TARATS is OVER.

At least according to Darin in Minnesota:

Dear Mr. Ick Mr. Wick Patrick,

You can end the contest now, we have a winner.

I came across this beautiful Tamarack five miles north of my house just outside of Duluth.

Last year, I tried to garner enough votes to win by including my dog in my picture. That didn't quite push me over the top, so this year the dog is out and the bike is in.

In case that's not enough, I even arranged to have a bald eagle flying in the background. Minnesota is now represented.

Did I mention the contest is over?

Hope all is well,

Darin

Visit the entrants page to see the trees this one is up against, including a nearby tree in Wisconsin. I bet those two trees HATE each other, man. Good thing they are rooted in the earth; limbs would fly for sure.

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the tone of this email, since this is a SMACKDOWN. Thanks for getting into the spirit, Darin. That Tamarack is a beauty, for sure, and a bonus bald eagle is pretty stinkin' good too.

It is my sincere hope that some of you beg to differ with Darin about this tree being the winner, such that you send in your own tree for comparison. To those of you who have already entered, many thanks. The deadline remains 11:59 PM Eastern on December 15, 2012.

Apologies for being absent again lately; life trumps blog, blah blah blah. I'm pleased to be able to post again and hope to make some more regular updates.

Yer Pal,

 Mr. I C K

Ham from France - Ooh la la!

Ham of London Daily Photo has sent in an entry from the Dordogne in France! I hope my post title was sufficiently misleading.

 

No email for this one, he used a comment and a link to this post. Works for me. Thanks, Ham! This smackdown promises to be the most international so far, which rocks so hard I can't barely stand it!

 

I've got some kind of heavy stuff going on that will make me pretty scarce over the next few days at least, so if you comment or submit an entry with no immediate result, don't sweat it and stay tuned... I shall return.

 

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Exhibitionism - I Passed It On

I have always craved attention, despite being pretty shy for most of my life. Even now I'm not exactly a social butterfly. But that's not the same as craving attention... you don't need to know people in order to want them to notice you. The result is a blogging cycling weirdo with a cam on his head and rantwick.com stickers on his bike. It does no harm, I get my fix and everybody's happy, or close enough. I'm totally cool with it and Mrs. Rantwick has accepted it as part of loving someone as awesome as me.

Anyway, it would seem one of my little apples has fallen rather close to the tree in this respect. Rantwick Junior, a kind young man who in his early years displayed heart warming messages inside the house has moved on to "look at my achievement" messages outside the house.

The Sidewalk Skill:

The Sidewalk Message:

The good news: He ain't no liar. I've seen him go that far. Honesty, sometimes to excess, is another quality we share. He can also do a bunch of freaky tricks that impress and scare other parents. I love it when they're scared most of all. Holy crap, do I ever love that kid.

Toot that horn, my man. Yeah!

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

PS - That makes two posts in a row about my son... please don't worry. I will return to incoherent ramblings about cycling and foliage right away.

PPS - Mrs. Rantwick has noticed that I like ascribing qualities in our children to one or the other of us, while her preference is to see them as individuals who would be wonderful with our without us. She is so wrong. They are wonderful in the ways we are wonderful, and bad in the ways their friends are bad, and their friends are bad in the ways their parents are bad. It is as clear as day to me; I don't understand why Mrs. Rantwick can't see it.