It's my party......

I have so much stuff I want to do, need to do but this cold is kicking my ass and I have exactly enough energy to clean the kitchen before I have to sit down, hack my brains out and try and recover from 30 minutes of very little activity beyond standing at the sink washing dishes. (run on sentence from hell).
My Mom will be here in a few weeks and between school all summer and this cold my house is a wreck and nothing has been done. Shawn and I got the wild hair early this spring to rip the railing off our decks and redo it all which also called for re staining and repainting the entire thing. We still aren't completely done yet but done enough that I am ready to start putting the deck back together. In normal summers we spend the bulk of our time hanging out on one of the decks, not one summer evening has been spent out there yet. I don't even know where all the furniture for out there is right now. Oh and the first summer we spent in this house Shawn bought me a lovely swing for the deck. This year the material has decided to shred into a million pieces. I have a grand plan to rebuild the seat and back of the swing with wood to make it useable for years to come. Guess who has no energy to even go to the lumber yard?
I have also decided that although a month ago moving the desk and my pc down to my dungeon of a bedroom was a fabulous idea so I would have quiet to get my homework done I no longer enjoy being down there. I don't need the quiet any more but I do need my computer since my laptop decided to die. Now I want to move the desk back upstairs amongst the living. Problem is I have no idea where to put it. I gave the kid his room back that was designated as office space while he was in Wyoming. We have a huge sticky, uncomfortable leather sectional in the living room that takes up to much room so the desk won't fit in there and the absolute perfect place for the desk in the dining room is an inch to short. Ugh.
The girls have spent nearly 5 days cleaning and organizing their room so it can be painted before Grandma comes. It is that time of year for the carpets to be cleaned too. I need a personal banker people!
Can any of you see the dilemna here? Too much stuff to do and too damn sick to get any of it done.
Yep, it's my party and I am alone in the corner blubbering like a fool.

Praying for Stellan

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Pretty Bird, Pretty Bird

I am in the love with the call of the loon.
There is nothing more soothing to the soul than to hear that sound and feel absolute peacefulness come over you.

Wonder where he is carrying that to?

A very dirty headed juvenile eagle. When we first saw him I declared him to be juvie because of his head. Someone asked how I could tell. Dude it's the lens. I can see Russia from my back yard with this lens.

Hello there birdie. Please don't peck my eyeballs out. Wait you aren't really that close are you?

All of these pics and many more were taken last weekend in Wisconsin. I will share more once I start feeling a bit better. Still down with the cold. Ugh.
Sorry the quality of the photos isn't better, they really need editing since we were on a rocking boat and that lens is heavy and I wasn't using a tripod.

Think, breathe, delete.

I did what I have never done in my life. Censored myself and deleted a blog entry. I am very sorry to the person I offended and the post has been removed. I now return my regular readers to their regularly scheduled programming. Peace.

RTD IV left me needing and IV drip

Last weekend was our annual excursion to Wisconsin. Although it was fun at times it will go down as the worse year ever and may be the year that causes me to never go back.
Before we left I had to hurry and find a sitter for our kids since the neighbor decided to lose her mind and go completely insane. That was just the beginning.
On the drive up Cat's boyfriend started feeling crappy, it was a downright cold 50 some degrees the first two days which lead to a 2 day bar tour which isn't really my scene anymore. I am too friggin' old to spend two entire days drinking. Who in the hell would have ever thought I would say that? I woke up in the grips of the mother lode of anxiety attacks one night which lasted for 2 solid hours and basically ruined the trip for me. I just could not shake that icky feeling. Come home and immediately fall ill with Jeremy's cold. I have been down all week now and haven't left my room unless forced to do so. I seriously think I may never leave my house again just so I don't contract another cold from hell like this one.
Anyway, the good part about the trip is I managed to shoot 6 separate eagles. Hold up feds, by shooting eagles I mean capturing their image on a digital sensor, not shooting them as in harming them. I got one loon pic, those little rascals are hard to capture. Some crane photos and some other stuff. I still need to copy them and resize them before I can share with you and to be honest I have been sitting at my computer for a little over 30 minutes and I am beyond exhausted and don't have the energy to do it right now so I will get them to you later.
I just reread this post and decided it sucks and needs some details but I am publishing it anyways. Sorry peeps.

A few more from the weekend.

Matt's cake

This is what happens when you hand the husband the camera

Oh look! I do have a head!

Matt with all his loot. His parents spoil the hell out of him!

Yesterday in addition to it being Matt's birthday it was also Sky's fun day for softball. Mom's against Daughter's. It ended in a tie game. How did that happen?? I hear the Mom's acting skills on the field are sub par. Hopefully they went over the heads of a bunch of 9 year olds.
Saturday we took the kids to the circus. Those pics will come this week. They all need edited to death before they can appear in public. Someone needs a class in taking arena pics!

And then he was 12

Yesterday Matthew turned 12. Holy buckets! One more year and I will have 2 teenaged boys. Heaven help me! Happy Birthday Chew!

Fireworks Tutorial

A few people have asked how I shot the fireworks and what settings to use. Well if I gave you all the exact settings I used your shots wouldn't turn out the same as mine because the conditions you are shooting in won't be the conditions I shot in. Believe it or not it was very well lit when I took the photos but the sky appears pitch black in the background.
We also spent an hour in class discussing how to do fireworks and lightning shots. I have the understanding of why I used the settings I used. This is a quick blurb but should give you a good jump off point. Remember the smaller the aperture you use the less light that is entering the lens and set your ISO low to eliminate noise. Happy shooting!

http://www.photobird.com/learn/top5tipsfireworks.html

Ka-Boom

For you my friends. I give you some photos I took over the long weekend.

Finito!

Yesterday was my last day of math class!! I didn't pull off the A I was shooting for but I did score a B!! Can't complain about a B! I am so happy to have it over with.
The babysitter situation turned out fantastic. She is going to sit for us again for sure.
Yesterday I had my math final and then a test in my Intro class so I got home early and headed to Sky's softball game. They won, again. On the way home we saw this little beauty in the field and just had to pull over and take a few shots. Keep in mind I maxed out my 300 mm lens and she still didn't fill the frame so she was a long ways away. I also didn't want to pull out my tripod so these shots are a bit shaky. I think they turned out decent though. Click to enlarge for the full effect.
I also got a letter from the boy yesterday. He is adjusting well and wants Mom to send him lots of pictures to occupy his time and make him smile. His graduation is in August and I told my Mom that the second I see him in his dress uniform I am going to burst into tears. I can't wait to get my arms around my oldest baby again. We have been through some shit but he will always be my first baby and my pride and joy!