Here is another collection of pictures of flowers I took in my Mom’s yard. These pictures were taken on April 20, 2021. Mostly tulips, but a few other flowers in there as well.
Still, so many flower pictures to share.
This is a reminder that if you are interested in entering the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, the deadline is next Wednesday:
To download the entry form and the rules, click on the link below:
A special thanks to Michelle for modifying the form so you don’t have to print it 6 times.
Also, while I am running the contest, I am not judging it. So don’t worry about me recognizing your images. Doesn’t matter if I do, cause I’m not a judge!
Back in May I cruised around Marion County to harvest their town signs. This was a solo trip and I didn’t take a ton of auxiliary images as I was on somewhat of a time crunch. I had to get to a birthday party at a carousel. Also, I have been to the two biggest towns in Marion County (Pella and Knoxville) a few times, so I didn’t really do much exploring in those towns. Still, I managed to take a few auxiliary images:
Harvey
Bussey
Hamilton
Attica
Melcher-Dallas
Knoxville
It was a good trip and an even better birthday party.
A few Saturdays back I took a solo trip around Humboldt County to harvest their town sign collection. Humboldt is one of the smaller counties when it comes to square miles, but it still manages to pack 13 incorporated towns in. It really should be a bigger county but the people of Webster County are jerks. Probably the people of Kossuth County too.
Here are some facts about Humboldt County:
+ Current population is 9,554 (2019 Estimate), making it the 77th most populous county. Below Calhoun County and above Emmet County.
+ The county seat is Dakota City.
+ The largest town is Humboldt.
+ Was formed in 1857.
+ Named for Alexander von Humboldt, a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, and explorer.
+ Major highways are: US-69, IA-3, IA-15, and IA-17.
+ Adjacent counties are Kossuth, Wright, Webster, and Pocahontas.
+ Peak population was 13,459 in 1940.
Humboldt County has a pretty nondescript courthouse, that is hidden behind trees:
The Humboldt County Freedom Rock is located in Livermore, Iowa:
With Humboldt County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
27 counties completed. 27.3% of the Cyclone State conquered.
Here are the town signs of Humboldt County:
Dakota City, Iowa
Welcome to Dakota City – est. 1858
Population: 843
Gilmore City, Iowa
Iowa’s Limestone Capital – Gilmore City Welcomes You
Population: 504
Livermore, Iowa
Welcome to Livermore – EST. 1879
Population: 504
Bode, Iowa
Welcome to Bode – Since 1881
Population: 302
Lu Verne, Iowa
Welcome to Lu Verne – Come Again
Population: 261
Renwick, Iowa
There’s Only One Renwick – It’s In Iowa
Population: 242
Thor, Iowa
Welcome to Thor
Population: 186
Rutland, Iowa
Rutland
Population: 126
Bradgate, Ioa
Bradgate – Est. 1882 – “The Town That Wouldn’t Die”
Population: 86
Ottosen, Iowa
Welcome to Ottosen – Est. 1896
Population: 55
Hardy, Iowa
Welcome to Hardy – Est. 1881 – Please Drive Carefully – A Small Town With A Big Heart
Population: 47
Pioneer, Iowa
Pioneer
Population: 23
Humboldt County has a pretty solid collection of signs. None of them might not be that spectacular, but it is definitely solid. The worst one is obviously Pioneer. Pioneer is one of those towns that just gives you a really creepy vibe while you are there. Like Beaver and Thayer and Patterson and Shannon City. It is more than just their size. I’ve been in plenty of towns just as small and unincorporated towns that are even smaller that don’t give a Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe off. Pioneer definitely does. I don’t know how it is incorporated. There is no town hall or community buildings at all, as near as I could find. It is over 50 percent junkyard and the rest is mostly grain elevators. I’m sure it didn’t help that I was listening to a THIS AMERICAN LIFE episode on Diana, Hunter of Bus Drivers that was fairly disturbing. Diana was never caught woman that murdered a couple of bus drivers in Juarez. Apparently bus drivers in that part of the world are notorious for “disappearing” young women.
