Category Archives: Nader

Birthdays, Jen, Jesse, Michelle, Nader, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Still Life, Tenderloining

Tenderloin Trail 2.0 – Graettinger Field Work

July 2, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

A pox upon me for a clumsy lout. Yesterday I forgot to wish Jen a happy birthday in this forum. (Don’t worry I still wished her a happy birthday in another forum. It is called text messaging. Kids, ask your parents what that is.)

So happy birthday Jen!

Happy birthday!

I know you were on the road for a good chunk of the day, but I hope it was still a day full of joy and wonder.

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After we left the bakery in Sioux Center, we drove east to Graettinger for lunch. In Graettinger there is a restaurant I’ve long wanted to eat at. It is on Tenderloin Trail 2.0, it was once the runner up for best tenderloin in the state of Iowa (meaning the world), and it was one of the 10 finalists for best burger in the state of Iowa this year.

There is no way to hide it. This was one of the best tenderloins I’ve ever had and one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. I ordered a tenderloin and Jesse ordered a burger and then we cut them both in half and swapped. Like an old married couple. Or like is somewhat expected when you go on a food adventure with me. Unless you have a notoriously unrefined palette.

I would say, not only was the burger great and the tenderloin great, so were the fries, the cheesy fries, the cheese curds and the brownie. Also, equally awesome was the owner/manager/chef Barry. We must have talked with Barry about food for close to an hour.

Here are the pictures:

Birdies, Burgers, & Brews - Graettinger, Iowa

That is an inexpensive tenderloin. 9 bucks and a side????

I wanted Jesse to go for the Peanut Butter Burger, but he pussed out and got the The Hole in One Burger. But I can’t say he made a mistake.

So many starters I want to try here.

Cheese balls.

Hillcrest fries. So delicious.

That is homemade beer cheese sauce.

Homemade ranch dressing.

You don’t let any of that cheese sauce go to waste.

Those are sweet potato fries and they were the only miss. But easily forgivable.

The Hole in One Burger.

Their Award Winning Fries.

Nader got the Wisconsin Rancher.

1st bite of the tenderloin.

Jesse first bite of the burger.

Jesse’s first tenderloin bite.

Last bite of the tenderloin.

My first bite of the burger.

View from our table.

The brownie. More on that later.

PrairieMoon on Main in Prairieburg won in 2020, I haven’t had it, but I will someday soon.

Hometowns of people that have eaten there from Iowa.

From the United States.

From the world.

They also have a hot wings challenge that only requires you to eat one wing.

While this might cost me a little bit of street cred on the tenderloin circuit, but I confess that I liked the burger better than the tenderloin. But I would knock down either one in a second.

Birdie’s, Burgers, & Brews ranks the highest on my restaurant scale, it gets the rating of:

I would pursue eating at this restaurant!

I would gladly eat there again. It is over 2 hours from my house and I would gladly drive it to eat there again.

A note, I bought the brownie, but I did not eat it there because I was full and I had plans for ice cream on the trip home.

After Graettinger we stopped in West Bend because Jesse and Nader had never seen The Grotto of the Redemption. I thought there was an ice cream place in West Bend, and there is, (Homestead Country Store) but it was closed. Which means I will have to get back to West Bend to eat there at some point.

Instead, we stopped in Fort Dodge and ate at The Dariette. The Dariette isn’t a new experience for me. I’ve eaten there a few times and it is a favorite of longtime Photography 139 supporter Michelle.

Here are a few pictures:

Blue raspberry.

Delicious blue raspberry.

The crew.

You know I have the Ted Lasso policy on ice cream:

Ice cream is the best. It’s kinda like seeing Billy Joel perform live. Never disappoints.

The Dariette’s specializes in soft serve ice cream. The flavors change weekly. Michelle recommends their peach, but I’ve never had it. I’ve never had anything that disappoints…

You can find The Dariette at:

17 S. 12th Street
Fort Dodge, Iowa

It is a little tricky to find and get to, so if you miss the turn a few times. Don’t feel shame. If you do, the ice cream will wipe that away once you figure out how to get to it.

But back to the brownie…

I might have left Birdies, Burgers & Brews without the brownie, but it comes with a great story. Well, I think it is cool. Barry (the owner/manager/chef) uses a lot of recipes from the 1920s that he learned when he was a cook in a hospital in Kansas. I know there is a stigma with hospital food, but maybe not from the 1920s. Or at least there shouldn’t be.

The brownie recipe isn’t from the hospital though. It is his great, great grandmother’s recipe:

His great, great grandmother could cook, cause this brownie slaps, as they say. I even ate it when it was at least a day old and it still slaps!

I can’t say enough good things about Birdies, Burgers, & Brews!

You can find it at:

701 South Cedar Avenue
Graettinger, Iowa

It is located on the grounds of the Hillcrest Golf & Country Club. I confess, I’ve been surprised on my food adventures that so many golf course serve an excellent tenderloin. I’m blue collar as it gets and I come from a blue collar background. The tenderloin is a blue collar sandwich. Ain’t nothing blue collar about golf. But if golf courses keep turning out food like this, I might change my tune on golf courses.

But right now I’m still in the George Carlin camp on golf.

Next Sunday’s food adventure will involve ice cream.

