Tomatoes: Before and After

Making Sauce!

Tomatoes Before


Tomatoes After

Our Visitor Returns

We have a Blue Heron that hangs out at our pond every couple weeks. It is here today and seeing a second one too, I wonder if it is mating time. The middle of summer doesn't really seem like the best time for an animal to mate, but who knows.

If Cameras Could Capture Smell

Made by Kacey. Tomatoes from our garden, zucchini and eggplant from my brother's garden, onion, and rosemary and thyme from our herb garden. Salt and oil as well. Broil.

2008 Olympics!

As most of you out there may be doing as well, we are fitting a lot of Olympics watching in to our schedule. It has been a little busy, but we have watched most of the sports with which we find interest. For Chris: all volleyball (mens, womens, indoor, sand), basketball, some swimming, softball, some track and field, and a few other things when we feel like it. Kacey watches swimming, diving, gymnastics, and probably a few other things I can not recall right now.

We have been enjoying everything in HD thanks to local HD broadcasting and Universal HD (broadcasting MSNBC feeds). We record nearly everything during the day and night, and each afternoon watch the sports we like, fast-forwarding through all which we are not too interested in.

I have also stopped checking the news on CNN.com. They have started putting spoilers on the front page banner and main headline story! I liked it better when they supplied a link to an "Olympic Update". CNN ruined mens 100m dash for me yesterday...

Smiles? Close Enough!

We have been getting some gas grins from Nolan the past couple weeks. I would say this afternoon was the first time he was looking at us and gave us some grins. In the next month, they should grow and increase, but it is just an indescribable feeling!

I am not much of a writer. I struggle with describing how our first month has been. Today, Nolan is four weeks old, and having something so precious has been the best thing imaginable. I want to spend time with him and watching him constantly. It's hard to stay at work, I feel like I am missing his life.

I love holding him, feeding him, changing him, walking him, rocking him to sleep, looking at him, talking to him, you name it.

More pics to come to the web site soon.
http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Nolan

Click & Clack - As the Wrench Turns

So, surfing around HD channels I found Click & Clack's As the Wrench Turns cartoon on PBS! Awesome! I grew up listening to Tom and Ray Magliozzi on Car Talk every Saturday morning. If you are a car guy, then you have heard of the Tappet Brothers.

Rumor - Nikon D90

http://nikonrumors.com/2008/08/05/nikon-d90-revealed.aspx

Interesting...

Random Thoughts: Sweet Corn & Nikon D80

I grew up in south central Indiana, and grew up eating mostly Indiana-grown fruits and vegetables (most vegetables from our own garden, actually). One of the best vegetable options I love in the Indiana summer is Indiana sweet corn. Both this and last weekend I threw some corn on the grill (in husk, soaked in water) and enjoyed with both a little butter and fresh-ground pepper. Its healthy and delicious.

As a side note, we cooked all the ears last night, but didn't eat them all at the time. A quick way to reheat ears of corn is wrap the ear in a paper towel, and then wet the paper towel. Microwave 2-3 minutes on half power.

I am borrowing my co-worker's Nikon D80 with 50mm f/1.8 prime lens this weekend. I am having fun taking pictures of Nolan, Kacey, the cats, birds, and plan to play with different depth of field options in my learning. Any methods people have used to really learn their camera are appreciated (other than just plain shooting). I am taking two or three pictures of different objects with different lighting and aperture for comparison later.




I think this would be better with a slightly larger depth of field (i.e. Kacey was a little closer to focus).