Wednesday excitement

Here was my view (and jingles) from my scrapbook room today. A very LOUD Zooooooom and I knew the crop duster was back. Actually, today, there were 2 going at the same time. There must be good money in crop dusting.

They were dusting the field right across the road from my house, so yeah, like 25 yard from my front deck. This was taken with an 18-55 mm lense, so you know I wasn't getting super up close.

Yes, I know, I promised an Obama rant a couple days ago, but a.) I've been really busy trying to make a deadline and b.) when I did have time to do it, I just wasn't riled up enough. I guess I need to wait until I'm all PMSing. LOL.

Henry Doorly Zoo - again.

As I said, we planned on the zoo. We wanted to go a week earlier, but threatening weather kept us home that day. It worked out ok, as it was calling for rain again, but sprinkled *slightly* once, and was cloudy. Very good since the sun easily kicks my ass on a regular basis. (more on that later).

By afternoon, the threats of storms were gone, and the sun was kicking *all* our asses. We saw things we somehow missed last time and tried to finish off with the petting zoo. Which all that ended up being was petting a couple goats, complaining we were in the sun, Gene kicking a goat to get out of the stroller and us deciding we were hungry and leaving.

Here are just a few of the 247 pictures I took at the zoo (literally)



Gene found a mini rhino!!!

Me and my man

Maddie wore her cowboy hat all day (she was threatened if she didn't! lol)

My favorite pic of Cheyenne the whole day. HAM

Cade got to ride most of the time (thanks stacy for letting us borrow the stroller!). Here we are, stretching our legs a bit, resting at the aviary.

The stingray came right into my shot as I snapped. Awesome unplanned.

Really felt like we were under the ocean!

*****

In other news....

I've been sick. I got something from Tanner (evil brat). Saturday morning, he was not feeling well, but bucked it up and went to the zoo and seemed fine, then went to bed and crashed at like 8:20 p.m. We didn't move him.

I woke up this morning with a massive headache, and after telling god if I was gonna barf, make it now... 30 seconds later, I was praying to the porcelain god. I found a seahorse, a lego and a french fry from the 3rd grade. That SUCKED. But instantly I felt better. Not sure wth was up with that. Oh well, I still have a headache and my tummy kinda aches. I stayed in bed until 1:30 p.m. And I will NEVER have cinnamon Honey bunches of Oats *ever again*.

*****

Tanner has been nagging me for like.. EVER... to upgrade my memory on my old computer (we figured out the other day, I bought it in '02). So I broke down and bought the wrong memory (thanks tanner) from walmart. Returned it, and then ordered the right stuff online. It came and he installed it. *so much better*. I'm at 768meg now, and can go up to 1 gig. I will be upgrading again.

Speaking of computers. Tanner's laptop shot craps *sigh* we didn't figure it out until we bought a new monitor and a new adapter for it. We stopped at Northwest Computers to see if he could give us some insight and he said it was the motherboard or something attached to it, sobasically - part it out. BUT, while I was there, he had an external dvd burner with the software to edit movies, photo dvd's etc. It was a steal at $50 so I snatched one of those up. He also had 60 (??) gig external hard drives for $25. I didn't get one, but he had tons, so I'll go back and get another. I need to free up some space on my hard drive. I think that will make my computer run faster. I need to be taking better care of it due to it's old ancient type age. (i'm dragging my feet).

Walmart had laptops for $400. We contemplated a new one, but decided we'll wait - maybe they'll have a good sale at xmas.

****

The summer is too quickly coming to an end. It's true what they say, once the 4th of july passes, it's all down hill. It's so sad because up to the 4th, was super busy.

I can honestly say, this is the first summer I've not been miserable and hated it. I'm not a huge fan of bugs and being outside in the heat (sorry, I'd like to be but it makes me sick!), so spring/fall have always been my favorites. Too bad they both last like a *week*.

