Oh Mummy..............

When Mummy's  Monday starts out like yesterday's post...........

And ends like this..................

Mummy is very grateful Monday only comes once a week.

Mummy looks bad............

• Levi's bus was early.  
• Mummy don't like it when Levi's bus is early.
• Levi doesn't like it when his bus is early.
• Levi's bus driver isn't there.  It's a substitute.
• Levi doesn't like change.  
• Early bus means running around frantic and Levi off to school without his hair done or teeth brushed.  
• Levi going to school without hair done and teeth brushed makes Mummy look bad.
• Mummy doesn't like to look bad.
• Mummy looks bad.  Mummy is in her jammies still, her hair is not done, her teeth are not brushed.
• It's Monday.......

• What's that?
• The doorbell
• It's the repairman come to fix the furnace.
• Dang!  Mummy has to answer the door.
• Mummy is in her jammies still, her hair is not done, her teeth are not brushed.
• Mummy looks bad.
• It's Monday..........

• The Native's are off to school.
• Mummy sees her unmade bed.
• It calls to her.
• Dang!  Mummy has to answer.
• Mummy is still in her jammies, her hair is still not done, her teeth are still not brushed.
• Mummy looks bad.
• Who cares!  It's MONDAY! (

Butterflies

Yesterday Kristen in her comments on my post said that the butterfly on my lens wasn't from around this area.  Well, I beg to differ.  Why else did it show up so many times?

Why is this bull rider doing a hand stand in the back...........?  Is the bull on him and he's trying to get it off his back?

Oh look!!!  A blue one!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen!  I think I've figured it out!  It wasn't until I looked at this series of photos!!!  Here all this time I thought the butterfly was on my camera!!  It's not!  It's very clear it is on the bulls..... well.  (Blushing)  Never mind.   I wondered what made them buck and throw themselves in the air like they do........  Mystery solved!

Not Blurry Not Necessarily Good

There were so many butterflies flying around.  One landed right on my camera lens while I was taking this photo!

Is froth, snot, and spraying saliva a sign of mad bull disease?

Or a sign that the riders riding the bulls are mad............

Blurry Not Necessarily A Bad Thing

When I first saw these shots I'd taken at  Pro Bull Riding Rodeo I was irritated.  What a waste.  I'd just taken hundreds of blurry photos.  I'd gotten all of my settings on my camera wrong.

I put them in a folder on my computer and probably would have trashed them had I been organized.  I'm not organized and am for once, glad.

The other day, I was looking through old photos and came across these.  I saw them with a new perspective. I may be the only one who sees them this way but I decided that blurry isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Blurry, means motion.  Blurry is capturing the motion.  Obviously I'm not a photographer and know nothing about photography and these photos aren't fantastic but.......  here's my point:

The motion.  We see the bull and rider coming out of the chute.  Look at the guy on the right who is in motion.  He's just opened the gate for the bull and rider and is now getting the heck out of dodge.  Those who are somewhat a tidge more in focus are the cowboys in back watching.

Here's where it gets cool to me.  The center of the bull and the rider are more in focus than the head and feet of the bull.  His hind feet especially.  You can see where all of the motion is.

Here you can see even though the rider looks like he is going to fall off, he's more in focus than the moving bull.

And now...... you can hardly see the rider as he is thrown through the air.  Another figure in blurry motion is the guy in yellow on the right coming in to save the rider.  The clown.

Here's another rider.  Hand up in the air.  He's sitting relatively centered on the bull.

I absolutely love this shot.  Here is a bull that you can tell is in full motion and the rider has very little blur as the bull is whipping around.

Another favorite shot.  Look at this bull!  The swirl of paint as he is twisting and turning and leaping and the rider is still in pretty good focus compared to the bull.

Now notice something.  The rider starts to get a bit blurrier.  He's moving more now with the bull.  His bum is no longer planted firmly to the bull's back on top of his hand and rope.

You guessed it.  He's lost his center of balance.  Off he goes. 

Check out this bull rider.  This photo cracks me up.  The horns look like ears.  Like the bull and rider are flying through the air like Dumbo.

Lots of motion..... both bull and rider.

This rider has too much motion.

Off he goes.......

Another favorite set of shots.  Bull in motion...... rider centered and not as blurry.

Can't even see the head of this bull there is so much motion!

Look at this shot!  Where is the bull?  The rider looks like he is sitting on a polka dotted dust cloud!

