Steven Helmer Publications

The lake was pretty choppy when I went for my walk along the shoreline this morning and, as a result of that, there weren't many critters out on it. I did, however, see this pair of pelicans and, even though the waves made it kind of difficult to get them in focus, managed to get a photo of them as they swam by me.

Today was solar eclipse day but, unfortunately, we have had a pretty thick layer of clouds all day and, because of that, I was only able to catch a glimpse of it when the sun momentarily peeked out from behind them. This also seemed to affect my lunchtime walk today too because there just weren't that many signs of life today. I heard some sort of bird calling out from behind the tall grass but wasn't able to see it. And, even the frogs (which are usually out by the dozens) seemed to be in hiding today. I was, however, still able to get some photos while on my walk. Here are some of those:

Synopsis: A Secret Service agent goes undercover as an arsonist/murderer and allows himself to be captured so he can secure passage on a government train. The train is supposed to be delivering fresh troops, medicine and supplies to a frontier outpost that is reportedly suffering from a diphtheria outbreak. However, when one of the passengers, a doctor, is found murdered and other passengers either disappear or die in suspicious accidents, it becomes apparent there is some sort of conspiracy on board the train. It is up to the agent to figure out who is behind it and who he can trust. Who's in it? The movie stars Charles Bronson , Ben Johnson , Jill Ireland , Ed Lauter and Richard Crenna . Review: I came across this film on one of our movie channels several days ago and, mostly because it had been a while since I watched a Charles Bronson film, I decided to record what I thought had the potential to be a good western/mystery. I finally had a chance to watch the movie ye...

It was kind of foggy out this morning when I went for my walk up by the lake. As a result, I had to get closer in order to get a good photo and that, in turn, meant I had less subjects stick around long enough for me to get a photograph. I did, however, manage to get some photos despite all of this:

When we attended the county fair this week, the last thing my wife and I were expecting to do was let her get a tattoo.  In fact, when we saw there was someone there offering that service (real ones, not the temporary ones) we actually ended up joking about it more than considering it. However, we did our research on the person who was offering them, found out he was legitimate (licensed and everything) and even talked to some of his customers who were local. Then, after learning he could do the rose and violet tattoo my wife has wanted for years (for our daughters' middle names) for about half of what other tattoo artists have wanted, we decided to pull the trigger. After all, it seemed like a better deal than spending money on games that offered crappy prizes and food that wasn't nearly as good as it was at past fairs. He did good work too. It's exactly what she wanted and he was done in about an hour, giving us time to still see the concert .

They were the band playing at the county fair tonight and my wife and I were able to see them as part of our paid admission. It's the second time we've seen them in concert. We watched them in Wisconsin Dells a few years ago and, even though I'm not a huge fan, I do think they put on a decent performance. If anything, I think they were better than last year's rock performer, Brett Michaels. We were looking forward to that concert last year (well, my wife was at least) only to discover he's becoming nothing more than an expensive cover band (and, yes, I'm including his performance of Poison songs in that. What's the point of going on a solo career if you don't have your own original solo music?). .38 Special at least played their own songs. We didn't stay for the whole concert because we were getting hungry and wanted to leave before the traffic got bad. But, we stayed through Hang on Loosely. They were performing it as we were walking to the...

It was very cloudy/dark out for most of the morning today and I was starting to make alternate plans for lunch. However, the sun finally came out around 10:30 and brightened things up enough for me to get my walk in after all. I learned something today, I need to work on my reaction time. I had a garter snake swim past me as I was crossing a bridge over one of the ponds and, by the time I realized what it was, it was already in the tall grass. I'll have to pay closer attention and watch for it next time. Here's some of the photos I was able to get: