A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

challenges

Photo Blogging Challenge (April 2022): Enjoy life

Enjoy life.

Two words that should be paramount to any human being.

Two words that aren’t always followed or used. Stress fills many lives. That stress can be caused by so many things: work, health, politics, school, family life, financial issues, and so much more.

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At times, those two words seem impossible to follow. What can make you enjoy this life. We know, in the big scheme of things, we are all small particles in time. Our time on Earth is short, so we often find it hard to find time to enjoy what we have.

Humans are all different. We come in various shapes, colors, looks, and more. We speak different languages, we write and read differently, and we communicate on different levels.

But we are all humans. Unfortunately, part of being human are certain emotions and actions that can make it hard to “enjoy life.” And that’s a shame. Because, in the end, we should all be able to enjoy life as long as we walk this planet.

So, for me, I’ve chosen to simplify a lot of things in life. I try not to bring work or the high-level stress items into my own world. I’ve done a decent job of it at times, but still have a long way to go. Maybe one day, I’ll fully be there. For now, though, I will keep plodding along.

Here are my five for the month! Let’s see what you all have!

1. Happy birthday!

Harper turned one on April 29! What a great day (and weekend) we had together. She has really allowed me to learn to enjoy life, even though she can be a total pain in the ass sometimes!

2. Play ball!

I love baseball and I always said even if I had a dog, I wouldn’t take the pup to a baseball game. Alas, I now enjoy bringing Harper to bark in the park (though it’s only been twice). I think it will be fun as she ages to see how she grows being in the park at games.

3. The bunny!

We got a great day for Easter and I was able to make sure Cameron had his egg hunt when they came over!

4. Boop!

How could I not use this one this month? This was during her birthday hike. Is that a boopable nose, or what?

5. Wash time

I have to make sure my new ride stays looking nice!

There’s my five and let’s see what you came up with! If you took part in this month’s challenge, make sure to link up below.

And for those of you who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment (here, too!).

Let’s continue to grow this challenge and have a strong community. Come back and check out the others who link later on, too! NOTE: We have a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

** CHALLENGE CHANGE **

From this point forward, I am going to do the next theme at the bottom of each linkup. Also, the posting date will now be the first of each month, thus giving you the entire month to take the photos etc.

That means it’s a one-stop shop! Hopefully this helps out with everybody.

So, below is the linkup for January. Make sure you drop your link there. The theme for May is One hour. Remember to come back on June 1 to link up and check out the theme for that month!

Photo Blogging Challenge: April 2022 results

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Photo Blogging Challenge (March 2022): Nine

Nine years.

We’ve been doing this challenge for nine years! Kind of crazy, if you think about it.

It’s kind of cool to look back at the ups and downs of this challenge. We used to have many more people. Then we had so few. And now, at times, we seem to at least be making a dent.

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It seems challenges, as a whole, don’t draw people anymore in the blogging world. That’s not to say there aren’t some that are still huge. There are a few of them, that’s for sure.

Alas, this one never got to where I had hoped it would. We always thought it would be cool if we had 25 or so people a month to take part. But it never happened and we kept going.

And we still keep going.

This theme was a tough one though. Each March I always struggle with the number, but I try and try to figure something out. Some of these might be a stretch, but hey — I always say interpret as you see fit!

Thanks to all of you who continue to take part in this challenge, even when I tend to forget the calendar and am like “Awwww crap… I’m late!”

Here are my five for the month!

1. The chains

It’s been a bunch of years since I’ve played disc golf. I know I’d like to get back into it a little bit. We were on a geocaching day a few weeks ago and one park had a small disc golf course. And look at this .. the ninth hole! Harper seemed pretty interested!

2. Nine minutes

When Harper and I are out for normal walks and she’s out sniffing, I usually give her 30 or so seconds at a spot. And then I’ll start counting from 10 down to one … and usually when I hit one, she’s ready to go again. This day, we were at a park and she had this “stick” she was carrying and she then decided to lay down and chew on it. Of course I wanted to take photos so I told her she had 10 minutes… but in the end it was only nine. Perfect!

3. Nine months

As Harper approaches her first birthday, she’s been mine for just over nine months. In that amount of time, it’s amazing how she’s grown. She is curious and loves to explore. She loves people. She rarely barks. This was at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in my town. She watched the parade and the sights and sounds didn’t seem to bother her. Treats didn’t hurt!

4. Goodbye to No. 9

At the beginning of the month, I bought a new car. My first SUV of sorts and my first with all wheel drive! It didn’t have everything I wanted (sunroof!) but it had most and I couldn’t say no to the deal. The used car market is crazy and they gave me an amazing deal on my Jetta, which was my ninth car since I started driving/bought my first car. It was hard to say goodbye to it, but the new car has been amazing so far!

