A day

Something in Wyoming is biting me and making me itch.  I'm tired of it.  I never see anything bite me.  I never see anything on me, but I see little gnats sometimes.

It's annoying that I have to select the Helvetica font every time I want to type.

This pic is of climbers climbing the tower. Seems there are always a few up there. Looks scary. The guy at the bottom was climbing up, ever so slowly, but the girl at the top never moved. Even her arms never moved. She must have been in a waiting mode. No one is allowed to climb in June though. The month of June is set aside so the area can be honored by the Native Americans. They put little prayer flags out. The rangers instruct visitors not to touch them or remove them out of respect for the Indians.

These little gnats, they fly right into my eyes. Creeps me out. And I thought one flew in my ear. Yuk. And when I woke this morning I thought I heard a crinkling sound in my ear like a bug in there. Ewww. I'm grossing myself out. I don't really think there's anything in there but I was torturing myself with the thought this morning. I remember the story of the little boy who had a spider in his ear and he had to go to the doctor to get it taken out and he heard noises in his ear. Blech. Then I thought about Linda, a friend at work, and she went to Cuba, get this, for a vacation. She showed me pictures of her hotel and the glass in the front of the building was all busted out big time. Nice establishment, I'm sure. It was a plain, white building.

Well, when she came back to work she said she was worried some kind of bug got in her and might be living in there. She said she lay in bed and tried to sleep with her mouth open so just in case there was something it would walk out. I said, Linda, are you sure? There was nothing wrong with her. I think she was smokin' too much dope.

Summer is slipping away

We have five more days here.

I won't get to practice trying to photograph a star field until the moon is gone. I forgot about that. The moon is so bright that in a long exposure it would outshine everything. 

Whaaat?

Barack Hussein Obama plans to speak to all public school students across America on September 8th. And here's the document to help teachers prepare their students for him.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10582301/President-Obama%E2%80%99s-Address-to-Students-Across-America-September-8-2009

I can't believe it!

There's a headline about it at Drudge and American Thinker. It can't be true. Can it?

A new thing

I was noodling around the Web today. You know, I have been thinking and thinking how to photograph Devils Tower in a new way. I already put it in my calendar one year and I don't want to do the same photo again. But the road around her only goes so far. In fact, she pretty much is what she is. Amazing, but how to do it differently?

Well. I have always liked those night time photography photos and I always assumed they had special equipment. I have seen night time photos where the stars look like hundreds of pin pricks of light in the sky. I found out tonight that you don't need special equipment. I can do a long exposure and catch the stars! Ooooh, exciting thought. Of course, I can't do like Andromeda or something like that, but hey, pinprick stars all around the tower might be nice.

I will experiment.

Thanks!

I know some of my people voted for me. Thank you. I thank you so much! Tonight I have 25 votes and I am content. I'm grinning like a Cheshire Cat! I'm easy to please, I guess. Life is nice.

Honestly, I thank you. It made my day and I've had a lot of fun with it.

Will anyone vote for me?

I put a photo in the San Diego newspaper photo contest. There are submissions better than mine, but mine has a bird sticking out his tongue and that's pretty good. Anyhoo. I would sure like to get bumped up to page one of the animals category just so at least I'm on page one. Will any of my readers vote?

Being honest, you'll have to register and I know it's a pain because you want to just point and click and be done. But they have to have some way to ensure one person doesn't vote 80 times - one person, one vote. If I beg, would it help?

The link to my bird and the place to vote is:

http://socalphotocontest.com/bin/Rate?image_id=1007005184&search=278__283__288__293

I'm in the Animals/Pet category and you can see #1 is a puppy and a lady's manicure. She has 220 votes. Yikes. Go figure. But People's Choice Award is only one of the awards offered. In mid-September actual judges will judge the photos and there will be more than one prize. The topic is Southern California Faces and Places.

Thaaanks to anybody who votes. I've never put a photo in a contest before. I feel kinda sheephish asking for votes. Please vote! I'm sure I can collect about five votes from my blog readers. I feel it in my boooones!

She walks with the robins

The weather got cool this evening. There were hardly any grasshoppers and the crickets' singing filled the air. I can understand why the Native Americans consider Bear's Lodge a sacred place. I could hear the wind blowing through the trees and up to the tower. Gorgeous place.

The sun was still shining when I got to the prairie dog town. I walked the trail around the circumference of the town and on the side by the river, Belle Fouche, these four young robins bounced along the trail in front of me. And they didn't fly off when I caught up with them. When I would take a few steps they would take a few hops. It was so cute. We took turns walking that way for what seemed like a long time. They must have wanted to eat the tasty morsels of bugs in the grass because they would disappear into the tall grass for a second and then reappear. Maybe they thought I was the fifth bird behind them and that I was just a really big one!

In any case, me and my camera (poor grammar, I know) were at one with the birds for a little awhile tonight. What an experience.

Hair

I found instructions for making an Amish style hairdo.  I started out with two braids.  

The top of the braids are a little different than usual.  You start a braid and then make it a strand to start another braid.  You do that three times.  It leaves you loop holes to pull the ends of the braid through.

  

And this is the final.  I've done it three times and the other two times I did it the Amish way and it looked just so-so.  Today I fiddled with the braids and crossed them over (like the beginning of the Amish instructions by MusicLady), but then I did my own thing.  I took the elastics off the end of my braids, tucked them in best I could, and put in two small bobby pins.  'Tis real comfy and when I take it out the braid waves are nice.

Stop, Drop, and Roll

I go out walking every evening.  There was more sun than usual tonight.  I guess because the days are getting shorter.

There are millions of these grasshoppers in the grass.  Normally, I'd freak, but they jump away from you, not on you.  One day I forgot to put on tennis shoes and I walked on the street into the park with flip flops on.  It gave me the heebie jeebies and I never forget to change shoes now.  

Last night I did a silent scream.  One of the grasshoppers jumped onto my neck!  Eeek!  Luckily, luckily he bounced right off, but if he'd stuck on me or had gone down my top I'd have screamed.  That's why I titled this "Stop, Drop, and Roll."  Thing is, that's for when you catch on fire.  I wasn't on fire, and I wouldn't want to throw myself down on the ground with the rest of the grasshoppers either!

I don't want to see this photo with a macro lens.

AAAaagh!

Double AAAAAUUUUGGH!

The only way I can get comments back is to revert to an old template from TWO YEARS AGO. Eeeek. It feels a little crowded in here after having a big, wide, stretched out, pure white blog.

