Category Archives: Mom

Art, Black & White, History, Iowa State, Mom, Politics, Travel, Vacation

The Mount Rushmore of Presidents Vol. 1

June 6, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

It is time to crack into the final spot I hit in South Dakota with my Mom last year. Mount Rushmore.

People (particularly bored sports talk show hosts) are always trying to make comparisons in the sports world to Mount Rushmore. Who would be on the Mount Rushmore of Iowa State athletics? (Dan Gable, Fred Hoiberg, Troy Davis, Jack Trice) Who would be on the NBA’s Mount Rushmore? (Lebron, Magic, Jordan, Wilt) Who would be on Cyclone basketball’s Mount Rushmore? (Hoiberg, Niang, Tinsley, Grayer) Who would be on Cyclone football’s Mount Rushmore? (Troy Davis, Jack Trice, Seneca, Matt Blair)

That type of thing?

But does the Mount Rushmore of Presidents have the 4 best Presidents on it?

According to the official results of the 2018 Presidents & Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey, they did a pretty good job.

A little about the survey:

The 2018 Presidents & Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey was conducted online via Qualtrics from December 22, 2017 to January 16, 2018. Respondents were current and recent members of the Presidents & Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, which is the foremost organization of social science experts in presidential politics.

Here is their Top 10 Greatest Presidents

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. George Washington
3. Franklin Roosevelt
4. Teddy Roosevelt
5. Thomas Jefferson
6. Harry Truman
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower
8. Barack Obama
9. Ronald Reagan
10. Lyndon Johnson

Therefore, the creators of Mount Rushmore did manage to pick the 4 top Presidents that were available to them. FDR hadn’t been President when Mount Rushmore began. He was President when it was abandoned however. During WWII, the United States couldn’t afford to spend any more on the project. At this point, it is safe to assume it will never be finished.

Here some pictures from the trip to Mount Rushmore:

A few more pictures of Mount Rushmore are still stretching their legs, waiting for the call to get into the game.

Animals, Black & White, Macro, Mom, Nature, Photoshop, Travel

Custer State Park Vol. 3

May 30, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of pictures from Custer State Park in South Dakota. In fact, I’ve almost come to the end of the pictures from my trip to South Dakota with my Mom. The only ones left to curate and edit are the pictures from Mount Rushmore.

Even though Custer State Park didn’t quite live up to the hype, I would definitely visit it again. If for no other reason than to visit my feral donkey friends.

So without further adieu, I present the last of the Custer State Park pictures:

I’ll probably start unveiling the Mount Rushmore pictures in the near future!

Art, Blogging, Kim, Mom, Ruins, WPC - Alternate

I’m Feeling It; You Don’t Like It Then Deal with It; And if God Ain’t Real; Real Isn’t

May 29, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

While it is true that Photography 139 doesn’t take holidays, it is also true that Photography 139, okay me, can try to rush stuff together and throw it all together because while they will still post on say Memorial Day, they don’t have all that much time.

This lead me to making a couple of regrettable errors in yesterday’s initial blog posting.

#1 – I mistakenly credited a series of photos to Linda Bennett (my aunt and occasional submitter) instead of Linda Clark. This error has since been corrected.

#2 – Kim Barker submitted 3 photos, but I only posted 1.

A pox upon me for a clumsy lout.

You can see the corrections by clicking on the link below:

Weekly Photo Challenge – Week 141 – Store

Below are my alternates for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

You’re welcome wold!

Animals, Mom, Nature, Photoshop, Travel, Vacation

Custer State Park Vol. 2

May 27, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Today is as good as any to check into the back log and post some more pictures from my trip to Custer State Park with my Mom.

I wouldn’t say that Custer State Park was a disappointment, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype. I do feel however that I had more time to visit Custer State Park, I would be way more impressed with it. I hope I do get to do that again at some point. Maybe do some hiking. Maybe find these buffalo that are allegedly all over the place.

But like I wrote earlier. The lack of buffalo was made up for by the awesome feral donkeys.
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Here are more pictures from Custer State Park:

I felt really bad for the donkey that stood facing the sign. I did talk to him and give him food. He eventually came out and joined the other donkeys.

There are a few more Custer State Park pictures in the hopper.

Animals, Mom, Nature, Travel, Vacation

Custer State Park Vol. 1

May 25, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Custer State Park was one of the most hyped up Black Hills location that my Mom and I were told to visit.

Some people even indicated that it might be the best part of the trip. The reason:

Buffalo!

