A few weeks back I attended Evie’s birthday party. I didn’t take many photos as everybody else there had at least 1 camera and so my photo coverage of the event would have seemed excessive.

Seriously, Evie has her own paparazzi.

However, I did take a few photos of her cake eating and here they are:

Next week’s Wednesday will involve Senior pictures.

I hate the phrase “things happen for a reason” more than I hate any other phrase in the world. That doesn’t mean that I don’t necessarily believe in fate, but for the most part I don’t like fate. Its plans run contrary to my plans, no matter how hard I work on my plans. So fate can go suck an egg.

However, sometimes fate works out in my favor, even though I don’t know it.

One of those fate just screwed me over, but it ended up working out pretty well for me moments was when my wheel flew off my car on my way to Minnesota a few weeks back. I had a pretty sweet vacation planned, but it all went into the ditch with my wheel and more money than I care to think about.

I rescheduled my vacation for the last week in August. That movement of my vacation just a few days allowed me to complete Operation Puppy sooner than I anticipated.

I knew when I finally got a puppy, it would be while I was on vacation and I didn’t think that I would be taking a vacation for several more months, but I still checked several websites and newspaper (okay newspaper websites) for the puppy that I wanted. A female golden retriever.

A simple enough request, but there weren’t many in the area. Then an ad for a bunch of puppies showed up in the Des Moines Register.

I wrote them and they gave me the sad news, all of their female puppies were probably claimed. 2 were for sure. The other two were most likely claimed.

I wrote them back and let them know that if one of the females became available, I wanted to be at the front of the list. That was on a Wednesday. I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t be getting a puppy for several more weeks or months.

Then on Friday they wrote me to tell me that they thought that one of the females might be coming available, but could not make any promises.

I made plans to drive up near Hubbard on Saturday to see the puppies. I figured that it would be a fruitless trip, but it wouldn’t hurt to see some puppies. The cutest most adorable kind of puppy: golden retrievers!

Then on Saturday morning I got an email saying that they had a female for me.

That afternoon Jason, Alexis, and I drove up to see the puppies. I put down a deposit and set up a day and time to come pick up my puppy. I worked it out so that I could pick her up on the Wednesday of my vacation as I came back down from Minnesota.

The next step was coming up with a name. I struggled with a name, but eventually with the help of friends a name was found. Here are some of the suggestions I received:

Willy: Cuddles or Miss Wiggles
Faust: Steele & Melanie
Jen: Mila
Jill: Daisy
Sara: Astrid, Mahtob and then she sent me a list of about 200 other suggestions.
Carla: Chloe, then she went out and bought a puppy and named it Chloe.

But it was actually a suggestion by Derrick that put me on the road to the name. While we were sitting on a bench at the State Fair resting, he asked if there was a female character from a Kubrick movie that I liked. I have to confess that Kubrick movies aren’t filled with extremely strong female characters. If you take out the prostitute from Eyes Wide Shut or the sniper from Full Metal Jacket, that really leaves you with Lolita and I’m not naming a dog after Lolita.

I toyed with the idea of Kubrick and then Coltrane as a name, but those were just too male sounding names. I was stalled.

Then fate took a hand again. Every morning I run shuffle on Media Player and then post whatever the first song that comes up to Twitter. Now, I know that nobody in the world cares at all what song I am listening to during that exact moment of the day. I do it as a reminder to the world that I have better taste in music than they do.

On August 24th a Miles Davis song was the song that shuffle landed on and I posted the following to Twitter:

“In a Silent Way/It’s About That Time…”-Miles Davis-In A Silent Way-If I were getting a male (puppy), I would name it Miles, Coltrane or Kubrick.”

Dawn replied to my tweet with this tweet:

“How about Naima? Unusual & fits the jazz theme…”

It was a great idea and while I marinated on the idea for a couple of days, in the end, I decided it was too great of an idea to pass up. So I named my puppy after one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite musicians.

I had a name and a week later I had a puppy. Here are a few of the pictures from my first few days with Naima:

Next week’s Wednesday randomness will feature pictures from the mini family reunion I hosted Labor Day weekend.

I made it to the State Fair twice this year. I went once on a Friday to see Maroon 5 with Jill. Then on the last day of the Fair I went with my Mom. I met up with Derrick, Jen, and Evie. We ran into Sara, Shawn, and Cousin Amy. Here are some pictures from those trips:

Jill in front of the picture of her at the Photography Salon.


Jill with her turkey leg.


The damage she did to that turkey leg.


Even though Jill is a Legacy Member of the Maroon 5 Fan Club, she felt our seats could have been better…


I thought that they were pretty good.
















For some reason, Maroon 5 played before Train. Don’t know why, but at least we didn’t have to endure Train.












Evie loves baby animals!




Evie is a toe wiggler!




Evie supports winners!


We heard the following at this stand a lot: “1 fried butter on a stick and a bottle of water, please!”




You can’t imagine how hard it was for me NOT to photoshop that terrible Hawk logo out of this picture, but trust me, despite what his wardrobe is telling the world, Shawn is a good guy. He just doesn’t know how to dress.


