Sunday my husband and I were outside cleaning up around the property. I think it is safe to say that I don’t like to get dirty with any substance that I don’t know what it is. Cleaning up around the property always involves touching dirty things. Dirty things that have been sitting where they lay for a really long time are always covered with more than just dirt. So, while he was picking up around the corn crib I decided to cut down some trumpet vine from around the well house. Trumpet vine is a weed in my book! Those seed pods it puts off in the fall end up everywhere and I have as yet to find a way to kill it. While cutting down the trumpet vine I had to cut down the decorative grass that the trumpet vine is trying to take over. I get to the very back of the patch right next to the well house and see this stock panel just covered in these cute little jumpy grasshoppers. I don’t know about you but photographing grasshoppers sounds like so much more fun than getting all sweaty cutting weeds.
Unfortunately after taking photos I had to get back to work. Somedays I wish we lived in town so we didn’t have to keep up with such a huge property but then I realize that if we lived in town my husband would spend a lot more time inside. Needless to say I absolutely love living in the country!
This year for the fourth of July celebrations we were down at my parents neck of the woods. Thurman always puts on a really good fireworks show. I think everyone in the country has heard about the flooding that is currently happening in the southwest corner of Iowa. Thurman is in that little corner. These fireworks were shot off at the old Thurman School Gym yard. Before it got dark you could look out and see water in the fields to the west of the school. I know I should have gotten the photo of it but was busy with family and friends. We are all hoping that the water doesn’t get into Thurman. It really is sad enough losing Bartlett, McPaul, Percival and all the land and homesteads in between.
With that being said here are my favorites of the night.
I LOVE the above photo. It is a photo of one of the loud boom fireworks usually used to announce when they are getting ready to shoot off more. You know the five minute cannon…
The finale filled the sky right above us.
I was using a Nikon D7000 with the 18-55mm kit lense at 18mm f22 set on bulb. I had not planned on being in that area for the 4th. Truthfully I had planned on being home way before then. Therefore I didn’t have my tripod so I am extremely pleased with how these turned out. Next year I hope to have my tripod and a chair away from my little boy who was rather persistent in shaking my chair… Gotta love him though!
Last Saturday I had the privelage of photographing my best friend, Dawn’s, wedding. It was wonderful! She was so happy and I was so happy to see her so happy. She married a great guy named Bobby. They fit together so perfectly!
These are my favorites photos out of the 900+ we (my friend Jess came and second shot) took that day.
It was an evening wedding so we took photos before the ceremony. There was no shade! All we had to work with was wind and sunshine. Lots and lots of sunshine!
A couples shot looking out the lookout.
I thought it was so sweet they wanted to get married up at the Lewis and Clark Monument. They love to go watch the sunset from the lookout so it seemed only appropriate that they should get married there before sunset. Not to mention I liked this location better than the first! The first location had a scenario of me in hip wadders standing in a lake to get the photos. Ha! I would have done it but am so glad I didn’t have to!
I didn’t get teary until Dawn’s grandma showed up… I’m so glad I was able to capture this shot. Such love…
A shot of me! There are others that Jess got but truly this is the most flattering…
My favorite! Bobby taught Dawn how to shoot a bow and arrow…
Maybe a little too well! Dawn got the bullseye… um… or bullsheart…
The new Utley family.
Bubba, Courtney, Dawn and Bobby.
Love you guys so much! Thank you for allowing me to photograph your wedding and not making me wear a bridesmaid dress… or hip wadders…
This picture was taken yesterday evening as I was suppose to be assissting my husband in removing the loader off the Allis-Chalmers WD45… You will notice that there is no snow on the ground. It was drizzling but no white stuff.
This morning was a different matter.
We actually woke up to lightening and thunder. About the time my husband was getting ready to leave the house for work white stuff started falling out of the sky. There was lightening, thunder and snow for a good hour. This is not a sight I want to see on the 19th of April…
Here’s hoping for some warmer temps and sunshine!!
I’ve been married for close to 11 years. I could write a book about all I’ve learned in those 11 years. I don’t know if it would be considered a tragedy or a comedy but a book none-the-less. During these last 11 years I’ve learned that there has to be a certain amount of give and take. Imagine if you will a carrot on a string attached to a stick attached to a rabbit. That rabbit will follow that carrot around for awhile. If after awhile that rabbit hasn’t ‘caught’ that carrot… well you can imagine… So I decided that he needed to be able to ‘catch’ this carrot.
