By popular demand (ie: my MIL)

This isn’t much of a sky watch. but you CAN see the sky in the first photo!!

This was taken yesterday from our back yard. A Kookaburra stalking it’s unfortunate prey…a grasshopper!

Clicky Clicky!!

I was getting a little worried about the fate of my Sunday Sunset’s, seeing that the season’s are changing. But I think we’ll be right going in to winter. I can’t wait to show you Spring sunsets!

Tonight’s sunset deserved much more than just one photo. The sky was just full of colour and texture!! It was a pleasure to watch it going through the motions.

Click on image to see larger view.

Conversation between Tim and I the other night.

Tim: Hey, when did you put that up?

Me: Um, well. Let me see…when was that. Oh right. Two days after we moved in.

Tim: Oh. I knew that.

This is what he was referring to. Our friend Kelly from New York bought this for Jaxon’s first Christmas. And I put it up on the wall when we moved in here. The problem is, that it’s not like I put it up in a spare room, or in the bathroom or toilet that Tim doesn’t use.

That there is a photo of where it is in the house. That’s Jaxon’s open door. And the door to the right of it is where we have his change table set up. To the left of Jaxon’s door is the bathroom and toilet.

We put Jaxon to bed together every single night. We bath him together every single night. And he didn’t notice!

I know sun glare isn’t ideal in the opinion of many photographers. But I happen to really like it.

This is yesterdays sky. It was a lovely day!

Don’t forget to check out the other amazing skies from around the world on the following link! Don’t miss out!

Tim and I thought long and hard for weeks about whether or not we should go ahead and get Dookie.

Even once we got Dookie I was wondering if we’d done the wrong thing. Jaxon doesn’t exactly LIKE dogs. Not one’s that are bigger than Mexxi at any rate. And we all know that a full grown rat would out weigh Mexxi so that’s not exactly hard.

So for the first two weeks Jaxon completely ignored Dookie. Like he didn’t exist. If Dookie was around Jaxon would literally look the other way. If Dookie tried to catch his eye, he would walk the other way. It was quite funny to watch.

Then for the next two weeks, Dookie wanted nothing more than for Jaxon to be his friend. Still, Jaxon snobbed him on most occasions.

But now. Things are getting better. As long as Dookie does not lick Jaxon’s finger’s, lick Jaxon’s ears, lick Jaxon’s toes, lick Jaxon’s nose, take Jaxon’s Duck, take Jaxon’s dummy or sit too close to Jaxon while watching Deal or No Deal, everything is hunky dory.

Here’s proof!

Where Jaxon goes, Dookie follows…or is it where Dookie goes, Jaxon follows???

And this last photo is just for good measure. I don’t know what to make of that look!

A little while ago I ran across a blog that runs scavenger hunts on a regular basis. I decided that this time I would take part and hope that you’ll all go across to NicoleB’s blog and get involved too!

Here’s the list of thing’s I’ll be hunting down. But remember to take part you must go to the site and reply to the thread with “I take part”

1) a souvenir

2) a fish

3) a religious building

4) a fire department

5) a manhole cover

6) a postcard

7) water

8) a communication device

9) a Life event

10) a foreign stamp

11) a tree

12) the living space of a non-human

13) a street mirror

14) a decoration fixed on a house

15) a foreign flag

16) a fire

17) an antenna

18) a phone booth

19) a “verboten” sign

20) a beach

21) a cityscape

22) something goofy

23) something carved

24) an eye

25) something rural

The hunt ends and judging starts on the 31st of May 2009 so you have PLENTY of time to find your items!

Look forward to seeing everyone’s entries!

I will admit that occasionally we use photoshop to enhance our photo’s. But sometime’s they just don’t need it.

MB asked if my last Sky Watch photo had been touched up and the answer is no.

Here is the first line of photo’s I took that night. Unedited. With their camera setting’s to show you how the camera can change the way something is percieved. Those settings may mean nothing to you, and to be honest half the time they mean nothing to me. We’re still in the trial and error stage of using the settings.

