A Bug's Life

For Christmas this year I got a new camera, and I am so in love. Nothing against my old Olympus point and shoot, but frankly, I'd dropped in one too many times and it was starting to get pretty grumpy. But this new camera, this Nikon of Gold, oh heavens above. I might start drooling if I talk too much about it. It makes such a slick little *cla-chick* noise when I press the button, and I hardly have to wait any time between pictures before I can take a new shot. It's sleek and sexy, and everything a camera should be. If I'm still single when I'm 35 I'm going to marry my Nikon of Gold.

We've taken a few field trips together already, my Nikon of Gold and I, and I'd like to take you on a virtual tour of one of the most interesting of those adventures: A Day In the Life of My Little Brother Bug. Ladies and gents, whoever among you thinks they had it good when they were a kid, I'm sorry to dash your fond memories upon the sharp and jagged rocks of reality, but this little kid has got it made. He's an only child with two doting parents and four older siblings who compete to get him the coolest toys, the sweetest little cars, the greatest Thomas the Tank figurines, and to play the most fun games with him. So far this year I believe I'm winning because I taught him how to build a fort, which is now his favorite thing to do. Mwa-hahahaha! He lives on a farm, has two dogs, and his best friend in the world lives right across the field, and that kid has horses. I really don't think it gets any better than that, as far as little boys' lives go.

So on a cool and sunny Christmas day, I thought I'd go test out the new Nikon of Gold, see what it could do. Bug was outside playing with the dogs, so I started there. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with: A Boy and His Dog.



I know, unbearably cute and precious, right? Well check this out: A Boy and His Dogs. Plural. I love how none of their feet are on the ground.



Sometimes Obie gets a little rambunctious (he's only 9 months old, if you can believe that), so Bug has to wrestle him away to protect Maddox, the little guy.



So this is where the day turned interesting. Bug, who has never once even enjoyed posing for pictures, became suddenly fascinated with the idea of taking pictures of of all the things on our family's property that he considers important. First stop, the garden, where Maddox thoughtfully fertilized the ground. He ran in, turned around, and called "Take a picha!"



No sooner was the garden shot in the bag than it was, "Ok, c'mon to the pond!" He took off running, puppy and me at his heels. I just can't get over how intent he was on getting the pictures just right. For example, he made me take this one 5 times, and examined the picture each time until I got a shot he liked. Normally Bug makes gettting good pictures of him as difficult as possible, and yet on this day, he was a set director.



"Ok, c'mon, now take a picha of the woods!"



If I were giving somebody a tour of our house and showing them the interesting parts of our land, I probably would have showed them the garden and the pond, but this stack of logs over by the barn? That's all five-year-old logic. These logs were very important. He made me take about 12 shots.



Then of course there's the old run-down, broken-down riding mower. I'm still not clear on why Superdad rode it to our new property from our old house, about 5 miles away, when we moved here, but it was the last hurrah for this riding mower. It's covered in bird poop and spiderwebs, which is perhaps precisely why it registers so high on the awesome scale for a five year old boy.



There were many other stops on our tour of the land. We took pictures of throwing logs in the river, or stepping through puddles on the path through the woods, of the beehives and the flagpole. But after about an hour, Bug got fed up with always being the subject of these photographs, and demanded to be allowed his turn behind the shutter.



I was hesitant to let him touch my sweet new Nikon of Gold, but you know what? I think he might secretly have an artistic eye.



So there you go, folks. A private tour of all the cool things at Bug's house. Hope you enjoyed it as much as he and I enjoyed taking the pictures!