This carrot is a 1949 Allis-Chalmers WD 45. My husband has plans to fix this tractor up and sell it. My first thought was ‘why the hell would anyone want to buy this tractor or any old tractor for that matter?’ Well, that is the thing, there are all these old guys that love these old tractors. They get them all painted and purring and take them around to tractor drives and enter them in tractor shows. (think car show but everyone is in coveralls speaking a language you don’t understand) You know they do all these really exciting things with these older tractors
I was just excited my husband found a running tractor for his first tractor project. It sounds ‘real good’. It just sits there and purrs… Let me tell you that is like music to my ears. I’m hoping it stays mostly just cosmetic work. Updates on this project will appear here from time to time.
I was really surprised by the condition of this tractor. Especially when he got it home and I noticed the rear tires are new. They didn’t even look like they had ever been driven on. Bonus in this venture seeing as how tractor tires are expensive…
I’m a sucker for a nice looking tractor but I highly doubt this loader would be considered original equipement. I can’t wait to see what it looks like without it!
And this is where the bulk of the work will come in… apparantly it has been overloaded at one time or another. I have a soft spot for these old Allis-Chalmers. I don’t see too many of these orange machines around.
**Anyone interested in purchasing this tractor can email me at laura@picturemyeveryday.com.
Recently I had the privelage to spend two weeks at my parents house while my husband was out of the country. I love my family but two weeks is a long time. I have been known to stretch my visits by a couple of days… Ok, every visist by a couple of days… I say I will be home on Tuesday but, you know, my mom has off Wednesdays and then Thursdays we go and spend the morning with my husband’s grandpa and so we get home on Thursday afternoons… Ok more like Thursday evenings… But that is really neither here nor there… Like I was saying, two weeks is too long. By the end of that second week my younger sister and I were arguing like we were in highschool again. Yes, totally mature! Especially with our children watching us!!
This time I got roped into helping my brother move, helping my sister finish moving, and I actually had to help cut wood and learn how to use the wood furnace add-on. I was kinda disappointed with the last one because mom and dad have had this add-on for 6 years or so and I had been fortunate enough that I hadn’t had to learn how to do start or fill it. I survived though. Barely! My favorite part of my stay this time was getting to photograph my brother and his little family. These are his little kids, Qwintyn and Paityn. Such cute and sweet little kids!
I just love love LOVE P’s eyes. I did no editing on them. NONE! I do a double take everytime I see her because her eyes are so gorgeous. She is the perfect blend of my brother and his wife. Q looks just like his dad did in elementary school. Almost identical!
We literally ran out of day light so we will be doing this again soon. After everything turns green again and the sun starts staying out later.
My son has discovered PBSkids.org… That means I get the computer for about 3 minutes before the three year old says, "Oh, Momma, my turn?"… I’m so ready for my little family to be healthy again. Please excuse the lack of posting we will be back to regularly scheduled programming in a week or so. I do have so many photos I would love to show off!
I’m getting excited to start this up again. I know your thinking that I don’t even have all of last year up yet. Well that is just too bad. We’ll just say I was a naive beginner… ya… naivety…
I might get Septemeber and October up but November and for sure December are a wash. Sometimes you take a photo and then later decide that maybe you don’t want anyone else being privvy to it. No there are no nudes or anything else embarassing. Just the run of the mill family functions that I would rather keep family.
And now to decide everyday what to take a photo of. But not just any photo… A photo worthy of being on here. I refuse to be one of those photographers who takes a picture of a crayon everyday once I run out of ideas. Should be interesting. Maybe one of these days my son will let me take his picture again. I can hope anyways!
And what is a picture blog without a picture….
This little adventure is taking a break to allow me to play some catch up. I will be getting back into the swing of things on March 1, 2011. Until then I will be editing and posting the remainder of my 365project. Sadly it is the 23rd of January and I’ve gotten my camera out maybe 4 times this year… I’m ready to start again but know that I need this break.
I have learned so much in the past year! I know some of the photos seem repetitive and that is partly because some of them are. While I might have taken a hundred photos some days when it came right down to it they weren’t photos that I prefered to post to this little blog. Whether for privacy reasons or just because they were memories that I would rather leave for myself alone. Thank you for bearing with me and I look forward to sharing my work in March. I might even do a better job of posting regularly… I do know that changes are coming. What they will be I am not sure yet. I guess it will be a surprise to us all.
Any comments or suggestions can be left in the comments.
Most photos are available for purchase. Contact me for sizes and pricing if interested.
More of my work can be seen at Neck Deep In Chaos. Mine are the ones in focus just incase you’re wondering…
And because a post on here just isn’t complete with out a photo. This photo was actually taken in July of 2009. It is one of my favorites. I know you’re wondering why this photo. Truthfully I didn’t search this one out. I opened my folder marked favorites, put my signature on it, and uploaded it.
f/29, 1/60 sec, ISO 200, 40mm
Just another gorgeous Iowa sunset.