Art, Flowers, Jesse, Nader, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Still Life, Street Photography, Tenderloining

Flapjackin’: Orange City Field Work

June 25, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Back in mid-May I loaded Jesse and Nader up and hit the road for my annual birthday road trip. This time, the main thing I wanted to see was the Orange City Tulip Festival. I’ve been to the Pella Tulip Festival a few times, so I wanted to see how Orange City’s Tulip Festival compared.

My main reason was I wanted to do a little flowertography, but I also just wanted to enjoy the sights and sounds and of course the food!

These 2 old guys and their bad backs…

The craft market.

Windmill!

Tulips!

Canal!

Tour of Orange City!

We didn’t eat here, but I love the name!

After the tour we hit the first snack of the day. Poffertjes!

Poffertjes (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpɔfərcəs] are a traditional Dutch batter treat. Resembling small, fluffy pancakes, they are made with yeast and buckwheat flour. Typically, poffertjes are a sweet treat, served with powdered sugar and butter, and sometimes syrup or advocaat. However, there is also a savoury variant with gouda cheese.

I’ve had poffertjes before in Pella at Krestmarket. They are delicious!

The poffertjes magicians.

I could have eaten 5 or 6 of these baskets and not even given it a second thought. If you have a chance to knock down some poffertjes, do it. You will not regret it.

After the first snack, we headed to the Dutch Market to find more delicousness.

Fried Almond Patty

The fancier poffertjes.

I should have taken more pictures of the Fried Almond Patty. I should have taken more pictures of the booth that made it. It was a church booth that had three “buildings”. The first one is where you ordered. The second one is where they made your food. Then at the third one, your food was delivered by conveyor belt. Finished off and handed to you.

Don’t get me wrong. The poffertjes were fantastic. But the fried almond patty was a revelation. I sometimes lay await at night thinking about it. Then when I finally go to sleep, I dream about it. I should have bought more, but I was saving room, because after we left Orange City, more food adventures were on the way!

On our way out of town we stopped at a local meat market and store:

The line for poffertjes wrapped around this corner, down that walkway, then around another corner, then in the back of the building, and then all the way through the building.

Windmill.

On our way to the call we ran into a Dutch chorus.

A sweet float.

When I was rooming with Tony in Chicago I told him that I was hitting up the Orange City Tulip Festival. Tony was from this area and he asked me if I was in the area, could I go up to Sioux Center to Casey’s Bakery and grab some Almond Patties for him.

Sioux Center was sorta on the way to wear we were going to lunch, so we hit Casey’s Bakery:

Turned out they were out of almond patties, so I had to buy him a frozen case so he could bake them himself.

Kolaches have become a part of my life lately and these resemble kolaches, so I considered buying these to bring back for my kolache people, but they aren’t kolaches. So I passed. But I thought about it.

Next Sunday’s food adventure will actually be a continuation of this road trip. There was quite a bit of food adventuring that happened this day. Spoiler: It was all good! Actually all great!

Alexis, Andy, Angie, Becky, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Contests, Dawn, Elizabeth, Flowers, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Mary, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Nader, Naima, Nathanial, Pufferbilly Days, Sabas, Sara, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Shannon, Steph, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 401 – HAPPY

May 22, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I mailed out a postcard to the entrants of last years Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest last week. I hear they still haven’t arrived in people’s mailboxes. Thought I would share the postcard here, since many of you entered last year or have kids or grandkids that entered. Or hopefully many of you are thinking of entering this year for the first time. Monica designed the postcard. Have a look:

There are 6 Photo Classes this year:
+ Animals
+ Black & White
+ People
+ Places
+ Plants
+ Trains, Planes, & Automobiles

There are 3 Age Divisions:
+ Youth (7-12)
+ Teen (13-17)
+ Adult (18+)

Hopefully many of you enter again and many more of you are inspired to enter this year. Or inspired to have your kids or grandkids enter.

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REMINDER THAT NEXT MONDAY IS MEMORIAL DAY. WHILE YOUR BANK AND THE GOVERNMENT AND A BUNCH OF OTHER BUSINESSES TAKE THE DAY OFF, THERE IS NO REST FOR PHOTOGRAPHY 139. RISE AND GRIND EVERY SINGLE DAY. I DON’T KNOW WHAT MY PLANS ARE FOR MEMORIAL DAY (OTHER THAN MAYBE SLEEPING LATE AFTER WHAT I HOPE IS AN EPIC MOVIE NIGHT ON SUNDAY) BUT IT MIGHT INCLUDE A ROAD TRIP OR A BARBECUE OR A FEW OTHER OPTIONS THAT MIGHT KEEP ME BUSY. LIKEWISE YOU MIGHT BE ENGAGED IN A SIMILAR ACTIVITY ON MONDAY MORNING. YOU MIGHT NOT GET A REMINDER AND YOU MIGHT NOT BE IN A POSITION TO SUBMIT. PLAN ACCORDINGLY.

HAPPY! Many people claim to like to be HAPPY, but did many people actually get a picture of somebody that is HAPPY or of something that makes them HAPPY? You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out!