Diana sent the following email to a news organization:
You think that because we are women we are weak, and that may be true but only up to a point, because even though we have nobody to defend us and we have to work long hours until late into the night to earn a living for our families we can no longer be silent in the face of these acts that enrage us. We were victims of sexual violence from bus drivers working the maquila night shifts here in Juárez, and although a lot of people know about the things we’ve suffered, nobody defends us nor does anything to protect us. That’s why I am an instrument that will take revenge for many women. For we are seen as weak, but in reality we are not. We are brave. And if we don’t get respect, we will earn that respect with our own hands. We the women of Juárez are strong.
Any ways, Diana, Hunter of Bus Drivers is now linked in my brain with the town of Pioneer. Perhaps not fairly, but that is the way it goes. (NPR is one of the rituals that goes with Saturday Town Sign Harvesting.)
But who has the best town sign in Humboldt County. There are some solid contenders. Gilmore city has a great sign. So does Bode. So does Thor, although I was hoping for a little more. I also really like Renwick’s sign. But I’m going to give it to Bradgate (even though my picture of it is pretty lousy) because for some reason, there is a tank on it.
A few towns had alternate signs. Here are the alternate town signs of Humboldt County:
Ottosen
Lu Verne – Alternate
Livermore – Alternate
Livermore – Alternate
Gilmore City – Alternate
Here is the current list of Best in Shows:
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Benton County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Grundy County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Humboldt County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Lucas County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marion County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Poweshiek County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Tama County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Wright County
The next we check in on THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Calhoun County.
Lots of people decided to make HISTORY by taking a HISTORY image this week. I understand that it can be a bit difficult for people that aren’t like me. You see, it is easy for me cause I’m making HISTORY every day.
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions:
Joe Duff
Joe Duff
Tamara Peterson
Becky Parmelee
Bill Wentworth
Christopher D. Bennett
Kim Barker
Andy Sharp
Andy Sharp
Michelle Haupt
Carla Stensland
Carla Stensland
Carla Stensland
Carla Stensland
Micky Augustin
Kio Dettman
Kio Dettman
Kio Dettman
Mike Vest
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:
BY THE WAY: WEDNESDAY IS THE LAST CITY BAND CONCERT OF THE YEAR IN BOONE.
MUSIC! What a great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a MUSIC photo? A MUSIC photo is any picture that’s composition includes anything related to MUSIC. A person playing MUSIC. Sheet MUSIC. A MUSICal instrument. Anything involved in the creation of MUSIC.
While thinking on your MUSIC photo, consider this quote:
Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.
-John Erskine
Think on that quote, and you will no doubt create a stunning MUSIC image for next MONDAY.
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.
You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.
That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing our idea of MUSIC in this place that like to think it is a metaphorical melody next Monday.
I usually like to make it to Pella about a week before their annual Tulip Festival. It is a perfect combination of nobody is around and most of the flowers are blooming. This year I bungled my calendar and didn’t end up there until a week after the Tulip Festival. It wasn’t exactly the Sahara for Tulips but the majority were gone. However, I found a enough to take a few photos and with some creative composition (that sounds stupid all composition should be creative) it hopefully isn’t too obvious that most of the tulips are gone.
My title is slightly facetious and maybe designed to get under the skin of an email subscriber that went to Central. However, I do want to try to hit both Orange City and Pella for tulips next year. Orange City is much farther north so their tulip festival is a few weeks later than Pella’s. After that I will deem which town is the true tulip monarch.
So many of the folders 2010-10-04, 2010-10-11, 2010-10-12, 2010-10-15, and 2010-10-16 had so few images, that I decided to make a mega conglomeration. There are pictures here that were used for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE (back then known as the RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO EXPERIMENT) and pictures used for the program for the 2010 Philanthropy Day and finally pictures from a photo shoot with the Gorshes shortly after Evie was born.
By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve another baby.
Back in early May I drove around Adair County to harvest their town signs. I also harvested some town signs in Clarke County. This was a solo trip.
Here are some of the non-town sign pictures I took while cruising around:
Greenfield
Fontanelle
It is sad that this is being painted over.
Bridgewater
Creston
Osceola
Woodburn
Osceola, again
One thing I missed in Adair County that I need to hit at some point is the Jesse James Historical Site.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is HISTORY:
HISTORY! What a great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a HISTORY photo? A HISTORY photo is any picture that records something that happened in the past. For example, in the theme reveal picture is the break room (building) for the employees of a Cracker Jack factory that has been gone for 50 years. A HISTORY picture could be a picture of a museum or an old building or a mural that depicts a HISTOR(Y)IC event. Or it could be a picture of a HISTOR(Y)ICAL artifact. It doesn’t need to be a piece of HISTORY that is as significant as Cracker Jack. It could be personal HISTORY.
