Heater, Mother of Lance
Heather B. Armstrong
Hi. I’m Heather B. Armstrong, and this used to be called mommy blogging. But then they started calling it Influencer Marketing: hashtag ad, hashtag sponsored, hashtag you know you want me to slap your product on my kid and exploit her for millions and millions of dollars. That’s how this shit works. Now? Well… sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the ride.
Suzanne
2004/12/29 at 5:27 amHow gorgeous. Damnit, you’re making me want to visit Utah – which is something I NEVER thought I’d want to do!
Brad
2004/12/29 at 5:27 amFirst? Sweet.
Angela
2004/12/29 at 5:27 amOh, very pretty. You take such lovely photos.
libbiegrrl
2004/12/29 at 5:27 amBeautiful!!!
red
2004/12/29 at 5:27 amBEAUTIFUL!
gina
2004/12/29 at 5:29 amthat is breathtaking. almost makes me want to move to utah but not really 🙂
Eleni
2004/12/29 at 5:29 amtop 10!!! beautiful picture!
twaci
2004/12/29 at 5:29 amyou would think by this picture that the great salt lake would be a beautiful mountain lake… but i have to say, i find it to be sort of fugly. leave it to dooce to make it look gorgeous with her handy-dandy d70.
joy
2004/12/29 at 5:30 ami’ve read your site for ages and never seen less than thirty-gazillion comments on one of your photographs. Only five is somehting bordering on the miraculous!
ashik
2004/12/29 at 5:30 amWhat? I thought your camera was capable of only taking pictures of Leta (wearing pink), Chuck (molested in some way) or GEORGE! (exuding all that is good)
joy
2004/12/29 at 5:31 amok, so nevermind. nice pic, btw. makes me want to go snowboard in utah.
Jadde
2004/12/29 at 5:31 amThats a beautiful picture! It reminds me of the years I lived there in The Great Salt Lake and that maybe, not quite, but maybe, it would be nice to move back there again…
I’ve never posted before, and I’m new to reading your blog, but here I am this morning.
Lis
2004/12/29 at 5:32 amThat is beautiful!!
tone
2004/12/29 at 5:32 amBeautiful! Utah sure is photogenic.
peggy
2004/12/29 at 5:32 amOnly 10 comments so far (until I get this typed – then there’ll be 25. Sig’h) so here’s my redundant comment:
Gorgeous!!!
amit
2004/12/29 at 5:33 amsoooo perrrrty
Liz
2004/12/29 at 5:33 amAlmost makes me forget that it is the land of BYU. Beautiful picture. 🙂
stacy
2004/12/29 at 5:34 amDooce, just out of curiosity, how many of your photos are enhanced by photoshop? Utah seems to be a beautiful place, (and you obviously are a talented photographer) but all your photos seem so vibrant.
christy
2004/12/29 at 5:34 amIf you had “Visit Utah!” in a nice curly script on the bottom it would be a classic postcard. First postcards – then the WORLD! Mwah hah hah!
Beth
2004/12/29 at 5:35 amThe sky always seems to be gorgeous in Utah. Sometimes I get tired of gray!
Beeyotiful.
Dana
2004/12/29 at 5:40 amNot as fab as the Jersey sunsets, but a close second.
Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Heidik81
2004/12/29 at 5:41 amI am a long time lurker, but couldn’t wait to join the fun!
What a beautiful view….
Heidik81
2004/12/29 at 5:41 amI am a long time lurker, but couldn’t wait any longer to join the fun!
What a beautiful view….
Fish
2004/12/29 at 5:42 amThere are so many things I liked about yesterday’s Chuck-post:
1. Jon’s freakish present wrapping ability. I am not alone.
2. Camel Bladder
3. Southern Dooce. I love it when southern dooce comes out to play.
4. Dress-up boots
5. Boohbah=Fuck. Hope Leta doesn’t associate the sounds of the second with the visuals from the first, or you’re gonna have a lot of explaining to do to her preschool teacher.
6. Dog-eating goats.
Thanks, heather.