You can see there is only about 10 seconds between photo’s. But that the setting’s changed on the camera change the picture dramatically.

The photo above is likely to be the closest to representing what I was actually seeing.

So there you go. Sometimes yes, but this time, NO.

I think I’ve mentioned a few times that Jaxon can now open all of the doors in the house all by himself.  Well this is what happens when Mummy is sleeping and Jaxon is not (of course by that I mean that he woke up from his nap and didn’t wake me from mine!)

Last night, he fed Dude a FULL box of cat food!! Dude wont be catchin any mice for us for a while.

I hope you’re all checking out the other skies world wide. Totally worth your Friday afternoon!!

Click the link below!!!

Here’s one I am incredibly proud of. I “scouted” this “shoot” on the way to Jaxon’s school…on school holidays. When I got there I was the first one there. My internal dialogue “Yay…I’m the first one here….um, where is everyone??” Duh! So Jaxon got very very upset with me when we didn’t stop the car and didn’t walk in and was crying a bit. We first drove a bit around town looking for a good location for these photo’s and then went to the park.

I’ve been quite a few times to this spot this week. This was my first night. Over the weeks I will show you more. And perhaps show you the progression through 5.20pm to 5.45pm when the sun sets.

This was our morning sky (6.45am). The fog was so thick, the photo does it no justice!

Don’t forget to check out the other wonderful skies from around the world at…

Dookie and I had a snuggle on the couch this afternoon while Jaxon had a nap. When I got up and moved he made himself right at home.

Such a good puppy!

It’s a pity about the power line’s. This is right outside our front door.

Don’t forget to check out the other beautiful skies from around the world at…

Don’t forget to check out the other amazing sky’s from around the world at Sky Watch Friday!!

NEVER

EAT

SEA

WEED

And though this photo looks like my lens may have been dirty, it was in fact driving through “weed”. It was an amazing sun shower.

And in other news

…my Mummy’s going to kill me…but my Daddy understands

Meet, Dookie

Dookie is a 6 week old Staffy. He’s proof that being generous with your old baby stuff to friends who are going to breed their dog one day, pays off.

Mouse number 8!!

As you can see, he didn’t stand a chance!

Tim and I went to Bunnings (hardware store) today to get some mouse traps. Apparently the town is in the “grip of a mouse plague”

Now my Grandma, Jaxon’s great grandma…lived through a mouse plague and I image it was a LOT worse than this. You’ve probably all seen that video footage of million’s of mice just moving in one big lump across the ground? That’s what I image Grandma saw. That’s why, I image, she didn’t like to hear about my mouse breeding tales.

There wasn’t a single trap there, having all been sold in the last week. Only poison. And we can’t use poison with dogs and cats and kids in the house.

Tonight we’ll lay our own trap. A bowl of liquid malt. I’ve told Tim that I’m certain we’ll have caught our first mouse before we go to bed.

Dude, for now…is safe as can be living here.

Something weird happened here on Saturday night. Something that has never ever happened before.

Since moving to Queensland nearly 5 years ago, I don’t think either Tim nor I have ever seen a mouse.

But while visiting friends for a BBQ, we saw our first one. They stomped it and fed it to the dog and we thought nothing more of it.

Until, while I was changing Jaxon for bed, I heard “Um, Boo” from Tim in Jaxon’s room.

And there, sitting on one of his spare ducks…was a mouse. It just sat and stared at him like it was totally normal for it to be sitting there ready to go to bed.

Since Dude is ALWAYS here for bed time I picked him up…pointed out the mouse and within 30 seconds Dude had it in his jaws and was taking it outside to play.

Once again, feeling safe in the knowledge that we had only ever seen two mice in Queensland…we thought nothing of it.

