Scooter and his Dataman

My little  punk brother was a bit of a nerd growing up. He was/is super incredibly smart. He's one of those people who speaks to you and all you can do is nod your head and try to look like you know what they're saying even though you don't have a clue. Lots of times, I tell him to dumb things down so I can understand him.

Anyway, when he was young he wanted a particular toy for Christmas. He wanted a Dataman which was a 1970s version of a handheld game. All we heard about for months was Dataman this and Dataman that. Of course, our folks got him a Dataman which Mom wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree for safe keeping. Because punklet knew he was superior to any of the minds in our household, he decided to be sneaky and peek inside his presents to find out if he got the coveted Dataman.

Even though he had been warned not to peek, I guess he thought he was such a

great brainiac, he could get away with cheating. Nope. My Mom was very canny and knew that punklet would cheat - it was in his sneaky nature. Mom did what any good mother would do...after he went to bed, she unwrapped his Dataman and removed it from the box. Then she refilled the box with colored shorty socks. On Christmas morning, everyone excitedly opened their presents but it was obvious that punklet was upset because the box that he had so carefully broken in to wasn't anywhere to be found. My mom let him stew about that all day long until finally, in the late afternoon she brought the package to him, claiming that it must have been lost in the shuffle. The punk was excited to no end and he was loudly proclaiming how he  had always wanted a...............a.......(unwrap, unwrap).....set of colored shorty socks!?!? He couldn't own up to the fact that he had cheated so he had to try and act excited about shorty socks.

Everyone knew that he had cheated but he thought he had gotten away with it. Until he got shorty socks that is. Mom let him stew over the shorty socks for another couple of hours before she gave him the Dataman. Everyone had a good laugh at his expense. In fact we still kid him about it. All anyone has to do is say "Dataman" out loud and he'll cringe. But you know what? He never cheated again.

I try...I really do

There are lots of bloggers out there that I really admire. Many of them post beautiful pictures they've taken and some of them even tell how they did it. I recently borrowed a very nice camera and took some pictures that I hoped would be frame worthy. I tweaked them in Photoshop and tried to make them look better but I just don't have enough mad skillz. See?

These are bee holes I found in a cedar tree Manchild trimmed. Apparently, bumble bees drill through the wood and make homes inside of the branches. If you listen closely to the branches (of a tree that hasn't been cut of course) you can hear them buzzing.

This is my attempt to emulate the wonderful artist, Andrew Goldsworthy. If you've never heard of him, check him out. His stuff will blow your socks off. He finds things in nature and arranges them into an artful composition. I found each color of the spectrum in these leaves then lined them up. It was difficult because the wind was blowing and the leaves kept scattering. I still think it's cool.

This is an old dilapidated swing in the front yard of our cabin in the woods. It's been there for many years. I'd love to fix it up so I can sit out there and watch the critters scurry about. 

 Ahh, sweet Schwayze. He's such a photogenic little guy. I think he likes having his picture taken. I wish I could capture and express how incredibly soft his fur is. I call him rabbit boy because his fur is the softest I've ever encountered on a cat. Schwayze is the punk that sleeps on top of my head, licks my hair and gives me cricks in the neck.

This is a cool twisty grapevine I saw while walking down a dirt road one day. The texture is so fantastic.

As you can see, my photos don't jump off of the screen and wow you. Maybe some day I'll learn how to tweak them a little better but for now I'll be happy just snapping away with abandon. Keep reading...some day I'll be awesome.