Photo Thursday

I haven’t posted pictures in a while. I think today is a good day for it. Most of these are from late Winter and Spring…before I was pregnant and sick sick sick. Now the Fall is coming on, hopefully I can get out and DO again. I miss shooting just for fun.

I had a hankering to do a still life for a photo challenge on Facebook. The violin was the product of the challenge. I want to do a series of images with instruments for cards, art portraits, etc. I have an antique piano, a harp, a banjo, a bowed psaltry, Michael has guitars out the wazzo, and the list goes on.

 

The walking paths by our house are wonderful. This is the meadow path behind our house that the Parks and Rec keeps mowed for walkers/hikers/cyclists. I love this image of Brenna and Becca.

Forsythia. I love this yellow in this spring flower.

 

Magnolia blossom from the antique, big old magnolia tree in front of our house.

The meadow behind our house. This part of the meadow is very marshy due to the beavers that have built dams a bit downstream. This is a gorgeous area with old dead trees that bald eagles and kites roast in, red tailed hawks and hundreds of species of birds.

Randomness

A bullet blog based on a random string of consciousness: :

• I am now five months pregnant, and starting to feel uncomfortably when sitting in a chair, lying in bed, lying on the sofa. I am just not very comfortable. Urgh. That is not good. I haven’t gained but perhaps 10 pounds, so I guess it is the way/where/how Quinn is sitting in addition to the dratted hernia I have right below my sternum. I will be getting the hernia fixed after the baby is born. As well as having a tummy tuck. I am glad that I didn’t get the TT prior to getting pregnant with Quinn.
• This whole thing with that poor girl Jaycee in Calfornia has me sickened. My personal opinion is the skeezebag deservers the death penatly–as does his wife. Not only did they destroy this girl’s life, and her family’s, but these two little girls that she bore. The information that is coming out about this is more and more sickening, reviling and revolting. It makes me want to cradle these three girls in my arms, pray over them, soothe them, just pour healing out. Obviously something is wrong with these people (abuser and wife) but sane I believe, yes. They were sane enough to conceal their crimes for so many years…now they should pay the ultimate for their perversions.
• The proposed health care bill… eep. Eek. Yikes. I am hoping there is enough ground swell resistance to it to force Congress/Pres/yadayada to rethink/rework/redo the whole shebang. It definitely will NOT work the way the current proposal is laid out. Face it: the Feds are not good at keeping their own grass mowed, so what makes them think that they can take care of others yards? Yes health care needs reform—but the current proposal is incredibly jacked up.
• H1N1 Vaccine–so far its voluntary. So. Far. There are rumors of possible fines for “non compliance”, the vaccines being given to kids in school, and various workplaces making taking the vaccine mandatory as well. ::blink:: No thank you. Not doing it. Too many side effects. Its too different from any current vaccines. Its untested and there are a lot of bad effects from it. I am not drinking that Koolaid.
• Speaking of vaccines..have you seen the news about the effects of the Gardasil/HPV Vaccine that is being pushed so insanely on tv for girls aged 12-17? You know..the whole ” I want to be one less” campaign. S C A R Y stuff…in some cases (and way too many cases) healthy girls are having the immune systems and health destroyed. “There have been some cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, or GBS, reported after vaccination with Gardasil. GBS is an autoimmune disease that cause seizures, paralysis, tingling, muscle weakness or numbness”. Another example of a vaccine being rushed into application with too little accurate and valid testing behind it.
• What is up with this push for RFID tracking tags? These are tracking tags similar to what is used in pets, and like what the Feds want put in livestock. It seems a number of Ohio hospitals are using these in bracelets & anklets with newborns. OK … that is fine, I guess. As long as I have the option to NOT let my child wear that thing. It may be “safe” but its MY CHOICE and I do not want it on my newborn. Some states now have these in drivers licenses, and the new passports have these in them. I remember reading a couple of years ago how they were using these in…IN …criminals in Great Britain. And that the military was planning (or may have already done so?) to implant soldiers with these as a means of identification. Man I am SO not comfortable with how this is headed. I can so see the present administration implementing this as a new “ID” means with the National ID Card (which no doubt will have a chip in it). How long until we MUST have it…til we have no choice? Until we can’t buy or sell without this implant? I wonder if it is going to be implanted in the back of the hand or the forehead? Sound familiar…. I am totally creeped out by where this is headed, is what I am saying.
