Livin' Life

New Beginnings

2010-01-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and welcomed in 2010 with a bang! Me, I was asleep by 9:00, yep I couldn't even make it up to watch the ball drop, and I've done that for years!!! Oh well, as a recent post title - it's time for change! I noticed the days are getting a little longer but at the same time colder. It's like living in the Arctic here lately. Bring on warmer weather!!
I finally have everything unpacked so far and almost in it's place. I still have a few more things to pick up but that won't be til warmer weather. I will post pictures soon. This is a very BIG change from what I'm used to. Now I get up, shower, go to work, come home an do nothing! Heck, I only have to drive every other week too!! No laundry, cooking, dishes, absolutely nothing. I have cooked one meal but only to take to moms for New Years Day while we sat around watching bowl games and playing cards. I made lasagna, they loved it and I got to cook. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy cooking and baking but for now, I'm not missing it. Do you know how hard it is to cook for one person, so why bother, plus I seem to have lost my appetite. A few girls at work named this type of weight loss but I will keep it clean on here ☺ I have already dropped 2 jean sizes and tomorrow it's time for a completely new-do!

I have been watching a lot of Food Network and HGTV - gotta love those networks! I thought I would change some of my TV habits and get rid of some sitcoms, I'm not sure which is more addictive. Dad, can you answer this, you seem to be the TV pro!

Harley is headed to Lori's tomorrow. I got a call from the vet that she did great with surgery, has all her shots up to date so she is ready to go.I'll pick her up tomorrow and take her to meet Hank. They will get along great! I'll find something soon so I can keep her with me, she's a great dog and loves to run, not for the "in town" life.

My carpool buddy and I hit some gravel roads coming home the other day and we came across great find . We WILL go back and explore before the snakes come out ☺

Well, I think I hear the couch calling my name, I better answer.

Here's to New Beginnings!

Santas Getting close...

2009-12-24T04:24:00.000-08:00

Have you been good?

He's been watching you know.

I wanted to take the time to wish everyone a joyous Christmas season. Remember that this is the time of year to spend with family and friends, to share the love you have and they give. Never take anything for granted or it's gone. One day you will wake up and realize that this is where you are suppose to be in life. I know because this Christmas is a tough one for me. I 'm thankful for the family and friends that I have to share it with and even more thankful that I have a life to celebrate.

Updates on the house stuff - I've almost got everything unpacked. Now it's time to get this place looking like something. I will post pictures soon. It's tough when you move from 1700 sq. ft home

into a 1370 sq.ft.home means a lot of downsizing.

The next big project won't be until Spring when I go back to the old place and get my flowers and yard decorations. Then I can spruce it up even more. Soon the bottom will look as good as the top picture :) Give me a little time.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hug your family, they deserve it

Big Change

2009-12-15T02:50:00.000-08:00

I will never understand the way that relationships end or the reasons. First you get told one thing that seems to put the blame on yourself then a big slap in the face and you find out the truth. I'm sure some of the reasons we get have truth but come on, if they can't look you in the face you should see right there that something is going on. It's not always what you think but when you're down, you always think the worst. This is a bummer because I am one of those people. I like the truth in everything. In relationships there should be honesty at all times. People need to be open about everything and take the time to talk and work things out. Keeping stuff bottled up inside is not a good answer. I have been hurt before in life but this has got to top it. When the one you love tells you to go you feel as you have lost everything. I know that I have plenty of love with my family and friends and I will get through it. I'm a strong person on the outside but inside I hurt.

I've moved in to a small rental house and will get it looking like a home soon. It's not going to be as easy as the house I lived in since I had that one looking pretty darn good. I have to get busy and try to focus on things. It was in the country and now I'm in the city. Lots of changes here but in the long term of things maybe all will come out okay.

Someday I will look back and see that this was all for a reason. I have learned a few things -

people will never be happy if they aren't happy with themselves.
sad things make us stronger.

and one of the best lines I've heard in a while ......

Everything happens to you for a reason. Hard or easy, good or bad, your job is to embrace the experience, learn and grow from it.

Not only did I lose the love of my life, I lost my best friend!

Brain packed weekend!

2009-11-17T19:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog,

I have neglected you so much in the past few weeks. Believe it or not I have been busy. ( seriously, I have) Work has been crazy with year end and 2010 budgeting and then I packed a photography workshop into it too. Work- not exciting so I will move on to the next subject- WORKSHOP!! It was a blast, I learned a lot ( hey Lori do you like that ) and I made several new friends.The workshop was hosted by Wendi and Devan ( two great photographers) We met up on Friday afternoon for 4 hours, back on Saturday for the day and wrapped it up on Sunday. I came home and Rick asked me did I learn anything, my answer......."Of course!" I did learn that to be a legal business I have a lot of stuff to take care of and that is already in the works! I learned a lot about lightning and some OCF ( off camera flash) that was a biggie for me!! Now I just have to buy more "toys" and a back up camera. I'm actually looking at the Canon 50D ( save, save, save) Maybe Santa will bring me the winning lottery ticket!! I'm looking at reformatting my blog to go back to just one. It takes me too much time to focus on posting for 2 blogs. The whole purpose of this was to get my personal and business side of life separate. BUT after the workshop and chatting with a few of the photogs, they got me to thinking....people may like to see the crazy side of me too. The reason when I asked why is that it makes the clients feel that they know you better when they meet up with you....hmmm, I think it sounds legit!

Bonnie, I still haven't made those muffins, but I will surprise you one day when you aren't expecting it. BTW - did you ever tell Jess that I helped you make your mind up to get her that Halloween/Iowa decoration? ( bet not, you wanted all the credit, huh? )
Denny- Sorry no more posting about Rick, he is getting to be way to personal ☺ I have to live with him ya know, you only have to be with him for 10 hours a day. Guess he wins! You will have to ask him whats going on daily ☺
Maryann- I hope you find the pan you are looking for! It was great to hear that voice mail- Rick and Shawn cracked up when they heard it! See you in Vegas ( wink,wink)

OK- I have led myself off track- back to the workshop. We had models on Saturday and Sunday a couple then a family of 5. What a great time!! Here are some pictures from the workshop.
Oh yeah, I meant to mention, we actually are forming a group that will meet the 1st Sunday of each month. Our group name.......Click ! Check us out!

Here are some of the links to see the other photographers work
http://www.amytobiasphotography.com/
http://memoriesbybrandi.blogspot.com/
http://www.foreverphotographybykelly.com/
http://www.bellarosephotography.org/

Bye-bye to October and hello to November

2009-11-01T07:44:00.000-08:00

Whew this has been quite the busy month. Several photo sessions, "B" time at work (budget), Halloween, company at the house and the list goes on......

I did get the "ME" time in a couple weeks ago. I drove around taking beautiful pictures of the Fall leaves. It's a good thing I went when I did 'cause they are gone now! We have had rain and wind like crazy here in the glorious Mid-West.

I spent the last week of October doing a photo challenge. I had to take a self portrait each day with a Halloween theme. These pictures may not be for the weak stomached ones ☺!

That's it til next year. Vernon, my brother has been staying with us while he's working down in this area. He was my "victim " for the one shot. Gotta love family!
Rick has been putting out tree stands all over the place, getting ready for Shawn's visit and the big hunt.
Me, well I've just been busy as usual, getting ready for a photo shoot as I type. Steph just called to let me know they're on the way. Be sure to check out my business blog for that post later in the week.

Have a great November and try to stay warm!

Time For ME

2009-10-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

Once again an extremely busy weekend. I had 2 photo sessions, cleaned the house, winterized the pool and yard, hung all the gourds,

cooked all weekend

and now I'm ready for a little ME time. Hummmm, I'm not sure I know what that is anymore. Next weekend I plan on spending the entire weekend on the road. I want to see lots of fall colors and visit Kathy's Pumpkin Patch. Speaking of pumpkins, Bonnie, no pumpkin mini cakes on Monday, maybe one day this week. Time to hit the couch and watch The Proposal.

Yummmy!!

2009-10-15T03:11:00.000-07:00

I have figured out why stores place magazine racks at the checkout lane. Who could resist a cover like this!

Don't those muffins look yummy! I will be making these over the weekend. ( Bonnie I hope you like pumpkin, 'cause you will have one Monday morning!)

If you see this in the store, pick it up! It's packed with tons of great recipes and decorating ideas for the Fall season.

Mini Pumpkin Cakes

Yield

Makes 8 pumpkins

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Caramel-Rum Glaze*

Or Vanilla Glaze

Caramel Stems, Leaves, and Vines (optional, instructions below)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Stir in pumpkin and vanilla.
2. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Spoon batter into 2 lightly greased pumpkin-shaped muffin pans, filling three-fourths full.
3. Bake at 350° for 24 to 26 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 5 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 30 minutes).
4. Cut rounded tops off muffins to make them flat. Invert top muffins onto bottom muffins, forming pumpkins. Drizzle Caramel-Rum Glaze over pumpkins. Decorate with Caramel Stems, Leaves, and Vines, if desired.

*Vanilla Glaze may be substituted.
CARAMEL STEM: Press 1 caramel between fingers, lengthening to 1 1/2 to 2 inches to form a stem. Curl stem gently.
CARAMEL LEAVES: Roll caramels into 2-inch squares on a flat surface, using a rolling pin. Cut into leaves, using a paring knife. Gently press tips of leaves to flatten, if desired. Score leaves, using a paring knife. Pinch bottoms of leaves together.
CARAMEL VINES: Cut 1 caramel into 3 equal pieces. Squeeze each piece gently to flatten, and roll between hands or on a flat surface into a long thin rope. Twist ends to curl

Fall or Winter?

2009-10-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

I have completely finished my Fall decorating. The neighbor gave me a bale of old hay (for a dozen chocolate chip cookies) and with a few cans of spray paint ....walla...it's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! Check out the stem on top!

I moved all my outdoor plants in yesterday and finally have my botanical garden complete inside. They say plants are healthy to have indoors so we should be in good shape!

After finishing my pumpkin I came back inside to warm up in the garden when I looked out and saw it snowing. What is this crap!! I just got done decorating for Fall and the Winter is here. I'm about ready to pack up and head South. Maybe when we retire we can be snowbirds!

Help me decide what to do!

Well, I have to start on my new addition to my dining room- does anyone have any crafty ideas? If so I would love to hear them!!

My Morning Visit with Jack

2009-10-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

Jack Frost that is! It is way to early for that stuff. I'm definitely not ready for cold weather and here in Iowa, it gets pretty darn cold! So when I woke up at 5:00 this morning there was a nice coating of frost in the field. Once the sun came up there were a few does roaming on the frost.

Brr, don't that just send shivers up your spine!

Now mentioning deer, they seem to send shivers up Rick's spine. I came home from work the other day looking for him when all of a sudden I noticed him up in the tree. He's getting ready to take the big buck down, I just know it!

The porch is done with decorating for the season. Here's the final addition.

Tomorrow I will be getting one more thing, it's for the yard 'cause it's way to big to fit on the porch. I will post it tomorrow night, considering I get it finished. It will cost me 2 dozen chocolate chip cookies but will be well worth it. So are you curious?

Well, I'm outta here for the day. Taking off for some Fall foliage pictures. I have to hurry before the rain, wind and Jack takes them all off the trees.

This waether map explains it all!

Porch is ready for Fall

2009-10-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

Well, almost. I worked on my porch this weekend and have almost finished. After seeing Jess' porch I couldn't wait any longer to share my craftiness. With a little article called pumpkins with pizazz from an old issue of Souther Living magazine I was able to get a great idea. I have one more crafty thing up my sleeve to put up tomorrow. Have to wait on the glue to dry! (dang glue)
Drum roll please..................

and now for a night shot .........................................................

and now for a look at the whole front porch........................

now don't be looking at the picket fence locking thing on the left, it's history tomorrow night when I get my new decor up.

BTW- what's up with eblogger- I love the new way of posting pictures! Finally I don't have to drag them all over the page!

Well, it's time for a cup of hot cocoa and a little Drop Dead Diva followed by Army Wives! I will post a complete front porch view tomorrow.

Crafting with Martha Stewart along with a little BHG

2009-09-27T14:19:00.001-07:00

I sat on the porch this morning noticing how quick our summer has ended.With the leaves hitting the ground, heavy dew in the rising sun and cool breeze blowing throw my tousled hair, I sat pondering for a plan for the day. I had a photo shoot scheduled at noon with my 4 nieces for school pictures but that was pretty much it. What the heck I thought, this would be a good day to shop for some mums and pumpkins to decorate up my wagon since Rick had modified it for me yesterday. That's all it took to get me on a roll. Rick went to the neighbors for some straw so I headed to Ft. Madison. I only found 3 small mums and big pumpkins. This will do for now, I thought, keeping in the back of my head that I would hit Wal-Mart tomorrow after work! When I got home I placed my decorations in spot, grabbed out the camera, snap....Boo...tiful! I think this wagon is going to get a new decoration each season. Hmmmm, Santa would look good sitting in there. (smiling as the light bulb goes off in my head) Speaking of Santa, I also decided I was going to tackle an early Christmas craft I had seen at Hobby Lobby.

One side is painted with chalkboard paint! (thanks Jess, for getting me turned on to this paint)

OK, back to Fall, let's not rush it.
Rick and I took a 4-wheeler ride in the back forty to get some hedge balls. Not only to help rid the spiders of my home but for more decorations. (as seen in the Oct. issue of BHG magazine) I have to get some small winter squash first, then I will post a picture tomorrow evening.

Needless to say we found the mother load. There are tons of these behind our house.

In the meantime I did get one more decoration complete. A corn husk wrapped votive candle. While hedge ball hunting a grabbed a few ears of corn ☺to use for this project.

Martha's version -

My finished product. I used twine to wrap around and then stuck in a small bunch of berries that I robbed from a floral arrangement I have.

That's enough for today. I was inspired by Jess' porch so tomorrow evening I think I will work on mine. Now time to make out the Wal-Mart list:

small winter squash
mini pumpkins
spray paint (for my gourds)
Indian corn

Happy decorating!! Oh yeah, did you notice the ghoulish glass in the first picture. Scroll back up!

Starnes sets out to raise tallest corn in Iowa

2009-09-25T16:16:00.001-07:00

This was the headlines in the Bee Star. (local paper serving the Donnellson & West Point Area) Hey dad and Mary Ann, your copy is in the mail. ☺ To read the article you should be able to click the picture for a larger version.

Who would have ever thunk it, me raising corn! Well, I did and it turned out pretty darn good.
I was so excited to see that I was on the front page!! This is a small community paper but hey, it's fame right. (wink) The contest officially ends Oct. 1st so I'm excited to see the next issue of Our Iowa magazine to see the final results.

Now my next adventure will be taking a plane ride to capture Fall from the sky. Rick and I are going to charter a plane for a trip around the area. Hmmmm, that sounds like we are living the lifestyles of the rich and famous but it is actually very inexpensive. $35.00 for a 1/2 hour. What FUN!! I will be posting that soon. Come on leaves turn them pretty colors and rain, well, you need to stay away since you have the tendency to wash the leaves off the branches.

Sparks A Flyin'

2009-09-20T17:36:00.001-07:00

We went to the State Line Rally in Keosaqua over the weekend. Loads of fun as usual. We ran into some friends Janet & Mike and discovered that "fearless Mike" was a "Ghost Rider" for the parade. Every year at the rally we ride through town at 7:00PM Friday & Saturday night. Well, this year I got a video of Mike's performance. The crowd goes wild !!

I have uploaded the video on my You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPTJ-Q3Vdxo

Now upon getting back from the rally I have been somewhat of a couch potato and watched 2 good movies - Traitor & Last House On The Left. I decided to get off the couch and catch up on household stuff so I can resume my position for Drop Dead Diva and Army Wives.

I will be doing some crafting during the week and trying a few new recipes that I found in the Oct. issue of Rachel Rays magazine. I will post mid week and let you know how that's going!

