone for the season now and the vines have dried and their leaves have fallen. All that remains of the once lush vines are the dried seed pods that will continue to open to replenish the growth around the fenceline as well as other destinations unknown.

I staged this small seed pod for a focus stacking session with constant diffused LED lighting for the illumination and letting the light fall off behind it with nothing to reflect it back to the camera to create the black background.

This is a tiny "Potters Wasp" from my preserved collection that I brought out for a focus stacking session. They may be more commonly known as a 'Mason Wasp" and here's what I have learned about them:

"Potter wasp adults feed on flower nectar and collect small caterpillars to feed their young. The caterpillars are paralyzed with the wasp’s sting and piled into the brood cell which is the compartment in which the wasp larvae develops. The female wasp then lays an egg on the stored caterpillars. The Potter wasp larvae consumes from 1 to 12 caterpillars as it grows. Potter wasps are important in the natural control of caterpillars."

They are very beneficial in the control of caterpillars that may be considered garden and agriculture pests that harm the crops. They build their nests from mud much like that of a Mud Dauber yet different in style and shape which is how they got the common name of "Potter".

This is one of my many preserved Woodlouse that I staged for a focus stacking session at 5X magnification. They are often referred to as a 'Pillbug' or a 'Rollie-Pollie' and there are many species of them.

An interesting fact is that the Woodlouse is not an insect but a crustacean and it is the only species found on land. They have 14 parts to its body which gives them the ability to curl into a ball to protect itself from danger.

They are found in dark, damp places and they feed on decaying leaf and plant matter meaning that the woodlouse plays a vital role in the environment enriching the soil and some are known to have a lifespan of up to four years. They seldom if ever eat living plants although they can be found around them in the decaying matter in the soil and they pose no harm to humans or to gardens and crops.

While waking the yard this morning I found this Eastern Yellow Jacket around the Morning Glory and I brought it in and staged it on some small red berries that grow on a bush along the fenceline.

These little buggers can be quite a nuisance and they are venomous, stinging social insects. They are abundant in urban areas and when nests are disturbed, defending worker wasps can inflict multiple stings so DO NOT disturb them. They are not just one and done sting. Foraging worker wasps may be a nuisance at picnics or other outdoor events where they are drawn to things that are sweet and also to meats set out intended for bar-b-que.

A good trap is to take a big bowl filled with soapy water nearly to the top. Take a narrow board and screw a chicken back section to the center of it. Place the board over the water "chicken side down" so that it nearly touches the water. The Yellow Jackets will find it and when they push off the chicken to fly away they will hit the soapy water and drown. Hundreds can be caught in an afternoons time.

Their nest can be quite large and they build onto other nests and colonies can have as many as 4,000 Yellow Jackets. The queens survive the winter and rebuild the colony at the onset of spring.

I walked the year this morning looking for specimens and I found two of the that made me think, "What the heck is this..?" It looked like a bright little Ladybug stuck to a leaf with something coming out of its head. Egads.!

I brought one them in and looked at it under magnification and discovered exactly what it was. It's a Ladybug that is transitioning from its larvae nymph in its pupal stage into an what would in a few days be an adult Ladybug.

In its pupal stage, the ladybug is usually yellow or orange with black markings as you an see in my first image. The pupa remains still, attached to a leaf, throughout this stage. The ladybug's body undergoes a remarkable transformation, directed by special cells called "histoblasts." They control a biochemical process through which the larval body is broken down and reformed into the adult ladybug. The pupal stage lasts between seven and 15 days.

Isn't Mother Nature amazing!!

Thank you Peter! I have a few other compositions of the Buick and of course can crop; I plan to revisit that after a day or two.

Very neat that you found #1 to be of interest. My lens didn't offer a wider view so I extended the canvas and copy/pasted more sky to the area above the dozer, then copy/pasted and dragged/stretched the right side. Here is the original image and the aspect with new canvas. I did a little touch-up at the seam of the sky, but overall it appeared to look better than I expected

Thanks again!