FFARATS? Feh! Fellow Freak Finds Fun Foisting Fall Foliage Fotos Featuring Fabulous Finds From Friends!

As you may be aware, I have decided not to run an Autumn Tree Smackdown this year. I was feeling a little bad about it. However, a Fellow Foliage Freak is coming to the rescue for all of those awesome foliage pics looking for a home. Less structured than my contest but every bit as appealing (at least to me) is anniebikes' 2013 Foliage Challenge.

 

 

If you were thinking of sending me any pics, don't. Send them to Annie, so all that leafy goodness can be found in one place. It is my sincere hope that The King will simply subjugate any and all other submissions, because when it comes to Autumnal splendour, it is all about domination, right? Right.

 

 

Thanks Annie!

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Holy Snap I'm Slow. And a big LIAR!

Remember how I did this tree contest thing forever ago and some people won prizes and stuff? I finally put together the packages and they're ready to ship. The prizes are not as promised, however. I am a stinking liar. The best syrup I could come up with this year was good old Medium. The breadcrumbs I promised turned out to have expired and were thrown out. At least I made good on the crappy homemodified trophy...

 

 

 

 

Congrats again to Josh, with an honourable mention for RCT. On May 8, 2013, my 2012 Autumn Tree Smackdown is finally over. It took me so long it has given me pause about doing 4ARATS, the 4th Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown. I know myself, however. Come Fall I will begin checking on the King of Autumn and begin wondering how your trees are looking, and God Help Me, I'll have to do it again.

 

Yer Procrastinational Pal,

R A N T W I C K

PS - Procrastinational is not a real word (I don't think). I have unilaterally decided to stop caring what words are real and use any I feel like. That may drive some of you crazy, but you'll just have to find your inner relaxitude.

TARATS Finale!

Apologies for the glitches and sometimes poor timings in this video. I have HAD IT with my video editor pgm. I spent hours getting everything perfect and it plays beautifully in the editor, but the final output ends up like this. GAH!

 

 

Anyway, thanks to all who entered my contest; I look forward to doing it again in the Fall.

 

 

 

 

 

Congrats Josh! I will email you for a mailing address soon. You too RCT.

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Pick 3

OK everybody, the time has come to determine who has won the Third Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown.

I really liked how it went down last year, so I'm just gonna do it that way again. For those of you who have forgotten or are new to the contest, the entrants voted for each other. Last year I allowed each entrant to vote for 2 trees other than their own. This year, since there are so many great entries, I'm increasing it to 3. I then create a stupid video about the voting, the trees and the winner. Here's last year's video:

Whether your tree kicks ass, lands in the esteemed "Hall of Zeroes" or falls somewhere in between, believe me when I say that I (and many others, I bet) really enjoyed getting a look at it. Thanks!

If you are one of the justifiably proud participants in this contest, please review all of the entries by visiting the web album they're in by clicking here. Then, Pick 3 faves and send me an email saying what they are.

When I've heard from those who actually read this blog anymore (considering my absences recently), I'll bug the other entrants directly for votes via email. At that point I'll also set a deadline for votes so things don't drag on forever.

Good luck everybody, and oh yeah, belated Merry Christmas! I'm hoping to post again before the new year about something other than trees.

Woo Hoo! It's voting time!

R A N T W I C K

PS - Hey, are you wishing you could vote, but didn't enter a tree? Well, I've come up with something for you too:

Take a crappy picture with your stupid phone next year and enter my contest. You can vote then, even if your tree sucks! Sorry if you were hoping for more, that's all I got.

Xmas Time Suckage = TARATS Tardiness

Christmas is sucking up TIME! I mean, it is 11:55 PM Sunday night as I write this, and it is the first opportunity I've had to post something all weekend! I used to dislike Christmas quite a lot. I worked in shopping mall retail for a good stretch many years ago now and I swear it sucked whatever goodwill I had left from my already jaded and cynical heart. Then I had kids and Christmas was reborn as a time of joy and sharing and excitement. Whew. Way to go kids! Still, the running around is beginning to get to me.

Anyway, I must once again apologize for not being around to post the last of the TARATS entries until now. I received these days before Saturday night's entry deadline.
 

First up is Steve A, longtime sufferer of this web space's random whining and opining and stupefying. He already entered one tree from Seattle, but now his Texas (home state) entries are ready too. Email, with tree pics inserted at appropriate moments:

Well, it's time to throw the glove down.

