You ain't gonna' believe this !

An update on my crafty projects - Picture frame - It's coming along good.. I've got the doorknob and had a piece of wood added to my existing 4 pane window. I sanded, painted and applied crackle to it. Today I dropped it off at the glass shop to get the panes put back in. When my vinyl lettering get here, I will be almost done. (BTW, Lana, I ordered a cricut !! ) All I need to do now is find a really cool abandoned home to take a picture of for all four seasons. Yarn thingy - As you know I packed it up and sent it to mom. It was making me say bad words - really bad words. I should have just spent the money and bought one ! But noooooo, I had to save for vacation to Tennessee !! So mom emailed me some pictures of the finished product - here it is. Not too bad, huh?

Rick and I have had a busy week and weekend. It's been raining so much here that it's made it easy to pull the weeds and of course rain makes the grass grow !! So I get to mow the yard. Rick got me all ready with the mower washed it, changed the oil and sharpened the blades so to the yard I go ! I don't like it when he mows, he seems to chop off flowers AND blow grass on the ones he don't chop ! Men !! ☺(giggles) So I'm mowing along and thought I saw a worm wiggling on the grass, nope, it was a darn snake. I HATE SNAKES ! But I had managed to almost cut him in half without even noticing. So what did I do you ask, I backed up and proceeded forward slowly , until the tire was right on top of it. Then I turned the wheel about 20 times. He's a goner, almost. I hurried up to go to the shop , on the mower might I add, and get Rick. I asked him to pick it up and lay it in the shop on the floor. WHAT ?! He thought I was nuts, OK he knows I'm nuts. I told him it was perfect for my 365 for the day ! I took it ( mom don't look) she hates snakes ! I already got yelled at by her 'cause she seen it on my flickr. Did I mention I HATE SNAKES !! I know it's small but it doesn't matter, it's wiggly !

A few days later I went stalking my bluebirds. They found their house and have set up a life there. I had seen them flying in and out and I wanted to get closer. Peep, I was being watched. I better leave them alone for a while and wait on the babies to come crawling out. I'm a bird watcher, I'm a bird watcher, watching birds fly by...oh yeah ! My lyrics to "I'm a girl watcher" (giggles) Now for my favorite birdies of all - the hummingbirds, they're back !! I took this through the screen so it's not a great shot but I didn't want to spook him away just yet. He has to get used to me ya know.

I want to be able to have the hummers sit on my hands and eat. I have seen it in magazines so I'm going to sit out in front of my house with the tripod set up waiting. I will wear a red shirt to draw them close. I'll post for sure if they come to me.

Enough already on the birds right, let's go to Missouri. On Saturday we went to an auction in Farmington, Iowa. A friend of ours and his dad run Fett Auction and they are always filling Rick in on some of the items. This particular one was a canoe. Rick told me about it but he did say it had a hole in it. Now why would anyone want to buy a canoe with a hole in it. Were they gonna sell a bucket with it to? Well Rick the fixer-upper said he could patch it and probably get it cheap. WRONG - the holey bottom canoe ended up selling for $180.00 !!! Geez people come on, let us get something cheap in this world. We only spent 6 bucks at the sell, Rick got a cooler and I got a book. Bummer ! I bet I said a hundred times, "look at all this junk ! " We decided to head to Missouri now and get some smokes. With camera in hand scouting out the ride I was able to get a shot of a fly passing us by. Just kidding ! Rick said we would stop at a couple places on the way back through. I think he said this because I was going ohhh look at that old house,

can we stop ?

Ohh look at the neat barn,

can we stop ? Then we get to the store and he said ohhh, get your camera you ain't gonna' believe this ! I turned around behind us was a car was. OK I thought, then I saw it, a buggy and an Amish lady !! Oh yeah, I was in business, Amish people at the car wash !! I figured they would hand wash their buggies ? The horse was tied up out back so I didn't get a shot of that.

This was worth the trip. I need to get out more huh ? Something about the Amish interests me. I wish I could spend a day with one of the families and learn about them. It would be even more great if they would let me take some pictures !

Well' enough blabbing today. I have to get off here and gather up yard sale stuff. Next weekend is going to be another busy one. I'm going out to supper and the casino for my birthday on Friday, yard sale on Saturday and my nieces baby shower on Sunday. That should make an interesting post. BUT before the shower I'm going to get some baby bump shots ! I can't wait.

More shots and interesting stories soon !!!! Be sure to comment and let me know what you want to hear about.

What a busy summer this has been ....

This has been one busy summer and it's not over yet ! Chicago-Harley's- Sweet Corn Festival-Swimming-Bird Watching-Flower Gardening- Storm Chasing !!

We went to Chicago for a conference with the company I work for. This was alot of fun and a great time for picture taking for me.

This is the sail boat named Windy. It is very tall. You can take a ride on this and actually be a "hands on helper".Picture taken at Navy Pier.





