Category Archives: Life

Contests, Dad, History, Mom, Pufferbilly Days, Railroad, Ruins

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

September 6, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

As the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest polling was drawing closer, I felt that I should go out and take one more picture for the Hidden Boone County Treasures.

I knew I wanted to take a picture of the Mill Creek Stone Bridge. It is located near what was once The Kate Shelley Museum. I suppose that it probably still is The Kate Shelley Museum, but I can’t imagine a day in the future where it is open again.

The Boone Historical Society has become something of a town embarrassment I’m told. Which makes me sad because I grew up somewhat in its shadow. On one of the bookshelves (humble brag, I know how to read) in my bedroom I still have an extensive collection of Trail Tales from the 80s. A magazine put out by the Boone Historical Society. My Dad was a frequent contributor.

From what I know of the debacle, The Boone Historical Society recently decided to close down the Mamie Eisenhower Birthplace. The director had a whiz-bang plan of turning it into a bed & breakfast. Which if you’ve ever been inside the house, you would know is a pretty terrible idea.

This raised the dander of the former members of a separate historical society that used to run the Eisenhower Birthplace because they sold the house to the Boone Historical Society for a $1.

Apparently meetings got pretty heated. Enough so, and for no apparent reason, they started having armed guards at them. Whenever guns get involved, you know it has gotten stupid.

The city and the county started withholding their funding for the Historical Society.

The Historical Society then sent out some kind of pledge to its members asking them to pledge to “stop talk so much trash about us” in the social media world. I’m sure that worked really well for them. Because telling people to “stop talking about how bad we are at our jobs because it makes us look bad at our jobs” seems like a sound strategy. Seems like something Donnie Moscow would try to do. A pledge my Mom refused to sign.

It recently came to a head, where due to lack of funding, the Historical Society had to terminate its director, administrative assistant, and cleaning crew. They also announced that they will have to put the Eisenhower Birthplace on the market.

I don’t know what the future of the Boone County Historical Society holds, but I imagine a major re-direction is on the horizon. Hopefully maybe some day they will put some work into the Kate Shelley Museum.

So under that cloud, I sojourned out to Moingona to photograph one of the more interesting abandoned train bridges in Boone County. Here are some of those images:

Since we talkin’ trains. Reminder that Pufferbilly Days starts on the morrow. You can see the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the window of the KWBG building. 9th and Keeler.

Black & White, Flowers, Jesse, Nature, Road Trip, Sarah Toot, Street Photography, Travel

The Great Eclipse Failure of ’17! – Uno

September 5, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 8 Comments

You might recall that back in August of 2017 there was a solar eclipse in the United States for the first time in decades. Or at least a really long time.

It cut a swath through Iowa, but in Iowa you couldn’t see the totality. It was only something like 85%. And if you are satisfied with an 85% solar eclipse, you aren’t living life to its fullest. Let it sink in and do better.

The totality was cutting through parts of Kansas and Missouri. I have some kinfolk in the area where the totality was to happen. My big city cousin Sarah was even going to come home from New York with her beau Tim to see the totality.

We made a plan to get together and watch the eclipse together. She did some research and we determined a park on the Missouri River in Saint Joseph, Missouri would be the best place to watch it. The totality was at its longest there. Plus, Saint Joseph was considered one of the top ten places to watch the eclipse because of the length of the totality and the fact that it hardly ever rains in Saint Joseph in August. People do research on such things.

Jesse and I took a couple days off to come down to see the eclipse. Another one of my cousins, Jordan and his wife Erin graciously allowed us to stay in their tall basement for the night.

We left Boone at something like 4 in the morning because I didn’t want to miss the eclipse because we were stuck in eclipse traffic. I also didn’t want to fight other people for a spot to see the eclipse. We were going to have our spot carved out a good 4 hours before the eclipse started.

