Category Archives: Mom

Chance with Necessity, Randomness with Determinism

On Sunday, after church, I grabbed my camera to walk around the church to grab some STILL LIFE moments for the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. It seemed like a beautiful day, so I thought I would walk around downtown Boone a little bit before meeting the family at the Chinese buffet for lunch. When I came around the corner of 7th Street onto Greene Street, I came across a gentleman doing sidewalk chalk art on the sidewalk in front of the Ericson Public Library.

Fascinated by his work I struck up a conversation with him. During the course of our conversation I learned many of his religious views and some of his art background. He was a Boone expatriate that had recently decided to come back home. He indicated that he wanted to do an Easter art project and he had contacted the local Baptist church and they told him, “No.” Then he contacted the church he was raised in and they also told him, “No.”

I offered him use of our church’s sidewalk because we’d love to have this kind of artwork at our church in Easter. We struck up a deal and hopefully everything falls into place and the Boone First United Methodist Church will have some sweet sidewalk art come Easter Sunday.

Here are some pictures of his Christmas artwork he was doing at the library:


Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Art

After I joined my family for lunch and I relayed the story, Teresa actually knew the artist. His name is Don Hughes and apparently back in the day, they used to run in the same circles. He had even been to our house in my youth. So after our lunch Mom, Logan, and Teresa went up to talk to Don. Which resulted in a selfie that was sent to one of Teresa’s oldest and dearest friends.

Happy Jayoween

The Saturday before Halloween Jay and I got together for our annual tradition of watching horror movies and carving pumpkins. This year Willy joined us.

This year Jay carved a clown for my Mom:




My pumpkin will remain unpictured.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 1600
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm
APERTURE: f/2
EXPOSURE: 1/80
DATE: 10/29/16 – 21:59
LATITUDE: 42.05533°
LONGITUDE: -93.87070
PHOTO ASSISTANT: Jay and Willy
PHOTO EDITING SOUNDTRACK: “Start Over” – Flame featuring NF

Methodist Men NOT a Steak Fry – 2016

The 16th was The Event Formerly Known as the Methodist Men Steak Fry. I think it was an overall success. We served 51 smoked pork chops and 2 hot dogs. Our speaker was Jack Owens, the founder (more-or-less) of The Salt Company.

It was good food and good company and a good speaker. We didn’t even go broke doing it! Here are a few pictures I was able to snap (when I wasn’t working like a dog) of the event.


Hopefully, under the leadership of our poor schmuck president, we hand increase our attendance by like 25%.

Can You Smell What the People’s Champ is Cookin’?

I’m sure I mixed up that pro wrestling reference. I don’t watch pro wrestling. I went to college.

That being said, here are some pictures from Baby Got Rack’s day at the Pufferbilly Day Barbecue Contest:



Marcus whipping up a batch of Marfins. Not to be confused with Scuffins. Which is an entirely different thing.


That’s not Tone’s. That is our proprietary rub.


Vote 5! Stay alive! It sounds like a threat but, well maybe it was a threat.


Not all of our trophies are on display. That Coke can might have been self-awarded.


I made 6 gallons of Thick Soul Sweet Tea. Secret ingredient… more sugar.


Marcus’ sidewalk chalk rendition of Sir Pigs-a-Lot.


Pork loins going on Fat Boy. (The bigger smoker isn’t really named Fat Boy.)


Chicken coming off Little Man. (The smaller smoker isn’t really named Little Man.)


Scottie D. and I (mostly Scottie D.) brokered a deal for a silver pig from Paradox. We partnered with them (Baby Got Rack is all about synergy) at first to borrow the pig for the day. But then we sweetened the deal with a gallon of Thick Soul Sweet Tea and a ton of barbecue and that pig came come with me. Part of the partnering process included our bull getting a picture taken with their bull. If you have never checked out Paradox, I would highly recommend it. It is a pretty sweet store with some pretty sweet stuff.