With the 2nd Place Picture


With the Honorable Mention Picture


Some people view this as impressive.

Looking forward to next year’s fair already!

If you are reading this post, then I actually made it to Minnesota for Vacation Take 2. I have already eaten at Spot and Hell’s Kitchen with Jill. I have probably attended the Minnesota State Fair and eaten at Dixie’s on Grand with Nate, Bethany, and Becca.

However, since I’m not currently in the Cyclone State, I have not processed any submissions for last week’s theme. I will publish those when I return. That doesn’t mean that you can’t get a start on this week’s theme:

A look back at last year’s submissions:

Good luck!

As you may recall, I like to check in on some statistics every 100 posts or so to see how things are doing in popularity. However, this statistical check-in will mark the end of an era. I am officially retiring the Snapshots Gallery and the Artistic Gallery.

The advent of the store has made them obsolete and why bother with galleries where you can’t buy anything, right Andree Jauhari, Marla Gorshe, and Jennifer Wohlgemuth of Minnesota! Right. Right?

Therefore, the only gallery that will remain is the Store. Check it out:

So here are the final rankings of the 10 most popular pictures in the Artistic Gallery. For the record, these are heavily skewed by spammers:

1. 669 Views


2. 497 Views


3. 410 Views


4. 375 Views


5. 352 Views


5. 352 Views


7. 351 Views


8. 350 Views


8. 350 Views


8. 350 Views

Here are the 10 most popular pictures from the Snapshots Gallery. Data heavily skewed by spammers.

1. 2010 Labor Day – 915 Views


2. Jesse & I Netting My Trees – 643 Views


3. Derrick & a Gunderburger – 245 Views


4. Tailgating Games – 229 Views


5. Baier & I at Chiefs Game – 169 Views


6. Shannon & I at an Inebriated Saints Show – 89 Views


7. Shannon in Backbone – 54 Views


8. Holding the White Trash Elixir – 49 Views


9. Brandon Tailgating – 45 Views


10. Gunderburger! – 43 Views

Here is the list of the ten people that have contributed (in some way shape or form) to this blog the most in the first 1199 entries. Plus how many entries they have been in since we last looked at these numbers. Plus where they were the last time we looked at these numbers.

1. Jesse – 174 – +9 – 1
2. Jay - 165 – +13 – 2
3. Shannon – 153 – +6 – 3
4. Derrick – 138 – +14 – 4
5. Jen – 124 – +16 – 6
6. Teresa – 118 – +9 – 5
7. Sara – 112 – +15 – 8
8. Willy – 110 – +8 – 7
9. Vest – 95 – +14 – 9
10. Carla – 84 – +10 – NR
10. Mom – 84 – +17 – NR

Who are the 3 greatest movers outside of the Top Ten?

1. Dad – +16
2. Jill – +14
3. Evie – +6

Thanks to this group of friends and family for their consistent efforts in aiding me in my photographic pursuits, either through assisting, modeling, inspiring, listening, or just being around a whole lot. I couldn’t do what I do with out them. And so many other people too!

Back in early July, Jill came home to play piccolo and flute (on America the Beautiful) for the Boone Municipal Band during the Iowa Municipal Band Festival.

Here are a few pictures from the event, but really they are just more pictures of Evie.

As of the writing of this journal entry, I have no clue what I will be posting next Wednesday.

Now that the State Fair has ran its inevitable course, I can reveal what pictures I entered in the State Fair Photography Salon.

Drenched in Loneliness (Honorable Mention Iowa Places)


I Recommend Pleasant


Must Be Truth


The Girl in the Blue Skirt (2nd Place Black & White Flower)

I guess this means I need to start focusing some effort on the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

The best laid plans of mice and men…

I had written this journal entry several days ahead of schedule because I was planning to be in Minnesota right now. I made all the appropriate plans, but fate took a hand and forced me to cancel my vacation.

At about 3:35 last Friday, I clocked out of work and left the building fully expecting not to see it again for 9 days or so. I spent most of Saturday morning mowing my lawn and packing and running errands and doing everything necessary to leave my humble abode for 5 or 6 days.

I pulled out of my driveway at about 3:15 and headed north to Oakdale, hoping to knock on Jill’s apartment door* at about 6:30.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Oakdale. My wheel flew off my car. That’s right. It flew the heck off.

It was a surreal experience and one that words will fail to describe adequately. I’m cruising along at about 75 MPH when suddenly the front passenger side of my car is clearly on the ground. My first thought was that I had very badly blown out the tire. I have done that before and this is kind of what it felt like. So I took a gander out the passenger side window and I saw my wheel flying through the air.

I immediately thought, “that is my tire flying through the air.. it isn’t supposed to be doing that… it is amazing I haven’t lost control of this car… I’m not going to be eating chicken wings tonight… this is garbage.”

About 10 miles north of Mason City my car came to a stop on the I-35 shoulder. There I sat for four hours roughly… pondering the questions of life.

