Here is another collection of images from my road trip with Nader to go check out the Dysart illusions:

Still one more collection of images from this road trip left to share!
This week’s food adventure is looking back on 2023’s edition of Taco Tailgate. If you have forgotten. Taco Tailgate is the annual tailgate event for an Iowa State football game where Jorge makes me tacos. He makes tacos for other people, but I think they are mostly for me.
This was a heavily attended tailgate. By far the largest of the 3 times I tailgated this year. In attendance were (but not all at the same time):
+ Yours Truly
+ Jorge
+ Randi
+ Jesse
+ Elainie
+ Sabas
+ Derrick
+ Rachel
+ Sean
+ A few of their friends.
+ Elizabeth
+ Micky
+ Robyn
+ Katelyn
+ Aubrey
And I’m possibly forgetting somebody. If I am, I’m sorry.
Here are some pictures:
I also took a few pictures at the game with a little point & shoot. Here are a few of those:
I’m not sure what next Sunday’s food adventure involves. Possibly pizza.
Today is Willy’s birthday, so I need to wish him a happy birthday.
I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!!
A few months back when I went to help Logan and Nathanial’s barbecue team at a barbecue contest I got to finally experience an ice cream shop that I’ve wanted to try for quite some time. The Casey Creamery. They had a food truck set up and I cashed in on my chance to try them. Even it wasn’t their actual store in Casey.
Here are some pictures:
I got the Peachy Keen. Was it any good?
You know I have the Ted Lasso philosophy on ice cream:
Ice cream is the best. It’s kinda like seeing Billy Joel perform live. Never disappoints.
If you want to visit the Casey Creamery brick and mortar it is located here:
103 East Logan Street
Casey, Iowa
The next food adventure will involve a small town festival tenderloin.
I realize now that I forgot to wish people a Happy Thanksgiving yesterday. I don’t have a picture that represents Thanksgiving to me this year, but I do hope that everybody had a good Thanksgiving! I had a pretty good one. Enough of one that I am going to have three posts that cover my Thanksgiving.
This first one is from ground pictures I took of the annual Boone First United Methodist Community Thanksgiving.
It was a great event. I’m not sure what the final numbers were, but there were more people fed than expected. I’d guess more people than last year based on the length of the drive-thru line and the fact that extra tables had to be setup. Still more pictures from my Thanksgiving day left to share.
A reminder that if you are looking for a Thanksgiving meal or a place to volunteer on Thanksgiving my church is hosting it’s annual Thanksgiving meal again this year. Information below:
I will be there for at least part of the day!
I haven’t selected the 52 themes for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. But here is a list of the suggested themes:
-Science
-Remorse
-Necessity, something critical to your way of life
-Monochrome
-Tourism
-Sentimental
-Dog
-Screenshot
-Anything in the world but a cat
-Roman Numeral
-Outside your home county
– Memories/Memorial/etc.
– Clothing
– Out-of-date (I was thinking specifically of technology or items like pay phones and outhouses here, but it could be more expansive)
– Hands
– Struggle (or challenge)
– A stranger
– Fashion
– Starburst
– Symmetry
– Rule of 1/3’s
– Wheels
– Self portrait
– Emotion
– 6:00pm
– Warmth
– Candlelight
– Window view
– Ugly
– Sunday morning
-ANIMAL or PET
-PASSION
Definitely several of these will make next year’s list! Obviously ANYTHING IN THE WORLD BUT A CAT is a no-brainer!
PORTRAIT! Everyone has taken one or been in one. But did enough people take a PORTRAIT to make it a popular theme? You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out!
