Dog Days!

Jake scoping out the water for another swim.

At this point, Farley still didn't want to try swimming. For Jake, that's wonderful since it was a safe haven to sometimes a rather annoying pest!

No, seriously, he's a doctor!

Matt and I at his graduation in Springfield. He's the wizard. I'm the warlock. Where is Capt. Morgan?

Hangin' with the Lincoln's. Cheer up people! We're not asking you to go to a play!

Yeah, same guy ... if you know Matt, then you will understand that the next day, two more statues of children stood in that grouping. FYI, Abe wasn't the father ...

Yup, a doctor who's interning in the ER ... one must understand where his patients come from ...

Matt graduated from SIU School of Medicine, aka Jamaican Voodoo, this spring. He will be interning in the Peoria ER for the next four years. The biggest benefit to Matt: he gets to eat as much food as he wants to and its free. Mental Note, don't get shot in Peoria. Matt, Rich (see Storm Chasing), and I used to hang out in high school. Matt, unfortunately, couldn't make the storm chasing trip due to some important tests or something ... don't worry he's going to live ;), so we had to celebrate his graduation "small-town style" as you can see above.

Planting at the Home Farm - May 21

My dad checking out the "new" planter as he closed in on finishing up planting beans at his farm.

The weather vane on the old barn.

Sunset on a beautiful spring day!

Finally, the fields were dry enough to finish up planting. New to us, but probably still in the 80's, we used a John Deere planter to sew the crop. Giving credit where credit is due, and so I don't hear anything more about it, my brother and dad did most of the planting. I was only able to help with the changing of planter boxes (from corn to beans) and loading the seed. Although, if you ask me later on, I opened and closed the fields!

Day 3 - Stormchasing Lost Images - Seriously, Colorado is this much cooler than Kansas?!

Rich and I after we conquered the mountainous trek up Pike's Peak ... halfway anyway ... and in the Highlander.

Standing on the dam, looking at Pikes Peak. I swear I felt this thing shake.

Captain Morgan strikes one more time! Pike's Peak -- CONQUERED!

A view of Colorado Springs from one of the many scenic pull-offs going up Pike's Peak.

Day 2 - Storm Chasing Lost Images - How big is Kansas?!

Chalk Monuments as you come across the gravel roads and look over the fields.

Toyota, please feel free to reimburse me for this wonderful image of my Highlander handling the monuments with ease.

Captain Morgan and his evil twin strike again!

What a gorgeous and serene environment.

Day 2 took us from Concordia, Kansas, where we experienced our first and only tornado at about 1:30 in the morning to these magnificent monuments, aptly named, Monument Rocks; they're called the chalk monuments, too. Located about (5) miles off of 83, we had to drive down a gravel road and then a dirt road. Rich was so excited he could hardly wait! But, when we got there it was all worth it as there wasn't another soul in sight and we could explore as long as we wanted. One really can't see these rocks until you get right into the field, out in the middle of nowhere, and there isn't anything else like it anywhere close. Rich and I came up with an idea to compete with Crayola, but the specifics are still in the works. It was great weather as you can tell, blue skies and all!

Day 1 - Storm Chasing Lost Images

The inside of Hart's Diner, located on 54.

Outdoors at Hart's!

The setting sun on Day 1 as we headed north to catch the big storm.

Day 1 included a great drive from Des Moines, IA to the south central part of Kansas to Pratt. A smaller town with all of the charm, we actually ran into some "professional" storm chasers that were waiting for the ignition for all hell to break loose. Professional or not, we were all losers there. For some reason or another, the storm decided not to flare up while we were there. So, we grabbed a bite to eat at the soon to be world famous Hart's Diner which had all of the charm of a 1950's diner. The food was great, the people were friendly, and the bill was cheap. Who could ask for more?! From there, we decided to venture north where the energy rolled out of the Rockies and was already producing some sizeable funnel clouds. Unfortunately, we knew we were going to get there late, we just didn't know how or what we would see.

Catch up ....

Simple HDR image of lightning looking south toward Princeton where the storms hit the hardest.

More Lightning.

My mom on Mother's Day at my sister's house, working at the kitchen sink.

Finally, a smile!.The enemy, the elusive pest known as the Japanese Beetle. Notice his snapper as he devours my pin oak tree.

A full view of his backside. If you ask me, he looks chubby and needs to be squashed.

More of the damage he causes when he eats my trees.

Two Japanese beetles in a different life stage. Did you know that these creatures can eat and mate at the same time?
The devestation to one of my dwarf apple trees, known as skeletonizing. This happened only in a matter of hours. This is why the Japanese Beetles have been classified as enemy number 1 and must be destroyed.