This summer, I've swam in the pool during the day by myself, and that's so relaxing, and I seriously have a *tan*. GET OUT. I had to buy darker foundation because my old stuff looked like mime makeup with my darker complexion. yes, I have a *darker complexion* (ie: I'm on level 3 of makeup (out of 20) instead of 1.)

Gene says I look like a monarch (pasty white, servants to do my tasks). I will pretend like I'm not offended by that. Not my fault he has a level 10 tan in the *winter* (bastard).

This year, expect a bumper crop of crickets. I'm so not looking forward to that. When I went out to do laundry, I put my white laundry basket in the grass, look down 10 seconds later and there's 12 tiny crickets in it. *sweet*

*eyeroll*.

I hate crickets.

Enough for today.

Tomorrow? A rant on Obama. Stay tuned folks.

Goodbyes

After we went to the zoo, we came home and had one last swim in the pool. I bet the girls (and Tanner) spent at least 20-30 hours in this pool while they were here. Totally worth the investment, and we're talking about getting a larger above ground pool for next summer.


Chey was quite proud of her swimming pool dance demonstration. It took a bit of shooting to get our sequence down right.

Grandpa obviously took this pic, and in my opinion is one of the best I've seen him take. I love how you can see we're in the pool, yet the pool is not the focus, and Maddie and I are supporting roles.. good composition gene!

Anyway, we worked 3 weeks with Cade on some "speech therapy" (she will need more when she gets to school). She has problems with S, Y, L, G, C/K, R. We taught her how to do S, Y and L. This is a picture of her saying "Yellow!" (her favorite color).

I will miss them terribly. We had some rough patches and some personality conflicts along the way, but I think we're all better off for them having spent some time here.

It's quiet. That is good and bad both.

Our Tutu shoot

I had been searching flickr and found some awesome kids pics with tutus. Which of course, made me want to do tutu pics and I just so happened to have 3 girls running around (I don't understand why tanner is so opposed to girl things, despite me trying *heavy sigh*).

Anyway, so off to walmart we went, to buy some tulle (pronounced tool for those that don't know how, which btw, is a pet peeve). After some slight arguing that they should get to pick their own colors (there's only one tutu and it stays here), we settled on *my* choice, which, everyone liked.

Then a SECOND trip to walmart, because a thick tutu takes around 10 yards of tulle! I should have used leftover wedding tulle LOL. (maybe I'll make a mini one for babies out of white).

I set up a mini studio in my livingroom while the girls were swimming in the pool and this is what we created:

Cadience

Cheyenne

Madison

Hands down, the last one is my favorite shot of the day. I'll be using it in some promotional materials. I learned some good things about photographing kids. First, don't have other kids around, it's a major distraction (if you can). and also, the best shots I got where when I said "what is YOUR favorite pose?" works well for girls that are all big hams.

We also did a photoshoot of Katie (stacy's daughter spending the night). Katie didn't look quite as comfortable as the other girls. We need to do pictures more and without other kids around, so she'll loosen up a bit!

More updates UP in a bit.

100!!

I've made it to 100 posts since I started this blog. That averages 7.6 posts per month, which for me, is freaking AWESOME. I've never stuck with any sort of "diary" or "journal" this long *ever*.

Katie (Stacy's daughter) spent the night last night. They were all relatively well behaved. I should have her over here more, but, alas, the girls are leaving soon. Zoo run tomorrow. we tried a week ago and it didn't happen, so come hell or high water (both seem like possibilities around here anymore) we're going.

No pics at the moment, maybe some later today. Definitely some zoo ones. I'm going to be so sick of zoo pictures!!

Snoopy calling Red Baron

Yesterday, we were sitting here and heard a Zooooooom. When we looked out the window, a yellow plane was buzzing the house. It was a cropduster for the field next to us. So we captured a bit of video. Sound isn't the greatest, so you'll have to turn it up!

More personal classes

A little more camera play. Went out to take close ups of these "flowers" (weed) and plucked it to take more inside. I happened to have a brownie camera laying on my desk and decided to play a bit.