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, November 13, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):
1-Susanna Funk – 1 week
2-Diane Sharp – 1 week
3-Suzie Brannen – 2 weeks
4-Monica Jennings – 2 weeks
5-Elainie Hernandez – 2 weeks
6-Sara Lockner – 2 weeks
7-Alexis Stensland – 5 weeks
8-Scott Degeneffe – 12 weeks (3)
9-Sabas Hernandez – 13 weeks
10-Willy McAlpine – 13 weeks
11-Mike Vest – 19 weeks
12-Sheri Fakhouri – 22 weeks
13-Logan Kahler – 23 weeks
14-Nathanial Brown – 24 weeks
15-Jesse Howard – 24 weeks
16-Tamara Peterson – 27 weeks
17-Mindi Terrell – 39 weeks
18-Brandon Kahler – 63 weeks
19-Linda Bennett – 68 weeks
20-Sarah Toot – 69 weeks (2)
21-Angie DeWaard – 73 weeks
22-Dawn Krause – 77 weeks
23-Kim Barker – 83 weeks
24-Joe Duff – 84 weeks
25-Teresa Kahler – 95 weeks
26-Carla Stensland – 95 weeks (2)
27-Micky Augustin – 97 weeks
28-Andy Sharp – 98 weeks (2)
29-Bill Wentworth – 99 weeks
30-Cathie Morton – 103 weeks
31-Elizabeth Nordeen – 104 weeks
32-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 106 weeks
33-Kio Dettman – 108 weeks (2)
The third week of each month I like to share a map of all the states that have had pictures taken in them that were submitted for this calendar year. Well, I checked my calendar and this is the third Monday of the month. Here is the map, heading into this week:
That is a lot of states filled in. In fact, going into this week, there are only 10 states that haven’t been visited and photographed by somebody that submits here. I don’t think there is any chance we will fill in the entire map this year, but we sure have gotten a lot closer than I ever would have guessed! There are 6 weeks left in this calendar year. I don’t anticipate any more states being filled in at this point. Maybe Indiana. But that is a pretty full map if it doesn’t change.
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:
Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 107 weeks
Christopher D. Bennett (Jack Trice Stadium – Ames, Iowa)
Linda Bennett (Jewell, Iowa) – 69 weeks
Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 3 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Dobson Pipe Organ Builders – Lake City, Iowa) – 25 weeks
Scott Degeneffe (Boone County, Iowa)- 13 weeks
Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 109 weeks
Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 74 weeks
Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Iowa) – 1 week
Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa) – 23 weeks
Mary Green (Manchester, Iowa) – 1 week
Elainie Hernandez (Ledges State Park – Boone County, Iowa) – 3 weeks
Sabas Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) – 14 weeks
Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 25 weeks
Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 64 weeks
Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 24 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 96 weeks
Cathie Morton (Iowa) – 104 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 105 weeks
Amy Peterson (Idaho Falls, Idaho) – 1 week
Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 28 weeks
Andy Sharp (UNI Dome – Cedar Falls, Iowa) – 99 weeks
Andy Sharp (UNI Dome – Cedar Falls, Iowa)
Alexis Stensland (east Des Moines, Iowa) – 6 weeks
Carla Stensland (Ames, Iowa) – 96 weeks
Sarah Toot (New Jersey) – 70 weeks
34 participants! A pretty good week by current standards!
There were submissions this week taken in the following places:
+ Idaho
+ Iowa
+ Montana
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ Texas
Here is the current calendar year list for states:
+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Hawaii
+ Idaho
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Kentucky
+ Louisiana
+ Maryland
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Mississippi
+ Missouri
+ Montana
+ Nebraska
+ New Hampshire
+ New Jersey
+ New Mexico
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ North Carolina
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Carolina
+ South Dakota
+ Tennessee
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Vermont
+ Washington
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming
40 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over 80% of the way there! Every continental state west of the Mississippi is now accounted for.
This is the list of states currently missing:
+ Alabama
+ Alaska
+ Connecticut
+ Delaware
+ Indiana
+ Maine
+ Massachusetts
+ Rhode Island
+ Virginia
+ West Virginia
The Outside of the United States map is currently:
+ Spain
+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Canada
+ Peru
+ France
+ Austria
+ Germany
+ Italy
+ Slovenia
The big milestone this week is Bill joining the Triple Digit Club! Also Cathie joins the 2 Year Streak Club. I forgot to mention it last week when Elizabeth joined it or a few weeks ago when Shannon joined and a few weeks before that when Kio joined it! Also, Dawn joined the Year and Half Club!
