Alien Encounter – 4/52
A close up of a conch snail’s googley eyes. :)
And some more tank inhabitants, just for fun.
Hermit Crab:
Peppermint Shrimp:
Sally Lightfoot Crab:
Escargot Anyone? – 3/52
The underside of a snail in our reef tank. Kinda weird, eh?
And while I had the macro extension tubes out, I also got a closeup of the Hammer Coral.
Hammer Coral – 2/52
About a month ago Jason set up a 75 gallon reef tank after taking about a 6 year hiatus from saltwater. It’s pretty bare right now with first getting it set up, but will be beautiful in about 6 months or so. For now I’ve gotten some close-up shots of some of the corals and fish currently in the tank.
The Hammer Coral is the photo I used for my Project 52 for this week. You can probably expect to see quite a few reef photos during this project as the tank grows!
Torch Coral:
Plate Coral:
Fairy Wrasse:
Sapphire Damsel:
First Snow Dusting – 1/52
First dusting of snow of 2012!
I’m biting the bullet again and starting 2012 off with another photo project. This one is Project 52 again (one photo a week for one year), which I got half way through last year with an animals and nature theme. This year I’m not sticking to any one theme as I think that helps me complete the project a little easier. I’m also allowing phone photos in this project since I have a half way decent camera on my phone now, particularly for outdoor photos.
I’m ready for this year. I’ve been waiting for this year just to put 2011 behind me. And now it’s here. I’m ready!
New Floors!
One thing I really missed about our old house was the laminate wood floors we installed. Once we moved into the new house in July of 2010 we were back to carpet again. I despise carpet. I even more despise carpet with all the dogs running in and out with muddy feet, coffee trails from the kitchen to the office and just regular nasty floors over a short time. Plus these carpets were a light gray, the kitchen and landings were white linoleum, also not good for messy people and pets!
So, the last two weeks have been dedicated to replacing ALL of the floors on the main floor of the house (aside from the bathroom – it was the only decent floor in the whole house). We put down laminate wood again in the main rooms and got lucky in finding a great match to the knotty pine wood walls. For the three outer door landings and the kitchen we chose a beige marbled ceramic tile. And I’m in love!
Here are some before and after photos.
Loft View – Before
Loft View – After
Living Room – Before
Living Room – After
And some extras:
Front of Living Room After:
Kitchen After:
Bedroom After:
Red River Gorge & Natural Bridge
Last weekend we joined Charlie and Christina for a weekend get away to celebrate Charlie’s birthday. We rented a small, cozy cabin in the Red River Gorge area called the Star Gap.
We relaxed and played cards on Friday and then on Saturday we decided to hike up to Natural Bridge. What a hike! We took the “easy” trail and after getting up it we all decided we’d hate to see what the other trails were like. It was a difficult climb at times, but it was overall fantastic. The view from on top of Natural Bridge was gorgeous, and a bit scary at the same time with the wind gusts up that high. We stayed at the top for half an hour or so and then made the hike back down, which went much faster.
Once back at the cabin we took a much needed soak in the hot tub, had another fantastic dinner and vegged for the evening. It was a great trip and a much needed get away.
A few photos. The rest are on in my Facebook gallery.
Our fabulous chefs of the weekend:
Trail to Natural Bridge:
Standing on top of Natural Bridge:
The view from Natural Bridge. We walked over to that cliff as well.
A view down from the cliff. We could see the car from here!
10 Favorite Sites for Procrastinating
As I procrastinate a bit today, I thought I’d share my 10 favorite humorous and interesting blog subscriptions. Enjoy! 
Jason Aldean / Chris Young & Thompson Square Concert
Last night Christina and I went to the Kentucky State Fair to see Jason Aldean and Chris Young in concert and it was fantastic! We left the house 3 hours before the concert so we could walk around the fairgrounds for a while before the concert started. Little did we know it would take us over 2 hours to get to the fairgrounds. Trimarc signs nicely told us that the main gates were closed and routed us to a different gate. We thought, WTF, who closes the main gates on the first Saturday of a state fair for a sold out concert?! So for 2 hours we sat in backed up traffic, maneuvered around several vehicles that had over heated and finally made it to the gates – where we found that the main gates were actually open and probably would have saved us at least an hour. Thanks a lot Trimarc!
Once we got there we headed to the exhibition hall to get Christina a custom fitted toe ring. It was then that we realized her wallet wasn’t in her purse. Uh oh. We called the last place we stopped to see if it was there before making the long treck back to the truck. Luckily, her wallet was in the truck, having slid down the seat and into the back floorboard. Shoo, that was a close one!
So then, we make the long treck back to Freedom Hall where the concert had already started with the opening acts. By the time we got back we decided we needed a good cold one, and I wanted to get a t-shirt. After more line standing, and Christina not being able to get a shirt due to the credit card machine crapping out, we snagged one more cold one and headed up to our seats. From then on, the night was fantastic! We got into the Chris Young concert just when he was playing his best songs. Perfect timing!
During the break between Chris Young and Jason Aldean, we took a bathroom break and decided to get one more cold one. After standing in line for 20 minutes and still 15 people back from the beer stand it was announced that all the beer was sold out. Nice. So we moved over to another line for another good 5 minutes when we heard them announcing Jason Aldean. At that point we abandoned our nice, cold beer and high tailed it back to our seats (which we never actually sat in).
This was probably one of the best, if not the best, concert I have ever been to. Our seats were perfect, especially for the price we got them for. We were side-stage and close enough to get a good view of the band members, plus they always have the big screens for the close-ups. It was a great night out, despite all of our hurdles, and well worth everything!
And of course, some photos:
The equipment trucks – there were 4 of these plus the tour bus:
Our picture with Jason 
Chris Young & Thompson Square
Jason Aldean
Nature and Stuff
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. What can I say, it’s been a busy month! But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been enjoying the wildlife around the house. I even actually dusted off the camera to snag a couple of photos. I was trying to get the pair of chipmunks that have taken up residence in the rock bed around one of the trees, but the bunny and the birds were the only critters cooperating with me.
Bunny Foo Foo 
Ready for Take Off! 
As for me, I’m doing fantastic. I finished up my radiation treatment about a month ago and am finally feeling back to my old self again. Once fall rolls around I plan to start back on my P90X workouts. Unfortunately with my surgery and treatments, my first two months of hardwork has reverted back to ground zero due to not being able to work out and not sticking to a good diet. But, I’ll get it all straightened out in due time. For now I’m busy working and spending at least one day a week lounging by the pool and enjoying summer. The garden is growing, the critters are abundant and the weekends are full of good times with friends. Life is good!
Stormy Summer Sunset
As three rounds of tornado producing storms were passing through, they sky was beautiful just at sunset! This is typical for spring to early summer in Kentucky. Luckily, we didn’t have any damage.