Happy photo harvesting!
Here is another collection of pictures of flowers I took in my Mom’s yard. These pictures were taken on April 18, 2021. Mostly tulips.
I still have so many flower pictures to share!
I need to start by making a few photo contest announcements. First of all, the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon is the only photo contest I will be doing this year. Before the pandemic shut them down last year, I have been doing the Boone County Fair and the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. I am not doing either of those for good reasons.
I’m not doing the Boone County Fair because I am going to be one of the judges for the Boone County Fair. That takes me out of the running there. I also recently achieved a several year long goal of becoming the Chair of the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Which also means I can’t enter that contest either.
However, I am very excited about taking over the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. It is too late in the game to make a few of the changes that I want to make and Pufferbilly Days is now only a month away, but I can still make a few of the changes.
Graphic design is not my forte, but I did slap together a flyer I hope to see on social media and hanging up around town in the next few days. Have a look:
The entry deadline is only 2 weeks from today, so if you are interested in entering, better get on the ball!
Also, I got the results back (partially) from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon:
I don’t know what picture or how many pictures (but I’ll assume it is one for now) were accepted, but I’ll let you know after the conclusion of the Iowa State Fair.
Enough of that photo contest noise, here are some pictures I took around my yard:
I’m hoping to rip out some of the bushes in my front yard out and replace one of them with a lilac bush. I do love lilacs so.
A few Saturdays back, before I took my entries for this year’s huge embarrassing failure at the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon to the Cultural Center and well before I went to Saydie’s wedding, I tooled around Lucas County and harvested their town signs. It was a pretty busy day.
Here are some facts about Lucas County:
+ Population is 8,853 (2019 estimate), the 85th most populous county in Iowa. Behind Monona and ahead of Decatur.
+ The county seat and largest city is Chariton.
+ Was formed in 1846.
+ Named for Robert Lucas, the 12th Governor of Ohio and first Governor of the Iowa territory. He also started the Honey War with Missouri.
+ Major highways are US-34, US-65, and IA-14.
+ Adjacent counties are Warren, Marion, Monroe, Wayne, and Clarke.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 16,126.
Lucas County has a beautiful courthouse:
The Lucas County Freedom Rock is located in Chariton, Iowa.
Chariton has a really neat Veterans Memorial Park where their Freedom Rock resides. It is pretty rare when I go to a Freedom Rock (on a weekend) and there isn’t somebody there checking it out. It seems that there are many people out there that are traveling around and looking at them.
On this day, I didn’t meet a fellow traveler, but a retired Marine that lives in Lucas County. He isn’t the official caretaker of the park, but I think he is involved with it pretty heavily. We talked for awhile and he gave me the handout below about their park:
If you have any interest in history or military in general, it is definitely worth going to this park. He also told me about the Flag Day and Independence Day events they have at the park. I’m glad I met him.
With Lucas County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
26 counties completed. 26.3% of the Cyclone State conquered.
Here are the town signs of Lucas County:
Russell, Iowa
Russell – Since 1867
Population: 554
Lucas, Iowa
Lucas – Since 1868
Population: 216
Williamson, Iowa
Welcome to Williamson Community Center – Williamson Fire Dept & Ems
Population: 152
Derby, Iowa
Derby Fire Station – City Hall
Population: 115
There are only 5 towns in Lucas County and it looks like some slick town sign salesman went down Highway 34 and sold identical signs to 3 of them and the other 2 don’t even have real town signs. So, to figure out the Best in Show for Lucas County, we are going to have to go to the rarely used Alternate Sign Tie-Breaker.
Here are the alternate signs of Lucas County:
Russell – Alternate
Lucas – Alternate
Lucas – Alternate
Derby – Alternate
The tie-breaker is no contest. Clearly Best in Show for Lucas County is:
Here is the current list of Best in Shows:
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Benton County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Grundy County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Lucas County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marion County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Poweshiek County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Tama County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Wright County
Next time we check in on THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Humboldt County.