As much as this incident has sucked (and continues to suck as my car has yet to be repaired and the towing bill from north of Mason City to Boone, well folks, it isn’t cheap!) I should be thankful for having such wonderful friends and family.

I had a pretty sweet vacation planned. Among other things, I was going to go to a chicken wing place that serves over 60 different types of wings. I was going to go to the Uptown Art Fair. I was going to watch the Minnesota Vikings practice. I was going to get to hang out with Jill, Bethany, Becca, Nate, Dae Hee, Faust, and Jackson.

Instead, I hung out with mile mark number 200.40.

But this isn’t about spilled milk, or in my case, uneaten chicken wings, this is about amazing friends and family, after all I will still be able to eat those chicken wings in about 3 weeks or so. Teresa and Ernie offered to come get me. As did Lowell, Jesse, and Sara. Faust and Jay called to make sure I was okay. Derrick even took my call while he was at a wedding reception. Becca and Bethany offered whatever assistance they could provide. After towing arrangements and picking me up arrangements were made (Thanks Mom and Jason!) and I was able to find my wheel after combing the ditch for an hour, Jill kept me company on the phone for the last 90 minutes while I sat in a ditch.

Before we get into this week’s RWPE, here are a few pictures from my time in the ditch:

You may notice from looking at the pictures, the bolts were sheered off clean. Jason has been working on cars for his entire life. He has never seen anything like this before.

Also, because of my cancelled vacation, I did get to go to the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon Reception. So now I know if I won an award besides the Superintendent’s Merit Award. Hint: I did!

Here are the submissions for LEADING LINES:

Christopher D. Bennett


Mike Vest

Next week’s theme:

That is a new theme for this year, so there is no looking back. Only looking forward. Good luck!

*This is hyperbole. Jill lives in a secured building.

This is not meant to be a “tooting my own horn” thing. That is not something I do. In fact, I don’t even own me a horn. This is just a statement of facts for interested parties. Both of you. You know who you are.

Several weeks back I selected and put together my entries for the State Fair Photography Salon. A couple weeks back I got the card in the mail that tells you if you got any photos in and if you did, how many.

This year the card looked something like this:

I can’t mention success without mentioning failure. Success leads to backslapping, which leads to complacency, which stunts growth. For the last 4 years, the card said “Get out of here kid. You got no future!” So while this year’s card might not be that motivating, it was a more pleasant read.

Again, I’m not bragging. I’m not an award person. Awards don’t factor into my motivations in anything that I do. Whatever award I get will go into the photo contest trunk with all the other past photo contest pictures and awards. But I do want to give you some statistics and then you can determine if this was an accomplishment or if this was just luck.

Last year a little over 1,500 people entered this contest. 8 people got all 4 of their pictures accepted for display. I don’t know how many people entered the contest this year, but only 5 people got all 4 of their pictures accepted for display.

For having all of your pictures displayed, you get the Superintendent’s Award of Merit. I assume that is the award I got, but it is feasible that one of my pictures got another award of some kind. The Award Ceremony is this Sunday, but I won’t be able to attend. I had already made my vacation plans for that day, so I’ll be celebrating by having brunch with Jill at Hell’s Kitchen while the ceremony is going down. Or we might be at an Arts Festival in Minneapolis. It depends on how the day lines up, but I won’t be able to make it to the Awards Ceremony.

Wondering what four pictures I entered? The only way to find out will be to go to the State Fair and see for yourself. However, I will give you a one word clue for each picture:

1. Daisy
2. Foster
3. Barn
4. Jill

Good luck finding them!

These pictures come from the following folder:

Backup/Old My Pictures/Pop Art

I want to make one thing clear, I’ve always hated Pop Art and Andy Warhol. Although fascinatingly, very few of these pictures could be considered pop art, but I want to make sure that nobody misconstrues this collection as any kind of tribute Andy Warhol.

Jill once loaned me a movie called Factory Girl. The movie is about Edie Sedgwick. She was one of Andy Warhol’s first “superstars” and one of the people he used and threw away most completely.

There is a scene in the movie that best sums up the way I feel about Andy Warhol. Edie and Andy are having dinner with her parents. Although Edie’s father is definitely not a hero in the movie and he most likely sexually abused her in real life, his character has a brilliant line about Andy Warhol.

He looks at Warhol and says:

“You’re really more of a printmaker than an artist aren’t you?”

What I originally thought about doing with some of these pictures was hanging them in the kitchen. My current kitchen doesn’t really possess much picture hanging space, so this idea is kind of kaput, but I wouldn’t hang such terrible pictures on my wall any way. Not when I need to hang up the sweet apron that Sara (masquerading as Jupiter) gave me recently.

I firmly believe that the Bennett family pickle relish recipe is the best pickle relish recipe in the world.




I found this phone booth in Mexico.


I’ve been fond of growing Marigolds for nearly a decade now.


My Giverny (Picture named after Monet’s garden)

Next week’s folder will be:

Backup/Old My Pictures/Project Universe