Until the next night. When, while I was reading in the silence of the night…I heard noises. Coming from our walk in wardrobe. Scratchy noises. Noises that once upon I time I was very familiar with (breeding mice does that to you)

So I got up, took Dude’s bell’s off and let him loose in the house for the first time since we moved here. Dude never gets to be out at night. He is always locked away where he can’t annoy us by climbing windows to get out, meowing to get back in or…sleeping on the bed. He is after all, a very large and bulky kind of cat.

Some background to this part of the story is that since moving from our old place to this place, Dude has been walking on very thin ice. I love having a cat. But Dude was pushing button’s and doing things that I was not willing to live with for overly long.

The first thing we noticed was that if he was inside he wanted to be outside. So we would let him out and then he would do this little about face thing and want to be inside. But he wouldn’t just meow, he would climb the doors and windows. Sometimes he would ask to be out at the front door, would walk around the house and then climb the back door to be let back in.

He had once been a very tranquil cat. And Jaxon’s friend. But when we moved here (and perhaps that we lost Oscar) he started attacking. He would strike without warning as you walked past him. And he would get you good. On Christmas Eve he jumped up from behind the couch and scratched Jaxon so close to his eye that he nearly didn’t get to see the night through.

But I persisted. Thinking that there must be a reason for the mood swings. We got him to the vet and cleared up a urinary tract infection and we installed a cat door for him to get away from Jaxon if he needed. This seems to have done the trick, though he still nibbles my toes occasionally.

But, back to the story. I just wanted to tell you how close to being shafted Dude was!

So the next morning we all woke up. Same old same old. Except for the blood bath all over the kitchen floor. Clearly Dude had caught his fair share of mice for the night.

Good Dude!

It continues still. There was two mice that Dude was teasing last night. They had climbed up the brick wall and were trapped so Dude just sat there. Biding his time. And he got them.

Then this morning, Tim found yet another mouse in our spare room, once again sitting there like nothing was out of place. But once I set Dude on him he didn’t stand a chance.

I don’t know what’s going on. This afternoon when Jaxon and I went out for a drive, a mouse jumped out from under our car and dashed as fast as he could back to the garage. And then when we got back Dude once again saved the day by catching and killing a mouse out near the BBQ.

I’ve never really been happy about cat’s without bell’s on. And Dude sure does sneak up on you when you can’t hear him coming. But until this mouse thing passes, Dude will have free range of the house at night, and no more bell’s!

Dude rocks!

As you can see there are some pretty drastic changes around here at the moment.

I don’t like them. I like my old theme but when I tried to re-insert my photo album something else went wrong and it’s all a bit beyond my knowledge.

So just give me a few days to sort this crap out.

Hopefully I will like the new look as much as I like the old look.

A little delayed since we reformatted my computer last night. But we’re back!

This morning as Jaxon and I ate our rice bubbles, something a little unexpected joined us.

As I looked down at the floor, unaware that Dude was behind me…a lizard casually skittled by my foot.

Now I am not squirmish. But not expecting to see a lizard walk past my foot IN the house…I jumped a mile.

And then grabbed the camera.

If you look very closely at the first photo you can see where the lizard (or skink, or whatever he was) was starting to part with his tail. Dude tried to use him as a play thing for two minutes while I took a couple “happy snaps” and the tail stayed on. But wouldn’t you know, the moment I picked him up to save him from Dude, the stupid thing dropped his tail right there in my hands!

AND!! Oh my! Someone knocked on the door. So there I was, holding half of a lizard and the wiggling decoy tail!!

I am pleased to say that my lizard friend was successfully released back in to the wild, safe from (any more) harm!

Unfortunately, this photo is not a sunset photo like I would normally post.

It is in fact, a sunrise photo.

A power line just up from our house got struck by lightning a couple weeks ago and broke this morning at 5.30am. It also happened that Jaxon woke up at 5.30am this morning too. And that NEVER happens. Jaxon has learnt well from his mother and father to appreciate a good sleep in.

But today, he has a very bad cold and I guess when his humidifier stopped working he stopped being able to breath and that was the end of sleep until 2pm!

That field normally has cows in it. I wish they’d been there this morning for this photo.

Don’t forget you can check out hundreds of other sky’s from around the world by clicking on the following link!

It’s tough being here where we are away from family. But I don’t notice it as much as I do when Jaxon is naughty.

He’s a really good kid. But on those odd occasion’s when he does something and I must in turn punish him, I really just wish I had someone to back me up. Someone to be in my ear saying “Great job Boo! That is exactly what I would have done in that situation”

I’m sick of second guessing myself. Sick of wondering if situation’s were dealt with the correct way and if the outcome I want from my punishment’s and verbal commands is going to happen. Tired of constantly wondering if someone else was Jaxon’s mother, would he not have done that. Would he have learnt that quicker. Would it be the same.

I just wish sometimes that I was living much closer to family. So that I could get to see how it get’s done in other house holds. Because I have no one to learn from here. It’s all trial and error for Tim and I. And what if the way we deal with thing’s is “wrong” or isn’t going to teach Jaxon the things we’re trying to teach him.

You’re probably all thinking I’ve joined some other little click where I take photo’s of the morning moon but this post has nothing what so ever to do with THE moon.

More to do with our bedroom window at 6am in the morning.

The story goes a bit like this.

Our bedroom looks out over a fairly main road. The window’s are tinted and during the day I knew that you couldn’t see through them. So if by chance I was laying there naked while a friend drove by I knew that she couldn’t see me.

But a few weeks ago that same friend came in to let me know that while yes, during the day you can’t see through the window’s…the same can’t be said at 6am when the morning sun hits my naked white ass.

So on Friday Tim put in a garden bed for me. He’s never done anything like this before and I was pleased that by the end of it he said he was ENJOYING himself.

Council worker's mate, what can I say?

I don't care whose fault it is mate, I want it fixed and I want it fixed NOW!

Here you go. Have a cold one on me!

Jaxon is a bit funny about getting his hands dirty. He wont even finger paint at school. So this was about as close to the dirt as he got. At one point he even patted Dad on the back to tell him he was doing a good job and then walked off.

There are 6 viburnum (my all time favorite!) and 2 gardenia’s there. They wont do much for “moon cover” this year but we hope they will be great for next year. So I can continue to sleep naked with the window’s wide open (hence why we can’t just close the blinds)

Someone sent me a link to Sky Watch Friday.

I’ve decided I will join in. I don’t know if this means my Sunday Sunset’s will go. I think I’ll keep them too.

Here’s my very first entry.

This photo was clearly taken at the local cemetery. We decided to go hang around there for the sunset and got some pretty good shots, which I’ll be adding to the photo album shortly.

Don’t forget you can check out heaps of other sky’s from around the world by following the link below.

I don’t know what else to call this post. It will be a short and sweet one anyway.

It annoys the hell out of me that some woman do pregnancy tests fearing that they will be pregnant. Sitting there waiting to find out if their life is going to be ruined because a baby with so an so not father material would just totally suck at that point in their lives.

And the woman who have unsafe sex and then abortion’s like it’s nothing to be blessed with being able to fall pregnant and make a new life without a second thought.

And then me. Sitting here wanting nothing more than to see two line’s on a pee stick…having my heart ripped out day after day because it never happens. Not that it wont happen. But why can’t it just be easier?

Daddy’s going to kill me for this post. But I did make him an author here so really he could just defend himself whenever he likes.

Tim’s a clumsy sort of man. If anyone is going to hurt themselves in this household…it’s Tim.

And it seems that part of him has passed on to Jaxon.

Tonight he was walking through the back door, tripped and fell face first on to the metal rail that the sliding door runs along.

It was a BIG ouchy. Jaxon has his first fat lip…and though the photo’s don’t show it at all, he also had a bump on his forehead.

