Contests, Cousin Amy, Derrick, Evie, Jen, Jill, Mom, Sara, Shawn Lockner, State Fair

State Fairing It Up!

I made it to the State Fair twice this year. I went once on a Friday to see Maroon 5 with Jill. Then on the last day of the Fair I went with my Mom. I met up with Derrick, Jen, and Evie. We ran into Sara, Shawn, and Cousin Amy. Here are some pictures from those trips:



Jill in front of the picture of her at the Photography Salon.


Jill with her turkey leg.


The damage she did to that turkey leg.


Even though Jill is a Legacy Member of the Maroon 5 Fan Club, she felt our seats could have been better…


I thought that they were pretty good.


For some reason, Maroon 5 played before Train. Don’t know why, but at least we didn’t have to endure Train.


Evie loves baby animals!


Evie is a toe wiggler!


Evie supports winners!


We heard the following at this stand a lot: “1 fried butter on a stick and a bottle of water, please!”


You can’t imagine how hard it was for me NOT to photoshop that terrible Hawk logo out of this picture, but trust me, despite what his wardrobe is telling the world, Shawn is a good guy. He just doesn’t know how to dress.


With the 2nd Place Picture


With the Honorable Mention Picture


Some people view this as impressive.

Looking forward to next year’s fair already!

Politics, Russell, Street Photography

The Straw Poll

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A few weeks back I went to the Republican Straw Poll with Russell, even though I will be voting for Obama in 2012. Here are a few pictures:



Bachmann definitely had the best organization at this event.


McCotter’s way creepy van.


Members of the “Lamestream Media”, no doubt.


The line to get in to Hilton was substantial.


Ron Paul’s Inflatable Uncle Sam.


Some chick from FoxNews that made a terrible joke about Barney Frank being there.


Although I endorse Rick Santorum’s homemade peach jelly, I do not endorse Rick Santorum presidential candidate.


My 2nd favorite people at the Straw Poll. My favorite people were a young couple wearing homemade t-shirts. On the front it said: “Moderate Conservatives” and on the back it said: “Please Don’t Hate Us”.


McCotter’s Creepy Van


A McCotter supporter handing out bomb pops.


Although it looks like I’m enjoying this bomb pop, I am not. At least it was marginally better than the sno-cones the wind energy people were handing out.


Pictures with the an Abraham Lincoln look-a-like. At least I assume it wasn’t the real Abraham Lincoln because he wasn’t wandering around muttering: “How did my party go from the abolition of slavery to tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% as its core value?”


McCotter! Despite his creepy van, McCotter was my favorite candidate there!


Even though this is clearly the Iowa State Center, I heard more than one speaker try to goose the crowd with a “Go Hawks!” thrown into their speech. Yea! Screw those guys!


I took a picture of this thing to remind me how inclusive the Republican Party has become. Room for people at diverging opinions at the table. Oh there isn’t?


Russell signing the turbine blade. Not the only minority there, but if you take out Herman Cain…


The Bachmann camp did play hardball with their petting zoo. You had to vote for her to get in to it.


Ron Paul’s classy dunk tank with a guy wearing a Bernanke mask.

It was an interesting event and I can’t wait to go again in four more years.

Next week’s Random Wednesday involves pictures from my trips to the State Fair.

Becca, Contests, Dawn, Derrick, Jen, Russell, Scottie D.

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest

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These are the pictures I entered in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest and the person that selected the picture:



Derrick Gorshe


Jen Gorshe


Russell Kennerly


Dawn Krause


Scottie D.

The Girl in the Blue Skirt
Rebecca Peterson

Thanks to everybody who took their time and energy to select pictures for me this year!

The picture that Dawn chose got 2nd Place in Black & White. My original intent for next year’s selectors was to bring back all of the people that had chose an award winning photo in the past few years, but my fire for photo contests has kind of been extinguished. Not that I might not reconsider, but I think that this might have been my last photo contest. Or at the very least the last time I enter the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.