More of the beautiful lightening strikes!

We've got a storm coming in from the NorthWest at the moment so I am trying to post these and then shut this beast down...

These lightening strikes were quiet a ways off when I took them and that is why the photos are grainy. I had to shoot at ISO 800 and I hate that...But they were still awesome. I also had to stand out in the yard and I'm not to comfortable doing that when a storm is approaching...I like our front porch even though it is not much protection either...

I wonder if any of you watched the Discovery channels show on lightening recently...It was a truly awesome show. I've watched it 3 times already and never tire of the beautiful shots and information on lightening...truly amazing. I recommend watching it and there is a photographer on there that is truly amazing and crazy too...but his photos are gorgeous...If I have time later I'll find the website for the show and try to find the photographer too...

Have a good night:o)

The answer to a question:

I had someone ask me my camera settings on the photos I took of Michael at the Pool in Zapata...I hope this helps you with your new camera...and remember my #1 rule, Have Fun!

Katofmanycolors has left a new comment on your post "Playing around with the camera..":

Love the action shots. Do you mind sharing the settings for F-stop, shutter speed, ISO or any other important things? Trying to get some action shots of my GSD's. I have a new DSLR camera and its been awhile for me

The answer:

Camera Model Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Shooting Date/Time: 10:14:58 AM
Shooting Mode: Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) : 1/800
Av( Aperture Value ) : 5.6
Metering Mode : Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed : 100
Lens: EF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
Focal Length : 105.0 mm
Image Quality : RAW
Flash : Off
White Balance Mode was on auto and shot : Flash
AF Mode : One-Shot AF

I shoot Raw and make adjustments in PSE 7 to my Raw photos.

If there are any other questions let me know and I'll do my best to answer and help.

Thank you for enjoying my photos!

Birthday Boy and his Day!

He started the day off doing what he truly enjoys...

Playing his Xbox 360

I did manage to get him to pause the game for a photo with Mom!!

Here he is off for an adventurous day!! All smiles!!

We stopped by the Post Office first thing...and lo and behold he had a Birthday Package from Far-away Grammie!! YeeHaw!!

He was loving all the different Gifts she had packed into his box.

Awesome!

Ohhhhh!

Thank you Grammie!! He is so happy!!

He wanted a birthday hat so I splurged...It's just not a good Birthday if you don't have your Birthday hat!!

Here he is with all his birthday gifts!! He's buried in Love!! And Oh so Happy!!

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Thank you Grammie for making his day! He loved all the gifts and I have several drawings that will be coming your way soon!

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Tia Annana and Uncle Larry took us out to dinner and we took his cake and shared it!

But goofy Mom forgot the camera, Oops!!

He really enjoyed his birthday and it makes my heart happy to see all his wonderful smiles!

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And I finally got all the Lego kits put together, Whew!!

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Now I am off to try for some lightening photos as there is a Huge storm off to the NW...

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I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend and thank you for all the Birthday wishes for Michael!

~*~

Michaels Birthday Cake...

I wasn't sure what to do for his actual Birthday...Which is today as it is 12:30 am at the moment...But I decided one thing I could surprise him with is a Birthday cake.

I waited for him to go to sleep and then whipped this little Beaut up, LMBO...I think it's one of the sloppiest cakes I've ever made but you know what? Michael will love it!!

He had his army men out the other day and said he wanted them on his cake...and he also had his BlackHawk helicopter too...So I put it all on there...

TaaDaaa!!!

I put 6 candles on there and two of them are those ones that don't blow out...He's never seen those before so I think he'll get a kick out of that...We shall wait and see what he thinks!!

Hard to believe that 6 yrs ago at this time I was in labor at my In-laws house, sitting in bed, watching Birth stories on the TLC channel with my Midwife and her daughter who was assisting her....and me trying to keep Fred awake, lol...We had no clue if the baby was a boy or girl and I was exhausted but at the same time on an adrenaline rush and if I couldn't sleep no one was, lol...It was a very long night...Michael was born at 3:05pm the afternoon of the 20th and weighed in at a healthy 9lbs 3 ozs...OUCH! 22.5 inches long...He's not my little baby anymore but a young man! It's been an exciting-entertaining 6 yrs watching him grow and mature and I hope the good Lord continues to bless us and he lives a Long Happy Healthy Life :o)

Happy Birthday Michael!

Clean Puppy!

I can't whine or my friend Dawn will send me some cheese but this afternoon I spent most of it brushing Jake and giving him a Bath...He sure cleans up pretty good!!

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Whew!! I'm glad that's over with!!
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Tomorrow is Michael's birthday...I still don't have a clue as to what we are doing...I suppose Lunch and a Birthday cake and possibly a few photos too!

Butterflies, Blooms and Dung Beetles....

I've let some of the Wild Mums grow in the backyard and the butterflies are intoxicated!

So I went outside this morning and played with the camera...

I've been watering the wild mums but they didn't start blooming like mad until the rain.

Then as I was headed back inside I glanced over the fence and thought Oh Goodness...Yes it's road apples (horse poo) but look at all the darn dung beetles...Sheesh!!