So by now everyone should know that I am trying very hard to build up a photography business. So far I have no formal training, though hopefully next month a local tafe will be holding a course that I hope to get accepted in to.

But this has nothing to do with that. Or sort of.

This past weekend I went to a friends basketball preliminaries, semifinal’s and championships. My FIL gave me a really good book on the steps you should take towards running a photography business and I’m pretty sure that the very first step in that book is “Be organized”

Which is why at 3am on Saturday morning Tim and I were up making make shift business cards. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if we had decided on the business name. But we haven’t. We put on the card JP Photography. But that’s definitely not what I want the business to be called.

So I need your help. I KNOW I’ve put this call out in various places all over the net but nothing has jumped out at us and slapped us in the face.

We don’t want it to be cute. Because I’m not really one of those cute people. I don’t do cute. I don’t have the light and bubbly personality that screams cute at anyone.

I guess I could go funky. Though maybe I’m too old these days to be funky. And I certainly am not the fashionable funky down with it kind of girl. So maybe not. But you could try.

Someone on one of my forums (ok…THE forum) suggested Above Parr and to be honest I love it. But it brings to mind sports photography and I don’t want to be associated with that and that alone. It also happens to be a sporting term and being above par in a game of golf is not actually a good thing.

To be honest I am not sure I want to use my name at all. Or my initials. JTP photography has a nice ring to it but it just doesn’t click. I don’t like it THAT much.

And then of course I know it would be somewhat unprofessional of me to use my nickname on my business card. But using my real name doesn’t sit well with me. The business cards we handed out on the weekend had my real name on them, but then everyone was getting told to come and see Boo. So the name could contain the word Boo. I’m even considering putting it on the card instead of my name. To save the confusion which is awkward for everyone.

Boo’n'You Photo’s was one idea I had. But I don’t know if I like it enough. You’n'Boo even. Peek A Boo makes me think it’s children’s photography and like I said with the sports, I do not want to be associated with a certain type of photography and miss out on other opportunities.

So. Any idea’s?? I’d really like to have this name out soon. So I can get proper cards made up before I get another job to do.

Everyone would know that I just did some photo’s for our local basket ball team. I was really nervous about it. But it was all good and though I was scared I wouldn’t get any photo’s worthy of someone’s wall I was surprised to see I got quite a few. I took nearly 6000 photo’s over two days. Tim even came to help me for a couple hours.

It was heaps of fun and I hope I get to do it again next year! The testosterone in that gym was amazing. Ooopps. Did I say that out loud? I even got my boobs signed! (no, I didn’t…but that’s another story. That I wont put here until I tell Tim all about it [insert cheeky grin here]..disclaimer…it was Nic’s idea Tim!)

I’ve had to add photo’s in two lots. Not for any technical reason but because I have OCD and if I add the portrait photo’s and the landscape photo’s in the same gallery then it looks odd. This way, pleases me more

Consider this one BIG post. I would love to hear your feed back!!

Well tonight’s sunset sort of missed out. We had an awesome electrical storm go by. I have video of that that I’ll edit and upload soon. Here’s the “sunset”

Tomorrow I’ll share photo’s from the basketball preliminaries and championships. As well as what we did while the “sunset” happened tonight

I just wanted to put here that one of my oldest oldest OLDEST friends just found me on facebook and I am thrilled.

Kelly and I lived in the same block as kids. Her Mum babysat me as a really young kid. I think I was two or three. Maybe even younger. Our Mum’s met in hospital or something like that.

We ate cut fruit under the trampoline. We had sleepover’s. We danced naked under the sprinkler. We fought over who got to be in the pram after a long day of walking.

We were on again off again friends. And I probably wasn’t the friend that I should have been through some of those crucial life moments, like the death of Kelly’s Dad.

In the end we just fizzled out. Kelly moved away and we kept in contact for a year or so and then, nothing.

But she was at my brother’s funeral. And I clearly remember the hug she gave me and the words she said to me as Terry was lowered in to the ground. Even though it was three or so years since we’d seen each other. Her heart is massive.