We were successful. We beat the traffic and we secured a spot of real estate next to the Mighty Mo. Then it started to rain. Then rain some more. We didn’t get to “see” the totality. It was covered by clouds, for the most part. However, we did get to experience it. The temperature does drop like 10 degree. Everywhere you look in all 360 degrees looks like a sunset.

I didn’t get the picture that I wanted, but I still got an amazing experience. With some amazing people. Including my Uncle Mike and cousin Adam and his daughter Florence.

Here are some pictures from the failure:

I’m already making plans for the eclipse in 2024. It cuts across Paducah, Kentucky. I have some kinfolk that live near there!

Candid Portrait, Michelle, Self-Portrait, Still Life, Tenderloining

Tenderloin Appreciation Society – Ames Field Work

August 26, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 13 Comments

Due to Scottie D. and I have often contrasting busy schedules, I’ve decided to branch out and have special guests join me on Tenderloin Appreciation Society Field Work from time to time, so that I can get more tenderloin reviews out there in the world.

I know that I am a shining beacon of light in the tenderloin world, so for me to hold back that light to the rest of the world because it is difficult for Scottie D. and I to get out there and try many of the great tenderloins that the great Cyclone State has to offer would, to be brutally honest, a very selfish act.

The first guest to be deemed with the great honor of going tenderloining with me is Michelle. She earned the honor because she knew it was a great honor and has been lobbying for such an opportunity for months.

While it can be written that I can be stubborn to a vice, eventually I will feed you baby birds.

For those of you that don’t know Michelle, she is a fellow miner, but she sometimes get to run the work from home scam. She is married to Craig, who is best known for having better taste than Michelle*. They have 2 kids. You have undoubtedly seen them when Michelle contributes to the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Sometimes we make trips to Otho for their Friday night All-You-Can-Eat Fish. Delicious. Don’t forget to get the hash brown!

The next tenderloin that I decided I wanted to give the Tenderloin Appreciation Society treatment was located at The Filling Station in Ames. Ames, like many towns of moderate size, does not have a great tenderloin. Tenderloins are a small town specialty. Although, there is the occasional statistical outlier like Nick’s in Des Moines.

The Filling Station is about a mile south of Jack Trice Stadium on Elwood Drive. It is in a gas station. However, despite being in a gas station, The Filling Station has kind of an uppity vibe to it. Which isn’t the best scenario. Tenderloins are best served in dives where the bathroom floor is collapsing, sharing walls with junkyards, next to campgrounds, and filled with townies giving outsiders the once over.

Here are some pictures from the field trip:

First, let me give you Michelle’s take:

I was a little nervous walking into the Filling Station and seeing their set up. All the hot food was in a warmer. Umm, a little unnerving wondering how long the food had been sitting out. I ordered the tenderloin with all the fixings and a side of broccoli salad. The tenderloin was THICK – not like the paper-thin ones I’m used to seeing. The breading was fabulous – crunchy and flaky. The bun was soft and toasted. And while I’ll go back to my usual toppings (just onion and mustard for this gal) it was a nice change of pace to add lettuce and tomato. The sandwich was bigger than I could eat, and I ended up taking half of it home. The leftovers the next day were just as good as the day before. I would definitely go back again.

I shared some of Michelle’s trepidation with seeing the tenderloin underneath heat lamps. The Filling Station is set up more like a deli and it is weird to see fried foods in such a context.

However, the tenderloin did come out still warm. Perhaps not piping hot, but a good enough temperature. It was a good thickness and the breading was solid. My biggest surprise was how juicy it was considering that it was being held under a heat lamp. The biggest miss by far was the brioche bun. It did not pair well with the meat. If I ordered it again, I would consider taking it off the bun and just eating the meat by itself.

THE GOOD

Good thick cut of meat.
Might have been a little short on the meat to bun ratio. Meat could have been bigger.
Good cut of meat that was plenty juicy.
Toasted bun.
Good flaky breading.
Served on actual plate.
Broccoli salad was delicious. Not my standard side for a tenderloin, but I love me some broccoli salad!
You have access to all the beverages of the gas station, so Pepsi products.
All the ingredients at The Filing Station are as locally sourced as they can get.
Their employees wear gloves and were friendly.

