sleeping off a long night at 9 a.m.

sleeping off a long night at 9 a.m.

like the other peecols in my collection these three are strongwilled and wouldn't let me out of the house for this trip without coming along. i relented and brought them with me.

beginning to think that bringing rilla wasn't that smart of an idea. he caused trouble at the airport, made flatulent sounds from my backpack and now he's gone wild after seeing wgirl and astronof holding hands.

who knew this would be a romantic getaway for them? not me. and defintely not rilla. it's soooo evident now that he's got a massive monkey crush on wgirl.

i need to talk him down.

when i see these shots i no longer wonder why my children are fearless around people . . . daddy looks like a biker. if i start getting tats they both might start shaving their heads at 10.

this one was taken by elliot. he's getting pretty good with the camera.

this is pre supbivision chili cook-off and post long day with the man.

gigi had fun for a few minutes with this chome plating on an exhibit.

this little series also yielded some of the scariest pictures i have ever taken. goose bump type stuff.

the maestro and his sister are ready to roll on out.

these are on display in the room i shared with my brother for 18 years along with our patches for being ranked number one at the end of the year for our ages in the state of illinois.

i say, 'here', instead of, 'there' because this sucker is older than i am.

in the last close up you could really see betsy in her face, but this furrowed brow belongs to yours truly.

the banging on my escape route window-well plexiglass went on too long not to be a bird or strong wind . . . i thought.

pull back the curtain and i see this little bunny sitting right there. i suppose that is good because if it was anything else that might bite me i would just have to leave it in there.

boxed him up and sent him to the rabbit sausage factory. ok, i might have released him back in the yard and outside the fence to give him a fighting chance versus the dogs.

cute little bunny, be smart and hop far from this house before little deaf dog snags you with her one good tooth.

evan just wrote the longest iou ever. It's a joke but, man, you attorneys got it in your blood.

I can get interest in 'the sum of greatest allowable by law'.

The long awaited Apple TV 2 has arrived as an update!

Happy clam I am.

This is the tag from the Longaberger basket that Betsy picked up yesterday.

She paid nowhere near this price for the basket and is hoping that this one turns out to be a great score.

I still can't believe people collect baskets but these Longaberger ones people seem to love.

Will keep you updated.

For those of you following yesterday's live photo blogging of the auction, this post is for you.

It was so cold in the machine shed where the auction was held yesterday that I couldn't type anymore on my phones little keypad.

For those of you wondering what a machine shed is, it is a corrugated sheet metal building most usually white held up by two-by-fours where farmers park the implements.

Betsy's items above are 5 Dept. 56 villiage items and one Longaberger basket. I know nothing of this stuff.

All of these should double or triple Betsy's investment in them and add a couple bucks to the grocery/life funds.

This is the other photo that I had printed on canvas as a gift for Betsy this Christmas. It has yet to arrive but will hopefully be here tomorrow!

This shot will go next to the other Waking up, girl that I posted about a week ago.

I had one of these blown up to 12 X 18 and got it framed tonight for my mother-in-law. It looks awesome. Long live flickr and their partners!

I took this last weekend in downtown Naperville.

There are some fervent Ron Paul supporters in Naperville. I would say more so than any other candidate I have seen. It's not just the stickers everywhere but the signs in yards, major and minor intersections and along the busiest roads.

He might not be getting much press right now but he's got an awful lot of mindshare among drivers and pedestrians in the downtown.