5. Nine hours

OK, this one is a stretch. But it’s such a cute photo. It doesn’t happen often, but a nine-hour sleep at night is good for Harper. She’s a high energy pup, so she averages about 15 hours of sleep/naps/snoozes during the day. But that sleep at night is usually her most sound!

There’s my five and let’s see what you came up with! If you took part in this month’s challenge, make sure to link up below.

And for those of you who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment (here, too!).

Let’s continue to grow this challenge and have a strong community. Come back and check out the others who link later on, too! NOTE: We have a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

** CHALLENGE CHANGE **

From this point forward, I am going to do the next theme at the bottom of each linkup. Also, the posting date will now be the first of each month, thus giving you the entire month to take the photos etc.

That means it’s a one-stop shop! Hopefully this helps out with everybody.

So, below is the linkup for January. Make sure you drop your link there. The theme for April is Enjoy Life! Remember to come back on April 1 to link up and check out the theme for that month!

Photo Blogging Challenge: March 2022 results

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Photo Blogging Challenge (February 2022): Photographer’s Choice

First things first — I have to say that these challenges can be hard for one reason: I take so many photos of Harper. I’ve decided, though, that I’m going to try to not fill this challenge each month with Harper.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be some photos of her!

Every once in a while I like to throw themes like this into the fold. It makes it a somewhat easy month for people, but I also feel like it also gives people the chance to be creative and make a theme of their own. When you have the choice, it often means you can really think outside the box.

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It also means you have the ability to just have a potpourri of photographs!

Not so purposely, I ended up with a bit of an adventure/outdoor type of a theme. I spend a lot of time with Harper outside, so I get to see a lot of nice scenery. But I also got away a couple of times this month, so I’m adding some items from that.

It seems like we are coming slowly out of the pandemic and more things are available. This lends to some fun opportunities, especially with photography. But I am still going to keep having adventures and such, and photography — both with my phone and my traditional cameras — is becoming fun again.

This theme always gets me excited to see what others have done with it. I hope you all had a great month and have a great March!

Here are my five for the month!

1. Selfie game

Before Harper, I hated selfies. I think it’s safe to say my selfie game has stepped up some! I do some with Harper when I can get her to settle down. This one was on a recent hike and I wanted to get the sky and such behind me. As I was snapping, she reached up and gave me a pepper kiss and this is the photo that happened. I really liked how this one came out.

2. Found it

I had the chance to get out and do a little geocaching this month, which was nice. This was a grab I made on the way to a New York Islanders game. I used the Hipstamatic + app for this shot and I thought it looked pretty cool.

3. Snowman

I couldn’t resist this photo — taken at a week of toss and fetch. The colors and the ice etc., just looked so cool to me.

4. Cannonsville

My area has several reservoirs, which are water sources for New York City. The reservoirs were made, if I remember right, came about in the 1960s. To make the reservoirs, they had to evacuate and flood several towns. The towns are remembered around the reservoir by these signs. I actually think I might do some research on some of these items and do some blog posts in the future.

5. Puppucino!

Harper had her first Puppucino from Starbucks. Something tells me she loves it!

BONUS PHOTO!

I needed to put a bonus photo in this month. I attended an Islanders game, the first NHL game I’ve been to in years. I loved the new arena. They even won that night, which was even better. Had some good seats and really enjoyed the time. The food prices, though, were crazy high!

If you took part in this month’s challenge, make sure to link up below.

And for those of you who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment (here, too!).

Let’s continue to grow this challenge and have a strong community. Come back and check out the others who link later on, too! NOTE: We have a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

** CHALLENGE CHANGE **

From this point forward, I am going to do the next theme at the bottom of each linkup. Also, the posting date will now be the first of each month, thus giving you the entire month to take the photos etc.

That means it’s a one-stop shop! Hopefully this helps out with everybody.

So, below is the linkup for January. Make sure you drop your link there. The theme for March is Nine! Remember to come back on April 1 to link up and check out the theme for that month!

Photo Blogging Challenge: February 2022 results

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Secret Subject Swap: Choose your own adventure

This post is for the Secret Subject Swap, a monthly blog challenge. Information about the swap can be viewed at the end of this post, as well as links to all others taking part. Have a peek at some of the other bloggers and see what they had to come up with. If you are a blogger, consider joining up for future months!

