The Deer Strike Again!

To further prove the organization of the deer army and their surveillance of Joe, our good friend Heather hit a deer only moments after speaking with him on the phone...it must have been tapped by secret deer operatives...

She's okay; her car wasn't as lucky.

In other news, I'm having a bit of a blog hiatus as we are mid-move. Joe just got a job and we are moving up to Chanhassen, Mn. We'll move in Friday and soon after I'll get back to business.

p.s. The Blogspot spellcheck doesn't know the word blog. A little ironic, wouldn't you say?

Deer 2; Joe 0

A deer once hit Joe on a city street in Rochester, MN. It rammed into the side of his car, landing with its eye staring him in the face. The insurance adjuster didn't believe the story at first. His smoking gun was tufts of hair lodged into the side of the car. I always thought it was a little crazy, until I saw a deer last night in the ditch just outside of Rochester on highway 52 poised for attack.

Joe and I have a conspiracy theory that the deer are secretly working together in an underground army. As of now, it's deer 2; Joe 0. If you are wondering why the deer have two points, you'll have to ask Joe. If there is a deer army, I feel confident they look would look something like this:

A Tree Grows in Brookeland

It's no secret that I love trees, especially leafless tress. Metaphorically, I'm entranced by the simplicity of their formation––the truth that their physical appearance is bent and shaped by the elements to which they are subject. Physically, I enjoy the challenge of capturing them––of coupling twisting branches with negative space to create a composition.

When we get settled, I plan to make a composite of several tree portraits for a wall in our living room. I found this one while I was creating my online portfolio:

More Adventures in Iowa

This one's dedicated to my good friend Pat, who celebrates his birthday today.

I shot it at St. Patrick's Church in Cedar Rapids.

Signs of the Times in Iowa

Ahh, road trips...the time to sit back, relax and take in the signs. Only one of the signs that appears below has been doctored. I trust you'll be able to guess which one.

If you are in Iowa, you might see the following:













There is a nearly identical sign in San Diego that reads "Iowa Meats."




It truly was the world's worst truck stop, believe me.

Snip, Snip, Bang, Bang

I decided to have my bangs trimmed today, not realizing it would result in this:




I've now gained a marked resemblance to Medium star Patricia Arquette:





And, just in case you're thinking "it's not that bad,":




I'm still waiting for my psychic powers...

Redefining The History of The World

Joe's been trying to get a History of The World game going for a while now. I was originally reluctant.

Here is just one of the reasons why:



As soon as Joe got Rome, we were all in trouble. The aftermath of his domination:

California Girl, Welcome to Winter

An infant in the world of seasons, I've been excited to experience all of the firsts of fall. But, now it's time for winter.

And, to commemorate the event, here I am:





And here's Mark's sunflower:

Veteran's Memorial

I came across this Veteran's Memorial down in Cedar Rapids while Joe was in an interview.

The Great Popcorn Disaster

The wind had a fight with one of the boxes we keep in our garage. It won.

The aftermath was a lawn full of tiny pink packing pieces and about an hour of clean up.





My view of the whole thing: