Rumblings from Nifty Galoot

Oh yes… I often get help at the keyboard, whether it’s wanted or not… First there will be a little nudge on the right hand or I’ll notice something weird appearing on the monitor screen. Oh! It’s just Raven coming to aid in getting something done on the computer…

Raven helping type

Click on the picture to view it larger.

Dogs can be so helpful… And are real good typists. I thought as camera shy as Raven is… maybe it’d be hard to get a picture of her. Well, as you can see, she isn’t a totally camera shy dog.

I wonder if other folks with critters in the house get help at their computers too? Do any of them have pictures to show?

Much to my surprise… I found out I was a featured artist at Imagekind today. A very nice surprise indeed! I wonder how many folks will check out my galleries?

I’ve really enjoyed taking photos and trying to get good ones to post. Not all of them turn out great… Once in a while there’s a fairly decent one worth putting up at Imagekind…

Gee… I feel almost famous, getting my profile listed at Imagekind!

Kent Lorentzen featured artist at Imagekind

Looked out this morning and there were some nice red colors just before sunrise. Grabbed the camera and a tripod, popped out the door and set up. It was 5 degrees below zero, didn’t grab a jacket, hat, or mittens, as it was just outside the door and only gonna be for a moment at a time…

Took a few pics. Decided a jacket and hat would feel good. Hands were still cool, but can’t work the camera with mittens on. Did learn, while moving, that an aluminum tripod and bare hands in below zero temps aren’t a good combination.

Here are a couple of the pics:

December Sunrise

Red Sky in December

Cassie, over at Cassie’s Critters has been looking for animal designs on the Flip Minos video camcorders that Cafepress is now offering. She inspired me to gather a few photos and see if I could come up with some critter designs for the Flip cameras. I managed to get some photos formatted and put on the cameras:

Garter Snake Flip Mino A garter snake gives you the eye in this close-up photo.	Fun in the Snow Flip Mino Raven the dog is having fun running in fresh snow out in a hay field on a December winter morning. Raven is a mix of German shepherd, Norwegian elkhound, and English setter.
I Love You Cow Flip Mino This ‘I Love You Cow’ is a Fun Valentine’s Day Gift. She has a lot of Heart and Loves U. So… Make your Sweetheart smile this Valentine’s with this cute cow.	Masked Raccoon Flip Mino A masked raccoon is in grass and clover looking at you.
I Love You Cow Flip Mino This ‘I Love You Cow’ is a Fun Valentine’s Day Gift. She has a lot of Heart and Loves U. So… Make your Sweetheart smile this Valentine’s with this cute cow.	Queen Cat Flip Mino This cat thinks she’s a Queen, and of course she is… You can see it by the way she sits.

Looks like I’ll have more fun adding photos of flowers and other stuff to the flip mino cameras.

If you’d like to check out all the critter flips Cassie has gathered… Head on over to Critter Flips.

CSA Ringer T by Rotem Gear

I just saw a tweet from Jean at Rotem Gear that she has a new CSA design on t-shirts. It tickled me, as I’ll be going to a ‘Local Food’ Farmers Union dinner and meeting Thursday evening. A couple folks will be talking about their CSA’s. I’ll be talking about the Farmers Market, and a gal will talk about the farmers market visitor count and survey.

If you aren’t familiar with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)… it’s part of the local food movement. This t-shirt design is a clever tv parody and invites us to take a closer look.

CSA Ringer T by Rotem Gear

More items featuring this design can be found in the CSA: Community Supported Agriculture section.

Tags: Rotem Gear, CSA Ringer T, CafePress, CSA

Had a nice afternoon float down the Mississippi river with some neighbors yesterday.

Start of the Fall Flotilla

Gwen sits in her kayak at the start of the Fall Flotilla trip down the Mississippi river.

Jerry and Iona in a red canoe

Gwen is getting her camera to take a picture of Jerry and Iona starting to paddle a red canoe down the Mississippi river.

Jerry and Iona in a red canoe

There were pretty reflections off the water as Jerry and Iona canoed along the eastern bank of the Mississippi river.

W paddling his kayak down the Mississippi

Fall colors and reflections off the water make a pretty picture as W paddles his orange kayak down the Mississippi river.

Fall Flotilla down the Mississippi river.

A pretty picture with fall colors along the banks of the Mississippi river as canoes and a kayak head downriver. Bob’s in his homemade wooden canoe. The other canoeists are John and Joyce and, Jerry and Iona. W is in the kayak.

After the trip, we all gathered at Gwen and W’s house for a potluck supper. What a nice afternoon trip and good food!

I have a number of websites, and many of them are Wordpress blog based. There are lots of great plugins for Wordpress to use. Here’s a list of some of them I’ve found useful:

• Akismet - Spam blocker
• Bad Behavior - Spam blocker used in addition to Akismet
• CommentLuv - Gives a backlink to a commentor’s last post
• Contact Form 7 - Customizable contact form
• Lightbox 2 Plugin - Used for showing larger views of images in posts
• List Subpages with Descriptions - Just what it says
• NoFollow Free - Remove nofollow from comments, with customizable settings
• Popshops.com - Add products you affiliate to your blog
• ShareThis - Make it easy for folks to share posts they like
• ShowIKRSS - Display Imagekind galleries in your blog and make links affiliate links.
• Wordpress Automatic Upgrade - A must have for upgrading Wordpress
• WP-Ads - Useful for showing ads or content wherever you want in your blog
• WP-Amazon - A way to find Amazon.com products to add to your blog

There are many other great plugins I’m not using because I don’t have a need for them or haven’t heard of them. I did want to share the ones I like and use most often.

Here’s a photo of bright red and yellow flower blossoms I took at last Wednesday’s farmers market. I love how this photo turned out with other blossoms behind the central bloom and the green leaves under the blossom.

Red and Yellow Flowers by Kent Lorentzen — View Larger

I’ve added this to my Flowers gallery at Imagekind, so it is available for sale there, framed or unframed.

Tags: Kent Lorentzen, Red and Yellow Flowers, Imagekind, Floral, Flowers

My friend Jean, from Rotem Gear, recently posted about a new design for farmers… It says ‘That’s How I Roll’ and has a picture of a farm tractor. Perfect for us farm guys, gals, and kids. Don’t you think it’s a great design?

Farm Tractor White T-Shirt

This great design is available on many styles of shirts to fit nearly anyone. What a nice gift for any farmer, or wannabe farmer.