My followers are missing. Oh nooooo.

And when I upgrade the template, comments won't show even though comments are definitely enabled. Oh dear.

Plant closure just announced

Our boy will lose his job in March. News of the plant closure is reverberating throughout the California Bay Area as I type this. Four thousand, five hundred employees work at the plant itself, and an estimated 30,000 men and women work for companies in the state that are subcontractors providing materials such as glass and tires, etcetera, etcetera.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-plant28-2009aug28,0,4907237.story

It's not only the end of a fantastic job for our son, but the end of auto manufacturing in the state of California. NUMMI is the last of its kind in California.

Once upon a time Chrysler, Toyota, GM, and Ford all had plants in California. The high cost of doing business in California, plus having the labor union is a heavy load for any company to bear. Toyota has never closed up a plant in the history of the world. This is a first.

I will always think highly of Toyota. We drive a Ford truck, but I'd buy Toyota in a heartbeat. They've done their level best.

omg

Is there any more hackneyed, trite, overused acronym than OMG? Is there? I always read it as "Oh my gosh," but I think more frequently the commonly accepted phrase is "Oh my God." Hey, has anyone heard not to take the Lord's name in vain? Do people even comprehend the power that God has? I think not because if they did they would not bandy His name about as if they were saying "awesome" or "no way" or "yippee."

I grew up in a godless household. We were taught to be good but it didn't have anything to do with Jehovah. We never went to church. We didn't have a Bible in the house. Nobody prayed. On the contrary, we were trying to do astral projection. And even so, from the time I was in elementary school we clearly knew not to say, "Oh my God." It wasn't allowed. It just wasn't. What happened to the world?

Today, practically three inches high on the front page of Drudge I see the headline of the day, OMB:OMG. Ugh. I am so weary of OMG.

Ted Kennedy died. There's a guy who made a life on the Kennedy money and name and nothing much else. All I can think of when I think of him is Chappequiddick and Mary Jo Kopechne. How does a guy like that get voted to the Senate.

I can hardly stand Rush Limbaugh. He always talks about himself. But Monday he had the funniest audio clip making fun of the Your Life, Your Choices guide for end of life decisions that the Obama administration wants disseminated to veterans. The Bush administration suspended its use because end of life decisions belong to individuals and families only. Government has no business sticking its nose into something so personal as death and dying. The sound file is at http://mfile.akamai.com/5020/wma/rushlimb.download.akamai.com/5020/New/yourlife.asx :)

And who's going to want to work for the CIA if there's a probe and someone is prosecuted? Obama is setting a terrible, terrible precedent by following through on an investigation. Every administration after this one can always find something to investigate from the previous administration. You have to move forward. Presidents should stick together on some things no matter what. Move forward.

I got a new top

I like my new top a whole bunch. It's cotton and made in India. Hopefully it washes well. I bought it at Gorpman's which is a store that is only in the mid-western states. I think they carry a fine selection of clothing and the prices are reasonable. My sister was telling me to hand wash it or buy these strips at Wal-Mart that suck color out of the wash so colors that bleed into the water won't discolor other articles of clothing, but I told her it's gotta go in the plain old washer at the public laundromat with all the other clothes and survive or die. She got exasperated with me.

Dusk today.

Rushmore

Here's Rushmore. It looks faraway because I used my wide lens, but last time we were here I used my other lens. A lot of my previous pics are archived in in July 2007. I have 16 photos there that I shot last time we were at Devils Tower KOA. That year I saw a badger! A badger is a highly rare sighting. Strangely, I realize I never posted a photo of Mount Rushmore on my blog. That's odd.

The presidents from left to right are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson (a redhead in real life), Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.


Here's the buck I've been hoping to see again. Would you believe he saw me first and ran away when he was only about 20 feet from me, but he was below a small ridge where the grass is waist high so I never saw him till he was fully running away and he was in the trees already. Doggone it! This photo I had to crop. If I can get just a leetle bit closer he will be 2010 calendar material! He's even shyer than the female does though.


My yet unfulfilled goal is the catch a photo of a horse running. These horses are grazing in the pasture next to us in the late afternoon. Took this one with my telephoto lens on the long end. I thought my 28mm to 135mm would do the better job so I ran home and changed lenses and carried my whole lens backback with me to be sure I could change quick if I needed. Well, of all the pony photos I took, the one with the first lens turned out nicest. Live and learn.


I shall now start boiling a chicken for dinner. I'm making chicken soup tonight. I looked at a lot of fancy chicken photos last night and got very hungry. Haha!

Peeking doe

A doe peeping at me.

I reread yesterday's post. I don't think I write about our son as well as my mom talks about him. I like to hear her when she talks about him. And once, our son said to me that he likes to hear Granny talk, especially when it's about him. It struck me, because as a child I remember liking to hear my mom talk, chat with family, and I always liked when her conversation turned to me and she talked about me too. Seeing, or hearing of myself, through my mom's eyes, was different. I was me, but kind of better. More interesting. I have to think about this some more.

Bumblebee

Bees are very fast. I needed my shutter to close half a second sooner. Someday I would like a macro lens. A macro lens is for up close small things. It magnifies. I'd like to do flowers - dramatic sort of flowers. Someday. I don't know if it actually magnifies, but the photos sure look detailed. I like seeing water droplets on flower petals. And I like close ups of stamens.

Tomorrow we're driving to see Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, and Roosevelt. Where are we going? It's two hours from here. Guess!

He's a blur

Perfectly out of focus
EASTERN KINGBIRD
Tyrannus tyrannus

Ah! Better.

I feel like I'm rich. Like that feeling when you walk out of the library with an armful of new books? Only I feel rich because my husband extended our stay here until the first of September!

Our son has the gavorka. He didn't get it from me and he didn't get it from my husband. He just has it. It's God given.

He's been helping out the campground owner here I guess. My husband went in to pay for more days and they gave us three days for free. At a KOA campground, that's a lot. I don't know how we got this child.

And the owner found out our son has a leather care business and evidently the owner's dad is a leather craftsman. He's going to give our son some tips and tricks and says he has some saddles our son can do for $28.00 each. Our boy, he's not afraid of work. It's just the way God wired him up. He's been like this since he was a tot. He used to like watching "Thomas the Tank Engine" on tv and I'd use one of their lines and tell our son to be sure to make himself useful. Hehe. He really does too. He makes himself useful.

