Da Goddess

I fell in love with this sweet caramel-colored cow. She was my first find at the Fair. Her gaze fixed upon me, full of sweetness and curiosity. I was compelled…compelled to meet her and photograph her. And pet her. Just adorable and soft and gentle. Plus she had that sweet cow smell. (Most don’t find it as appealing as I do, but really, I love the way horses and cows smell.)

I hope she was sold for a good price. I’m fairly certain (see what I did there?) whoever bought her will have the sweetest beef on their table.

Because this is what I get when I go out in the backyard.

I know I’ve posted photos of the oranges I picked before and this looks like I’m just bragging, but C’MON! These are like sunshine you can touch and taste.

It’s now day #2 without my fuzzy friend Max here.

We took care of the gangly dog without confidence again. He was here for four days. I didn’t want to return him to his people. I ruv him. But he was very happy to have his people back and that’s the right thing to do. He did super well with us this time around and settled in right away.

Now I must go find myself another fuzzy friend to hang around with until he returns.

Purple Heart Wandering Jew, to be exact. Actually, to be precise, it’s Tradescantia pallida. And it’s lovely.

I think I’d rather have that in a yard than standard ivy.

So, have you guessed?

(more…)

Few weeks ago, we had a negative tide in San Diego so of course I was there!

Just one of the images from that day.

New discovery: I sleep very poorly the first night or so of a Santa Ana. I’m not right. I can’t get comfortable. I just don’t feel like I’m in the right skin.

My dreams are messed up when I do sleep. My body is rebeling when I’m not sleeping.

I’m beginning to think all the years of living in California meant nothing to the state, because, upon my return, I’m being tested so harshly.

Pppphhhhhttt!

He wasn’t. I did this. Last summer. In a very Richardson-esque manner.

Really enjoying my time here in San Diego. I’ve seen Mad Mikey and the whole MM Family, a photographer or two, our dear, dear friends C&R…and have plans to catch up with others before I have to hit the road again.

Got a freaky story to tell, but that’s for later when I have a better internet connection.

I’ve been slow to catch up and to get links out there, but here we go, in no particular order…

Wolf / Cooking With The Troops

Troy Steward / You Served

Toby Nunn / Soldiers’ Angels

Maggie / Bostonmaggie

Matt Burden / Blackfive

Cassandra / Villainous Company

Mrs. P / A Little Pink in a World of Camo

Gary Cagle of Team Rubicon

Jake Rademacher / Brothers at War

Tom Kratman / Author’s page on Amazon

Tom Goering / Navy CyberSpace

Tammi / Tammi’s Trail

Non-milblog related, I met Darren Rowse of DPS. I recognized him from the back of his lovely bald head and called out to him, because I do that sort of thing. Thankfully he was very nice and spoke with me as we hiked our way through Mandalay Bay.

Also saw Adam Carolla while out walking about with Tammi. I didn’t talk with him, but did snap a few photos. Why not?

And then there was Mark Burnett. He made me cry and I didn’t mind. Mrs. P did, too, and she’s allowed to any time.

Oh, can’t forget Mary Ripley, an amazing lady who is very active over on USNI and who is the daughter of John Ripley (USMC).

All the great soldiers who manned the Go Army/Milblogger lounge! Nice folks!

And to my growing legion of sexy bald men, please don’t forget the grapes or the hammock next time. No, not the little one…we shall not discuss that again…I want the full-sized, lying about sort of hammock in which I rest comfortably while you fan me and feed me grapes and otherwise attend and amuse me.

I did NOT get to meet C.C. Chapman, although I wish I had. I’ve adored C.C. since 2002, when we both were hanging with Robyn and gettin’ our boobies on for Boobiethon. I think I saw him a few times, but wasn’t 100% certain and was, of course, blonde while attending an event. Sigh. C.C., next time, okay?

I know I’m forgetting people. Shame on me. I’ve been in total brain meltdown mode for two days. Can’t afford to be as I have much work to do. Photos from BWE, photos from a couple concerts, a CD design…uh…yeah…not just submitting the photos, I’m doing the design and panicking over it! As well, I have a very cute 3 year old’s mother waiting for photos so she can make her selections for her order. Arrgh! Oh, and I have to figure out how to get 1) a sometimes cranky, bitchy/sometimes nice-ish deadbeat to repay her loan (it’s not much, just overdue since March), 2) get presents out to the kids for their birthdays, 3) get my reviews done and posted, 4) not lose the stuff in storage (despite my payments here and there, they want to go ahead and take my belongings…I have a problem with that since I am making every effort to catch up!), 5) get the portrait studio to hire me (it’s photography, it’s a job, and I want it), and 6) find the list of the other things I need to accomplish.

Busy is better’n dead, right? Right.

P.S. If I really did miss your name on this list, I profusely apologize and will write glowing things about you if you leave me a comment and don’t call me a forgetful bitch. Forgetful or bitch is fine. Just not both together.