Time To Decorate

2009-09-17T03:32:00.000-07:00

Autumn will officially be here next week so I have started preparing. While on vacation Mary Ann and I went to a craft show and I was inspired with some of the Fall decor. Next was a trip to Big Lots and a walk in her back yard. Walla- this is what I came up with. I filled the center pillar holder with a pumpkin spice scented candle. Next year I will have a dried hornets nest with tree branch attached IF those little boogers don't get my in the act. We noticed this huge hornets nest last week when we got back from NY. I told Rick I want to try and save it for a decoration.Now we just have to wait until winter, when all the little buzzers move out and hope the weather doesn't ruin it.

Finally a large piece of decor for my yard as well as a great prop for a photo session. The man that farms the land around us bought this wagon at an antique auction and came to us to see if we wanted it. Of course I said yes! We will be modifying it a bit and filling it with hay, pumpkins, gourds ( since I have tons), mums and a few smiling faces. Blogging about that soon! For now here's a peak at the wagon.
I'm headed out for a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby this afternoon to see what else I can find.

Corn is Down! 167"

2009-09-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

Being a subscriber to the Our Iowa magazine I was excited to see that they were doing a corn contest. I planted my seeds in late May and began watering and watching. A month later in had only grew about 6". I was getting bummed out. I started dousing it with Miracle Gro and away it went. By the 4th of July it was well past knee high and by mid August I couldn't reach the top. I was really getting excited so I called Edward Jones since they are the offical measurers. I spoke with Rich Mueller from the Mount Pleasant office and he told me to call him back when it was 13". We went on vacation over Labor Day and came back to a taller stalk. I put in a call to Rich and he came out with his daughter Gabrianna to measure it. Once it was cut down I was astounded, it measured 13' 9" from roots to tassle. Rumor is that someone up North has 15' so I wil have to wait and see. The winner of the contest is awarded $200 worth of pork, $200 worth of beef and a $100 ethanol gas card. All I can do is sit back and wait.

Vacation !

2009-09-13T16:14:00.001-07:00

Fun is over now it's time to get back in the real world!

I could spend hours on this blog but I will keep it short and sweet. We went to New York to visit Ricks mom & stepdad, went camping at Wellesley Island State park ( 1,000 Islands) and got to tour 2 castles. We had a great time. I took over 1500 pictures, I know, that alot!! Well, when you have scenery that breath taking you have to shoot away.

Mary Ann and I went for a little antiquing before headed out for our camping trip. We didn't find any bargains but I did get a nice shot of her while we were out and about.

I have posted over 400 pictures on my flickr if you are interested in looking.

I do have to point out that while on the boat headed to Singer Castle, a man wearing.....womens clothing was the talk of the ride. Not only was he wearing womens clothing but he decided to lay down across from us, on his wives lap, with his legs spread eagle! YUCK!!! Old men in white, Levis short-shorts should not do that! The couple ( I didn't get their names) sitting behind us was funny. She said to me, get a picture, well I didn't want to at first but then I thought what the heck, it's something to blog about ! So I did. Sorry for the disturbing shot but if I had to look at it, so do you.

The castles were fantastic, camping was great and John & Mary Ann were sweet as pie, as usual. Well, John did tell a little lie to get me going at first but later gave in. ( ha- so much for not smoking on the campgrounds)

Rick and I both had a great time. He got in a little fishing and I, well, you can see I enjoyed taking tons of pictures.

Time for R & R

2009-08-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

For the past 2 weeks it's been a little frantic around here. I just finished processing pictures from my nieces wedding ( I took 1200, yep I go a little bizerk with the camera) and now I have to prepare for vacation. So, all projects on hold, except for tending to my corn. As you know from reading past posts, I entered a corn contest. Well, it now stands about 12' tall and is almost done growing. It will probably reach 13' which is pretty darn tall. That's a bummer because I heard that someone has already reached 18', geez how did he do it! I called Edward Jones ( official measurers) and they told me they would come out measure and do a little write up for this area. Oh well, a little fame is ok but the prize of 200# of pork, 200# of beef and $100 gas card would have been even better.
My nieces wedding turned out great, or at least the pictures did. I didn't get to enjoy the wedding since I was behind the camera from 1PM- 9PM. That was a long day and then when I got home I had to start on the pictures to get them all ready before I go on vacation. Pictures are done at least for the most part. You can get a looksie here
Vacation time is here - New York here we come. NOT New York City, there's more to NY than the big city. We are going to Rick's moms in Franklinville for an overnight stay then on up to Wellesley Island State Park for camping. The park overlooks St. Lawrence River that hosts - 1,000 Islands. The 1000 Islands Region is an international tourism destination, encompassing communities on both sides of the US and Canada border along the St. Lawrence River and the eastern shores of Lake Ontario. The region takes its name from the more than 1000 islands that dot the lake and river along this international waterway. The region extends from Kingson to Cornwall on the Canadian side, and from Oswego to Massena on the US side, reaching inland to the foothills of the Adirondack mountains to embrace the communities that are west and north of the Adirondack Park, and the four NY Counties of Oswego, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence. Sounds like a good time, don't ya think. Now it's time to get off this computer, get my house work done and start planning what I'm going to pack. We will hit the road Thursday evening. What could be more relaxing then camping, sightseeing, shopping ( of course) and weenies over an open fire! Not to mention with the cool temps I might get to see some Fall colors! Pictures will be posted when I return.

If you shuck it, they will come

2009-08-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

Oops, this post was still in my draft section, oh well better late then never.

57th annual Sweet Corn Festival 2009! West Point was rollin' in the kernels this month.

I went up on Wednesday night to take advantage of the "shuckfest". Although I didn't sit down and shuck I got some great pictures of the event. There's 17 tons of corn poured out onto Merchmans parking lot and people come from surrounding counties and even other states to partake in the festivities. After shucking, the corn is picked up in milk crates and taken to an ice bath where it's cooled down and loaded into a refrigerated semi trailer. Pretty interesting, huh? I think so. From here it goes to the square where a steam engine cooks it. Now that's allot of corn.

Todays Special

2009-08-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have been busy as a bee this past week. Projects are coming together and some are complete! I have finished my chalkboard.
Tools needed:

frame - the older the better. (I used a dresser mirror frame)
paint of choice (you should look around at your local paint supply store as they sometimes have rejected colors on clearance)
paint brush
KRYLON chalkboard paint (this comes in brush on or spray, I used the brush on)
wood for chalkboard (I used a 1/4" of plywood)
sawtooth hangers
several small finishing nails

Begin by cleaning up your frame and preparing your work surface. Cut plywood to fit frame. Apply 2 coats of paint to frame and plywood allowing dry time in between. Nail plywood on back and add sawtooh hangers. Walla - you have a chalkboard. Before & after shot.

I have mine in the kitchen but they would be handy anywhere. I'm thinking I need a small one in the laundry room that says I'm on vacation ! {smiles}

Now Bonnie, I know you are dying to know about my other project. Well, it's finished so I will share it with you. Drum roll please......................
My tabletop checkerboard!!
I had picked up free junk (see previous post) added lots of masking tape, 3) .96 cans of spray paint, 1) can of polyurethane and a couple assistants to put together my checkerboard. The squares are 2 1/2" so I went on EBay and ordered my checkers. Anyone up for a game of checkers?
That's it for now, I have to get ready to go to the sweet corn festival. Yes imagine that, Iowa having a sweet corn festival ☺! Oh yeah I almost forgot, I'm working on another project, stay tuned. Click the follow me link to your right and you will see all the updates I post.

Have a great and safe weekend!

Meteors and Star Trailing

2009-08-12T02:41:00.000-07:00

So I started my day at 3:30am. I had picked my spot, set up my tripod and made all the adjustments to my camera. I put it in bulb mode, set the iso at 100, wb on auto and hooked up the remote trigger that Rick made for me. Next, set my alarm for 3:30am and get my butt to bed!

I did it!!

Got up before the alarm went off, made my coffee and headed outside to get my camera mounted. Flipped the remote to open the shutter and came back in to grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the show. I sat on the back porch in the dark for a peaceful morning watching and waiting. After leaving my shutter open for an hour I flipped the remote back to close. Now wait again, see if you take a 60 minute shot you have to wait that long for the shutter to fully close and walla....... my star trails and meteor shower. The moon was not cooperating as it was pretty bright and the fog was rolling in pretty fast so not a great shot. Tonight I should do better. The brightest streak down in the lower right hand corner may be a meteor but again it could be just a bright star. I will shoot near the barn tonight.

I copied this from an article on Yahoo News. Full article here - http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090811/sc_space/strongmeteorshowerexpectedtonight

Viewing tips
The best location is far from city and suburban lights. Ideally, find a structure, mountain or tree to block the moon. Then scan as much of the sky as possible. The meteors can appear anywhere, heading in any direction. If you trace their paths backward, they'll all point to the constellation Perseus.
People in locations where any chill might occur should dress warmer than they think necessary to allow for prolonged viewing.
Seasoned skywatchers advise using a blanket or lounge chair for comfort, so you can lie back and look up for long periods. Allow at least 15 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to the darkness. Then expect meteors to be sporadic: You might see two in a row, or several minutes could go by between shooting stars.
Avid meteor watchers might want to try scanning the northeastern horizon from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. local time (your local time, wherever you are) for Perseids that graze the horizon.
"Earthgrazers are meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond," Cooke explained. "They are long, slow and colorful – among the most beautiful of meteors." He notes that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile.

Yes I will be back at it tonight, I think I will go for a shot from 10-11. That means a late night tomorrow.

Happy Monday everyone!!

2009-08-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a hot weekend here. Temps were in the mid 90’s with heat indexes reaching up to 110. Gotta love Iowa in August.

The week/weekend has been filled with several activities and great bargains. This was my agenda for the weekend.

Friday- work, home and clean, bed! Going to have a busy day on Saturday

Saturday –

· 6:00am - up early (had to be at my nieces bridal shower/breakfast)
· 9:00am - arrive at shower shot lots of pictures.
· 10:30am - moms to change into river clothes , snap a picture of her flowers and load up the car for the bachelorette party and “Rip It Up’ session ( in case you are wondering, this is the same as a Trash The Dress session. I just wanted my name to be more unique.
· Noon – Rome Bar for the meet up of the bachelorette party. While we were there we did our Rip It Up session. What a hoot! Here’s a sneak peek at our fun.. New brides or soon to be brides - if you are interested in a fun session of destruction, let me know by visiting my web site . I actually have a couple extra dresses if you don’t have your own.
· 2:00pm - head down to the river for more of the “Rip It Up” session and a few shots of the bachelorette party hitting the river for a float trip. Not this gal, I had my camera and plans for later in the evening.
· 4:00pm – Down to Ketchum (this is where we camp) load up in the boat to get some on the water pictures of the gals.
· 4:15PM – BOAT IS DEAD!! Mom gets on the phone to call for help, Trent (soon to be groom) jumped onto our boat for some repairs, running again! Start it up and gets some air flowing. Finally back up the river. By this time it is over 100 degrees, get me back to the AC!
· 5:00pm – headed to the house to get ready for the races.
· 5:10 – passed a sign that said FREE JUNK! Of course I turned around. I was almost done loading my car when Rick pulled in. The first thing out of his mouth was, I knew when I saw the sign that you would be here. He loaded a few more things for me.
· 6:00 arrive at home in time to grab a sandwich clean up a bit the off to the races.
· 10:00pm – back at home, shower and hit the bed! I have to get up tomorrow and edit some pictures.

Sunday was not as bad. It was pretty much laid back, time in the pool and unload the car. Snap a picture for Jess to check out. I’ve been thinking of some crafty ideas to do with my “junk”. She has a great idea so I think for this I will steal her chalkboard idea. (sorry) Also wait to see what I have in store for the picture frames. You will be shocked. Martha look out here comes Tina !! Then I ended my day with a storm!

Until next time- stay cool!

Hey, hey, Bonnie

2009-08-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

How do ya like me now?

Everyone is probably wondering, what in the heck is she talking about? Well this lady at work Bonnie, aka stiletto lady, looked at my last post , told me she liked my shed but commented that the door needed to be painted black. So, I went home and touched it up, smiling the whole time. Now I have to paint the windows to match.☺ Bonnie, I think I should take some pictures of my house and get your suggestions, oh wait, your designer is your daughter Jess, hmmmm.

I ♥ FLOWERS

2009-08-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

Let's take a walk through my yard. ( thanks Bonnie for the post idea) All of these pictures are from my yard over the past couple weeks. Yes, I have a flower addiction ☺ Every time I bring in another Rick asks, where are you going to put that? Trust me I always find a spot. Here's my purdy blooms!

So have you had enough flowers yet? That's it for the back and front yard. I haven't taken all of them but you get the point of my title. I ♥ flowers!

Not much else going on here, breakfast this morning was yummy! We had a good old fashion high calorie, high fat content of orange rolls. Rick was busy hooking up the surround sound so I kept them warm with my Dining Stone . Then I kicked back with music and relaxation all day while Rick and our neighbor Eric worked or I should say tinkered in the shop. Rick is at it again. This time it's a Toyota land cruiser. He's playing chop it up and make it unique ☺. I will post a few of his pictures next week.

Until then, I wish you a great week!!

Change

2009-08-01T03:48:00.000-07:00

That's what Obama says, It's time for a change! Well I'm going to start up a new blog. If you are reading this either I sent you an email or you found me by a search from one of my tag words. I have thought about it and discussed it with a few people and need to keep my ever so personal stuff and photography business separate. I'm trying to get followers and not everyone wants to read about how Rick and I have spent our week and some people could care less about photography(shame on you :) I'm sure my family will be thrilled that I have another page to add to their favorites â˜º.My new blog will focus on my photography and ART web sites. Which will consist of my photo sessions with a few sneak peeks, my creative photo projects, back drops that I venture out to make or pick up at Hobby Lobby, impressive DIY ideas for photography, or maybe even a trick or trade that I learn online.I guess that's what it's really all about, a diary kinda thing so keeping it separate will be interesting!Ha, that brings back some memories. Did you ever have a diary? I used to write all kinds of silly things in mine. Do you remember the whole Dick Loves Jane 4-ever stuff and were you drew an eyeball + heart+ U? I DO!! Oh well not everyone grew up as cheesy as some of the things I did. OK, it's off to start up the new blog. If you want to follow my photography blog www.reflectedmemories.blogspot.com
add it to your favorites.

4 Pane Window Picture Frame DIY

2009-07-25T08:52:00.001-07:00

Here's one for the do-it-yourself-ers.

Woo-hoo for me. I have finally completed my project. I picked up this 4 pane window from a friends junk pile, took it to work for a couple guys to add an L shape for more accessories, added a little Cricut touch, door hardware and keys, walla! I decided since it has a vintage look why not add some of my favorite pictures. I chose an old grist mill, Dr.'s office, barn and house. Here's the final piece of art, what do ya think?

Up,Up, Away

2009-07-19T11:26:00.001-07:00

On the road again, or should I say in the air!!
Rick and I had a complete day away from the house on Saturday. We were up and out of here by 6:15am. First stop Fort Madison's Rodeo Park for to watch the hot air balloons launch. It was amazing at how fast the wind lifts them up. They were over the Mississippi in no time. Now we took our journey to davenport for lunch and to visit some friends. On the way Rick saw a sign for the Pine Creek Grist Mill, okay I'm game. So off the beaten path we go. I'm so glad he was in the mood for exploring. The place was fantastic. This would be a great location for Senior photography but I live too far away, dang!
It's time to eat, we've been going since 6:15 and it's now noon. We went on into Davenport and decided to eat at the Machine Shed . If you've never ate there and you live in the Midwest states you need to go! The food, atmosphere and prices are wonderful.

Now on to the "man" store - Harbor Freight. Now for some reason, I came out of there with allot more than Rick did. Oh well, gotta get those flower beds prettied up. I know now why they make a seasonal section, it's for the ladies!!

Next stop back to Fort Madison for the balloon glow. What a day this turned out to be. We arrived back home at 10:30, exhausted!

