BREAKING NEWS!!! F-16 BLACKBIRD!!

One quite talented photographer, Kiwi D. Fruit, noticed an amazing picture in her portfolio earlier today. Although quite rare, she had managed to catch the first known photograph of the Wisconsin Giant Blackbird.

Here's the stunning picture.

This amazing bird has been known to range from large crow-sized to small car-sized, but never before has one been documented as F-16-sized!

"I was taking pictures at the local air show," says Fruit, "When this plane flew over, I remember thinking to myself that looks like the perfect angle for a picture. So I snapped the picture and moved on. I think I saw the bird, too, but in the heat of the moment (the planes were flying low and loud over my head at the moment) I thought it was just another airplane."

This picture has been checked out be the governments FPI (Fraudulent Photograph Investigating) because so many people thought it was a fake, but Dave Berghenstein, head of the FPI, said it all checked out.
"Just because this bird is so rare, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. People rarely see the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot, but those exist, too. Giant squid. Bill Waterson."

There may be some more investigation, but most people have been satisfied by the FPI's work.

We may do another article or two on this, as more research and investigation is done. For Lack of a Better Title makes no claims as to the authentication of this picture

I haven't got a title for this one...

Hello, peoples.

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. On Sunday we almost didn't have volleyball. The two guys who normally set it up and tell everyone where to be and when to be there, weren't going to be there. So I went over and asked Alex if he knew anything about volleyball that day. He did all the conferencing and I just showed up. Dad brought the boys along to play with a family from church who were having a picnic. So dad played, too, and he's pretty good. It was a good day for me; I served first for my team in every game, but only my first serve went wild! After that I scored at least 2 points every time I served. :) It made me happeh.

My teams only won one game out of 6, but that wasn't for lack of trying! I dove more on Sunday than ever before. And I really think I'm better than I used to be.

Monday we went down to IA to clean house. Oh. My. Goodness. It was a MESS! The kitchen had crumbs and food all over the counters, food left in the fridge, caramel corn in a sticky little pile by the wall....At some point in time, a feather pillow ripped open in the master bedroom, adding feathers to the pizza crusts, socks, and doggie mess on the floor....Baby medicine and dog mess in the baby's room....Piles of crumpled-up newspaper and dog..stuff in the basement, along with dirty laundry and the dogs' blankets......Oh. It was awful. I have never loved rubber gloves so much in my life. I'll have to ask Mom about putting a few pictures of it on here.

But we got it cleaned, with the help of Avalon, Catfreak, & their sisters, my Grandpa, and my friend Megan, who I hadn't seen in 10 months!! I'm so glad we have good friends.

Tuesday we cleaned house more. I surprised another friend, which was so much fun! she had no clue I was going to be there! so we hung out for several hours, cleaning house, goofing off....

Today I haven't been doing anything of importance. I watched "Chisum" starring John Wayne. As soon as I get around to it, I'll put reviews of that and "Bye Bye Birdie" on my Old Movie Blog. It was a decent movie, although it seemed that the tv station cut it.

So that's what's happening, in a nutshell.

I finished another card front on Sunday. Here's a pic:

It belongs to the same series of cards as that Zinnia one. I think the third card will be a pink rose, perhaps, because that means "friendship."

Hm.
I'm playing a lot of the multiplayer games on www.gamesgames.com. If you ever join the site, my player name is thatKiwigirl.

My friend Avalon and my other friend Catfreak want me to re-introduce them to y'all. Go check out their blogs! They don't have much on them *ahem* but with a bit of encouragement... I'd suggest going to Avalon's first post, because she started a mystery story there. BUT she needs to CONTINUE the STORY because she just LEFT US HANGING there...Perhaps we should comment blitz her again.

okay, I have nothing left to say, except remember that the Feelin' Feminine Challenge starts this Monday!

Baibaiz

~Kiwi~

hola, folks!