• I have been craving chocolate ALL freaking week. And I have felt kinda crapola physically. I guess my hormone levels are going through another twist ::munches on small Dove Bar Bite with almonds:
• I am freaking LOVING the weather this week. Last week the temperatures were in th mid 90s with 75% humidity. Hello August in Maryland. This week the temperatures are in the 70s with probably 30% humidity. L O V E it. And my pregnant person appreciates it greatly too, TYVM. This is my favorite kind of weather.
• My poor old man doggie, Perry, has a nasty growth on his eye. He has had something small on it for years, but we kept it under control. Suddenly this thing exploded and has gotten humungous. I will take him to the vet to have it removed, as soon as the funds come in. Meanwhile the poor guy is fussing with it constantly. I know he has made it sore and irritated, and other than keeping a surgery cone on him so he can’t mess with it, until the funds come in I can’t get him operated on. ::sign:: I have been praying for a month that the funds come in soon… I know it will cost $300 or $400 with the tests, anesthesia and such. Dang it. I don’t begrudge spending the money at all, I just have been so slow businesswise, and bills have been so tight, I do not have it. It makes me so upset but I don’t know what else to do. I numbed the area and removed as much if as a could (with a scalpel) but they are going to have to excise part of his eyelid and stitch it back together in order to get rid of the “seed” of the growth. I looked it up and can’t recall the name at the moment, but its not likely that its cancerous, and it is operable. Its just likely to leave him scarred. Poor sweet boy. This dog is so gentle and sweet wouldn’t hurt a fly and suffered so much abuse before I rescused him from the shelter. It grieves me so badly that I can’t get this taken care of right now.
• I really need to redo my photography site. I tried to log in to the admin side yesterday and nothing would com eup! Awk. Something in the template php programming got totally bumfuzzled. Thankfully, the template vendor responsed quickly and one of the guys reloaded the admin end for me—an hour or so ago I received an email that they had repaired the issue. Woot! Its all working now so I can put current work on my site. Thing is I REALLY wish I could set the site up completely differently. lol What’s stopping me? Money, time and energy. I have more ambition than energy, more ideas than time… drat. D R A T
• I really would love to photograph a bunch of high school seniors for my site. My plans were to do a “push” for this this summer. Unfortunately getting sick from being pregnant put a major kink in my mojo, so right now I have few if any seniors scheduled. ::booboo lip:: I guess there is always next year….
• I want to make a cake or brownies or cookies…BUT… I am out of eggs. I have zero energy to run to the store, Michael is cutting the lawn, and Brenna doesn’t drive….and there you have it. This .. THIS is another good reason to have built a small coop and have gotten chickens this year, but I didn’t. See the above bullet for the reason I did not build a coop OR get chickens this summer, as I had intended. So…now I got no cake. Or brownies. Or cookies.Drat again. Foiled again.
• What the HECK is going on with Facebook? Since it got hit with a virus a couple of weeks ago their chat has no worked right consistently, the site is lagging and acting freaky, pages and such won’t load… COMON what the HECK!! . I enjoy Facebook but holy RIDICULOUS its been acting demon possessed. ::grumpy face::
• I really need to get on the stick with my sewing projects. I am so far behind I don’t know that I will ever catch up.
• But I have been keeping the dishes caught up pretty well! Yeah me. Not something I am usually good at being consistent with. The only dishwasher in our house is the “two handed” kind. The job is thankless and I swear, no sooner is it caught up than there the sink is filled up again. :^p~~
• Think that is enough for now. Feeling a bit tired. Probably the chocolate.

