Archive for the ‘Images Captured’ Category
Some Snapshots
When you find yourself under a heat advisory, this is the kind of place you want to be. Location makes such a difference. At Wintervale, in the summer, the shade of tall trees is the best we can do for respite from the oppressive heat. Last night I had the pleasure of being a guest for dinner with friends at Gary Larson’s house on Christmas Lake.
It was a wonderful way to beat the heat.
I stayed in town for the night, sleeping at Cyndie’s parents’ house, to save me a trip between home and work. Cyndie was kind enough to send me some pictures she took, so I wouldn’t suffer too much for missing our place and our pets.
It had the opposite effect. I miss them all, even more.
Delilah has definitely won our hearts in the very short time since we brought her home. Here she is with her rubber pig toy that oinks when squeezed. Then there is Mozyr, lying upside down in the tube on the new cat playground Cyndie bought them as compensation for putting up with a dog now living in their midst. Finally, a shot of some of the raspberries that are in abundance all around the woods of our property.
Thanks, Cyndie!
Brush Hoggin’
After the excitement of having our hay-field cut by a team of 3 horses last week, we were very happy to learn that our neighbor got 1 and 1/2 wagon loads of bales out of it. That is a good result. He has inspired us to consider keeping the front field for cutting hay, instead of using it as pasture. He said it would save us a lot of money if we are able to produce our own hay.
He only cut the front field, so I needed to knock down the uncut growth on the back portion. There used to be a fence between the two, but that is now gone, so I was able to make a clean line by cutting straight through, making the fields look like one. By cutting the back field, we can get rid of the weeds, and let more grass come through. Hopefully, we can include that portion when it comes time for the second hay cut of the season.
I also needed to trim portions of the front field where he wasn’t able to steer the horses precisely enough to avoid missing spots. Now it is all ready to grow into an excellent second crop.
We have learned that the second cut is a much better hay, for our purposes. Not all hay is alike, and what we have growing on our property should be just what we want to have. The first cut commonly includes more grass that has grown tall and develops a woody stem. Some of that won’t grow back a second time. What will grow in after the cut will be more of the soft, wide blades.
The key to how much of our fields we cut for hay in the long run will be, what portion of our fields do we need for pasture. If we are lucky, and manage things well, we should have just the right balance to support our goal of keeping 4 horses. I don’t think we’ll really know for sure until we get them here and see what they eat.
I’m looking forward to that, because then I won’t have to do so much dang brush hogging. You know how much I dislike cutting grass!
Wild Strawberries
When we were in our hay-field where our neighbor was doing the cutting the other day, we found out just how far our wild strawberry patch stretches. It is an impressive spread! But does it produce fruit?, you might ask. Cyndie did some hunting. I’ve been told that wild strawberries will be much smaller, and won’t taste as sweet. She got a chance to test the veracity of that claim, when she found fruit.
She agreed.
Here is the sum total of her harvest:
Frame’s Up
The holiday celebration last weekend put my wood shed project on hold, and I have been hoping to reclaim some momentum ever since. I was thinking I could get back to it, right after we got home from the lake, but other tasks won out. The cross-beams, with posts attached, were left lying on the ground for almost two weeks while I contemplated how we would stand them upright to get them assembled, with a limited number of helping hands.
The old treated fence posts we chose to use are very heavy, and tied together, I figured it might be a problem to lift and hold in position. One solution we were considering was to use the bucket on the diesel tractor. I imagined we could strap them up to be held in position with the bucket. However, with just the two of us, I would be up on the tractor, and that would leave Cyndie alone to guide the heavy posts. For that reason, I allowed some days to pass, while I thought the plan through some more.
Yesterday, when I got home from the day-job, Cyndie offered to help me figure out if we could get it done. I began gathering tools and things, in preparation for the attempt… Of course, I would eventually need the ladder out there. As I was carrying it toward the site, it struck me that we could just lean the first set of posts against the ladder when we got them upright, if we were able to lift them with just the two of us.
Sure enough, we lifted it. Cyndie and I proceeded to manage the whole process with just the two of us, a ladder, and no tractor.
Sometimes the solution is so easy, you overlook it, until it eventually become so obvious, you can’t miss. Maybe, as I do more and more projects like this, the obvious solutions will get easier to recognize, and appear to me sooner.
Next step: rafters…
Creative Design
I was working on constructing my wood shed and looked down to discover this creative art project on the wings of a moth. Doesn’t make good camouflage when he’s walking in the grass, but it sure looks cool. I wonder what that pattern is supposed to match, in terms of providing camouflage.
He didn’t scare me away, he drew me in closer, to get a better look.
Maybe the camouflage is to be so outrageous that no one would think a moth would be that color and pattern, so it must not be a moth. If I was a creature that ate moths, I think I’d pass over this one as looking too cool to eat.
Berries Appearing
Looks like the raspberries are happy with the weather we’ve been having. The bushes are everywhere here.
Hey, Mary, we can have a contest to see who gets the most berries! Our problem will be that the raspberry bushes are spread across much of our acreage, not contained all in one location. I fear the birds will have had their way with them long before we get a chance to hunt them down and harvest.
We also noticed quite a sizable patch of wild strawberries growing in our pasture. I’m told they don’t bear large fruit, and won’t be as sweet as the cultivated ones that are sold in stores. We’d love to add them to our bounty, but I suspect it will be hard to beat the wild critters roaming the grounds, to getting them.
Last night, the frogs – or a frog – were/was so loud that it got almost obnoxious, so Cyndie stepped out the door to the deck and hollered at them/it and clapped her hands. Silence erupted, for a few minutes, anyway.
We have high hopes to get a lot done today, but rain may once again spoil our plans.
I expect the berries will all be just fine with that.
Nice View
One benefit that I have particularly enjoyed since moving to the country, is the improved view of the sky, and being able to see weather events. The shot below is from last Sunday evening, when we were returning home from Father’s Day festivities at Cyndie’s parent’s home in Edina, MN.
I wonder what thoughts went through the minds of the first humans to witness a rainbow.
This one changed a lot during the time we were able to observe it. There was a period where the colors became the most vivid and well-defined as I can recall ever seeing. Since we were in a moving vehicle, I had to wait until our car had turned just enough to allow me to capture a shot out of the side window. The windshield was so speckled from impacts with insects that I chose not to shoot through it during the time when the rainbow was directly in front of us.
Mystery
.
.
Mystery radiates from everything
filling a void most choose to ignore
lightly dusting echoes with possibility
triggering that hint of a sneeze
asking for nothing
expecting even less
waiting for the evening
of our days
when you are long gone
though, you were never even here
just a figment of imagination
made real by possibility
and repetition
false memory
as credible as belief
a platform from which to dive
into the unknown
naked and alone
holding hope
and using it to float
past all the rest
of everything that doesn’t matter
happening every day
letting the ever-changing daylight
paint the backdrop of inner space
deeper shades of each unknown
effortlessly
without a hint or clue
quietly
as if not to awaken
some logical reference
to concrete and sequence
a genuine happiness
waiting to gently alight
from somewhere out of view
a phantom itch
that needs a scratch
… a void
that mystery gladly fills
.
.
Relative Something 