January 1, 2011

I am totally excited by Jan's new meme, "First of the Month"! To quote Jan:

The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month.

I have decided to share my curiously-toothy-budda-belly-green-holey worm each month.  This month he is loaded with memories of 2010.  Above you will see:

• The green case holding my nook: In December, I took the leap from paper copies of books to their electronic forms.  I am enjoying it so far.  When I finally decided to jump I knew that I wanted either the Kindle (Amazon) or nook (Barnes & Noble) - I liken them to Nikon and Canon, I think you can't go wrong with either but I'd stay away from other brands.  And once you make the decision you are stuck with that brand.  So, Kindles were sold out around here, and I always purchase form B&N anyway, so. . .  I am excited I was able to change the back cover to a hot pink -Fun!


• HTC Hero - In the spring, I changed from a Blackberry to a Droid - haven't looked back since.  It does everything!  Including having a nook app so I can read there too.  I was thinking that corner of the photo was looking a little dark and was trying to figure out how to turn the screen on the phone on without tumbling things when my son called.  Lucky break!  (Sorry Mikal for making you wait.)


• The apple - In January, I switched from being a PC to being a MacBook - LOVE it!


• Bride and Groom photo - In June, my son, Mikal, wed his girlfriend of six years.  It was a wonderful celebration of them and I was happy to be a part of it.  His grandparents made the trip up from Missouri and we enjoyed having them here.


• Coach headband - This year I expanded my Coach belongings exponentially!  A few more bags, some shoes and boots, planner, scarf, gloves. . .let's just say I love me some Coach!  I even found Coach fabric to use in the Fiat.


• Heart - Well, this could represent the heart problems my husband continues to have - or the ones that I developed in November, but when I placed it I intended it to represent how full my life is of love!


• Tiny Snowflake - I dug out my crochet hooks for the first time in many years and tried to remember the stitches.  I cranked out a few awkwardly wonky snowflakes, using thread for the first time ever.  It can also represent my eternal love of winter and snowfall!


• Finger-puppet Raccoon -  In September, I visited Glacier National Park for the first time and revisited Yellowstone and Grand Tetons.  We haven't geocached very much this year, but our name on geocaching.com is bandits and we use a raccoon as our mascot.


• Brighton Heart hair clippy (barely visible in front of the raccoon) - The first piece of Brighton I have purchased in several years.  How I love hearts!


• Fiat emblem - Fall of 2010 we purchased a cute lil convertible project car.  We have changed the exterior from a metallic blue to a bright orange with white racing stripes.  We have the supplies to change the tan interior to black with black Coach fabric.  We have removed the homemade convertible top and purchased a bright white one.  It's very fun to drive and I can't wait for warm weather again!


• Coca-Cola lids - In November, I cut all soda/pop/carbonated beverages from my diet.  I now only drink water with a slice of lime all day.  This was a big thing for me, I was a 2 ltr a day Diet Coke drinker.  The first week or so hurt a lot, but I'm happy as a clam now.  I do still visit Starbucks for my Mocha Frapp but I have been contemplating stopping it too.


• Newdae Photography business card - We stayed extremely busy with weddings and such - it was a great year full of fun!  Well, see for yourself.



• Purple Spray Bottle - I attempted to make my own shampoo.  I loved the idea of how wonderful it should be for my hair.  But the reality was not so good.  I hated the feel of my hair and it was unmanageable.   Needless to say I have went back to my Burt's Bees and I cut open one Aloe Vera capsule, squeeze the liquid into my hands and put it on my hair after towel drying - I love how it leaves my hair!


• Mr Monster by Dan Wells - I stepped out and tried several new authors in 2010, Dan Wells was one of them.  I picked up his first novel, I am not a Serial Killer based pretty much on the cover, zipped through it and had to grab Mr Monster the second it came out.  Can't wait for the third in the trilogy!


• Pink Peace Symbol Coffee Cozy - Peace is something I always seek and value.  I picked up several different fleece fabrics and made reusable sleeves for the Starbucks addiction my husband and I share.  Not only is it better for the environment but it keeps his coffee hot much longer and my Frapp lasts longer too.


• Starfish - February took us to Florida and my birthday was spent in the Everglades.  It was the first time I had been to Florida since I was 13.

First of the Month

Seems Silly Now

Well it didn't rain on us the next day. . .it snowed. It seems silly now that we're into winter, but it was so exciting to see snow on September 5th!

It did get slickery and that really narrow road made me a wee bit more nervous.

Swimming with the manatees

Flood of 2010

It was a great weekend to be a duck in Central Wisconsin. Pretty much any river or creek overflowed its banks, many road closures, and some houses had to be evacuated. It was the most water I've seen since living here!

There were ducks enjoying water in places there would normally be grass. It was quite a sight!

This bench sits on the end of a pier on the Wisconsin River (above the dam) in Bukolt Park, Stevens Point.

River Road running along the west side of the Wisconsin River had to be blocked off, along with several bridges crossing it.

This was as the water was coming back down.

One of our favorite places to shoot portraits. Normally there's not this much water.  In fact, normally the "ditch" is dry.

See, lots less water.  Just compare where the dam is and you can tell.  The water was clear up to the wall on the left, you can see that wall in a photo further down.

Looking in the other direction you can see the train bridge in the distance, with water nearing the bottom of it.

Handicapped Accessible Fishing Pier would be difficult to get to.

This spot is one of the places you can jump on the Green Circle Trail. Normally the water is way out past the trees. There was so much water some trees were uprooted and tossed onto the trail, and the trail was flooded in spots even though it's quite a bit higher than the water normally is.

If you go down this road and hang a left, go a couple more blocks, there's a huge parking area for Galecke Park. Oh, and a boat ramp, but don't think you can make it to any of that. There are houses down there too, btw.

Dennis wanted to walk it, but he couldn't even make it to the corner, the water got thigh deep and he turned back, smartly, I think.

See, he's little bity down there.

Hope you don't rent a yearly spot at this riverside campground. All Rvs had to be moved up along the roads.

Manatees

The day we went out to swim with the manatees it was cold, and rainy, but the guide said this was a good thing because there would be more manatees in the area of warm water we were going to. He was right, we saw about 200 that day!

They were pretty amazing! But I was also intrigued by the fish everywhere.

The lack of sun didn't help the photos any, but at least we got some.  Oh, and we bought the bag to put the 40D in, but it decided to stop working once it was in the bag, still haven't looked into what's wrong with it, and haven't got to try the bag out.  All these were taken with the little waterproof point and shoot.

More manatees tomorrow!

Underwater

Underwater views

We rented a kayak while we were in the Keys and got to explore a little.

I loved this small path we were able to paddle in!

And since we had a waterproof camera I was able to stick it in the water and snap a few photos of anemones and such.

Starfishes.

Hermit crab?

A crab on our paddle.