Dazed & Confuzed
2004/12/29 at 5:42 amPoor Chuckles – he just wants to sew what wild oats he has, poor thing. And hey, Pringles kick ass.
Heidik81
2004/12/29 at 5:45 amOops – I’m a loser. I posted twice, and you can see what I changed. Well, may as well take this opportunity to say that I think you’re cool, Dooce, and I get a kick out of all your stories and pictures.
Michele R
2004/12/29 at 5:47 amStunning!
Wayne
2004/12/29 at 5:49 amI’m also a long time lurker on your blog. It’s always a great read and your pictures are so sharp and amazing. Thanks for the laughs! 😀
Claude
2004/12/29 at 5:51 amOoh, great pic. That’s nature, relatively untainted by pollution (not like in NJ, which has spectacular sunsets but it’s cos of all the crap in the air).
I spent a week in southern Utah a couple of weeks back, around Escalante National Park and Zion Canyon. It’s just too beautiful out there. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Scott
2004/12/29 at 5:55 amExcellent sunset.
For some reason it makes me want to shout “Riiiiiiiiii-coooolaaaaaaaaaa!”
tiffany
2004/12/29 at 5:56 amOooh cool! I’m totally queer for sunset pictures. 🙂
Here’s a neat trick I’ve used for pics like this that might be fun to play with… (let’s call it the boogaloo effect :-P)
1. Create two duplicate layers of your original.
2. On the bottom layer, adjust the curves until the sky looks more or less like you want it.
3. Then on the top layer, go into curves and bring the shadows WAY up, like unnaturally so, push the shadows part of the curve all the way to the top. It’ll be grainy but you’ll be amazed at the amount of detail hidden in those shadows!
4. Then I erase away the sky and bring the opacity of the top layer down to like 25%. It adds back in a lot of the details that otherwise would have been lost.
5. CTRL-A to select all, CRTL-SHIFT-C to copy merged, CTRL-V to paste into a new layer
6. Adjust the color balance on the whole thing.
Here are a few examples…
http://www.electricboogaloo.net/archives_2004_10/07/index.htm
http://www.electricboogaloo.net/archives_2004_10/04/index.htm
http://www.electricboogaloo.net/archives2004_09/09/index.htm (scroll down to the bottom two pictures)
–Sorry everyone for nerding up the place. We now return you to your scheduled discussion of poop.
Lisa
2004/12/29 at 6:00 amThis is scary: I read the Chuck-almost-missing post and when I finished, I realized I was all anxious, as if my own dog had had an unauthorized trip down the block. Either I’m too in love with Chuck, too sympathetic because I love my own dog so much (and yet realize he’s just waiting to find ways to make my heart race, and that he loves pepperoni more than me), or your writing is quite vivid. Probably all three at once.
All best to Chuck, Leta, Jon (none of us has that wrapping gene) and you,
Lisa
Bucky Four-Eyes
2004/12/29 at 6:00 amI believe nerdery is always welcome here, Tiffany (#31)!
What’s a little suspect here is people who don’t check the gate before letting precious doggies out into strange yards.
Bad Jon. Bad!
Do you think Chuck was trying to rendezvous with Mouse for the Great Escape?
Michelle
2004/12/29 at 6:01 amMy canon digital rebel is KAPUT. But on a good note, honey now knows not to put it behind his rocking chair. It was just a matter of time before his hyperkinetic rocking moved the chair within striking distance of the camera… The body and innards are probably toast, but the lenses and other peripherals are all okay. But seeing this quality pic (woohoo, Utah!) I may now be convinced that the d70’s the way to go – screw the $1500 in canon lenses!!
Kathleen
2004/12/29 at 6:04 amBeautiful pic; I also like the Chuck story, especially the fact that he is referred to as “my dog”, not “our dog”. Damn right. Same with my Puppylicious (that’s right, MY Puppylicious).
Dr. Johnny Fever
2004/12/29 at 6:10 amLet’s all go skinny dipping!
Geremy F
2004/12/29 at 6:11 amwow… great colors.