Hello. I just noticed that it had been a few days since I last posted, so I decided to post again. :D

Today, Sis and I are going to the mall with Short Stuff, J. Shrimp, and KK. Mom and Dad are in IA, sorting stuff out about our other house. The people living there now are moving out on Sunday, so we have to go down Sunday afternoon/Monday morning to clean the house before it's put back on the market. *sigh* I don't like cleaning house after us, much less people I don't even know! I hope they leave it neat.

Saturday's wedding was pretty. The bride & bridesmaids had pretty dresses....You know how some bridesmaid's dresses couldn't be worn anywhere else, no matter how much people say "oh, you could wear that many other places"? These you could wear to church. They were nice, but not terribly fancy.

They didn't decorate the church much, just some flowers around the candles and on the reserved front rows. Julie's colors were blue and yellow. My friend Short Stuff made the cake. I hope she puts up a picture of it! We didn't get to go to the reception, so I didn't get to see it. :(

Our neighbors invited us over to a cookout in their front yard. It's the thought that counts. It was very nice of them to invite us, but it was so.....boring....! Everyone there was 40 or so, and they all knew each other, but we didn't. Most of the half hour spent there was listening to other's conversations. I wish I could have gone to the reception instead. There was food and cake and dancing, and even a double rainbow! *doublesigh*

On Sunday we had Kris and her sister over for lunch and volleyball. It was impromptu, which made it all the more fun!

Volleyball was okay, but I'm never going 3 weeks without playing volleyball again! I wasn't at my best. And then we had extra players, so we rotated into the serving spot. That doesn't work for me. I can't just leave the game, then come back 5-10 minutes later and serve well.

By the way, does anyone know a polite way to say "Andy (or fill in any name) that was my ball! Go play in your own 'zone' and let me play in mine!"? Because saying it that way sounds mean, but sometimes it needs to be said!

Yesterday I hung around for a while, then Sis and I went to the church ballgame. 'We' won two out of three games! I wish I was good at baseball, but I hate batting. I'm not good enough to hit consistently, and I feel silly standing there, striking out! My catching isn't too bad, and I love running. Need to work on my aim some. I think I'll just stick to volleyball.

'Twas mildly annoying. I sat between a girl named Kelsey and a boy, Evan, during one of the games. There was one conversation 'loop' going on from Kelsey on down the bleachers away from me, and another 'loop' starting with Evan and headed away. So I was kind of stuck between two 'loops.' It wasn't all bad, I guess, but sometimes when I came in at the end of an interesting-sounding conversation, or I couldn't really break into a conversation....

Okay, I'll leave you with a few pictures:

That's the oil painting I did a month or two ago.

Here are the outside and inside of my latest card, the one I was talking about in my last post.

Front:

Inside:
(I know it's sloping downhill here, but in the actual card it is straightened and done in 'stairstep' style.)

Last, but not least, is the painting I did for the Downhere tee-shirt contest. I ended up not actually getting to put it on a tee shirt because of lack of time. Instead, I just did the postcard entry, with that on the postcard. Across the sun is supposed to be "Hope is Rising," but I didn't put it straight onto the painting. I just added it digitally.

Oh, I almost forgot.
I'm thinking of doing the "Feeling Feminine Challenge" next week, just for the fun of it. I don't think that skirts are always more modest than pants (it all depends on the skirt or pair of pants itself and where you're wearing it to), but I have noticed how I act differently (different?) when wearing a skirt. I will wear pants for volleyball, though, because in my opinion they're more practical. Would anyone care to join me? We can blog about it together, and post pictures!

Maybe some of the girls who live nearby? *coughShortStuffJShrimpKKLadyFlorimelcough* :D

So, that's what I'm up to. :) What about you-all? What are you doing? Does anyone have an answer to my volleyball-related question?

See ya!

