The challenge this week at i ♥ faces is Hilarious Outakes! So, I immediately thought about some photos I recently took at the state qualifying speech and debate tournament. This is my favorite picture - not just because of my daughter's expression and her friend's laughter, but because of all the things going on in the background. So typical speech and debaters - lol! These three are always good for a laugh! I never know what my pictures are going to look like when they are involved - lol! They always make my day! Doing their "Barbaloot" impersonation from Dr. Seuss :). . . . . . . .as well as their "hummingfish" impersonation :). One thing you see a lot of at speech tournaments is students standing in the hallways talking to the walls - lol! It's a given! Here Kali is practicing her speech -- to the wall -- and totally oblivious to everyone, and everything, around her. Typical speech and debate behaviour! And some serious hilarious outake opportunities! To check out a whole lot of other shots, visit i ♥ faces by clicking here.
I got a new baby this week. Here you see Gus checking out the trailer. He knows something is in there, you just can't see it through the windows. (That shadow - is Mark and Rascal.) And here she is. Luna is a miniature donkey. She's 15 weeks old and about 27 inches tall. Short enough that she can walk under the horse divider in our trailer :). Rascal was really curious. All the horses were, but Rascal more than the others. You can really tell a bit of the size difference here. Mark is taking Luna into the field with the other minis. We put her in with Mona and Hershey. Mona was fine with Luna, but Hershey took off running to start with. Luna immediately took to Mona. She wanted to nurse. She followed Mona around in circles trying to convince her - lol! Isn't she beautiful? Mona was like, "can I just get a break already?!?" And Rascal kept thinking he was her momma. He's always been protective of the mini-donkeys. The donkeys do have some good sized ears on them - lol! This is our neighbor. She loves our animals as much as we do! Apparently Luna loves her, too, because she gave us such a big smile :)!
An elderly couple walked into the lobby of the Mayo Clinic for a checkup and spotted a piano. They've been married for 62 years and he'll be 90 this year. Check out this impromptu performance. We are only as old as we feel, it's all attitude. Enjoy! They certainly do!
This is where Luna came from. We went out to visit two days ago. We went to meet Luna and see if we wanted her (what's not to want? she's beautiful! and sweet!) and were happily surprised with all the animals Judy and Helmet have. They were everywhere - literally! Gorgeous birds. Many, many birds. So many varieties :). I had never seen a white peacock before. I didn't know there were such things as white peacocks! And this is Smokey. Beautiful and soft and loves to be rubbed! There were two miniature donkeys that I looked at. (Neither are in this photo.) Their moms are in this picture, as well as a tiny little jack. (For you non-donkey folks that's a male donkey.) And a beautiful pony that belongs to the granddaughters :). Kali took this picture. I think that's the little jack off to the left-hand side of the picture by himself. She also got this shot. I think it's the best she's taken so far! Who wouldn't love this face?!? We call him a mashed-potato dog, because he's so fluffy and white! I can't recall his breed name, but he is a guard dog for the other animals. I think this particular one is a pet during the day, and by night he roams and protects the horses and other animals at HL Quarter Horses. Scary looking, no? This is what he really looks like :). He was my buddy there. He'll walk up, put a paw on your leg, and wait until you start petting him. If you stop before he's finished, he'll stick that paw back on your leg again - lol! I just liked this angle on the shot - those are some pretty impressive horns! Kali took these last 3 shots. This is Patches - she was Kali's buddy on this trip :). That would be a miniature donkey eye close-up shot! One of my favorite shots to take :). And this beautiful peacock just roams around the property. Kali got a great picture of him.
These are just some of the many animals at HL Quarter Horses. Obviously, you can tell from their name that there are horses there - a bunch of them. Quarter horses and show horses. It started storming though, so we didn't really get any good pictures of them. They also raise miniature cows with horns - they are called zebus and are sooo cute. Tiny and gray with pointy little horns! Sweet! I hope to go back one day and take some real photos at HL Quarter Horses, that would be a great way to spend a morning or an afternoon. I'd love it!
Here is the only shot I got of my new baby miniature donkey Luna. She was a little skittish because of the lightning and the pouring rain on the tin roof :). We will bring her home tomorrow. I believe her owner said she is 25 inches tall. Luna is 15 weeks old. I will try to post some better photos of her tomorrow :). I can't wait to get her home and let her meet allllll the other animals :).
The i ♥ faces' challenge this week is hands-on-fun. I love baby hands, especially when they are paired with the mom's hand! I edited this one to be hazy-looking to give a feeling of dreaminess. The mom loved how it turned out! and hopefully so will the judges this week - lol! To check out all the other hand shots, head on over to i ♥ faces!
Now let's talk planes. Actually, let's talk planes that flew in World War II for the United States. These have been renovated and prettied up with shiny new paint - but they all flew in WWII. The Stearman Bi-Plane. I've actually flown in one of these in Jacksonville at Herlong Field - a loooong time ago. We toured the parking lot, did a little loop-de-loop stuff and puked in a paper sack. Yeah, that was a load of fun! Well, I didn't actually puke in a paper sack, but I was as close as you could get without actually doing it - lol! Beautiful detail work. This particular aircraft is the Vanguard, a US Navy fighting chopper. I'm sure it has an official name, but there wasn't a display board with it. Sorry. The Vanguard specialized in being big and scarey looking. Powerful! It could hold a lot of equipment and a lot of soldiers. I guess this "Beware of Blast" has more to do with the "Jet Intake" stuff than it does actual guns and shooting. This is a P-51C Mustang. I believe those are little guns sticking out along the nose-side. The P-51C Mustang was built in 1940. Of all the ones used in WWII, the Betty Jane is the only one still in existence. Dwight Eisenhower rode in one of these Mustangs over the beaches of Normandy after the invasion on D-Day. Notice the swastikas over the wing. The B-24J Liberator. The Witchcraft - notice the "bombs" painted on the side of the nose. The Liberator was built in 1944. It carried a crew of ten soldiers and was armed with ten .50 cal. machine guns. Here's a shot of the rear guns. The B-17G, also known as the Flying Fortress, was built in 1945. This particular one was used to test the effects of three nuclear explosions. Plenty of firepower on this craft! There's another gunport. I don't know anything about this plane, except it flew in while I was there and was on display. US Air Force. No display board with this one either. It reminded me of M*A*S*H for some reason :). That's a big gun! I liked the way this shot turned out. Stilled blades on top and in the tail. Cool!
If you get the opportunity to check out the Wings of Dreams/Wings of Freedom Air Show - by all means go! You'll get a rich history lesson for WWII. Not only the aircraft and ground vehicles and soldiers, but there were also tents set up with displays from that time frame.
I am so thankful for all the military men and women that protect our country. And so thankful for their families that make the sacrifice to allow that to be. If you ever get an email from me you will notice my signature also carries a thank you salute to the military. I grew up a military-kid. Career Navy family. "God bless the USA" means something to me. Maybe more so than to others, but I was raised that way and it's what I still believe. The Wings of Freedom really brought that home to me.Please visit them if you get the chance!