 

 

1

 



 

2

Author's Note: Holy Crap!

 

Picture 1 was my intended Texas entry. This tree is the largest Texas Red Oak in the United States. Unfortunately, it didn't turn color evenly. Picture 2 shows the girth of this tree's trunk. This tree would TRULY be a contender, had it turned color evenly. But it didn't.

Texastree3 was another candidate. It was in a park in Forth Worth, as was Texastree5. Of the two, I think #5 is most worthy of entry,though it is the smaller of the two.

 

 

Texastree3

 

 

 

Texastree5



However, in the final analysis, I think "Texastree6" is the best of the lot. Conveniently, it is also a block from my house, in Colleyville Texas. I'll go with it, over the big Texas "bad boy" and the two "park spectaculars."

 



 

 

Texastree6



 

I hope to find out if either #5 or #6 beat the Seattle tree. Encourage your readers!

-Steve A

 

 

Seattle Tree

I will be happy to encourage my readers, Steve!

Dear Reader,
 

You should know that although it doesn't always feel like it, you are doing great. Remember that Christmas really can be a time to feel blissed out. You just have to dump all that feels like bullshit from your mind and fill it instead with any and all good stuff available to you right now. I bet you'll find it is a fair bit of stuff when you start thinking about it.

Steve, I know that wasn't what you were looking for, but I feel OK about being a smartass, because I've done this:

I present for your votifying amusement The First Ever Steve Needs To Know Seattle vs. Fort Worth vs. Colleyville Tree Smackdown! (FESNTKSVFWVCTS!)

 

 

Which of the above trees Rocks Autumn the Hardest?

A

B

C

or View Results

Create your own poll at Flisti.com

I have entered tree5 (B) and tree6 (C) in the contest. Please note that a vote above has zero impact on the real TARATS contest, for which I have not yet determined my voting methodology. I'm leaning towards last year's method, where the entrants vote for each other. Seems kind of nice to me. Christmas-y almost. Sharing of goodwill and all that.

 

 

I've got one more entry, from JAT, last year's winner! Email:

 

Great entries this year. As far afield as I've been looking for trees - I have a new job with a new commute, and by the time I got around to passing last years winner it was completely bare - then one day in the car on my way for a major grocery buying trip I stumbled across this one two blocks form my house in West Seattle.

JAT in Seattle

 

 

 

 

Thanks JAT, you have ended this year's round of entries with a Bang. I never would have imagined that so many people would send so many trees... it is awesome, thank you all. I'll be back soon with more info on voting and stuff. 

 

R A N T W I C K

Trevor Traveller's Triple Tops Total TARATS Tree Tally!

Trevor, the world-famous PurpleTraveller, has submitted three trees from across the sea!

Hi....Greetings from the South Coast of the UK....

Running a bit close to the wire with my entry this year.....When I found that the security had been increased at the country estate where last years entry was photographed I knew that I would need a replacement tree for this year...

I decided to set myself the task of finding a tree in my local Bournemouth area....checking out the local streets and parks on foot....not even using my bike....I mean at the speed of light that I ride I would be travelling too fast to see any trees....

Anyway....three trees here and captured whilst on foot....

Regards

Trevor (purpletraveller)

Tree 1 / Photo taken two streets from home....

 

Tree 2 /  Photo taken in Lower Gardens Bournemouth and my Main Entry:-

Tree 3 / Taken in Centre Gardens Bournemouth....submitted because I like the range of colours of the leaves....going from Black through Reds and Browns and of course Greens...

Thanks, Trevor! I dig those trees, man.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

I Need Some Time, Dammit!

Still no time to be a proper blogulator, so I have to be brief, but I have more TARATS entries that I don't want to let get too stale.

 

First RCT is back for more...

 

Hello again Rantwick,

Well it seems in my opinion that I captured my best foliage freak out on my first search this year. I can no longer rest on my laurels *pun!* and I think it's time to unveil this years winner. This first pic which I believe I sent you earlier as a preview is nice because it shows my bike. We love bikes!
 
Following will be a close up "under the canopy" shot for your inspection and lastly my official submission which I dub "Great Ball of Fire"
 
Yours Most Truly,
-rct

 

 

 

 

RCT #5 - "Great Ball of Fire"

 

RCT sure is bringing his A game!