This was also taken at Navy Pier. I edited it to give it a cartoon look.





Now for a night shot. This is the canal with reflections of Chicago night life.





On one of our many walks around the streets of Chicago we found this beautiful water fountain.Since I'm the one always taking the pictures ,there's never proof that I was actually there. I talked Gina into taking this picture of Rick and I.





This picture just reminds me of Forest Gump - run Forest,run ! It is Bubba Gump's !!!


Now when we came back from Chicago we found an intruder in the dog dish. With the wet season we've had we are destine to have frogs and toads. Well,this toad had taken up residency and was eating the dog food. And believe it or not, he is still here !!


We are also still overwhelmed with the hummers this year. I have counted as many as 10 buzzing around - and it is hard to keep 4 feeders full.



We also have several mourning doves. This one was injured and sat around in the tree all day. When it finally did get down , Harley spotted it and by the time I got outside- it was too late. Sorry for the extremely gross picture but it is part of the story :)



Deer- Iowa - corn & bean fields- YES we have more than we need here. This doe is in our backfield every day,several times a day. I don;t think she is afraid of anything. Once the shooting starts I bet she'll be gone.


In another busy day we went to Burlington to see the "Sentimental". It is a Boeing B17 bomber plane. It was built in the 1940's. This plane has never been in combat but was used in Nevada for fighting fires.You can read more about this plane by clicking this link . http://www.azcaf.org/index.html?var=http://www.azcaf.org/pages/aircraft_bios/B-17G_FlyFort.html


Rick trying his talent out :)












Rick and Brian are working on an old 10 speed that Rick has had for years. They got it all up and going and talk about a work out ! Needless to say it is now parked behind the garage. Yes, I know, we need to get it out and ride ! BUT it is much easier firing up the Harley.




My Cannas are finally blooming. This shot reminds me of a tropical scene with the storm clouds in behind. Storms , now that is a good one. We have had alot of those too. The pictures below were taken at different times but you can tell we have some pretty views of the lightning and clouds rolling in.
The pond picture was taken early in the morning at work.



Now here in Iowa we celebrate every time you turn around. Each town has there own events. In West Point - it is the Sweet Corn Festival. ALL the corn you can eat FREE !!! This is a big time event - more info here. http://www.westpointcornfestival.com/
Rick is trying decide on the biggest ear !
Shuck fest - they shuck 17 tons of corn in less than an hour. The whole town comes out for this. It is held on the Wednesday before the festival.
So my brother is go-cart racing now. This is him - Vernon - the hobbyist ! If it ain't remote control cars it's bigger ones, who knows he may be looking at some Nascar :) You can see some video clips of him on my You Tube site www.youtube.com/harleypass

This sunset picture of the sailboats was taken in Fort Madison. Rick went fishing and I went shooting ! What a great combo.

Alley the alligator- she lets me know how warm my pool is.

I will end this blog with a beautiful scenic picture of Lake Geode. The clouds were just right for this shot. This picture will hopefully be in the 2010 Access Energy calendar. I will keep you posted. They don't announce the winners until next March- so I have a long time to keep my fingers crossed.

As always you can see more of my work at www.flickr.com/harleypass

I will be shooting a wedding the end of September so wish me luck and as always have a great day !!

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into. ~Ansel Adams

Spring is here.....

with that being said so are the prettier pictures. I have been super busy. The more green the grass gets and the more flowers I see popping up I am out of this house ! Rick has been so good about driving me around in search of old houses and barns too. The other day I came home telling him about a house I wanted to take pictures of. I asked if he would go with me ( in case I needed an escape driver for trespassing ) and sure enough he did. Well we got to this house and a farmer was there feeding his cattle. Rick asked the man if I could take pictures and he said sure just don't go in the house. Dang it ! I wanted to go in but - it did look a little snaky around there. The old farmer was telling us that this house was built in the early 1800's and used to be a show house. People would ride there horse and buggy and tie it up to the end of the lane, walk the path and marvel over the house. ( this makes me want to sneak back over there sometime and check it out.)

Well enough babbling about houses and barns ! I just got some new software and have been doing alot of edits on pictures. Some of these are dreary looking but it is too much fun to stop. Yes, I'm addicted now ! I sat there today and edited 10 pictures. Sure you say 10 - geez - well that takes a lot of time when you are slow as me :) Here are some of my latest pictures and as always you can see more on my Flickr site. http://www.flickr.com/photos/harleypass/ Save that to your favorites cause I ain't gonna put it in here all the time :)
Woody is hungry.

Mating season.
My tulip & Lilacs.

These flowers are in my yard !






































This picture above is of the show house I mentioned earlier in the post.


Soon Rick and I will be going on vacation to Tennessee - look out then cause I'm going to take hundreds of pictures of the mountains !