Halloween 2016

The great pumpkin arrived at the Snow Chateau tonight! 

I drew that face then carved it freehand....yes, I am pretty impressed with myself!

A Little Football, A Short Visit

Recently we were able to watch our grandson Reed's high school football game in Guernsey.  Guernsey is ranked #2 in the state in their division.....little ol' Farson-Eden played hard, played cleaned, played straight to a victory.  

Coach made the decision to not play any of the freshman on the team as Guernsey has some pretty big boys on the team, some really hard hits, and lacked on the clean play.  I did get a couple shots of Reed warming up with the team, then singing their victory song to the crowd at the end of the game.  

Reed's step-mom and Dad were kind enough to let Reed spend the night with us as we took the camper down.  Sure was nice to spend some time with him.

Wait, HOW long?

Seventeen (yes, you read that correctly) years ago this afternoon I was in the basement of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Cody all dressed in white, standing in the doorway, nervous as could be.  Not because I didn't believe what I was about to do was the right thing to do, but because, well, I really don't know why I was so nervous.  Our friends Ron Knapp and Dave Elkins came down and found me in that doorway exit..."Are you leaving?" they asked.  I said yes, but no way was I leaving.

Fast forward to today; we've laughed, we've cried, we've traveled, we've stayed home.  We've experienced both thick and thin.  We've welcomed grand-kids into the world.  We've always been best friends.  This ride is far from over.  I look forward to what the future has for us to share.

L.I.F.E. is GOOD!

Misty Morning

The morning fog and mist lays along the valley floor already starting to roll out before I can get my camera out.

"Morning Mist"

The Strawberry Moon, June 20th

I've always wanted to be able to take nice shots of the moon.  I continue to struggle with this.  Here's my latest attempt, though I think I'm starting to get better at this.  Now, to continue to figure out keeping the moon in focus while achieving detail...next figure out how to keep the moon exposed properly while being able to see the ground scene as well.  Ah...the learning curve.

Strawberry Moon rises.

Cattle graze the pasture as the moon lights the night.
6/24/16:  This photo just won 'Photo of the Day' at capturedakota.com!  I humbly thank all my peers that voted!!

Storm Cloud

'Tis the season for storm clouds to be rolling around our sky's.  We get some pretty amazing sight watching from the clouds to the lightening storms that blow through both the plains and the hills.  Many of these storms miss us completely - either going to the north or the south.  We just sit on the decks and watch as they pass us by.  Two nights ago, a storm that was capable of producing up to baseball sized hail rolled across the plains just to the north.  Thankfully, I never heard of it materializing beyond just some simple rain.  

This was taken from the front porch basically where the storm started materializing.

 As the storm continued across the prairie, the sun started to set creating some color and  it moved far enough east I took this one from the back porch looking NEN.

 

And finally as it is rolling farther east than we can see and the clouds are picking up lots of reflecting light from the nights sunset.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I kind of like the contrast from making the photo black and while.

Campin' Food

Some people have an expectation of the food you'll find in someones camp.  Many people think about the only food one will find on the mountain is hot dogs and marshmallows.  Well, to that I say, NOT!!

Our replacement camper (after our other one was totaled out) FINALLY arrived a couple weeks ago from the factory.  It took us some time to get it all cleaned up and ready to use, but early last week we pulled it up to Sheridan Lake for an initiation run.  It was kind of a last minute decision to go to the lake, so I had to pull from food we had, avoiding a trip to Walmart.  Let's face it, nobody, if they can help it, wants to go there on a Sunday afternoon.

We spent two nights up in the hills - relaxing, kayaking, watching the "kids" play, and enjoying some good eats.  At least, we thought they were.  Check out our last night's meal.

Cornish game hen, corn on the cob and baked potato.  Nummy!!!

Notice there was a photo bomber in the background just a hoping something might hit the ground!  Sorry, Casey...not with this kind of food!