Children are driving me nuts.
I'm just sayin'.

My flickr favs

1. Triple Threat, 2. Untitled, 3. Newton is an artist, 4. Return, 5. Untitled, 6. kenna_ollie-31 copy.jpg, 7. meg vday 7-1 copy, 8. " Issa belissima ", 9. Untitled, 10. пора к плите и кастрюлям!! 2/2, 11. Goodbye Bokeh, 12. curls, 13. {ferris wheel}, 14. Please Don't Eat The Daisies!, 15. for the love of pink mugs, 16. bee butts, 17. Hello everyone, 18. Through the looking glass..., 19. 4-H Farms- Repair?, 20. Bride, 21. Untitled, 22. Untitled, 23. Surigao City, 24. Down on the farm, 25. IMG_0290.JPG

Been playing with flickr. I've been a member since '05 but really did nothing with it. If you love images, you could be there for weeks.

photography class

Today was a little "me" time. I waited until everyone was watching TV or terrorizing tanner, and quietly snuck out the front door. If you don't, you have 4 ppl and 75 questions being bulleted at you like a semi automatic.

I've been obsessed with the corn. Stacy is obsessed with corn too, she told me when she moved back from AZ, that the corn made her so happy. With me, that's usually hay.... no idea why, but hay makes me happy.

Anyway, so I went 6 feet to the cornfield and started shooting, and here's some of my best shots.

I never knew the micro mini spider was there, until I opened the photos on my computer and there he was. He couldn't have been more than 1/16"

This is our mailbox. yes, isn't it awful? I want a new one, but it's not a priority at the moment. Anyway, I am playing with saturation here and creating some of my own filters for the photo.

These next photos are my own class on lens flare. I love the look and wanted to experiment with the low evening sun, plus you get the idea of how tall the corn really is.

And lastly, a couple super close ups of some bugs in the cornsilk. If you flip the silk over, about ever ear has some bugs underneath and man do they want to stay there! This cornsilk just *glows* when the light hits it just right. Most of these photos are not edited any more than just cropped or such.

I'm still itching for going out in the weeds. I've never realized that I have some allergy to *something*. Bleh. Oh well, I'm learning all kinds of new things out here in the sticks.

I might post some more pics tonight later, depending on how late I stay up. I've been staying up late each night for my OWN SANITY. I now realize how badly I need ME time. I could so easily become a hermit, if I didn't like talking so much. :)

In case you were wondering...

and I'm sure you've been on pins and needles wondering.... My foot is getting better. Remember my planter facitis (sp)? Well, I finally decided to call my Dr's nurse, and she suggested exercises and advil. Well, the advil seems to be doing it (cuz I forget to do the calf exercises). I only get some sharp pains on the sides of my heels now once in a while. Plus walking on hardwoods hurts barefooted. But I don't hobble anymore, and well, life is good.

Now I can go back to wearing unbearably uncomfortable shoes.

Tales from the clothesline - part deux

Welcome to Maryville Missouri

This my friend, is a freaking bold face LIE. It feels like 196 F. I decided that we needed laundry today. (I usually clean on Mondays) and wow.. no wind, which is nice in a way, because it's been so windy since we moved here. The corn (later) is tall now, and we have absolute privacy, which is making me think I want a big tall fence around my 2 acres. Anyway, it's been an awesome windbreak too. The bad side is, it sucks for laundry day. Breeze is good, but it certainly hasn't stopped the laundry from drying. Instead of blowing sweet country goodness through my skivies, it just burns off the moisture into oblivion. *crispy*

Mmmm... humidity.

bleh.

Not much time out there to ponder the universe. All I could think was "god it feels like a zillion degrees" and "So this is what the surface of the sun is like".

I worry about Gene out there in the hot working on hot cars. He'll be exhausted when he gets home. I made sure to drag out the huge bubba keg for him (which keeps water super icy cold all day long).