Enjoy the video! You can see the pictures full sized here here. I almost forgot to do a little bragging. I told you back in May that I won a photo contest for Access Energy again this year! One of my eagle pictures titled " Soaring In The Sky" will be posted on July for the 2010 calendar. I received a couple calendars the other day and love it! Also did I mention the number of views are increasing more and more each day on my web site. Thanks to everyone who shared the link.

Now I feel like a give away! Actually I will be doing a giveaway each month with a grand prize in December. How will we do this you may ask? I will be drawing a name from anyone who makes a comment on this post for a free framed 8 x 10 picture of your choice from my flickr uploads. The contest begins now and will end on July 31st. When making your comment please put your name, city, state and email address and I will contact you if you are the lucky one.

Have fun and good luck!

Mud & Smiles

2009-07-12T16:20:00.001-07:00

Today was the perfect day. A gentle breeze blowing and the sun was not beating down on us. To add to the list of good things, I had a beautiful model for todays shoot. Nicole was fun and very photogenic. I rented the costumes for a "heirloom"type session ( as I mentioned in my last post) It's not just an art store they have so much more. Check it out if you are in Burlington. The lady there was very helpful and talk about costumes, they have tons!

On to our session. Nicole and I had a great time and lots of laughs today. People in town were staring us down, but I guess we did look a little odd prancing around town with saloon girl type dress on. ( Nicole, you are a great sport!) Here are a few of the pictures, more can be seen on my web site !!! Yeah I have it all set up. Please leave me some feedback on the new site as well as this post. I'm trying to get my name out and your help is greatly appreciated. As always follwers always welcomed. I have been stuck on 4 forever. Now when I look at the blogs I follow, hummm, my list goes on and on, something is wrong with the picture here. Maybe I need to spike it up a little. What would you suggest I do to attract more followers and.or viewers? Let me know but submitting a comment at the end of this post.

Happy Birthday America

2009-07-05T06:10:00.001-07:00

I can say it sure has been a busy time for me. I'm working on my photography web site which I hope to have complete today or tomorrow. If I could stay out of Wal-Mart, stop lounging in the pool and working in the yard, I may get it finished. Oh well, it's that time of the year when outside is what I like!! How about you?
So I've been stalking birds again- I'm not sure what kind this is but I can say one thing, she's a mean one. I let her build her nest at my back door over the light. Well, I didn't actually let her, I knocked it down several times as she was building but within 2 hours of my back being turned, she had it complete. The reason was, she was ready to lay those eggs! Several of them I might add. Here's a shot of the babies. I hope I don't come outside one day and one has fallen out! Talk about ugly ducklings, these sure are some ugly babies! I took my camera and tripod to the garage to stand because when I approach her nest from the backdoor, she dive bombs me!
Fireworks in West Point! Rick and I drove up town this year to watch the fireworks and I got some pretty good shots.

The weather here has been a little crazy. Here Rick is battening down the hatches. Hot one day, cool the next and did I mention rain! I think we got 9" in the month of June alone. I hope July is not as bad. All the rain seems to make the grass and weeds come on a little stronger. The only thing I need the rain for is my "contest" corn. You know the old saying, "Knee high by the 4th of July." Well mine is but I bet I'm along way from winning the contest. You can read more about the contest HERE .
Now for a funny note- We went to Wal-mart ( I know stay away from there, right ) and I bought some Jiffy Pop popcorn. This way we could act like we were at the movies as well as reminisce about the good ole days. Anyway, Rick had to show me how to pop it. Now I know I'm getting old but come one, not being able to pop popcorn, geez!
OK back to the corn.I need some pointers on how to make it grow faster and taller. The corn behind me in the picture was planted later and is taller. HELP !!! If you have any ideas let me know by posting a comment. If I win, I will send you a really nice gift. How does $50.00 in pork products sound to you? The contest ends in October.

I have my heirloom photography session set up for July 12th. It's going to be a great shoot. I have contacted a costume shop so I will have some really nice outfits for my model to wear. Look for the fun and exciting post next week. I will also be posting the link for my web site.

Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails.....

2009-06-23T17:31:00.001-07:00

First I have to say so much for me playing “keep up”. Now it’s once again time for catch up!

Did the title get your curiosity going? Well.I did a photo shoot of with my great-nephews; yes that’s right great-nephews! They are so adorable! Let me introduce Bryson LeRoy Waterhouse.

He was born on June 6th at 11:59pm weighing in at 8lbs. 6oz, 21” long. What a bundle of joy. He was only 5 days old here so I’m thinking I have a cute little macho man to shoot for a longgggg time. My other hunk of joy is Chase, now he’s a smart kid, in order for me to get him to smile and pose for me, I had to bribe him. (what kid can’t be bought out with ice cream!) We had a great time shooting here are some of the shots I captured.

Now moving along with photo shoots and models, I have 2 gals that are willing to model for me for some fun shoots. One gal I work with but only for a short time then she will be leaving the firm. We are going to do a heirloom, Southern Belle, fun type of shoot with costumes and all!! Stay tuned for that it will be a blast! The other gal will be participating in a Urban style shooting, once again stay tuned for what I believe will be 2 great sessions!

So back at the beginning of Spring I found this chair sitting on the side of the road screaming out my name. I stopped loaded it up and walla- a prop! Since my 365 has been kind of slacking with self portraits I thought I would come up with something different and use the chair. This involved getting "cow-girled up" in the 90 degree heat!, then carrying this monster of a chair to the field. Whew, I did it! Then I plopped down and snap, another self portrait out of the way.

Whaddya think? That’s it for this post, I hope you have a great day! Next post - we had a picnic at the home of one of the men that works for me ! I will get that posted tomorrow....I PROMISE !

Character
Your true character is revealed by the clarity of your convictions.
Hold strongly to your principles and refuse to follow the currents of convenience.

New & Exciting !!!

2009-06-06T08:12:00.001-07:00

ALL THINGS ITALIAN
ART WALK
FAIRFIELD,IOWA
JUNE, 6 2009

Rick’s on a hunting trip in Colorado so I thought why not hang out with some friends after work. I was so excited to be going to my first ever Art Walk in Fairfield. A little background info on Art Walk -

Fairfield 1st Fridays Art Walk started five years ago as a way for people to discover local artists’ hidden “treasures”. Since then, area residents have gathered on the first Friday evening of each month to learn, appreciate, enjoy, socialize and shop together on the Fairfield Square. As the word has spread, the crowds have grown. During each summer month this year, over 2,500 people sampled new foods, listened and danced to new sounds and participated in a variety of activities. With culturally diverse themes ranging from “All Things Italian” to the “Bark in the Park”, Fairfield put together three summer festivals which also gave visitors an opportunity to interact with Fairfield’s growing artistic community.
To make sure this monthly signature event remains an important part Fairfield’s economic community throughout the entire year, the newly revitalized Board of Directors is finding new ways to contribute to the success of the art galleries, vendors and downtown shops while attracting participation from the entire Fairfield community and surrounding areas.
With their continued growth has come a desire from the Fairfield business community to get involved and help make the Fairfield 1st Fridays Art Walk an even greater success. With advice from top business leaders, a new Art Walk corporate sponsorship program has become available. Now the opportunity exists for a company to financially sponsor a specific Art Walk, but also its employees to volunteer to help coordinate the implementation for that event as part of their service and civic engagement.
“We are so thrilled so many businesses want to be a part of this wonderful monthly Fairfield celebration.” says Janet Joyce, the new President of the Fairfield 1st Fridays Art Walk Board.
If you have questions about how you can be a part of what’s happening at the Fairfield 1st Fridays Art Walk, contact us at our new offices at 109 E Burlington (just off the East side of the square) or call us at 641-233-8883.
This article was taken from http://fairfieldartwalk.org/ please read more.

SO last night was All Things Italian – WOW, first I need to say oops to Weight Watchers. I love Italian food and it was everywhere !!! The lasagna was sooooo good ! I did try a canoli and anise cookies but wasn't crazy about either. Entertainment everywhere as well as tons of camera shooting the event. They have a photography contest that pays over $200 in cash prizes. I have to say if you have never been to Art Walk in Fairfield and live close enough to go, take the time and do it !!! You will not be disappointed.

Vacation Time!!!!

2009-06-06T07:45:00.001-07:00

Rick and I took off for our yearly vacation back home to Tennessee ! Y’all know that’s where I’m from right? The place that we use buggies at Wal-Mart, wear toboggans in the winter instead of a stocking hat and have no clue on directions that say go North 2 miles then turn West, heck tell us to go to the big Oak tree and turn right then at the pond go left , we'll find you'ens then !!

We had a blast! Visited a friend on the way in Indiana, stayed at my dads, went to the zoo in Knoxville, went to Paint Creek in the Cherokee National Forest, ( so Rick could get in a little trout fishing ) went to a HUGE flea market (Lana you would have loved it, lots of antiques) and stopped at Cumberland Falls in Kentucky on the way back. While at the zoo dad was buzzing along on his scooter while Kassidi set back for the ride in the stroller. I’m thinking about getting me one of those segways that way I can save the soles of my shoes!! We did get to see a lot of animals but about all of the big cats were sleeping so no good shots of them. I think we got the best shot on the ride through Paint Creek. A timber rattlesnake!!!!! Yikes, I was not going to walk around in the woods after seeing that monster. The bad or I should say STUPID thing about this was that there were a couple teenagers poking around at it with a stick !! Can you say moroooooon!! I too would have liked to had the rattlers but no way would I have poked it with a stick, I would have backed up and tire mashed that sucker, over and over again !

I did get to see most of my family but no time for friends on this trip we stayed pretty busy.

Dad has made some Dulcimers and is learning to play. So what did I do, got back home, signed into EBay, and bought one! Dang it dad, my trip cost me extra money! I think hobbies are hereditary. I may post some videos of me trying it out when I get a little better than dad, gotta try to out do him right? You can see some of dad playing if you go here - www.youtube.com/harleypass

My nephew Eli rode back with us to stay for a couple months, we didn’t talk much since he IS the quietest 13 year old I have ever seen. We did stop in Kentucky at Cumberland Falls, just outside of Corbin. They call this “Little Niagara” , it was very nice. During a full moon this is the only place in the Western Hemisphere that puts off a moonbow, interesting. I did get a nice shot of the rainbow.

Well we get back home and it’s welcome to the real world – cook, clean, laundry and mow the yard or should I say the hay field !! Now I’m working on getting the pool ready so I can kick back and enjoy. If only I didn’t have pool guests all night!!

Maryann we are coming to see you next!!

Barges for Julie

2009-06-06T07:19:00.001-07:00

Time for some catch up ! I will be posting all weekend to get you caught up on what’s going on. This post will feature the winner of the Canna bulbs & flower seeds.

Julie Weidner was the lucky one and now it’s up to me to blog about barges on the Mississippi. Let’s see where do I start…….

The barges do amaze me with their size and what they accomplish. When Rick and I go over to Illinois via Fort Madison, Iowa we have had to stop on the drawbridge a few times for the barge to go under. That’s an eerie feeling. I myself have seen a couple situations in Fort Madison on the great muddy Mississippi. A barge was stuck after a bridge collapsed during heavy rains last year. We were there to get a shot ! BUT we couldn't get to close due to the rising waters. Then one day while visiting the Old Fort in Fort Madison I saw a barge being pumped out after taking on to much water.

I have copied a section from an article I found on the web so you can get a better idea and learn of an upcoming travel experience.

Barges are a common site on the Mississippi River were fleet of barges are seen carrying perishable and non-perishable goods. Barges are seen floating on the river carrying various types of goods from one port to another, making the river strategically very important. May it be middle Mississippi river, upper or lower, the barges are seen carrying loads of goods. Apart from using it for transportation purpose people have come up with more novel ideas, in the form of Barge Cruise.
The river barge definitely sounds unusual and very few are available for service. Those who provide this have turned their barge into a small floating hotel with open lobby, dining space, indoor viewing areas, library, office, guest quarters equipped with bath plus shower, music system & television. The Mississippi Barges are soon gaining popularity for its unique experience, similar to being on a cruise. Boy wouldn’t this be exciting especially more up North.

OK, I’m not sure what else I can say since I’m not originally from the area and didn’t grow up on the Mississippi.

OK Julie, I hope you enjoy your flowers. You have now got my curiosity up more about barges so I think this summer I'm going to see if I can go to Ft. Madison and get on one, who knows maybe they will give me a little tour and tell me more. If so I will definitely post about it then.

Birds, birds, birds !

2009-05-16T06:45:00.001-07:00

Wake up and get your cup of java- I want to talk birds today !

Wow my yard has became a bird sanctuary !! I have all different kinds this year, some I have no clue what they are. BUT I have got the meanest blackbirds ever !! I have asked Rick to set outside with the BB gun and fire away. ( maybe I'll post that next week as well as my scavenger hunt topic ) They have started tormenting my bluebirds.

I definitely don't want to scare the little blues away. They don't bother a thing. maybe I need to keep my suet feeders full on the other side of our property and that will keep them away. So I feed at least one suet block a week ! Yep, a week. Many thanks to my HUGE red-headed woodpecker. As many of you know when my suet feeder is empty he hangs out at the hummingbird feeder.

Anyway, I decided to make homemade suet. Man did I have a mess in the kitchen and when I washed up the dishes, I like to have never got rid of all that bacon grease ! Recipe follows for homemade suet.

I’m including this recipe from the 10,000 Birds blog. It’s perfect for making cake sized batches that fit nicely in those square suet feeders.
Homemade Peanut Butter Suet
Melt 1 cup shortening (Crisco or bacon fat). Add 16-20 ounces of crunchy peanut butter. Heat and stir until melted.
Add 1 cup of raisins, 1 cup of black oil sunflower seeds, 6 cups of cornmeal and 4 cups of flour.
Spoon into a 13X9 pan. Chill until it is hard. Cut into chunks for suet feeders (or stuff into cracks and crevices in logs).

The birds are going nuts over this suet, who knew it would be such a hit. Bam ! just started saving $5.00 a month.

My flower give-away is approaching and I only have 4 entries, what are ya' waiting for ? I will be drawing on Wednesday the 20th. I picked up the packet of flower seeds, oh wow are you goin' love them. Sorry can't tell you what they are it's a surprise. Some of the entries so far are - iris' ( old-timey ones) , barges on the Mississippi ( this would be fun ! ) blooming apple trees ( a little late for that here Maryann - this ain't NY, we are ahead of you in seasons ) Get some more good ideas in there the clock is ticking !

We are getting ready to go on vacation so a lot of work to be done around home first. Y'all know how that goes. Mow the grass, pull weeds, clean up the house really good, water indoor plants, etc. Well I decided to tackle another major project- clean the attic. After 30 trips up and down the stairs and 15 bags of un-used stuff went to the garage I am ready for a vacation. I had went to tan before my days activity and the lady there said maybe you'll find a treasure and I did $7.00 in a pair of shirts from last year. (tip for the pizza man !! )

This has to be a short post for the day 'cause I'm headed to Nauvoo for some picture takin', who knows as I cross the Mississippi I may see some barges ! ( thanks Julie for the idea, love it )

Oh yeah, I alomst forgot - I won in the Access Energy calendar again !! One of my Eagle pictures will be posted in July !! Yay me, 50 bucks is a nice addition to the vacation funds !

Buzzing About Today

2009-05-09T04:50:00.001-07:00

I'm giving flowers away ( details in the end of this blog ) !!

This was surely a busy weekend, birthday, yard sale, baby shower , crafting, shopping, and bee keeper !!

Let's start with the bee-keeping. Last Friday was exciting for Rick and I'm sure somewhat nerve-racking. He helped a friend of his move bee hives to pollinate an apple orchard. They had to do this real early in the morning while the bees were asleep. Oh my, Rick's alarm went off ( on his day off ) and up out of the bed he popped ! Now if you know Rick, he's not a morning person. He was off to Dave's to start "buzzing' for the day. While I was finishing up getting ready to go to work my cell phone started ringing. All I could think was who is texting me at 5:30 AM. It was a message from Rick, a picture of him all suited up with a thumbs up signal. He was ready to go !
When I got home he told me all about it. He said he knows why you have to move them early because once the sun rose they were swarming all around, including trying to get to his face. Luckily he was completely covered.