 

The deadline for tree entries approaches, 11:59 PM Eastern time, Dec 15. I've got another one to post from the Purple Traveller in the UK, but that will have to wait until next time. Did you read that? The UK! Other side of the Ocean! Yeee Haaaw!

 

 

Be Good,

R A N T W I C K

El Paso

Jen from El Paso makes it 19 people (and 29 trees!) in my contest. Normally I would ramble on about how great this is because it means the contest is still growing in its third year, but I have no time, dammit!

 

Here's Jen's email and tree:

 

Howdy howdy! Here's a tree doing its autumn thing on one of the community college campuses in El Paso Texas. It's mostly cactus and other pointy plants here in the desert, so a red tree like this is quite eye-catching when you come across one.

-Jen

 

 

Thank you very much, Jen! Eye-catching indeed!

 

 

With any luck I will have an opportunity to write about something else and even interesting soon. Until then I remain yer pal,

R A N T W I C K

New Hampshire Weighs In

Longtime friend of this blog Cafiend has not had good luck with his best Smackdown tree again this year:

 

As usual, my best tree eluded me. It stands majestically on a knoll in a nearby village not along one of my regular routes. This year it wasn't ready and then was stripped by tropical storm winds.

The trees I submit are maples around the shop in Wolfe City. I got artsy with the up-trunk shots because it's hard to get a good canopy shot from a distance. Buildings, streets and power lines interfere.

Regards,
Cafiend

 

I knew those big winds were gonna cause trouble, dammit. Didn't stop Cafiend though... he sent me these three

 

 

and decided on this one as his official entry:

 

 

 

 

Very nice, indeed, don't you think?

 

 

Please have excellent weekends, everyone! The first "real" snow of this winter is falling outside my window. I hope it stays. Some snowy video will make a nice counterpoint to our next TARATS entry from Jen in El Paso Texas, TARATS 19th person to enter, which means it has surpassed last year in every way! Woot!

 

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Texan Twins Totally Try To Take Top Tier TARATS Tally

Or, if you would rather, Doohickie entered this pair of trees in my contest:

I hope those two like each other okay; it would really suck to hate your yard mate and be rooted in the earth, I bet. No "just leaving" or stomping off for these two. I think these Twins are alright though. You can tell by the way they pop the same colour.

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

The Virginian, part II

Hey, no time to try to be clever today, but Mike A from Virginia sent me tree picture for TARATS. This is Part II because I already have one Viginian tree from Kenny. Brevity is Mike:

 

Saw your invite a while back. Here in Virginia, everything operates a bit slower. Cheers

 

 

 

 

Great tree, thanks Mike! Don't forget, you can see all of this year's entries by clicking this link.

 

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

The Texan Rebel and the Flowering Aussie

I'm gonna start writing Romance novels. I mean, look at that tag line! I hope you weren't getting all worked up for some steamy story that has nothing to do with pictures of trees, though. This is just a Third Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown post, so cool your jets and check out some trees, you sex-crazed freaks!

Email about what I'm calling the Texan Rebel:

 

 None of the other trees in Texas seem to get it, but this one does.  He (I think it’s a male) resides on the golf course at River Crest Country Club here in Fort Worth.  I snapped this picture today while running errands.  If you want to see more from the ride, click here (Facebook link):

 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.437834969598732.94513.100001166989376&type=1

 

 -Doohickie

 

 I was really pleased to get this entry from Doohickie, a reader who's been around pretty much since I started this thing. While I'm thinking of it, thanks to everyone who takes precious time to read my nonsense, whether you're a new arrival or long-time drivel junkie. I really appreciate it.

 

 

I also appreciate Doohickie's tree; it reminds me of that old Sesame Street bit:

Now, what about our "flowering Aussie"? This is an entry from a SECOND Australian person, Vicki! It is Spring in Australia, but as I have stated before, if Aussies want to enter my contest while I'm flogging it with the Spring trees they've got at the time, I'm gonna accept those pics.

Email:

Dear Rantwick

I live in Oz and it is not Autumn here, it is Spring so did not think I would be eligible to enter your wonderful competition, but then the other day I saw this tree in flower and it looked so much like an Autumn tree that I decided to give it a go, as you seemed to be flexible in your entry requirements. I think it is a flowering gum as it was in the distance and I could not get close enough to it to check.