My theme is “You’re the Australian Immigration Minister in charge of Novak Djokovic’s visa and thus participation in the Australian Open: how will you decide and why?” and it was submitted by Part-Time Working Hockey Mom.

Let me start by somewhat apologizing here as I’m sure this isn’t going to necessarily be what Tamara had possibly hoped for when she submitted this theme.

Alas, the one thing I’ve tried to do with my blog in the nearly 20 years I’ve had it is to try and stay away from most current events and/or controversial topics. That being said, I think I can answer this theme decently without going too crazy.

I titled this post “Choose your own adventure” as this is basically what the world has become with the pandemic. I’m willing to say 95 percent of people dealing with this have gone stir crazy and no matter if you agree with mandates or don’t, you are ready for this to be over and get back to something along the normal lines we had before March 2020.

I know I am.

Alas, the issue is between regular ol’ joes like myself, and government people, and rich people, and other countries, and extreme left and right people, and others who somehow have a say in all of this … can’t agree and can’t get along. What happens, of course, is people disagree, get all mad at one another, and this just triggers many more things.

It’s not a very nice cycle.

So, when a famous athlete arrives in a country for a sporting event and hasn’t done what is required; and then we find out his paperwork to forego said requirements was done wrong; and we also find out he hasn’t followed a lot of mandates and requirements in his own country — it’s hard to feel bad for him.

Let me preface this by saying it’s rare for me to feel bad for an athlete, especially somebody as top of the sport at the one we are speaking about. He’s rich and famous and probably has hundreds of people working for him — if not more.

The fact that paperwork was done wrong means maybe he needs better people in big spots. These are the types of “oopsie” moments that shouldn’t happen when you have that kind of power and money.

All that being said, I don’t feel bad for him.

If I was in the position of Australia, I would have done the same as they did. And I would have done it quite pissed off, too. And why pissed off? Because the tournament is better with him in it. It likely draws more money etc. People want to see the best. And because he was sloppy and careless, the country was forced to follow its own mandates.

Which is the right thing to do.

Again, no matter if you agree with or don’t agree with the mandates, they are out there. Each country is different. But if they are in place you need to follow them, or you could face repercussions. And if and when that happens, you deal with it — no matter if you are a top-level athlete or not.

What are your thoughts on celebs/entertainers and stories about them?

Five others have taken part in this challenge, so go check out the other posts and have some fun reading their secret subjects!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Photo Blogging Challenge (January 2022): Black and White

The one month I would have loved to have been able to use color photos, and I selected black and white as the theme.

Go figure!

That’s OK, though. That’s part of having a challenge like this. Sometimes images you capture won’t always fit the theme, so you have to figure something out!

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Black and white is always cool to me, but more for nostalgia. As a kid, I learned how to develop my own film. There was a darkroom in the house when I was growing up. I was also a “darkroom technician” at a local weekly paper.

So black and white reminds me of newspapers of old, and the smell of the chemicals etc. It always gives a cool feel to photos.

But, in today’s way of photography, no everything fits black and white. We are so accustomed to having everything in color that sometimes taking said color away is almost jarring. But there are some scenes that still scream to be without all of the color.

I’m excited to see what others have come up with.

I hope everybody has had a great start to the year!

Here are my five for the month!

1. Harper!

It’s hard for me to put Harper in black and white because she has such a beautiful color. But this one seemed to work out well. This is her frolicking in the snow!

2. Abandoned car

This is something we found while out geocaching. It’s always interesting to find an old car in the woods, no matter how far from a main road.

3. Cold picnic

I was out for a wintry walk with Harper at a local park and came upon this scene. I thought it worked quite well in black and white, though the pieces of blue in the sky were nice.

4. #BallLife

No matter the season, Harper love retrieving and chewing on her Chuckit! balls!

5. Covered bridge

I had the post all set for publishing, and then I passed this Sunday and I loved the look. I knew it would be perfect for this challenge. So I snapped some shots and had to, unfortunately, eliminate, some ice!

If you took part in this month’s challenge, make sure to link up below.

And for those of you who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment (here, too!).

Let’s continue to grow this challenge and have a strong community. Come back and check out the others who link later on, too! NOTE: We have a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

** CHALLENGE CHANGE **

From this point forward, I am going to do the next theme at the bottom of each linkup. Also, the posting date will now be the first of each month, thus giving you the entire month to take the photos etc.

That means it’s a one-stop shop! Hopefully this helps out with everybody.

So, below is the linkup for January. Make sure you drop your link there. The theme for February Photographer’s Choice! Remember to come back on March 1 to link up and check out the theme for that month!

Photo Blogging Challenge: January 2022 results

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!