Husband and he were at the John Deere store yesterday. He's started a new hobby - cap collecting. They gave our son a free hat and a free keychain. It's the gavorka again. Well, there was a guy there who said my husband was sure buying our son a lot of stuff. He said it in a way that my husband could tell he thought the boy was being spoiled. But my husband told him up straight up, he wasn't paying for the goods. Our son was spending his own money from what he earned from his shoe shine business. That's a fact. And the fella looked at our son a little different after that.

I didn't see a porcupine or a raccoon today. I saw a young buck though. He was too far for a calendar picture, but I could see his new, velvety antlers. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for him!

Another week!

We get to stay an extra week! Oh boy! We intended to leave on the 26th, but we get to stay longer. We didn't realize that Labor Day is September 7th. Seems kind of late, but it is the first Monday of the month. We don't want to get back to New Mexico before Labor Day or we'll have to work. Don't tell our ranger we said that. Haha! It's just that today was over 100 degrees down there and we don't wanna work outside in that hot weather. We usually direct traffic because the lines get so long.

On to photos. Partly, I have trouble selecting a photo so I don't post one, but I went through a couple sets and just made a pick. My hope is that I may see a porcupine or a raccoon this year. They come out at dusk and the light is not the best at that time. Last time we were here I saw one of each, but my porcupine pic looked scary instead of cute and my raccoon was too far away. I didn't have my telephoto lens back then.

Do the eyes ever get tired of looking at a fawn? I don't think so. This one walked quite close to me as I knelt down watching him. He's in the yard of a restaurant. They come in the evening to graze on the green grass.


His mama wasn't too sure about him walking in my direction. She stayed by the back fence.


I have eight billion photos of prairie dogs. I love 'em so much. They can be kinda gross. They can be carnivorous you know. The nursing mothers will cannibalize other babies. That'll give you nightmares. But mostly they eat grass and blossoms and such. These two are "kissing." It's a greeting that they use with one another. I saw two fights today but didn't catch them in time. I got one jump/yip but he was turned sideways from me. I was at the prairie dog town two hours today trying to catch a jump/yip. I turn to the right and one to my left will do it. I turn to the left and one on my right will do it. Or, I can't find him through my viewfinder so I lift my head for a moment to check where he is, and that's when he jump/yips. Lil' rascals. We're too late in the year to see babies. They're all grown already. And fat. My goodness they're little fatties.

They're kind of nuzzling each other. They're very social little creatures.

My skirt stunk

Well, finished my purple skirt tonight except for the hem. It sure looks different on the tall, skinny model on the pattern front. The waist made me look like a short, stout, chubby-kins. I looked like I should be in front of the stove cooking some spaetzel. Before I put in the waist elastic it looked so promising on the hanger. Funny thing is, I look fine in tiered skirts. I love tiered skirts and they have elastic waist. Yet apparently flared godet inserts with elastic at waist do not suit me. Who knew.

IN the trash it goes! With sincere discontent.

Aha! Here I am.

We made it through the concrete jungle.

We passed Wyoming state line on Friday and made Devils Tower on Saturday. Devils Tower National Monument is at the tippy northeast corner of the state of Wyoming. The drive was okay. We had excellent driving weather, cool and cloudy, but some rain. Part of one day we had a head wind (bad for fuel mileage) and part of another day we had a tail wind (good for fuel mileage).

You have to go through some urban areas to get to Wyoming; for instance, Denver. Denver be pretty big.



Of note, some peeps may have heard of Mile High Stadium in downtown Denver. We drove by it.





Went through Denver at 1:00pm and that's a good time. Never drive through at rush hour. We did it once and we were sorry. It might not have been Denver, but some big city, we didn't time it right. We always check our big city drive through time now. You'll only do that once. We were lucky here in that the traffic was almost at a standstill going in the other direction. You can see the cars are close and not moving much. Glad we didn't need to take the off ramp here either. The traffic is at a dead stop on the overpass.



Now here's north of Denver, and this is what I'm talkin' about, baby. This is where I've been yearnin' to be.



We went through the town of Douglas which is hosting the state fair. Would have loved to stop, but wouldn't you know it. We have reservations at Devils Tower. They have the town all decorated up and the place was sparkling clean.



Wal-Mart in my town is plain, but Wal-Mart in Gillette, Wyoming, has buffalos on the front of it. Pretty spiff, huh?



We have to fuel up again. I'm fast. I can run to the trailer and make lunch for three in the time it takes my husband to fuel up the truck. What caught my eye is the Taco John's across the street. Couple three years ago we went to a Taco John's. I ordered a taco or something and can you believe it. It came with tater tots. Tater Tots! My mom used to feed us tater tots when I was twelve years old. They're in the freezer section of the supermarket. Tater Tots definitely ain't Mexican. We never went to Taco John's again, but I threw such a fit about the food that every time we see one my husband asks me if I want to stop there. He does it just to annoy me.



We saw very big coal plant that was generating electricity. Imagine a person standing next to it and you might get an idea how massive this thing is.



We're at Devils Tower now and walked around the base of it and we went to the Visitor's Center. Our son bought me a cool bookmark there. I love it. Today I'm making chicken soup and I'm getting my sewing machine out right after I post this. I took photos yesterday. I got a fawn running and rock climbers climbing the tower and prairie dogs in the prairie dog town. The weather is mild and cool. Two years ago it was boiling hot in the 100s every single day. We overheard people in Wal-Mart talking about miserable hot it was only a few days ago. This weather is wonderful, may be unusual for this time of year but I'm not sure, and I wonder it it'll heat up again. I think I'm in heaven! Wyoming is as gorgeous as it was when we were here last time in 2007.

Sweet driving days

Obama said that it's not UPS or Fed-Ex having problems. It's the United States Post Office that's having problems. Well yeah! UPS and Fed-Ex are privately run. That's what we're sayin'. The government runs the post office. Obama stuck his foot in his mouth there.

I slept really well last night. I think I know why. Brushing the horses for an hour. I think it did me good. Cool, huh.

This picture is a Golden Eagle - a young one, I think.

Tomorrow we'll be in Wyoming, but not quite to Devils Tower! We drove 6.5 hours and we're at the tippy northeast end of New Mexico. It's higher here and cooler and hillier, but still arid. Beautiful.

I didn't sew because after dinner I was sleepyish.

