Blogoversary

Thank you for all the wished me a happy 1 year... I have been so busy trying to get my new website up and running I didn't even notice. I'm sorry that I have neglected you all lately but hopefully I'll be back soon. If you are interested check me out.. www.gearboxphotos.com

~Cathy

Met this guy tonight....

I went to pick up monster at dance and I was told to come inside...hmmmm?! I walked in to find this little man waiting for me to hold him.. He is a cutie but I have to say he is not as cute as our Emma was when she was little...but..and I will say .... He is only 5 wks old and we did not meet Emma til she was 10 wks old so he has about 5 wks to get a bit more personality and some fluff to him...This little guy is actually spoken for but the owner has 3 more males that are available.. I will put this on the list of all the things that I need, want or think I want... It is time for Emma to find herself a man for the future.. hmmm.. Do I need another dog? But look at him... I called this one Avery.. but I don't know.

~Cathy

Do you see it.. neither did I

Come find with me..

Okay so myself and a few "geeky" friends went out geocaching today. We started up the walking trail and thought "Oh how hard can this be?" Well after spending A LOT of time in the brush off the trail we phoned a friend (this friend actually hid this cache) So asked a few simple but needed questions.. Me: "you really don't make us cross the creek?" Her: "Well YEAH...." So we all trucked over the river and up the hill to a new hunting spot... I walked right past this little bugger... Then T made the find.. It was awesome.. It was down on the ground along a big ole' dead tree and covered with sticks and pieces of the tree.... I think this was my most challenging yet ,,,well at least out in the woods.. This one was fun. We walked almost 3 miles looking for this. Here's what we found inside. Playing cards, bubbles, a whistle, pins, hand sanitizer, balls, dice, OFF bug wipes, a clapper thing, trading cards and the log book. I left a glow necklace, T left a slinky and C left a hair band.. Awesome fun.. Go to geocaching.com and try it for your self.

We then went back up the trail to find another one.. There was a FTF(first to find) bag inside.. It actually had a $1.00 bill inside and a bunch of trinkets. We left it for a kid cacher to find and take.

~Cathy

Geocaching explained.

Several peeps have asked my about geocachig.. I found this video which might explain a little better. Enjoy and join me on the hunt.. I'm at 24 finds.. Can you beat me? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD7SF-Axvyg or this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJn1YfZilG4 or this Enjoy.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDb0CJp-W0g

Look what I get

I bought the monster D new gloves for racing. I made him lay them out so I could get a picture of them brand new. I knew it wouldn't be long before they were dirty and trashed. Then I made him model them.Then he took them off and I tried them on..too big for me. Thought maybe I could use them in the garden but not..no just kiddin. By now he is tired of the camera in his face.. So he starts swatting at me... how dare him...Then he almost pulls a paparazzi move and grabs my lens.. oh nO No...!!!!

Then I stop taking pictures and move on to another subject... Like the dust on my end tables.. but I won't show you that. Then I yell, "where is my maid?" Oh,, that's right, it's me and I need to put the camera down and do something.

~Cathy

Twitter

I hate even getting on twitter anymore. It takes for ever to get around in my account.. Anyone else having this problem? I can't look at it at work anymore and get on at home is a headache.. Any suggestions.~Cathy

My dirty Saturday

I woke up around 2 pm on Friday.. I finally made it to bed Saturday night around 1130pm.. I did get a 2 hour nap in Saturday night but other than that I was up...and this is how I kept myself going Saturday morning and afternoon.. I ran around in the dirt taking pictures of the boys. This is my D

This is my baby's daddy...ha ha He jumped to far, hard or just flat out crazy beyond what he could handle and flipped into a mud puddle..it was more like a pond.. He was dripping with mud.Just a little damage to his brand new bike.. he had to run and buy new handle bars..

Jump after jump,dust cloud after dust cloud.. I was two shades darker when I finally got done.

This is Cousin D.. it is his 16th Birthday Monday and all he wanted was for all the boys to go riding..

Just a few of the almost 700 something that I took....guess what I'm doing tonight.. I love it. This bottom pic has no tweaking, no cropping nothing but behind the jumper is our line of trucks..the caravan. When we left the place cleared out. We had a good time.. I had a dirty mouth... I kept telling the boys that when they would come in to rest.. I wish I had some Orbit gum with me..