Repeatedly, I was told that when we went to Custer State Park, we would see more buffalo than we could imagine. Throw a rock, we would hit 3 buffalo. You couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting 4 buffalo.*

Custer State Park was indeed awesome, but it had nothing to do with buffaloes. It was all about the feral donkeys!!

Here are a few photos from our trip through Custer State Park:

I have more pictures from Custer State Park coming in the near future!

*This is not an endorsement of swinging dead cats.

Animals, Baby Got Rack, Black & White, Flowers, Macro, Mom, Naima, Scottie D., Still Life, WPC - Alternate

You Know I’ll Leave ‘Em Changing; ‘Cause You Know I’m Real with It; Don’t Care if You Feeling It!

May 22, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The world wasn’t ready for these alternate TOY images on Monday. Most of these pictures are taken in the Photography 139 Backyard Studio where photography was often disturbed by 2 raucous dogs that had a whole yard to play in, but seemed to want to only play right on top of my rubber dinosaurs.

The flower image is from one of my Mom’s flower pots. It was taken with the TOY special effects setting on the trusty old Alpha 77ii.

However, the images that really might make you stand up and go “Huh?” are of the ginorumous smoker.

The smoker is the new smoker for Baby Got Rack. It was purchased in Louisville from another award winning barbecue man and shipped all the way up to Iowa. Many people have asked when will be their next opportunity to try some award winning Baby Got Rack barbecue.

You could try crashing a Catholic anniversary party in a few weeks.

Otherwise, the only competition that Baby Got Rack is currently eyeing is the Farm Bureau contest at the Boone County Fair.

Other than that, you’ll have to wait for my birthday extravaganza in 2019. I’m guaranteeing that it will happen again in 2019. I just have to settle on a theme. I’m thinking the theme might be “Jorts & Cargo Shorts”. That way the invitations will be easy to make.

Next year my birthday is on a Saturday, so I can actually hold the shindig on my birthday. It would be perfect timing. You can go to your favorite graduate’s open house and then come sit around to the fire tub and listen to KNMA Radio – The Power Retriever.

We’ll see.

Okay, I can’t hold the TOY alternates back any longer:

You’re welcome world!

Andree, Becca, Becky, Bethany, Black & White, Colleen, Dawn, Faust, Jay, Jesse, Laura, Linda, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Monica, Movies, Nate, Nature, Pastor Sarah, Road Trip, Sara, Shannon, Steph, Teresa, Travel

Badlands Vol. 5

May 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

The final set of pictures from my brief sojourn through the Badlands with my Mom:

That is it. That is the last of the Badlands pictures. Still have plenty of pictures from my trip to South Dakota to publish though. I’ll get through them all, some day.

+++++++++++++++

Actually that isn’t it. I’d like to thank everybody that wished me a happy birthday on Friday.

I believe this to be the entire list:

-Mom
-Jesse
-Michelle
-Teresa
-Dawn
-Nate
-Bethany
-Logan
-Shannon
-Becca
-Sara Lockner
-Stephanie
-Sarah Karber
-Colleen
-Micky
-Laura
-Aunt Linda
-Jay
-Faust
-Monica
-Andree
-Becky

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. It was a perfectly adequate birthday. I didn’t go to work. I got to do some tenderloining. I took some pictures. I hung out with my favorite dog in the world and one of my other favorite dogs in the world. I also watched ROAD HOUSE.

The movie that perfected throat ripping and had so many great lines like:

You know, I heard you had balls big enough to come in a dump truck, but you don’t look like much to me.

You’re too stupid to have a good time.

Take the biggest guy in the world, shatter his knee and he’ll drop like a stone.

I got married to an ugly woman. Don’t ever do that. It just takes the energy right out of you. She left me, though. Found somebody even uglier than she was. That’s life. Who can explain it?

Calling me sir is like putting an elevator in an outhouse. It don’t belong.

That gal’s got entirely too many brains to have an ass like that.

This place has a sign hangin’ over the urinal that says, “Don’t eat the big white mint”.

And of course

Pain don’t hurt.

If you missed your chance to celebrate my birth, you have one more chance. Next Sunday night is the Union Street Theater’s monthly movie night. Here are the movies for the double feature:

I chose the movies this month (instead of the usual committee that picks the movies) since it is my birth month. If you are wondering why I picked KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, then do you really know me at all.

I picked REAR WINDOW because I love that movie, it is directed by Hitchcock, it is about a photographer, the photographer is dating Grace Kelly, and it is is the best movie ever made about a photographer.

A close second is BLOW-UP. Right Jay and Jesse?

Projector rolls at 6 PM. I’m not sure if there will be any special treats for that night. We’ll see.