Day 100 of 365, Old Gourd Birdhouse

Uploaded for Our Daily Challenge, Subject: Something in your neighbor's yard, April 19, 2010

OK, I had not done the challenge and it was 10 pm. I put my rubber boots on and tromped across my yard into the neighbor's yard. There is a crepe myrtle tree that is close to our property line and I happened to notice this thingamajig hanging down. I could tell that it had the shape of a gourd so I pointed my camera at it. I was really hoping that it was not a nest of killer bees. That thought really went through my head because I literally could not see. My eyes had probably not adjusted to the dark and the only available light was coming faintly from my neighbor's little porch light. I snapped the pic and in the lcd viewer, I saw this decrepit, cracked up, paint peeling, probably long forgotten little gourd birdhouse hanging from the tiny branch. There you go. I will have to call this my challenge shot "from my neighbor's yard."

photo recipe: 50mm f 5.6 iso 800 2 sec exposure, accessory flash

Do I sound smart like I knew what I was doing? Actually, I put my camera in the night scene mode and held the shutter until I forced it to release and fired the flash. Then, I was outa there! I was scared a wild cat was going to jump out of the bushes and claw my face off. Why does one's imagination go crazy in the dark of night?

update:  I posted this to my flickr site.  I was cracking up laughing at some of the responses.  Some said I was very brave and dedicated to the challenge.  One called me a prowler!  heheee.  One lady told me that it looked like an ugly baby!  lol!!!!  Yeah, we like to keep it real!  I wrote back and told her I agreed.  I thought it looks like an ugly baby but it was my baby so I had to keep it.  :)  I love my photog flickr buddies.  They make me laugh all the time.