Cathy

Fun in the rain???

Geocaching or geocaching.com is a world wide treasure hunt. You enter coordinates into your gps and then walk around a hunt the treasure. You make an account on the website and then you log your finds. It's a lot of fun for the whole family and great exercise. You may think your just gonna get out of the car and walk over to a tree and you find yourself walking clear across a yard, park or trail before you know it. Above- This is called a micro.. it was screwed to a stick that stuck down in a stunk (below)..very clever.

We found a travel bug geo.. Dad will take it home and place it ours that we hid up there so it can move on.

This one had all kinds of treasures in it including the travel bug. Play doh- key chains- McDonald toys.

Can you find the cache?

This little thing had a big surprise..

This snake jumped out at us when she opened it.

I was off looking in the wrong spot when my mom found it.. before I could get over there I heard them both scream. Here baby monster is saying Oooopen iiiit.

Mom and Dad signing the log for another one found.

Yes a little bug, nano or micro as they are called was hidden in the fence.. Would ya ever think to stop and check a fence post?

Couple hints for beginners. Wear old shoes, make up a fanny pack with pens, and trickets to leave behind or trade. Have a place for your gps, phone and camera. I don't know how many times I've gotten out of the car and had to go back for a pen. Come up with a system on how to orgnaize your trail or you'll be driving all over and missing so many. The picture above, we went to a park but I didn't realize there were 2 more in the park. I was there and now have to go back..well if I want the find. ~Cathy

I can't wait....

I have to work til 8am then I am going home, slamming a shower (to start fresh) racing to the dirt bike track to watch the boys and I mean ALL of the boys ride their dirt bikes.. I can't wait. Monday is Cousin D's 16th birthday and all he wanted was for the boys to ride.. so D, Colton, Jared, Justin, Austin, Kyle, Grant and who knows who else is caravanning down to the track to celebrate. I packed Sunny D's, orange slices, carrots, celery, grapes and salami sandwiches for the feast, Cousin D's mom is handling the chips and cookies. We are going to have a great time... I sure hope that I catch a big second wind about 8 am and keep going. I may get out in that warm sun and have to snooze a bit..

Here is a video of some of the boys.. D was not here this day.. This is where D had his wreck last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3aiqW7Ydm4

Stop this train

You know the Vanilla Ice song..Stop that train?
Stop this train 'cause I wanna get off

Stop that train, I wanna' get off

-I had this song playing in my head all day... this is how it went.
-I worked from 12 midnight to 8 am
-8-1:30 I slept with my furbabies
-I jumped out of bed and took a shower
-Loaded the car with 3 trophies and 3 banners from the girls National dance competition.
-Picked up monster at school, took her to dance..
-Drove back to town
-Got nails done
-Dropped off rider release forms to other monster
-Drove back to dance
-Stopped at the store, monster didn't feel good so I grabbed a few things
-Went home to make dinner, let the dog out
-Then jumped back into bed to bank some sleep hours for this weekend
-Got up at 1030, showered and headed back to work.

See why I need a maid.. I don't get anything done at the house..
I am work now and will start the race over around 1:30 today.. then on Saturday I will work 12-8 go home/ change clothes/ grab the camera and head to the track til 2 or 3
Then my parents are coming for the night and we are going geocaching Saturday night or Sunday.. I may get to sleep oh say Monday....
Stop this train and hire me a made to cook, clean and do laundry.. I just may catch up. ~Cathy

Blog Fart Friday

Blog Farts – noun. Def: Crappy ideas that are too short to make a real blog post, but when combined, join forces to make one unified, albeit half assed, post. see also: memes, surveys.

Okay, it's Thursday morning and I am just now coming up with my weekly rants..

1. I'm gonna tell on myself.. If I am writing a post and I don't know how to spell something like..hmmm...let's see..... psychotic, I open up another browser and search the word I am trying to type, then half the time I still don't type it correct but it's a closer version that what I would have come up with myself..

2. I am tired of working... I want so bad to be able to call in rich... I know we all want that but I really am tired of work.