My Cricut came so I've been experimenting !! My first project is going to be my picture frame window. I had ordered the lettering from Uppercase Living BUT it was huge - so I will utilize that somewhere else. Maybe my bedroom wall under vacationing pictures, uh good idea !

This thing can do so much. I will post pictures next week of the projects I've done.
Since I'm on the crafting subject I think I'm going to clean out the attic and see what I can find up there. I know I have an old screen door that could be of some use somewhere. Thanks to Jessica for some great ideas, but I don't have a pantry. I just have to find a use for it! Does anybody have an ideas ?
For my birthday Rick and I went to the casino and shopping. Needless to say both broke me! Thank goodness we only go to the casino a couple times a year. I asked Rick to get me fence panels for my birthday and that is what he did, now we just have to get them up. I called 811 to see where I can and can NOT dig. I'm going to put them on one side around my pool. This will keep the peepers going up the road from seeing me when I'm lounging :) Plus it will work for a nice backdrop for pictures. I'm going to be adding some flowers on the inside and will get pictures up as soon as I'm done. I'm ready to open the pool !!

I cleaned out my little water garden pond

and disposed of a dead mouse, one mole and a ton of worms !! What's up with that, did they think it was the burial grounds ? YUCK !! And to think I'm making 2 more water features in my yard. One of them is going to be really cool. It consists of several wine bottles with the dimples in the bottom. So come on people drink that wine and pass the bottle on. Here's a start of the project, as you can see I've hit some roots !

A completed picture will be blogged next week. See this is what happens when Rick has to go to Farm King every time we are in Burlington. He goes to the hunting section and I head towards the garden stuff and they have great project books !!
My yard is starting to look more beautiful each day. I can't wait till the flowers start popping and I have fresh bouquets on the table each week. We are going to til up a small garden spot to plant some corn. I have to grow it tall because I'm entering a contest. If you are from Iowa and have not subscribed to the magazine "Our Iowa" , you need to do that now ! They are having a contest and IF you can grow the tallest corn ( they provide the seeds ) you can win - $200 of pork, $200 of beef and a $100 gas card. Yeah Iowa !! This corn is a tropical type imported in and can reach 15-16 feet tall and with the help from the neighbors cattle maybe taller ( I hope ) !! Oh yes, pictures will be posted monthly.
The 365 project is coming along good. I do find it hard some days to think of what I can take a picture of then a bird seems to land somewhere close, snap ! Picture for the day. I do need to get more creative so look out for some self portraits coming soon. I think I will go a little wild with editing too, like this couple. If anyone has any ides let me know.
I have noticed that people give freebies as a way to draw to their blog. Well, I've decided to do the same. I want to go on a scavenger hunt and you can be the guide ! Here's what you need to do- since the flowers are headed in full force now, I will be giving away 5 red Canna roots, these can be planted now and are absolutely gorgeous when they bloom PLUS you will get a packet of flower seeds of my choice ( surprise). Now 5 Canna's don't sound like much but at the end of the season ( if you're in a cold climate like me ) and you dig these up, you will have 15-25 for next year, so let's get started. To be qualified to win all you need to do is comment on this post,one per person. In the comment tell me something you would like to see blogged about. I want a challenge SO, I'm going to look for it ( within reason) take a picture and blog next week about your topic. Now this could be anything from a Golden Finch, red-headed woodpecker, blooming trees, old barn, windmill,river,waterfall, whatever !!! Send me on a mission !! I will pick a winner at 5:00 am ( CST) May 20th and mail out your prize that day. To comment - all you do is click the word comment and type away. If you don't have a google or blogger account you can check anonymous but remember to sign your name. I will need your mailing address so please send that to randt@iowatelecom.net and put scavenger hunt in the subject so I can watch my spam box.
Thanks and good luck !!

You ain't gonna' believe this !

2009-04-27T17:03:00.001-07:00

An update on my crafty projects - Picture frame - It's coming along good.. I've got the doorknob and had a piece of wood added to my existing 4 pane window. I sanded, painted and applied crackle to it. Today I dropped it off at the glass shop to get the panes put back in. When my vinyl lettering get here, I will be almost done. (BTW, Lana, I ordered a cricut !! ) All I need to do now is find a really cool abandoned home to take a picture of for all four seasons. Yarn thingy - As you know I packed it up and sent it to mom. It was making me say bad words - really bad words. I should have just spent the money and bought one ! But noooooo, I had to save for vacation to Tennessee !! So mom emailed me some pictures of the finished product - here it is. Not too bad, huh?

Rick and I have had a busy week and weekend. It's been raining so much here that it's made it easy to pull the weeds and of course rain makes the grass grow !! So I get to mow the yard. Rick got me all ready with the mower washed it, changed the oil and sharpened the blades so to the yard I go ! I don't like it when he mows, he seems to chop off flowers AND blow grass on the ones he don't chop ! Men !! ☺(giggles) So I'm mowing along and thought I saw a worm wiggling on the grass, nope, it was a darn snake. I HATE SNAKES ! But I had managed to almost cut him in half without even noticing. So what did I do you ask, I backed up and proceeded forward slowly , until the tire was right on top of it. Then I turned the wheel about 20 times. He's a goner, almost. I hurried up to go to the shop , on the mower might I add, and get Rick. I asked him to pick it up and lay it in the shop on the floor. WHAT ?! He thought I was nuts, OK he knows I'm nuts. I told him it was perfect for my 365 for the day ! I took it ( mom don't look) she hates snakes ! I already got yelled at by her 'cause she seen it on my flickr. Did I mention I HATE SNAKES !! I know it's small but it doesn't matter, it's wiggly !

A few days later I went stalking my bluebirds. They found their house and have set up a life there. I had seen them flying in and out and I wanted to get closer. Peep, I was being watched. I better leave them alone for a while and wait on the babies to come crawling out. I'm a bird watcher, I'm a bird watcher, watching birds fly by...oh yeah ! My lyrics to "I'm a girl watcher" (giggles) Now for my favorite birdies of all - the hummingbirds, they're back !! I took this through the screen so it's not a great shot but I didn't want to spook him away just yet. He has to get used to me ya know.

I want to be able to have the hummers sit on my hands and eat. I have seen it in magazines so I'm going to sit out in front of my house with the tripod set up waiting. I will wear a red shirt to draw them close. I'll post for sure if they come to me.

Enough already on the birds right, let's go to Missouri. On Saturday we went to an auction in Farmington, Iowa. A friend of ours and his dad run Fett Auction and they are always filling Rick in on some of the items. This particular one was a canoe. Rick told me about it but he did say it had a hole in it. Now why would anyone want to buy a canoe with a hole in it. Were they gonna sell a bucket with it to? Well Rick the fixer-upper said he could patch it and probably get it cheap. WRONG - the holey bottom canoe ended up selling for $180.00 !!! Geez people come on, let us get something cheap in this world. We only spent 6 bucks at the sell, Rick got a cooler and I got a book. Bummer ! I bet I said a hundred times, "look at all this junk ! " We decided to head to Missouri now and get some smokes. With camera in hand scouting out the ride I was able to get a shot of a fly passing us by. Just kidding ! Rick said we would stop at a couple places on the way back through. I think he said this because I was going ohhh look at that old house,

can we stop ?

Ohh look at the neat barn,

can we stop ? Then we get to the store and he said ohhh, get your camera you ain't gonna' believe this ! I turned around behind us was a car was. OK I thought, then I saw it, a buggy and an Amish lady !! Oh yeah, I was in business, Amish people at the car wash !! I figured they would hand wash their buggies ? The horse was tied up out back so I didn't get a shot of that.

This was worth the trip. I need to get out more huh ? Something about the Amish interests me. I wish I could spend a day with one of the families and learn about them. It would be even more great if they would let me take some pictures !

Well' enough blabbing today. I have to get off here and gather up yard sale stuff. Next weekend is going to be another busy one. I'm going out to supper and the casino for my birthday on Friday, yard sale on Saturday and my nieces baby shower on Sunday. That should make an interesting post. BUT before the shower I'm going to get some baby bump shots ! I can't wait.

More shots and interesting stories soon !!!! Be sure to comment and let me know what you want to hear about.

Hunting, Fishing & Crafting

2009-04-19T04:04:00.001-07:00

I know you are thinking wow, 2 posts in one day. I'm playing the catch up game so here it is. I have a lot to cover in this one. Did the title get your attention ?

Rick was going turkey hunting and asked did I want to go along to see if I could get a tom all fanned out, with a camera that is. He took the bow ☺. First off let me say that the 2 man blinds are exactly that. No room for a chair, bow or any other thing you may want to take along. Rick and I were crammed in that thing, sitting on these little 3 legged stools, that he uses for fishing. It was like riding a banana seat bicycle all over again. Needless to say I was getting a little numb in the bum! Now we finally get all situated, the sun is just starting to come up and Rick start calling in the turkeys. Annoying sounds were coming from our blind but then in the near distance I hear gobble,gobble gobble. Well, they don;t really sound like that but you get the picture. It was like turkey Heaven ! Sounds coming from all around, tons of turkeys both toms & hens. Now we wait, uh here comes one, Rick is getting a little nervous cause he is about to kill something. The tom comes to within 30 yards of us but Rick doesn't have a good shot cause the smart tom is standing behind trees. I can see he is all fanned out but I can't move ! What !!! I came along to take a picture and now I can't move !! Rick said that turkeys have really good eye sight and the least move will scare him away. Oh well, I watch and that I mean watch the tom walk away. After he was out of sight Rick and I discussed that if he did have a shot, he had no room to pull back the bow ! So I think we need to get a blind each and he will have plenty of room for the shot and I can have room for a comfy chair, coffee, and my camera bag !

Hunting's over now we decide to go fishing. It's cloudy and the rain isn't far away, perfect time for the scaly things to be bitin' !

It was like the turkey scenario - but with fish. It was fish Heaven !! My arm was getting tired from reeling. We caught bass, bluegill and crappie !! Dad & Uncle Allen , tell the Tennessee trout to look out we are coming soon ! Supper tomorrow will be.....FISH !

Crafting - well many of you know I'm some what of a crafter, or at least I think so. I saw these Fringies for sell on Etsy and thought I could just make one myself and save the money. (Thanks for the economy situation Obama) So I got on EBay and found some yarn that will work. I bought it, it came and I got started. Now I failed to mention that I have no pattern to go by, only a picture. So I began cutting yarn, drug out the sewing machine and proceeded to sew the yarn to a pillowcase. I'm not that good at sewing, in fact Rick got me the sewing machine for Christmas ( cause I wanted one ) and I don't have the patience for the friggin' thing. My bobbin ran out and I fought with the darn sewing machine for almost an hour before packing everything up in a basket and sending it off to mom. Gotta love moms, they can do anything !! Thanks mom !!!! If mom can't make it look good - I will spend the money and get one.

Now for a shot not related to this post. The Magnolias are blooming everywhere. I took this shot in Crapo Park in Burlington,Iowa. Ah, the fragrance and beauty of Spring. Have a great day !

Easter ( late post but I did it )

2009-04-19T03:42:00.001-07:00

I have been super busy with my yard, work and of course the dreaded housework lately! Finally I have a minute of down time and am going to get caught up on my posts. Here are a few shots and a short post from Easter at mom's.

A little quiet time while the kids are out enjoying the sunshine and hiding Easter eggs.

Gina made these beautiful cupcakes all by herself. Kim's daughter loved the cupcakes that Gina made. The icing did come off but a little bit of purple stain didn't.
The hunt ! Maggie ( in red) won with the most found. She was like a fart in a whirlwind ( Granny's saying) I think next year she will graduate to the bigger kids hunt. Mom always splits the kids up by age to make it more fun. It was a hoot to watch them run out the door.

Hunter was telling me here that he wanted to eat the candy inside the egg. He didn't care how many he had found. I convinced him to wait and get busy looking for more then he would have all kinds of candy ! He agreed and started looking again.

Busy weekend

2009-04-06T15:45:00.001-07:00

What a weekend this was.

Gina & Louie and Rick & I went to Madison, Wisconsin for a deer/turkey expo at the Alliant Energy Center. This is the guys trip so they made all the arrangements, well except for reserving the rooms !

We took off Thursday evening after work with a "go with the flow" plan for Thursday night since we only made reservations for Saturday & Sunday. We got to Dubuque and decided to eat. So we grab the GPS'S yes that's correct we had ours and Gina brought theirs ( to see which one was more accurate ) really now, they are going to be the same or at least pretty darn close. So back to the journey, we typed in restaurants, wanting steak we typed in steak. Now we are riding around the not so safe streets of Dubuque looking for all we found on the GPS. We were going further & further away from town and it was looking a little creepy, were their drug runners there, a street of convicts, who know, let's get the heck back on the road. We drove on to Platteville before finally pulling over. Now we have sat in the car for a little over 3 hours and I have to stretch and am really getting hungry. By this time it is about 9, time to look for a room and get some rest. Yeah , right rest with the guys ! Are you nuts !! We ate supper, got a room to split for the night ( save more, spend more shopping ) and I was out. By the way this is the first night since surgery that I slept in a bed ! Oh my did I do a lot of tossing & turning.

Got up Friday morning, with the phone ringing, it was Trent, Gina & Louie future son-in-law. Calling to see where to put the key, OMG he was coming up later tonight why not wait. This phone call already had Louie & Rick planning how to get him back for this. He's in trouble !

Back to the story- we were leaving the hotel when we noticed a swan nesting so here I go, out with the camera to get some pictures. I looked back , the guys were saying go closer ( while they were laughing and holding Gina's camera) so I thought I was close enough. I snapped a few shots and turned around before I got attacked by a hiding male swan ! On to breakfast ( which I chose healthy ) then hit the road. It is Madison or bust. We got there, went to the room, then headed out to get some snacks and beer. We went to Sam's Club and that is when the Weight Watchers thing slipped right out of my mind. Have you ever been to a Sam's ? They are cooking up something in every corner and they had the BEST cheesecake ever ! Seriously now it was tasty ! We went back to the room, put away groceries then headed down to the show. They guys were in awe, this was a lot bigger than the Des Moines show that we always go to. We walked around for about 4 hours looking at everything and I mean everything. Oh yeah I forgot to mention they have snacks there to. Another strike on the weight watchers plan. Have you ever seen the commercial about WW - the little orange monster looking thing, well I think that creature was with me all weekend. Ok, back on track, are you bored yet ? Well it gets better so stick around. Take a bathroom break and hurry back……..ok here we go. We go back to the hotel for happy hour. Yep, from 5:30-7 it's free beer, wine and snacks. MORE things I shouldn't have !! Oh well, this is a special occasion right ? After that the guys took off to go back to the show and Gina and I made a beeline for the room. We are staying across from each other so it was pretty neat to just cross the hall for a visit. I made about 5 trips over to her room as we were trying to figure out what we were doing for supper. Remember we had snacked all day and bought lunch meat but that didn't even sound good so we ordered pizza ! Man am I going to pay on Thursday when I have to weigh in ! The guys came back we ate then we went across the hall to play LCR

I bought it on Ebay for 6 bucks. ( had to throw in the word bucks, since we are at a deer show for this ) Needless to say I lost several bucks ! And so did Rick as he was using my bucks too !! Bedtime - nite see ya in the morning!