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, May 15, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Nathanial Brown – 1 week
2-Tamara Peterson – 1 week
3-Sabas Hernandez – 3 weeks
4-Mike Vest – 3 weeks
5-Alexis Baugher – 6 weeks (3)
6-Jesse Howard – 6 weeks
7-Mindi Terrell – 13 weeks (2)
8-Monica Jennings – 18 weeks (2)
9-Brandon Kahler – 38 weeks (2)
10-Linda Bennett – 42 weeks
11-Sarah Toot – 43 weeks
12-Angie DeWaard – 47 weeks
13-Dawn Krause – 51 weeks (2)
14-Kim Barker – 57 weeks
15-Joe Duff – 58 weeks
16-Logan Kahler – 60 weeks
17-Teresa Kahler – 69 weeks (2)
18-Carla Stensland – 69 weeks (2)
19-Micky Augustin – 71 weeks
20-Andy Sharp – 72 weeks (3)
21-Bill Wentworth – 73 weeks
22-Cathie Morton – 77 weeks
23-Elizabeth Nordeen – 78 weeks
24-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 80 weeks
25-Kio Dettman – 82 weeks (2)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 58 weeks

Nader Parasei (Orange City, Iowa) – 1 week

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 72 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 79 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa)

Scott Degeneffe (Rural Boone County, Iowa) – 1 week

Melissa Degeneffe (Ankeny, Iowa) – 1 week

Melissa Degeneffe (Erb Pond – Boone County, Iowa)

Alexis Baugher (Iowa) – 7 weeks

Alexis Baugher (Iowa)

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 74 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 83 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 43 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa) – 1 week

Mary Green (Iowa)

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 44 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania)

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Living History Farms – Urbandale, Iowa) – 48 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Orange City, Iowa)

Joe Duff (Texas) – 59 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas)

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 73 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa)

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 81 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Iowa)

Sara Lockner (Iowa) – 1 week

Sara Lockner (Iowa)

Suzie Brannen (Ottumwa, Iowa) – 1 week

Suzie Brannen (Ottumwa, Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 14 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 61 weeks

Jesse Howard (West Bend, Iowa) – 7 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa)

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 52 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 39 weeks

Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 78 weeks

Becky Parmelee (Arkansas) – 1 week

Monica Jennings (Roland, Iowa) – 19 weeks

Stephanie Kim (Brooklyn, New York) – 1 week

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 4 weeks

34 participants! That is an amazing week! I know for sure it is the high for this calendar year and it might be the highest of all-time. I’ll have to check my records and get back to you.

Particularly exciting was first ever submissions from Nader and Melissa. I don’t expect Nader to be a regular contributor, but you never know. But with Melissa, there is some hope!

Also, Stephanie had her first submission this year. I don’t know if this will lead to regular or even irregular submissions or not. We will just wait and see.

There were no new states added to the map this week and at this point, I’m betting new states added will be an increasingly rare thing. Time will tell.

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New York
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming

25 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over halfway there!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I took my picture about 175 miles from my front door, so I continue to not contribute.

There was one major milestone this week! Dawn joined the 52 Week Club! One straight year of weekly submissions. Congratulations Dawn!

There were no streaks snapped!

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:

PARK

PARK! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the John Culbertson is a PARK image? Simply put, it is a picture taken in a PARK. And there are all sorts of PARKs. There are city, state, national, baseball, softball, playgrounds, nature preserves, urban, pocket, sculpture gardens, cultural… just to name a few. Of course, there is more than one definition of PARK.

While considering a possible subject for your PARK submission, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt you will come up with an inspiring image.

The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us. The parks stand as the outward symbol of the great human principle.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge. There is a limit of 3 submissions per participant. To be considered the photographer, you have to be the one that takes the picture. Don’t be stealing the work of other artists. You can submit pictures for other photographers that took pictures with your camera or phone, but give credit where credit is due.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of PARK in this place that I believe brings a bit of respite for some next Monday.

Alexis, Anders, Andree, Angie, Art, Baier, Bill, Black & White, Carla, Elizabeth, Jason, Jay, Kelly, Kim, Lowell, Michelle, Micky, Nader, Nathanial, Night, Sara, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Shawn Lockner, Steph, Still Life, Street Photography, Teresa, Travel, WPC - Reminder

The Windy City: Day 1B

May 19, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start out by thanking everyone that wished me a happy birthday. I believe this is a comprehensive list of everybody that wished me a happy birthday.

