Spent Thursday and Friday in Johnson talking photos of the pep-rally, school, homecoming parade, game, and dance. I’ve taken over 8,000 photos so far on this project. Dropped a lens during the game but everything seems to be fine. Ended up sleeping in my car both nights. One of the teachers commented that I don’t have a life. She might be right, but I guess sacrifices have to be made when you’re doing something you enjoy. Pictures are turning out great. I hope I can find some publication that will eventually run them. In between writing a 22 page paper and getting other homework done before heading off for New York on Friday, I took a break and toned a few. More pictures will be posted when I get back.

Rushed home after taking the dogs for a ride as dad had called insisting that he ran out of gas in the tractor. Turned out to be the sediment bowl was clogged. Stuck around and tried to take a few photos in the dimming light.

I think I messed up by not doing a photo essay on the new gas line they’re building from Canada to Texas. There’s been stacks of these pipes arranged in a nearby field for months. And the completed line is only 10 minutes from our house.

While I was there, I kept hearing a banging noise from inside of the pipe. In the middle of nowhere, with such a foreign contraption as this, the repetitive noise, which I still don’t know what it was, instigated a couple of cowardly screams as I was caught off guard by the shrill echoing effect of whatever caused it.

The newly adopted family invited me out for a bit of cruizing in the vintage cadillac. Ellen needed a birthday present at the drugstore, Joel needed some ice cream from Ivana Cone, Cole needed to get out of the house, Spencer needed a coat cause it was kind of cold out there, and I needed to get away from the stinking homework.

Spencer was playing in the backyard as I sat and attempted to do homework. After he grew tired of jumping on the trampoline, he came over to where I was and started picking the leaves off a vine while saying “Mac_a_day_nian nut leaves go in the bowl!!”

Storm rolled through Lincoln and I ended up at the train yard.

Motorcycle adventure to Nebraska City’s AppleJack Festival filled with sidewalks, sunflowers, antique painter lady, pizza, cross country boys in a pickup, wrong roads, sprinkles, angry old women, an old brothel, car show, puppies in the window, stinky antique shop, white bugs, and a great sunset.

Got hired to shoot the NE vs. USC football game for Reuters. Had quite a bit of trouble getting the IPTC info and FTP login ID finalized before the start of the game as I was talking to a Reuters tech-guy in Australia . Ended up using the college professors 300mm 2.8 to shoot with. My uncle was my assistant for the game. Images turned out well for being a one-man show. There were a few instances where I totally blew a perfect shot by not being ready, but I came out of the game with a few keepers. Didn’t finish sending images till 1:30 in the morning, luckily that’s about when the pizza got delivered to the press box.

All Friday morning I had a yearning to ride my motorcycle along the Loess Hills and eventually end up in Iowa at an apple orchard I discovered last year.

Well, I was 20 miles from my destination, when I took a few side roads and ended up in a small town. Driving down main street, I came across the school and saw two football players walking down a paved road to the football field. Asking a band member what was going on tonight, he said there was an 8-man football game starting at 7:00.

So, I stuck around and shot the game with 17-40mm and a 50mm lens, two lenses seldom used at football games. The thing that kept me there was the lights suspended by telephone poles which had easy access to climb. (I ventured half way up the silly things twice)

I’m lucky to have gotten home in one piece. Riding a motorcycle in the pitch black of night with one headlight burnt out, and no map, is a recipe for disaster. And I really should have asked the yearbook lady who recruited me to take a group photo for her because, according to her, I, “look like I know what’s going on,” to put me up for the night in exchange for the photo.

Worked on a few of the rooms at the Roger’s House Bed and Breakfast.

The hammock i’ve been toting around on my motorcycle for the entire summer finally got put to use. There was also a bloody mutiny on the lake and a new captain took charge of the banana ship.

Irrigating out north. Dad was getting a little upset I wasn’t helping.

Went home for the Labor Day weekend to help pick up irrigation pipe and get a few “fancy” clothes for my upcoming class at the high school. Irrigating isn’t nearly what it used to be since we added two pivots this year; you just flip a few toggle switches and it goes, no more changing gates, counting rows, or cussing out the old 454 chevys. Also, dad got himself a new truck to add to the ever-growing collection of vehicles we have (the man just can’t pass up a good deal).