We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming...

Or shall I say blog reading!

If you haven't seen it on the news, April the Giraffe is going to have her baby today.

You can watch it live here.

That Moment...

When I stepped outside my comfort zone and entered my photos in the fair was a big MOMENT for me. Walking in with my stack of self matted photos was a bit intimidating. After all, these were REAL photographers. They probably went to collage for photography. They know exactly what the fundamentals of a camera are from the lighting, to positioning, shutter speed, and so much more then I do.

They will be my judges!

My photos are very amateur. I take them with a Canon Power Shot set on auto. Rarely do I change my settings. I just try to be creative and let the subject come to life, however that will be. I can take close to 100's photos in a day while out and about or during one of our adventures, but I may only get, if I'm lucky a few dozen of real good one. For the last 10+ year my only judges have been myself and family members. Of course I receive some wonderful comments and they all make me feel like I did a good job.

The desire to learn more exist within me, and maybe one of these days, I will step out and take a class on that as well.

That Moment...

When the BIG guy, the one in charge, the one above all the other judges is looking over your work, and then comments "You're very creative!" when he wants to move my Nature photos to Scenic.

"Nature-Close and Intermediate views. May not include human elements or man made objects. Lightning, sunrises, sunsets, clouds are included in this Lot.

Scenic-Landscapes, Seascapes, Cityscapes, Architecture, may include people."

I agreed to why one was going to be moved. Though it was a sunrise there really wasn't the sun rising in it to make that determination.

However, my "Sunset on the Ocean", did have the sun in it, even if it was within the clouds, and since the sun can only rise or set on the ocean, that is when he said my interpretation of the Lot was "Creative", and it can stay in Nature.

He then moved my two Scenic photos to General.

        

 My Animals were accepted in their lot.

 As were my Macros.

He thought one of my People should go in the Portrait Lot, but two other judges disagreed.

That Moment...

When all my entries were accepted and brings a sigh of relief.

"The Superintendent of this Department and/or the Yuma County Fair, INC Management reserves the right to refuse any entry they feel is inappropriate to be displayed at the Yuma County Fair."

Now I wait to see how well they, "Faired", hehehe! Fair starts April 4th, so I won't have to wait to long.

That Moment...

When a five year old is excited to go to a "Flea Marcket" then ask. "What is a flea market?"

We bought CHEAP river rafting hats for our upcoming rafting trip down the Colorado River.

When asked if he liked the Flea Market, he said, "There was a lot of walking and no toy's."

That Moment... 

When I've been watching my tree bloom, and bloom, and bloom! I think it's the best year of flowers. We thought it was dying a few years back and needed to be removed. There were so many dead branches and very few flowers.

After cutting out the dead wood, this is what we have this year.

That Moment...

When you realize there is a hummingbird flying around the tree and you hold perfectly still in order to capture it, and you do!

Sometime I wonder how my photos would come out if I had a more professional camera. Then my realistic side speaks up and reminds me that those camera's are a lot heavier then what I have, but I sure do love the photos they create.

That Moment...

When each and every moment of any adventure along Our Journey Through LIFE is such a blessing and I just LOVE everything God puts in front of me. I LOVE the challenge of capturing them. Even my fails, though blurred, show moments that will never be forgotten.

TGIF!

It couldn't get here faster

I'm still catching up from our Vegas adventure. Finally got the trailer tucked back in her place last weekend. That always a sign that we have made progress. It's always the last thing that gets done, which means that trip is in the book.

The day we got home we celebrated the son-in-laws birthday. He is such a good man, and father, and son. He's the love of my daughters life. As much as we enjoyed spending his evening together, we were also ready to call it day.

I was so wiped out I completely forgot about my PT appointment. Which worked out great so I had the ability to have our regular Grandma Wednesday, which just so happened to included cake pops from Starbucks. Since we missed the week before, it was nice to spend some time with them.

The next day we had to go to Cibola National Wildlife Refuge for their monthly service. I was really looking forward to another trip through the blooming desert. I was not disappointed.

Besides getting the trailer put away over the weekend, I also worked on what photos I wanted to enter in the fair. Yep, I've been saying I wanted to do this every year when we are looking at all the entries. This is the year! It's such a BIG step for me. I'm really am excited to see how they do.

It took me a few trips to Walgreen's to pick up the photos. I had a few redo's to deal with which prompted hubby to suggest I have the Geek Squad out to see about getting the laser printer up and working. Great idea! Unfortunately there was nothing available before tomorrows turn in date. This will have to work this year.

I also made a trip to Michael's to see about matting them. What I was quoted for the 10 photos was more then I had figured. Especially since I had checked Amazon's prices before going. Needless to say with Amazon Prime I had them by yesterday and was able to get them all mounted myself. Saved myself $100 at the same time.

I know there are only 8 on the entry form and 7 in the photos above. Since I took those photos, I have finished 3 more and filled out a new entry form. I'm ready to deliver them tomorrow morning.

We'll have the 5 year old grandson with us tomorrow morning as well. After we are going out to the flea market to pick up some shade cloth to fix my RV carport. The wonderful winds we have had lately has wiped it off its mounts. Time to replace and add a section.