+ Kim and also thank you for buying me birthday Buffalo Chicken tots and the card.
+ Ron, Clevenger, Jordan, and Aaron. Although I may have bought those birthday wishes with donuts.
+ Elizabeth and also thanks for buying me candy bars I know you don’t like but the real thanks goes for looking for my favorite candy bars the Whatchamacallit and the Take 5! You are the real hero! Also, glad you are digging SHRINKING! Such a great show!
+ Steph. My birthday buddy, I hope FAST X was everything you wanted to be and I’m trying not to lose just a smidge of respect that you went to it.
+ Jesse – Sorry I was so aggressive in accusing you of eating all the mystery cheese.
+ Nader – Thanks for the frog statue!
+ Shannon- half credit for including a picture of a gross cat with your birthday wishes.
+ Michelle – good job taking a three day weekend to celebrate my birth.
+ Jay – doesn’t look like you got any rhubarb. It isn’t going to pick itself.
+ Kelly – thanks for the kind words. Not necessary, but thanks.
+ Angie – hope the postcard arrives soon.
+ Monica – thanks for sending me the picture of me in my Hulkster phase.
+ Suzie – thanks for knowing the proper animal to include in a happy birthday wish!
+ Jason – glad you are feeling better!
+ Bill – thanks for replying “no problem” when I said “thanks”. Don’t know why, but that amused me.
+ Sara Lockner – thanks for almost using enough exclamation marks in your birthday wishes!
+ Shawn – I’m sorry your wife used up all the world’s supply of punctuation in her birthday wishes and there wasn’t any punctuation left for yours.
+ Faust – thanks for pretending that banking sounds fun.
+ Teresa – thanks but I have my doubts you know who Dwight Schrute is.
+ Anders – I don’t know if it was a great one, but I’m sure May Movie Night will be.
+ Sarah Toot – Thanks for thinking I have the slightest clue what emoticons mean. Don’t feel pressure to do better next year.
+ Alexis – thanks for letting me think today was my day.
+ Baier and Dre – We didn’t have much interaction, but thanks for thinking of me.
+ Micky – thanks for multiple birthday wishes. It isn’t a contest, but if it was I think Elizabeth won. At least I think that is what she yelled at me as I walked out the door. But your message was the closest I came to having cake today. So that is something.
+ Lori – thanks, no need to apologize for transferring me my favorite kind of call, even if I really shouldn’t have been first in queue. Hope things went well today.
+ Mark – thanks. I suppose I should learn when your birthday is. Also stop using your desk for storage. Nah!
+ Lowell – thanks for the gift card. I like to think you would get me one even if the company didn’t require it.
+ Carla – thanks for getting your birthday wishes in right before the buzzer.
+ Nathanial – thanks for the final birthday wishes of my day.

I think that is the list. I think that is everybody that wished me a happy birthday! Thanks everyone!

If you are wondering what I did for my birthday, it was nothing super spectacular. It was mostly an average day.

I woke up about 5:54 AM. A little late for me. I was up late last night watching the NBA Playoffs. Then trying to watch the season finale of THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND. Dang it! This wasn’t the season they actually found treasure. And I was so sure! I also ate fried food the night before. I’m trying to eat healthier, so it is fairly rare I eat fried food these days, he said hoping that there were people that believed him. Point is I slept in. It was my birthday. Cut me some slack!

I’m not sure what I did when I first got out of bed. I think I moved to the couch and watched the news for a little bit. Then I went outside and watered the flowers. I also took apart the trunk in the Camry. I had a slight gas spill in the trunk the night before and it was creating a pretty strong smell in the rest of the car. Then I took a shower. Brushed my teeth. Got dressed. But on cologne option #2. Said goodbye to Naima. Got in the Camry. Headed out.

There is an old birthday tradition at the Computer Mine where on your birthday you bring in food for the other employees. On a good day, there are about 10 employees in the building. (On a great day there is less.) On this day, half those people were gone for various reasons. On my way to work I stopped at the Dutch Oven Bakery and picked up a dozen donuts for my co-workers.

This is a small detail of what transpired on my birthday, but perhaps one of my favorite things that happened.

I left the donuts in the breakroom and then sent an email out to the people I knew would be in the building. Here is the backstory.

About 2 weeks, Elizabeth brought in a dozen donuts from a bakery in Nevada. (For the record, and I might get rode out of Boone on a rail for saying this, these donuts buried the ones from Dutch Oven.) She cut all the donuts in half. Now I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain why, but I will. She cut them in half so that people could try multiple donuts and multiple people could try the same donut.

Back to my birthday. Based on my current work schedule, Ron gets to the building about 30 minutes before I do. Elizabeth gets to the office about 15-30 minutes after me. She is in Special Forces so she can come and go as she pleases. I guess that is really more backstory, for what I’m promising you isn’t much payoff.

So back to that email. I explained in the email that there were donuts in the breakroom for my birthday. I didn’t cut them in half (cause I’m lazy – I didn’t write that, but it was in the subtext) but maybe when Elizabeth got here she would cut the donuts in half. I added that this wasn’t sexist on my part, just she is very passionate about the donut cutting thing.

Here is the “payoff”. I’m telling you that the ink wasn’t dry on that email before Ron was standing next to my cubicle. He wished me a happy birthday and then said that he was going to go get a donut quick before Elizabeth got here and cut them in half.

I said it wasn’t much of a payoff, but I thought it was hilarious.

I think it was somewhere in here I went to take a Snap of the donuts to keep my Streaks going with Logan (501), Brandon (257), Nathanial (89), Fran (37), and Alexis (23).

Somewhere after this, Elizabeth did come in. She did not cut all the donuts in half, but she did cut the donuts she tried in half. Take that Ron! She also brought me candy! So the day was off to a great start.

After that I put in a good solid 8 hours for The Man. I was a problem solving machine. Well to be honest, in the morning I mostly did a lot of rando stuff. I think the highlight of my morning (besides the other stuff I’ve highlighted) was being on hold with a customer for about 30 minutes as they repeatedly rebooted their computer before announcing, I’ll have to call you back.

Then came my lunchbreak. I did point out that I am trying to eat healthier. That means (amongst other things) that I only drink pop once a week. I’m pretty much completely off fast food. I rarely eat fried foods. This means that one of my favorite haunts, B-Bop’s has been off the table. But I figured it was my birthday, I could treat myself to B-Bop’s.

I drove halfway across Ames and got the #2 with Cheese with a Large Pepsi.

Sidebar: A great birthday present would have been the B-Bops across the street from the Computer Mine opening back up so I don’t have to drive completely across tarnation to get B-Bops goodness. They have been remodeling for months now! How long does it take to remodel a restaurant that doesn’t have a dining room?!?!?