If you know me personally, you would know that I am a person of a myriad of talents and accomplishments.In general, tasks come easily to me that I put my hand to. This isn’t something that I have managed by sheer force of will, it just happens that this is the way God wired me. I acknowledge this and give credit where credit is due.

But I will be honest in that not everything comes easy to me.I am not perfect, never have been and never will be. I am a work in progress…

I am a procrastinator. I am inconsistent in tasks such as house cleaning and maintenance; projects which require a lot of follow up often just… sit far too long; following through on things to completion (think LOTS of UFOs (unfinished objects) in the craft/sewing room and many pieces of fabric that will _someday_ be made into a tasty goodie)is not my strong suit. I have more ideas than ambition to finish them. 

I enjoy children but prefer middle schoolers and high schoolers to large crowds of toddlers (I think its the endless hyperness of them that gives me the twitchies?) and … I tend to not be the most patient person in the world.

No I am not generally a total bzatch, and I can walk away when I should, both good things. If someone pushes me into a corner AFTER I have warned them repeatedly and without doubt to lay off/back off/let off, and its going to get UGLY. Rudeness by cashiers or service people? Oh no…it doesn’t go unremarked or just “let slide” unless its a rare day. I am not nasty or common, but the person knows in no uncertain terms that their behavior needs serious modification, and I am not above going to a manager or supervisor to make sure the behavior is brought to light and changed.

At present I am dealing with two individuals in my professional life that have pushed and pushed and pushed, and I am about to GO OFF. Let me see if I can talk about this without revealing too many details….

In a professional relationship, there are manners of dealing with work-a-day procedures that need to be followed in order to complete necessary tasks efficiently, correctly and without issues arising that later bite you in the arse.

I have set up protocols with clients to ensure that my arse stays unbitten. TYVM. I do not enjoy having to redo jobs for clients or dealing with problems arising due to lack of organization. While the areas I cited above apply in my personal life and hobbies, etc, they DO NOT apply to my professional associations or work that I do for clients.

For some reason I have a couple of clients who think its ok to do whatever-the-hell-the-want and don’t care how it affects me or anyone else. Here after I will refer to these two individuals as Dumb and Dumber .

Ok perhaps that isn’t the nicest moniker but if I called them what I really feel most people would be uncomfortable reading what follows.

When I begin a job for clients I ask for certain information in order to complete the job correctly. I need files to do this. I need to know what needs to be done. I need to know when its needed by. I need to know any special instructions. And when its complete and I have provided the completed items I would like to know that they received the files and that everything is ok. I then bill the client for the completed job and ask for payment within 7 days.

Are those things really too much to ask? Very reasonable, no?

Dumb and Dumber both are either too disorganized/mindrotted/something to provide me with the above information no matter how many times I have asked for this information before starting a job.

The last several jobs I have done for either of them have resulted in my having to redo items because if incomplete instructions, lack of followthrough on the requested information or total disorganization on their parts. Every FREAKIN TIME I try to reign these two in and get them organized they act like I am The Most Unreasonable Bitch On The Planet.

They have no idea how Unreasonable I am about to get.

The amount of money I make from D&D is not worth the stress they are causing me. The only thing that has prevented me from going all bad-ass on them so far is the restraining hand of Holy Spirit.

Now before you go “there”…I do NOT let anyone walk over me. I am doing my best to be an understanding person and cut people slack because face it, we all have “moments”.

Unfortunately the “moments” of these two individuals have stretched into months.

My husband has said “PLEASE do not let them stress you like last year. You were sick and stressed and you can’t get like that again. Its not good for you and its definitely not good for the baby.

I agree with him. In fact, just typing the above line my heart squeezed in my chest reminding me of the crap I went through over the busiest part of the holiday season.

I am used to high pressure work: I handle it well. I handle it efficiently. I am a “foresite” person. I see the whole picture and all the ramifications, have a good long-range view without being myopic or telescopic to the point that I can’t see anything else around me. I generally have patience with people who aren’t wired like I am. I don’t expect perfection from anyone. I just expect an effort. And a measure of cooperation. It really isn’t too much to ask when I am giving a lot: time, good prices, a lot of effort, a lot of work.