3. Why can't I ever remember how to strike words out.. I know it's something like this---..okay so I put the arrow...s and word word word then the arrow s and forward slash and when I hit publish..everything on my blog was had a strike through it except this post...guess I figured it out...

4. get a real job and stay home once in a while--find a flavor and stick with it...there I feel better.

5. My visitor page showed that Ree-Pioneer Woman visited my blog 2 days ago... I can't believe that she would come to the ghetto... maybe she is real...maybe I will get a email back from a question I had for her...over a year ago...cause you know she reads them all..

Here is my weedjit-


Amarillo, Texas arrived from thepioneerwoman.com on "As the World Flops".
15:48:50 -- 1 day 9 hours ago

Freeport, Texas arrived from thepioneerwoman.com on "As the World Flops".
15:24:30 -- 1 day 9 hours ago

Austin, Texas arrived from thepioneerwoman.com on "As the World Flops".
15:19:19 -- 1 day 9 hours ago and I had 2 or 3 other visitors from her site.. and I didn't even have to pay her...Thanks Ree-

M

M is for Mowingjump on over the ABC Wednesday and see others that are playing.
~Cathy

Awesome video

Run over to Coloradolady and check out the Britian has Talent video.. get your tissues ready.

Sniff Sniff...

I was just getting ready to print some little order forms for my new business and I looked up the name that Justine/Tiney had suggested.. it was an awesome name (Dirty Lens Photography) and guess what... It's TAKEN.. Can you believe it..? I was shocked. It was going to be a great name and it clicked with me so well....So back to square one.

Oh, and let me say my blogo friend and new marketing director Justine is having a party giveaway to celebrate her 200th post.. Jump on over and tell her I sent you.~Cathy

Tiney is the winner

Okay so I had asked all of you a few posts back to help with a name for my new photography business.. I still hate to call it that cause I'm not a photographer. I also mentioned this to G earlier I didn't really want to call it "photography" for that reason but he put it to me like this. He had an internet company and just because they weren't AOL they still called it xxxx internet. So I guess that made sense but I would rather call it photos or pictures or something but anywho... my whole attitude changed when I heard Justine's suggestion. Here is her comment to me.. I love it..

Okay Cathy, we JUST got home from a 4 hour drive across the state, and what's the FIRST thing I do? I sign on here to tell you the name I came up with while sitting in the car for endless hours this weekend. And now I don't even want to tell you because you'll probably hate it. But here goes...

Dirty Lens Photography We make dirt look good

Isn't that awesome.. I am going with it so there for Justine is the WINNER.. Thank you so much.. Let me say this was not an actual contest and there were no real prizes but maybe one day if I earn a lot of money I will have real contest and she will get the first prize.. I'm so glad that I have real blog friends on here that think that much about me.

Run over to her site and check out her puppy washing the car.. awesome.

Brisk Easter afternoon

After a long week of spring break, a trip to the zoo, aquarium, motocross practice, bon fire and 7 kids running through the house last night G and I took a well deserved nap. All of the kids had left to run with their other parents so went out for some adult time.. wooohoooo a free childless night what will we do? We decided to run to Best Buy to get a printer and more memory cards but they were closed so we went geocaching. This was the first time G had actually been out and found one. When we found the first one he said.. "dang these things are really do exist." I think for a while he thought I was loosing it and making things up...hmmm. maybe I do sometimes but at least I don't see a shrink for it...lol.. Well I have pictures but they won't upload tonight so I will try tomorrow.. Anyways, we found about 4 and I think he may be hooked a little. ~Cathy

Happy Easter

All of us here at the World would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter.Okay, the great jelly bean debate. Which ones are your favorite flavors?Mine are the Juicy Pear... oh, yummo.!!!

This is what a teenage dirt bike riding boy's basket looked like this year and ya know what...he was happy as a bug. No earrings, belts, cd of a favorite band, no funny 5 toed socks,,no sure ree.. he loved his jugs of Simple Green to was his bike and the brush, rags. He loves or needs that kind of stuff and although he is hard to buy for, duct tape and rope are always a staple. How are boys to fix anything without duct tape and where would be the rope swing at the lake or swinging through the trees if ya didn't have plenty of rope. D, Cousin D and Co were playing in the trees a few years ago and Co fell, he broke both wrists.. Nice huh? Oh, and D filmed it with two different phones so we have proof, sounds and the Oh my God, are you alright? .... scream.....

