Posts Tagged ‘images’
Enticing Trail
During the transition of seasons we are rewarded with a mix of lingering green complimented by the new colors of changing leaves.
Golden sunlight bathes the distant slope on the far side of the shadowed tunnel through a short section of woods between the back pasture and our house.
It beckons the curious soul to investigate.
Now multiply that by 10, because all of our trails are equally enticing right now.
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Online Waiting
It’s what I do. More and more lately, what precious little free time I have to be online is being spent in wait-mode. Whether it is solar flares, our rural terrain, or just a humming-bird sitting at some critical spot on the cell tower, our signal has been toggling on and off at a painfully frequent rate of late.
It’s exasperating, especially when it comes to loading images. Over and over I try, because it always starts out looking like everything is working fine, until it’s not. Then comes the mysterious pause.
Did it stop for just a moment? Did the connection get dropped and it is automatically resetting? Is it down for the count and nothing more will happen no matter how long I stare at it?
Today’s picture is so great, it is worth the wait for me to get it up, but if waiting won’t help one bit, the best picture in the world won’t do me any good.
Who wouldn’t love to see this shot of Delilah with wet hair after her bath?
Today is a rare Friday for me because I am at the day-job. Since I went back to work earlier this summer, I have been putting in a 4-day week, taking Fridays off as the first day of my 3-day weekend. There is just… Too. Much. To. Do. So much so that, not only am I working Friday, but probably Saturday, too.
What!?
I know. I am just as flustered as you. When am I going to get the mowing done? What about all the other chores!?
My sentiments, exactly.
It was tough enough getting thrown out of Eden and forced back into the long commute to industriesville. Now I’m additionally burdened with unending customer requests that exceed my ability to respond successfully.
I’m getting no sympathy from Pequenita. Instead, she just demands more attention from me, starting as soon as I walk in the door and continuing all the way through my feeble attempts to do some writing on the laptop before sleeping. Yesterday, while I wasn’t paying attention to her, she strolled out the open front door through which I was conversing with Cyndie out in the yard.
Suddenly our indoor cat appears calmly in my view on the front steps beneath me.
I don’t blame her for wanting to escape. I know exactly how she feels. I’ve got my eye out for the off-hand chance somebody leaves a door open at the day-job.
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Precious Weekend
What a fabulous time we had at the Wilkus’ cabin north of Grand Rapids, MN over the weekend. We all marveled over the gift of a friendship connection that feels so natural that time and distance away from each other have no bearing on the comfort and ease we all feel when we are able to spend time together once again.
We hiked woods, boated and swam in the lake, and enjoyed bountiful food with lively social conviviality. It was a truly priceless time together that I will cherish for a long time.
Let’s just see how well I get my mind back on work at the day-job today with all the fine memories still freshly percolating in my head.
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Thank you Barb, Mike, and Ryan!
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Natural Forces
The sky failed to completely clear yesterday, which kept the day from getting uncomfortably warm, but the humidity had increased enough to remind us that summer is not gone yet. It is easy to jump ahead in our minds to the inevitable change of season, as the signs and symptoms are plainly evident. Fall is not far off.
I nabbed some mid-day time that I was coveting in the hammock.
We could see some blue sky on and off through the thin cloud cover that never completely dissipated, but as the day advanced that blue turned more white as we achieved the classic look of the smoke-filtered view of the sun. I think western wild fires are again impacting our air quality.
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We took a boat tour of the chain of lakes that led us to 40 acres of forest that the Wilkus family owns. On the way, we spotted a young eagle low over the water and watched it claim a precarious perch in a nearby tree. After we got surprisingly close, it took to the air again, moving quicker than my limited pocket camera could do adequate justice in capturing. It made a dramatic impression in its display of size and power.
Walking the 40 acres was particularly moving for me, because there had been a dramatic storm in the time since I had last visited. Three years ago a force that was easily tornadic, if not literally qualified as such, created devastation that I struggled to imagine while standing amidst the now settled results.
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The towering trees succumbed in a variety of ways. It left me wondering about the specific details that led to the difference of entire trees toppling over when the massive base uprooted, compared to the ones that simply snapped cleanly off 30 feet from the ground.
There are hazards hanging everywhere, in the broken tree tops that linger, defying gravity overhead due to a number of precarious circumstances. One decent sized tree appears to have broken off and blown directly against an adjacent tree where it now clings by mere branches, hanging in a very normal vertical orientation, though with no bottom half connecting it to the earth.
I tried to capture it in this photo, but it doesn’t quite stand out as well as I’d hoped. It was intimidating to spend much time in the region beneath it.
Between the high smoky haze painting the sky from distances far away, the beauty of the fabulous eagle starting to fly, the perceivable drama of a devastating storm, or the inescapable lure of a beckoning hammock, the powerful forces of nature were on full display for me yesterday.
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Sweet Harmony
Yes, Hunter and Cayenne sharing a hay feeder.
It’s hard to describe how precious it feels to now see Hunter side by side with the other horses grazing at the hay feeders.
When I first put those boxes out last year, I wasn’t sure how well the new setup would work. I wanted the horses to be able to feed at them, 2-at-a-time, but it wasn’t to be for Hunter. He was either not welcomed by the others, or just not comfortable stepping up to the “table” while someone was already there.
The signals are often so subtle that I miss them entirely, but occasionally I would witness a simple shift of position or nod of a head which communicated clear enough to an approaching horse that they should just stay where they are. My standing near, trying to invite a horse in, would not be enough to override whatever messages were being sent by the horse already at the feeder.
Hunter always got his turn, eventually, so I chose not to worry about it. I let the horses manage the routine of grazing at the hay boxes all by themselves.
It’s pretty sweet to see they have finally worked it out so they can all cordially graze together at the same time, no waiting. To me, it seems like such a dramatic change in their behavior, but they make it appear as if it was nothing at all. Looking at them now, you’d have no reason to assume it hasn’t always been this way.
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Autumn Hint
I could have comfortably worn a long sleeve shirt yesterday, but I chose to stay with a more summer-like exposed arms ensemble in denial of the possibility summer might be coming to an end soon. With our dew point temperature down in the ever-so comfortable sub-50° range with an October-like sky, it felt like the kind of day we should have a fire in the fireplace.
Two weeks ago we were celebrating summer with our gala bash of picnic food and live music on the deck. What a difference between then and now.
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The horses seem to appreciate the fact that a breezy and cool cloudy day helps minimize the relentless harassment from flies. Cyndie caught Legacy and Cayenne in a brief nuzzle, probably because the flies weren’t covering their faces, while Dezirea stares the camera down as if disapproving of the violation of her friends’ privacy.
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Relative Something 