Yesterday morning, a total painted pastel sky. 

Although not one of my sought out favorites of sunrises, sunsets and rainbows-thought this chair and tv out in an extremely rural roadside ditch was unique.

Last winter in Kansas City, just a totally painted sky in the early morning.

The sunrise was absolutely blinding!  But what was unique was the absolute blackout of it by extraordinary black clouds.

First a sunrise beyond a cluster of clouds ready to burst open with rain.  Then a quick rainbow.  This all happened in less than 10 minutes.

A sunrise that seemed like it was hours at super brightness.

Sunset. Looked like the sky was exploding and on fire.

A great sunrise.

The absolute best and most defined rainbow I ever witnessed.  Pulled over on the side of the highway to capture this.

ADulay gave me the idea for this thread.

I do like sunrises, sunsets, rainbows and unique sky colors.  Here are a few.  Could not resist to capture them.

First one was about 20-25 minutes earlier than the second one.  It was a fantastic coloring of the sky with a gradual relief of the dark black cluster of clouds.

Governor Newsom from California.  Gotta love this guy.

On MSNBC Sunday Night. (See picture attached)

What does it mean to beat someone handily?
"with no difficulty"

I might be wrong............ but..........Oh Please. 

BTW Governor Newsom, you better concentrate on the State of Emergency for the weather you are getting bombarded by and not Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Respectfully, Alrelax.

Seriously dude!  "Handily"? 

Patrick Mahomes:  Becoming the first player to win NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year since Kurt Warner in 1999, and joined Tom Brady and Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks to win multiple regular season and Super Bowl MVPs. In the 2023 season, he advanced to Super Bowl LVIII, his fourth Super Bowl appearance in five seasons.

Since becoming the Chiefs' starting quarterback, Mahomes has led the team to six consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances from the 2018 season through the 2023 season, which is second place for the most consecutive conference championship game appearances by a quarterback. Mahomes' career accolades through seven seasons in the NFL have earned him widespread praise from sports journalists, and he is considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.

Travis Kelce:  Considered one of the greatest tight ends of all time, Kelce is a nine-time Pro Bowler and a four-time first-team All-Pro selection. He holds the NFL record for most consecutive and most overall seasons with 1,000 yards receiving by a tight end with seven. He also owns the record for most receiving yards by a tight end in a single season with 1,416 in 2020, despite playing in only 15 games. He also briefly held the single season record in 2018 before it was broken later that same day. During the 2022 season, Kelce became the fastest tight end to reach 10,000 career receiving yards, and he became the fifth tight end in NFL history to reach the milestone. Kelce was named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team. During the 2023 season, he surpassed Jerry Rice in career playoff receptions en route to Super Bowl LVIII, his fourth Super Bowl appearance in five seasons.

Andy Reid:  Reid was previously head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999 to 2012. From 2001 to 2012, he was also the Eagles' executive vice president of football operations. He is the only NFL coach to win 100 games and appear in four consecutive conference championships with two different franchises.

Reid began his professional coaching career with the Green Bay Packers, where he served as an offensive assistant from 1992 to 1998 and was a member of the team that won Super Bowl XXXI. He held his first head coaching position with the Eagles in 1999, who became perennial postseason contenders under his leadership. Reid led the Eagles to nine playoff runs, six division titles, five NFC Championship Games (including four consecutive from 2001 to 2004), and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIX. Despite his success, Reid was unable to win a Super Bowl title and he left Philadelphia in 2012 amid a team decline.

Hired as the head coach of the Chiefs in 2013, Reid helped revitalize the struggling franchise into one of the league's best. In 11 seasons with Kansas City, he has led the Chiefs to 10 postseason appearances, eight consecutive division titles, six consecutive AFC Championship Games, four Super Bowl appearances, and two Super Bowl titles. Reid also won the Chiefs' first playoff game since 1993 in the 2015 season, clinched their first consecutive division titles between 2016 and 2017, and won their first Super Bowl in 50 years in Super Bowl LIV.

A few thoughts and quotes from Mahomes.

"The Kansas City Chiefs are set to compete in a second-consecutive Super Bowl, and their third in the last four seasons.

After going through the process of preparing for the championship game so many times throughout his career, quarterback Patrick Mahomes understands the importance of dialing in his strategy ahead of Kansas City's matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.

While speaking to the media on Thursday, Mahomes explained the significance of understanding Andy Reid's entire game plan.

"We're pretty locked in this — I mean both weeks, but you're really locked in this week," Mahomes said. "You want to make sure you get the whole game plan in, get all your questions asked and answered so next week when you're reviewing you can just go into the fine details that you might not have the chance to do in the regular game week. I'll have that mindset all through practice. I'll make sure the guys have the same mindset."

The Chiefs will have their hands full against a stacked 49ers team that possesses hall-of-fame talent throughout the roster. Kansas City's coaching staff and players must have everything organized if they want to defend their Super Bowl title and claim yet another Lombardi Trophy."

Worth a bump.

KungFuBac's pick is the 49'ers.

My pick is the Chiefs.

I have to go with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes to get it done.

Any thoughts?

QuoteWell, let's try this again.

What else do you guys do besides hang out here and hit the casinos from time to time.

Saw this gem making the run south out of Minneapolis on I-35.

Of course I had to stop and get the "photo op".  That's what I do!

AD

I pass this all the time, it is on the west side of Interstate 35 in Owatoona, Minnesota.  Here is the story behind it.  And I pay special attention within eye-sight of this display because people that never seen it before have tendency to decelerate pretty darn quick!!

"In 1996, the City of Owatonna acquired one of these jet planes, a T-38 Talon "Thunderbird" Jet, from the U.S. Air Force to be used as a monument at the airport. The cost of the project exceeded the City's budget at that time, and the plane was put in storage. In 1997, R.W. "Buzz" Kaplan proposed that the plane become part of a signature display outside Heritage Halls Museum, which was ¼ mile north of the airport. Buzz thought the display should consist of three planes flying formation. The City proceeded to acquire two more jets from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona."

The jets, after being stripped down to reduce their overall weight, and repainted to make them resemble 'Thunderbirds' were then waiting on the engineers to figure out the best way to mount and showcase them. The engineers spent several months creating a design for the display that would not only be unique, but also practical as it would have to withstand the high winds that sometimes sweep through Owatonna and Southern Minnesota. Waymarking states that the current design "withstood 113 miles-per-hour winds when tested in a wind tunnel."

The formation the jets are in is called the 'bomb-burst formation' and is a truly unique display that hopefully gives others the same thought as R.W. "Buzz" Kaplan had to "create a breathtaking realistic display of aerobatic flight and to honor our United Stat United States fighter pilots who help protect our great country."


A fun fact you might not know about the three jets is that the pilots of tail-number 1 and 2 are Owatonna residents. Tail 1's pilots are "R.W. "Buzz" Kaplan and Betty "Bunns" Kaplan. Pilots of the #2 plane are MaryAlice "Bunky" Hanson and Capt. Jim "Cool Hand" Hanson.