I guess you needed to have grown up around this stuff but to me it is beautiful to see such athletes.  Both the bulls and the riders.

Have you seen enough now to know what is going to happen?

The rider gets blurry and is in as much motion as the bull............  off he comes. 

  

So, next time you take a bunch of action/motion photos and they turn out blurry, don't delete them and throw them away.  Put them in a folder, let some time past, and go back and look at them with fresh eyes.  You never know what you may find.  You just may find a photo of a bull rider trying to outrun a bull as it tries to launch him up in the air by his hind end!

Sluffing

We have waited many months for the tiniest smidgen or hint of snow for this season.  None!

Finally, Saturday night it began to snow.  The first real snow of the season.  An amount of snow that required shoveling.  At ten o'clock at night the snow started to taper off.  (Warning:  This is the part where I get all oober goober goopy over my boys).

The garage opens and  out walk my three oldest Native's with shovels in hand along with my adopted son from up the street.  They spent the next two hours shoveling driveway after driveway after driveway and sidewalks in between.  All the houses where there weren't youngin's to help shovel, all the houses that housed elderly, and a few others in between just because.......

A few years ago we awoke Christmas morning to major snow.  It was awesome!!  The Native's came downstairs and looked at the tree and then outside and saw the snow.  The older Native's started talking among themselves and next thing I knew, they were throwing on snow pants, coats, and boots over their jammies.  There were elderly neighbors who might want to either go and visit family or have family visit.  They wanted to make sure the driveways were clear for these folks.  Off they went along with The SM and it was once again, several hours before they returned to the younger Native's and myself waiting for them.  Grins on their faces bantering back and forth with each other and ready to enjoy the afternoon opening their gifts.

When I started this post I hadn't meant to go in this direction.  I was going to tell you all how I'm a lame mom because I haven't made The Native's do their chores and we've been a bit naughty about homework because it finally snowed and I have been letting The Native's play in the snow the second they get home from school until it is dark and time for dinner.

They gobble up their dinner, put on their headlamps, and head back out into the snow.

Here's my justification.  If these younger Native's turn out to be anything like the older Native's, I suppose a few missed days of chores and skimping on homework won't hurt them too badly.

Someone please say yes and comment in the affirmative and back me up on my lousy parenting so I can continue to justify myself.

And while you're at it, will you please also give me an excuse for my behavior of sitting in my lazy chair eating handful after handful of chocolate chips while The Native's sluff their chores and homework.

Knit Socks. It's A Mystery To Me.

When I first learned to knit, I went to a shop here in town.  I was taken in under wing by the kindest most patient ladies.  They painstakingly showed  and taught me how to make a dish rag.  I chose a yarn that was quite colorful which is a good thing.  It hides all of the mistakes better.

I returned to the shop several times and after making two pathetic dishrags, told the ladies I wanted to try something else. They told me that I should knit a pair of socks!!!  Immediately I had visions of elementary school.  Knee high knit socks and tights and brown leather shoes with big ol' rubber soles.  Shudder.

Knit socks?  Are you kidding me?  Who in their right mind would take all of that time to knit a pair of socks when I could go to the 'Marts and buy a whole slew of socks for pennies compared.

The owner of the shop hearing our conversation smiled as he walked by and told me that once I'd worn hand knit socks......... I wouldn't want to wear anything else.  Yeaaaaah riiiiiiiight.  What ev!

Several months later one of the dears in the shop, we'll call her Elizabeth, begged me to sign up for her class.  I asked her what class she was teaching and she told me it was a beginner class on making socks.  What?  Socks?  NO WAY!

I signed up.

I made a hideous pink sock.  One sock.  Not even a pair.  

A few months later my son, Mr. C bought me some really funky sock yarn for Christmas.  Not wanting to disappoint, I knit a pair of socks.

And then I knit another pair.

And then I knit another pair.

And  another pair......... and another.........

A month ago my friend Jenni from Australia tempted me with what is called a mystery sock.  Every week for a month you get part of a pattern for a pair of knit socks.  You've no idea what the socks will look like in the end. The first week we got the first few rows, the next week a few more rows, and so on.

When I looked at my first set of instructions I thought there had been a big mistake.  These are socks for crying out loud!  Who puts cables and bobbles and doo dads in a pair of socks? A sweater yeah!  Socks? This is nuts!  NO WAY!

I signed up.

Don't tell the local shop owner.  He doesn't know I've been knitting socks.  I like to remind him from time to time that anyone who would take the time to knit a pair of socks is crackers in the head.