Summer Storms and Flying Bugs

It's been an eventful 48 hours for sure! Seeing family down south, catching frogs with the kids, braving evil swans to relax under a shady tree with a good book (or in my case a technical manual), meeting Mr. Biddles and hanging out with Jennifer, seeing some cool new bands at Blueberry Hill, shooting the Frontrunners PRIDE 5k, a big summer storm.

I might be leaving a few things out, but I'm in need of a nap, so you'll have to forgive me.

Here are a few of the photos I caught yesterday as the storm rolled past my neck of the woods and into the metro area.

The worst of it overhead...

Moving away from southern Ofallon and into the STL area.

So today the ground was muddy and the kids were crabby. I decided that my office needed some serious cheer. What's better than some wildflowers? Ok, I know they aren't really wildflowers. Just weeds. But pretty weeds. And we have a field of them right here. So into our hiking gear and out the door. Alex with his endless energy and his bug net, Morgan with her scissors and her fear of bugs.

We saw plenty of bugs.

Queen Ann's Lace has always been a favorite of mine. I can remember being tiny at my Nani's house and begging to pick some and bring it in. She would always tell me that it was just a weed. I'd insist on calling it a flower and she would always let me pick a few and bring them inside. Into a cup and onto the window sill they would go and I'd be a happy camper indeed.

I haven't outgrown my love of this pretty plant.

There were other flowers/weeds to choose from...

This was a fun catch for me. This thistle was about 4 or 5 yards away. I could see the bumble bee on it and I wanted to try to catch him, but it turns out that he was camera shy, so I only caught him flying away. Still, not bad for so far away!

We ended up with some lovely flowers for the house and my office.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...

Rechargeable Batteries...

I plug in my camera batteries about once a week or so. After a few hours of blinking lights they are charged and ready to tackle whatever job is up next. I never forget to charge my camera batteries. Without a full charge, I won't get much use out of my camera. Duh.

But what about me? One of the awesome quirks of mine is that I don't really require much food or sleep to be able to function. Just caffeine and sarcasm. And Bacon.

And the occasional trip "home".

Home is 2 counties south from where I live now. I spent 20+ years there and back then I couldn't wait to get away. Now I love to return every chance that I get. When I cross that county line I'm instantly filled with peace and happiness. It's funny, but I rely on these little trips home to recharge my soul. I know it sounds goofy, but it is what it is.

Yesterday the kids and I made the trip down to visit with my Aunts and the Gypsy Grandparents. It was a BEAUTIFUL day for Missouri. No humidity, no heat. Just blue skies and a steady breeze. Sitting on the front porch with my family was pure heaven.

Yes, I have pictures. LOTS of them. So here we go!

Alex, Aunt Krissy, and Grandma sitting on the front porch.

Chicken!!

And from chickens you get EGGS!!!

Or more chickens...

Alex and I playing with a woolly worm. 

Morgan got her hands on a barn cat.

One of the horses.

Aunt D showing Charlie some lovin...

Krissy showing Grandpa how her iPhone works.

The newest member of the family, Ellie Grace. She's a sweet little bundle of energy.

Meet Charlie. He's a sweet boy. I love hounds. They have such great personalities!

And Cooper. He is super great at herding the horses.

And last, but not least, Cosmo. He likes cookies! (Don't we all?)

The 2nd annual Schmieder Girl Farm photo! Woot!

The latest buzzzz...

So, what do you do when there is nothing to do?

Make something up.

I decided to drag my kiddos out to the field today. Literally. I told them that we had a BIG job that needed to be done. There were some creatures out there that NEEDED to have their stories told and it was up to us to do it!

So the plan was head over to the wildlife area down the street and find some bugs. We would take pictures of the bugs, take a picture from the bugs view, name them, and then create a mini story about them to post here.

They LOVED this idea!

Until we got out to the field.

The roads were covered in little butterflies that would spring up around the car as we drove past. Horseflies and cicadas bounced off the windows and dragonflies raced over head. I figured we were in bug heaven, the kids decided that it was hell.

When we got to the first field, Alex was thrilled to get out, camera in hand, and explore. Morgan flat out refused to leave the safety of the car. I ordered her out thinking that she'd get over it. The amount of screeching that ensued made me rethink this awesome idea and I allowed her to go back to the car. Alex and I kept shooting. Here is what we got in the first field.

I'm not sure what kind of bug this little guy is, but I'm lucky I got such a clear photo of him. The weed he was clinging to was blowing around in the wind.

Alex got this photo:

We decided that they must have been having some kind of buggy meeting.

Alex wanted to move on to the next field, so back to the car we went. We paused to photograph some bugs that mistook the car for a fun place to hang out.

On the slow drive to the next field, I saw a cicada just hanging out:

I tried to talk the chickens into cleaving the car, but they assured me that they could get photos from inside. Here is an example of one that Morgan took:

Here are the rest of the photos that I took on our little safari.

And here are the rest of the photos that my darling chickens took.

I guess the next time we go out, I'll stick to botanicals and skip the bugs. 







Photos from Thursday night..

So Thursday night it was decided that I should go out night shooting. Something that I always love to do. Here is what I caught...