~Kiwi~

Merry Christmas! (a few days late)/After the Bethlehem Skyline Concert, part 1

Heylo! I hope all y'all had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did. Monkey bought me a pair of post ear rings, which he disguised by putting in a Mountain Dew bottle, wrapping it in an unraveled paper towel tube and packing tape, then in wrapping paper. Mom and Dad gave me a book, two jackets and two long sleeve shirts, and an alarm clock. The nice thing about the alarm clock is that you can wake up to an alarm, the radio, or a cd. The unhappy thing is that there's no headphone jack.
Grandma and Grandpa were supposed to come up Christmas Eve and stay until today, but decided that the weather was too bad and they would wait until Sunday. When the phone rang while we were opening presents, my guess was "Grandma and Grandpa calling to say they're coming after all?" Mom said it was them, but they were just wishing us a Merry Christmas. Lo and behold, Someone came driving up at about 11:00.....Grandma and Grandpa! That was a great surprise. They gave me a big, beautiful, warm fuzzy blanket that alone is as warm as my two comforters.

We had Ham.

I think that paragraph needs no further words. Ham is good.

Yesterday we had Christmas at my other grandparents' house, with most of my Aunts and Uncles there. (Hi, all you!) We had a gift exchange with unmarked presents and I ended up with one of the best ones: a large tote bag in yellow, orange, brown, and white stripes. Grandma warned me ahead of time that Bigger may not be Better. In the biggest package, which TOO got, was a roll of toilet paper! Thanks for the warning, Grandma!

Now, I shall continue on my report of The Concert. Alright, I already talked about most of the concert, but I forgot to mention that it was Jason Gray's 17th wedding anniversary, so he sang a song for her and gave her a big bunch of red and white roses. *aw*

After the concert, as we were strolling down the hallway, we passed an off-shoot hall with a six-foot screen blocking part of it and Marc Martel's hat sitting on the screen. Rapunzel pointed it out to me.

"Hey, Kiwi, look." *points*

"What?"

"The hat. It's Marc's!"

"Are you sure? Why would he leave it there..." *steps closer* "'Punzel, there's an arm! I think Marc's back there."

"He's not back there, I don't think."

*Kiwi steps even closer* "That's Marc. I'm sure of it!"

Out steps (cue drumroll) Marc Martel! "Oh, rats, you found me." :) I wonder, does he make a habit of hiding behind screens, spying on his fans?

We even got a few pictures with him, and a (illegible) signature! Here's a few pics:

I asked him if he would give me an autograph, since I had spotted him.
So he gladly obliged. :)
And then he posed for a picture with us. I'm in purple, the other girl is Miss Rapunzel. I wish that lady's head hadn't been in the way!
Then we just happened to run into Daniel Kirkley.
"Hi," Daniel smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Dan...." He laughed sheepishly. "I'm Daniel."
Like I didn't know who he is! I requested an autograph from him.
"Oh, sure, sure!" He signed it with a flourish.
"Wow, quite legible, too!" Not! Those people have some of the most illegible signatures I have ever seen!
"Well, do you want me to print it underneath?" He asked, jokingly.
"Sure!"
"Really??"
"Why not?"
Daniel said that he'd almost forgotten how to print his name! lol!
Here're two pics with Daniel Kirkley signing our notebooks.
Daniel Kirkley is one of the nicest people I ever hope to meet. He's friendly, interested in his fans (He asked me about Myspace or Facebook, of which I have none, and then requested that I email him my blog address. I wonder if he got the email....Mr. Kirkley, if you're reading this, please don't lurk! Let me know you're here by commenting!)

And I leave you with that picture. I'll post more pictures later, and maybe scan their autographs and put them on here. Especially one, in particular......