A triptych

I got to spend as much time as I wanted with the horses. I brushed this one for such a long time that I felt calm and comfortable by him. I started taking his picture. Lots of his picture. He didn't mind. I saw his ears perk up at the sound of the shutter release at first. His name is Tiger which does not do him justice. I don't think he seems like a Tiger. His tail is short because where he came from other horses chewed his tail. How mean. I gather it can be a problem for horses. I should have photographed his tail. On the other hand, it wasn't an especially pretty tail. On the other hand, I didn't touch up the photos at all, so it would have fit the theme of realness very well. Lastly, truth is, I was afraid to walk behind him, so I didn't think to snap his tail till now. I would like to shoot him again with my DSLR. I used my little camera today. I've seen some awesome horse body photography. I saw one once that made the horse's back look long and gorgeous like a valley and hills. I saw one once of a horse in morning fog, in profile atop a ridge, reared up on his hind legs. The photographer was in the right place at the right time and won first prize for it. Lovely, it was. Still in my mind.

Tomorrow we're off to Wyoming. Praise the Lord for Wyoming and that we can go. I will be seeing the prairie dogs!

Terrible news I got today. My online friend, a young woman in NM, got C. Diff again. She found my blog in July and emailed me. We talked back and forth. I got better, then she got better. We were glad. But 11 days after she finished the med she fell ill again. She saw the doctor today. I am so sad for her. It's like a blow to my chest. I looked on the calendar and I got well on July 8th. It seems so long ago now. Perhaps I should collect the healing verses from the Bible that helped me and send them to her. She's real down. She's real blue, but trying not to be pessimistic. It's hard. It's a hard trial having your health taken no matter what age, but especially when you're young.

Fish fry

We're goin' to a fish fry at the ranch today. I'm making brownies to share. Mmmm, they smell so good. I cut them smaller than usual so more people will get a piece. I hate being awake all night long though. After we some home from these things I'm sleepless in Seattle. Too much brightness and straight, fast, colors in my mind. No sound. Even my usual ruminations are wiped out. Superseded. The next day is not pleasant. I'd think I'd be able to control it by now. I've tried to embrace it, ignore it, analyze it, go with it, drink it away (well, one shot of whiskey), dismiss it. Meh, same all the time since I was 16. One thing for sure, I'm not having a shot (o' whiskey) to try to sleep. I've had no alcohol for four months and I'm keeping it that way. The devil can kiss my ass. That's what Martin Luther said when he had a beer. I'm having no beer, I never liked beer anyway, and am using the same sentiment. When I say it, my husband looks at me like I said a four letter word. I'm not quite sure why not drinking is a good character trait, but I can see that it might be damaging to my witness. Not because I abuse it, but others do. I think that's it? Anyhoo, in my discipleship I sense a rightness in letting go of the alcohol. For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Isaiah 50: 7

I have five of eight godets done. It's pronounced go-DEBT, as in go-DET. I've been pronouncing it wrong. At least I never said it to anyone who knows how to pronounce it. That would have been embarrassing. Once I went to the store and asked for joe-joe-bah oil. And once I went to the store and asked for grahs-grain ribbon. I destroy the English language.

We did Ogden Nash poems today. Our son liked Nash's writings best of all. We finished reading some of Lewis Carroll's writing and Edward Lear (limericks) last week.

My friend has entered her pups into a contest and you can vote once a day for them. If you want to help them win will you please go to:

The Four Little Munchkins

The little munchkins really want to win! Thanks!

I'm optimistic

I cut the pieces out. You see four pattern pieces and each one has four fabric pieces cut out. This pattern is easy. I've sewn in one godet - seven more to go. The point is a little tricky, but the first one turned out well. I hope it wasn't a fluke. If it turns out, I think a second one would be ultra cute if the godets are a contrasting fabric.

But you wanna see a killer diller cute skirt? This one she calls her rainbow patchwork skirt and it has 520 squares at the hemline! Now that's what sweet dreams are made of. -->

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=23be45dbb34b775015fb5f68b8b71da5&topic=259659.0

I'm sewing

I have purple cotton and I cut out the pieces today. I'm making a skirt with godets. It'll be a lot of sewing, but easy, straight sewing. My trailie is too little for me to lay out the fabric so I took it to the conference room. They let me lay it out on the floor there! Those rangers are so nice. I love park rangers.

He said

This morning when I took lunch to my husband he called me his little dumpling. It made my day.

We went for a family drive in the evening. Our son's friends went to the movies in Cruces but our son doesn't care for movies. (He'll only watch mostly old ones, classics, except the Stooges aren't classic are they?) His other friend was gone to a birthday party. We had to think of something to do with just us. We decided we needed to go on a drive - to get in shape for going to Wyoming on Thursday. Haha!

Then we saw a place in the lake where a lot of white cranes were feeding. They were so pretty.

Oh dear

Typo, typo, typo alert! I meant "He who permits evil commits evil." Not "He who commits evil permits evil" Oh dear. But you know what I meant right? Right. :)

Smooth

I like the song "Smooth" by Santana. I'm going to buy it. I saw on YouTube, a girl belly dancing to it and she's a doll. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNeTKUGIK_I I belly dance to non-Middle Eastern music and it's refreshing to see someone else do it. Suddenly I'm not so weird! She has a great smile and beautiful hips. I think I found two skirts I like at dahlal.com.

We opened the front door today after watching the movie The Black Stallion, and burnt orange light flooded the trailer. Oh it was gorgeous. Earlier, we had rain and thunder and lightning so we decided to make brownies and watch a movie. We put blankets over the windows to make it dark inside. When the movie was over we opened up and it was like entering The Wizard of Oz. Whew. You don't get many days like that. Never had a single such day in all my 46 years in Southern California. In one direction, fiery orange clouds; in the other direction dark gray, in between the two, a rainbow! The heavens declare the glory of God.

For school we talked about the saying "He who commits evil permits evil." The following is from our text. Henry A. Overstreet said that this is what makes for the haunting sense of guilt in our culture. Many a member of the dominant group will earnestly aver that he never intended that Negroes should be insulted and maltreated: that his heart is sore and ashamed when he reads of the defiling of the Jewish synagogues by hoodlums. He did not intend these things, but he created the social sanction for these things.

And we discussed that the current health care reform permits federal funds to be used to abort Americans who are as yet unborn. Should we stand silent and say and do nothing, or should we be active and say and do something. If so, what.

I'm reading Ronald Reagan's autobiography. It's full of information about Ronnie! Of course!

