Priester Photography

My Summer.

She won't show up on here often as she's very uncooperative. Very. The instant I point the camera in her direction she gets all these weird, contorted faces going on. But I somehow managed to get this shot today...

Look at that little freckle above her top lip. It's just like her daddy's. And that thin lipped little smile is just like her grandma's. I'm not sure she looks anything like me which is just the thanks I get for carrying her around in my womb for 9 months.
B

Sweetness.

I'm sure her mother would beg to differ, but me thinks she's awful sweet. :) She just had a cute little party for some young girls, my daughters included (her mother helped...I wanted to make sure that she got credit too). Fun was had by all. I'll try to post more pictures later.

I love that the wind is blowing her hair and hate that I forgot to tell her to take the camera strap off of her shoulder....but I'll take it.

And in case you were wondering...I didn't edit her eyes at all. They are just that amazing.
B

What's happened to my baby?

He used to be soooo cute and...well...baby-ish. Much to my dismay he's turning into a boy.

These aren't the best shots technically but I love the attitude he has in them. Can you not see the orneriness in those eyes? They're practically screaming, "I'm gonna get in trouble, somehow!"

So upon reflection...he has eyelashes that belong to a girl, teardrop shaped eyes of which one is lower than the other, crooked bottom teeth, and one ear that sticks out more than the other, but ain't he just the cutest little man child you've ever seen?

I thought so.
B

Good advice.

This is a poster from 1964 that my dad brought home from my grandma's house. I have yet to verify from grandma where this poster was supposed to hang but it was obviously for educating the waitresses on how to get better tips.

The reason I'm posting it is because the waitress is my grandma. How cool is that? Check out that wavy hair and check out the customer's eyebrows. Love it!

I'm in the process of restoring it, but it's slow going. I'll post a side by side when I'm finished with it.
B

You gotta know it. It's Electric! Boogie woogie, woogie.

(musical notes) Now you can't hold it. It's electric! Boogie woogie, woogie. But you know it's there. Yeah. Here, there, everywhere. (musical notes).

Don't tell me you don't know that song. It's the electric slide! Ah! The eighties.

The point of this psychotic babble is....WE HAVE ELECTRIC!! Yeah for us! We were reunited with our electric on Friday evening making it a total of 2 whole weeks without power. Gotta love it!

I played around outside after a rain shower yesterday and came up with the following shots which accomplished nothing accept to cause me to want/need a macro lens. I wish I was independently wealthy...but then again...not having the equipment I need/want forces me to be more creative in how to get the shot I want. How's THAT for positive thinking?

On to the pictures...this is a rain drop that's refracting our house. Look closely. It's upside down.

Raindrop.

More raindrops. Please...contain your excitement.

Oooh. Pretty pink flowers AND raindrops.

(musical notes) Drip, drip, drop little April showers. (musical notes)

Name that movie.

Still No Power...

sigh.

I could live without electricity. I really could. But if I am to be subjected to a life with no electricity I will NOT be expected to carry on the regular day to day monotony and I will NOT be expected to look presentable for society each and every day. I refuse.

But it so happens that I AM living with no electricity and I AM expected to look presentable every day and carry on as usual.

Did I mention that I haven't showered in three days? Okay, it's only been two days, but it feels like three.

As I sat here in my own stench I decided to post these last two shots from the clean up effort.

Though no one was hurt in the cutting of this tree...PLEASE...do NOT try this at home. Green shirt was not actually in the process of cutting the tree in this shot. He's tying a cable around it so they could pull it down with the bobcat and Red Shirt is making sure his ladder doesn't slide off the tree. We're actually a pretty safe bunch of people.

Here's "The Man" (Pat from the previous post with the giant chainsaw) supervising from the ground.

Is that OSHA approved?

Bugs and Sunsets

The girls have been at their aunt's house for the past four days. Since we still have no power and school was called off, we figured it would be as good a time as any for them to hang out with Auntie Megan.

Which left London with our undivided attention. This resulted in him wearing his spiderman costume and rubber boots for an entire day and packing dry Coco Puffs, a Diet Pepsi and a Swiss Roll for lunch. I should win mother of the year.

Matt was out working on the tree carnage in the back yard and London and I found a bug...a caterpillar to be exact.

We looked at it.

We poked it. (Don't you dig the outfit?)

We held it.

We pointed at it.

Look at those pretty red stripes.

Then we blew on him to try to get him to open up for his close up shot. It didn't work.

So after London stretched him out a little and claimed that he was "bitten" by him we picked him up with a stick so he could dangle off precariously.

Then London decided to get him to hang off of a bread tie (he'd been playing with a whole pack of them earlier that morning). Look at those cute little feet!

And while we were doing all of that....Matt was busy cutting down a tree while the sun was going down.

And the sun went down. (See the bird in the lower left corner? That was a total accident.) (Click it to see it bigger)

And the sun went down some more.

The end.

What do you do when you have no electricity?

Well, you blow bubbles and try to catch them with your mouth...of course.

Excuse the bad image quality. We have no lights and my flash had no batteries so my ISO is set very high.

This kept us all busy and laughing for almost an hour. Bubbles are great!

It's starting to storm again...gotta turn off the generator and get ready to duck and cover.
B

Worker Ants

We had lots of help show up yesterday and today to get the tree mess cleaned up. They reminded me of busy little worker ants scurrying here and there, very organized and on a mission. A mission to move trees off buildings and cut down trees that were hanging precariously.

I'm quickly posting these pics while the generator is on to run the water heater, so they are in no sort of order.

This is "the man" right here. He used to be a logger and let me tell you...he can lay a tree down wherever he pretty well pleases. I doubted his ability to remove a tree that was hanging directly over the chicken coop. I thought I should remove the chickens for their safety. He said they'd be fine. He was right. He fell that tree like a pro. The chickens are thankful.

And check out the size of that saw blade!!!

Taking a little break. Yes, that's me in the yellow. One of my girls shot this. They actually took some good shots while we were all working.

Doesn't this shot just lend itself to a "how many men does it take" joke?

Holding the tree up with the bobcat while they run a cable to another tree. That's the chicken coop directly behind him. Hang in there chickens, you're gonna be all right!

"The man" at work again skillfully grabbing a tree off dad's shed.

You want me to get that tree down from WHERE??!! :)

T...I...M...B...E...R...!!!!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that helped the last few days. It is VERY much appreciated.

Tornado damage at our house...

We're running on a generator so I have to be quick....just posting some pictures of the tornado/derecho damage at our house.

The back side of our house.

Front yard we share with mom and dad.

Dad's garage...that hump in the ground is NOT landscaping...the tree is leaning.

The side of mom and dad's house...the tree knocked the cap off the propane tank and it spewed gas for about 20 minutes till dad got it turned back off.

Tree in my brother's yard.

My brother's rental house...it was a week away from being rented out and now it's a total loss....the drywall is cracked all the way through and the electric panel was ripped off the side of the house.