But it was all good news. Diane couldn’t build on her submission from last week. Monica’s 2 week streak went poof! As did Sara’s. And worst of all… Willy’s streak ends at unlucky 13.
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:
ANIMAL! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a ANIMIMAL picture? It is simply a picture of an ANIMAL. That could be a live ANIMAL. It could be a stuffed ANIMAL. It could be a box of meat. It could be a pet. It could be a wild animal. It could be something related to an ANIMAL. The possibilities are endless!
While thinking about possible subjects for your ANIMAL picture, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt that you will come up with a fabulous image:
Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.
-Anatole France
I look forward to your interpretation!
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 ANIMAL in this place that loves dogs and so many other animals next Monday.
Time to finish off the March backlog. All of these images were alternates for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE in one way or another. Some were for BLUE. Others were for COMPETITION.
It feels good to have the March backlog cleared out. I don’t think April is ready for a backlog clean out yet. Looks like there are some photos in there that deserves their own posts.
Here it is. The final collection of auxiliary images I took during THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT. Finally being shared almost 14 months after I took them. Closing the book on pictures I took in 2022. To be honest there is one last collection of pictures I took in 2022, but I’m not going to share those. Those I will keep for me.
The final county of town signs I harvested was Davis County. A county I left for last because I wanted to save the Paris, Iowa (there are two unincorporated towns named Paris in Iowa) for the end because I have some family history on my Mom’s side of the family there. Paris is almost a ghost town now. There is a cemetery a couple miles down the road. There are a few houses and there are the remains of a general store. But it was still interesting to visit and I don’t regret leaving it for last, even though it really didn’t have a town sign.
Here is the final collection of images, starting at a general store in Cantril.
I swear Randall’s had this exact same signs when I was a kid.
The artist definitely spend most of their time and effort on the boobs.
This building housed the Troy Academy. Which was one of the first institutions of higher education west of the Mississippi.
It is a little sad to close the last page on this photo project. My original plan for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT was to turn it into a book. I have made next to no progress on that. None. I haven’t really made much or no progress on what was going to be my next photo project. I have let you down…
But maybe I will make progress on the book this winter. Stranger things have happened.
I’m not sure what will be posted on Wednesdays going forward. But there isn’t a shortage of RAW images waiting to be edited and shared!
FOOD! Everybody needs it! But did enough people photograph it to make it a popular theme? You will have to keep scrolling to find out.
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, November 6, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):
1-Suzie Brannen – 1 week
2-Elainie Hernandez – 1 week
3-Monica Jennings – 1 week
4-Sara Lockner – 1 week
5-Becky Parmelee – 1 week
6-Julie Sharp – 1 week
7-Mary Green – 4 weeks (2)
8-Alexis Stensland – 4 weeks
9-Scott Degeneffe – 11 weeks
10-Sabas Hernandez – 12 weeks
11-Willy McAlpine – 12 weeks
12-Mike Vest – 18 weeks
13-Sheri Fakhouri – 21 weeks (2)
14-Logan Kahler – 22 weeks
15-Nathanial Brown – 23 weeks
16-Jesse Howard – 23 weeks
17-Tamara Peterson – 26 weeks
18-Mindi Terrell – 38 weeks
19-Brandon Kahler – 62 weeks
20-Linda Bennett – 67 weeks (2)
21-Sarah Toot – 68 weeks
22-Angie DeWaard – 72 weeks
23-Dawn Krause – 76 weeks
24-Kim Barker – 82 weeks
25-Joe Duff – 83 weeks
26-Teresa Kahler – 94 weeks
27-Carla Stensland – 94 weeks
28-Micky Augustin – 96 weeks
29-Andy Sharp – 97 weeks
30-Bill Wentworth – 98 weeks
31-Cathie Morton – 102 weeks
32-Elizabeth Nordeen – 103 weeks
33-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 105 weeks
34-Kio Dettman – 107 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:
Andy Sharp (Omaha, Nebraska) – 98 weeks
Andy Sharp (Whistle Stop Cafe – Boone, Iowa)
Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 73 weeks
Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 99 weeks
Brandon Kahler (Story City, Iowa) – 63 weeks
Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 95 weeks
Cathie Morton (Iowa) – 103 weeks
Christopher D. Bennett (The Feed Mill Restaurant – Audubon, Iowa)
Diane Sharp (Omaha, Nebraska) – 1 week
Elainie Hernandez (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Hilton Coliseum – Ames, Iowa) – 104 weeks
Jesse Howard (The Feed Mill Restaurant – Audubon, Iowa) – 24 weeks
Joe Duff (League City, Texas) – 84 weeks
Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa) – 108 weeks
Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 68 weeks
Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 23 weeks
Micky Augstin (Iowa) – 97 weeks
Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 39 weeks
Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 24 weeks
Sabas Hernandez (Smokey D’s BBQ – Des Moines, Iowa) – 13 weeks
Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 69 weeks
Scott Degeneffe (Iowa) – 12 weeks
Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 106 weeks
Sheri Fakhouri (Iowa) – 22 weeks
Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 27 weeks
There were submissions this week taken in the following places:
+ Kansas
+ Iowa
+ Nebraska
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas
Here is the current calendar year list for states:
+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Hawaii
+ Idaho
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Kentucky
+ Louisiana
+ Maryland
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Mississippi
+ Missouri
+ Montana
+ Nebraska
+ New Hampshire
+ New Jersey
+ New Mexico
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ North Carolina
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Carolina
+ South Dakota
+ Tennessee
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Vermont
+ Washington
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming
40 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over 75% of the way there! Every continental state west of the Mississippi is now accounted for.
The Outside of the United States map is currently:
+ Spain
+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Canada
+ Peru
+ Puenta de la Reina, Spain
+ France
+ Austria
+ Germany
+ Italy
+ Slovenia
There were no major milestones this week. The first ever submission by Diane Sharp though!
It was a bloodbath of streaks though. Becky, and Julie couldn’t build on last week’s submission. Mary’s streak ends at 4.
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:
PORTRAIT! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a PORTRAIT? It is simply a picture of somebody. Can be one person. Can be several people. Can be you. It can be a posed picture. It can be a candid picture. The options are aplenty!
While thinking about possible subjects for your PORTRAIT, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt that you will come up with a fabulous image:
My job as a portrait photographer is to seduce, amuse and entertain.
-Helmut Newton
I look forward to your interpretation!
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 PORTRAIT in this place that is a self-portrait next Monday.
Today is Anela’s birthday, so I have to wish her a happy birthday!
I hope you have an amazing birthday!
Back in August I took an opportunity while I was on vacation to get another stamp on my Tenderloin Trail 2.0 Passport. I went to Prairieburg (Population of 160) to try the tenderloin at PrairieMoon on Main. The winner of the Best Tenderloin in 2020.
Here are some pictures:
It was a very good tenderloin! I would definitely eat it again if I was in the area, but let’s face it, Prairieburg is a bit out there. The reason to go to Prairieburg is for this tenderloin or this restaurant. Prairieburg is about 45 minutes north and east of Cedar Rapids. It is about 2 and half hours from Boone.
I also loved the portabella mushroom fries. I am a well-documented mushroom freak. I probably eat mushrooms 3-4 times a week. If anything, I wish it was less breading and more mushroom, but they were still excellent.
You can find PrairieMoon on Main here:
103 East Main Street
Prairieburg, Iowa
But if you find Prairieburg it is about the only business in the town, so you can’t miss it!
It isn’t open that much. The current hours are:
Thursday: 11:30 – 9 PM
Friday: 11:30 – 2 & 4-9 PM
Saturday: 11:30 – 9 PM
Sunday: 11:30 – 5:30 PM
The next time I share a food adventure, it will involve ice cream at a barbecue contest.