Images

One of the daily news guys I listen to has a podcast he does at night, Owen Shroyer Live. It’s a personal extension of his daily newscast where he takes calls from listeners to discuss the latest topics. Shroyer grew up in St. Louis and began his broadcasting career in sports news. I found him on Youtube years ago doing reporter-in-the-streets type interviews with some of the craziest people; poor guy has taken some abuse. I later found him on Infowars.com where he holds a three hour spot, 5-6 days a week. He’s come a long way since St. Louis When I get a chance to catch his Monday night podcast on Rumble I am usually…

Our little town has an awesome playground back behind the ball diamond. It’s a little off the beaten path (a lot of kids play in the school playground in the middle of town) but the jungle gym behind the diamonds is the bomb. There is also a nice pavilion with picnic tables to hang out at if flipping through the bars aren’t your thing. Turns out it’s a great place to spend a lunch hour with my eager nephew. “Hey, time me,” Hudson says. “Time you for what?”, I ask. “I’m going to do the monkey bars. Time me.” Up he goes, latches on to the first bar and I holler, “Ready, set, go!” (We are…

The bridge connecting Illinois and Missouri at Chester has scared the devil out of me since I was a small child. My kids always loved crossing it on the way back to see family. Me, I always held my breath all the way across. Sometimes, I still do. It should have been replaced years ago but it wasn’t until recently the two states came to an agreement on who would foot the bill. Money and responsibility have been the issue, over safety, all of these years. Certainly, throughout the years, parts of the bridge have fallen away to the point that you could see the river below due to loss of decking. You could see the…

I have been so busy with kid pics these these past couple of weeks I completely forgot about taking these at Mom’s on the 4th. I have taken pics of fireworks for years, traditionally some pretty big ones. This year they were big in a different way. The company was awesome.

View the gallery of image on this page, but to order or share, CLICK HERE*Got questions or need assistance, send me a message. If you have my card you can give me a call.

GO HERE to check out the images for the 12U team (if they aren’t showing up here yet). You can place your order and share the images from the gallery. Got questions or need assistance, send me a message, or if you have my card, give me a call.

*View the gallery of image on this page, but to order or share, CLICK HERE*Got questions or need assistance, send me a message. If you have my card you can give me a call.

I was photographing the little league teams last week and one of the coaches hadn’t arrived in time to get in the group picture. We had to do the group pics first because one of the young girls that helped coach this year had to leave for her own game. So we shot with who we had. While doing individual shots of the girls, Kim arrived. It had been bothering me that she was such important part of the team and wasn’t going to be in the year end group photo. So… “Hey Kim, how about an individual shot of you?”, I asked. She was kind enough to oblige. I wasn’t sure I could pull it…

This kid is a trip  “Hey Aunt Gila, take my picture when I jump.” Looks like a little spiderman. 

Out for a drive with mom and had the pleasure of watching a Great Egret enjoy a meal in a low spot. There was pooling all over the water and I wasn’t sure what was causing it because it was in a place where fish surely cannot reach. After getting home and putting the picture on the PC I could see the bird was feasting on some of the largest tadpoles I have ever seen around here. From: https://birdwatchinghq.com/herons-in-illinois/ Large, white bird with long, black legs. S-curved neck and a daggerlike yellow bill. Look for a greenish area between their eyes and the base of the bill. While they fly, their neck is tucked in, and…

Mom and I just happened to be out for a drive and rolled up on an upon the accident around 8:00 p.m. We had to turn around and cut through the cemetery to get around it into town. I don’t believe anyone was hurt; looks like they shot straight out of the county road, crossed the ditch, and there she lay. Who knows what the details are; just glad it wasn’t anything terrible and presumably everyone involved is okay. We saw the ambulance coming as we drove away but hoping that was just a precaution. Not much happens in this small village, so when it does, everyone comes out for the event. Mom was like, “Where…

Populations looks to be doing well this year; two to three does to each young buck. Seeing a lot of swollen bellies which means we will be seeing itty bitty bambies all over real soon.

I wasn’t fast enough to catch the small raccoon or beautiful red fox that I saw, and I almost missed out on the turkey. I only made it about 20 yard up the ditch before it was done posing for me and took flight. I snapped what I could as it headed out toward the setting sun. The deer have been few and far between these days; mostly does and the very young. No noticeable bucks in the crowd of late. Crops are coming up so maybe there will be more to see when vegetation matures. ‘Er body’s gotta eat, right?

When I walked upon my straw bale garden and saw a forest of tall, lanky mushrooms growing about every inch of my bales, I panicked. I thought for sure I had done something wrong in fertilizing them, overwatered them (if that’s even possible), or possibly gotten a disease infested round of straw. Turns out it was none of these things and my straw bales (full of tomatoes at that time) were just fine. As a matter of fact, those crazy looking mushrooms were a sure sign that the microbes in the bales were working their magic and breaking those bales down into dirt. Inky Cap mushrooms thrive around decomposing organic matter. While these mushrooms are edible,…

When I first came across the idea of straw bale gardening I thought it was too simple to work. I watched a few dozen videos about it, bought a book on the subject by someone who had been using bales to garden for decades, and soon decided to try it out myself. The experiment was a great success. This year I had 30 bales delivered in February, started fertilizing them in March to get decomposition rolling, and started planting cold crops the first week of April. (Onions, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts) I also transplanted lettuce that had volunteered from a five gallon pot that I had let go to seed last fall, into the tops…

March 31st called for high winds, hail, and tornadoes. Although the tornadoes and hail missed my immediate area the lightening show and wind was pretty outrageous. The first couple of images below are over the fields behind Oakdale Cemetery. I managed to get a decent couple of shots off with the camera balance on the window and a long shutter speed. I was pleasantly surprised to see the layers; starry skies on top, lightning in the clouds through the center, and the peach color aura below. The next couple of images are of the wall of rain I watched come in over the county line road. The last couple of images were really odd because I…

My area seems to have an abundance of really old cemeteries. I’ve photographed a few but haven’t added any to the site. The header image is Winkle Cemetery where I am pretty sure the number of dead is greater than the living. In other words, don’t blink or you might miss it. It sits up on a hill a bit off of a gravel road that was still mostly dirt the year I moved so long ago. A shot of it from the back side in the setting sun was a catch. The images of the stones are in the Coulterville Cemetery; just a few of the older ones.

Birds argued at the feeder all day. The wrens are just full of themselves. Going back to the strawbale garden this year. I look forward to no weeds, no bending, and abundant results.

I highly recommend cruising country roads every chance you get. Listen to a little music, or not. Definitely roll the windows down for good airflow into the lungs. And if it’s winter just crank the heat up to keep your feet warm; you really do need the fresh air. I am fortunate enough to be just a handful of minutes away from nothing but pasture and woodlands with a house here and there to spot the countryside. I am truly thankful for my access to nature and solitude and take full advantage of that privilege. I also take a lot of pictures as I am sure you have surmised if you have been here more than…

Been wanting to run by this gorgeous church for awhile and managed a drive by with my cell-cam. Awesome graveyard where the vast majority of the stones have cross on top. I look forward to going back for a better view.