Saturday - time to get up and go down for breakfast. Trent & Megan had got there around 11 or 12 so they were still a little pooped, not to mention that they were woke up by the alarm going off at 4:30 AM. Remember me telling you that Trent had called our room at 6:30, this was his payback. Rick & Louie set the alarm !! We ate, they the guys went to the show and us gals went shopping. But first I wanted to go to the zoo although Gina wasn't that interested in going there, she ended up having a pretty good time. I think that she snapped as many (if not more) pictures than I did ! We hit the mall and was wore out by the time we got back to the room. ( yes I'm getting tired of typing so here's were it gets shorter ) Got back, got ready for happy hour, met up with my Aunt Sue & cousins with their girlfriends and drank some more. We all went to eat supper, minus Aunt Sue she was not feeling well so she headed home. We took 2 cars to meet up at the Avenue Bar & Grill for supper. We are finally going to get that steak that we wanted in Dubuque. Supper was great but the service, not so much ! I think the waitress felt the tension :) she apologized about 4 times for the confusion. Oh well , we won't be back anyway. Trent was chased down in the parking lot for leaving the wrong end of the receipt on the table, he accidently picked up the signed copy. Now back to the hotel for some more LCR playing. I want to try to win back my bucks ! On the way back we drove around Madison with our tour guide Tina ( Jeff's GF) we were actually looking for somewhere to buy beer. In Madison they don't sell it after (:00 and it was almost 10. We found a place and was back on track. Got back to the hotel played LCR and yes I won some of my bucks back ! Whew, I'm really tired. Nite, it's off to bed.

Got up Sunday, ate breakfast, drove towards home, stopped at Dick's Sporting Good and Harbor Freight ( it was the guys weekend ya know ) then off to moms to drop off Gina & Louie. I'm exhausted and had to get home to do laundry and get my pictures uploaded to Flickr.

That was a good weekend and a nice trip out of town. Next weekend it's a family thing with Easter, egg hunt and more eating. This time I will do much better !!

I bet I walked 50 miles.

My Ebay purchase came so I will get that picture frame done soon and post a picture if it. I will leave you with a nice little quote that hits home since I did just eat all weekend.

Focus - Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.

Happy Monday everyone !!

What the heck happened to Spring !

2009-03-29T05:05:00.001-07:00

Well so much for my last post - Spring has sprung ! We now have snow. I guess it is Iowa and the weather here is very unpredictable. When I retire I want to be a "snow bird" you know people that go South for the winter.

I sat here yesterday and watched all the bird activity in my yard. I think they knew a winter storm was approaching. I had bluebirds, chickadees,robins,meadowlarks,cardinals,nuthatches and of course the over populated sparrows all trying to eat from the same feeder. My camera was snappin' like crazy! Here's a collage of some of the shots.

Updates on us - this will be the last on the shoulder. It's going pretty good. I have started strengthening it now- I tell you what 10 # feels like 50 , whew those gals really work me over. Most of the motion is back, I can raise it good but still having a little problem getting it behind my back. I asked the Dr. how much more therapy and he said they would kick me out when they see the progress had ended. I asked the PT's and they told me about another month would probably get it. Good - those visits are very expensive, thank God I have insurance !
Rick got back from Reno on Monday. He was there for work for a week setting up and tearing down fireplaces at a home show. I can tell, the laundry has reached the ceiling again (giggles) He took some great pictures for me, see. Oh yeah , the grill picture is for you mom :)

Now I want to go !
I have started following this blog. A lady I work with was telling me about her daughter and how she had started this plus how interesting it was. You should check it out if you are at all into crafty or fashionable new things ! It's great. Keep up the good work Jess.

Speaking of crafty. I'm getting ready to make a picture frame from a 4 pane window. Hey
Lana here's one for you as well.
I have all the stuff gathered up, just waiting on a warm day to paint it outside. Here's a picture of it -

I saw it in a Signature Homestyles catalog for 48.95. I thought it looked easy enough to make. I'm going to add my studio name to the bottom as shown in this picture. This will be ordered from my Uppercase Living book party
I just love that stuff, and you can customize anything you want !

Well it's time to jump in the shower and head to the grocery store. Fun, fun ! I will leave you with a quote.

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." ~Albert Einstein

Enjoy life ! Get out and do something fun, adventurous, exciting, make it the best day everyday !

Spring has sprung !

2009-03-22T04:59:00.001-07:00

Well so much for me staying on top of this blog ! I'm not going to post all of my 365 pictures here. They are on my slide that I have posted to the right. If you click on it you will be re-directed to my flickr site and can see them all plus more there.
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First I want to say hi Chris ! I'm so glad you have a computer at home now. We miss you at work ! Chris was one of the great receptionist where I work. She retired and is greatly missed. I loved all our funny stories we used to share. It's just not the same without you, know what I mean. (wink-wink ) ____________________________________________________________________
Today is a new day, my flowers are starting to pop up and the grass is turning green, hallelujah ! I love the Spring it seems to refresh our spirits and get us out of the gloomy stage that winter put us in. I have seen bluebirds, robins, red-winged black birds and lots of grackles. A sure sign that Spring is here. I bought a bluebird feeder now I have to get some bluebird houses made so I can keep the beauty in my yard.

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Updates on me - shoulder is coming along good. I can lift my arm all the way up and out but I'm still having trouble getting it to touch my back with a twist in it :) Women you know we need this motion ! Think about it. OK now you can stop trying this and read on. My Dr. let me take a picture of my x-ray. Yeah it's kinda weird looking at the anchors in my arm but what about that zipper. Do you remember when your parents told you to" zip it !" I'm still laughing when I look at this. I had a shirt on that zipped and the technician told me to zip it all the way up so it wouldn't mess up the x-ray. Well there it is, looks like I have a zippered neck.
___________________________________________________________________ I joined back at Weight Watchers and have lost 9.8 # these past 3 weeks. Wow, it is hard to stay focused on the weekends. Any tips ? I have started a walk at lunch date with a good friend every Tuesday. That's a start i guess ! Also my former supervisor Deb and I have set up a lunch date once a month for catch up ! We chose Chinese last month and believe it or not I chose healthy !! Deb is a great motivator, she is always telling me I'm doing great and have got such ambition ! Thanks Deb , that means a lot. Oh yeah did I mention she is an entrepreneur ! She designed and invented dining stones. They come in different color and stone choices. Here's an example of the blackberry color. They are great !! check them out here. http://www.diningstones.com/about.html If you order tell her you heard about it on my blog !
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Rick has been out of town for a week. This has given me a break from housework & cooking. I literally come home from work , eat a bowl of Special K or salad, do a little yard work , then curl up on the couch. I have only had to do one load of laundry ! Woo-hoo, I was needing a little R & R. But I do miss him when he's gone. He's in Reno for work and I'm sure some play. He calls every night telling me how much he won or lost at the casino. He said he has some really good pictures for me , I can't wait to see them but then again , it will probably mean that once I do , he will have to take me out there !
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We're going to be going to the Turkey & Deer Expo in Wisconsin next month and also get a visit in with my Aunt Sue and my cousins. That should be a lot of fun and a great time for some pictures !
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Speaking of visiting family members. I will be going back to Tennessee in May to see my family there. My dad has almost finished making me a boat for my prop collection. It will go along with this set up. I have been buying all kinds of goodies lately. I have got to stay out of Hobby Lobby ! Bunnies, greenery, a mirrored sheet of plexiglass and much more. Now all I need is a kid to put in the boat with a fishing pole and I'm all set ! Rick and I built a dock from an old pallet. To buy the boat and dock form a prop dealer or even EBay was going to cost over $400.00 yep, that's not a typo !

I've worked on a couple more self portraits that's actually more fun than serious. I'm very inspired by this couple. ( http://nacedesign.com/blog/ )

Dreams Come True One Step At a Time

When going through life and traveling in the direction of your dreams, the best way to get ahead is the simplest way: Take it one step at a time. Don't look over your shoulder; if you do, you'll feel the weight of all your yesterdays upon you. And don't worry about what lies ahead. By the time you get to the bend in the road or the crest of the hill, you're going to be better and stronger than you ever were before. Just go a step at a time, one day at a time. And you'll find a rich, thankful life you never thought you could afford. ~A. Rogers

Catch Up Day

2009-02-21T09:26:00.001-08:00

It is definitely time for me to sit down and do a little catch up.

I'm back to work and loving ever minute of it ....yeah right. I am glad to be back in interaction with people. Sitting at home for 2 months was really making me go nuts. My shoulder is healing well and still the therapy is a little tough. I can at least get fully dressed alone, eat with my right hand and almost use the curling iron again ! BUT the most important thing is I can get my camera up to my eye with both hands now. It did look a bit challenging using only my left hand to take pictures.

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I took an adventure after my Dr.'s appointment on Friday. Vern (from work) has been telling me about this covered bridge not far from Burlington. It's in the town of Oquawka ( Gladstone township) SO I decided it was time to go on a road trip. I goggled it to get the coordinates and plugged that into my Garmin and away I went. It amazes me how accurate that little piece of technology is. I will take a trip back here in the Spring and Fall as I'm sure it will be more beautiful then. For now this is what you get.

This is looking into the bridge. Ah the first thing I saw was the writing, I can't believe that people destroy historical sites by writing graffiti ! The sign at the top of the bridge was funny to me but you know back in the day a $5.00 fine was a weeks worth of work.
Historical Henderson County Bridge. If you research this you will find it has the names of Allaman and Eames. I pulled this from the Quill Newspaper archives. It is long but worth the read to get to know a little history of the bridge.

The Allaman Bridge
John Allaman's great grandfather Jacob Allaman, moved here at age 46, from Thompsontown, Pennsylvania in 1857.
The railroad went from Pennsylvania to Gladstone which back then was called "Sagetown." Many traveled looking for new opportunity, as there was a recession in Pennsylvania.
Jacob heard that some people had moved here and reported back of the cheap land, and good crops. So, Jacob being a farmer, a bridge builder and a carpenter, packed up his bags, his wife Sarah, and their several children and came.
With him, he brought the tools and patterns to build what was and is, after its second construction, known as the Henderson Covered Bridge.
Jacob had built at least three other covered bridges in Pennsylvania.
The story of the well-known "Allaman" or Henderson Covered Bridge, John Allaman knows well. It's a cherished story he doesn't mind retelling.
The first bridge over Henderson Creek, between Gladstone and Oquawka, had been demolished when a storm washed it out. It was the only means of travel from Gladstone to Oquawka.
The Henderson County Board asked for bids for a covered bridge, because they last a lot longer so joints and the wood didn't rot from the rain.
Jacob was the successful bidder and he built the bridge work in 1866. Oquawka had a big sawmill and the pine logs used for the main beams, came from Minnesota.
They were cut during Winter and in the Spring after snow melted, they were floated down streams to the Mississippi River.
They tied a whole bunch of them into a huge raft. Two steam boats guided it down the river as they hit the various lumber yard/saw mills.
"Oquawka had a big supply and Jacob oversaw the proper sawing at the mill," John said.
After they were all cut into proper size and shapes he needed, in late summer they hauled them by team and wagon, down to the area where the bridge was to be built.
When the stream was low in the fall, they assembled it across the creek with a crew of 5 or 6 men.
The bridge is of Burr Arch construction named after Theodore Burr who developed and patented the design.
The total cost of carpenter work on this bridge was $2,125.00.
The stone abutment on each end were purchased and placed on a separate bid from a stone mason.
"According to Jacob's ledgers, the 6 carpenters on his crew were paid $1.00 per day when he was working, no overtime or extra benefits or health insurance, but still they put in long days and were glad for a job.
"Jacob stayed in Oquawka rather than ride clear back by horseback to his Rozetta farm. He had bought a 40 acre farm for a homestead at first, just west of the cemetery, their home is now pasture land owned by descendent, brother Charles Allaman."
"Jacob died in 1868, two years after the bridge was completed at age 67, probably of a heart attack. He had a contract to build another covered bridge by Keithsburg.
The forms Jacob used to build the bridge had been stored overhead in the barn on the Charles Allaman farm, until they were used again on reconstruction after the flood of 1982 destroyed it.
The forms were again used for its reconstruction and are now stored on the John Allaman property.
"The Allaman Bridge" carried traffic until 1934 when the new highway was built between Oquawka and Gladstone. In 1935, the state acquired the bridge from Henderson County and has since developed a very attractive rest area around it.
The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in February of 1975.
In July of 1982, a flood washed the bridge from its abutments. Members of the Historical Society and Illinois Department of Transportation salvaged the bridge. The bridge was taken apart and new white pine beams were custom sawed by a mill in Wyoming to replace the cracked or rotted ones. They were then cut to shape using Jacob's original templates which remain in the Allaman possession.
From July through September of 1984, the bridge was reassembled and placed across Henderson Creek in its original location.
A dedication ceremony was held Sept. 29, as part of the Henderson County Heritage Trail Festival.
IDOT won the U.S. Dept. of Transportation Biennial Award for Historic Preservation and cultural Enhancement for their work on the project.
It is two miles south of Oquawka, along Route 164, and is one of only 5 covered bridges remaining in Illinois.

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The pictures below are of my 365 project. One picture for every day of the year. To read descriptions about each picture you can click on the 365 project on the top of this page( right hand corner) This will take you to my Flickr page which will also allow you to view more of my pictures.

N0w today we are once we woke up to a white ground. Yes it is still winter in Iowa ! Clod, white blowing snow and since I don't drive in this crap I will see what I can come up with for my 365 picture today. I'm going to stay in curled up with a good book and sip on hot chocolate. Sounds good, huh ?

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Here are a few of the shots from my latest photo shoot. A friend of mine (Toni) works at Gandy Law Office in Fairfield and called me to take shots for their website.

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Rick and Louie participated in a coyote contest and won 3rd place. #rd doesn't sound like much but it was $132.00 each, this paid their entry fee back and put a little money in their pocket too. This is a yearly thing the two of them do and they enjoy it. Of course it takes a couple days to get over all the walking and driving that they put in. They start out at 5:30 am and don't get done for the night until around 8:00pm. Yep they are tired pups by that time. (no pun intended) Here's what won them the money !! Not for people with weak stomachs

Done for now, I will get my schedule in order and post weekly. Have a great day !

It's a great day to be alive.....

2009-02-03T18:04:00.001-08:00

Here it is updates and my 365 project in review !! Get a warm cup of hot chocolate and sit back and enjoy.
(top picture) Lori was my therapy chauffeur for the day. After trips to Wal Mart and Target we were ready to come home and once again get some fun shots in. This picture shows the actual time frame from crouched down to up in the air. Needless to say she was freezing in this skimpy dress and no coat.
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Rick placed 2nd in Sam Collora's (www.mrsdoepee.com) Big Buck Contest. He was proud as he has placed almost every year he has entered. Now this deer hunting comes with me having to here every night for about 3 months how the big one got away. I hear this from both Rick and his PA buddy Shawn. It is always trophy hunting time while Shawn is visiting.

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Below are my 365 shots. You can read a full description about each one on my Flickr page. www.flickr.com/harleypass
23

It's that time of year on the Mississippi!
25
My Oscar award (look in the middle)

Ahh the crisp winter day.
27

Oh yeah my new lens ! A fish eye !!
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Jumping Lori
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Brrrr
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Comin' atcha baby !
31

What's in your air?
32

Preparing for Super Bowl
33

Fly away
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Me driving !!!

That's right - I am driving again!!

Friday was a great day - my Dr.'s appointment was awesome - shoulder is healed and now it's time to get more therapy. Now don't get me wrong it is not 100% but it is on the way. I have to be very careful or I can re-injure it and that would be bad ! I was released to drive and go back to work Wednesday.

After the appointment Rick and I went for lunch then on to the casino. We won ! Both of us !! After that Rick took me to lock & dam 18 on the Mississippi for some Eagle shots. OMG ! there were hundreds of Eagles flying, roosting in the trees, and fishing. I have several pictures on my flickr page and will soon upload some video clips to my you tube account. I will post here when they are ready.

Now after not driving for 52 days it was like a test for me. Can I do this? My right arm still can't reach all the way to the steering wheel but my therapists are sure gonna make that happen. Therapy is going well - Lynne tells me my shoulder is moving pretty darn good. It should she makes it. With me laying flat on my back they pull it up over my head,across my stomach, out to the side....my gosh I'm starting to feel like Gumby! I did make the comment today- no pain, no gain. I should be gaining good now ! 3 more months of therapy - YIKES !

