Thursday, July 21, 2005

Yes, It's Real!


Last year while I was doing a photo session in my "portrait park", I noticed something odd on the side of a walnut tree. It looked almost unreal, more like a cartoon character. I took several photos of it, as it crawled around on the tree. Upon doing some research on the internet, I found that it is the larva of a spicebush swallowtail butterfly! Yes, this thing turns into a butterfly.

Here's a link to a photo of the larva:
http://www.virtualinsectary.com/insects/insect_12.htm

And here's a link to what it looks like once it changes:
http://tamingoftheband-aid.blogspot.com/2005/06/spicebush-swallowtail.html

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Kayla's New Foal



On Monday, July 18, Kayla's horse, Ari, had her baby foal. Kayla has named her "Independance", since she was born not too far from the 4th of July. She will call the new horse "Indy".

MS 150 Bike Ride


In September 2005, I joined over 100 bicycle riders on Petit Jean Mountain, near Russellville, for the annual "MS 150 Bike Tour". This is a two-day, 150 mile bike ride to raise money to fight multiple sclerosis. Last year the group raised $120,000!
I ended up doing a wedding on the first day of the ride, Saturday. However, I did drive down and got in the Sunday ride. I was just shy of my fund-raising goal, raised $1,430. That put me at #11 in total fund raising for the event.

How Tall Are the Building In Dallas?

When the girls were small, we took them to Dallas, Texas. We were in downtown Dallas and Kelly was looking up at the tops of the huge skyscrapers. Her comment was, "These buildings are so tall I can't swallow my spit".

Jello In The Refrigerator

Lajunta had mixed up some jello and put it in the refrigerator. Kim was around 3 years old. She kept going and opening the refrigrator every few minutes to see if the Jello had hardened and was ready to eat. Lajunta told her to stop opening the door so much, or the Jello would never harden. Unknown by Kim, once the Jello had began to set up, Lajunta mixed in a can of fruit cocktail.
Kim once again sneeked into the kitchen to check on the Jello.
She came running into the living room and said, "Mommy, mommy, there is something growing in the Jello".

Turkeys In The Rain

My dad raised turkeys for many years. Unlike today, once they reached about 8 weeks old, they were taken from the brooder houses and raised outdoors in fields.
Dad had just put a new bunch of turkys outside and it was raining.
Karla was very small and was looking outside at all the turkeys getting wet. I asked her if she thought they needed rain coats.
(Note to those of you who have never seen turkeys outside. The feed is in feeders that are round in shape and are a little larger than a washing machine. They have a cone-shaped lid. There are generally a dozen or so of these feeders in a row, spaced 30 or so feet apart.)
Karla seen the feeders and said, "Maybe they could get in them little motels".

Why I don't fish.

Many years ago, I got into fishing. I'd go with my friend, Frank, several evenings each week after work. We'd leave right after work, and return home around 10:00 pm or so.

One day after work I was rushing around, getting ready to leave to go fishing.
Kristy said, "Dad where are you going".
I told her I was going fishing, then being a bit sarcastic I said, "So we will having something to eat".
She replied, "I think we'd rather starve and have you stay home and play with us."

I gave up fishing not long after that.

Famous People Who Share My Birthday (Dec. 26)

1954 Ozzie Smith (baseball player)
1947 Carlton Fisk (baseball player)
1948 Chris Chambliss (baseball player)
1946 Joyce Jillson (actress)
1940 Phil Spector (record company executive)
1927 Alan King (Irwin Kniberg) (comedian, TV panelist, actor, producer)
1921 Steve Allen (comedian, author, musician, composer, TV host)
1914 Richard Widmark (actor)
1893 Mao Tse-Tung (communist-revolutionist: founding father of the People's Republic of China)

Stupid Signs

I'll keep my camera handy and try to photograph a few of my favorites and post them. One I know of is located on the doors at a restaurant in Springfield. It says something like, "Doors are to remain unlocked during business hours". That sounds like a very good business decision to me.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Things that Annoy Me

Ever notice how some products are improperly priced? For example, we all know "$40" would be forty dollars. If you added a decimal point in front "$.40" it becomes forty cents. Now, if something is priced "89 cents", that means it's price is eighty-nine cents. But just notice how often you'll see something priced at ".89 cents". That's less than a penny. It's eighty-nine one-hundredths of a penny. In other words, 10 of them would cost you 8.9 cents.
I'll try to keep my camera handy and find some examples to share with you.

