Category: Photography

10/28 Friday’s Storms

Being from Louisiana, I’m used to having sporadic storms show up throughout the day. Once we get into Fall, though, I tend to not look forward to the rain.

Han picked this one out from the collection I took today, but there were several that worried me, mostly because I forgot my raincoat in my locker. But I was lucky and dodged the rain, thus reinforcing Han’s belief that I am an American Tall Tale.

It’s going to be an early night for me. We need to be up at 5AM, and getting two kids up and dressed at that time will be a challenge.

Stay safe out there, readers! Take pity on the sleepy kids in the morning!

-JB Swift

10/26 Wednesday’s Day Off, House-Spousing, and Old Man Casey!

It’s a day off!

I have so much work to do!

I’m being told by my wife and children to use the day to relax, but how can I do that when I have a floor to sweep and a story to write?!

I must house-spouse!

Also, Old Man Casey!

I think he’s in agreement with the family about resting.

Stay safe out there, readers! There’s a floor that needs sweeping!

-JB Swift

10/25 Tuesday’s Technical Struggles and Han’s Weather Photo

Looks like it’s going to be a short post for today, while I try to figure out what exactly has gone wrong with the tablet today. At least this is a hardware issue, and most likely because I’ve forgotten to keep up with cleaning the thing. The keyboard has been sporadically letting keystrokes show up on the screen, so my written words have been…comical, is my best word for it.

In the meantime, Han wanted this photo posted for today.

The morning ‘sit in traffic’ time has turned out to be the kids’ favorite moment for weather observing, but they’re slightly confused as to why the dawn is coming up later and later. I’ll get around to explaining the planets’ axial tilt and orbit plane, I swear.

Stay safe out there, readers!

-JB Swift

10/23 Daisy is not amused

I know we’re supposed to let the hamster have time to exercise in her ball, but she’s so good at finding spots to hide that she puts herself at risk of not being found and being dehydrated.

She chittered at me furiously when I found her. Not sure if she’s mad that I found her hiding spot and subsequently hamster-proofed it, or for not finding her sooner.

Stay safe out there, hamsters.

-JB Swift

10/23 Session Fallout and Sunday chores

Of course, the Side-Arc session of last night was a lot of fun to play!

Up until the video chats dropped five times in a row, and my image froze on my players’ screen.

The bard is annoyed.

Turns out that the tablet was needing four different updates, which is surprising since I thought I set it up to update automatically. But if you don’t let the thing shut down occasionally (such as when you keep trying to finish a story and have to close the tablet for travel), it never gets updated until it flat-out tells you it needs it.

So, the Side-Arc session didn’t get as far as I had wanted, but we stopped at a good rest point and I can wrap up that adventure in under an hour (or over an hour if I get obsessive and add details), so I’m keeping an eye on my Session Schedule for when that player will be free next.

Today, however, is Sunday, and that is a day of rest (chores)! Time I went off to house-spouse and try to get through my “Three chores and 30 minutes of Writing” routine.

Stay safe out there, readers! Happy Sunday.

-JB Swift

10/22 Mailman Weather Day and Side-Arc Session!

As I was leaving the house for work, my daughter asked if the sky would ‘be good mailman weather’, which tells me she pays more attention to what I say than I have realized and that I’ve found the possible source of her sarcastic Parthian shots (she doesn’t realize she does them, just destroys a conversation as she leaves a room).

“The weather should be perfect for work today,” I said. She brightened.
“Get a good picture for today!” she called as I rolled the lunchbox out the door.

Well, I’m a word of my word, so I kept an eye on the sky for a good photo. She approved of two, but chose one for today’s post.

She says I’m getting better at taking these.

It turned out to be a great day for the weather, but not so for the postal vehicle. The truck broke down and I was left out on the route for nearly an hour before I could resume delivery.

Meaning I was paid for nearly an hour at postal rates to write Star Wars fan-fiction! *cackle*

Tonight we have a Side-Arc session! I’m going to be working ‘overtime’ to get the rest of my sessions finished before my End-of-Year date, so there will most likely be technical problems that disrupt every damn game night.

It wouldn’t a Swift’s Campaign otherwise.

Stay safe out there, readers!

-JB Swift

10/19 Invasion of the Couch Thieves

It’s been getting into freezing temperatures the past couple nights, so I’ve been trying to round up my animals from outside. Failing finding them (you try finding dark-colored cats in the Louisiana bush after dark), I’ve set up a few crates that will serve as shelters if they come back after I’ve fallen asleep.

That said, Penelope has shown to be rather dedicated to being an indoor cat, up to and including stealing my seat on the couch.

How does one so tiny claim so much space, I vex hypocritically.

Of course, Korra doesn’t want to be outdone by the cat, so upon trying to sit down at the other seat, I find this:

Just why, dammit.

So, it’s back to my desk chair, I guess. If Apollo ever gets inside, he’ll try to take that one, and then I’ll be seatless.

Stay safe out there, readers. Gonna try getting the cat twins in the house for their own good.

-JB Swift

10/18 Seven Year Anniversay

Somehow, I’ve managed to convince this woman that I was interesting enough to keep me around for seven years. I’m not sure how I did this, really. I’ve been around me for nearly 40 years and I can barely stand myself on some days.

I’m taking a moment to show off this brilliant and beautiful woman because after all, gestures at photo.

Happy Anniversary, Sarah. I’m grateful for the seven years and look forward to the next seven, up until these kids are teenagers and realize we’re just two goofy people wandering around the house in robes and bemoaning the slow coffee pot, instead of superheroes and wizards.

Stay safe out there, readers.

-JB Swift

10/17 Monday’s Quiet Work and Late Night Practice

There was progress this weekend!

Not in the writing, but in the house-spouse work! While I was hoping to get some time set aside to handle up on my story-writing, I fell into the cycle of productive-procrastination. I keep telling myself to not sit down for writing until my chores are done.

Chores are never done, but it does feel good to take a decent chunk of them off the list.

For today, I’m hoping to stick to my goal of “3 chores only, 30 minutes of writing, rinse and repeat” and get further along in the Sidewinder Stories. While Han is staying home for today, she’s obligingly handling her own set of chores. She just doesn’t want Dad to clean her room, because she likes her own setup.

Unfortunately for me, I’ll be moving around a bit stiffly, since I went through my martial arts practice just before bed.

Witness the before and after images of someone in their late 30s forgetting to stretch, managing to impress themselves, then dealing with the aftermath of not thinking ahead.

Sifu is going to have a field day when we show up for training and I’m already sore. In the words of my generation: oof.

Time to whittle away at the priority list and finish the Side Arc (hopefully)!

Stay safe out there, readers. Don’t forget or ignore your stretches.

-JB Swift