6 posts tagged “nature photos”

I haven't been blogging very much lately. Just been busy with work and school (I'm so behind it's ridiculous). Hailey has been working and finishing up the school year. I have taken some pics over the last couple of week so I thought I'd just dump them into a post. These are just some pics of some pretty flowers and greenery that's been popping up, just different stuff outside, my new tomato plant (which has one little tomato growing on it right now), a 'gully-washer' of a rain storm we had last week and a little squirrel who I met. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had bad weather come through yesterday afternoon and into the evening. Having tornado warnings always instantly reminds me of my Dad. He took tornadoes very seriously and raised me to do the same. Back in my childhood we truly only had one tornado season and that was in the spring (now of course, with the weirdness of the weather we have another tornado season in the fall and winter, in fact, these days we can pretty much have a tornado anytime of the year). I remember many times, when I was a kid and we would go to the skating rink on Saturday night, if the weather started getting bad my Dad would always come and pick us up early. Sometimes, if bad weather was headed our way he wouldn't even let us go at all. It never bothered me because I knew he was doing it for our own safety. Such was the case last night. Hailey and Corey were to meet at The Summit for a date but as I was explaining to her (driving in the car) that she probably wouldn't get to go, he called on her celly to tell her that his Dad had told him the same thing. Surprisingly she did not argue with me. I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. So I dropped her off at home and was headed back to work to try and get in a little more time when the sirens went off for the first time. I called work and told them I wouldn't be back and headed to the grocery store to pick up a few groceries. The sirens went off again while I was in the store. As I was driving home it started raining and lightning. The wind was blowing the rain in all different directions.  I made it home and inside just as the bottom dropped out.

It rained buckets and caused the front yard to flood. I got some good pictures but had to stay on the porch so my camera wouldn't get wet. I finally ventured out to get one more shot of water gushing down the stairs and discovered the biggest weed I have ever seen! It was huge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went out this morning and it was a bit cooler and absolutely beautiful. I noticed the 'mystery car' across the street. It hasn't been there all week. I posted about this car that always has it's hood up a week or so ago and it sparked quite some conversation. Well now I've got a picture to prove it. It's an old Honda, nothing special, even missing a hubcap. But I'm telling you this car is not disabled. This person drives this car because it comes and goes. But for SOME STRANGE REASON when they park it here they raise the hood. Strange beyond strange!

 

On April 3rd my son turned 27 years old. I had to postpone his Birthday celebration a bit due to financial constraints but tonight I'm treating him and his girlfriend to dinner out and then they are coming back here for some cake and celebration. I'm going to do a big pictorial timeline for him like I did for Hailey tomorrow and will also include some pics from tonight.  Be sure and check back tomorrow to see Michael as a baby and a kid growing up as well as read a few poignant and (some painful) stories from his life. I got to looking through some of his photos here on the computer and ran across a couple that demanded to be compared. Wow what a difference a year can make!

 

Here's Michael a year ago with his skanky previous girlfriend who broke his heart in two!

 

 

 

Here's Michael this year with his new and MUCH IMPROVED girlfriend.

Sweet!

Hope everybody has an awesome Saturday! I've got TONS of stuff to do so I gotta get crackin!

Oh here's that giant weed I mentioned. It was about 2 1/2 feet tall!

 

 

Here are some photos I took last night and this morning and I also made a few banners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow yesterday was one long ass day! I woke up to snow (and blogged about that). I came home last night and made risotto (and blogged about that). In between I took Miss Hailey to meet her date at The Summit and I went to work for a while. I brought my camera along and took some shots in the courtyard. The courtyard definitely still shows signs of the 'dead of winter' but I can see just a few tiny sprigs on the trees that lends some hope of spring. I heard a bird calling out to his buddy or his mate and zoomed in to get a good shot. I have seen a few bunny rabbits in the courtyard but did not see any yesterday. Still I got some pretty good pictures. The fountain and water fall have been turned off for so long (drought??) it's very depressing. They were really spectacular. The water fall shot a good 100 feet into the air and the water would spill over the edges of the gazebo and spill into the large pool. I'll be happy when they turn them back on. It's a very open courtyard and several of the trees there have been struck by lightning and have become a bit distorted. NOT the place you want to be in a thunderstorm!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I left work I went and did some shopping, came home for a while and went back to fetch Hailey from her date. Here's her with the new boyfriend.

