Week 47

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Nick had two soccer games, one right after the other.  He was playing for the John Marshall Junior team which is an honor since they’ve only asked younger players to join them twice.  We worry  since most of the kids are older and much larger than Nick.

Monday, November 16, 2009

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous!  It’s been pretty, sunny, and warm – around 60 during the days.  I took a photo of the mums out front today!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A neighbor has this bush that gets these pretty berries in the fall.  I’m not sure what it is – but then I know very little about bushes and plants.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

One of Rick’s plants that we need to bring indoors.  It’s really gotten large this year!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Just took a photo of the leaves on the sidewalk today.  Katie is no longer white but a dirty gray from walking through all the leaves.  I wish people would clean them up but they would probably say to keep my dog at home, but she loves her walks.  On a different note, Rick go his H1N1 shot today.  I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to get one.  With all the lung infections he gets, he really needed one!

Friday, November 20, 2009

As soon as soccer finished, Sarah started her ice skating lessons.  She started last year.  We took her to the first couple and lessons and this is the first time that we’ve seen her skate since.  She has improved so much!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Today was the Xmas parade in Moundsville.  It was great – around 55 degrees so you didn’t freeze.  Of course you needed a jacket but it was nice not to freeze your buns off!  We took the kids since Susan was working and Mike busy!

I played with this photo in lightroom and used a preset that isolated just the red.

It’s nice to be caught up again!!!

Week 46 – November 8 - 14

I’m still having trouble finding things to take a halfway interesting photo. But I do have photos this week.

We put pumpkins on the steps for fall.  It’s almost time to throw them away so I ran out to take a photo.  We also had ferns on the steps this year too.  These are a best looking ferns we’ve ever had.

Susan and the kids came down for a while Monday night.  I snapped a photo of Sarah.  She’s at the age now where it’s hard to get a decent photo.

The weather has just been beautiful.  I saw this woodpecker on the lamp post out back.

 

Seeing this fellow gave me an idea.  He was a couple of years old when I got Molly in 1997.  His name is Boo and he lives across the street with a couple of large dogs.  He was never afraid of Molly and they played together for years.  I thought he had died but he’s still going.  He’s around 17 or 18 years old now.  He was jet black when he was younger.

Since I took a photo of Boo, I’ll have to photograph the other cats I see as I walk around the block.  This one lives just down the street.  Katie would like to get close but this one doesn’t like dogs at all.  She did pose very nicely for me.

I’ve been seeing this one for several months.  It stays under my porch and deck alot.  I can’t find out who it belongs too.  It may be a stray but it looks like someone has been feeding it.  It’s pretty small and young.  It’s really beautiful and even though I’m not really a cat person, I would take it in if Rick wouldn’t string me up.  I’m sure it most belong to someone.  I saw it for the first time the day I found the baby bunny which was in July.

Nick played a home hockey game on Saturday for the Wheeling Nailer’s kids team, so we went and I took some photos.  He’s grown alot this year.

So now I’m caught up on the photos but still behind on layouts.  Maybe I can keep caught up now!  But no promises.

Week 45 Photos

Gas prices here went up so here’s another photo for the record.  It’s amazing how much lower prices are in different parts of the country.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Monday, November 2, 2009

Picture of the cattails in the pond.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Since it’s been so nice, we’ve been sitting outside.  I took some more photos of the birds.  I didn’t notice this until I downloaded the photos on the computer and took a closer look.  This was cool – look at it closely.  I call it mirror image.  It looks like a reflection but it is actually two birds – one on each side of the apple.  I had to really lighten the photo for you to see the second bird.

 

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Our living room furniture is starting to look a little shabby and old, especially the chairs.  The couch has some spots I can’t seem to get out and the covers are starting to wear.  So I went to look for a new couch and chairs.  This is the old stuff.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

I found something yesterday so Rick went with me today to make sure he likes it too.  I didn’t get the original couch because the arms were sloped downward which were uncomfortable and I didn’t notice.  We settled for this couch in a different fabric.  I like the fabric it had on it, but it’s not suitable for a dog like Katie.  She has really big muddy feet! So we ordered the couch and chair in another fabric.  We also got a new recliner.  It won’t be delivered until sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This is the style of the couch:

This is the fabric we decided on.  I hope we like it when it gets here!

