Fall Foto Fun!

Hi again, Everyone!

Thanks so much to ALL of you who participated and voted in the final poll in the Fall Foto Contest! I guess this is a good time to bring the contest to a close, anyway, since it's not exactly fall anymore! Now it is winter all around us, and cold weather has set in for sure. This past week we have gotten a record 15 votes! Again, thanks to everyone.

The winner in this contest took the world by storm, as it (shown above) took 11 out of the afore mentioned 15 votes. Photo #3 (the flower) had 3 votes and Photo #1 (Alison by her slide) took 1 vote.

Congratulations to My Wonderful Mother for taking this winning person/animal shot!

On a different note, since I have been lazy in posting just plain fall photos (not for the contest), here are some "Fun Fall Fotos" I have taken this past month. You will notice the lack of captions, however I feel that they are pretty self-explanatory.

~Photobug

^^(above) Mom's favorite shot out of all in this photo shoot. Really, it was very easy to get these pictures-rake up some leaves, tell your sister to play, and shoot some pictures!

^^Our family "portrait" Mother-Nature made. (add in a tripod, camera, and a few smiling faces, and you get the photo above!)

11 Years of Woofer Wisdom & Wonderfulness

Well, today my absolutely wonderful service dog Lauren turns 11 years old.

She was born this day in 1997, then trained for two years to become my service dog. For most of her training she was with two wonderful people called "puppy raisers" who fed, potty-trained, and taught basic commands (all out of their own pocket!!) to her before turning her into to CCI (Canine Companions for Independence) "College". Really called Advanced Training where professional trainers who taught Lauren to (if need be) pull a wheelchair, flip a light switch, and open and close doors-including the refrigerator! We still keep in contact with Lauren's puppy raisers. They are the sweetest people!

To these people, and the Lauren's Advanced Training trainers I am eternally grateful for. Really, my handicap (my right side is weaker than my left because of a pre-birth stroke) is a blessing in disguise. I have my wonderful service dog Lauren of 9 years which has, even though not in a wheelchair, helped me tremendously. Instead of being "that strange kid with a brace" I am "that cool kid who gets to take his dog everywhere!"

Especially when I was younger, I had a high chance of falling over anything. So therefore, I didn't want to go anywhere, even my own backyard. (I got Lauren when I lived in California for 7 years as well, though CA is pre-Texas!) But with Lauren, I HAD to go outside and besides the good fresh air, I had a companion now. I also would trip all the time over mats stores would place in front of their doors. With a handle placed on Lauren's cape, I wouldn't trip nearly as much. That dog has saved me from many a fall! As I put it, Lauren "is like a cane, but of course you can't pet a cane!"

Even in my older age-(yes, I'm getting old too-I got Lauren when I was 6!) she is still a valued companion and friend. Even though my balance is better, and I'm not afraid of going outside anymore, Lauren is still a most valued asset. When our family is merely on vacation, or moving to a new location, Lauren is a HUGE social breaker. When we're at church, (yes, I take her there too. She can go anywhere her master needs to go.) I stand out and am easily remembered. This helped tremendously when I was younger (as mentioned previously). Kids were still attracted to me, but now for a positive reason, instead of a negative one!

And so in closing, Lauren has arguably been one of the most (if not THE most) positive change in my life. And even at 11 years, I hope to have her for many more.

~Photobug

P.S.-If you would like to learn more about the wonderful organization that trained Lauren, check out this website: http://www.cci.org/

The Grand Finale

At last, the time has come! You, my faithful blog readers have voted your 4 favorite photos out of the 18 pictures to choose from. Good job! Now is the time to vote for your all-time favorite-and the photo you choose will be the winner of the Fall Foto Contest!

Before I show you the 4 final photo contestants, I must make a few comments on the previous poll. Even though I was disappointed by the record-low number of votes (6), You definitely had a strong choice. Photo #5, the photo my mother took of my sister holding a butterfly-to be plain, stole the show! Out of the 6 votes, 5 were for Photo #5! (see winner pic. above).

Anyway, good job! Below are the 4 final pictures. As always, the poll is in the sidebar.