 

He's cute enough but of course, he doesn't go to her school. Not only does he go to a different school, he also lives in a different county! I don't know why she can't keep her crushes local LOL! He DOESN'T drive though (yet) and that's a plus on my part.  I haven't had a chance to get to know him yet hopefully I will soon. I still miss Jeremy though. **sigh**.

 

 

Is it NORMAL for the Mom to miss the ex-boyfriends more than the daughter does?

Last night my son and his roommate came over to wash their mountain of laundry. They brought their new girlfriends with them. It was fun and interesting. My son, who is 26, is dating a 20 year old. She is quite pretty but somewhat immature. I can only hope and pray that he knows what he is doing! We had fun talking about random things and each had their turn on the internet because the boys don't have it at their apartment. They brought some beer called 'black & tan'. I had never had it. I had one and it was very good! My son's roommate and I got into a very indepth conversation about good food and good wine. He works at an Italian restaurant. We talked about wine and I was surprised that he knew so much about it, even more than I do! And we talked about alfredo, real alfredo made fresh with cream and parm. He promised me that he would bring me some good alfredo and a good bottle of merlot in exchange for letting him wash his dirty underwear in my machine LOL. He also complimented my spaghetti. I had sent some over with Michael a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned how good it was! I felt honored considering he was comparing it to something made in an italian restaurant.

So I had to get to the bank this morning before noon to do some 'inside' banking. The only branch that is open on Saturday is about 20 minutes away. I timed it perfectly and slept as long as I could, especially since that beer gave me a pounding headache!

Hailey was planning to go visit Jeremy while I was at work. I got up and got ready and had a small meltdown over my hair (PMS for sure) and then went to the bank while she finished getting ready.

When I got back home I felt a little nauseated so I ate a can of reduced sodium tomato soup. It was very good and not too salty at all. Then we headed out around 12:15. I took Hailey to Jeremy's house and went to work.

I work in a beautiful building with beautiful grounds. There is a pool and huge waterfall but, due to the drought both have been empty and dormant for some time. But even the drought couldn't keep the beautiful fall foliage from taking my breath away. Every day when I go outside to smoke I look at all this beauty and wish I had my camera with me, so today I took my camera to work!

When I went outside to smoke I took my camera and attempted to capture some of the beauty on film...here's what I got:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a little overcast but I thought the pics turned out pretty good.

So when I went back upstairs I kind of had the photog bug and took some more random shots.

There is this guy that works in our office who is sort of a 'jack of all trades'. I don't know his official title but he works in the Office Services department. They basically take care of all things pertaining to the office. This guy does everything from taking pictures for employee badges to controlling the thermostat in the building to building and tearing down cubes and running the appropriate wires to driving things back and forth to the warehouse in the company jeeps to monitoring parking....he's all over the place with his keys jingling and his Blackberry ringing...

THIS is his desk:

 

and this...not sure exactly what he uses this for!

 

 

Next is the cutest cube decoration I have ever seen! I spotted it a couple of weeks ago in one of my co-workers cube! I have GOT to get me one of these!

 

Didn't get much work done. In fact, there was only myself and one other person there. We spent about the last 45 minutes talking about our kids and football and Nascar. Then Hailey called wanting me to pick her up so we left around 5:15pm.

I went and picked Hailey up and we went to the grocery store. I bought fruit and veggies, milk and cereal, chicken and salad for tonight and the makings for chili for tomorrow. I also bought the fixins for green bean casserole and sausage balls which I have to make for work on Monday. Yes, the holiday potlucks at work have officially begun!

