Thanks to everyone who came out to our gallery at the Joplin Artwalk last night. Considering we were a ‘rogue’ gallery and not officially a part of the artwalk event, we had tons of visitors. In fact at times there was barely room to stand, which was very cool!

I had a great time just mingling among friends, family, and random people who were out enjoying the evening and checking out some art in the process. Definitely a fun thing, and I hope to be able to do it again in the future!! The only problem was that in all the excitement I forgot to take any photos once the event got rolling. Luckily this one was snapped when Lindsay and Kim stopped by right before things started.

I am pleased to announce that my photography will be featured at October’s artwalk in Joplin – which is this Thursday (15th), roughly from 6-8pm!

I will be sharing a space with Jason Shelfer at 515 S. Main and I think his wife may do some light catering of the event. So I have been very busy the last few days getting my stuff ready for my first official ’show’ here in Joplin. I think i’ll have about 15 of my favs nicely framed and on display. It’s totally last minute so our gallery may not be as fancy as some of the others, but I am sure our works will not disappoint!

Anyways, I hope everyone comes out and stops by!

Anyone who follows this blog or my photography knows of my obsession with trying to photograph storms and lightning. Last night I noticed some flashes of light coming from the north side of the house…turned out to be one of the most easily photographed lightning storms I’ve had the opportunity to shoot. It was also one of the creepiest and there was almost no thunder…kind of reminded me of the movie War of the Worlds.

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Since the strikes were somewhat predictable (as far as lightning goes) I decided to take a gamble and use my telephoto lens to get in closer. Which made the lightning stikes larger, but it also severely reduced my chances of actually catching a strike in the frame.

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Turns out I have become pretty decent at manually focusing my camera in the dark on something that I can’t see!

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I like me some hot peppers. And since I have managed to get on the mailing list of every gardening supply company on earth, I have catalogs full of every kind of seed imaginable. Here are a few pictured along with some useful info about each type. If you want some, just come by and get ‘em!

1. Red Thai and Orange Thai – Although technically two different types, I will group them since they are both ‘thai’ and both extremely hot. They are small, especially the orange ones, sometimes less than 1″ long but that’s really all it takes. These are good for those who want to try something over the top hot, but are intimidated by larger peppers.
2. Scotch Bonnet – This funny looking pepper is only funny until you eat it. A type of Habanero, there are only 2 known hotter species than this… the related Red Savina, and the Naga Jalokia (aka Ghost Pepper). I grow these only for novelty…they are way too hot for most normal applications, but it’s fun to take them to work and watch the other guys prove their manhood by trying to eat them.
3. Fish Peppers – I ordered these seeds just because they looked cool. All these came from the same plant. Some are striped, some are albino. Even the plant was weird looking. The catalog rated these as “very hot” but I find them to be quite mild compared to the previous two, which were both rated “extreme”.
4. Poblano – This is one of my favorite types to cook with because they have nice flavor and sometimes dye everything green. These are the largest peppers I grew this year, generally 5-6″, but if you want spice…these have barely more kick than a bell pepper.
5. Volcano – I don’t know anything about these. The seeds came free with my order and I haven’t tried one yet. So I don’t know what it tastes like or how hot they are. I assume it to be a middle of the road variety.

Today at lunch, Jason and I made a quick run through McDonalds. A couple cars were ahead of me, so we decided to solve the age old question…”would it be faster to go inside and order?”. I drove through and Jason jumped out and went in. Not to my surprise, Jason went in, got his food and got back in my car while I was still in the drive-thru line.

Perhaps the best part of the drivethru was the car’s license plate in front of me. It was FD4 Y(zero)U. Food for you! Ha. The new numbering format on Missouri plates might make them harder to memorize, but at least it allows for some coincidental phrases.

Sometimes after work when the weather is nice I like to go for a bike ride. Lately my route of choice is to ride up old 66 through carterville and webb city, and then jump on the Frisco trail and ride it to the south end…which ironically is at North Street. It’s about 20 miles and takes an hour and a half if I don’t stop.

I usually plan to stop and enjoy the scenic area near the bridge over Turkey Creek, but I don’t think I ever have. By that point in the ride I am in a groove and just want to keep going. I like the frisco trail a lot and I think it’s a valuable asset to area residents.