Merry Christmas all, and Happy New Year!
Talk to you-all later!
~Kiwifruit

The Bethlehem Skyline Concert

Okay, I have no clue where to start, so I’ll try starting at the beginning. Oh, wow, so original! But I’ll only go about half-way through the evening. I’ll be able to get some good posts out of this.
So. We arrived just as the doors were scheduled to open, but some people managed to get in there earlier and so the front rows were taken. :( We got some pretty good seats off to the left of center stage. =D
While waiting for the concert to start, we played a hand-clapping game where the loser had to get up and do a fifteen-second ‘random dance moment’ as penance. That was fun! I only had to do it once.
Then, the pastor (or I’m assuming he was the pastor) went up and announced that the concert was starting. Ten seconds passed, and no one appeared on stage. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds is as long as impatient people like me can wait, so Owan, who came with us, started a slow clapping rhythm that slowly grew louder and faster as more people joined in. That was cool! I’ve never been an instigator of something like that! Behind the clapping, we could hear sheep and angel voices. Jason Gray came out after what seemed like an eternity and said something like “I heard that and it sounded like a rock concert starting, then you hear angels going ‘aaaaahhhh’ in the background!”
Jason was the emcee for the evening, and he did a great job at that. Jaime Jamgochian came out after Jason did “Miriam”, and she sang “­O Come, O Come Emmanuel” Next, Daniel Kirkley was called out. He’s amazing! Centricity got some really talented artists for this tour. He sang “What Child is This?” I’ll post a video of him doing this song, because I haven’t got a clue how to describe his voice.
Lanae’ Hale came out next, and she did a nice song. She has a pretty voice, but she’s a little more country-music-style than I usually listen to.
An’ den….. Downhere! Their first song was “Glory to God”. I’ve only heard it twice before Sunday, but I know most of the chorus already. Here's a pic of Marc:And another: We didn’t get many good pictures, but I do have to thank Mom for loaning her camera. Without it, the pictures wouldn’t be even this good!

I’m going to just post a few more pictures of the concert here, because otherwise I’ll end up writing up the entire concert. You can watch video of the last Bethlehem Skyline concert at www.mogulus.com/downhere if you want. Here’re the pics!

I’ll post more tomorrow or day after. Have fun!
Kiwi da Happyfruit

New Computer

Woohoo!
We have a new computer now, so I'll be able to keep this thing more up to date. And also I'll be able to put on those pictures of my butterfly paintings.

Here's one:

What I did here was print out some butterfly coloring pages off the internet. Then I lightly traced just the outlines of them and free-handed the inner details. The pictures on the notebook paper are my paintings.

The second step: (It ought to be right here!)

Drat it!! How am I supposed to put a second picture on here when it won't go where I want it??? ARGH!! Hmph.

Well, I'll post the second step tomorrow. For some reason unknown to all, the computer (who doesn't have a name yet) has decided that he doesn't want to cooperate. If another picture is going on here, he wants it anywhere except where I want it.

My mom, brothers, sister, and I went letterboxing today.

For any of you who don't know what that is, it's sort of like geo-caching (sp?) or a treasure hunt. To get started, you choose a rubber stamp that you feel represents you or your family, or just one that you like (I wanted one that said 'Blah blah blah', but we got a Snoopy one instead). You also purchase a notebook and an ink pad. Then you go to www.letterboxing.org to find a box hidden in your area. Mom found two at a park in a nearby town, so she printed up the instructions for finding it. The first one we found today was quite well hidden in a real cool little hollow just off the main trail. Now, the letterboxes are all different styles, usually a tupperware container with a notebook and a rubber stamp in it. What you do when you find one is take the stamp from it and stamp it in your notebook, and then you stamp your stamp in their notebook, along with the date (let's see how many more times I can put the word 'stamp' in this sentence :-).

Anyway, we found two today. The first time we tried to find some, Mom found some instructions for a set of four stamps. They were spread out around a park, and the last one had the notebook in it. We set off, all excited, and carefully followed the instructions. The first one was no-where to be found, and same with the second. I found the third right where it was supposed to be, but we tried for a long time to find the last one and never found it. Dad was working that day, but during his lunch break he came down and looked for the first two, convinced that we were all blind as bats and they were right infront of our noses. Guess who didn't find any! But I won't rub it in too much. My sister (she wants her nickname on here to be 'Rapunzel') found the first one today, then seven-year-old K. found the other. Now we have three stamps in our notebook.

I'm going to go take a bike ride or something before it gets too dark out. Have a good day, and thanks for reading!

~Kiwifruit

P.S. Has anyone else ever had trouble adding a picture and it not wanting to go where you put it? If so, could you please tell me how you made it work? And also, how do I make it double space (as in, putting two spaces between paragraphs)?