Regards
Vicki of Bicycles in Newcastle

Tree:

Hey, if any of you are still struggling with your over-sexed imaginations thanks to my post title, just imagine this instead: The Aussie with Flowering Gums. Problem solved, yes?

Stay tuned; I have fallen behind in posting the TARATS entries, so I've got a Virginian and some Texan twins waiting in the wings, coming soon to a TARATS post near you. Or near here. Well, here, really. Come on back, OK?

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

More and More TARATS Awesomeness

I love my job. I mean, wonder in print where Canadian trees are, receive one next day. Plus another Aussie. Crazy. Crazy, I say!

Let's start with Michael from Ridgeville, Ontario, Canada. For those unfamiliar, Ridgeville is near Niagara Falls. If you are unfamiliar with Niagara Falls, well, look it up, 'cause the Falls are AWESOME. Literally.

Michael confused me with his email, which had the subject line A Cajun Tarats Entry... Michael appears to try to explain how Cajun = Canadian in a PS that I didn't quite grasp. Of course, the Cajuns in the USA are descendants of the Acadians found in our Maritime regions, so it's all good anyway. For a change I didn't have to look anything up on this one, since my last name is Cormier and I am part Acadian myself, which makes me a Canadian Cajun of sorts. You follow? Don't matter none, I gare-on-tee. Let's move onta the email:

Good Morning Mr. Rantwick,

Attached is a photo of a tree that I believe is worthy of consideration for the grand prize in the 2012 Autumn Tree Smackdown.

There is something particularly special about this tree. https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=43.03808,-79.2934&hl=en&sll=43.038105,-79.292976&sspn=0.001055,0.002642&t=h&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=19&z=19

If you look closely, you will see (you WILL) that the tree has, in fact is covered with, leaves. Now, this might not seem special to the untrained photo viewer. And, well, I suppose it is not. But it seems rather special to me for several reasons.

1. It not longer has leaves. Not even one! As far as I know this is the only documentation of this tree ever having leaves on it. Or at least having leaves that are red, orange and yellow. At least from this year... in October... and... um... on a Saturday... afternoon... while it was sunny... and... at lunch hour... while I was watching... with my son.

Yes! It is absolutely one of a kind! There is not other photo like it. In fact, with the possible exception of the other entries that are better, this is the best autumn tree photo in your contest taken by me! What more reason could there be?

It might also be the entry that is closest to the place of residence of the submitter. I can see this tree from my front window (living around the corner). Well, sure, I would have to cut down several of the other not-so-smakdowniness trees that are in the way. I would also have to bulldose a few neighbors' houses. But I can see it!

Surely this makes it deserving of the Maple Syrup prize. mmm... Maple Syrup... and not the "crumby" kind either!

Cheers!

Michael

P.S. some of us cajuns have difficulty with words longer than two syllables, so we are cajun, but not Cajun.

 

Well, Michael has certainly put me on the spot. In a sticky situation, if you will. You see, I had determined that I was not going to give out a maple syrup prize this year. Michael's somewhat odd and enthusiastic email, however, has made me reconsider. The winner of my contest will receive:

 

1) The right to crown their tree King of Autumn 2012 (uncontested by me).

 

2) A used trophy modified to somehow illustrate that fact. The winner will undoubtedly display it with great pride in their home or workplace.

 

3) A tiny bottle (unlike last year, which was a bigger bottle) of the best maple syrup ever, Jakeman's Canada #1 Extra Light. This magic substance should not be wasted. Keep it cold in the fridge and savour it by the teaspoon. In my opinion, putting it on or in things is a waste. More here.

 

Since I'm going back to tiny bottles, I'm considering runner-up syrup prizes as well. Considering. It all depends how you people behave over the next month or so (hehe, take that, my little ones).

 

Hey, wait, I forgot to show Michael's tree!

Thanks, Michael! Powerful little tree you got there!

Hey, this post has kind of run on, so I'm going to bail now and do a separate post about Vicki's tree from Newcastle, NSW, Australia next! I love the Internet! People from about as far away from me as you can get on this planet are sending me tree pictures! It's just so cool!

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

More TARATS Action!