This past week…no.. the past three weeks both of these individuals have irritated me to the point that I have had to get up and walk away from the computer, not answer the phone and bite my tongue so I didn’t say or do something on impulse that would bite me in the ass later. You can’t push someone over and over and not expect a negative response.

The nice response is going to be ” I am sorry. For the foreseeable future I won’t be able to do work for you. WIth being pregnant and having my own work, I have to set something aside. After praying and thinking on it this is what I have to set aside.”

If I react with pregnancy hormones the response is going to be “Guess what? I am D O N E. I can’t work with disorganized prima donas that think that the world stops to stand up an bow because they are walking by. I do and do for you and you expect more and more. You refuse to listen, you expect me to do what you want no matter what the consequences are going to be, then when the VERY obvious negative happens, you get pissed at ME?! What the hell. FInd someone else to abuse. I am OUT OF HERE.”

While the 2nd response isn’t as professional MAN would it be SO MUCH more satisfying. muahahahah

Oh and by the way, Dumb and Dumber leave a trail of irritation and devastation around them constantly, so it is NOT just my association that is rife with trouble. I just happen to have cut them more slack for longer.

Guess what? The slack in the rope is G O N E. Now its a noose..and they are about to hang themselves with it. I am not cutting them down next time it tightens, and I am not above kicking the stool out from under their feet either.

Swing baby swing.

Wrath Withheld for too long can become a very venomous thing. The danger gets greater andthe bite and sting when delivered are more likely to be fatal.

My fangs are out and sharpened, and there won’t be an antidote for the bite this time.

Sonogram numver two was successfully completed today with no more than the discomfort of having to drive 7 miles to the Radiology office while having the full bladder that was required for the scan.

Full bladder? Pregnany for 2nd time?

That is just straight up _mean_ and ornery IMO. Who thought that part up? Had to be a dude. Jus’ sayin’…

So lil Jonesie is quite the dancer. Baby was a boogie-in away on the sono screen. What a hoot! The heart rate was 160… and wee one was wigglin round to beat the band. A nice strong heart beat was visible.

How cool is it to see that? I didn’t get to do that with Brenna, so this is novel and new small bit fun!The next scheduled sono is around 18 weeks, when we get to find out the baby’s gender. Woot! (I am leaning towards thinking that a girl is cooking down in there, but I am not _certain_ yet the way I was with Brenna. But I am starting to feel that vibe.

I am as sick and miserable at around 9 weeks as I was with Brenna. I might be even more so, actually, because I know what to expect, and that is almost worse. Yes, if this means a healthy pregnancy, good—but hell… I am over feeling like this and I don’t think its at all wrong to want this part over with. I am trying to not be a whiner but its wearing on me and depressing me to feel like this. I can’t fathom another 30 weeks of this. Heaven help me now.

WHINE

Ok enough of that, sorry, I had to get it out.

Its 3 a.m., I have a maternity portrait sitting, outdoors, at 10 a.m., and the weather is looking “iffy”. Well distinctly wet and funky, in fact. Dang it. The gal is close to the end of her pregnancy and I don’t want to fight the weather and lose the battle. If we get rained out tomorrow, and since the rest of the week looks blech too, in regards to the weather. So I will see if she would like to do studio images instead. Personally, I would like outdoors, but studio is better than being rained out. Grump.

GRUMP

Ok~ Sorry again, but that felt good .

Er.. moving on. (munches on saltine, takes a sip of Propel and wonders why the Benadryl doesn’t feel like it kicked in yet)

Oh MORE fun news, one of my closest friends, a fellow photographer in Indiana, had her site hacked a few weeks ago. We _think_ it was an attack stemming from a keystroke logger, but where it came from? How the blasted thing actually works? Not certain. Looking on tech boards and webmaster forums, the true implementation of the virus is still eluding us. And she is having one hell of a time getting it off her site–which keeps crashing back again, infected. She is depressed, mad, stressed, upset and almost a loss to fix it. Her site host hasn’t been much help, they keep blaming the template maker. The template maker reloaded her template once, only to have it crash down infected less than 24 hours later. Probably more like 12. Holy hell… what evil there is in the world.