THE BAD

Standard tenderloin is served with lettuce and tomato. Lettuce and tomato don’t belong on a tenderloin!
Warming lights keep tenderloin warm, but not as good as fresh out of the oil.
Only open until 3 PM M-F. 2 PM on Saturday. Closed on Sunday.

THE UGLY

The sweetness of the brioche bun did not pair well with the meat of the tenderloin.
The name The Filling Station. Now there are 2 eateries with the same name within 15 miles of each other. Now when I say, Let’s go to The Filling Station, I’m going to have to elaborate. That is extra work for me.

THE FINAL WORD

The Filling Station, the one in Ames, serves a good but not great tenderloin. They could almost get to the next level with a different bun. Although I will give them credit for making their buns in house. I will definitely being hitting them up for work lunch again in the future, the few times that anybody wants to go to lunch at my suck lunch hour time.

NEXT UP

There is currently nothing in the hopper, so if you know of one you want me to review, drop me a line.

*Craig is an Iowa State fan. Michelle likes to dress like a deranged bumble bee.

Candid Portrait, Ernie, Logan, Photo Journal, Photoshop, State Fair, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 52

August 24, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

It is your weekly reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is COMPETITION.

A great theme! One of the best ever! But what is a COMPETITION photo? It is a picture that shows any kind of COMPETITION. COMPETITION can be between teams or individuals or with the self. A COMPETITION photo could show the results of a COMPETITION. Interpret the theme any way you see fit!

COMPETITION

Happy photo harvesting!

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A few weeks back, Ernie was in town visiting Teresa. I felt he would be a good subject for Page 52 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 52 – Capture someone’s subconscious.

The idea of this picture was thus:

“By giving your subject something to do they become less aware of the act of being photographed.”

Ernie is playing solitaire. I setup my camera on a tripod and triggered the camera with my phone, while I was pretending to look for something on my storage shelves. Hopefully Ernie didn’t realize I was taking the pictures. I told him the purpose of the project after the photo shoot. When I told him we were done, he did seem a bit surprised.

My one regret is that I didn’t give him a toothpick. It looks like he could have used a toothpick to chew on.

Here are a couple of other photos from the photo shoot:

I’m not sure what page we will hit up the next time that we hit up THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. I have about 4 or 5 of these done and ready to roll. I mean they aren’t edited yet, but I’ve taken the pictures.

I’m trying to include as many different people as possible in this project. If you’re looking to volunteer, you know where to find me. Right now, I could use a person that does yoga.

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Incidentally, part of the reason that Ernie was back was to help get Teresa’s house on the market. Click on the link below to see’s Teresa’s real estate listing:

BUY TERESA’S HOUSE

Logan took the photos for the real estate listing.

Art, Bethany, Black & White, Dae Hee, Nora, Road Trip

Franconia: Part 1

August 21, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

In what feels like forever ago, but was actually only a year ago I went up to the “bold” North to visit Bethany, Dae Hee and Nora. One of those days we headed towards the Wisconsin border and visited a sculpture park called Franconia.

It was about an hour drive from Burnsville, but it was 100% worth it. I think it is my favorite sculpture park that I have ever visited.

Here are some pictures:

I love this sign on many levels.

I know what you’re thinking:

“In that last picture, is that a penis sculpture?”

I guess you’ll have to wait until the next time we visit Franconia to find out!

Andy, Animals, Cathie, Flowers, Jesse, Kim, Macro, Michelle, Micky, Photoshop, Shannon, State Fair, Tamara, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 153 – ANIMAL

August 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

ANIMAL seemed to really bring out the creative impulses of a lot of people. Plenty of ANIMAL submissions!

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates! You came to see the submissions!

Kim Barker

Micky Augustin

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Mike Vest

Cathie Raley

Jesse Howard

A solid 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:

COMPETITION!

