Too hot, and it's not just me

I went for a drive on Sunday afternoon, thinking that I might take off on some dirt road along the Beeline Highway that I haven't been on before. I thought I might even go for a short hike, though it would be short since the temperature was over 105. The first side road that I came to was closed. So was the next. And the next. I pulled into the Ballantine trailhead parking lot. The trail was closed. You know the fire danger is extreme when even the hiking trails are closed.

Trail closed. It's so hot and dry, your legs rubbing together might start a fire. Actually, it's probably closed because some people like to smoke as they hike.

I'm hoping there will be some interesting clouds to photograph soon. There was one last week but I was in town and didn't have my camera with me. There will be more.

I've been messing around around with some pictures that are a year or two or three old, playing with Photomatix settings. I usually try to keep my pictures looking mostly realistic, but I completely abandoned that. Some of the results are interesting.

These are extreme clouds.

I don't usually like my pictures as black and white, but I like the way this one looks.

Seems like there were some more, but I can't remember where I put them. If I turn out some really good ones, I'll put them on here. If I don't, I'll probably put them on here, too.