Annnnd I was gifted with the same freaking virus on my site today.

Site is down. Damn. I had my host pull the site until they could reload it. Which my gf said it looks like they have done. Lord I hope this fixes it and well. I spent an hour trying to see what had happened, an hour on the phone with my site host, an hour plus scanning my computer to make sure its clean of viruses and keystroke loggers, and another hour changing passwords once I knew the site was clean.

Can you say ONE HUGE PAIN IN THE ARSE? This is some mess out of China. People that are smart enough to write this kind of code are smart enough to make money legitimately.

May their chopsticks never fail to give them splinters on their tongues.

Update 1: My site host cleared the virus this morning by reloading a good copy of my site. Thank you Lord! Now I just have to get Google to remove the “malicious code” warning from my site. Really nice for my business.

Update 2: Maternity is rescheduled due to the rain. Hopefully tomorrow, if not, then next week it is supposed to b sunny early in the week.

I am going to just go somewhere and cry and be pitiful for a while….

We are having a wild late spring/early summer. We have had a fair amount of rain and milder temperatures, and for the most part, lower humidity. THAT part has been a huge blessing. With the cost of electricity having pretty much doubled in the last 18 months, cooling the house down in the hottest part of the year costs a blue fortune. The whole BG& E ordeal…raises prices X2 + when they were ALREADY MAKING A PROFIT…and it being allowed?! is totally unacceptable. Electricity is _not_ a luxury in our society…its a necessity. Yes we all need to be more “green” and conservative, and I would _love_ nothing more than to be able to implement solar and wind power at our home, but one has to have the initial outlay to do that first. Pricing that out it comes to around $20k or so. :::wince ouch pale::: Not happening anytime in the immediately foreseeable future, much to my dismay.

The blessing of the waiting-til-just-recently-to-get-hot is that we just are now installing the a/c units into the house. This house has 10 ceiling fans (yes, its a big-ole-farmhouse) and they are wonderful to help keep the air moving and keep things cooler. We have window units that we use conservatively and I have nice thick curtains up to aid in keeping the inside cool when the sun is shining strongly. We have a couple of windows and doors that need to be replaced, eventually, along with additional insulation and some thermal wrap under the house. All in good time. Meanwhile, we are doing our best to keep it comfortable in the house with minimal electrical use.

Today a whopper of a squall blew through that knocked the electricity out for a couple of hours. Thankfully the house was cool enough from the weather being lower-humidity and cooler at night that it didn’t get uncomfortable in the house. But WOW did it rain hard. Its been doing that regulary for a month or more now—sudden squall blowing through, massive amount of water falling, then it cools down slightly and is beautiful out. I wonder if the weather patterns are shifting, as I seem to recall this type of weather in the summer quite often when I was elemetary and middle school aged. A couple of weeks ago we were at an historic mill and nature center up county (Eden Mill Nature Center). It had rained the day before, as the water in this image of Deer Creek shows. Can you say “mud much”? We were walking on the Creek Trail and were about a mile and half away from where the van was park. Suddenly the wind picked up and freshened and I smelled rain, looked North and saw that cloud formation that is above the tree line. Of course I had to get a picture of it!
We made it back to the van just as the rain started…and it was one heck of a gully washer. I am _so_ glad we made it back to the van in time, as I had my portrait camera with me, and the bag I had with me would not have kept her dry! Eep! My Precious!
The creek was muddy, the wind was blowing and the air was humid. Our walk back was definitely swifter than our leisurely stroll through the greening trees and croaking frogs, and I am sure we scared a beaver and snake and fox into skittering off. The walk was more enjoyable without the threat of the storm, but there is definitely beauty to be found in the midst of the storm if you take a minute to observe around you, instead of letting the storm overtake you.