Category Archives: Life

New Toy

We recently held an auction at the Computer Mine. The one thing in the auction that I really coveted was a blue Canon A4000 IS. I’m not a Canon guy at all. However, I’ve been sans point and shoot for a couple years now and there are times (like mission trips) where a little point and shoot would come in handy. While it isn’t the most powerful camera, I thought if I could get it for $50 bucks (while it retails for $150) I could slum and add a Canon to the arsenal.


I am notoriously tough on point and shoots, so hopefully it will last me a couple years or so.

I thought I would crack it out and document my weekend, to get a feel for it. Below are those pictures.



Spirit Week Super Dog! (Photo by Jorge Rios)


Spirit Week Gyro! (Photo by Joseph Lynch)


Seriously! Data migration call 10 minutes before I’m off!


Houlihan takes over my data migration! (Photo by Joseph Lynch)


Commitment to consumerism.


Supplies for Friday Night Supper Club


Willy grilling. Naima observing.


Firetub Swan Song… Or is it?


Breakfast with Mom at The Legal Limit. She loves having her picture taken.


Finally getting the studio put back together. Might re-do the 9 Emotions Project.


This is what $150 or so looks like.


Helping paint Teresa’s house.


Yeah. Nice try Cyclones.


Happy birthday Greg!


Worshiping an Awesome God!


Thinking about Fall Project #1.


Assisting with Jay’s Ice Skull Project.


Preparing for the Weekly Photo Challenge Photo Shoot.


Stan bringing over some firewood. Naima greeting him.


John grilling at the event formerly known as The Methodist Men Steak Fry.


Monday morning. Back to the grind.

I couldn’t wait for Monday night when I finally got a chance to breathe and have a small bit of free time again.

Coming Soon…

Actually, not coming soon. They are already there.

Recently my sister Teresa came across a collection of theater seats at the Funky Rooster. She was able to negotiate a sweet deal and after borrowing a truck from the Petersons and getting Derrick to help load them and Willy to help unload them and place them in The Union Street Theater, they are home.

Here are a couple of cruddy cell phone pictures for you to admire my recent addition and commitment to consumerism.



Derrick strapping the seats in.


Willy and I testing them out.


Another view of the test.

This addition will seat four people or two straight males.

My understanding is that these seats came from the old Century Theater that was on Duff all those years ago.

I also recently added a computer to the Union Street Theater to make it easier to stream music or watch YouTube videos down there.

I’m not sure how many people can sit and watch movies at the Union Street Theater, but currently there are 4 theater seats, 2 recliners, 1 couch, a daybed, a trundle bed, and 1 bean bag chair. However, the couch will probably bite the dust at some point.

The Union Street Theater will start hosting more formal events in the future. Including:

-Probably at least 2 viewings of MANOS: HANDS OF FATE.
-A Network Engineering viewing of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
-A possible Youth Group event.
-A Nader birthday movie viewing.
-Another undetermined movie viewing.
-Many a Cyclone sporting event watch party.

I think I might be done tinkering with it for awhile, but I would have made that same claim a few weeks ago.

Oinge

It has been almost a week since I posted a flower picture and I’m sure that Russell was probably getting a little antsy, so I’ll post one of my favorite pictures that I took at the Iowa State Fair.




I might even finish the week out back to back to back flower pictures. You never know.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-A65V
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm (90mm – 35mm Equivalency)
ISO: 800
APERTURE: f/4
EXPOSURE: 1/160
DATE: 08/22/2015 – 18:22
LATITUDE: 41° 35′ 42.9″
LONGITUDE: 93° 33′ 4.9″
ALTITUDE: 245.85 meters

Painting Vol. III

Here are more painting pictures. YEAH!!! These are from my other sister Carla:



Jesse, trying to break my window. Jeff watches on.


Anders, painting away!


Anders and Ian painting away!


Melissa and Scottie D. painting the east side of the house.


Anna painting!


Teresa cutting some plastic as Willy and I hold it.


The north wall.


Alisa and Erica painting the front “porch”.


Jeff and Terrence painting.


Teresa painting.


Teresa painting.






Alisa and Erica painting the gate. Terrence supervises.


South wall.


I think Shannon is in there somewhere.




Note the excellent scallop work that Carla did!


The front porch.

Back to the Fair

A little return to my trip to the Iowa State Fair.


A windmill near the Agriculture Building at the Iowa State Fair.
Windmill

This windmill is actually located in the same place as all the flowers.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONLY SLT-A65V
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm (90mm – 35mm Equivalency)
ISO: 100
APERTURE: f/4
EXPOSURE: 1/160
LATITUDE: 41° 35′ 41.9″
LONGITUDE: 93° 33′ 5.3″
ALTITUDE: 239.29 meters

On a housekeeping note, it should be noted, that recently a new Photography 139 blog subscriber was added. So welcome to Dae Hee. If you see him on the streets, give him a knowing glance and the secret handshake.

Painting Vol. II

What lies below are a few pictures my sister Teresa took of the painting.



Yep. That is Jesse trying to break my front window.














More Jesse trying to break my window.


Another angle of Jesse trying to break my window.

There may be more action packed painting pictures coming your way in the future! Try to contain your excitement.

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.

Weed

Saw this spot of purple in my backyard so I figured I better photograph it. After all, somebody once said that “if you don’t notice a spot of purple in nature, it pisses God off.”




Okay, that isn’t the exact quote, but I’m not feeling the motivation to look it up. Google is all the way on my other monitor. Looking over there seems like a ton of work suddenly.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONY SLT-65V
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm (90mm – 35mm equivalency)
ISO: 160
APERTURE: f/4
EXPOSURE 1/100
DATE: 09-28-15 – 17:08
LATITUDE: 42° 3′ 18.5″
LONGITUDE: 93° 52′ 14.8″
ALTITUDE: 346.78 meters

Yello

I thought I would conclude the work week with another flower from the Iowa State Fair.

Painting this weekend. You’re still welcome to come over and throw some paint on to my house. With a paintbrush or roller.




I’m hoping after this weekend I will have the creative time to start taking photos on a more regular basis again. But we will see.

PARTICULARS

CAMERA: SONLY SLT-A65V
FOCAL LENGTH: 60mm (35mm equivalency – 90mm)
ISO: 1250
APERTURE: f/4
EXPOSURE: 1/160
DATE: 08-22-2015 18:16
LATITUDE: 41° 35′ 42″
LONGITUDE: 93° 33′ 5.4″
ALTITUDE: 213.01 meters