He used the term "veiled socialism," referring to the programs FDR started, and contends that handouts destroy the human spirit. He said FDR's son told him that FDR never intended for the government programs to become permanent. He meant to help those in need during the Depression, but that once a bureaucracy is born it never goes away. Reagan is a tither. Was a tither. He gave the Lord 10% since he was a little boy. His mama taught him about faith. The other day Glenn Beck said that one of our presidents, forget which one, was talking to the Russian leader Khrushchev and our prez was boasting about capitalism. Khrushchev laughed and said that when socialism comes it creeps in slowly. Those aren't his exact words, but that's the idea. Made me think. It's helping me form my thoughts.

The brownies turned out super good! Lately, I'm hooked on the brownies.

Clean

Today I cleaned the bathroom mirror and the bathroom sinks. I cleaned 'em and they're clean. They look clean. We had to have the trailer repair man come inside and so I didn't want him to see spittle and toothpaste on the mirror and dirt ringing the sinks.

My husband said we should have the trailer repair guy over a lot more often. Why I oughta.

Hi

I don't own a tv so I can't watch the Keith Olbermann show. I admit, the first time you signed me up to the Huffington Post I smiled. I thought it was mildly funny in a mischievous way, but it's not funny if you keep doing it.

So if you don't go away and leave me alone I'll put forth the effort to track you. I can access the IP address of every visitor to this blog. If one of the sites will share with me the originating IP address of the individual who signed me up and it matches an IP addy of anyone who visits here, I will contact the internet service provider and complain. They'll have your IP address and your billing address. The Internet is anonymous, but not that anonymous.

I'm against health care reform because our nation hasn't got the means to pay for it. There are other reasons, but that's the big one. I'm not against it for all time but the way it's looking right now in 2009, I'm fully against it. I'm against cap and trade environmental policy. I think it should be called cap and tax. And where are all the jobs Obama promised with the passage of the $787 billion dollar stimulus package? There's no possible way to count how many jobs have or haven't been created and it sure hasn't been the millions he promised. I don't want to see taxes raised. Taxes on the wealthiest one percent of Americans is already 40% of gross income and in 1987 that number was 27%. Do you know that the tax revolt of the original Boston Tea Party in 1773 was a protest against a three cent tax? I'm against taking from the wealthy and redistributing it to the poor because I believe what you work for is what you get. When I was poor and on welfare I had Medi-CAL coverage. I worked full time the whole time I was on welfare and paid most of my income for my baby to be in daycare. It was hard. I got handouts from a food bank. You do what you have to do when you got nuthin', but you don't expect to be taken care of by the government. Our poorest poor are still better off than the poor in other countries. Name another country where you find obese poor people. Can't.

I'm a red-blooded American. The real deal. I started with nothing like a lot of people have. My mom and dad started with nothing. My kids are Republicans and my grandbaby is a future Republican. My daughter-in-law grew up in Tijuana which ain't pretty, and she works hard and is putting herself through college. That's the fabric of the America I know. I believe in self-reliance, family, faith, small government, and that the colonists and Founders of the United States of America who wrote our Constitution and the Bill of Rights said what they meant and meant what they said. Ronald Reagan said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'

I agree!

I've got the huevos to say what I think and if you don't like it, don't read it. Go away. The people voted in Obama and the people are getting what they asked for. Who cares what the Republicans think. They haven't got enough votes to change anything anyway, so what do you care what I blog? But I didn't vote for Barry aka Barack Hussein Obama and I don't support him or the Democratic Congress. I don't know how it turned out that McCain ever got to the Republican nomination either, but oh well.

And when I send emails, I always sign my name so people know who it's from. Some of our friends like Obama still, but they don't send me anonymous email. Sheesh. Get a life.

Sunday

Whenever our son comes home and I'm here by myself, he's taking to shouting through the crack of the door, "SURROUND THE PLACE, CHARLIE!" Where in the world did he get that from!

A bit of flu

This week our son brought home the stomach flu. Everyone thought it was a toxic reaction to blue-green algae in the lake. Two kids even had an official report written up by the park people to record their illness. I was sure he had the blue-green algae, cyanobacteria, illness too. We were calling it the Elephant Butte Puke. But. What? Then my husband got it, then I got it! It wasn't the water; it was the flu! And an ugly flu it was. Who needs to hear the flu described? I don't. You don't. We all know what the stomach flu does.

Terrible sighting today. We saw a roadrunner eat a Gambel's Quail chick. Horrible. I hope I never see it again. Actually, I think he killed it quick, but it was awful to see. I feed the birds birdseed. I'm not putting out any more birdseed until the babies are bigger. It was awful. I know it's nature doing its thing, but I love the baby quail. They're precocial you know. That means that as soon as they're born they can walk and talk and eat. If they're altricial, that means they're hatched bald, blind, can't walk and have to be fed by their parents. The photo is a baby and a male, daddy probably. See the baby's plume? It's flat on his head. It doesn't stick up yet.


I made a daisy chain bracelet. It's kinda cute. It was going to be an eyeglass chain, but it was coming out too short for that. It's not really made right, but no one has to know that but me. Don't click to enlarge. I need to wax my armies.

I'm slightly annoyed. I went to Classmates.com and added my grandbaby's pic to my profile. What do I see? A guy that I liked added his profile. He was such a nice guy and treated me so well. Hhmph. Does he write me? He does not. You know what I'm sick of. Guys who can't write three decades later because their wives will not like it. What kind of marriage is that, I ask you? My husband doesn't mind if I email a guy that I knew in high school. It's not like I'm leaving my husband. It's not like I'm in love with anyone except him. I think something is drastically lacking if a person can't even write a person from years ago without some kind of weird jealously thing going on. That's just weird. Isn't it? Or is it me? Could be me ya know. Wouldn't be the first time I'm the weird one. Sheesh. I don't know why I bother having good memories about people. I should just throw them all away. They're not worth anything to anyone except me anyways. On the other hand, could be they simply have no inclination to write and that's not necessarily good, bad, or indifferent. In which case, then I'm really full of myself. That's even worse.

On the up side. What is the up side? I gotta think of one. Oh, on the up side, I'm washing my hair tomorrow. And I wore a Jackie Bun to church last Monday night. I was pleased with how it came out. In contrast, I have to try a lot of times to get my Hypno Bun to look like I want. I guess tomorrow is measuring day. I forgot about it till just now.

Going to the library

McKenzie and I are going to the library now!