The good news? We're supposed to get a gully washer tonight. Ahhhh... works for me. Maybe it will wash away that critter that is getting into my trash cans. I see a pistol in his/her near future. I hear it at night once in a while.

Had ourselves a little girly photo shoot. I had cuter ones, but madison seems to want to *shut her eyes* no matter when you take the picture (ala Amber ;P ) so I told her to OPEN UP, and this is what I got. Don't you love the messy face on Cade. Didn't feel like cleaning it, as *this is what she looked like*

This is what I was doing when I got followed outside for above photo shoot. I wanted to document the corn. Yes, I know, weird but I've never lived this close to corn. Cows? Yes. Corn? Never. The saying "high as your eye by the 4th of july" is no kidding, this stuff grows like wildfire. The tassels are on now, and the ears are forming. I love the fuzzy husks. They are themselves, tiny pieces of art. Close up pictures reveal tiny hairs and droplets of water, that you don't notice when you're just looking. I love having a high resolution camera. sometimes you find amazing pictures inside of the pictures, which someday, I'll post about.

So the other day at the fair, Cadience was standing there in her little jeans and a t-back tank top with her hand on her hip and a pony tail, and I said to Gene "There's someone that's needing a cowgirl hat". And he could see it too. So off we went to Orschelns, with a 15% off coupon I forgot I had, and came home with 3 hats. No pics of Chey's yet, it was ruined before we got home, it lost it's shape, and we need to return it so that we can get a straw one like the other girls. (Her's was a felt hat).

At-ti-tude! Work it.

Girl boots. They are going to grandma robin's house next, who has horses, so they had to bring boots.


End of a hot day, laying in bed, driving grandpa nuts.

Yeehaw the fair comes to town

Nodaway county fair rolled into town again this weekend. It just lucked out that it happened to be here when the girls were in town. They came up for it last year too, and tho tractors and politicians are not terribly exciting, free candy always seems to be a hit.

We started the morning out with the parade, which meant getting up earlier than usual on a Saturday morning. I'm really looking forward to sleeping until 10 two saturdays from now *sigh*.

Grandpa and his girls, waiting. It's not even hot yet.


Playing a bit with camera angles, I laid the camera on the ground for this shot

My favorite parade shot. Chey was all over this horse when he came by. I'm not sure if he was "talking" or nipping. Either way, all was fine. I'd like to think he was saying "nice to meet you". The look in maddies face is priceless.




So then, after the parade, we went home for a while. The girls couldn't figure out why in the world, we were leaving THE FAIR. UGH. I finally instituted the rule "Talk about the fair, and it will be longer til we go to *the fair*". Which didn't work really, but it made ME feel better.

Grandpa mowed a bit, and cussed a lot. The lawnmower we just bought is giving us some fits, so that has to go to the repair place this week. Our lawn is shaggy. The girls swam and I sat in quiet... and it was good.

My handsome husband, with me at the top of the ferris wheel. It's the one ride I really want to ride on every year.



Here is a picture of our courthouse, from the top of the ferris wheel. The sun is getting low, and gold. I have several of these pics, but you know, who can resist another. I am biased, but I do believe we have a beautiful courthouse.



Future daredevils, enjoying the mini rollercoaster.



Not so future daredevils, enjoying the scrambler. I wish now I had panned more when I took this shot... so they'd be more sharp. next year.... noting to self.

And the end of a long dusty trail. Grandpa and his girls, heading home.

My best shot.
Not perfect, but probably my fav of the day. Loved how the umbrellas of the rides and the carnival is all glowing, but no way can it overshadow the courthouse.
And a note.

Yay freaking rock on for blogger. I was 7/8 through this post when we had a quicky weird brown out or something (not completely uncommon here). This site autosaves every 30 seconds or so, so it was sitting for me, waiting in draft mode.
*hugs blogger*

More pics later (probably tomorrow), I have others to share from the past few days.