I regret sometimes the way our friendship travelled. Maybe because I am older and wiser now, but I don’t think I gave all I could have given. I don’t think I accepted the friendship or our differences. Maybe I was even a bully. I don’t know.

But I am happy that she has reached out to me. Perhaps I can mend some of those broken heart moments that surely could have been dealt with differently.

I am sitting here on Saturday morning and I am 100% freaking out!

Tim and I have a friend, who coaches the local basketball team. Today is their championship match and everyone will be there and he asked ME to take photo’s. To document this moment for him.

Why do I feel like a fool? A fake? Why am I sitting here worried that I will fuck up that moment and get no good photo’s for him and his team?

I am so nervous that my entire body feels like it might just collapse right here on the spot. My finger’s are tingling, my legs are shaking. I’m sweating and I can barely breath.

The last two months I’ve been sitting here and waiting for an opportunity like this to present itself. And now that it’s actually here…I think I might send Tim along.

I often lay in bed thinking about all the things I need to write. But not wanting to get up and actually do it, it often doesn’t get said. So this is a rare moment. I’m awake. I have something to write about.

I’m watching So you Think You can Dance (or SYTYCD…like that made it easier to say right!?) I’m big on all of those kinds of shows. I don’t know why. I do know it started with the very first Australian Big brother, way back in 2001. Back then though, I was very very depressed. And living with my Dad. I hadn’t left the house or got out of bed for days and I was very alone. And Big Brother got me out somehow.

That’s besides the point though.

Years ago there was a singing contest show thing for girls…to start a girl band called Bardot. I think I was about 21-22 years old.

I remember watching that thing hoping that I would see someone I knew make an idiot of themselves in the trials. I DID. She sucked. Big time. I can say that without feeling too bad about it. She was the one girl in school that knew how to push all my buttons. You can find out more about her in this post…she was the absolute leader of the pack.

Anyway, getting right to the point. I’ve just had an epiphany. A light bulb moment.

I keep watching these shows hoping that I might see someone I know make a dick of themselves in front of the nation.

But I’m THIRTY ONE YEARS OLD. And “they” are 31 years old…and getting far too old to even cut it in the world of SYTYCD and Australian Idol.

I guess then, I have no more real reason to watch those shows?

We are lucky that we have a friend who owns working horses and he was nice enough to let us go and take a squiz. Notice that Jaxon’s body is almost as big as a Clydesdale’s head!

Todays sunset wasn’t taken from the back yard…I am proud to say! There are more photo’s of where we took them in the photo album…here.

Here’s a small preview!

It was a day like any other day. Sunday. And Tim and I are smack bang in the middle of (possible) ovulation.

That there my friends, should give you enough warning. Too much information…coming your way.

Still with me? You sick freak!

We’ve never done this. Well. I lie. The first time we did this…we got busted. By Tim’s parents. They may not have known it at the time, though I suspect that my bright red embarrassed face might have given it away. And if they really didn’t know, they do now.

I am of course talking about DAY TIME sex.

Jaxon’s not well. So he was happy as Larry watching kids TV and snuggled on the couch with his ducky. He hadn’t moved for at least half an hour…so we thought perhaps we were safe.

We were wrong. Very VERY wrong.

The deed was done. But the act was not over. There was still the obligatory “hug” at the end. Where no one has moved and everything is still in position. If you get my drift.

Time stood still for what seemed like forever, when Tim and I heard a very faint but distinctive “click” behind us from our bedroom door. Neither of us would dare move. Everything, was out in the open.

And then, “Hi”

And Oh. My. God. The Laughter!!!

Neither Tim or I moved. Because Jaxon just walked right on by the cat playing with the fiddle and proceeded to climb up on the bed to play.

If I should happen to get pregnant this cycle…imagine the story we’ll be able to tell our kids! The punch line will be “Jaxon didn’t see it coming, but he sure came close”