Posts Tagged ‘photography’
Morning Sky
A few days ago, as Cyndie was stepping out the door to head to work, she hollered back to me that I should look at the pre-sunrise sky.
It looks like a wild-fire is raging just over the hill. Well, I guess it is a raging wild-fire, but it’s not just over the hill. It’s about 93 million miles away.
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Pattern Change
We woke up with a hint of frost on our deck this morning. It is a clear validation of what we have been sensing the last few days. There is a change of season in process, and with it, our patterns of routine. I had to hunt down a long-sleeved shirt the other day. Of course, at this time of year the extra shirt comes on and off a lot, depending on activity.
I came in from outdoors and headed to the sink to wash my hands. Ah, there was my old peeve, back again. The cuffs of my shirt get wet when I wash my hands. Sure, I pull the sleeves up, but they slide right back down. Now I am able to appreciate what I have taken for granted all summer long, that I can scrub up without a care when I wear short sleeves.
A couple of days ago I asked Cyndie if she was comfortable in the house. She said she was, and I pointed out that the indoor temperature was 62 degrees (F). In the winter, Cyndie is quick to report her discomfort if the house temp drops below 70.
It fascinates me how our bodies respond differently to the seasons. What feels refreshingly comfortable now will be irritatingly chilly in the days to come. In 5 months, a temperature just a few degrees above freezing will feel refreshingly comfortable outside. This morning that temp tightens muscles and causes a wince. It has a bit of a bite to it.
Soon it will be time for me to find my winter gloves. I have no idea where they are.
For some reason I have a difficult time parting with old gloves. The finger on these opened up way too soon, so I patched it and got a good few weeks more out of them. Then the palm opened up and I decided it was time to retire them.
Just throw them away, John.
I looked over the right glove and couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Maybe I can use the right glove around the fire pit. I already have one by the living room fireplace, but come to think of it, I never use it.
Maybe I can use the leather for some other purpose. I could cut off the fingers and…
Just throw them away, John.
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Sky View
It’s a new month, and I am at a loss for words. Here is a view of the dawning of a new day, with the breaking sun at my back. Happy September, 2014!
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Finally, Progress
The hardest thing I have faced since becoming a full-time ranch manager has been getting contractors to bid jobs we need done. In the last few days I have successfully communicated with three of them. Two actually showed up in person. The other has already been here. Even though no work has actually begun, just getting them to see and discuss the situation, and estimate a time when they hope to actually do some work, is rewarding enough to fuel my dwindling supply of hope to get improvements in place before winter arrives in full force.
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It’s a bit like seeing signs of the sun preparing to make its appearance over the eastern horizon.
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With that bit of inspiration, I found myself drawn toward a chore I have been neglecting all summer long. One of our main trails through the woods had been left untended since the snow melted and it had become overgrown to the point of being difficult to discern.
I was pleased to see how much growth had occurred in volunteer trees, most of them butternuts. Too bad they were growing in a path where they wouldn’t be able to remain. I used the power trimmer to do the bulk of the clearing, then made a few passes with a pole saw and my ratcheted pruner. There is much left to be done —I only went as far as one tank of gas on the trimmer allowed— but the part I did complete looks wonderful and inviting.
After dinner, where I devoured fresh-picked ears of gourmet sweet corn that Cyndie picked up on her way home, we took Delilah for a walk down that trail. It was a treat to experience all the “oohs” and “aahs” from Cyndie as she marveled over how great it looked. Then we arrived at the stretch where I had cut down trees on Monday to widen the southern leg of the trail. They still lay where they fell, all over the trail, in stark contrast to the section I had just trimmed.
It’s a work in progress. But, alas, there is finally some progress!
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A Fogbow
Before the heavy humidity broke yesterday, we had an extremely foggy morning. I was walking with Delilah after feeding the horses, and as the sun broke the horizon and burned its way through the fog, I spotted the distinctive arc of a rainbow. But it wasn’t a rainbow. It was a fogbow.
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Eventually, the dew point dropped and a glorious breeze picked up, making it a fabulous afternoon to be out working. The morning was another story. It was too wet to mow, so I started the day with a chainsaw. I headed down to the south trail that needs to be widened. Also, there was still one tree laying across the trail along our western border. After tackling those areas, I moved along to a string of box elder trees that need to be removed for installation of the new fence around the grazing pasture. The work had my t-shirt and pants totally soaked with sweat by the time I stopped to head in for lunch.
When I came out again after eating, it was like a whole new day. It made the mowing chore downright pleasant. By the time I finished, my shirt was completely dry. After a long day, during which I had confined Delilah to her kennel, we headed to the house for dinner and I happily turned off the air conditioning so I could open up the windows to the fresh summer air.
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Killer Instinct
Here is a picture of the fully functioning wheelbarrow with both tires holding air. It is an essential component of our manure management process. Next to it is my primary assistant/troublemaker. Delilah politely listens to me yammer away, occasionally looking right at me as if she is actually listening to the nonstop nonsense that is beginning to flow out of my mouth in the absence of anyone else to talk with around here during the week.
I haven’t quite mastered the non-verbal communication with her, yet. Unfortunately, the longer I work silently, the more likely she is to wander away from me when I allow her off-leash. That leads to her getting into a tangle of burrs, or wandering off property, or more likely, both.
Speaking of no one to talk to, I’d love it if a contractor or two would show up in response to the multitude of solicitations I have put out in the last few weeks. I was lucky enough to actually speak on the phone with one excavator to whom I had made a follow-up call to yesterday. I was so excited when he said he would stop out to look at what I needed done that I neglected to ask him when that might be.
I kept one eye out for him all day yesterday, while doing some heavy trimming on the far side of our property from the driveway. I guess he didn’t mean he would stop out that very day.
I had put Delilah in her kennel while I was working the trimmer and wearing ear muffs. After I finished, I drove the Grizzly ATV up to let her out and she looked at me quizzically, wondering what this meant for her. I hollered at her to come with me as I rolled away down the hill, and the game was on. She loves a good chase, and of course has an insatiable need to be out front.
Her killing instinct is still as strong as ever. I told Cyndie that I don’t think we will be able to have chickens with Delilah running loose. The other morning, I let her out first thing to accompany me in feeding the horses. She raced on ahead and dashed around the pine trees. I noticed a bunch of birds take to the air. When I caught up to her, it was obvious she had a prize. Delilah was in possession of an unfortunate winged creature that failed to evade capture.
Of benefit to me is the fact that she won’t wander away when she has a fresh kill. I didn’t need to worry while I fed the horses and cleaned the paddocks that morning. When I had finished and was ready to head back to the house, I found her in the same spot where I had left her, still treasuring her new obsession.
I sure wish she would show that kind of prowess with the moles and pocket gophers around here.
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Cloud Views
We enjoyed another beautiful sky in the early evening yesterday, as storms were forming to our south and east. This time I had my rugged camera with me, and I tried some shots, even though they don’t come close to capturing the grandeur of what the naked eye was able to perceive.
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Just Chippin’
I’ve been getting in some hours on the chipper, working on clearing a path for the real fence that will be installed around our grazing pasture. The PTO-powered chipper is working really well for me. I did run into one situation where it was kicking out dust that almost looked like smoke. It took me longer than it should have to recognize what was going on. The exit chute was plugged. It was pulverizing the wood fed into it, because it couldn’t go anywhere else.
Our neighbor said we should use the wood chips for ground cover in our paddocks. That would require a LOT of tree branches to produce what we would need. The idea has some merit, though.
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Relative Something 