New attempts

My attempts at capturing the moon!!  Being out in the country is a good place to practice shots like these....

Taken right around dusk....

My failed attempt at capturing the motion of the stars.  Since the camera cannot automatically focus on them, I had to manually try to focus on this windmill and the sky in total darkness.  My attempt failed; the photo is out of focus but you can see the motion of the stars in the sky!! 

Family time

A visit home with my family is proving to be quite theraputic.... today, after doing some outdoor weeding on my parent's gardens, I took a moment to pose for a goofy shot inside my stepdad's tractor tire.

I convinced my nephew Sebastian to join in the fun.

...and he took along my parent's cat Pepper as well.

A rare find!!  My mom showed me this very old Brownie Hawkeye camera that she found while going through some things in storage.  Too cool!!  I wonder if it still works.... and if I could find film for it. 

My project for the summer!!  My nephew and I are going to help my parents clean out their grove.  Later Saturday afternoon him and I were madly cleaning out an area; we found this old license plate amongst the old brush.

Busy day Saturday!!  My stepdad mowed and bailed the grass along the ditch and needed help stacking the bails on the flatbed. Here, we are off to go load them up.

Sebastian and I riding along on the flatbed.  What a trooper he was!  He did all the picking up of the bails....

....and I drove the tractor!!!!  Woo-hoo! 

Babies!!  My mom and I checked out all the new kittens in the barn last  night.  My parents have about a dozen new babies on the farm.  Isn't he adorable?!

Still strange seeing my nephew Sebastian driving now.... I can't believe he's 16 already!

HOLLYHOCKS!!  We went to visit my grandpa on Sunday.  His yard was full of blooming Hollyhocks.  I snapped a few shots of them.... or as my grandpa said "I was taking a picture of his bloomers."

When we were younger, my grandma would pick these for us and turn them into "a princess wearing a skirt"... they really did look that way when turned upside down!

So pretty!!!

Whispy grass in my grandpa's grove...

This was an old fort of mine, my sister, and cousins when we were kids.  It was an old shed back behind my grandpa's hog shed.  It's since been collasped and slowly rotting away...

A very tired Sebastian!!  Still recovering from loading hay bails the day before....

My grandpa!  We were checking the Black Walnut tree for walnuts.

Memorial Day Weekend, 2010

Over Memorial Day weekend, one of my cousins graduated from high school.  I took a trip down to the Owatonna/New Richland area to attend the graduation party, visit with family, and do a little camping as well.

I'm on my way to see my family!!  On the drive from Rice Lake State Park to New Richland, MN.

My cousin's Stacy & Nate also attended the graduation celebration.

My uncle Rick!  The father of the graduate...

Some of my cousin Trevor's photos from growing up all the way up until pre-graduation.

More photos and accomplishments of Trevor's.

Smile Rick!  My uncle Rick and I taking photos of one another.

My cousin Stacy doin' a goofy dance.  :)

Another candid of Stacy and her husband Nate.

Nate

My uncle Duane and Nate

Me, Grandpa, and my cousin Stacy.

 

Stacy and I with our uncle Duane from California.

My uncle Duane caught this candid of Stacy and I checking out photos taken by our uncle Rick.

Stacy and I, taken by uncle Duane.

Time to pretend we're kids again!!  Stacy and I decided to jump on our cousin's trampoline. My uncle Duane caught us in the midst of fun.

Go Stacy!!

WEEEEEEEEEE!!!

My aunt and uncle, Rick & Lori had pizza's catered in for the graduation party.  Rick is trying to blow out the flame from the heater used to keep the pizza's warm.

...And STILL trying to get the flame out....

Woooo Lori showin' a little leg!!  My aunt Lori, the mother of the graduate.

My aunt and uncle, Rick & Lori, along with my cousins, Trevor (the graduate!), and brother Brendon. Taken by my uncle Duane.

                       

I decided to do some camping while I was down visiting family for the graduation.  I camped at Rice Lake State Park, which is located 8 miles outside of Owatonna. Here, a sign at the park entrance.

This little fella was in my campfire ring!  I managed to scoop him out and placed him in the woods, giving him enough time to pee on me before doing so!

I took some macro shots of some wildflowers along a hike I took one afternoon.  I found this wild Iris.

More wildflowes along the trail.

 

Part of the hiking trail.  The trails consisted of a mixture of dense woods and prairie.

Storms were moving into the area on that Sunday night.

Another closeup of a wildflower

I found this nest of baby birds in a small shelter house along the hiking trail.

Back into the woods heading back to camp before the rain hit.

Me back at camp.

Heavy downpours drove me into the tent!!  Occupying time with a good book by my favorite author, Augusten Burroughs.

I took this shot right around dusk after the storm passed through.  The sky went from dark gray, to green-gray, to this odd, pinkish orange color.  And there is a rainbow going across the sky if you look close enough!

Monday, Memorial Day.  Lunch time at my site!!  Mmmm....baked beans!! 

Good thing I'm camping alone.... after eating a full can of beans!  :)

I took up another hike around the trails.  It was a beautiful sunny Memorial Day.  Here, Rice Lake.

A few more wildflowers along the trails.

I spotted this black and white bird resting amongst the prairie grasses.  I found his markings to be quite unusual.

A lone leaf growing in the soil of the trail path.

Dragonfly

These cute little chipmunks were everywhere in the park.  But, they move quick; I hardly was able to catch a shot of a couple before they scurried away.

Cute little buggar!

While taking a rest along the trail to enjoy the scenery, I barely spotted this deer roaming out in the reeds along the lake shore.  She didn't realize I noticed her.

My last photo before heading home.