Quiz. What do you know about Larry?

How Well Do You Know Me?

Questions:
1. At age 12, Larry began his first business venture in Oak Grove. That business was:
A. Lawn mowing.
B. Bicycle repair.
C. Selling newspapers.
D. Pet grooming.
E. Palm reading.

2. Mrs. Jean Morgan, current mayor of Oak Grove, was Larry's:
A. First grade teacher.
B. Second grade teacher.
C. Third grade teacher.
D. All the above.
E. Political advisor.

3. Larry's parent's names are Earl Eugene (Gene) and Barbara Frances. Had Larry been born a girl, the name they had chosen was:
A. Earlene Frances
B. Jean Earlene
C. Fran Barbie
D. Karen Jean
E. Lara Jean

4. In his 14 years of schooling, Larry received only one "F". That grade was in:
A. Physics
B. French
C. Algebra
D. Swimming
E. PE

5. Which one of these was Larry NEVER a member of?
A. Oak Grove City Council
B. Oak Grove Volunteer Fire Department
C. Lions Club
D. Carroll County School Board
E. Green Forest Alumni Board
F. Gideons International
G. Mensa International

6. Which of these were founded by Larry's ancestors?
A. The first Presyterian church in the USA.
B. The first Baptist church in Carroll County.
C. The Free Will Baptist Church in Oak Grove.
D. All the above.
E. Oak Grove Saddle Club

7. Larry once photographed something unusual, about 3 miles west of the studio, in the Maple community. It was published on the front page of the Berryville newspaper. It was:
A. UFO
B. bear
C. housefire
D. Elvis
E. The Maple Springs Christmas Parade

8. Larry spent the summer after his first year of college by:
A. Working for the highway department
B. Backpacking in Europe
C. Playing minor league baseball for the Cardinals rookie farm club.
D. Working in a Saloon show at Silver Dollar City.
E. Tutoring elementary students in English

9. What does Larry have in common with Napoleon Dynamite?
A. Best friend was elected senior class president.
B. Was on FFA dairy judging team.
C. Once caught laying hens.
D. All the above.
E. Once owned a lama.

10. Sometime in the future, Larry thinks he might like to:
A. Run for governor of Arkansas
B. Ride his bicycle cross-country
C. Be a paparizzi photographer
D. Open a small theme park in Oak Grove
E. Audition for the "Survivor" tv show

11. Larry's first year of college, he was planning to major in:
A. Photography
B. Journalism
C. Nursing
D. Accounting
E. Appliance repair

12. Which one of these has Larry attended:
A. NBA finals
B. Super Bowl
C. World Series
D. Stanley Cup
E. Tour de France

13. Which TV show would you be LEAST likely find Larry watching?
A. Spongebob Squarepants
B. Fox News
C. Championship Wresting
D. The biography channel
E. Cardinal's baseball game

14. How did Larry meet his wife, Lajunta?
A. She hired him to do photos for her model portfolio
B. Larry's ex-girlfriend and Lajunta's ex-boyfriend were brother and sister
C. Lajunta took the place of a friend of her's who had a blind date scheduled with Larry
D. The met while standing in line to buy tickets for Jaws.
E. A personal ad in a newspaper.

15. Had Kristy been a boy, his name would have been "Cory Eugene". Had Karla, Kim, Kelly, or Kayla been a boy, his name would have been:
A. Kile Eugene
B. Keith Eugene
C. Kevin Eugene
D. Kory Eugene
E. Larry Eugene, Jr.


Answers:
1. C. It was the Grit Newspaper. http://www.grit.com/index.php
2. D. One room school house at Oak Grove. One teacher, first 4 grades.
3. D. Maybe that's where the whole "K" thing started.
4. D. It was at CofO. I dropped swimming near mid-term due to having my appendix removed. I was required to resume the class the next semester or get a failing grade, but I transferred to another college.
5. G.
6. D. Not sure if they were missions-minded, or just didn't get along with the other churches they were in.
7. B.
8. A.
9. D. Scary, eh?
10. B.
11. D.
12. C.
13. C.
14. C.
15. C.