Category Archives: Layla

Home is Where the House Is

There will be more photos from this event, but I wanted to set this photo of Layla off on its own because I like it so much.


Deep Thoughts of a 3 Year Old

I’m not a mentalist, a psychic, or even a psycho, but this is what I think Layla is thinking:

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate.
And I can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY-SLT-A65V
ISO: 1000
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm (90mm – 35mm equivalency)
APERTURE: f/4
EXPOSURE: 1/100
DATE: 11/15/2015 – 14:55
PHOTOSHOP: Converted to Black & White.
NO GPS DATA

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 9 – FOOD

A pretty fair amount of submissions this week. I hope the momentum continues next week with a subject matter many people are less familiar with than FOOD. There is also, not one, but TWO first time contributors in this week’s submissions! Hopefully they feel inspired to keep submitting, even though this week’s theme will be harder. Hooray!

This week’s submissions:


WEEK 9 - FOOD - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 9 - FOOD - LAURA MILLER
Laura Miller

WEEK 9 - FOOD - MICKY AUGUSTIN
Micky Augustin

WEEK 9 - FOOD - MICHELLE HAUPT
Michelle Haupt

WEEK 9 - FOOD - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard One

WEEK 9 - FOOD - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard Two

WEEK 9 - FOOD - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 9  - FOOD - MONICA HENNING
Monica Kewer

WEEK 9 - FOOD - MIKE VEST
Mike Vest

WEEK 9 - FOOD - SHANNON BARDOLE
Shannon Bardole

WEEK 9 - FOOD - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 9 - FOOD - BECKY PERKOVICH
Becky Perkovich

WEEK 9 - TERESA KAHLER - FOOD
Teresa Kahler

Time to reveal next week’s theme. My clue earlier was that it was something that many people aren’t as familiar with as they are food. Of course, that doesn’t include anybody with in the sound of these words.

Next week’s theme!



WORK!

WORK – /werk/ noun – Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.

Hopefully the enthusiasm for this project carries over!

Time for a quick housekeeping note from Photography 139’s Shameless Self-Promotion Division. We are pleased to announce that a new email subscriber has been added: Laura Miller of Manhattan, Kansas. I believe her to be the third person that resides in Kansas to subscribe to this here blog. If you see her out and about, give her the knowing glance AND feel free to teacher her the super-secret Photography 139 handshake. Welcome aboard Laura!

Painting!

The great national nightmare, or maybe it was just my nightmare, is finally, virtually over. The 2 day house painting party this weekend is over and my house is painted!

Just a couple splashes of paint here and there, and hanging a few things up and it is over.

So thanks a million to my amazing Saturday Painting Crew:

  • Jesse
  • Teresa
  • Baier
  • Will
  • Ben
  • Monica
  • Jeff
  • Scottie D.
  • Melissa
  • Porter
  • Dalton
  • Anders
  • Ian
  • Mom
  • Shannon

Equally as great was my awesome Sunday Painting Crew:

  • Willy
  • Jesse
  • Derrick
  • Teresa
  • Carla
  • Jen
  • Evie
  • Layla
  • Jay
  • Kelly
  • Anna
  • Anthony
  • Alisa
  • Erica
  • Shannon
  • Jeff
  • Terrence
  • Mom

I’m in such good spirits that I’ll even thank the people that just stopped by to gawk:

  • Terry
  • Grandma
  • Sherrie
  • Steve
  • Andy (In fairness Andy would’ve helped if there were any work left to do).

 
Since I wasn’t able to photograph anything on Saturday on Sunday because I was covered with paint, at this time I don’t have any pictures of the actual painting to share. However, I do have some pictures of the aftermath. Some of the things might make you wonder about the cleanliness and skill level of my people. You should know that many of them are highly skilled painters: Derrick, Baier, Carla, and to my admitted shock Willy (to name a few), but everybody contributed on some level. Therefore, imperfections, spills, messes, I actually love these things. These are reminders that on one beautiful fall weekend 15 people on Saturday and 19 people on Sunday decided to come to my house and help me paint rather than do something that society may have considered more fun and more interesting. Society can go suck an egg!

I call it the house that love painted and that is even at least partially true. If nothing else, I have at least a healthy start to my Birthday Party Invite List. Don’t worry, there will be other chances to earn a coveted invite to The Party of 2016*. Not many granted, but I’m sure those chances will be out there.

Any way, here is a collection of photos of my Painting Party Aftermath:



A piece of tape leftover from where Alisa and Erica did a crackerjack job of painting the front porch!


An unintended sweet design left behind from Carla painting the house numbers!


Paint left behind from where my frog rain gauge sits. Possibly left from when Anna or Willy painted the rain spout? Actually that is probably my spill.


That cardinal even looks sweet on the brick.


Normally I would be sad if my beautiful, lush lawn looked so downtrodden and pathetic, (I pay good money for somebody else to fertilize it for me) but this is actually a sign of how many people were there painting my house at any given time. Can’t hate on that.


Cleaning out paint trays lead to this sweet white streak of grass.


The gold paint. The finishing touch that really adds some flair. Alisa and Erica also knocked it out of the park with this paint and my gate. Shannon also rocked the front threshold with this paint.