COMPETITION! What a great theme! But what is a COMPETITION photo? A COMPETITION photo is any photo that deals with competing. It could be a race. A football game. A board game. It could be people preparing for competition, like practice or working out. People don’t just compete against other people. They compete against time. They compete against themselves. Humans aren’t the only beings to compete either.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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 due date. 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

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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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 competitive Monday.

Animals, Black & White, Contests, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Nature, Photoshop, Saydie, State Fair, Taylan, Underwater, Willy

The Howards: 2016 – Chapter 1

August 19, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

By the time this gets published, I’ll probably be making the trudge up Expo Hill towards the Cultural Building to pick up my photos from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon.

If you didn’t get a chance to duck into the Cultural Building to check out my photos, that is fine. That is dandy. Here are the 4 pictures I entered. 2 were accepted for display. 2 were not.

Not selected for display.

Selected for display.

2 pictures for display was a solid showing. You never know what the judges will like. I was surprised that Willy’s eye was selected for display. I thought of the 4, it had the worst chance to make it. I guess you never know.

A few statistics from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon:

1018 Photographers Entered
3201 Photographs Entered
Photographers from 20 other states entered
863 Adults Entered
466 of adults who entered have at least one photograph on display
27% of the photos entered were exhibited

I should start planning for next year, but that hasn’t really been my style, yet.

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Starting on the 3rd to last photo shoot from 2016 to have the 2016 backlog cleared up.

This collection is from the Howard Family Photo Shoot:

I told all the people that missed Saydie Sundays that she would be back. For at least one more week after this, even!

Baby Got Rack, Contests, Event, Macro, Melissa, Michelle, Scottie D., Shannon, State Fair

Baby Got Rack Takes the Iowa State Fair

August 19, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A reminder that today is the last day of the Iowa State Fair. If you are going, you should make your way to the Cultural Building to see the pictures that I had accepted for display. They will come down at approximately 8 PM. Also, I will be at the Iowa State Fair today, if you want to try to look me up.

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On Tuesday, Baby Got Rack went to the Iowa State Fair to compete in the Iowa State Fair Farm Bureau Cookoff.

Baby Got Rack earned their way there by winning the Combination category at the Boone County Fair. The Combination category is any dish that combines 2 or more meats. We won with Scottie D.’s famous Mediterranean Pizza and his Barbecue Pizza.

Baby Got Rack took a little bit of a different formation this year. House dropped out this year. A couple of other people auditioned for roles on the team, but only one person stepped up to join Baby Got Rack. That was Bryon Porter.

I will also add that Baby Got Rack’s guardian angel, Melissa also increased her role with the team this year. In year’s past she had stayed mostly in the background. Running the books and being in charge of procurement. This year she also was in charge of making the pizza crust.

I can’t lie. At the Iowa State Fair they both did more work than me, probably. It looks like once again there is no Pufferbilly Days Barbecue Contest. We had heard rumors that it was a done deal at the Boone County Fair. But those rumors ended up being lies. Dirty, dirty lies! At least as of this writing, there is no listing for a Barbecue Contest on the Pufferbilly Days website.

Sorry people that were planning on coming to visit us on the Sunday of Pufferbilly Days. Tuesday might have been your last chance to see Baby Got Rack in action until at least May. When Baby Got Rack will cater my birthday party. If I have it. Which currently, everything trends to that happening.

Since I knew this was probably the last time Baby Got Rack would gird its loins for the field of barbecue battle, I took as many pictures as possible. Here are some of my favorites:

Unloading.

Baby Got Rack’s Latest Superstar

Fire!

4 AM came early for this guy!

Injecting the Pork

When you’re this stylish, you take a selfie!

4 AM also came early for this guy!

Applying BGR’s Proprietary Rub

That is a good looking piece of meat!

Seasoning the chicken!

Melissa is also our Interior Decorator.

Lots of competitors!

Strictly speaking, this isn’t a team competition. Scottie D.’s name is the only one you’ll see in the record books.

