Sunday Stills Challenge~Favorite Photos from 2009

Oh, boy! THIS is a hard challenge and I have a problem. I have only a few photos here on Picasa. MOST of my photos are on my desktop, which crashed in December! ACK! So, I went through the ones on Picasa and picked two. My desktop still hasn't been re-connected (hubby is working this weekend) and he hasn't had time to reconnect it, so here goes! The bottom one is a photo of the All-American Canal, which runs from the Colorado River through Arizona, to the Coachella Valley. Farmers here use this water to irrigate their fields and the day after Thanksgiving, I drove by this part of the canal and caught the early morning sunrise reflecting on it. I don't always get out that way, but, during vacation, a combination of sun, clouds, and light was just right for a photo. Beautiful, but DANGEROUS! Did you know that the water may appear calm on the surface, but, beneath it (what lies beneath) are dangerous currents? Suction pumps pump the water at tremendous speeds and if you or your dog fall into the canal, you are GONNERS unless somebody is there so help pull you out! You CANNOT swim against that strong suction current! The top photo was taken on the same day. The clouds had developed into rain squalls across the desert. I like how the sunlight hit the deserted ranch house, but the sky's background is so dark! The sunlight disappeared right after I took this photo and it started to rain, but a double rainbow appeared!