Our cat, Esme, hurt her paw a couple of days ago. We aren’t sure what happened, but she’s been limping and favoring her right paw. I’m taking her to the vet tomorrow to figure out what’s wrong. In the meantime, I can’t help but spoil her. Yogurt is her favorite treat!
This weekend Jerod and I went on a mission trip to Joplin, Mo. to help with tornado cleanup. I hope these photos give you a glimpse of what a tornado can do. I have seen so many tornado destruction pictures in my lifetime, but none of them prepared me for how it looked in person. I know these photos don’t even begin to show the trauma these people went through. Yet talking to the Joplin residents, it’s amazing to see how resilient and grateful they all are. The rest of my photos are posted on facebook.
When I got to work yesterday morning, I found this box of chocolates waiting for me at my door. So what if it was accompanied by a long list of edits to the 30-page program I’m working on with the coworker? Whether it was a bribe or not, the chocolate was definitely appreciated later in the day.
As far as weather goes, yesterday couldn’t have been any more perfect. It started off with a gorgeous sunrise, followed by a sunny day in the low 80s. That’s what I call perfection!
Here in the Midwest, we’re finally getting some relief from about a month of 90-100+ degree temps. With the lower temperatures, naturally, comes storms. Unfortunately damage was done to some homes in the area, but our apartment complex didn’t suffer any damage besides this fallen tree.
Yesterday I helped out with a photography project for the upcoming Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event in Kansas City. One of my coworkers brought her adorable daughters to work for a mini photo shoot. I pray that my job at the American Cancer Society will eventually lead us to a world where these girls will never have to worry about cancer.
This weekend left no room for sleep. Friday night, despite all of Jerod’s homework, we made time to go to the {free!} Gladstone, Mo. Theatre in the Park to watch Thoroughly Modern Millie. We had never seen that show before, or been to the Gladstone amphitheater, so it was a fun new experience. Jerod had to work Saturday morning at 6 a.m., and I got up shortly after him to get stuff done around the house. When I woke up, I saw just one baby barn swallow left on our patio. He flew away later that morning. I hope the little guys are doing ok out on their own now. Later in the day we drove down to my parents’ to stay with them for a night. Sunday morning we were up at 5:30 for the Cider Mill Century bicycle ride. Since we’ve been training for runs lately, this is probably the only organized bike ride we’ll do all season. We averaged about 14.5 mph for 50 miles, which wasn’t too bad considering our lack of time on the bike this summer.
I learned about this zoom photography effect on digital-photography-school.com yesterday, so I thought I’d try it out. It’s all done on camera, not in Photoshop. What do you think?
When I left for work yesterday morning, I was a little worried about Nemo, the aptly named runt of the baby barn swallows living on our patio. He had managed to get out of the nest and was lying on the concrete. I put him back in the nest with the others, but he was having trouble even standing. I hoped he was just “playing dead.” But when I returned that evening, I could tell immediately that he hadn’t survived the day. I don’t know if he was injured from falling out of the nest, or if he was just too small, and mama bird only fed the stronger ones. Either way, I felt horrible. When I removed his body from the nest, the strongest baby – the one that flew into the pond – flew off. His mom followed him, so I hope he was strong enough to survive on his own. The fifth bird was nowhere to be found. After having a proper burial (hey, I even buried my pet fish as a child), we found the missing baby bird laying dead just off the edge of the patio. He must have died a day or two before without us realizing it. The two that remain in the nest are getting stronger and stronger, and I bet they’ll fly off soon. I guess 3 out of 5 is pretty good odds in nature, but I still wish I could have saved them all.
Photographic Rhodes 