I tried a little right handed stuff today - brushing my teeth, putting on makeup - you know everyday stuff. Well toothpaste in the eye is not pleasant ! not to mention the fact that I can't get my hand up to my chin so back to applying makeup left handed! I think I will give my right arm a little more time. Speaking of that my left hand is tired of typing for the night so I will close for now.

Remember - No pain, no gain ! That's my motto for a few more months. I have to get my photo arm up there in the air.

Photoshoot lined up for next week - an attorney's office - shots for their web page ! Woo- hoo !! I will post when I'm done.

Maggie & more

2009-01-22T15:19:00.001-08:00

I started my physical therapy or should I say torture. While waiting for my appointment, I had plenty of time to spare so my brother & his wife brought my photogenic niece over for some "fun with photos". Maggie was such fun to shoot ! She enjoyed sitting on Nannies floor getting all girly ! You can see her whole photo session by clicking on Maggie & more.

Now it's time for me to catch you up on my 365 project.
You have to keep an open mind and remember that I'm still stuck without driving so, some of my shots are from inside my humble abode. Unless it is therapy day and I get out.

This first one was taken while I was at moms waiting on Maggie to arrive. Mom has so many birds all throughout the year.This cardinal was enjoying the corn.
12
A gift I received from a very nice lady from work. Helen knows exactly how to lighten someones spirits ! This tin was packed full of goodies !!
13
Here's another therapy day. Blowing snow and 65 mph down the road, off we go ! Lori is a pretty good driver but man was I a nervous wreck. Oh yeah and her car has heated seats !! She was nice and turned mine on before she picked me up-needless to say when the control is on the right hand side and for now I have no right hand - I had a warm tush by the time we got to my house !
14
Beautiful sunrise shining on the snow. I caught it just as it peeked around the tree.

15
A light bulb without electricity? It is called light painting. I set up the tripod, turned my camera to bulb mode, hit the remote switch and started flashing a flashlight on the bulb. Wa-la !

16
On the way to the grocery store I snapped this picture. To the eye this house it so empty and cold, but I'm sure it has warm memories.

17

Pests! They are still here! I was told they eat fleas, do fleas survive in the winter too??

18
Lights, camera, action ! I named this picture "look up".

19
Hey, hey, I wanna be a rock star ! After Lori and I got back to the house from therapy- we had some rock star fun. The bad thing was the temperature- 24 !! We might have taken more if it was warmer. I'm already thinking up a plan for next week.

20

Change has happened ! Jan.09 history was made.

21
OK I always wanted to walk barefoot in the snow......I did ! Well I didn't walk, I only slipped my shoes off for two steps-it was a little cold.

22
Now if you can think of any good ideas for me to take pictures of for my 365 project let me know. Here's a list that was compiled on another blog -http://365photosin2009.wordpress.com/theme-list/

It sounds good but being inside some are hard.

Keep your eyes open -I'm going to do "baby belly " photos of my niece soon.

* dismay *

2009-01-13T08:43:00.001-08:00

* dismay *, originally uploaded by Tina / Reflected Memories.

While driving down gravel roads, take the time to look for these beauties.

Look 'Em

2009-01-11T16:44:00.001-08:00

Boy do I have some good southern humor to tell you.

I was giving Rick a break from cooking supper ( he has been taking care of me since surgery ) so I decided I wanted a good southern meal. I was going to make soup beans, ( pinto beans) cornbread and green onions. That sounded so good and he was looking forward to it to. Well in order to proceed I needed his help. ( again, I only have a left hand for now ) He was in the kitchen to cutting up deer meat for jerky so I asked him to open the bag and pour some out on the counter. He asked , why are you doing that? I then told him I had to look 'em. Look 'em he said in a weird tone. Yes look 'em ! Now he says he's never had soup beans until he met me but of course he also gets a shopping cart when he goes to Wal-Mart! Not anymore now we get a buggy !! I'm trying to teach him some proper southern talk and he ain't gettin' it to easy. Anyway back to the bean story. I told him you have to look 'em to get out the bad beans, rocks, corn, etc. Laughing he said , that's a new one on me then turned around and said he had to look his deer meat - smarty pants ! I got the beans looked and soaked and we had our delicious southern meal the next night.

Shoulder update- First let me say ouch ! My brother took me to my appointment Thursday and the Dr. took off part of my robotic immobilizer. I now just have the padded sling on and begin therapy Monday - tomorrow ! Still no driving, which is the toughest part but at least I get time to blog ! I bet you're wondering - A) if she can't drive how is she getting to therapy and B) how in the heck is she typing all of this !

A- that's where my mom, siblings,boyfriend and my buddy Bill are going to come onto the picture. Now Bill has no clue he is going to help out but he told me not long after surgery if I needed a ride or anything to call him - well Bill pick up your phone I need a ride home on Thursdays !! :)

My therapy will be 3 days a week for 3 weeks then I go back to the Dr. for a check up then on to more intense therapy of strength training. Yes I'm going to have strength in my right arm again-'bout time !

B) typing -I am getting pretty dang good left handed. I told someone the other day that my writing looks like I went from Kindergarten to 4th grade :)

365 project - My picture a day for every single day of the year is going pretty good. When you sit inside all day there's not a whole lot you can shoot so you will notice one picture is of mu ah :)

08
09

Snow - My boyfriends mom keeps sending me pictures of the tons of snow they are getting - I told her to keep that crap up there ! We haven't had to much here and that's the way I like it. Being a southern gal, I don't drive when it's white out. By the way thanks MaryAnn for being my first blog-follower !

Marine in the family -My nephew graduated boot camp and is now a Marine -woo-hoo !! Way to go Trevor. This is a picture from his graduation in San Diego. Picture taken by Gina.

Photo shoot tomorrow at moms. Yes one handed !! Since I have to catch a ride to work with Rick then, a pick up from mom, then hang out at moms until my 2:45 appointment - I thought why not ! Maggie is coming over for a fun day of picture taking and getting all prissy. I will post those pictures next week. Until then from my PC to yours - ta-ta !

Introducing Red

2009-01-06T08:22:00.001-08:00

So as many of you know, if you've been following my blog, that I had shoulder surgery Dec. 10th. Well with that said it was my right shoulder and I'm right handed :) When this is all over I will more than likely be ambidextrous ! Writing, typing and taking pictures left handed is getting easier everyday. I go back to the Dr. Friday and with all hopes I can get this immobilizer off ! Then I will no longer be robotic Tina.

OK now on with my story about movies. I think if my count is right I have watched 52 movies- some old, some new and several Christmas movies from Lifetime. Yes I have cried, laughed and now I think I'm turning into one of the characters from one movie I watched. The Cast Away - ever see that? Well if you haven't go rent it, it's a pretty good movie. You can read the plot here - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162222/plotsummary . Well, in this movie after being alone Chuck ( Tom Hanks ) makes a friend, someone to talk to. It is Wilson - a volleyball that he draws a face on and actually talks to ! Hey, don't laugh when you're lonely you will talk to anything ! I know, I have been out of the house 4 times in the past month and Rick has to go to work so I'm here alone.

Today I made a new friend - I call him Red !

No, I don't sit and talk to it but I had a blast creating it/him and I did it left handed! See I'm working on that ambidextrous thing. Making Red has been fun and it will give me a picture for my 365 project I'm working on. Some people may say what is that ? Well in my flickr addiction that I have there are groups you join. I joined some and they challenge you to taking and posting a picture every day of the year - 365 to be exact ! Since I can't get out to take pictures I would normally take I have to make do with what I have around here. For instance so far - I have taken these.

02
03
04
05

Rick and I got out to deliver deer meat to my mom so I took the point & shoot and got the barn picture. The others as you can see have been shot from the windows in my house. Until Red came along - I'm going to have some fun with him. I'm thinking of places I can take him - you know let him explore ! :)

Well enough for now - I failed to mention that since I've been cooped up I joined NetFlix ( like I've not seen enough movies already) so I have to go watch Definitely Maybe. After that I get the new Saw movie. No, I will not create or think like him so you are safe :)

I'm going to do a post weekly with my 365 photos and then some. Ta-ta for now !

Your Birthday Info

2009-01-03T09:35:00.001-08:00

Not the usual post but here it is.I will post more tomorrow.

I got this very informative email so I thought I would share it with you. The information you are about to read is about me and the year I was born. You can also find out about your birthday Click here!

3 May 1965
Your date of conception was on or about 10 August 1964 which was a Monday.
You were born on a Mondayunder the astrological sign Taurus.Your Life path number is 11.Your fortune cookie reads: Hearts are not to be had as a gift, hearts are to be earned. W.B. Yeats Life Path Compatibility:You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 3 & 6.You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 9.You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2438883.5.The golden number for 1965 is 9.The epact number for 1965 is 27.The year 1965 was not a leap year.Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/2/1965 and ending 1/20/1966.You were born in the Chinese year of the Snake.Your Native American Zodiac sign is Beaver; your plant is Wild Clover.You were born in the Egyptian month of Epipy, the third month of the season of Shomu (Harvest).Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 1 Iyyar 5725.Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 2 Iyyar 5725.
The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.11.11.19 which is12 baktun 17 katun 11 tun 11 uinal 19 kin
The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Monday, 2 Muharram 1385 (1385-1-2).
The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 18 April 1965.The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 25 April 1965.The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 3 March 1965.The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 6 June 1965.The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 13 June 1965.The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Monday, 27 September 1965.The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Saturday, 17 April 1965.The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 2 March 1965. As of 1/3/2009 11:32:16 AM ESTYou are 43 years old.You are 524 months old.You are 2,278 weeks old.You are 15,951 days old.You are 382,835 hours old.You are 22,970,132 minutes old.You are 1,378,207,936 seconds old.Celebrities who share your birthday:
Greg Raposo (1985)
Christopher Cross (1951)
Doug Henning (1947)
Frankie Valli (1937)
James Brown (1933)
Sugar Ray Robinson (1921)
Pete Seeger (1919)
Bing Crosby (1903)
Golda Meir (1898)
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469)Top songs of 1965
Satisfaction by Rolling Stones
Yesterday by Beatles
Turn! Turn! Turn! by Byrds
Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter by Herman's Hermits
I Got You Babe by Sonny & Cher
Help! by Beatles
I Can't Help Myself by Four Tops
You've Lost The Lovin' Feelin' by Righteous Brothers
Downtown by Petula Clark
This Diamond Ring by Gary Lewis & the PlayboysYour age is the equivalent of a dog that is 6.24305283757339 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)Your lucky day is Friday.Your lucky number is 6.Your ruling planet(s) is Venus.Your lucky dates are 6th, 15th, 24th.Your opposition sign is Scorpio.Your opposition number(s) is 9 & 11.
Today is one of your lucky days!
There are 120 days till your next birthdayon which your cake will have 44 candles.Those 44 candles produce 44 BTUs,or 11,088 calories of heat (that's only 11.0880 food Calories!) .You can boil 5.03 US ounces of water with that many candles.
In 1965 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.In 1965 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile.In 1965 in the US there were approximately 1,800,000 marriages (9.3%) and 479,000 divorces (2.5%)In 1965 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.In 1965 the population of Australia was approximately 11,505,408.In 1965 there were approximately 222,854 births in Australia.In 1965 in Australia there were approximately 93,546 marriages and 8,491 divorces.In 1965 in Australia there were approximately 99,715 deaths.Your birthstone is Emerald -->The Mystical properties of Emerald
Though not meant to replace traditional medical treatment, Emerald is used for physical and emotional healing. Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Agate, ChrysopraseYour birth tree is
Poplar, the Uncertainty
Looks very decorative, no self-confident behaviour, only courageous if necessary, needs goodwill and pleasant surroundings, very choosy, often lonely, great animosity, artistic nature, good organiser, tends to philosophy, reliable in any situation, takes partnership serious.There are 356 days till Christmas 2009!There are 4 days till Orthodox Christmas!The moon's phase on the day you wereborn was waxing crescent.

Now about my name - Tina Marie Johnson (birthname)

You entered: Tina Marie Johnson
There are 16 letters in your name.Those 16 letters total to 77There are 7 vowels and 9 consonants in your name. What your first name means:
Latin
Female
Name ending used as an independent name and in combination with other names i.e. Tinamarie.
English
Female
A diminutive of any feminine name ending in -tina, but is now also popular as an independent first name.
Your number is: 5
The characteristics of #5 are: Expansiveness, visionary, adventure, the constructive use of freedom.
The expression or destiny for #5:The number 5 Expression endows with the wonderful characteristic of multi-talents and versatility. You can do so many things well. The tone of the number 5 is constructive freedom, and in your drive to attain this freedom, you will likely be the master of adaptability and change. You are good at presenting ideas and knowing how to approach people to get what you want. Naturally, this gives you an edge in any sort of selling game and spells easy success when it comes to working with people in most jobs. Your popularity may lead you toward some form of entertainment or amusement. Whatever you do, you are clever, analytical, and a very quick thinker.
If there is too much of the 5 energy in your makeup, you may express some the negative attitudes of the number. Your restless and impatient attitude may keep you from staying with any project for too long. Sometimes you can be rather erratic and scatter yourself and your energies. You have a hard time keeping regular office hours and maintaining any sort of a routine. You tend to react strongly if you sense that your freedom of speech or action is being impaired or restricted in any way. As clever as you are, you may have a tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again because much of your response is glib reaction rather that thoughtful application. You are in a continuous state of flux brought by constantly changing interests.
Your Soul Urge number is: 1
A Soul Urge number of 1 means: Your Soul Urge is the number 1. With a Soul Urge number of 1, you want to lead and direct, to work independent of supervision, by yourself or with subordinates. You take pride in your abilities and want to be recognized for them. You may seek opportunities to display your strength and usefulness, wanting to create and originate. In your desire to manage the big picture and the main issues, you may often leave the details to others.
The positive 1 Soul Urge is Ambitious and determined, a leader seeking opportunities. There is a great deal of honesty and loyalty in this character. If you possess positive 1 Soul Urge qualities, you are very attainment oriented and driven to success. You are a loyal friend and strictly fair in your business dealings.
The negative side of the 1 Soul Urge must be avoided. A negative 1 is apt to dominate situations and people; the home, the spouse, the family and the business. Emotions aren't strong in this nature. If you possess an excess of 1 energy, you may, at times, be boastful and egotistic. You must avoid being too critical and impatient of trifles. The great need of the 1 Soul Urge is the development of friendliness, and a sincere interest in people.
Your Inner Dream number is: 4
An Inner Dream number of 4 means: You dream of being a very solid citizen that people can depend upon. You strive for organization and predictable order. You want to be recognized as a person with a plan and the discipline to make that plan work like clockwork.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T09:00:00.001-08:00

10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1...........

HAPPY

NEW

YEAR !

I put this video ecard together on smileybox.com enjoy !

Here's to a fine 2009 !! Well I brought 2009 in sitting in the recliner watching the ball drop. Rick had gone to bed.

The year in review would take all day for me to type since I only have a left hand right now. I can say it had it's good and bad memories.Here are a few to recap:

Bad - The economy crashed,people lost their jobs,natural weather disasters all over the world,some of them right here in Iowa and the people voted for a change and now we are stuck with Barack Obama for 4 years.

For some good highlights - my family is all safe and for the most healthy,my nephew,Trevor is now a Marine,my nieces Megan & Amanda are expecting again,my sister Melissa gave birth to a handsome little man whom I still have not seen,Rick & I still have our jobs,one of my pictures got published in the Access Energy calendar ( hey it was 50 bucks ),I have made alot of friends, my Uncle Allen is all set up in his new home in Tennessee- now dad has family there,we traveled to Tennessee for vacation, I had 8 paying photoshoots including a wedding, and the list could go on and on.

I would like to say thanks to everyone who visits my blog - I hope you get a little joy from reading my posts. Please leave comments so I know you are out there :)

Now for some New Year resolutions - I don't want to set my expectations to high so here goes.