I also bought two essentials that I had run out of. I don't know how anyone cooks without these two items:

 

Finally, while strolling through the section where they have all of the candy and stocking stuffers I found something that made my heart feel a little full.

 

The time is winding down.

The clock is literally ticking.

The end of the #8 Budweiser Chevy as we know it is near, it is tangible, it is TOMORROW!

Maybe I will put this with all of my other Dale Jr #8 stuff and keep it as a collectible...

Maybe I will keep this and wait and see if there becomes a demand for Dale Jr #8 stuff once it is no longer available from the retailers (I might sell it, I might not)...

Maybe I will hang this stocking up on Christmas Eve along with my kid's stockings in hopes that Santa brings Dale Jr something good for Christmas...God knows he deserves it!

My hopes for the race tomorrow:

Jr wins the race and Jeffy takes the cup!

We will see...

So yet another weekend is coming to a close and I feel like it only started about 30 minutes ago. I didn't go to work yesterday. I should have. Things were hectic Friday. Things needed to be done. But I've worked like the last 10 Saturdays in a row (albeit, maybe for only 3 or 4 hours) but still, the worst part of going to work is actually getting ready and going there right? So, I just decided that I'd skip it this week. So, whatever the consequences may be, I'll deal with them.

So yesterday my daughter and I went shopping for good food. We bought lots of fruits and vegetables. I also bought lots of pumpkin and cinnamon scented candles. Yumm! Last night I made spaghetti and crusty garlic bread. It was delish! Talked to my niece on the phone for a while. She's the Mom of baby Alex from the Ohh Baby Baby post! Also had a nice long chat with my Great nephew Cameron. That boy is a total hoot and boy does he know his college football!

 

So this morning I got up kind of early and started cleaning. I did dishes and laundry and sweeping and mopping and cleaning glass....so finally I felt like I had done enough to NOT feel guilty for the rest of the day!

I took some pictures when I was outside with the dog...they are just OK. I'm determined to learn how to use this camera and make it earn the $400.00 I paid for it. Right now I sincerely think it is not the camera, it is the photographer. But I'm still trying...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This afternoon we went on a driving lesson. Hailey drove all the way to her school and then back through downtown to the bank. I took over after that. She did good, but my legs were kinda rubbery so enough was enough. Gawd, these are the times I wish I had a husband! I absolutely HATE teaching her how to drive, but I have no choice, if I don't teach her WHO WILL? She did good but she is NOWHERE NEAR ready to even think about getting her license. Although her drivers ed teacher had the unmittigated gall to award her a certificate, NO, she is nowhere near ready! The child hasn't even changed lanes in heavy traffic yet!

So once we survived that and arrived back home I began to cook while watching the, once again, dismal race. I don't even think I'll watch next week. This has been a horrible season and I'm just ready for the misery to end. It looks like JJ is going to win the cup. That's kewl! Although I was really hoping Jeffy's 'drive for five' would come to fruition. Junior has had a horrible year (THANKS TERESA) and I'm just ready for the 2008 season and all of the new stuff to begin.

I cooked chicken thighs, slowly braised in olive oil in a deep dutch oven, broiled mushroom caps (also covered in olive oil), baked potatoes and a vegetable saute that included half a vidalia onion, garlic, crooked neck squash and asparagus. It was REALLY good!

 

 

 

So tonight we are going to chill out, watch a movie and just relax. My son is supposed to come over and do his laundry. I honestly don't think he's washed any clothes since he moved out a month ago.

That reminds me of a story that my step-Mother told while we were at my Dads house eating dinner some Christmases ago...she was talking about a friend of hers who had a son who had recently gone off to college...everytime he came home he brought a big bag of laundry for his Mom to do...but this time he came home empty handed...his Mother inquired about it..."Where's your laundry? Did you happen to find a laundromat near campus?" the son replied "No, I discovered Febreeze!" LMAO!

Hope everyone has a great Sunday evening and I hope you enjoy some random music that is on my mind this Sunday evening.