Sat night

I'm sleepin' outside under the stars and the crescent moon tonight.

Friday

My grandbaby, Lilyana.

Here comes Friday. All day. Goodie!

We have a short homeschool day. He's finishing his outline about Eleanor Roosevelt.

Our son sends me photos from his Blackberry. I like this one a lot. She's a pretty little thing and she's got lips that'd put Angelina Jolie to shame. Boy, if I had lips like that I'd wear lipstick every day.

Our son talked a blue streak on the phone tonight. I miss him.

There was a coyote yapping right outside a few minutes ago. I opened the door quiet as a mouse, but he heard me and stopped. It was pitch black and I couldn't see him. Darn it.

Lately, I've been wishing for an endeavor of my own. Something. But I don't know what so that doesn't help me at all. I love homeschooling, for sure. And this is a season in my life. I know that. But can't some chapters blend a little. I was thinking of offering to do something at church, to serve, but I don't know what they need. Besides, twice I've helped at a church and twice it turned out badly. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.

One time I redesigned a church web site. I improved navigation, made the pages uniform, added some animation, and made it more appealing. The pastor loved it. Their webmaster wasn't happy with it though. He was mean. He was there long before I was and he was not pleased with my enthusiasm. I left and went to a new church up the street because he hurt my feelings so much. And then here, I was the photog for VBS last year and after taking photos of three hundred little kids having fun for five days, I put together a video and on Sunday the sound girl proceeded to play it all the way through on fast forward. I don't even like taking human pictures, but I did it cause they asked me. If I offer to help out at their private school I'm afraid they'll put me in the library entering books into the computer with Dewey decimal numbers. I did it one day just to help Helen out. It was so dull I could hardly stay awake. And once the pastor asked me if I wanted to be in the chorus because he saw I like to sing, but my voice is awful. I don't know how he could think to ask me to do that? And it's a teeny chorus. If someone heard my voice it would be a bad thing. Helen, now she sings pretty.

So I'm reluctant to take action. I'll just complain to myself some more I guess. This post should be rightly titled "Dissatisfaction with Self," but I like "Goodie, it's Friday" better.

Where's the Press?

I watched a clip of Obama last night and the press were just sitting quietly in their chairs. No yelling out questions, no raising hands. No excitement! They looked like zombies. What's happened to the fourth estate of democracy? (I just learned about that in sixth grade history!) And it's peculiar that a president is commenting on daily news - referring to the incident with the Harvard professor and the police. The professor and the police are both at fault. I think they both could have behaved better. The policeman could have diffused the situation better and the professor should have identified himself as the owner from the git-go and thanked the officer for checking on his house.

At least the moderate Dems are slowing the process down with health care reform. I hope it'll die. It doesn't matter what Republicans think since they have no power anyway. We Republicans are a non-issue! Aaaaugh. I need, I need. . . .

Lenticular beginning

I saw this last month. I thought it might be a lenticular cloud in the process of developing but this was as lens-like as it got. Still, it's an usual cloud.

We have a neighbor boy. He's about five years old and he sees shapes in the clouds. He's so cute. He'll look up and say, "There a kitten and its mama." And my son will look up and sure enough. He can see a kitten and its mama.

I have four passages from the Bible memorized. My husband is impressed. I'm starting a new one tomorrow, Hebrews 4:12!

I still feel well. I am so happy! My husband gave me the okay, and I'm gonna send my doctor and his assistant, Sarah, some flowers. She was so responsive and caring and she answered my questions and called in my prescriptions from several states away. She is one sharp girl.

Our son has one book review to write and he's done with sixth grade composition! And at swim lesson today his teacher invited him to join the swim team next year.

Eeep

This little dog scared me!

We have to be careful because sometimes peoples' dogs want to bite us when we check them in. This little dog gave me a start! Haha! I get a boot out of him! (See, he's a ceramic dog.)

Today

Today I am grateful for moderate Democrats who are reading the proposed health reform bill that Obama is trying to rush through. Obama is not sure of exactly what provisions are in it. That's what he said. Why, why? Why doesn't the media bang on this!? I'll tell you why. Because there is no media reporting the news. Ninety percent of reporting is propaganda.

I'm jumping in the shower and we're going to the library today. I want to get our son Black Beauty. He ate up The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He's never read a novel so fast before!

Pray out LOUD cause it makes the devil nervous. Prayer is the Christian's arsenal. It's a hotline to heaven.

The Holy Spirit put a verse in my mind and I memorized it without even trying. It's Hebrews 13:8 and says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

And I am still well today, thank you Lord. We serve a great and mighty God.

That's what I'm talkin' about

Saw this truck in the parking lot at Wal-Mart today!

Our church designed and is selling some bumper stickers. One says, "Yes, this is a Christian nation." It's in response to Obama's Middle East visit where on two occasions he said we are no longer a Christian nation. Forty-three presidents have called this a Christian nation and now the 44th says we're not. In Turkey on April 6th he continued by saying, “We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country.”

What? I don't think so!

Today I still feel good. Tomorrow's the hump day. I'm expecting to be fine, but I have niggling worry in my mind. All day today I've had a pre-menstrual, perimenopausal headache. I took Tylenol, but I'm afraid to take anything else. I'll take a headache over colitis any day though!

I made tacos for dinner and everyone liked them.

The sky is beautiful and the birds are sweet and I'm storing up God's wisdom in my heart.

We're gonna watch the movie Twister now.

Last pill

I took the last Vancomycin this afternoon. No more pills! I'm anxious and excited. And I hope no evil C. Diff spores will bloom and start taking over again. My body is on its own. I feel so good that I've almost forgotten how bad I felt. I notice I don't feel great if I drink a large glass of milk or eat a big bowl of ice cream, so I'll only have little glasses and little bowls. I love the Lord so much I feel I might burst!

Whuh?

The other day I got a letter in the mail. It started, "We notice you've had a birthday." I quit reading after that because I thought it was a happy birthday business greeting from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Awful nice of them, I thought. My husband asked what it said, and I told him, and he seemed perplexed. I picked it up and read it to him out loud and, oops, I noticed after noticing my birthday they also told me that because I'm now 50 our monthly insurance has an automatic increase. Ouch. Just throw some salt on it why don't they!

Didn't work out

Aw, there will be no photo documenting this hair style. It's only been three hours and from the middle on down it just looks frizzy. Failure.