It was just as good as I remembered. Although, I could feel the salad place next door judging me a little bit. But I literally ate there the day before. Asian Crunch Salad, no protein. So I think we’re square. Stop looking at me lettuce!

After I got back to the work I was a machine. Updating Server Managers. Modifying hosts files. Attaching SQL databases. All a beauty of motion, while sitting in a desk chair staring at 3 monitors. Barely taking a break to try to solve the mystery of what happened to the missing (I failed).

I called it a day, leaving many a satisfied customer in my wake. (Which means next time I work I won’t be able to solve anybody’s problems.) I drove home. I like to take a route home (sometimes called Old 30) where I drive by a bunch of railroad cars just parked along the highway to see if there is any interesting graffiti to photograph. There wasn’t anything transcendent like a painting of a dog or a clown or characters from The Simpsons, but there was one I found photo worthy. I pulled over and snapped a photo. I’m collecting these images and when I hit about 20 or so I will share them. This is what passes for an art scene in Boone.

Got home. Said hello to Naima. Then mowed my back yard. Which needed to be done before it became a 3 man job… again. I was supposed to have a meeting with my friend Kelli. She is opening a wine bar and wants to use my photography on her walls. I was supposed to look at the space and kind of figure out what we wanted to put there, but that meeting got postponed cause, from what I’m gathering, one of her kids did something dumb. Like go to Grand Junction.

The cancellation opened up a hole in my schedule and I was able to take Naima to Dickcissel for a walk and some wading for her. It was also a good time for me to take the theme reveal image for next week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme.

There was a decent rain coming down on us when we completed the loop. Which meant Naima was soaked all over. I consider this to be a positive though, because the smell of wet dog masked the smell of gas. Not much of a trade up, but small victories.

I decided to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream on our way home since I’m eating healthier. Unfortunately, the line in the DQ drive-thru was crazy long, so instead I drove across town to Big Kahuna’s. This is a considerable upgrade in the quality of the ice cream for me, but it meant Naima didn’t get a pup cup. Sorry, Naima. Don’t feel too bad for her. She did get a full pork chop for supper. Me? I had a cherry amaretto ice cream waffle cone for supper. The supper of champions!

I came home and started watching the Lakers-Nuggets game to finish off my night. While sitting there I got a snap from Nathanial asking for my opinion on his options for the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. He is the second person to ask for my opinion. Meanwhile, humble narrator, hasn’t even given any consideration to what he will enter. Usually at this point I at least know at least 2 of the pictures I will enter. This year I have absolutely no clue. I mean that could be a weekend project, but I don’t know I’ll have much time this weekend either. I guess we’ll see what happens.

After the Nuggets won, I watched a little bit of “90s Nation” on MTV Classic and called it a night. Nodding off into a golden slumber listening to the “Morbid” podcast on H.H. Holmes. Part 4. All in all, a pretty good birthday.

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We begin where we left off last Friday. Lowell, Tony, and I were walking around Chicago waiting for Kim to get done getting good union employees fired for smoking a joint while putting up our booth. Kim has no chill. We were going to checkout a place called Zombie Taco as a potential place for supper. Kim had told us that we were to pick the place for supper. Tacos are always a good choice. That is free advice that I’m giving you, that I wish I had listened to on Day 3 of this trip. Unfortunately when we found Zombie Taco it seemed to be only a walk-up window and on top of that, it seemed to be closed.

But back to the walkabout.

A play on “This American Life”. My favorite radio show. But I’m not sure what it means.

I think this place was abandoned.

Never let anybody tell you, wearing Skechers is not cool. I wear them. Snoop wears them. Tony wears them. Elizabeth’s Grandma used to wear them.

My greatest regret from the trip to Chicago is not taking a river cruise.

I wonder if this was the boat that the Dave Matthews Band dumped their poop on. As awful as that must have been, still better than listening to their music.

Chicago has a fair collection of interesting bridges.

More street art.

Down to the River Walk.

Another interesting bridge.

It was around here I met a lady that was walking a golden retriever. Such a good dog. Also, more street art.

I’m guessing this is to protect you from Dave Matthews dumping his poop on your head. Now if they could devise a way to protect you from his awful music.

I assume Dave Matthews put that there.

I’d tell you what I think of Salesforce, but enough work talk.

There is also a Dick’s Last Resort on the San Antonio River Walk. This parking garage is an excellent example of why I would never want to live in a city.

But it is pretty to look at.

My #1 goal of the Chicago Trip was to see The Bean. Crossed it off the list Day 1.

After telling us to pick the restaurant, Kim picked the restaurant. Which fortunately, was 1 block from The Bean.

The WPC theme this week was FRIENDS. Nathanial told me I could take a picture of my reflection and I could be my own FRIEND(S). I have FRIENDS Nathanial. Still a cool shot.

The sculptor (Anish Kapoor) of The Bean at first hated that people called it that. It’s official name is Cloud Gate.

It is made out of 168 stainless steel plates welded together.

It’s highly polished exterior has no visible seams.

It measures 33 x 66 x 42 feet.

The design was inspired by liquid mercury.

I still have one more collection of images to share from Day 1 of the trip to Chicago.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is HAPPY!