We handed out pork loin sliders. Marcus cut the meat. I cut the buns. Scottie D. worked the crowd.


Scottie D. working the crowd.


The line for Baby Got Rack! Is that famous Flat Earth Theorist Joe Lynch in the crowd. You better believe it!


Bull working the crowd. My Mom pouring people stiff cups of Thick Soul Sweet Tea.


Did we win the kid’s vote? You bet your bottom donut! I’m being told that most people don’t use donuts for currency. I’m confused.


Baby Got Rack currently has two kinds of barbecue sauce. S + M and for the more daring sorts Anaconda Picosa. Story about that later.


Look at that line! People’s Champs!


Mmmmmmmm… Do you want to know what is in our injection? Love and goodness and other stuff.


Maybe we’ll do pork loin for my birthday next year. Maybe I won’t do a birthday party next year. One never knows.


Fat Boy cooling off.


This guy stopped by in the morning when we didn’t have any food to give out. We recruited him to come back and HE DID! Feeling the Baby Got Rack love!


Always time for a selfie with Bull!


Look at all these votes!


Note the silver pig.


People’s Choice!

First, thanks to Carla for taking many of these pictures.

Second, 2 quick stories.

Story 1

I told you we had two sauces: S + M and Anaconda Picosa. Anaconda Picosa is our spicier sauce. Scottie D.’s job while working the crowd was to explain the difference between the two sauces to the people. One guy approached the table and Scottie D. said, “Are you trying the Sweet + Mild?”

The guy stared Scottie D. down. There was 5 seconds of silence. Then he said, “Do I look Sweet + Mild?” He paused and then continued, “I’m an anaconda!”

He might’ve flexed after that, I’m not sure because I was laughing so hard.

Story 2

This one is creepier.

One of the other barbecue combatants arrived at Baby Got Rack’s tent early in the morning. To deliver this message:

“I’m going to win the People’s Choice Award this year. My niece… well she’s smokin’ hot. When it is time to give out samples, I’m going to have her come up here and hand out the samples dressed all sexy.”

There was some manly banter that I definitely don’t want to bore any females in the audience with.

A few hours later, he came back. This time, he had his niece with him. Holding a pan of samples for us to try.

“See what I’m saying?” He blurted out.

All I’m going to say is he better get a sexier niece for next year, cause you know who went home with that People’s Choice Award!

Finally, if you want to see all the Baby Got Rack images from 2016 (there might even be a picture of that niece in there) click on the link below:

BABY GOT RACK – 2016

That concludes the competitive barbecue season for 2016, but I’m sure Baby Got Rack will be back with a vengeance in 2017! Winning all the hearts and minds and trophies!

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 53 – BODY PART

A new year. Well, a new 52 weeks. I’m excited for what this new year will bring. But you don’t want to listen to me talk all tommyrot about my aspirations for the next 52 weeks. You just want to see the submissions.

Here are the submissions for BODY PART:


WEEK 53 - BODY PART - BILL WENTWORTH 1
Bill Wentworth 1

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - BILL WENTWORTH 2
Bill Wentworth 2

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - BILL WENTWORTH 3
Bill Wentworth 3

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - SHANNON BARDOLE
Shannon Bardole

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - DAWN KRAUSE 1
Dawn Krause 1

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - DAWN KRAUSE 2
Dawn Krause 2

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - DAWN KRAUSE 3
Dawn Krause 3

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - MIKE VEST 1
Mike Vest 1

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - MIKE VEST 2
Mike Vest 2

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - BECKY PERKOVICH
Becky Perkovich

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - STEPHANIE KIM
Stephanie Kim

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - KIM BALDUS 1
Kim Baldus 1

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - KIM BALDUS 2
Kim Baldus 2

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - CARLA STENSLAND 1
Carla Stensland 1

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland 2

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - CATHIE RALEY 1
Cathie Raley 1

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - CATHIE RALEY 2
Cathie Raley 2

WEEK 53 - BODY PART - CATHIE RALEY 3
Cathie Raley 3

A good, healthy week of submissions!

