Archive for the ‘Images Captured’ Category
Dramatic Sunset
Last Saturday afternoon we actually saw the sun for about ten minutes. The clouds high in the sky dissipated for a short time and revealed a jet contrail that aligned with the glowing orb perfectly. The dew point temperature in the mid-to-upper 40s (F) during this warm spell has been creating some very thick fog. The dark smudges in the foreground of the image are remnants of the day’s fog that was just beginning to open up at about the same time the evening fog was just getting re-started.
We’ve only had a view of the sun for literally minutes out of what seems like too many weeks. I captured this image with an iPhone. The moisture in the air was filtering the sun so that I could make out the circle with my bare eyes, but the iPhone camera recorded more of a flash around the orb. I like the drama it creates.
Yesterday we did receive some rain, but nothing too substantial. It was more drizzle than rain in our location. We were hoping the horses would stand out in it to wash off the mud they had been packing on their coats, but the two geldings spent too much time grazing from the new box under the overhang.
We brought them inside the barn for the night, to give them a chance to dry out in preparation for a return to temps below freezing. The melt is done for a while and we are welcoming the return of frozen ground in the paddocks. It makes it difficult for cleaning up manure, but much nicer for the horses and humans to walk around.
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Sweet Home
When you get home from a hospital stay, the allure of your own bed can be too much to resist. Cyndie said she just wanted to test her ability to hoist herself up onto our tall mattress. I think she probably also wanted to test out taking a little afternoon nap.
Sure, the hospital has professional nurses providing care, but we have our cat, Pequenita. She settled right in at Cyndie’s feet as soon as it looked like a nap was about to happen. Nurses can’t offer that kind of support.
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Where To?
As I strolled up the driveway yesterday afternoon, the eagle statue caught my eye and it occurred to me that I should consider moving it for the winter. We have placed it in a spectacular spot at the top of the driveway, but during the snow season that spot is right where plowing pushes the snow.
More than once last year, I accidentally hit the poor guy with the blade.
In pondering another location for the statue, I had difficulty coming up with someplace that didn’t also involve snow being dumped. There’s not a good place where it would still have its deserved prominence, yet be out of the way of clearing snow.
I suppose I could find a spot for him somewhere down by the labyrinth, but I’m a little afraid that if I did that, we’d never get around to moving it back up the hill again after the snow is gone, to this great perch by the driveway.
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Accepting Darkness
At our latitude, the steady transition from the extra daylight hours of summer, to the lengthened hours of darkness in winter, really begins to have an impact during the month after the autumnal equinox. That doesn’t take anything away from the initial anxiety that strikes when the trend begins to become apparent in the latter part of the summer. They are just different stages of the same phenomenon.
We tend to whine and moan when we notice the sun setting earlier and earlier, but day-to-day, the change is negligible. Early in the season, the impact on evening activity is minimal. Then all of a sudden, there comes a point when it seems like it is dark as night outside, and preparations for dinner haven’t even been started.
That happened to me yesterday, and I noticed a sensation of acceptance wash over me. Long hours of darkness are the way it is going to be for the next 5-months. Deal with it.
Somehow, I seem to find a way. Similar to how I now find myself automatically picking out a long-sleeved shirt every morning and accept it as routine, long hours of darkness becomes just the way it is for a while. It becomes normal.
Normal is definitely a relative perspective.
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Autumnal Magnificence
This fall we have been blessed with an enduring array of spectacularly colored leaves, enhanced with a run of some wonderfully sunny, blue-sky days. I’ve been remiss in taking as many photos as the scenes deserve, so I made a point to find my better camera and go for a stroll yesterday.
We didn’t end up getting enough growth in our hay-field to warrant a second cut, so we have granted the horses full access for the past week, encouraging them to give it a final trim.
I walked out there with Delilah (on a leash <frown>) to break up some of the manure piles yesterday, and was able to linger among the herd for a while. I think it is funny that the shots of the horses didn’t catch the colorful leaves. It almost looks like two different seasons.
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Relative Something 