HAPPY

HAPPY! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what in the Dave Rauker is a HAPPY photo? Simply put, it is a picture of somebody that is HAPPY or a picture of something that makes you HAPPY. HAPPY is, well it is a feeling of pleasure or contentment. In case you aren’t sure you know what it means to be HAPPY.

HAPPY has been a theme one other time. Here are a few of the submissions from that time to provide you with some inspiration:

Suzie Brannen – Week 71

Kim Barker – Week 71

Stephanie Kim – Week 71

Angie DeWaard – Week 71

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 71

In fact, that was pretty much every submission I received for HAPPY. I bet there will be more submissions this time.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Drone, Nader, Road Trip

Rodan 139: The Gorge

April 25, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

While I was in Dysart with Nader, I also took Rodan139 up to photograph their most famous illusion The Gorge. It needs to be painted, but it still gets the job done. It is an indication of how small of a town that Dysart is that there biggest tourist draw is painted right now their main street. It even includes a spot that tells you to “Stand Here” that is right in the middle of the street.

Here are some pictures from the sky:

The next time we take Rodan139 up to the friendly skies, it will involve Teresa’s back yard.

Art, Drone, Nader, Road Trip

Rodan139: Koi Pond Illusion

April 18, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

A couple of weeks ago I went on a road trip with Nader to check out the illusions of Dysart, Iowa. I have to confess it was a little bit of a bust. They are supposed to have 5 illusions, but 2 of them are gone. One badly needs painting. The other one doesn’t need painting. But it just isn’t all that impressive. The last one though is unique. It is the only illusion like it in Iowa. It is The Magic Koi Pond Illusion. It is the only mirrored cylinder anamorphic illusion in Iowa.

I decided to take some drone pictures of it, but it was a great drone subject because over the top of the illusion are two trees that make it hard to fly the drone and get a great angle at it, but I tried anyways.

The next time Rodan139 takes to the skies, it will also be in Dysart.

Andree, Andy, Angie, Basketball, Becky, Birthdays, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Drone, Elizabeth, Faust, Frank, Jesse, Linda, Lowell, Michelle, Micky, Nader, Nature, Pastor Sarah, Robert, Russell, Sara, Shawn Lockner, Tim, Toby

Rodan139: Pilot Mound State Forest

April 4, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start the day off by wishing Andree a happy birthday. Happy birthday Andree!

I hope your birthday is filled with joy, or at least as much joy as one can feel when they are in Houston, Texas.

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Yesterday was the end of the college basketball season, which also means it is time to crown the winner for Year 18 of the Roundball Oracles.

The winner was Will Baier. Congratulations Will! Making it back to back championships for Baier brothers! It seems like almost everybody in the Baier family has won, except Jason. Hmmmm…

His name is now on the List of Immortals.

ROUNDBALL ORACLES CHAMPIONS
2023 – Will Baier
2022 – Ben Baier
2021 – Micky Augustin
2020 – Tournament Canceled
2019 – Becky Parmelee
2018 – Paul Golden
2017 – Paul Golden
2016 – Michelle Haupt
2015 – Derek Dohrman
2014 – Brandon Kahler
2013 – William McAlpine
2012 – Lowell Davis
2011 – Carrie Baier
2010 – Mark Wolfram
2009 – Mark Wolfram
2008 – Mark Wolfram
2007 – Tim Peterson
2006 – William McAlpine
2005 – William McAlpine

Also “congratulations” goes to “The Sara” winner… Ben Baier. It was a close one this year and came down to the tie-breaker. It was so close to going Shawn. Then he would have had a “The Sara” trophy and the actual The Sara living in his house. Maybe next year.

Ben Baier went from the penthouse to the outhouse in one year. Maybe next year he will be back in the penthouse and his brother will be in the outhouse. It will be interesting to watch.

THE SARA “WINNERS”

2023 – Ben Baier
2022 – Joey Randazzo
2021 – Rachel Gildersleeve
2020 – Tournament Canceled
2019 – Russell Kennerly
2018 – Robert Henning
2017 – Shannon Bardole
2016 – Laura Priest
2015 – Derrick Gorshe
2014 – Sara Lockner

Here are the final Roundball Oracles Standings:

1. Will Baier – 204
2. Toby Sebring – 200
3. Sarah Karber – 193
4. Tim Peterson – 189
5. Cathie Morton – 188
6. Elizabeth Nordeen- 185
7. Andy Sharp – 184
8. Russell Kennerly – 184
9. Linda Bennett – 183
10. Micky Augustin – 183
11. Carrie Baier – 180
12. Dawn Krause – 178
13. Corey Faust – 177
14. Jesse Howard – 176
15. Jason Baier – 173
16. Angie DeWaard – 171
17. Michelle Haupt – 170
18. Carla Stensland – 170
19. Jackson Faust – 168
20. Frank Meiners – 157
21. Lowell Davis – 155
22. Andree Jauhari – 154
23. Christopher D. Bennett – 154
24. Robert Henning – 154
25. Nader Parsaei – 147
26. Logan Kahler – 145
27. Rachel Gildersleeve – 145
28. Joey Randazzo – 144
29. Olivia Baier – 141
30. Jordan Toot – 141
31. JJ Baier – 141
32. Brandon Kahler – 136
33. Becky Parmelee – 131
34. Derek Dohrman – 122
35. Sara Lockner – 112
36. Shawn Lockner – 111
37. Ben Baier – 111

Congrats to everybody that did better than me this year. And there were a lot of them. Cherish the feeling, cause it won’t happen again. Okay, it probably will.