Bryon rocking the swag!

Checking the meats! Arby’s got nothing on BGR, on so many levels.

Cutting up the pizza toppings.

Is that 2 types of bell peppers? I’ll never tell!

Melissa, making magic.

Magic!

Crust!

Time to let the meat rest!

Delicious!

Mmmmm… Pork!

I love our chicken. It still might be my favorite thing we make.

Seasoning Up!

Spreading the Sauce!

(Wipes drool off of keyboard.)

Cheese!

Sean! This guy is the chicken master, but he entered pork. He got 2nd place in Pork.

Starting to look like pizzas!

Barbecue Pizza

Mediterranean Pizza

They gave everybody that came a Participant Ribbon*. Some people put it up. We put it away. BGR doesn’t come to “participate”. BGR comes to dominate!

Pizza. Macro.

The crowd starts to swell around our booth.

Pizza on the grill.

Picking out pieces for the judges.

Next year, we will have our own hashtag!

Piece for the judges.

Category Judges.

Scottie D. working his magic.

Giving the judges a sample of the meats.

Everybody loves this pizza!

The Showmanship Judges.

Ed Wilson gave Scottie D. a fist bump.

Scottie D. was briefly on the news that night.

There was one pizza catastrophe, but people didn’t care, They wolfed it down!

People love free samples, but not everybody is what I would call appreciative.

Scottie D. being interviewed for the pseudo-radio broadcast.

More free samples!

The Grand Champion Judges.

This is our favorite judge.

The Secretary of Agriculture.

We won our Category.

Baby Got Rack Team Picture. Melissa refused to be in it for some reason.

There are plenty more pictures from the day’s event. If you want to peruse them, you should click on the link below:

BABY GOT RACK – 2018

That is probably all she wrote for this year’s Competitive Barbecue Season. I’m sure Baby Got Rack will be back in 2019, unless Scottie D. decides to open up a restaurant instead of all this small fish stuff. Many people wanted to know where our restaurant is and we had to break their heart.

Special thanks to everybody that came down to see us and support us:

Shannon
Barb Shedd
Michelle’s Parents

BGR out! Mic drop.

*I’m not one of those people that freaks out about giving out “participant” ribbons. I don’t suffer from the disease of toxic masculinity. If you want to give kids participant ribbons, it isn’t making them soft. It isn’t making them less competitive. It might even people helping their self-esteem. Which is fine by me.

Becky, Derrick, Event, Jaycees, Music, Shannon, State Fair, Steph, Still Life

06-28-08

August 18, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

There is quite the eclectic collection of pictures in the folder 06-28-08.

There are pictures from Ames on the Half Shell. The Box Brothers are the band.

There are pictures of the WHO Tractor Ride.

There are pictures of the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

And finally, there is a picture of the most accurate nickname I was ever given.

The Intimidator mailing label was on a gift subscription to American Photo magazine from Steph. I had that nickname because 98% of the people that I have managed in my life have been terrified of me. The other 2%? Fools.

Of course, there are more Box Brothers images than I care to share here. If you want to see more, you can click on the link below:

Ames on the Half Shell – 2008

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Work Half Done

Burden

Box Brothers

The Right Color Tractor

Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve a wedding where I was a 2nd shooter. I don’t know or even remember the name of the people that got married. However, if the other weddings I’ve done photography on is any indication, they are probably divorced now. That might have taken a dark turn, but #facts.

Animals, Black & White, Nader, State Fair, Still Life, Street Photography

Iowa State Fair 2017 – Set 2

August 14, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

By the time this entry publishes, Baby Got Rack will already have competed in the State Fair Cookoff. Pictures from that will be coming in the future.

I will remind you that I have two pictures on display at the Photography Salon in the Cultural Building. I’ll reveal what pictures I entered and what pictures got displayed this coming Sunday.

But for now, here are the balance of pictures from my trip to the Iowa State Fair in 2017.

I do love me some Iowa State Fair!