Another awesome aspect of this painting project was how much equipment I was loaned. One neighbor Stan loaned me 2 scaffoldings. The other neighbor Roger loaned me a ladder.


Stole the idea of using dish tubs to hold paint from my mission trip to South Dakota. Fortunately while painting cedar siding sucks, it doesn’t suck as bad as painting stucco.


More than a few people were infatuated with my house’s “nipple”. It is my kitchen vent. Don’t be weird, creeper. Either way, Anders and Ian did a dynamite job of painting it.


Just a few of the ladders that were used in the project. Not pictured is 1 of 2 family heirlooms used in during the project. A ladder my Grandpa Bennett bought in 1969 to paint the house at 415 Greene Street.


A few of the rollers that survived usage by Teresa the Roller Killer.


It took about 10 gallons of cardinal paint, 3 gallons of white paint, and 1 gallon of gold paint to complete this project.


Lots of experimental painting was done by me on this project. Some paint tools are excellent. Some are a waste of money. Such a waste of money.


On Saturday night I bought a gallon of gold paint and a whole set of paint brushes to use with the gold paint. When the time came around to use the gold paint, all those brushes, except one had been used for cardinal. This solo cup is an artifact left behind by Alisa and Erica from painting the gate gold.


Earlier this year I moved this wood pile from where it is pictured to the brick patio for use in the Firetub. I have had exactly zero social fire tub fires this year. Will and Ben moved the pile back to its original location. Very thankful I didn’t have to do that. Although since I am retiring the Firetub this fall, I should have one last social fire soon. What will become of the Firetub? Stay tuned. Same bat time. Same bat channel.


The other family heirloom that was used in this painting project. This step stool also belonged to Grandpa Bennett. When it isn’t being used in painting projects, it holds frog statues. It will no doubt be used when I complete Fall/Winter House Project #2 sometime soon-ish.


This was the Painting Party Cafeteria. Many a burger and dog were consumed here over stimulating conversation. Such as what do you do when you have to go to the bathroom on a 100 mile run? Loyal Instagram followers will recognize the chairs I stripped and painted John Deere colors and the plastic chairs I did a very poor job of painting Iowa State colors. The bench was built by Teresa. It normally is housed between the cherry trees and holds rain gauge no. 2 and more frog statues. Naima enjoyed her time in the cafeteria. Especially when Evie tried to bribe her with a hot dog to go on a walk.


This dog. She was in heaven with so many people around. She converted a couple of kids that were afraid of dogs and was a wonderful playmate for Layla and Evie as well. She even tried to help with the painting.


I set up the tent for its annual airing out and as a place for children to play. I think Jay might have been the one who played with it the most. Willy and Jesse helped set it up. It is always my pleasure helping people learn survival skills.


Naima’s tail got an extra shade of gold when she tried to help with the gate painting.


The best part of painting during the fall is that it doesn’t matter what happens to the flower that surround my buildings. I would have photographed the hosta that Melissa dumped (much to the chagrin of Scottie D.) quite a bit of white paint on, but we all know that hostas are weeds. So who cares what happens to them? Not this guy!


I did almost all the scraping myself. Let me tell you, scraping cedar siding is the worst. Here is just a small sampling of the piles of scraped paint chips that surround my house.


I think I had 5 paint trays going all at once on Sunday. Might have been 6.

So once again. Thanks to everybody that helped me with this project!

If you are wondering what the house actually looks like now, you might have to visit**. Or maybe that will be covered in a blog post in the future. I don’t know what the future holds.

*Actually, I can’t guarantee that the party will be that great***, but the invitations will be very amusing to at least 3, maybe 4 people.
**But don’t ring my doorbell, that freaks me out.
***Although the partial party playlist was endorsed by Anna and she knows about such things. I’m sure.

Insta

Feel like revisiting my Instagram account. It has been a long, long, time.

Obviously, if you follow me on Instagram, like a boss, you’ve already experienced these.

A few of my favorites:


That was fun! We’ll have to do that again sometime!

Phonetos – Vol. 1

Although I haven’t touched the real camera lately, I have sorta documented some stuff with my cruddy camera on my phone. Thought I would post some of those from the last few months. Remember, these are taken with a cruddy camera phone.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen many of these. Feel free to carry on.



Best donuts. Ever.


Our waiter at Pig Ate My Pizza. Carrying Naima’s favorite toy.


This was apropos of that weekend. I love John Cusack.


Iowa State Relay for Life


Such a great game!


Naima had Willy protect her while we watched the ISU-Oklahoma game.


I still don’t think they’ve done anything about this building.


Dre’s Birthday. Watching a little March Madness.


Layla’s Melancholy Lion.


Network Engineering Night at Welch Ave.


Missouri.


Cousins.


First birthday party I’ve been to that was on the grounds of a federal prison.


Naima.


New love. Rico’s Tacos.


ISU Spring Game.

Confirmation Sunday with my Confirmation Mentee Mitchell.


Derek. Winner of this year’s Roundball Oracles.


Uncola at the Otho Pub.


Carla’s Art.


Logan really enjoyed his first Adobe experience.


Jim. The last night of bowling. Ever.

Dinner with a member of the Illuminati.


Miss May.


Bulletin from Pastor Sarah’s amazing Superhero Sermon Series.


The wall from the Citywide Youth Group.

More soonish…