Sunrays to blog

Monsoon season in New Mexico

On Sunday night I put my hair in six braids like Jen did. Only thing is, I never got around to taking them out today. And boy do I look a fright now. I will take them out in the morning and if I look like anything good I'll have my son take a photo. Son has a swim lesson at noon so I have somewhere to wear them - the city pool!

We had a remarkable sunset yesterday. There was a big hole in the clouds and as I was raking rocks I took a few pics. Lately I've been going everywhere with a camera on my shoulder because so many things have been coming to my eyes. I think it's because I feel good and not bad. I have one and a half days left of medicine. Then! I plan to stay well. Psalm 103:1-4.

I'm making a daisy chain. It was going to be an eyeglass necklace but it's going to be too short. I might make it a bracelet then make a matching necklace. It's bronze and light champagne colored beads, but they sure look nice together. I'm surprised the brown hue looks so pretty.

Homeschooling went well. He will finish grade six Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics (GUM) on Friday. It's his favorite subject. I might, that is, might ask them to plug us directly into 7th grade GUM. Or, he might just take the time to focus on other topics. I'm letting him decide.

Hypno Bun

Hypno Bun?

It's my accomplishment of the day. Well, it is Saturday so I get to do mostly what I want to do today. This is two sides of the same bun. A few hairs escaped staying behind the hair stick, but it's still (I think) a lovely bun. It's so not plain!


The link to the video to create this style by 4ypn0tica which I heard about from Miriam is at The Hypno Bun. She is so talented with the updos. Today I tried multiple times. It kept falling down. But I kept trying till I got it to stay. The design it makes is quite pretty. I was making an extra loop with my extra hair but my son put the kaibosh on it. He didn't like the extra loop. So I'm sticking with Hynotica's instructions. I've had it up for 3 1/2 hours so far and it has stayed!

Gasp! GeoCities?

I got an email last night. GeoCities is closing down all their free sites and deleting the files on October 26th. Horror of horrors! What a bummer. It was 1997 when I set up my first page there. It was a family page. It was hardly legible because I used a purple galaxy background and purple text. I loved that page! I thought it was beautiful and when someone told me it was hard to read I was quite offended. I didn't change it for six months at which time, I did concede it might be a little hard on the eyes. It was purple though! You can't have too much purple. It's impossible. I had so much fun and connected with such nice moms online who helped me tremendously with preschool education and forming my educational philosophy. That very first page is long gone and how I wish I had saved the files. It would be a hoot to see my first page now.

When our son was seven months old I looked into his eyes and knew I would homeschool him. Before that, I regarded homeschooling as being for wackos. I was fortunate that we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and there was an excellent homeschool group that welcomed the littles in the area. The mothers were so nice and helpful and didn't make feel silly for wanting to get involved so soon even though our son wasn't even school age yet.

I'm going to have to download and save all my files from my one, last, free site that still exists http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Forest/2468/index.html. I quit working on it seven years ago because when kindergarten started I no longer had time to work on it. Gee, I worked so hard to get a few links to it. Now it'll be all gone; a whisper in the wind. It's the end of an era.

My first lightning

There was lightning all around us tonight. It's part of what I love about New Mexico and about monsoon season. I think it's my favorite time of year.

I've wanted to photograph lightning for the longest time. I was overwhelmed with finding the settings though and when an awesome storm was nearby I was scared to go out. Plus, who wants to get their camera wet! Guess I had a little confidence going since I captured some fireworks.

My first lightning picture. I caught lightning striking in the town. It started to rain so I had to come inside. This new venture promises to be an exciting endeavor but bein' chicken hearted I'm only willing to get out there ifns the bolts are plenty far away. Not bad for a first try. Actually, a second try. I tried a couple years ago in Moab, Utah, and flopped.

And I've been well for three days in a row. I had no being uncomfortable or tender tummied at all today! I read that buttermilk is good to soothe the colon so my husband bought me some and I drank a glass. I gave it a taste then I had to drink it fast because it tastes horrible. It's like drinking sour cream. Yuk. But I haven't felt this well since June 5th so I will drink some every day if it'll keep me feeling good.

A man here and gone

A lawyer from Colorado visited last month. He lay down on a sheet of plastic. Put on a beanie. Covered his head with a towel. And shot himself dead in the head. It is so sad. It was the neatest and easiest clean up. He must have been a very thoughtful person when alive.

National and state parks seem to be a draw for people who decide to commit suicide. Is it the solitude. The peace? From dust we come and to dust we shall return? I was at another park once. I think it was Joshua Tree National Park which used to be Joshua Tree National Monument when I lived near it in the '70s. I recall a ranger saying they always immediately investigate cars parked near the roadside when they can't see a driver anywhere. Something about parks attracts people bent on ending it.

A bicyclist was riding by and heard a single gunshot. He stopped and told the guy it's not safe to fire a weapon in this area. The guy said he was just testing the gun. Bicyclist went into the bathroom. Heard another gunshot. Went outside and the man was dead. He killed himself.

They said he had a really beautiful truck too.

Bird

Pyrrhuloxia, male
Easy to remember name: Gray Cardinal
Species: Cardinalis sinuatus
Location: Elephant Butte Lake, NM, USA

We have five of them! There's a mama, a daddy, and three babies. I think this is the daddy bird because he has the most color.

I raked our rocks and pebbles into a design. It doesn't show much. Maybe in the morning light it'll show. I told my husband to tell me in the morning if he sees it.

Took our son to the doctor. He couldn't hear out of one ear and turns out it was wax build-up. The doctor got quite a bit out. He cleans his ears well and I couldn't see the wax myself, but it was stuck in there all right. He was on the brink of crying because you know how it hurts to have your ears poked.

There are four bunnies outside my window now. I see two quail making their way over here. They see the seed I put out a little while ago. In a few days bet I'll have lots of quail to watch.

I had a pretty good day. Today I feel like I'm getting better finally, again. Warning: reference to a bodily function follows. I had a normal bm today. Woohoo! Party on! One does not appreciate the fine mechanical aspects of the human body until it does not work right. Then, you appreciate it. I am so proud that I noted it on our wall calendar. Haha! How's that for no more shyness about bodily functions. I had some discomfort, like how it feels when you have a low tummy ache from the flu, so I took it easy because I must still be wimpy. I would like to exercise, but am afraid it will exacerbate things, so I will wait. I hope and I pray tomorrow will be a good day too. Two good days in a row. If I have a third it will be a new record.

