none'fer tuesday...

I suppose you came here today looking for a couple of new Two'fer Tuesday photos to vote on. Sorry. No such luck today. Actually, you've not had very much luck in finding anything approaching consistent content here for the past few months. Again, I'm sorry. House building and moving takes a toll on both your time, mental capacity, and ability to write creatively. They say there are five major stress producers in life: death of a loved one, change of marital status, birth of a child, change of job (or job status), and moving into a new home. Of those five, I've been through four in the last year (and one of them twice in the last seven months...) I feel lucky and bless to have survived it all as mentally, physically and spiritually sound as I have. The good news is, it's all in the past.

Speaking of the past, it does find the oddest ways to haunt us, doesn't it? As we gear up for Coleman's first birthday, I realize that another anniversary date is fast approaching. I started Kudzu back on December 11th of 2002 because I needed an outlet for my creativity. That outlet used to be words. Somewhere along the way photography crept in, much like the pea vine from which this site takes its name. The greatest surprise have been the friends (both old and new) that have continued to support me by reading, commenting, voting, and linking over the past two years... I'm prone to start new hobbies on a whim and, just as easily, give them up; but you, dear readers, have kept me going. I've been slowly working on improvements to the whole shaneblake.com site design and hope to have them ready for the blogiversary celebration. Cross your fingers...

Of course, there's a certain nine year anniversary coming up in just over two weeks. But more on that later...

home sweet home...

Gotta' go see a man about a house...

Update: We have a new home. Everyone's invited over this Saturday to help move boxes...

[ voting is closed and no one even noticed i forgot the white borders this time... ]

two'fer wednesday: try again...

[ OK... Voting has closed... ]

what'd you do sunday?...

two'fer tuesday: the sum of our parts...

[ one of the photos was uploaded wrong last night... two'fer tuesday will be up for you to vote on tomorrow... sorry. ]

near the county line...

looking out...

This is a test shot I took the first day I got my new 50mm f/1.8 Nikkor. A lovely little gem of a lens. I'm having great fun with it.

Speaking of great fun and photos, Coleman's photo gallery now has an eleven month gallery and if you've not seen it, here is a short clip of him walking ( quicktime player required ).

two'fer tuesday: old testament illustrations...

[ Voting is closed. Thanks... ]

the long drive home...

best photo of the year...

Well... It wasn't taken in 2004, thought it was taken within the last year. A technicality I'm willing to overlook. It may not even be the best photo I've taken this past year, and it certainly wasn't taken with the best camera. But it's the only photo from the last year that made me cry when I first saw it. It is indeed a special photo to me.

two'fer tuesday: third party playground...

Finally, you can vote for who you really wanted and not feel it was a wasted vote...

Update : Come on kids... I gave them names for a reason...

Votes for "swings" or "fountains" or any variations will not be counted... Absolutely no write in votes...

[ polls have closed... Libertarian party wins big... ]

bah...

Forget my incoherent political prattle. Go read the last half of this post.

On second thought, read it all... It'll be good for you.

pardon this political hiccup...

For the past two years, I've tried to keep politics out of the kudzu patch. Not that I'm not politically minded and highly opinionated, but this just hasn't been the place for that. I'll let the boys over at Power Line or my Space Monkey friend handle such things.

The time has come, however, for true Americans to "Choose or Lose", "Rock the Vote", "Vote or Die", etc, etc, ad infinitum... Therefore, I thought I should give you a short and incomplete list of reasons I support the W.

Economy

Bush inherited a recession when he came into office. There's no doubt about. Thanks to tax cuts, it was the shallowest recession in decades. Sure, jobs were lost, as is always the case in a recession, but according to the latest government numbers, unemployment is holding steady at a three year low of 5.4. This is lower than the average unemployment rate during the 90's.

Economics is not a "zero sum" game. No one has to lose for some to win. Becoming rich does not mean some other person must become poor. With a little hard work, everyone can win. A leading economist, a Noble prize winning one at that, recently stated that John Kerry's plan for the economy was a "damn stupid" one. That's good enough for me.

War on Terror

We were absolutely right to liberate Iraq. Anyone who tells you otherwise isn't paying attention. The overwhelming majority of troops on the ground will tell you the same thing. Worried about missing explosives? Turns out Kerry didn't have the facts and should have held his tongue. Turns out our boys destroyed them not long after they were found. Yeah, I guess you could equate "blown up" with "missing." Folks, if you're just getting your data from Iraq from the mainstream media or the Kerry campaign, you're not getting the full picture.

Kerry's main problem in his view on this war is his short-sightedness. Iraq is the War on Terror, the War on Terror is Iraq. This is not the "war on Osama" nor the "war on Al Queda", it's much bigger than those two entities alone, and Bush understands that. For all his recent "I will kill them all" rhetoric, Kerry thinks we can talk our way out of this, and it won't happen. You just can't reason with people willing to die to hurt you, no matter how intellectual you think yourself.

Besides, thanks to a new video tape, it's no secret who Osama would vote for...

Intelligence & Integrity

Bush is not an idiot. Bush has a higher degree than Kerry, and some have said, probably a slightly higher IQ. Bush is not the puppet of Karl Rove. If you believe this, you may have ingested too much Kool-aid. He's no more anyone's puppet than Kerry is a puppet of the Clintons or Ted Kennedy. (Maybe that's not the best analogy...)

Finally, in recent weeks, Kerry has been seen, on any given Sunday morning, speaking from the pulpit of churches. Bush, on the other hand, has been seen sitting in the pew of a church every possible Sunday morning since before he took office. One man goes to church to campaign. The other man goes to church to worship. Interesting.

Finally

I know you've probably made up your mind and this won't convince you much, but I thought I should let you folks know where I'm coming from. Full disclosure and all. My political opinions have hurt me before in the past, and probably will again, but so be it. If you don't wanna look at my photos because of how I voted, OK. You're being shallow and hypocritical, but fine. Just don't get mad when I call you on it...

[ sorry i didn't have time to add lots of links to articles to support everything... if anyone wants sources, email me and i'll dig them up for you... (or just read Instapundit) ]