Happy Easter !!

I couldn't resist taking of picture of this bowl of jelly beans for a great Easter picture. This blog entry will take you through the muddy corn fields and down the beaten path to see some old houses and barns. Not to mention a few shots at wildlife along the way.


Rick was gone all day yesterday so I started my day off loading my camera and calling Darren to tell him to get ready I was going to pick him up. I was scared of getting lost and since I'm not familiar with the gravel roads here I wanted a little guidance. I picked him up and we headed to Brighton to see what was out there. We didn't have much time with him as he had a birthday party to attend so here we go......

This is the first house and barn that we found.
































After looking around we saw this well so me being the curious one had to take a peek. Low and behold there was a snake coiled up way down in the bottom.
















How creepy was that ! Now I'm affraid I'm going to see another snake! We walked over to some retired farm machinery to get these pictures then it was back on the road to see what else we could find.














This was found in the barn.




Darren was telling me about some old cars so we decided to check them out. Hoping to avoid and creepy crawly things. Wee found them and started walking toward them when Darren said " I don't know if they have any big dogs or not! " Now if that don't put a little fear in ya I don't know what will. Needless to say we didn't see any dogs. Here are some of the junked cars.



Well it was getting close to Darren's curfew so we started heading back. On the way I hit the brakes- scared the crap out of Darren but I saw these unusual ducks in a pond close to the road.



























Then just a little ways down the road I saw this Amish house with the horses feeding and the machinery sitting there. Notice there is no rubber on the tires. It is part of their belief. But one thing I don't understand is why they drive cars with tires ? They have rubber on them.


















These are some other shots along the way.


I call this one barn meets Earth.


Now while I was dropping off Darren he had a hungry thirsty squirrel in his yard that let me get in a couple of really good shots.


OK now it is time to go get Lori. This is going to be interesting since she has the "don't be scared" attitude. We could be going to jail for trespassing before the day is over. First she took me to this house on a gravel road then it was off to the corn field. I have included a few shots of the gravel road house first.


We did see a few turkeys on the way to the corn field.







These are of the house in the field. Muddy- corn field to say the least. But it was worth the haul back there.







I had to add in a picture of my helper for the day. She was brave enough to walk down to the well - I was not. After the snake earlier today I was over it !






















This tree filled with berries is the last. The red on the barn makes the berries stand out more.










We ended the day as it was getting cold and soon to be dark. Maybe next week will be warmer and there will be more signs of Spring with green grass blanketing the ground. These dead looking shoots are about to get to me. You can see all of the days photos on my Flickr page. Here's the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/harleypass/

Happy easter all and God Bless !!

Hailey's photoshoot

Des Moines trip + Ice break

Well it's that time of the year. All the deer hunters get together to look at the new hunting supplies on the market and women go along for a trip of shopping at the mall :) Gina & Louie and Rick and I went to Des Moines last weekend for that very reason. They guys uhh'ed and ahh'ed and we shopped. Of course I took along my camera. Here are some of the pictures.

Harley didn't want us to leave her for the weekend ( spoiled brat)

I had my camera out on the 2 1/2 hour trip there so I was able to get some shots on the go. Since Rick is a "New York" driver it is hurry,hurry,hurry ! No stopping along the road for pictures plus - we got deer to see.But along the way I saw these Elk.

The this awesome old style house. Sharp ! It must have been built in the turn of the century.

Old cars are always an eyecather.

Now we are at the deer show. I didn't post alot of pictures from the show itself ( we went shopping) but we did walk through the skywalk and pick Louie and Rick out in the crowd of spectators.

Now the next pictures are ones taken from the skywalk and on the way back to the room.

This is the state capitol building during the day and night. It is so beautiful at night with all the gold lite up.

I thought this one was interesting with the reflection of three building in one.

Gina took this one which is kinda neat. She was able to catch this man in the mirror.( can you tell we are dull people to sit or walk around taking pictures of the strangest things.

This is a night shot taken through a double pane window. I had to use the tripod and slow the shutter down in order to get the trailing effects of the tailights and headlights.

That's enough Des Moines- let's look at some pictures of the ice break. Notice how thick the ice

is, the snow mobile tracks on the broken ice and the geese swimming in the open water.

These last pictures are taken from an old iron bridge that is now closed for cars but has a foot bridge that goes out over the river. It leads from Betensport to an old town called Vernon. I also found this photographer shop in Betensport.

Now for my one poser that I always seem to get a picture of :) Not that he really likes it.