I know "YUCK"...but hey everything has a purpose in nature...Just glad I am NOT a Dung Beetle, lol.

Rain Drops are Falling on my head....

Yes you heard me correctly...We are getting some more RAIN!!

YEEHAW!!

The first shower just popped up and now we are getting another one!!! I have grass popping up here and there from the inch of rain we got last week. It looks like I will have to mow soon if this keeps up...I can't even remember when the last time was I mowed the yard....

We had 6/10's of an inch and it just started raining again....

It's Beautiful and (laughing) it's already HOT and HUMID out!! YiPeE!

Mean Momma....

I couldn't resist scrapping this face...it's who he is at times!

You can click on the layout to read the journaling...

Credits:

Graph paper from a kit called "School is Cool" from Oscraps.com

Template is "roundandrounderTemp1" designed by Mirella B

PSE 7

Oh Boy!!

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Don't get me wrong I love my boy but he isn't an Angel. He can cry and he can carrying on and he has one heck of a temper and he hates to lose!!

I took his Xbox with us and Michael talked Daddy into playing a game with him...it never ends on a Happy Note...Never!!

Here we go...he's getting upset!!

Whaaaa....

He's losing and he is NOT happy!!

One reason I will NOT play games with him...I know he needs to be a better loser but I will not put up with the crying and the tantrums!! Let Daddy deal with it, sheesh!
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But then he is a typical male too as 5 minutes later he is playing with Daddy and happy as a lark!

Losing the Xbox game totally forgotten and having fun shooting it up with his toys!

Then I asked them to pose with me for a family shot!! Yea!!

We had a really nice weekend and I'm glad I decided to go! It was a long drive but well worth it.

Playing around with the camera..

I took a few moments to play around with the camera and Michael had a blast posing and playing in the pool!!

See Daddy, don't let Michael fool you...he can swim on his own!! LOL...

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Love the Splash I caught on this one...

Waterfall face...

I took a few minutes to myself and left Michael with Daddy and walked around...

Taking photos of flowers.

I also took more action shots of Michael in the pool and decided a slideshow would do these photos justice....

Swimming with Daddy

Fred and Michael swimming in the Pool!

Laughing at the look Fred is giving Michael...

Daddy helping Michael...

Oh how I love that smile :o)

And this smile too...

One very happy kiddo!!

I'm not sure what I did but I can see I had my camera settings off, sigh!! We had a blast swimming in the pool and Michael is really doing well. He can swim underwater really well and he is doing a much better job of swimming on top of the water.

Zapata or Bust!

This past weekend we went to Zapata to spend the weekend with Fred. It's 3.5 hour drive and over 200+ miles one way. A lot of people are like Eww why would you want to go to Zapata, which is on the Texas-Mexico Border...But I find it exciting to go see different parts of our beautiful state. Zapata and surrounding area has a beauty all it's own...Yes it's mainly short brush and very dry but you can find beauty there...On our drive down I saw a Coyote, roadrunners, Common Black Hawks, Javelina, Green Jays, etc...Wildlife abounds and you all know I love wildlife.

There is also Falcon Lake Reservoir, which after reading up on it, it is known for it's Bass fishing (hmm, very interesting)...The reservoir was created in the 1950's when a dam was built on the Rio Grande river. A lot of history can be found here too, which always interests me. Most of these border towns were relocated when the reservoir was created...

A small Part of Falcon Lake as seen from the Hotel.

The Rio Grande river...on the left is Mexico and on the right Texas.


We went to Laredo for a few hours and stopped on our way back at a scenic overlook. The water off in the distance is another part of Falcon Lake. Falcon Lake is over 60 miles long.

Michael checking things out...lol and doing a serious pose for his Mom!

Grrrrrrrrrrr to the darn graffiti...I hate it!! Wish people had more respect for their countries history and were not such freak'in idiots!! But I posted this so you could read the history on a small town that was located on the Rio Grande before the 1950's and the dam was built. Click on the photo for a closer look and to read the plaque on Uribeno.

Another pet peeve I have is the stupid electric poles...they're all over the place and totally ruin what otherwise might be a decent photo...This is a view looking South East towards Zapata from Hwy 83.

We had a nice drive and did some exploring...

Looked at some beautiful houses and awesome country side...

Spent the day together and talked about possibly doing some Kayaking and fishing on Falcon lake. I've been doing a lot of reading and it looks very interesting.

Fred was able to go to the Dallas Cowboy store in Laredo and spend his gift certificate from Christmas 2007, lol better late than never! Michael got to play at the play area in the mall. Laredo has a beautiful Mall and lots and lots of shops. It was super busy so we didn't spend much time there, I was not in the mood for crowds...Michael wanted to get back to the Hotel and do some swimming...Fred took me to the import stores downtown Laredo but I told him not to stop, funds are a bit tight right now and I knew I'd see something I'd like (grin) best not to be tempted...I'm sure we'll go back at a later date...

Now off to do some swimming and have some fun quality family time...Fred was on call for work and we were really glad he didn't get called out...