And what Easter is complete without the left over pile of dead Easter grass that will be found for weeks on end.


Happy Easter everyone, hope you a had a special nice day.

~Cathy

Things that make me go...Hmmmm?

~Cathy

Kids

Plan A- I was taking the boys to the dirt bike store for an easter egg hunt but we found out that the free stuff and coupons were only in the ADULT eggs so they opted to forget the big hunt this year and go with plan B.

Plan B- G was taking the girls to the zoo. So the boys packed up and went to find a relative. As they were walking out the door I told D that all I wanted was a picture of him with a giraffe to show his grandkids one day.






Out of 250 some pics, this is what I got........





D in front of a pop machine with a giraffe... See I knew I should have gone but I was so tired from working all night I would have been a total grouch butt..
Crazy kids- -

~Cathy

Help me out here

Okay, since I am throwing around this idea of starting a small (and I mean small) business of motocross photography for all of the dirt boys that come out and race on weekends I need a business name.

Something catchy that they can remember that has to do with dirt, bikes, races, motocross, pictures, jumps, more dirt and some wreck pics. Cause they love their wreck pics.. they want to see exactly how they flew through the air when they ended up in the hospital and can't remember the next 4-5 days after including a trip to Washington DC..hmmm .... YES, that would be my son, the one and only D...he told us around December that he doesn't really remember his Washington trip after his severe concussion.. NICE!!!!! And remember back last fall when we took a trip to the ER for a shoulder..yeah he hurt it again last night. If I ever get my hands on that Travis Pastrana.. D watched his movie called "199 lives" it shows all of his wrecks and injuries and D wants to be just like him... please don't tell my insurance company...

Anywho- I am asking you all, the smartest people in the world... What would be a good, short, catchy name for my business..? I wanted MOTOPHOTO..but that was already taken. I thought about DIRT BOY PHOTOS.. Well leave me some ideas and I will make the D man pick the winner.. Thanks friends- Cathy

Nice guy

Last night I was surfing motocross photos to compare to mine.. I ran across this website and thought oh why not.. I emailed the photographer, his name is Hoss Sharifi- factoryphoto.I figured I would never hear from him and one day months from now I would see my sent email and say..stupid jerk. Well, I must take that thought back and I am sorry for ever thinking it. When I woke up I had a return email from him saying that he was watching his baby today and to call anytime.. How crazy is that? So I got settled in front of the computer with a pad and paper and called him. He was the nicest guy.


He told me all the ins and outs to starting a photography business (motocross style) what worked, what didn't and even gave me a camera lesson on the phone. I wish he was closer to Ohio so I could go and get a first hand lesson from him out in the dirt.. He was awesome. He "only" does AMA races now but started out with a laptop hooked to a car battery and a milk crate. Did ya like the only.. I wish I "only" did professional races.. Well that's not true cause then I wouldn't have time to watch my baby monster. He gave me some real good info to start and I am going to look into this further and maybe get some other equipment, maybe like another lens...yeah...I can't wait. Well off to get my thoughts together. ~Cathy

Part 2- What do you think

I made a post earlier and explained the story of my day. Please check it out and leave me a comment I want the good, the bad and ugly. You can see more of my pictures on flickr- http://www.flickr.com/photos/swohiolife/ under dirt bikes

below is my monster D- He changed gear, helmet, boots and number this year.

this is D's dad

Here he is again on the left

Dad changed bikes and gear this year, same number.

Here in the air.

and here...

This is cousin D

and here..

and here eating his dad's dust or mud chunks as it is..

and again in the air...this was one of the first shots before his bike got caked with mud.

They were very dirty boys today..very dirty...like power washer dirty....~Cathy

After I made this post I was checkin pics on the web...I just think I need a faster shutter speed, especially when it started to get dark. I should have turned the ISO up a bit but didn't..maybe next time.