Photobug

^^Category #1 (People) finalist. A picture I took of my sister Alison, by her slide. Photo #1^^A picture of a stream my grandfather in Michigan took. Category #2 (Scenery) finalist. Photo #2

^^ A picture I took of some bleeding hearts in my (Michigan) grandmother's garden this summer. Category #3 (Flower) finalist. Photo #3

^^A picture my mother took of my sister holding a black-swallowtail butterfly. Category #4 (Butterflies) finalist. Photo #4

The Most Beautiful Blossom Wins

Welcome back to the Fall Foto Contest! Thank-you to everyone who voted in this past "Flowers" poll. This has been a very exciting poll as the winning photo (above) has risen, fell, and again rose in votes. The above photo (#4) got 5 votes, while Photo #1 got second place of 4 votes. Good job, thank-you so much for the record 12 votes this poll got. (By the way-did anybody double-vote??)


Before I introduce the next set of photos, I want to tell you about some new additions on this blog. First of all, I have added "Reactions" to my blog. That means, when you get to the end (or bottom) of any post, you can rate how much you liked it, from "Not 2 Good", "OK", "Good" and "I Love It!" I hope you will enjoy this feature and use it, so I can know what you do and don't like about my posts.


Also, I have added this week a crossword puzzle at the very bottom of my blog. How do you like it? Did you know about it before? I will not always do such hard puzzles, the current one was just a test. I was thinking that I could have one new puzzle a month, and the words (besides the clues in the puzzle) would be randomly scattered throughout the month's post on this blog. These words would be colored in red. Anyway, if you have any comments or objections, just contact me in some way, shape of form. ;)



OK, okay! Onto the photos. As I was lying in my bed last night trying to think what category of pictures I would post next, I decided on Butterflies. Below are the photos.


Enjoy, and Happy Voting!


Photobug


^^Photo #1

^^Photo #2


^^Photo #3


^^Photo #4

^^Photo #5 (my wonderful mother took this great person/butterfly combo shot! I came accross this shot after I posted the original 5 pictures. All contestants are the same, except for the above shot, which replaced the blue butterfly.)

A Sneaky, Surprise Win!!!

"Hi Everyone! Welcome back to the 3rd weekly edition of the Fall Foto Contest! As I watched the seconds tick down (literally) on this week's poll, I was amazed!

Yesterday there were 3 votes for Photo #2 (the pink flowers/branch) and 2 votes for Photos #1 & 3, while Photo #4 (the mountain & fence) had one vote.

However, when I checked today on the poll's progress, there were 10 votes, while there were 8 yesterday. Photo #3 (the river) pulled ahead with 4 votes!!! Yesterday it only had two!!!"

OK, okay, maybe I am getting a little too carried away with things, reporting it like a TV station...but well, I AM really amazed! I don't think I've ever had so much voting in the last 24 hours or so! So the winner is (above) the river photo (Photo #3) my grandfather took in Michigan. Way to go, Grandpa!! Way to go everybody! Thanks so much for the interaction! Keep it up!

Anyway, so much for all the excitement. Below are the next set of photos-the section of "Flowers". Trust me, this is going to be a hard one because I taken several nice flower pictures this year! In addition, I couldn't narrow the selection down to 4. So you have 5 pictures to choose from. Still, I think you can do it! :) These photos are either taken by myself at my grandmother's house in MI, or here in TN.

Happy Voting!

Photobug ^^Photo #1

^^Photo #2

^^Photo #3

^^Photo #4

^^Photo #5

Happy Reformation Day!

Happy Reformation Day! Today, almost 500 years ago Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg, Germany church. This act, among others kicked off the Reformation.

If you would like to read a very good book about Luther, it is: Luther the Leader, by Virgil Robinson. I will post a link to it in a day or so.

Anyway, what this article is really about is posting the next set of photos in the Fall Foto Contest: Scenery. Again, the poll is located in the sidebar and will be up on my blog for a week. I want to point out and say that I'm very happy with how many votes came in. Bravo! Keep it up! ;)

Above is the winner of the People section: the picture of my sister! Alison got 3 votes out of 7; however Grandma came in with a close second of 2. I really thought Grandma and Alison would tie! Andrea and Grandpa each got one vote.

Below are the next 4 photos for consideration, along with credits of who took them.

Happy Voting!

Photobug

^^A sunset photo I took this past May at about 8:30 PM. Photo #1

^^A photo my friend Stephen took. (I would think this past spring!) Photo #2

^^A photo my grandfather in Michigan took. (the same one who was featured in the People section of the photo contest). Photo #3

^^A picture I took while I was a wonderful Cohutta Springs Youth Camp this past summer. I really liked the fence and mountains! Photo #4