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:


WEEK 54 - OLD
OLD!

I’m running behind, so I don’t have a tremendous amount of time to be witty about OLD. You know OLD when you see it.

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge. It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

We are pleased to announce Paul Golden is the latest person to display taste, class, and sophistication by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. Paul plays a mean baritone and sings with one as well. By virtue of being in Connecticut, he is the farthest east of any Photography 139 email subscriber. The empire has grown! So if you see Paul out walking the mean streets of Connecticut, feel free to give him a knowing glance and if you have the inclination, show him the Super Secret Photography 139 Handshake.

That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very olden times Monday!

The People’s Rack

Team Baby Got Rack competed in the Pufferbilly Days Barbecue Contest this past Sunday.

I will take away many cherished memories from this Sunday, I’ll share those when I share the majority of the Baby Got Rack images at a later date.

Here is what is important to know.

At this contest we debuted our two signature barbecue sauces:

Sweet + Mild
Anaconda Picosa

We also debuted our new signature drink: Thick Soul Sweet Tea.
We also debuted our new logo: Sir Pigs-a-Lot.
We also debuted a mascot, that at this time we are going to just call Cow or Bull.
We also attempted to debut a new signature style shirt to go with our signature fedoras. We weren’t quite there on that.

But what about the results? Well it wasn’t our best day. But even on a tiger’s worst day, it still gets to be a friggin’ tiger! We came home with the People’s Choice Award for the second straight year. Proving that you can’t spell D-Y-N-A-S-T-Y without Baby Got Rack.

Here is the team picture (with Cow or Bull) from Sunday:



Photo Credit: Melissa D.

Another unofficial category we dominated was The Fun Department. As you will see in a later post where I tell some of the stories of Saturday. Including my favorite guy from the day, who delivered the best line of the day.

In closing, I would just like to thank all the people that came up and supported us (helping ease the pain of Baby Got Rack Superfan Willy McAlpine’s absence), like my sisters and Mom, WB Joseph Lynch and his posse, the Howard Clan, the Thornburgs, and the Petersons to name a few. And of course, those that were there in spirit. Too many to name.

And to Sara for loaning us her chalkboards. To Jay for offering us the use of his can opener too!

National Naima Day

Today (Friday, August 26, 2016) apparently is National Dog Day. At least it is on Twitter. So I thought I would share a few photos of Naima and her recent trip to the Boone Pool.

At the end the swimming pool season, Boone has a take your day to the pool event that is a fundraiser for Boone’s dog park. I always take Naima because she enjoys some aspects of it. She loves being in water where she can touch the bottom. Water where she has to swim. Not a fan at all.

This year I did throw her into the 4 foot section of the pool. Which she did not enjoy and then she was a little leery of even getting too near the pool at all.


After about 45 minutes, Naima decided she was done. So she got out of the wading pool and then walked out the front door of the pool. So we went to the car and hit the open road. Where she enjoyed sticking her head out the window on the ride home. I sure she is already looking forward to leaving from next year’s event.

Naima is going to church on Sunday, so I’m sure there will be more Naima pictures in your future!

4 Generations

When Elainie was back for Alexis’ graduation, Carla got Mom and Grandma together for a 4 generations picture. A Majors. A Paris. A Bennett. 2 Stenslands.


4 Generations

With Alexis leaving for the Navy in less than a month and Elainie already in the Navy, organizing pictures like this in the future may come close to impossible. Glad we got this one when we did.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
ISO: 160
FOCAL LENGTH: 70mm
APERTURE: f/5.6
EXPOSURE: 1/160
DATE: 05/28/2016 – 19:29
LATITUDE: 42.06308°
LONGITUDE: -93.93079
PHOTO ASSISTANT: Grandpa’s Horse
EDITING SOUNDTRACK: “Stardust” by Louis Armstrong