Halloween

Happy Halloween! I only had one trick or treater, but at least I bought candy that I like so I can eat it later. I fulfilled my traditions by having my jack o' lantern on the porch and roasting pumpkin seeds. They turned out golden brown, crispy and delicious.

Vee Bar

Matt and I went to the Vee Bar Guest Ranch/Bed and Breakfast for the weekend (Not into Halloween parties this year).  Despite both of us fighting colds, we managed to do some fishing before dinner. Out on the Little Laramie, with fly rods and waders, we caught a few fish. Nothing huge, but I caught a couple 8-10 inch browns on a copper john. The weather was gorgeous for this late in the year. We had a great time in our Riverside Suite.

Jack O'Lantern

Even though I was still under the weather, Rachel and I carved pumpkins! I haven't carved one in years, and it took awhile to pick a design. I did my favorite Halloween movie character, Jack Skellington, from A Nightmare Before Christmas. Rachel did a cool spider design. I turned off the lights and just got the glowing face to make it look extra creepy.

Sick Day

Long time no post! I have been sickly and stayed home from work on Thursday and Friday. I spent most of the time sleeping, but figured I would make that my pic for the day. In my first appearance on my blog, I set up my tripod and timer to show where I spent my day.

Man-kin

This is my little wooden man-kin Becky bought for me years ago. I use him to draw with and sketch from pretty often, but I keep him on a shelf out in my living room. People always like to pose him in crazy poses. Rachel suggested taking a photo of him and helped me set up a light to cast a shadow on the back wall. I like how it turned out. My man-kin might have to appear in some more photos.

Stash

I was trying to take a picture of Stash laying on her cat tree looking like a little lion. I wanted to get a photo without using a flash, but right as I was playing with the settings, she yawned. I snapped a pic and got her making this lovely face.

Fireplace

Tonight was the first cold, snowy night of the year! Which means its time to fire up the wood stove. It keeps the place warm constantly. I have a feeling this thing will have wood in it until Spring. :-)

Punkin

I am trying to be better about decorating for the seasons! Normally, I will just put up one fall-like picture and call it good. This year I have a pumpkin to carve, a decorative gourd, a "Harvest" quilt, and two mini pumpkins. Its a start anyway! This is the top of one of my mini-pumpkins. I have been talking about painting them, but am not sure if I will. I love its gnarly stem.

Firewood

Matt and I went up to the mountains to chop some firewood today. We have a wood burning stove in the apartment, so burning wood in the cold winter saves lots of money on heating. My folks were nice enough to lend us their truck and Matt had a friend who said we could cut beetle-kill wood on his property. We cut up 3 dead pines, tossed them in the truck, drove home, and carried them up to stack on the deck. I am a tired girl, but now we have wood for all winter! As for this pic, Matt had a tree that was leaning funny and fell in a direction he didn't think it would, and I got some good pics of him running away from it right as it crashed. As he said, "That picture is a good demonstration of how not to chop down a tree."

Chillaxin'

I have had a long week working! Rachel and Chris came over for dinner tonight. Matt and I made grilled cajun antelope tenderloin, home-made fries and croissants. It was very fun, even though I took forever to get the fries done. With all that cooking and socializing, I didn't take my picture until we had all had a few drinks and were out in the living room watching the game. No one wanted to be in the picture, so I just have a shot of all of our feet and beverages.

Debates

As part of my recent foray into the political world, I went to a some local debates for county offices to record my politician's debate. He did great, by the way. At first, I was annoyed at the incumbents' attitudes. They all seemed incredibly annoyed at their opponents. But then when I thought about it, how would you feel if you had a job, did pretty well at it, and then had to argue why you should keep it every four years while someone actively tries to take it from you? Here is a photo of just that...this incumbent had her feelings about her opponent all over her face.

Autumn

Another fall picture! I know I have done a few, but I can't get over how beautiful this fall has been. It has been so warm and lovely. I haven't even had to wear a coat during the day! Considering that this time this year we were hit with a blizzard that dumped a few feet of snow, I am going to spend as much time basking in the gold, red and orange leaves as I can.

Fish

I am very fond of my 30 gallon aquarium. I have always loved everything about fish...catching them, looking at them, eating them, etc. I remember my mom showing us the movie "The Incredible Mr. Limpet," when I was a kid. The main character in that wishes he was a fish until he turns into one. I remember my mom teasing me that they could be me. Anywhoo...I digress. I spent a long time last night trying to take photos of my fish. They looked way better in my viewfinder and a little rough and noisy when I uploaded them. Oh well, they can't all be great shots, especially when I'm experimenting every day. Here is an above the water shot of a gourami swimming around.

My Artroom

I spent a couple hours painting last night. I have my spare room all set up as a nice art studio. I love cranking up the Ani DeFranco, drinking a glass of wine, and working on a painting. And don't even ask the story behind the painting I'm working on...

Election

I have been working as a social media consultant for a local politician. It has been a blast but very busy! Tonight I went to a Democratic Party Grassroots Coalition meet-and-greet with several local Democratic candidates. I was there to take pictures and videos for my candidate's facebook page. I had a rough time, with people walking in and out of my videos, poor lighting, and several people's cell phones going off mid-speech. I do like how everything surrounding a political get-together has to be as patriotic as possible, even the paper cups.

Ponies

The weather is still beautiful! I was able to go out and ride horses with my mom. Horses are fun to take pictures of, especially when you can get a picture of their big long faces. :-) Chile and Rojo seem to like having their pictures taken.

Rachel

Rachel is very photogenic! I have always been jealous of her because of that. :-) She and I went for a walk in the park after work to enjoy this gorgeous fall weather. I got this photo of her in front of the pond and fall leaves. I swear, you can't take a bad picture during call with all the colorful leaves.

Book

I am reading my Dad's new Joe Pickett book right now. I am enjoying it very much and tearing through it. I have only really read my dad's books as manuscripts, and want to go back and read more of the final books someday. The actual books seem kind of strange. Whenever I think of my dad's books, I think of a big, awkward, bounds manuscripts in Courier New.

Susan

Susan is my friend and co-worker that is also took the photography class with me. I was having a hard time working with shutter speed. I could stop action by using a fast shutter speed while taking a picture of a moving object, but was couldn't slow the shutterspeed down without over-exposing the picture. She helped me practice by sitting is a chair and flipping her head back while I tried to hold the camera steady and take the picture at a slow shutter speed. The result would be that the picture was clear with only her head showing motion.  It worked...and made for some weird photos.

Starlings

I like to go out to walk around the building for my official state breaks during the day. I was trying to get pictures of birds taking off at a high shutter speed to see if I could get a photo with stopped action. Unfortunately, none of the birds would take off when I was looking at them through the camera. I got this shot of these starlings hanging out on a telephone line. Not a bad photo, but I have been jonesing for a Canon Rebel with a wicked zoom lately.

Tat

This is a busy week! I finally got home and it was too dark to take a good outside photo. So I decided to take a picture of my art that goes everywhere with me. This is the tattoo my sisters convinced me to get, only because they have the same ones too. It means, "three sisters" and graces the top of my foot.

Aspen Alley

Since we got our animals yesterday, we did a little sight-seeing this morning. All the aspens in the Sierra Madres have turned gold and are beautiful. The last few years have had early freezes and there wasn't too much of a fall, so it was especially nice to be up there this weekend. We went to a place called 'Aspen Alley,' to check out the fall foliage. The aspens in this grove are hundreds of years old and incredibly tall. One road goes through this grove, so the aspens form walls on either side. The day was overcast with the occasional bursts of light breaking through, which made for some of my new favorite photos.

Goats

I went on my first antelope hunt all day Saturday! I got lots of pictures but this was my favorite up-close shot. This wasn't one of the bucks we got. It is very different than deer hunting since antelope are very fast and can see you coming from far away. You basically drive around, try to spot a group, identify the buck, and sneak up without them seeing you (which is very difficult). My dad and uncle both got their animals though, so we had a very successful day. Once the antelope is down, they dress, ice  and tag them immediately. I never have a problem going hunting because I think it is good to know where your food is from, and my family takes very good care of the animals and the meat. Plus, I love eating wild meat...no steriods, no antibiotics, and all grass-fed. It was organic before there was such a thing as organic. :-)

Over to the Cabin

I haven't been able to post the last few days because I was over in Riverside, WY. I went antelope hunting with my dad, Uncle Kurt and cousin Riley. More photos from that to come, but here is a picture over the wind turbines between Cheyenne and Laramie as the sun was setting Friday night.  I don't know why, but I have always likes the look of wind turbines.

Poor Kitty

I brought Stash home from the vet today after getting her front paws declawed. She seems to be doing fine, even though I still feel guilty for doing it. But my furniture and carpet need to be saved! She is sitting on my shoes, which she always does when she is a little insecure. Still practicing subject isolation.

Oh, and if you are reading the blog, comments help me know who is checking it out. Leave me one! :-)

Oct. 6- Governor's Office

Hi, I may not get to post it everyday, but I am still taking a photo every single day. I had a crazy busy day and I didn't get home until late. For the photo, I had a press conference in the Governor's office for some big events we have coming up at work. I took a picture of the office before the media poured in while it was still quiet. Not the most exciting picture, but I have always liked big, fancy, politicians' offices for some reason.

Boyfriend

I am guessing I will have lots of pictures of Matt and Stash. Tonight after dinner, Matt and I went on the bridge over the train tracks in downtown Laramie so I could take some photos. I got this picture with the same settings I have been practicing, large aperture for shallow depth of field. What a stud. :-)

Goose

Lots of animal pictures so far... This is an old goose that lives in the park by my apartment. He seems wise as he waits for little kids to drop pieces of bread. I am still using the aperture to get a "portrait" shot with my own settings. I wish there was a little more contrast to the background.

Crazy Daisy

The monotony of my weekend full of laundry and cleaning was broken when I went to go watch the Bronco game with my dad at my folks' house. We ate massive amounts of hot wings and green chile queso dip. Also, the weather was so nice that I got to play outside with Daisy, their wonderfully insane lab puppy. I played a little fetch with her and got this picture.  Still playing with my aperture setting and getting a good exposure. I am glad the shadows weren't too strong.

Oh, and to give you an idea how much she has grown...

here is a bonus picture I took of Daisy with the same ball a few months ago.

Farmer's Market

Rachel and I have been going to the Farmer's Market every Saturday morning. There is a great one on the Depot Plaza, even thought it only has a couple more weekends to go. Today was cold and gray, and really felt like fall. The pumpkins, gourds and indian corn were out in full force.

Oct 1

For this shot, I was trying to take  picture for a class assignment. We were supposed to open our aperture and zoom in on something far away to bring that object into focus and leave the background fuzzy. I had a hard time getting a good shot because the horses were interested in what I was doing. I was crouched down trying to get a picture when Chile walked right up to me and tried to smell my camera. I liked how her whiskers caught the light.