Tuesday

It's a Guinea Fowl. Took me two weeks to figure out what it was and it was my mom who told me. About five of them were alongside the road. They're a poultry bird. Poor things. They have a beautiful partridge body and an ugly ol' vulture head. They weren't shy at all.

I've felt fine all day, though somewhat lethargic, so I'm worried tomorrow will be a bad day. We'll see.

I raked the site today and it looks nice. I was inspired by the lady next door named Ann who said she lost two inches from her waistline working here raking sites! She's 70 years old and you'd never know it by looking at her. And she had the most beautiful southern accent. I say had because they left today. Continuing on their travels.

In New Mexico it's too dry for green grass lawns. Everyone has rocks. Many people rake their rocks. Crazy, I know. But for a campsite it really does look nice to pull in to a neatly raked site. It looks clean and fresh and inviting. As I was raking I thought this could be like a total meditative practice. Yes, little Grasshopper, it can. At Huntington Gardens in San Marino there was a Japanese Zen garden and the sand was raked into a wavy design and they rake it into different designs on different days too. I could do that! Wouldn't it cool to pull into a specially designed design in the rocks of your campsite? Oh this has potential. They might come out and see me and ask me how I came up with this idea and they'll want to put a photo of my neatly raked unique designs and patterns in the newspaper with a special inset picture of me. It'll be like those posters where you have to stare and stare to relax your eyes and see the picture. Other people would want to do it too. Pretty soon people in town would do it. Maybe it would spread all over New Mexico. And I would get all the credit for this amazing concept. Maybe my idea would jump continents and Australia will do it too.

But the Japanese already got whole the raking idea in about the tenth century. Details, details, ruining my daydream.

Something about Sarah

In biblical history it only took a handful of people, one imperfect person at a time, to change the world. Remember Esther, Saul who became Paul, Abraham who was first to hear God's voice, Moses, the 12 disciples of Jesus?

What is it about Sarah that the media jumps on her and slanders her so? Why does she frighten the liberal media so much? It is a certain something, for sure. Of 18 legal cases against her, all ethics complaints I think, 17 were dismissed and on one she paid $10,000 back for taking her children traveling with her.

It's been said that when God opens the gates of heaven, Satan will open the gates of hell. That's what I think is going on. Forty-three presidents have called the USA a Christian nation. Now the 44th president says this is no longer a Christian nation. The enemy, Satan and his demons, control the media. I can hardly find any truth being reported. Couple days ago read an interview with Colin Powell who noted the obvious saying Obama is spending too much money and his ideas for more government and more taxes are a concern. Yeah buddy, it's a concern. That's an understatement. None of the major media outlets picked it up.

A headline says Michael Jackson is America's Princess Diana. Michael Jackson was a pedophile. He was absolutely gifted with talent, but he mismanaged his money and owed millions. He didn't have God in his life. That's why he went so wrong. Even with all that talent, money, and adoration, without walking in the light of God, look how he ended up. Can't they put entertainment news on the entertainment page instead of making it headline news?

On Saturday our friend, Ben, said he thinks now that he made a mistake voting for Obama. I told him softly, yeah, I think so too. We got quiet for a minute. He kicked a pebble with his toe.

Everyone's watching Sarah Palin. She's had the nerve to say the over spending and governmental growth of Obama's administration is immoral. When people hear the truth even when they don't want to listen, they hear it. That's the thing about Sarah. She says it plain and the media hates her for it.

Some guy in Iowa got his own Sarah Palin 2012 sign made up and he put it on his car. I got a boot out of that, so found one to stick on my blog. I still love Sarah! I guess I'm part of the base. Solidly. The other day I read an article about her and her running and I went out and did a jog walk. It felt great! Man, I love Sarah.

Fireworks pic

On Saturday I drove around for an hour scoping out a site to photograph the show. Spent all that time and ended up walking to the end of the dirt road here. The newspaper guy took photos from the hill, but I went checked it out and if I wanted to include foreground there would be telephone poles in the frame. That's no good. I'm not in favor of telephone wires in photos.

I've been feeling good and bad. I ate one piece of pizza and one brownie last night. Also went on a trash pick-up walk and got hot in the afternoon. Today I had a bad morning. It must be either the pizza, brownie, or walk that my colon didn't like. Am I an Einstein or what. I want another brownie really bad. I made 'em more cakey instead of chewy by using three eggs instead of two, but I like chewy ones better. Maybe it wasn't the brownie that made me feel bad. Maybe it was the pizza? Or the walk? How can I say when I did all three in one day. I've added oatmeal to my diet hoping it'll help. Man, this is pathetic. I'm blogging oatmeal now. Maybe I'll write a book, Me And My Colon. Has it been written already?

The trash left behind by the campers is unbelievable. We even saw a group of about 30 people who were so filthy they camped amidst their own trash. How can anybody do that? They left so much garbage behind that my husband had to rake it. It was too much to pick up piece by piece! Cigarette butts, bottle tops, beer cans, paper towels, toilet paper, plates, fruit rinds, candy wrappers, dog pooh. What I hate most is glass bottles because they break and the babies (or anyone) can cut themselves walking in the sand. I could smell pee in one area which means somebody didn't even bother to walk to the restroom. It's pretty disgusting. Trash pick-up alone will keep all the volunteers busy for a couple weeks. What ever happened to that song, "Please, please, don't be a litterbug!"

I used a new technique to get my fireworks pictures. I got a paper plate and stapled black felt to one side and cut it into a circle. In order to catch more than one burst in a frame you need to leave the shutter open a long time. Problem is, you can easily over expose the photo. When I heard the fireworks being released I opened the shutter and kept it open, then when the sky went dark I covered it and when another firework exploded I moved the plate away to catch the light. I did it on manual setting! That means I told my camera what to do, it didn't tell me what to do. I was on manual setting for exposure, f/11 aperture, 29 second shutter speed, ISO 100, 22mm focal length, Bulb mode which allows longer exposures, and my ultra wide 10-22 mm lens. I had a lot of fun. Too bad 4th of July fireworks happen only once a year. I'm having trouble deciding which of the two above I like best. I think the campers and lake shore are neat to see, but the darker photo makes the fireworks look better. Also, including the foreground makes the fireworks themselves smaller because they're a little farther away.

My oldest aunt has to have surgery. My dad phoned me and told me. I hope they find what's wrong. She's in her mid-80s and she a super neat lady. She's a redhead, or, used to be a redhead and she has the best sense of humor. Her kids, my cousins, they're neat people too.