My First Photowalk..sort of

This week got away from me in a hurry!

I don't even know where Monday and Tuesday went, but Wednesday Clayton wanted to do some boat shopping in Beaumont.  I was glad because I really wanted to check out the places where Scott Kelby's photowalk group went last year there.  Out of all the years I've lived in this area, and all the times I've been to Beaumont, I've never even heard of the street where they took pictures.  I wanted to see the route and how long it was because I had it in my mind to host one myself in the near future.

After looking at some boats and drooling over a pontoon, we left and headed out to Crockett Street.  I must say I did great without the assistance of the gps.  When we got there... I. Fell. In. Love.  With just 5 buildings on that street, I found all sorts of things to take pictures of.  While Clayton and the two younger girls were eating, Morgan and I slipped out with cameras in hand.  We didn't go any further than those 5 buildings and got some pretty cool shots for the short amount of time we did it. 

Once the others were finished eating we headed over to Riverfront Park, only to find it was temporarily closed.  I was very disappointed.  I was so looking forward to taking pictures there.  There was no chance of Clayton walking, so we drove to it, but on the way, I saw even more things I wanted to snap!  I will be back.  Soon.

So, with that being said, I came home and started gathering information on photowalks.  I've started organizing one for Shreveport and one for here in our tiny little town within the next couple months.  Everyone so far is interested.  Oh, I also found a camera club in Beaumont.  Guess what?  The president of the club?  I so went to high school with him and he's on my facebook, so yeah.  ;)  I can't wait to join them!  They have a meeting two days out of the month with competitions and the like.  I am excited.

Here are just a few shots I grabbed the other day on our teeny little photowalk......

I can't wait to really be serious and see what I can find.

Therapeutic Photography

I need it.

I've been taking portraits and even though clients seem to love what they see, it's not soothing to me.  It's actually work and that's not what I want photography to be to me.  Not only that, but I really don't like my work in that area.  I need to get out and do what I love to do. 

I love taking pictures of various objects.  I once had this collection of pictures of doors, gates, etc., also abstract objects, macro, and other things I was going to catagorize and make photo books of each catagory.  I never did it.  I remember showing my mom the images and she sort of discouraged me by not paying attention to them and laughing at the ones she did actually look at.  She's a wonderful person, just not the greatest at encouragement.  Now that I'm becoming a stronger person annually, I don't allow little things like another person's lack of artistic inclination determine how I feel about my passion.

I can honestly say that on a daily basis, there is something I see that I really want to capture.  Most of the time, I just don't take that moment to stop and take out my camera.  There's an old church, (it may even be a barn), up on a hilltop in Louisiana that I have wanted to take a picture of since I was about 10 years old.  I've passed it only a thousand times and haven't snapped it yet.  I even had a "fender bender" years ago due to looking back at it as I was driving down the street.  Another example of that is an old rusty truck that sits next to the road under a flagpole about 15 miles from my house.  I've wanted to capture that so badly, but never have.  Now, the people who apparently own it have more smaller flags on either side of the truck, which to me, ruins the picture I want to take of it.  If only I had stopped long ago. *sigh*

So, what's my point?

I may not even have one.

Ok, I do.

I'm not one of those people who have the luxury of taking off alone for a weekend and doing whatever it is those people do.  I have my family who relies on me to stick around and not be gone for longer than 30 minutes at a time.  Ok, I exaggerate.  An hour at a time.  I'm thinking though, what I really want to do is start taking that time.  Maybe not a weekend, maybe not even a whole day.  Maybe, just maybe, I can squeeze in a few hours of alone time and just soak up some me time doing what I want to do.  Not grocery shopping.  Not paying bills.  Not running errands.  Just me time.  Away from the house.  Just my camera and me. 

Ahhh wouldn't it be nice?

So, I'm looking into things such as Scott Kelby's worldwide photo walks.  If you are wondering what that is, you can check it out here.  I wouldn't be alone on this type of thing, so to speak, but still sounds interesting to me.  I just hope they have one near me.  I know I saw they had one last year about an hour from me.  I wish I had known about it then. 

Another idea I have is to find a camera club nearby.  Who knows?  Maybe I can even start one.  Nah.  I'll find one.

I just really want to get out there and find that time for me, doing what I love.

My Prom Girls

Yes, Homeschool has prom too. :)

Here's a glimpse of my girls tonight. So beautiful, if I say so myself. God richly blessed me with girls even more beautiful on the inside than they are on the outside.

Emily, the Meteorologist

Emily's had a weather station/terrarium since Christmas and hasn't done anything with it until now. I ran across it today and with the weather being so nice, I figured it would be a good day.