The best kind of wolf is a Laughing Wolf. I mean, if you can’t bring a somber wolf into your life (say, the one from Little Red Riding Hood…although he was more murderous than straight out somber, to be fair), if you can’t have a somber wolf, go for one who’s more jovial, more personable, you know?

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally met the one today. Picked him up from the airport and finally got in a proper hello. Funny that we’ve been friends for so long, yet had never met in real life. It was good to be able to give him a hug and then sit around talking face to face instead of spending hours conversing over the phone as we have been wont to do in the past.

Now I face and a presence to go with the voice and laughter. Plus, I got to learn a lot more about Cooking with the Troops, which is a rather amazing organization. Over the next few days, I hope to be able to learn enough about the organization to come back here and get YOU all excited and make this your new favorite charity. I don’t want to speak out of turn here and present you with wrong facts, but I can tell you this is bigger than just cooking for our military. Yes sirree, bub. There’s a lot going on. And I will bring you the all the juicy details over the coming days.

So, here I sit, having met the wolf who laughs (good thing I’m a damn chuckling rhino, eh?)…getting excited about Blog World Expo’s military track. There will be a good many people I’ve admired in that room whom I will be able to meet and/or see again and I’m looking forward to it.

I’ll be here, ready to share what I learn along the way. And if you’re all good boys and girls, I may bring you photos of the event. (And I have it on good authority there will be wonderful surprises along the way.)

Chic. But dark. The drinks were carefully crafted. No mere pouring. Lemons were hand squeezed as needed. Zest was zested only when called for. Berries mulled by hand. Magic fairy dust was sprinkled in the air or over the counter. I think I saw Tinkerbell float by and giggle at the concoctions. Yes, they were infuse with magic! Ingredients were added slowly. Each drink was a work of art.

Did I mention it was dark? The new 50mm f1.8 lens made these photos possible.

If you come to visit me here in Vegas, I will take you to a fun little jam where all sorts of music is played. Then, we’ll walk across the street and you will be treated to the Cocktail Room, where I’ll buy you one of these drinks. You will then proclaim your love for the drink, the bartender, and finally…me. They’re really that good. With any luck, Cary and a special young lady will be working and you’ll be thanking your lucky stars you got to meet them.

We’ve had a lot of rain here in Vegas. Over a four day period, we had more than last year’s total rainfall. This, of course, means the mountains got snow. Wanna know how close the snow was? I drove down the main cross street for about two miles and took the following photos yesterday. The day was wonderfully temperate; I was running errands in jeans and a t-shirt. Yes, I had a jacket with me — just in case. But it totally wasn’t needed. While I was pulled over, there were a few raindrops, but nothing major. That’s supposed to hit again this weekend. I have places to go and things to do. I CAN’T beg off like I did on Thursday when I was supposed to go see Eric Sardinas. Eh. I had a headache and didn’t feel like bothering with stupid drivers. I don’t get to do that tonight.

Apologies for the darker photo on the bottom. The clouds were fighting me. But that…that’s just slightly off to the southwest of where I was standing. The first shot is west of where I was. Both are part of the Summerlin/Summerlin South area. Yep, that’s pretty much where I live these days. Cool, huh?

Because I can. And then I must sleep. This post has already kept me up longer than it should. Like an HOUR longer. Silly me can’t code.

Oh, and by the way, note to self and other interested parties: using a new computer means none of your old files are on hand. No rhino watermark, no awesome fonts, and arrrrrrrrghh! And the current java doesn’t work with WP. I can’t seem to find the older version to download yet. Sigh. All my favorite settings with PSP X2 have to be re-entered. Just sayin’ cuz I can’t seem to stop.

Only edits were cropped to size and the addition of LRP. Otherwise, SOOC.

In the last photo: Tab, Buster, Doug Gay (Tab’s drummer), and I want to say his name is Mike…but that last guy, I’m not 100% on at the moment.

This was a hassle getting the photos posted. Enjoy because I may kick the computer to do what I want it to do and it’s not doing it.

I was pretty resolute in my decision to stay in bed today. Last night, I passed up a photo group meeting because I was a little dizzy and driving seemed like a bad idea. As the evening wore on, I felt a bit feverish and out of sorts (will this crap ever end??). So, after a night of not sleeping very soundly, I figured today was a good day to do nothing and to stay put.

And then Buster said, “it’s snowing.”

I thought he was just saying that to get me out of my little cave. (He made my room very dark for me a week or so ago.) But then he repeated himself and I got curious. I grabbed my camera just in case. Sure as shit, it was snowing. A few flakes here and there, nothing sticking to anything, but it was still snow. The one photo I attempted failed and I really didn’t care. I still felt like a little kid on Christmas morning because, dammit, I had a snowflake land on my nose and that’s pretty cool. It was enough to make me forget that I felt like hell for a few minutes.

And it almost makes up for slipping on ice the other night when I took out the garbage.

Vegas is a very odd place sometimes.