I want to put alot of effort into my photography skills and get out more- you know,venture to places I have never been. In saying this I mean hit a gravel road,travel to a different state or even country and shoot away. I'm seriously considering a trip to Ireland in 2010 so now is the time to start saving and planning. As far as the gravel roads - I'm bad about getting lost so I purchased a Garmin Nuvi to keep me on the right track. With it I can mark locations and go back to them in different seasons. I look for old houses and barns as most of you know from looking at my flickr page ( www.flickr.com/harleypass )

Speaking of the Garmin - I want to start doing a little geo-caching (pronounced geo-cashing) ! This is something new to me but what a great idea and a chance for some photo-ops. You can read more about that here.http://www.geocaching.com/faq/

Health- I'm going to work on this all around- watch what I eat and cut back on the cigs. No I'm not saying I will quit - that makes me an angry person

Family- spend more time with them.

Blog- post more !

That's about it,I don't want to set my goals to high. Hopefully everyone will stick to their goals as well. Let's all reflect on the past and move on to the future.Happy New Year!

Watch this amazing time lapse video of time flying by.http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=11327764

2008-12-25T13:30:00.001-08:00

I want to wish everyone a very meaningful Merry Christmas! Today is a day to celebrate for this is the day Christ was born. Happy Birthday !! Joy to the world the Lord has come !

A few updates from the past couple weeks -

I had my shoulder operated on -wow what a pain in the patutty! All went well the Dr. re-attached my tendon with 2 anchors and now the healing time. This is going to be anywhere from 4-6 weeks and did I mention NO DRIVING. This is my sidekick - the immobilizer- not very comfy to say the least. Hey no pokin' fun at the hair !

Today is day 15 and I have only been out of the house twice. I think Rick is wanting to shut me up so maybe we will get out for a drive soon :)He has been really good at taking care of me ( thanks MaryAnn) and I found out he is a great cook !! Here he is making breakfast burritos!! They were yummmmmmmy !
He also went shopping for me and picked up this recliner. It is now my bed and probably will be for the next few weeks - or at least 15 more days. I go back to the Dr. on the 9th of Jan. in hopes that the healing is going good and I can get rid of the "side-kick".

Now the mailman has not been so nice - on the mailbox flag is a package-hanging there tormenting me ! What did I do call the neighbor to come down for a visit :) I couldn't and wouldn't go out due to the snow and ice on top that is making our yard an ice skating rink ! So the package was a gift that I had ordered for my sister and a gift from Santa. Yes,that's right I have been good! The Santa gift was a leather billfold ! There is a story behind this ( kinda like the fish story -my family knows what I mean) At work there used to be 3 of us Tina's -Tina W.,Tina C. and me ! Tina W. no longer works with us but is still in the loop-but here is how it started. I went on vacation in 2007 to Dominican Republic and Tina W.(left) & Tina C. (center) gave me a gift to take with me. It was this billfold with their picture in it ! The fun was on -I then held on to it for a while - list it and then found it just in time to pass it on. I got a picture of my head,put it over Tina C. and wrapped it for Christmas and laid it on her desk. She then gave it on to Tina W for Easter and now it is back to me -except this time there's a new face in the billfold - Shelly (right)has came on board so it looks like I need to make a plan for passing it on ! Wanna see this great traveling billfold - feast your eyes on this beauty ! Loaded with fighting roosters and Tina engraved in it :)

I'm already ready to put winter behind us and bring on the warm days and pretty flowers !! Are ya with me ?
I want to thank everyone that stopped by,called,brought gifts,food, sent flowers - it truly is amazing at all the friends I have !! My boss and people that work for me sent these beautiful flowers !
Christmas sunrise - and celebrate and behold - Christ was born !

MY CHRISTMAS WISH FOR YOU

Author: KRISTEN M SACCARDI
My Christmas wish for you, my friend

Is not a simple one

For I wish you hope and joy and peace

Days filled with warmth and sun

I wish you love and friendship too

Throughout the coming year

Lots of laughter and happiness

To fill your world with cheer

May you count your blessings, one by one

And when totaled by the lot

May you find all you've been given

To be more than what you sought

May your journeys be short, your burdens light

May your spirit never grow old

May all your clouds have silver linings

And your rainbows pots of gold

I wish this all and so much more

May all your dreams come true

May you have a Merry Christmas friend

And a happy New Year, too.

Winter has arrived !

2008-12-03T17:52:00.001-08:00

The first dusting of snow fell on December 3rd. The snow on the ground, deer on the snow and the sunset made for a great shoot. Now Rick would probably say it made for a different kind if there would have been a "trophy" in the pack. These were all does except one "scrappy" buck as he calls it. This is the scene we get almost every night until shotgun season starts then they are all gone !

Now our second snow fell on Dec, 9th. This was a little more than a dusting. It started out with rain turning to sleet then on over to the good ole white stuff. We ended up with about 2". I was home all day preparing for my laid up time after surgery so I got the pleasure of watching it fall and not having to drive in it. I had the scanner on and it was going crazy all day ! Wrecks,fires and some truck driver running from the law on 218 headed from Missouri to Iowa. I never did get the whole story 'cause I was outside taking pictures. Of course Rick came home so the scanner got shut off. He calls me "Gladys" for listening to that thing :) If you are close to my age or older you know who Gladys is !

(left) Summer is officially over ! The pool is froze solid ! Next summer will be my first at uncovering this beast to see how bad it is. Believe me I will for sure be posting those pictures ! (right) Old man winter is still standing strong. My dad made this for me. I didn't take the whole shot - underneath this beautiful face is a welcome sign.

My pampas grass is heavily weighed down with the snow. This is a good spot for rabbits to hide out but once they pop their little heads out it is game on for our dogs. Harley & Sophie race to the death of the furry creatures. That is fine by me because last winter those little furry creatures ate my trees !

__________________________________________________________________

I have had a couple good photoshoots lately - This is Mark & Pam. I work with her and just met him but all I have to say is they are truly in love with each other. The pictures show it ! Not to mention that mark was smiling so much he said his face hurt !

_________________________________________________________________

Now my other photoshoot was two very cute little girls. Ava & Kami - Ava is the eldest of the two sisters.

In this photo Kami was lovin' the tutu and drooling like no other ! Beautiful little girl ! Full of joy !

Ava - was a blast - she liked to be left on her own to make her own picture. I let her go and that is when she discovered the ornament. It was if she was thinking really hard and studying the designs. She too was a bundle of joy and a doll to boot !

Well as I mentioned above - I will be out of commission for about 6 weeks ! YUCK !! No pictures !! Wait I have a tripod and a remote - let's re-phrase that I will be out of commission for a couple weeks. I won't be getting into any photoshoots but the birds in the yard will pose for me good enough.

I have to have rotator cuff surgery at 10:00 in the morning so that means no eating,drinking or smoking after midnight tonight. That is not good - or at least for anyone around me until I get out of the hospital ! The get me a smoke a glass of tea and a cheeseburger ! Rick is going to have his hands full for a while taking care of me, cooking,laundry,dishes, cleaning - WOW is this going to be a vacation ! No, not really from what I hear it is alot of pain and for those that know me .....all I can say is waaaaaaaa. Yes I am a whiny one ! Pain and me - don't mix !

Well that's all for now until I can get back to typing - with my left hand :) So no comments about typos if you see them.

I will be like old woody - hangin' in there !

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Writing,shopping and setting up props

2008-11-28T16:05:00.001-08:00

I'm trying to get a little more creative with my writing so I recently purchased this book. Now,don't worry there will always be stories from a day in my life ;) I just want to beef it up a bit. My plan is to someday write better,captivating descriptions about my old house photos and hopefully get them into a book. Someone that inspires me by her descriptions is one of my contacts on flickr - you can see her work here. www.flickr.com/photos/mcmorr/ My own book - now won't that be great !! I will give you progress as I go.

OK, my title shows setting up props. Well here are a few that I have ready for my photoshoot on Sunday. I will have those posted next week.

What do ya think? This rocking was given to me by my Grandma Johnson a longggggg time ago. It is in immaculate condition. I got this because I was the fist grand-daughter. Ahhh !
This is wrapping paper :)

It was time to update some pictures so what better time than right after a hair appointment. I had finished with the snow look on my backdrop and wanted to get the lighting set so here ya go - ME!

And yes - I HAVE been good ! This is my new hat for the shopping trip for Black Friday. My mom,sisters and sister in law get together every Black Friday to get some deals ! Well this year it was just mom,Gina and myself. Lori had to pick up her daughter,Kathern (sis in law) was tired from her first time of having her family over to her house for Thanksgiving dinner and the other shopper Kim (brothers GF) was tired too. So us 3 meet up at Wal -Mart at 5:00 AM for the fun to begin. Mom makes us wear Santa hats so we are easy to find - it's a traditional thing :) Now can she find us in the store....no ! This year was actually funny - she told us while having breakfast that while at Younkers a lady asked her for the price of something in the store.....why ?, cause all the employees had a Santa hat on ! HA !!

Are we nuts ? YES! This was the crowd I pushed my way through at 5:00 AM to get my Garmin Nuvi for $97.00 at Wal-Mart this morning. I got it,plus more. The crowd was pushy and rude - I think after Thanksgiving they need to start being a little nicer and give thanks that someone don't turn around and smack some sense into them ! I had to go out and have a smoke while Gina held my place in line. This is getting more nerve racking every year but - I will be back at it again next year so I need to get over it :)

Time for breakfast - when you get up at 3, by 7 you are hungry ! We done out usual traditional thing and went to Perkins - the food is so good there !! It was not too crowded when we got there but by the time we left - the line had formed. Now it's off to the casino !!

This grand piano was calling to us ! What a crew - Liberace we are not !! But it was a good photo op ! The spots are dust or at least I think it is. I sat the camera on the piano and used the timer so I could get in this shot :) The next one is mom playing and Gina singing - yeah right ,we didn't want to run everyone off - they are faking it - HA !

Hey look it is a big tree- let's pretend to decorate ! I don;t think anyone saw us because no straight jackets were ordered :)

Day is done and boy was everyone exhausted !! Mom & Gina found yet another great shot at a picture. The only problem was, they didn't want to get up ! The time is now 2:00 PM - we are going to Long John Silvers for lunch then I am headed home - my feet were killing me and I was BROKE !! They were going to hit a couple more stores- not this gal.

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination. "-Oscar Wilde

Holidays Are Upon Us !!

2008-11-24T18:03:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year - get out your measuring cups and all that holiday bakeware and let's make some fudge !!

Chocolate fudge

2 sticks butter ( watch those thighs grow)
5 c. sugar ( yeah that's right lots of energy zappers)
1 can evaporated milk ( not that healthy skim stuff wither - why bother)

Bring this all to a rolling boil and continue to boil for 8 minutes. Set that timer and stir !

After your arm is about to fall off ( 8 minutes) remove from heat and add:

1 tsp. vanilla ( that's the small measuring spoon)
1 small jar of marshmallow creme ( that ooey - gooey stuff, not licking the spoon)
20 oz. of peanut butter or 1 large bag of chocolate or butterscotch chips ( not all at once,hence the word or )

Stir all of this together and pour into 8 x 12 pan lined with waxed paper.

Cool - cut - enjoy !!

This recipe came from my Granny - she was a wonderful lady and a great fudge maker. I remember as a child,going to her restaurant "Granny's Restaurant" around the holidays and standing in front of her "money tree" ( the customers always put money on there for the girls that worked there) and waiting on her to get the fudge ready to eat. She made TONS !!!!! Well I only made a pan of chocolate and one of peanut butter - that is all I am making this year. I usually do about like Granny did and make a ton but, we do NOT need that around here

OK enough in the kitchen let's get out of the house and go shopping - I hit up some antique
shops, goodwill and thrift stores. I found a couple bargains. All of these hats total cost 10.00 not the plume cost more than all the hats but I couldn't pass it up. I gave 12.00 for it. Oh well - I liked it. When I called my dad to tell him about it he said I should have used a peacock feather - men what do they know about fashion :)

Then it was hit up the furniture isles - I found this little tricycle and chest. The chest needs a little antiquing and a good washin' that it will get this weekend. But for 14.00 for both I couldn't pass it up !

OK- back to the picture taking enough prop shopping ! Mom and I went to Washington ( not the state, but the big town of Washington,Iowa) A friend of mine www.myspace.com/Angieguengerich had taken pictures of her kids at this old house so I got the directions and mom and I headed out. It was amazing !! The first thing mom said when we got out was "can you just imagine all the kids playing in the yard" WOW,she read my mind. This house was huge and the yard was lined with beautiful spruce trees.I took several pictures and even poked my head in for a few.
To see more check out my flickr in a few days. I hope to have them posted by Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving - Harley (my lab) had her Thanksgiving meal the other day. I looked outside and from somewhere in my country neighborhood she had added another piece of "her findings" to the yard. It was something of the unknown in a quart jar. Yes she was eating it - or at least trying. I took the pictures of her at first through the window and when I went out she stopped looked at me then licked her lips to get that last drop.

I hope you weren't enjoying your supper while looking at that. It was disgusting but she enjoyed it.

Happy Thanksgiving to each and everyone of you. Remember this poem when you sit down for that feast:

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

Pictures of two beautiful girls and a happy couple coming soon !

Click here

2008-11-15T11:19:00.001-08:00

Now if you clicked the link above that will show you how busy I have been.

It was August the last time I added a post boy is that bad or what. I'm going to try to make it a priority to sit down and work on this each week.

Updates -

I had a few of my pictures printed and framed to dress up our dining room and now it is time for more. I have been busy riding around on the gravel roads looking for the perfect picture. I don't always ride alone - a friend of mine Deanna, went with me one day and we found some pretty cool stuff. We came up on an old make shift town of Minerville. You can read more about it here - http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Minerville-032708 To bad it is a thing of the past. We walked around and took a few pictures then ended our trip.

Mom and I went out a couple weeks ago and found lots of stuff from barns to old schools to this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/harleypass/sets/72157608593605809/ now this was definitely a good day. Tons of pictures where taken and after 8 hours of riding we were beat !

Rick and I went to Quincy for a car show and to visit this castle that I found on the Internet. Both were very interesting. Rick spent alot of time crouching down to look under and all around cars to get ideas and I was crouching with him to get the pictures. The castle was kinda cool, it sits on the banks of the Mississippi with a spectacular view. When we first walked in I spotted a lamp. At the same time Rick and I looked at each other and I said - "that is like the one I have !" See for yourself. The floor lamp is in the castle - the table lamp is in my living room. I got this after my grandma passed away. It belonged to a neighbor of hers so I'm not really sure where she got it from. I did ask the tour guide at the castle if he knew any information on the one there and he shared a little - the lamp was brought back from Egypt in the early 1800's - WOW I could have a real collectible.

Rick has been busy too - a friend from work gave him a truck - well not completely it cost me sending lasagna to him at work :) But anyway, he has big plans to build his own rat rod. Yep you guessed it, done with one project and now it is time for another.

I have been back to the Dr. and have to have rotator cuff surgery - dang it no picture taking for a while.

It is hunting season here so Rick has been strong at it - nothing yet. I will for sure post when he gets the monster buck :)

Now that was a lot of info squeezed in to try and play catch up. I will sit down on Saturdays to post more.

Thanksgiving is coming up and that means BLACK FRIDAY !! Yippee !!! Mom, Lori,Kathern,Gina and myself meet about 4:30AM to knock people down and get some good deals. OK, we don;t really knock people down but we do find some deals. We usually come home with bruised heals and lots of shopping bags. I will be taking my camera along that day to get some pictures of the madness that we participate in. So stay tuned for more fun !!

John Fitzgerald Kennedy:"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

What a busy summer this has been ....

2008-08-17T07:49:00.001-07:00

This has been one busy summer and it's not over yet ! Chicago-Harley's- Sweet Corn Festival-Swimming-Bird Watching-Flower Gardening- Storm Chasing !!

We went to Chicago for a conference with the company I work for. This was alot of fun and a great time for picture taking for me.

This is the sail boat named Windy. It is very tall. You can take a ride on this and actually be a "hands on helper".Picture taken at Navy Pier.

This was also taken at Navy Pier. I edited it to give it a cartoon look.