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A few weeks back I took Rodan139 out for a couple test flights. The second of those flights was a spin above the Pilot Mound State Forest. Here are a few pictures from that flight:

Next week I will share the pictures from the final flight I took on the battery test flight day.

Basketball, Iowa State, Lists, Nader, Night, Street Photography

5 Star Bridge

April 1, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Wow! Iowa did it! The Iowa women’s team ended South Carolina’s 42 game win streak and shocked the world by a score of 77-73. Caitlin Clark scored 41 points. She is the first player in history to score 40 points in back to back tournament games. On Sunday at 2:30 they will play Louisiana State for the National Championship.

Louisiana State is coached by Satan, I mean Kim Mulkey. Some people, who don’t know me well, find it shocking when they find out the sports person I root against the most vehemently is Kim Mulkey. “A women’s basketball coach?” They say with a fair amount of incredulousness.

“Yes, and there isn’t even a close second.”

Not Duke basketball. Not Notre Dame football. Not Nebraska football. Not North Dakota State football. Not Baylor football. Not Kansas basketball. Not Texas football. Not Texas basketball. Not the New York Yankees. Not the Los Angeles Dodgers. Not whatever NBA team Kyrie Irving plays for this week. Not Iowa in any sports.

But if I had to pick a second, it would be Texas in all sports.

Trust me, if you watch the game on Sunday, and endure her antics on the sideline, you will get it. That is without me telling you about how she covered for Baylor during their rape scandal. Or her infamous “people in the know” comment.

However, I clearly admit that if she is not the best coach in women’s basketball, she is one of the best. The only other coaches I would put on her level are Geno Auriemma at UCONN, Dawn Staley at South Carolina (although I have to say she was very clearly outcoached by Lisa Bluder last night), and Tara VanDerveer at Stanford.

For example, Mulkey left Baylor two seasons ago. In her final season at Baylor, they went 28-3 and made it to the Elite Eight. The year before that, the tournament was cancelled, but they were a favorite to win the Championship. The year before that they did win the National Championship. When she left, Baylor had won 11 straight Regular Season Big 12 Championships. Baylor had won 9 of the last 10 Big 12 Tournament Championships.

The year before Kim Mulkey moved to Louisiana State they had a 9-16 record. LSU hadn’t made it to the NCAA Tournament since the 2016-17 season. They hadn’t made it out of the first round since the 2013-14 season.

Two years later, LSU is 32-2 and about to play for the National Championship.

Meanwhile, Baylor slipped to 5th in the Big 12 this season and they have lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament both years since Kim Mulkey left. They are still good, but they aren’t cutting down any nets any more. (This year they lost in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament to Iowa State.)

After the Hawks bested the Cocks last night, I texted a couple people that the only mystery left now is whether or not Iowa will repeat as National Champions next year. I know that is pretty dismissive of Louisiana State. But I am pretty confident that Iowa will beat Louisiana State. They are a good team with good players, including Angel Reese, one of the best in the country. Kim Mulkey will be going for her 4th National Championship. I still think Iowa has a team of destiny feel to them. And while Caitlin Clark will be back next season (and possibly the season after that)*, Czinano will be gone. Warnock will be gone. To use a metaphor from the NBA, Czinano is definitely Clark’s Pippen to her Jordan. And remember who got that rebound with 20 seconds to go essentially sealing the win over South Carolina, that was Warnock. Iowa has 2 freshman coming in, but the one that is highly regarded (Ava Jones) was in an accident where a car ran over her family and killed her dad. It is still to be determined if she will ever be able to play basketball again. That doesn’t leave the cupboard bare. Marshall, Davis, and Martin can all use the Covid year and come back. Iowa State transfer Kylie Feuerbach should be back from injury. Iowa will certainly be an attractive landing spot for any transfers looking to play in a packed arena and to record television ratings.

My prediction is Iowa will win the game, but I expect it to be a very exciting game. The game is at 2:30 tomorrow and will be televised on ABC.

Since the NCAA Tournament is like a holiday for me. It is the end of the sports season, until college football season begins in September. A time of year where I cancel my television package and save a few bucks over the summer. Kind of like a Lent for this sports fan. Lasting from the end of the men’s National Championship Game until the kickoff of the first college football game. Probably some people out there that won’t like that analogy.

But bear with me, since I consider the NCAA Tournament to be a holiday and on holidays I like to release power rankings, I’m going to release my power rankings of the college coaches at Iowa’s 4 “major” universities in the 3 main sports I care about. Yes, Boomer Saia (Iowa State Tennis) and I’m sure whomever coaches wrestling at Iowa are pretty impressive, but they definitely aren’t in the top 3 sports I care about. While Andy has worked on me for years now, I’m still not sure I even consider wrestling a sport.