Clayton did it all with her.  I just took the pictures.  I love sharing the kids.

Hmmm, I wonder where all this loose dirt came from? ;)

Setting everything up.

Showing Emily what all the gadgets are for.

Emily recording today's weather.



She's been outside every 10 minutes checking to see if there is any change. So far, the wind direction and speed is all.

Update

It's all finished!  The plumbing is great for the moment and I'm one happy camper.  Now that I have the whole scoop on what took two days to fix, I thought I'd share. 

We have a slab at the end of our house, the one you can see in the previous pictures with the deep hole.  It used to be a second kitchen in the house (don't know why).  Whoever built it, built it over a septic tank (don't know why).  Instead of bypassing the septic tank with pipe and using the sewer system, the water ran through the pipes, to the septic tank, out through more pipes and to the sewer.  It took a total of 2 minutes and very little pipe to bypass that.  The snake had gotten stuck in the septic tank, so they had to dig the hole in order to reach it under the slab.  So, that's what took so long.  Since it wasn't anyone's fault, we weren't charged.  $225 was our total bill which included the new line plus unclogging the line.  These plumbers WILL be called again for future use.

You just can't beat having honest hired help.

Standing on Holey Ground

Yes, I meant Holey, not Holy.

This was just yesterday.  They've dug more today.

Even the plumbers had a fit.  I'm not sure what all went on, but they were here all day yesterday and came back today.  They said the lines beat all they ever saw, that they forked off in all different directions.  They've had to dig to no end just to see what lines were being used.  I don't think they've even figured it out yet, but the lines are clear.  I'm just afraid they aren't exactly fixed because this has happened before and they cleared on their own.  For a while.  I don't want this coming back again.  Not for years anyway.

They had to go through the vent on the roof with the snake.  It got stuck.  It remained on my roof throughout the night and so far, it's still stuck at the moment.  They've fiddled with it but still aren't finding a solution as to how to get it out.

I'm thinking the entire system is going to have to eventually be redone one day.  In one spot where we can see, it's about an 8x4ft area and there are pipes in every direction.  I'm guessing this could be an issue with the thing getting backed up?  Too many curves in a confined area.  Who knows?  I'm not a plumber.  That's just my thoughts.

The original quote to snake the pipes was $125.  Not bad for all the problems.  I'm guessing after two days and counting, it's shot up well above that.  Ouch.

Full of Poo

Don't you just LOVE it when things seem to be completely perfect in your life and then BAM!!, you are hit with a load of junk.  Sometimes, it's to the point of thinking you will never see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Well, it's happened to me, but this isn't my first rodeo.  NOTICE:  This blog will NOT contain pictures.

Shortly after moving in to this house, we started smelling sewer gas, especially after a rain or being gone for several days at a time.  We have 3 bathrooms, and I did learn that the bathrooms have to be used or the water in the P traps will evaporate, causing the gases to escape.  So, I've made sure all bathrooms were being used equally, which with all of us in the house, that's not a problem.  At first, it seemed to help, but then the fumes got stronger, lingering longer, and before I knew it, nothing solved the problem. 

We have also had the worst problem with our toilets clogging up.  It seems like every other day we are plunging at least one of them, sometimes two.  It's the most annoying situation.  So, with all this, we know there is a plumbing problem somewhere.  Tonight, we found it.  At least we think we did.

Emily came in to tell me that when she flushed the toilet in Allison's and her bathroom, the tub was bubbling with water.  GREAT.  Well, I was busy so I told her I'd take care of it in a minute. A few hours later, I make a journey into the master bathroom, only to find dirty water in the shower stall.  WONDERFUL.  I plunged.  The drain cap came off with the pressure of more water flowing in.  With the cap came toilet paper and sewage.  Disgusting! 

So now, two toilets and two tubs/showers are filled with water and that yucky stuff.  Clayton and I then go for a search for our clean out. In. The. Dark.   I know I've seen them, now where are they?  We found only one and it was clear.    Luckily it's not extremely far from the house, so maybe this won't cost us an arm and a leg.  Roto Rooter doesn't serve our area which is too bad since they have 24/7 service.  We thought about staying in a motel for the night, but we roughed it out.  Things are slowly draining, but I'll still be making that phone call today to save us from drowning in our own sewer. 

On the bright side, I didn't have to do laundry or dishes tonight.

Can you imagine what my home smells like right now? Yeah, nasty.  Hopefully this is the problem we've had with the smell all this time, though.  I'm ready to get it all sucked out and am hoping it's just a clog, not a damaged pipe.  If it is damaged, I think I'll be the first in my neighborhood to request a 12 inch replacement.  That'll keep it clog free, surely.  ;)