Grrr...

It's Wednesday.

Normally I try and do a picture post on Wednesdays.

But today, I'm so not in the mood.

I'm frustrated.  And annoyed.

We had 20 laying hens.  I say 'had', because when the boys headed out this morning to feed the hens, and gather the eggs... they came running back in a tither.

We lost 8 hens.  I would imagine it was the same bastard (sorry) raccoon that killed our meat birds in the spring.  We lost almost 50 meats back then.  Jeff caught 3 little buggers, and unsuccessfully "taught" them how to swim in the creek.  But we never caught the mother.

I'm assuming she's back.

Sigh.

I have no idea how she got in.  Jeff put electric fence around the entire chicken pen.  There's no obvious holes, and Justin tested the fence... it still works.  ;)

My kids are understandably upset.  And so am I.

Yes, I believe in God.  I believe that He planned this for my good.  I'm just not seeing the good part yet.  I'm not in the depths of despair, but my mom's recent post is still helpful.  You should read it, too.

And now, back to teaching children.  :)

I ♥ Faces - Chalk

I wasn't going to enter this week - but then I had a great idea.

And I had to post it.  Just because I *know* that it'll make my brothers laugh.  ;)

Look!  It's a double rainbow!!  :D

Have you ever seen the video?



In case you don't know, (which I didn't until recently) this is a big deal around the internet.

Here's a (hilarious!!!) comic about it:

http://www.jazjaz.net/2010/08/foxtrot-comic-strip-on-the-double-rainbow-meme.html

So now you know what that kid was talking about when he called out "What does it mean?!?"   ;)

On to i♥faces to check out the other chalk entries.

Touch-Up Tuesday

What a busy weekend!

I've been trying to set up a rotating header.  (^ what do you think?)  It's still off-center, and I'm not sure how to fix it.  Sigh.  But, other than that, I think I like it!  :D

It's quickly getting colder here.  All the bees are out, gathering the last of the pollen.

I was able to get a pic of this one, while holding back a very interested kitten.  ;)

Here it is:

I was very happy that the bee was in focus.  ;)  I wouldn't recommend taking pictures of a bee with one hand, and holding a kitten in the other.

So, version one:

cropped
darkened
sharpened
adjusted saturation levels slightly
low Cross-Process
vignette
frame

2nd one I cropped it differently, and didn't use the Cross-Process (which I like on grass - makes it 'deeper' or something.)  Everything else stayed the same.

So, which one do you like better?

Post your favourite touch-ups at Paper ♥ Camera.

Flashback Fridays

You know how I said that the outfit that Hannah wore the other day was one of my favourites from Rebekah?


I looked and looked, and this is the only picture I have of Rebekah wearing it:

Not the greatest pic in the world.  :(


BUT!


I do have some video of her!  Here's Becky's first steps - in the outfit.  :)

Don't you have to squeal at her cuteness??

We still have the crappy 2MP camera that took the picture.. and the video.  ;)


Makes me thankful for my Kodak!  :D

You Capture - Flowers

This week's You Capture was flowers.  That's a hard thing to find around here.  ;)  All my flower gardens are getting ready for winter.

Except this one.

I think they're called Lady Slippers.  (Anyone know if that's right?)  The leaves come up for the spring/summer, then in the fall they die off, and the flowers appear!

The last of my Black-Eyed Susans.

Mother Theresa said "How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers."

My baby girl was wearing some flowers the other day.

 

I think she is my favourite flower of all.

Did you capture any flowers this week?  Link up at Beth's.

Hannah pics!

Here are some more pictures of my baby girl!

With this one, I pasted a B&W layer over top, reduced it's opacity and erased it over Hannah.  Love how it turned out.  :)  I think it's my new favourite trick.

It was SO WINDY yesterday!

She loves the kitty.  And Rida loves her.  :)

 She wasn't a fan of walking on the gravel.  ;)

But she'll chase the kitties!

Had to do one 'old-style'.  

And one in B&W.

Love this one.  Used the B&W layer here, too.

A very pregnant Flo LOVES being petted.  Even by a toddler.  ;)  She's just jumping down off the chair, where Hannah was happily whacking her head.  :D

Rida was batting at her feet!  :)

Becky was holding the dolly, so I could snap a pic of her outfit.  It was one of my favourites on tiny Rebekah!  :)  And yes, this one has the B&W layer, too.  I love how it tones down the bright green grass.

It was a lot of fun taking pictures of Hannah yesterday.  We had a very warm, and very windy day, and she was in a good mood... as long as she had her dolly.  ;)  I'm going to put up a few more tomorrow.  ;)

Touch-Up Tuesday

Howdy all.

It's Touch-Up time again.  :)

This photo is hot off the ... SD card?  ;)  I took it about 20 minutes ago.

My baby loves babies.  Especially little dollies.  I was taking some pics of her and her baby (more later this week, hopefully!) and snagged this one.  She's in my arms, and grinning as we discuss how much she loves her baby.  (Awww!)

Here's SOOC:

For my Touch-Up I

Cropped and resized
Adjusted curves slightly
Sharpened
Cloned out marks on Hannah's face and the dolly's arm
Smoothed Hannah's face a slight amount
Added some extra blur to the background.

Here's the result!

Just a slight difference, but looks so much better, don't you think?

Head over to Paper ♥ Camera to check out more Touch-Ups.  :)

I ♥ Faces - Smirk

This week at i♥faces, the theme is "smirk".

I immediately thought of this picture.  I had some fun with my youngest son back in April, and this is one of the many faces he gave me during our 'photo shoot'.  :)

If you have a second, check out other smirks at i♥faces.  :)  I'm sure it'll be fun.

Flashback Fridays

Okay.  For this week, I thought I'd feature... Elena!  :D

See?  She used to be cute.

She had such a nice smile. 

And showed it off willingly to all.

 

 And then, something happened.

And all we get now is this:

Scary.

You Capture - My Choice!

I didn't participate in last week's You Capture... and so I didn't know what this week's challenge was going to be - until I looked it up.  :)

It's supposed to be "Photographer's Choice".  I guess that means I can post my favourite pics from last week.  :D


Here we go!

My baby girl in her Sunday dress.

Granny gave her this dress for her first birthday!  :D  And, just so you know, in the picture below there was a huge, blue trampoline.  I was able to get rid of it!  :D  I can't see any remnants of it on my monitor, so if you can, please let me know so I can fix it better.  :)

This parsnip came out of our garden.  I thought it was hilarious.  :D  And tasty. 

So many legs!!

Our apple tree is absolutely loaded this year!  The kids are picking their afternoon snack.  :)  Nothing like an apple fresh from the tree.  (And yes, Ethan's on an old pool ladder.  My sister borrowed our other ladders.  It works to get him high enough to swing the branch and knock down some snacks!)

Lots of apples means lots of ... apple butter!  Look how tasty.  Mmmmm...

Well, that's some of the best shots from this week.

Head over to Beth's to check out some other photographer's favs.  :)