IOWA UNIVERISITY COACH POWER RANKINGS

12. Todd Stepsis – Drake Football Coach
11. Tanya Warren – Northern Iowa Women’s Basketball Coach
10. Mark Farley – Northern Iowa Football Coach
9. Fran McCaffery – Iowa Men’s Basketball Coach
8. Ben Jacobson – Northern Iowa Men’s Basketball Coach
7. Allison Pohlman – Drake Women’s Basketball Coach
6. Bill Fennelly – Iowa State Women’s Basketball Coach
5. Kirk Ferentz – Iowa Football Coach
4. T.J. Otzelberger – Iowa State Men’s Basketball Coach
3. Matt Campbell – Iowa State Football Coach
2. Darian DeVries – Drake Men’s Basketball Coach
1. Lisa Bluder – Iowa Women’s Basketball Coach

This list was harder for me to put together than I thought. The bottom and the top was pretty easy. But I feel the middle could be very fluid. If Allison Pohlman has another great season, she could definitely climb. If Fennelly has another distavorous offseason, he could fall. 2 weeks ago he would have been higher. FIVE players transferring later, he is lucky to be above Allison Pohlman. If McCaffery ever wins a couple games in a tourney, he could climb. What does Otzelberger do with the highest ranked recruiting class in school history? What transfers does he bring in? Does Campbell rebound from a bad season last year? Does Ferentz ever fire his worthless son? Does Jacobson ever return to the form he showed at the beginning of his career? Or should he have jumped ship seconds after Ali Farokhmanesh hit that 3 against Kansas all those years ago.

My decisions are final. No interviews at this time.

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Seems like a good day to share some pictures I took of the Iowa State Pedestrian Bridge I took a couple months ago. Some day when I release my bridge power rankings, it will be #1. Something like: 3. Brooklyn Bridge. 2. Golden Gate Bridge 1. Iowa State Pedestrian Bridge.

I took these pictures with Nader after going to a movie. If you are ever looking for somebody to just wander into your shot over and over and over and over and over and over again, I can recommend Nader for the job.

This bridge is phenomenal it has it’s own Twitter account and strikes fear into the hearts of Big 12 fans from Lubbock to Morgantown to Lawrence to Stillwater. You can check it out by clicking the link below:

Iowa State 5 Star Bridge – Twitter

If you haven’t had a chance to walk this bridge on an Iowa State Gameday you need to put it on your bucket list.

* If Iowa is smart,(I know technically the university can’t be involved) they will line up all the sponsors they can find and make Caitlin Clark a multi-millionaire by tomorrow. Do whatever they can to get her to come back for the extra Covid year. If Olivia Dunne and the Cavinder twins (I’m not blind, I know why they make so much money) can make a million dollars, Caitlin Clark should be making several million dollars. I know Caitlin Clark is a polarizing figure. There are people that don’t like all of her playing to the crowd and all of her trash talking and all of her flopping and her arguing with refs. To be honest, I don’t like the flopping. I don’t like the constant arguing with the refs, but she is the best thing that has happened to women’s basketball, probably ever. Tickets to the Women’s Final Four are more expensive than tickets to the Men’s Final Four. Trust me, those ticket prices are not skyrocketing because people want to see what incredibly stupid outfit Kim Mulkey is going to wear.

As for the trash talking and playing to the crowd. I love both of those aspects of her game. For example, in the South Carolina game she refused to guard Raven Johnson because she is a bad 3 point shooter. At one point “guarding” her from 10 feet away and then waving her off, basically begging her to shoot. In the Louisville game she told a Louisville player that was running her mouth to “Shut up. You’re down by 15.” I love me some good trash talk. My absolute favorite moment of Iowa State’s men’s season (and I know he was a big part of why our season tanked at the end) was when Caleb Grill hit a big 3 against Texas than ran over to their bench and told Texas’ coach that he needed to call a timeout.

Brandon, Carla, Jay, Jesse, Nader, Naima, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Teresa, Willy

Selfie Project – December 2022

January 4, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to share the December images from THE SELFIE PROJECT. I don’t know I did a tremendous lot in December, but I think there are a few good pictures in there.

Here are my favorite December images:

December 1

December 3

December 5

December 6

December 8

December 10

December 12

December 13

December 14

December 15

December 16

December 17

December 18

December 19

December 20

December 21

December 22

December 23

December 24

December 25

December 26

December 27

December 29

December 30

December 31

January 1

Then I had to make a photomosaic out of the 365 THE SELFIE PROJECT images of what I looked like on January 1:

The Photomosaic from the 2022 SELFIE PROJECT.

I’m not doing THE SELFIE PROJECT in 2023. Maybe I’ll bring it back in 2024. But it isn’t happening in 2023. Sorry to all this disappoints.

Art, Basketball, Boone FUMC, Carla, Derrick, Football, Iowa State, Jason, Jesse, Nader, Naima, Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

Selfie Project – November 2022

December 3, 2022 Christopher D. Bennett

I don’t know that November was a particularly active month for me. It is getting to the hardest part of the year to do this project. The sun isn’t up when I go to work. It is barely up when I get off work. That being said, I think I took a few decent picture in November for THE SELFIE PROJECT:

November 1

November 3

November 4

November 5

November 6

November 8

November 9

November 10

November 11

November 12

November 13

November 15

November 17

November 19

November 20

November 21

November 22

November 23

November 24

November 25

November 27

November 28

November 29

I don’t know that I’ll be that active in December either. But I’ll try.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ANIMAL:

ANIMAL

ANIMAL! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is an ANIMAL picture? Simply put it is a picture of an ANIMAL. It can be a wild ANIMAL or it can be a pet or it can be a stuffed ANIMAL or it can be a statue of an ANIMAL. It can be a dog or a bird or a squirrel or a fish or a lizard or a dog or a deer or a possum or a dog or a hamster or a rat or a dog or a bear or an alligator or a dog.

Happy photo harvesting!