Recumbent Conspiracy Theorist (best name ever, by the way) has sent me two more trees! The email:

Hi Rantwick,

 

This attractive tree resides on city property here in north central Ohio. I snapped the shot in the morning on the way to work. This tree has a brother that lives not far to the side. I didn't want him to feel left out so he got his picture taken too. That one to follow.

-rct

 

The trees:

 

 

 

I'm beginning to wonder where all the Canucks are at... it's just me and Skyers so far and Autumn leaves are pretty much done in most of the country... that's cool though. The International angle is lots of fun for me.  R A N T W I C K

TARATS 20!

I have received another TARATS entry, making it 20 pictures so far. The email:

 

I took this in Ann Arbor, MI on 10/21/12. This is one of the first pics I took with my new Iphone 5. I think it turned out pretty great. This is an unedited picture too - straight from my phone.
Thanks for the fun contest!
Josh

 

 

 Woah. Stunner. Thanks Josh!

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Tarats Entry #19 - Seattle

Longtime reader of these pages Steve A has had two trees in mind for my contest this year. One of them is (or was) ready. If you are at all familiar with Steve or his blog DFW Point-to-Point, you will already know that Steve sometimes has something of a historical bent, one that I quite enjoy.

Leave it to Steve to make his first tree entry one with a documented back-story! Take it away, Steve...

Entry #1 - from North Seattle (well, it became part of North Seattle about 100 years after this tree sprouted). The day after this photo was shot, heavy rain set in as often happens in Seattle and when it cleared, the tree looked like the bottom photo. In truth, the brown pickup is in both photos. Note how the Maple rivals the Douglas firs in height, and how the trunk is nearly the same diameter as the silver car is wide. There is more on this tree at:


http://wedgwoodinseattlehistory.com/2012/02/20/a-tree-in-wedgwood-history/ 

Steve, thank you for that serious big-ass tree.

I got 18 entries last year, but they were from 18 individual people. This entry makes it 19 trees from 12 people so far. Thanks all! Anybody else? C'mon, you know you wanna... if you're showing up late and have no tree to photograph, well, um, too bad, I guess. Maybe next year?

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

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

Minecraft, plus TARATS Entries 15 and 16

Well, it is Friday, and none too soon I think. Rantwick Junior is testing for his Red belt in Karate at 530 today, so I'm hoping nothing delays me. Friday afternoons seem to have a special knack for surprising / delaying me.

 

Speaking of Rantwick Junior, I thought of him while reading the comments section of BSNYC; people were discussing this computer game called Minecraft that seems to be crazy popular right now. He's 11 and loves it too. The thing is, the game looks terrible and seems to have little point compared to most modern games, so people on the comment board were wondering why kids seem to like it so  much.

 

I have had the exact same thought, and my theory is that kids like it because it has no "story" or "rules" or "levels". You just do stuff and make stuff and collect stuff and try not to die. Like life, except without school or work. The lack of structure and story and good graphics allows kids to use their imaginations to fill in the blanks. That combined with just using the computer seems enough to keep 'em hooked real good.

 

When I looked for a video to describe Minecraft, what do you know, they sell it based on precisely what I had thought, which makes the preceding paragraphs a pretty big waste of time, I guess. Sorry.

Minecraft seems to be almost open source stuff. Rantwick Junior sometimes asks about mods and plugins available out in minecraft forum land, and since I am a computer guy, I have tried to help him download and install mods and hacks and plugins with very little success. I think I need to devote more time to figuring out the platform and how these extra things work. Or not. Maybe it is just fine as is. Like trees. Trees are fine just the way they are.

Speaking of trees (he he he), I have some new ones for the contest! I have added them to the album and slideshow found on the entrants page.

Rlove2bike sent me these, with the following note:

I thought I would send you these two for entry into TARATS. These were taken in Bayfield, WI., home of the http://bayfield.org/bayfield-activities/bayfield-apple-festival/ I can see now that I am going to have to take TARATS a little more serious as the competition is a might bit stiff. But just like Cheese, Beer and Packer Football, how can we not take a tree in Bayfield seriously...I mean really.

I'm taking those trees seriously, for sure... you had me at cheese. Nice trees RL! Way to plug that apple festival too! I love apples and trees and festivals. Apples grow on trees and Bayfield has an apple festival and is not far from where I grew up, really. Wrong country, but still... if I were you, I would attend the apple festival in Bayfield WI if you can. I bet it is awesome.

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K