 

Of course the colors are still close to what we had, but unless I change the whole downstairs, I’m sort of locked into those colors.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Still having major computer problems.  I feel like I’ve been living in this chair the past few weeks trying to find the problem.  My desktop computer station!  Yes, I have all those stuffed animals on my desk – I was deprived as a child!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Katie doing her thing to keep the yard clear of the birds.  She takes her job very seriously.

Week 44 Photos

Sunday, October 25, 2009

This is an older photo I took of the prison.  This is 3 photos blended into one. I also did an effect called the Orton effect.  It makes it look really spooky.  The prison was closed several years ago and now it has tours, hosts the training for law enforcement officers, and is a haunted house for the month of October.  I did go down and take new photos but they’ve done some remodeling and I couldn’t get good shots.  I really had to reduce it to get it on the blog but I hope you can see it.

Monday, October 26, 2009

The wheels on the camper looked awful so Rick ordered new wheel covers for it.  They arrived today. 

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Today’s photo is Rick putting the wheels on the camper.  I played with this photo in Adobe Lightroom 3 beta. 

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

We had dinner with another old friend we had lost touch with.  We all get busy with our lives and sometimes just don’t keep in touch as much as we should.  This is our good friend Billie Jo.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Today is Sarah’s eight birthday.  They’ve all been pretty sick so she had just gone back to school Wednesday.

Blowing out the candle!

Friday, October 30, 2009

I took a photo of an dried up sunflower head.  Since starting this project which is supposed to improve your photography, I tend to just take photos to get my picture of the day.  I really don’t think it’s improved my photography but made it worse.  I don’t experiment like I used to do.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!! Today is Susan & Mike’s 15th wedding anniversary. Wow, that makes me feel old.  It’s also the first time in years we haven’t been home to give out candy.  Our good friend Tim is 60 today so we went to his birthday party.  Since I only get between 10 & 20 kids for Halloween, they probably won’t even notice.

Here’s Tim with Father Time and the Grim Reaper.  What guests to show up at your party!

Week 43 Photos

 

I’m really hard up for photos this week.  The desktop still freezes and has to be rebooted all the time.  The tech decided it was my internet connection and Comcast decided it was my computer, so I’m back to trying to fix it myself.  Since we’re into Halloween stuff I took some photos of my Halloween things.

Sunday, October 18

Here’s my Halloween Katie pin that I had made.  I wish I was this talented.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Here’s my Halloween pin that I made when I still had Molly.  I just can’t get the hang of it.  I made several but they broke so this is the last one I have.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

This project didn’t turn out too bad.  I painted and sanded the letters and then did the clay.  I wish this had been my idea but it’s from a clay instruction booklet.  But it’s cute! I downloaded Adobe’s free beta for Lightroom 3 and played with a preset.  The photo turned out nice but it took the pink color from the ghost’s cheeks.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

This was my cocker witch statue.  I didn’t do so great on this one! I got the ideal for this one and the next one from an Ebay listing. 

Thursday, October 22, 2009

This is best one I’ve ever done.  I even managed to duplicate it once.  I’ve tried a dozen times since then to make another really good dog sculpture but failed.   I’ve tried to do Katie’s coloring and thrown the results in the trash can.  I guess this is my crowning clay  achievement. 

Friday, October 23, 2009

I did a witch from one of the instruction booklets but she didn’t turn out like I wanted either.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The last thing I made in clay were some pins.  I made three of these each slightly different.  I think this is the last time I did anything with the clay although I’ve been thinking about going down and playing again.

See what happens when I can’t find interesting to photograph.  Maybe next time I’ll photo all my cocker statues!