Now for a night shot. This is the canal with reflections of Chicago night life.

On one of our many walks around the streets of Chicago we found this beautiful water fountain.Since I'm the one always taking the pictures ,there's never proof that I was actually there. I talked Gina into taking this picture of Rick and I.

This picture just reminds me of Forest Gump - run Forest,run ! It is Bubba Gump's !!!

Now when we came back from Chicago we found an intruder in the dog dish. With the wet season we've had we are destine to have frogs and toads. Well,this toad had taken up residency and was eating the dog food. And believe it or not, he is still here !!

We are also still overwhelmed with the hummers this year. I have counted as many as 10 buzzing around - and it is hard to keep 4 feeders full.

We also have several mourning doves. This one was injured and sat around in the tree all day. When it finally did get down , Harley spotted it and by the time I got outside- it was too late. Sorry for the extremely gross picture but it is part of the story :)

Deer- Iowa - corn & bean fields- YES we have more than we need here. This doe is in our backfield every day,several times a day. I don;t think she is afraid of anything. Once the shooting starts I bet she'll be gone.

In another busy day we went to Burlington to see the "Sentimental". It is a Boeing B17 bomber plane. It was built in the 1940's. This plane has never been in combat but was used in Nevada for fighting fires.You can read more about this plane by clicking this link . http://www.azcaf.org/index.html?var=http://www.azcaf.org/pages/aircraft_bios/B-17G_FlyFort.html

Rick trying his talent out :)

Rick and Brian are working on an old 10 speed that Rick has had for years. They got it all up and going and talk about a work out ! Needless to say it is now parked behind the garage. Yes, I know, we need to get it out and ride ! BUT it is much easier firing up the Harley.

My Cannas are finally blooming. This shot reminds me of a tropical scene with the storm clouds in behind. Storms , now that is a good one. We have had alot of those too. The pictures below were taken at different times but you can tell we have some pretty views of the lightning and clouds rolling in.
The pond picture was taken early in the morning at work.

Now here in Iowa we celebrate every time you turn around. Each town has there own events. In West Point - it is the Sweet Corn Festival. ALL the corn you can eat FREE !!! This is a big time event - more info here. http://www.westpointcornfestival.com/
Rick is trying decide on the biggest ear !
Shuck fest - they shuck 17 tons of corn in less than an hour. The whole town comes out for this. It is held on the Wednesday before the festival.
So my brother is go-cart racing now. This is him - Vernon - the hobbyist ! If it ain't remote control cars it's bigger ones, who knows he may be looking at some Nascar :) You can see some video clips of him on my You Tube site www.youtube.com/harleypass

This sunset picture of the sailboats was taken in Fort Madison. Rick went fishing and I went shooting ! What a great combo.

Alley the alligator- she lets me know how warm my pool is.

I will end this blog with a beautiful scenic picture of Lake Geode. The clouds were just right for this shot. This picture will hopefully be in the 2010 Access Energy calendar. I will keep you posted. They don't announce the winners until next March- so I have a long time to keep my fingers crossed.

As always you can see more of my work at www.flickr.com/harleypass

I will be shooting a wedding the end of September so wish me luck and as always have a great day !!

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into. ~Ansel Adams

Summertime - Mud Runs- Backdrops-and more .....

2008-07-13T11:42:00.001-07:00

SUMMERTIME - means a very busy time for me. This is the reason I have not posted in a while. I spend alot of the sunny weather working in the yard. OK - and some of it in the pool BUT - since my liner ripped and I am waiting for a new one to get here - I have been working in the my flowers ,playing with Harley and practicing some long exposure photography.

Since the price of tobacco is outrageous I have started growing my own. Just kidding, I brought a few plants back from Tennessee ( thanks to my step mom- Judy, for finding me some ) It is not growing as well as it should be. By now this plant should be about 3-4' tall. Oh well I need to quit anyway :) Rick says we are going to smoke it when it gets ready. I don't think he really knows how bad that's going to taste.
Here's a picture that I took on the West side of the new Convention Center in Fairfield. This mural cost around 28,000.00!! I thought it was cool how the storm was rolling in and the painters were busting butt to try get it done. The other picture here is one of my newest tries, star trailing ! This is long exposure photography. I had to leave my camera ,shutter opened ( thanks to Rick for making me a gadget we found online) outside for almost an hour to get this shot. I will keep practicing to see if I can get a better one. Although I was impressed with this one as it is only my second try. all the lines you see are the stars against the revolving atmosphere. Pretty cool,huh ?

Here are two fine ladies ! On the left his MaryAnn ( Rick's mom ) and the right is Aunt Ruby ( MaryAnn's sister) These ladies are a piece of work let me tell you. They painted these two backdrops for me to use with an airbrush. I can't wait to use them for some photo shoots ! Thanks very much mom and Aunt Ruby for the hard work,sweat,and swearing that you put into making these. I was like a kid at Christmas time when my package arrived. I applaud you !!

Now for a catch up of Rick and the Willy's. He entered the mud run in St. Francisville ,Missouri and won first place. Great job but wow, was that jeep dirty.We figured by the time he paid for his fuel over ( diesel is at 4.50/gal ) gas to play ,water to wash the jeep, pain from the sunburn after 8 hours of washing ( without a shirt ) that he came out a little in the hole but, man did he have fun.

The first place trophy !!!

I got this rainbow at a weird time. No rain what-so-ever ! I think there was enough moisture up high in the sky that it produced this lovely rainbow.

Later that night the sunset was amazing. Here I go setting up the tripod on the back porch to get a good shot at it. What do you think ? It reminded me of a desert scene.

Well that is all for now- I need to read up some more on long exposure photography. Stay tuned to see what comes up next on my blog- I have a list of fun filled things going on in the next few months - beginning with a trip to Chicago next weekend !!

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into. ~Ansel Adams

Be sure to check out my Flickr page to see more photos ! www.flickr.com/harleypass

Iowa under water

2008-06-15T13:05:00.001-07:00

I can surely say that we don't need anymore rain. We have more than enough and it has caused devastation to counties surrounding where I live. In Cedar Rapids the river rose and has flooded the downtown area causing several thousand people to evacuate and many homes damaged. In Iowa City,Columbus Junction,Fort Madison,Burlington,Ottumwa,Douds and other areas people are waiting for the crest expected in the next couple days with hopes that the water will fall fast. In 1993 I did not live here but they say that flood was a record breaker well, this is going to top that. The Mississippi in Burlington is expected to crest on Wednesday,June 18 at 25.8. The flood stage is 15 feet. In 1993 it rose to 25.1. Although I have not had the chance to go to Burlington yet but I have taken some pictures in the Fort Madison area and on the Skunk River ( were we camp) To view more you can go to my Flickr page( www.flickr.com/harleypass ) or type in Iowa flooding on any search engine. I expect to go to Burlington and see how close I can get for pictures on Wednesday.

Taken on the Mississippi River at Fort Madison on June 12th.

Taken on June 13th on the Skunk River at Oakland Mills Recreation Park.
Bow fishing was the thing with the waters rushing. These guys were catching Gars and Carp like crazy. We were actually watching the fish jump all over. Now Rick has got to try this bow fishing ! The semi is there to help move out the stuff from the restaurant ( you can see it vaguely in the picture with all the people standing around) The picture with what looks like boards floating is the picnic tables in this area. This is down river about a mile or two from where we camp.

Taken June 13 th on Skunk River at Ketchum Bridge ( were we camp) The pavilion that Ron & Keppy built and use is almost under water. You can barley see the roof. Most everyone got their campers out before the water rose.

Taken on June 14 th on the Mississippi at Fort Madison. ( notice the rise in the water levels)

Taken on June 14 th on the Skunk River at Oakland Mills Recreation Park ( notice the rise in the water levels) Rick & Louie decided to take advantage of some of the fishing. After watching people yesterday they went and bought a reel for their bows. I didn't get any pictures of them actually catching a fish but they did catch some when they went earlier in the day ( or so they say ) Then as you can see in these pictures some people don't have a lot of sense out there swimming and in the water chest deep. They are warning people to not do that due to the swift current. Some areas are posting very large fines for anyone caught within so many feet of the water. That is smart since they are putting others peoples lives at danger by getting in.

I will be posting another update later in the week with more pictures from the same two locations as well as some of the Burlington area.

Tennessee Vacation

2008-06-09T09:43:00.001-07:00

WOW ! That is about all I can say. After coming back to flat lands and corn. What a change - it is so beautiful back home. The mountains, lakes, creeks and family where a blessing to visit. I had a chance to take alot of pictures on this trip so sit back and get ready. This post is a little different than the rest. I'm going to tell the story add a few pictures then add several more at the end.

Rick and I went to Tennessee for the Memorial Day weekend and following week. We both had a great time and was probably the best vacation we have ever had together - since we didn't see each other that much :) My dad & uncle kept him busy in the trout streams and I stayed busy traveling the roads in search of the " perfect " picture. In my eyes I think I found it, ok I found several of them. Here are a few pictures just as we got into Tennessee.

Well when we got to dads Kassidi was happy. She had been bugging them all day asking when where we going to get there. She had to show me her tattoos and do a little posing for the camera.

On Sunday Dad & Judy went to church and we got up and took flowers to my sisters grave then headed to the flea market.

The sun was starting to beat down

on us so Rick bought him a travel hat.

I thought cool I will be able to spot him if we get separated. Wrong ! Everyone had bought the same hat ! So we had to stay pretty close together in all the chaos. We did manage to find some pretty good bargains. Now let's get outta here- we headed on to my Tennessee mom & dad's ( no relation but they kinda took me in during some pretty trying times) house to visit alot of my friends. They had all gathered over for a visit. It was so nice to see them all and their families. Rick sat out in the barn and visited the guys while I had to play catch up on the porch with the gals.

This is Tracy and the little baby girl inside :) I know she will have her in wranglers and boots soon!

No Christine didn't eat something bad she is saying done with having kids. She has 2 already.

This is my Tennessee mama and Aunt Mary

Sarah and her little girl plus baby inside. ( see this is why you don't drink the water in Tennessee )

Here's the gang all going for a ride.
This is my adopted mom & dad. Sorry about the picture mom but it is the only one I got :)

Boy where had the day gone. We went back to dads the long way so I could show Rick some sites along the way.

We had to get back to dad's so we could get to bed since dad wanted to get up early in the morning to go to Dollywood.

Monday - Up and at em early and boy did we. Dad, Judy, Uncle Allen, Rick and myself set out for a fun day in the sun. We were about the 10th person at Dollywood .

The sign should have said " We're glad you are here early "

But we had the best parking ever- the front door. We got there so early the place wasn't even open so we waited ...and waited for about an hour ! The men started getting silly.

Gee dad glad you got a good parking spot ! The gates have opened and we are in. First stop breakfast ( since we had to get there early dad didn't offer to stop for a biscuit) These cinnamon rolls were HUGE !

Let the fun begin. We rode almost every ride there.

I'm sure you have seen the signs before you get on the rides that say - people with heart conditions should not ride - well that didn't stop my dad. He was right there riding. This is him waving and Rick is right beside him.

Now it is off to the water rides- the guys rode

this while

Judy and I waited for them.

I think Uncle Allen is a little

bit scared by the look on his face.

It looks like Rick is having more fun than some of the kids

and dad is just hoping his defibrillator

doesn't kick in :)

I took this picture from the computer screen.

We didn't ride this one but did have fun watching Uncle Allen, Rick & Judy trying to soak the ones on the ride.

When people got off of this ride they were SOAKED !

Well after walking around we were all getting tired so Rick got a foot massage.

Then it was feed the duck time - actually we were going to ride the water logs but the line was terrible and we were not going to wait.

Now let's get out of here - we left after about 8 hours and stopped at a couple stores on the way home.

Tuesday - Wednesday- Thursday - Rick went fishing with dad & Uncle Allen each morning and evening and I headed out to my papaws church ,my aunts house,my brothers, Paint Creek and country roads. My papaw was the founder of Shelton's Chapel Church of God and I thought it would be nice to get a good picture of it inside and out to print and hang on my wall. I stopped by my Aunt Blanches house to visit and get the key to the church then went to take the pictures. This is what I came up with. Then I headed out to Aunt Gizmo's house ( that is her nickname ) to visit with her for a little bit on. She lives on the Nolichuckey River so she drove me down to the dam and then we went out a little road so she could show me this neat little stream. Then it was back to Aunt Blanches to give her the church key back.

While I was at my brothers I got to meet Madison for the first time. She is such a bundle of joy.

The fisherman did good each day and Rick showed them a quick way to skin the trout they caught. Judy, Kassidi and I went out to see if dad had had enough heat one evening and he did. Him & Uncle Allen had already caught their limit and had found a cool sitting spot while waiting on Rick to catch his.

By the way - they are not drinking they are just plain crazy !!

Time to head home - on the way we passed this beautiful mountain scene so once again I had to get out the camera and shoot !

Friday - Today was going to be HOT so Rick and I took off to Horse Creek for some pictures. We found this fishing spot while walking around the park. Man, there were alot of trout here- we couldn't wait to get back and tell dad. Rick was picking corn out of the cracks in the wood to feed the fish , while I walked around.

OK - back to dads ( I'm getting tired of typing) to tell him about the fishing hole so he was off to fish and Rick and I took off to go to Harold's for pizza.

Harold got the planes out to show Rick and see how high the dog could jump. ( you can see a video of the dog and plane head on collision on you tube www.youtube.com/harleypass )

Now all the playing is done lets go to our haunted ghost tour in Greeneville. I had waited for this for a long time. It was very interesting and we learned alot of history about the town that I grew up in and we got to experience some unusual photographs. My dad says I'm crazy that this is all done with electronicsut I think it could be more. I have a person in Iowa checking to the pictures for me to see if the Orbs are really something or not.
Now this is alot to type for one day so to see more pictures without all the journaling you can see them on my Flickr page. www.flickr.com/harleypass

One way to get the most out of life isto look upon it as an adventure.William Feather

Beauty's In The air.....

2008-05-20T17:20:00.001-07:00

The rain we been getting has everything greened up and started growing and my favorite,the hummingbirds are back !! This posting is a little scattered with my pictures ranging from barns on the road to birds at my house. I have been busy lately remodeling my dining room and have not had the time to sit and type. Now I'm getting ready to go on vacation back home to Tennessee !! Woo Hoo !! I'm excited and that will provide alot of blogging when I get back. For now take a look at some great shots I've been getting.

I took this from the window inside- all I could think was the one on the left was telling the one on the right to not chew with your mouth open !

I pass this barn everyday going to work. One morning the sun was hitting it just right so - at 6:30am I pulled over on the highway and started shooting.

On the way home from work I took a little bit of a different route to get this picture of the water tower in Salem,Iowa.I actually have a friend that has climbed this tower ( drunk of course) and has gotten in trouble with the law for doing it. What a nut job !

This butterfly was quite a bit if work to get.

I was mowing the yard when I saw it. I stopped the mower, ran in the house to get my camera and walked all over the yard before he stopped. Several cars passed while I was waiting and I'm sure they thought I was crazy. A woman standing in the yard, camera around neck in sweat pants, sandals and a ragged shirt. My yard clothes are getting a bit bad !Well anyway he landed and I started snapping.

As I was going back in the house this hummer was buzzing by the feeder so I got a cool shot of him too. I now have 6 hummingbirds- I hope the price of sugar don't go up like gas has or my hummers will be hungry.

Harley was laying in the yard taking this all in -

Now the yard is mowed and I have to get the camera back out and get one more shot before the night is over.

Now here are my Tennessee weeds - I got these from my cousin Tammy last year as she was glad to pull them from her yard. BUT I liked them and they make a great ground cover for the well in my yard. I hope she has more this year !

Here's Rick and Vernon headed out for a fishing trip but first they had to stop by and pick up the dead coon ! SHEW did that thing stink !

Well the sun is setting and it is once again time for the end of day. God Bless to all !

Of yeah I almost forgot to include Rick ( as I try to do at the end of all my posts) This one is when he was practicing for a golf outing with some friends.