Paige
2004/12/29 at 6:11 amPeople have always told me that Utah is really beautiful, and I believed them — yet, the recent lack of sun here in Germany has made me all the more wistful for great sunsets like this one. Thanks!
Scott
2004/12/29 at 6:12 amTiffany – Excellent photos on your site. What do the kids say these days? Oh yeah, you’ve got mad skills.
What if Chuck really did have “relations” with that yorkie slut? Can you imagine rorkie/chuck puppies?
Michelle
2004/12/29 at 6:12 amAnd on the Chuck-Goes-A-Courtin’ (mmmm hmmmm) thread – my honey and I adopted a dog last month from a rescue group here in Austin, TX (www.bluedogrescue.com – GREAT organization). Tater (the new baby in the family) had been a stray, but had not otherwise had a terrible life – healthy, affectionate, loyal. But as a part of his Daschund/basenji mix (props for being Chuck’s cousin mixbreed) – he is SUCH an escape artist. Plus honey leaves the garage doors open all the time (ass-hat).
On the VERY DAY that we were supposed to sign the adoption contract (you know – I will not breed this dog, I will not allow him to ride unsecured in the back of a pickup truck, I will not alter his tail or ears for cosmetic reasons, I will give him health care…) TATER WENT MISSING! Honey had been carrying lumber into the backyard and away went the pup. So not only did I have that frantic, sphincter-tightening fear of mashed tater on the road, but I aslo thought – we’re BAD adoptive parents. They won’t let us keep him if he’s not here when they come with the adoption contract!!
So to make things worse, I work 25 miles from home…Honey walked and drove the neighborhood for an hour before I got there. I finally called Blue Dog to ask if someone had found him (their number on the tag) – they had received that call and had already picked him up. He was happily returned to us when they brought the contract over to sign and we were just given a ‘responsibility’ lecture…
Just for the record, Tater has NEVER gotten out (of his 3 escapes) when I’ve been home.
Sissychong
2004/12/29 at 6:13 amBeautiful picture, makes me want to grab my husband (OK so I want to grab him with out the picture) to curl up with and watch the sunset!
Stephanie
2004/12/29 at 6:14 amVery pretty pic. Thanks for sharing.
Amy
2004/12/29 at 6:19 amHey! What is the obsession with being first to respond? I didn’t realize that we were having a contest. I realize that Dooce.com is my fave and I can’t wait to read the latest Heather/Leta/Jon/Chuck/George/Etc antics. I never realized that I should be trying to wake up at the crack of dawn to be the first one to respond to the Pic o the day. Silly me! Love you guys!
amelia
2004/12/29 at 6:23 amWhen left alone he only strews toilet paper about? Heck, Chuck is an angel. My dog somehow opens the closet door, digs in the dirty clothes basket to find the underwear and chews the crotch out. One of these past holiday party nights we came home to three – THREE – pairs of underwear on the kitchen floor with the crotch chewed out. Your former congressman is a saint.
Danielle
2004/12/29 at 6:24 amDooce – incredibly beautiful. You have oodles of talent.
Tiffany – thanks for not just linking to your pics, which are also fabulous, but for explaining how to boogaloo. I’m still learning the ins and outs of Photoshop, so the explanation is quite handy and timely.
africankelli
2004/12/29 at 6:27 amThank God Chuck came back. How could you live without Chuck and George? I know I couldn’t.
Yay for Chuck’s great return!
Fran
2004/12/29 at 6:31 amYou’ve probably got job prospects on the Utah Tourism Board if they don’t mind being written about in your blog.
Susan
2004/12/29 at 6:38 ampartly because of your pictures, my friend and I have started planning (dreamingly) a trip to utah to see how gorgeous it is (and also to get in some photography and climbing) … beautiful!!!
JulieT
2004/12/29 at 6:46 amVery pretty! It’s so weird for me to see a sunset over anything but the ocean.
JulieT
2004/12/29 at 6:47 ambtw, please continue to post nerdery… I get all of my PShop skills from online nerdery.