When you need something to post....rely on the pets

I was going to write after Carrie and Shane slept tonight, but then I spent an hour answering emails and typing in late grades.

But then, when the last email was answered, I rallied! Whatever should I write about!?

Well, I've got some goofy pictures. I'll let them carry my tired butt home tonight.

Tsuki likes the stirrers Carrie leaves in her coffees.

Since Carrie leaves a new coffee out in a new place every day they're a source of endless cat entertainment.

It should be safe. I don't think wood is easily irradiated from being reheated in a microwave multiple times.

Tsuki's still in the spotlight for this next series of pictures. 

I caught a glimpse of tail disappearing into somewhere I did not think I tail could disapper.

Loki followed me, but I don't think he knew he was being observed.

He sniffed, so he knew a kitten had been by recently, but where?

Where indeed?

Tsuki came out a little bit later. There must not be much to do under the pantry!

Bonus: This picture illustrates Max and Loki's relationship in many ways. 

Loki was sniffing for crumbs and licking up a discovery. Max growled and swatted him on the head...,but he was oblivious. She sat down obviously perturbed and looked at him licking away right next to her. If anything, he may have thought she wanted to play, but he was busy.

He really doesn't understand any of her cues and it's hillarious.

The last pic is from when Carrie and I were playing Rummy. Carrie went "Eeep!" as a cat attacked her cards from underneath! She went "Eep!" again when the same cat decided to crawl through her lap to get to the next chair and used her claws when she slipped!

 Stuff happens when you live with kids and animals. 

Photo Dump

Without Shane around and Carrie being camera shy, the pets have gotten to be center lens more often.

Loki pines for my lunch breaks. He lays against the door while I teach. Waiting. When I have enough time, I take him out to run off some energy. We've held off some due to the wet weather, but do you see the unbridled joy on the boy's face?  

We had a lot of rain, so Loki went several days without a chase session. All the pent up energy came out in a hurry!

Loki's far from the fastest animal on the planet, but it's neat to watch him fly across the grass.

I accidentally focused too much on the car for this shot. Loki's blurred, but I can tell you the person riding shotgun was looking down at something!

I got plenty of shots of cats sleeping on and around Carrie. I even took some of them myself! I don't think she can be too mad about this one. Her hands are lovely.

Sometimes the cats deemed me an acceptable substitute.

In particular, Aria wasn't deterred by the dog or me trying to use my phone.

She insisted upon attention.

You can tell Aria apart from Tsuki by her whiskers. She has two white ones. It's been well documented that both kittens enjoy heights and aerial acrobatics, but it has been less well documented they like to burrow. Sometimes in blankets on the couch and sometimes under pillows.

Carrie has banned all forms of jumping onto the couch if the kittens are not visible.

Speaking of Carrie, she discovered her phone has a night mode. 

It lets you see more of the cosmos than the naked eye. 

I was reminded of it again today (10/22) when Carrie took some new pictures involving the moon.

We turned off all of the lights in the house, because any ambient light is magnified tremendously. If you really look for it, you can see a reflection of the moon in the sky (or at least we think that's what it is).

Almost makes me want to get a better phone or learn more about the settings on the one I have!

Perspective Shift

While I've never been really interested in photography, I have always been interested in goofing off. Especially in new and creative ways.

And I'd like to pass some of that on to my son.

Landie visited Saturday night and broke Shane's heart. Her mom gave her a phone to keep her calm while she treated Magic's foot right before Shane ran out to the barn. "Let's play!" Shane said, but all Landie wanted to do was watch her toons.

Shane ended up back in the house doing the mope walk. He dragged his feet, frowned, moaned, and broadcast his misery so that the blind, deaf, or even dead would notice.

"Want to play with some perspective photos?" I asked.

"What's that?" Shane asked.

So I showed him. I had some old pictures 'lying around.'

These pictures of Travis and I fooling around at Cooley's are prior to any of us owning smartphones!

And I had some fun at work 13 years ago with a digital camera there. See my buddy, Mike? I loved that kid.

It wasn't a unit, but we did an activity once.

Fernando was more stoic (another great kid).

Shane was game!

He had a harder time when I gave him the camera. I posed for what felt like 5 minutes and he only took one picture! 

I guess he's a perfectionist. My strategy is to start taking a bunch and see what the best of the lot are

Which was necessary, because Shane had trouble standing still! 

He was constantly readjusting.

It kept us busy for 15 minutes and took his mind off Landie's "rejection."

If Shane remembers we did it we an always look up some tips and tricks and try to get a little fancier.

It's Cold Out

Winter is coming.

Early morning barn chores require extra gear to stay warm. The poop was frozen.

There's an added chore now of putting blankets on the horses. It's important to know what the temperature predictions will be to figure out whether to put on a light or heavy blanket. Maddy is not a fan of being blanketed, but hopefully they'll all get used to it.

It's important to have hay out each night, too. The ladies in particular really like their hay. Carrie says that they eat at night to help keep warm.

The grass was all frozen over this morning.

I got some neat looking pictures as the camera tried to focus and adjust to the light.

I couldn't recreate the effects on purpose, but I'm happy to post them here!

Always Think, Kid

After church, Shane was looking in a fiction book. There was a photograph of some pigeons in a car with some kids. In the story, the pigeons had swooped in and taken food.

Shane was amazed. "If we drive with the windows down, birds will fly into our car and take our food!"

"Just because it's in a photograph doesn't mean it's real," I replied.

Shane could not fathom how this was possible. He kept going on and on, so I told him I'd show him some camera magic.

First, I had him lay down on the porch. Next, I told him to stretch out and put his fingers in between a board.

A quick rotate and voila! Shane was hanging on the side of a wooden wall.

He liked that.

I had him stand and hold his arms out next. Before he knew what was happening, he was fending off a giant's hand.

I love "Aha!" moments. I love moments where you're opened to whole new possibilities. It only lasted a moment, because we were literally getting in the car to go somewhere. But we both shared a moment.

Shane got to spend his allowance today. He gets $.25 on Monday for completing his chores. The money then doubles every day he does his chores and doesn't cash out. Maximum payout is $4 on Friday. The goal is to give him a goal each day (chores) and teach delayed gratification. Shane figured it out day one.

We went by the End Games on the way to Costco to let him spend his first week's haul. There was a tournament going on I wanted to take a peek at, as well. Shane bought an Incineroar GX for $4.89 + tax. I told him he'd owe me the difference.

A storm blew through when we were about to leave. The power started to flicker in the shop!

We waited. Samuel was the only other young Pokemon player there. In a way, Samuel's dad is the opposite of me. I don't mind Pokemon, but my interest is mainly out of love for Shane. Samuel's dad has gone all in on the game. He collects, plays, and netdecks.

It's a friendly community. A lady gave Shane a card he was looking at just because.

Shane Photography

He got the camera again.