Ghosts…

You can see the impressions left from when I'm flipping butterfly knives during my balisong play time. Haha.

Weekend sighting!

Top is the first shot when going out to sight in my shorty shotgun with 00Buck.  That's a nice 7' diameter spread at 21 feet. :)

Bottom is getting my iron sights up and running on my 9m long gun.  The lines are a one inch grid.  I was pretty happy with that at 25 yards just resting agains a table.

We keep telling pepper she needs to pull up her sleeve. ;)

She had a vet visit to get a couple teeth pulled since one was abscessed.  She's going fine and happier overall.  She's just not a fan of soft food.  One more week girl…

There was a storm brewing on the way home from church last night…

I love the way the sunset was reflecting off the thunder clouds in just the right way, for a moment.  It almost looks like lightning or some kind of explosion inside the cloud!  

I had to pull over at just the right point to capture this one.  I think it's a new fav. ;)

Just another night of shooting steel at the move and shoot competitions

All my ducks are finally in a row…

People often ask me, “What is the big deal with raw photo photography”.

It's really two things that make it cool and possible. 

First, you need a camera that can shoot in raw.  Second, you need a convenient way to edit it.  You used to have to get out your computer, load the photos, then fire up some fancy software and painfully edit each area you wanted to improve…

These days, it's all at the tip of your fingers on your phone…. This is a before and after of the picture I posted yesterday.  The left is the before straight off my phone as the picture would normally look.  The right is after pressing one buttons and and one slider to adjust the raw image right on my phone until it looked more like the actual scene I was trying to capture.  The extra detail in the sunset, and even the highlights in the leaves where the light reflects off them is an impressive improvement between the two!

A stroll under the full moon.

I few nights ago, I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep.  I got up and worked on some of my ToDo items for finances, etc.  This was my view as I was walking back from the mailbox around 4a. :)

It’s cute and fun to have these tiny flying squirrels curl up and sleep in your hands!

Pepper’s toy kept disappearing…

I caught her stealing it off the table!  Haha!!!

I don’t think of it as working in the yard…

But rather uncovering the view God has for me for the day! :)

I got an inside tour of a water tower for doing a favor for a friend…

That spout on the bottom right side is the emergency overflow.  Kind of scary to be in a place that needs one of those.  Haha.  

I surveyed their antenna for them at the top, so they asked me if I wanted to see inside and how the water tower was set up.

Doggy crash!

Zoe conks out on us most nights.  I like the sentiment of the picture.  My wife and me, our hands, sitting on the couch enjoying time with the family dog.  Married life: good times!

I must be feeling the blues? :)

Ring, watch, "knife" and phone, all blue!

Itty Bitty’s all tucked in and ready for bed.

Emily at work attacking her friend Ashley!

I was having lunch on the back porch and I got THIS face from Zoe!

If you want an edge on the back of your blade, just make it yourself… ;)

I had fun experimenting with grinding, polishing and sharpening a new edge.  Andy had a blade like this that I liked so I tried to make one for myself.  It came out ok.  Good as a box or letter opener but not much good for shaving.  Haha. 

Laura and I had a nice breakfast, coffee and catch-up session to celebrate my birthday.

Julie’s nest of baby red squirrels is pretty active at feeding time!

I found a new fav root beer, brewed and bottled right here in Dayton :)

I like things that are fine examples of mechanical craftsmanship. This knife is one. Pretty too.

Oh the carnage!

After her first one lasted for a month or two, Zoe managed to gut this long dog almost immediately…

We got one more kid launched off to their future!

Isaac is headed to civil engineering!  I'm proud of you and praying for you mister!

Zoe loves her long dog toy…

But she finally breached it and thoroughly enjoyed pulling out as much stuffing as she could get to!

Breakfast and a little skill toy practice… :)

I am trying to lure our local crow pair into to being our friends…

They have been hanging around our front yard for a couple months now.  I keep feeding them, but they leave as soon as they see any movement inside or outside the house.

Itty Bitty decided this pillow was meant for her…

This has become one of her favorite spots.

Plumber boy doing more plumber things.

Their toilet flange cracked so he needed to figure out how to replace it.  It was fun to watch him work and even be his "helper".  My how the table's have turned! ;)

It’s really convenient having a plumber in the family!

What a beautiful start to the day yesterday!

I like how you can see the rays passing through the fog just to the left of the garage and to the right of the sun in the trees.

Playing with knives…. These are a couple of my favorite balisong tricks.

Family movie night is exciting for Zoe…

THIS was the result of the caterpillar that we brought home to Julie from the reunion!

We released it two nights ago.  So pretty, and so cool to watch it open up from its cocoon!

Zoe the dog LOVES the boys!

Pepper appears to be oozing off the chair…

Julie’s queen hatched her first Nanitic ant helper!

I have no idea what THIS is about Itty Bitty?

You dog is all flat and junk…

Zoe loves to wallow in the hollow with a stick or bone or apple or whatever else she can find to play with or chew on in the yard!

A beautiful end to a day of work around the property.

We now have a few cat tails working around the pond.  I like the way they look, but think they aren't good for the pond so I better trim them back…?

I notice who’s going the work and who’s doing the marketing…

Just like it should be!

That is one crazy face! Zoe’s torn between playing and sleeping…

I am missing my dad this week, but enjoying the memories we have.

I was helping teach a low light shooting class and captured this cool pic.

Just say, “Awwwwwwww”!

Today’s the day for Andy and his plumbing business future!

He's launching full-time through the end of the year to be sure that's the path he wants to take.  It's a great opportunity, and I think he knows just how to make the best of it!  I look forward to see what he can turn it into!

It was fun to work on all his tools with him this weekend and to see their truck pull out this morning.  I love you son!

Perfect roasting fire!

It's always a great time when Isaac builds a fire and we can all just sit around to talk and eat s'mores! We talked about Andy launching full-time into plumbing, Johnny graduating this December, Isaac's civil engineering plans, Ian finishing his nursing assistant hours for med school and having over a million views, Jenna heading to field biology in school, Hannah having her senior year and her current trip to Maine, Zac finishing up landscaping for the summer and heading back to school, Emily working on a farm, Christopher's schedule at work, Ashley's flights back to Dayton and many other exciting times for us and the kids.

I love my family!  They are such great friends!❣️  I pray for each of you kids all the time.  I don't forget to pray for all us parents either.  We all need wisdom, patience, guidance and encouragement.  But remember, the Lord has us all in his hands so rest in that.

The kids are getting pretty far flung!

It was fun to get together to just hang out and say goodbye to Isaac as he heads off to civil engineering school.  We also reflected and got updates on the other kids that are launching off into their futures.

It’s fun to see the generational mix of tools Andy’s using.

There are some from me, some from my dad, some of my dad's, and some he's bought himself.  There are even a couple from Steve too! It will be exciting to see what he can accomplish with them!  Let the bag organizing begin!

You have to spend money to make money!

Andy filled up the back of my car with the tools he needed for his plumbing bag!  Quite a haul.  It's a good thing he's been saving up his money!

Yesterday was all about hanging with Andy.

We had breakfast, sold some stuff at the gun show, went shopping for plumbing tools, had lunch and played with his new toys!  A fun day!  It's going to be fun watching him grow in the plumbing business!

“I’d rather be a good friend than have a little more money”

Andy decided to give his Lego Helicarrier to his friend Ivan.  They decided they would enjoy the time together taking it all apart and putting it back together.  

These were his thoughts about it and is good wisdom for all of us in our lives.