As if this wasn't enough to fill my week we  have yet another granddaughter who is celebrating her 13th Birthday today. However, it was her dad time this weekend, so my daughter planned a surprise party for her last night. It turned out great!

I picked up a "1" and a "3" last month to do a decoupage collage and then procrastinated the project till this week. I do that sometimes. Little did I know then that this week was going to fill up like it did. Anyhow, I think they turned out great. Another reason why I need my laser printer working. My daughter had to send what photos we wanted to use to Staples to be printed on a laser printer.

I was determined to get this post finished tonight and posted, and I think I have succeeded! It's all about goals, right!

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be a stopping by your place too. Have a great weekend!

Our Day Got Even Better!

After our awesome morning at Red Rock Canyon we headed back to make some lunch before going into the track for qualifying.

The Xfinity cars have been practicing all morning, along with the Monster Energy Cup cars. We caught some of it on the TV while having lunch. We decided to go in early and catch the last of it. Well, one thing lead to another, participating at some of vendor activities, souvenirs,and by the time we got to our seats they were finishing up.

We decided to check out how we are suppose to get over to the NEON Garage for the Kolbart Kampout with my chair and his scooter. Yes, hubby rented some wheels for the weekend. So glad he did. Our tickets said that the Kampout began after qualifying at 5:30-8:00 PM. Qualifying started at 4:30 and it was 4:00 when we decided to check it out. The people running the shuttles had already been taking handicap people over early. Wasn't expecting that.

AWESOME!

This is how we got to the infield. PIR has the same system, but Bob has been transporting me to the pits since 2005. Now we are at a track we haven't been to but that once. I walked down the escalators back in 2012 with the grandson, but there was no way I could manage that distance this weekend. I'm still in PT and still have limits that shouldn't be pushed. Not to mention for the umpteenth time hubby's hip.

Once in the infield we browsed around and watched the inspections.

 Checked out the garages from below and above. All the drivers were out and about doing their pre-qualifying stuff so the garages were kind of empty. When they are there, the window is really packed with people. We found the elevator to go over to the pits and checked out the garages from above too.

We could see how everyone else were getting over to pit road, but couldn't find a way for us. All it took was asking some questions to the right people and we were guided across the "HOT" area. This is the area for the cars, the drivers, owners and unless you have a special pass like them, you are not allowed to enter. Even if it was out one gate and through another, we were actually going to pit road to watch qualifying! I kept looking at passes to see if other Kampout ticket holders were there and nope, not that I saw.

We did see a lot of the drivers come out. Hubby was happy as he was parked in front of the mega TV, able to watch the track and get the running order at the same time. He's hoping that the upgrades PIR will be doing, will be like this. He would buy pit passes again if they do. I totally agree!

Then to top it off, when we went to leave, we were escorted right into Victory Lane to watch the Pole Award with Brad Keselowski.

Once the ceremony was over we headed over to the stage to see Danica Patrick. She is so cute. Jimmie Johnson was to come out next but we decided to start on our way out. Hubby's scooter's battery was really low. He wasn't sure if he would make it all the way back to the RV. I had a full charge still so I took off on my own while he hitched a ride. It was kind of cool to drive my chair through the tunnel! 

Talk about being in the right place at the right time and meeting the right people. It made for an extraordinarily, awesome adventure today! 

Our Adventure to Red Rock Canyon

Google map was right, it took us under 45 minutes to drive there. Once again highway construction is on our route but driving it early in the AM helped. Once all their highway construction gets done, getting around Vegas looks like it will be a breeze. Well maybe not all the time, but better then 4 lanes being restricted to 2 and sometimes 1 lane.

Once on the 159, it becomes a 2 lane road and all that traffic is non existent. 

The entrance gives a glimpse of what is ahead

 The view from the Visitor's Center

Unfortunately there was road construction within the park as well. Just our luck! Really, because of it there wasn't as many cars along the drive. It did block the entrance to some of the pull offs, but only a couple. There was other places you could stop to capture the views.

 These pictures were taken around the Calico I

and the Calico II area. The turn out, or pull offs had boards but we couldn't get to them.

I know this was the Sandstone Quarry area as we pulled into the parking area so I could get some pictures. Hubby wasn't feeling up to the walk so he parked while I checked it out. The board in front of this view described it as The Keystone Thrust, with Calico Hill on the right, Turtlehead Peak rising above it to the left, and the beginning of La Madera Mountain can be seen in the far left of my photo.

The trails around here look easy and something I believe I could have possibly done. I wished his hip wasn't bothering him so much.

I didn't notice it when I captured it but that looks like graffiti to me. That just bothers me that some can come to such a beautiful place and the deface it. Why?

 This is how the board described the area

After the quarry we winded up and around to the High Point Overlook.

After the overlook and a few turns down the road is the Ice Box Canyon.

Then onto the last stops for us, Red Rock Wash Overlook.

And the Red Rock Overlook

Through out the drive there are views everywhere. 360 degrees of beauty. I am so glad we took the time to explore off the track and the strip.

Another awesome adventure for Our Journey Through LIFE!