Posts Tagged ‘photography’
Horse Joy
John and Cyndie playing with horses; two pictures that I did not take. Thank you to Julie Kuberski for the beautiful photo of Cyndie exercising Legacy in our arena space. I realize that I just included a picture I had taken of Cyndie and “Legs” doing this same exercise a couple of days ago, but this image by Julie is just too wonderful to pass up.
The other one, Cyndie took with my new rugged-duty, waterproof camera. I carry it in one of my pockets most of the time, so it gets exposed to a lot of dust and dirt. There is a sacrifice of some image quality, but it gets the job done well enough to tell the story. I am interacting with Cayenne in this shot.
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.Horse wisdom is bringing us great joy.
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More Designing
I recently built a platform outside the back door of the barn for Cyndie’s portable sink. She said she liked it, but that she was also hoping to have a work station for washing horses in that area. On Friday, I worked on a design for a way to provide that, just beyond the sink.
The area will require a fair amount of fill, so I decided it was time to use the loader bucket on the diesel tractor. Moving massive amounts of manure was one of the reasons I figured I needed this tractor, but up until now, we have been managing just fine without it.
Actually, our neighbor, George, was just asking about our manure pile, and happily offered us the use of his manure spreader, as long as we can fill it using the loader on our tractor. That would allow us to spread our fertilizer on the hay-field. His asking created incentive for me to practice my skills using the loader for something other than snow.
It doesn’t come naturally for me. I have better control using hand tools. However, there is no denying the increased efficiency the loader provides. I can move a lot more fertilizer in a lot less time. One of my problems with mechanized assistance is that it also allows me to make a lot bigger mistakes in a shockingly quick blink of an eye.
For now, I am using the mostly composted manure from long ago as clean fill around our property. I moved a few bucket-loads to the spot and now have a sense of space that will be needed. I plan to bury a couple of fence posts to make a hitching rail and build up a platform where the horses will stand. We have some plastic grates that interlock, which we will fill with pea-gravel, and then that will be covered by rubber mats. I expect there will be a layer of plastic beneath the pea-gravel to cause water to drain in the direction we want it to go.
Luckily, Cyndie said she doesn’t expect to be washing horses for a while, so I have time to proceed in phases.
She was able to make use of the new arena space in the afternoon, exercising the horses with a lunge line. It was beautiful to see. The horses responded nicely to the exercise, and moved proudly around her in this new workout space that has been created.
Every day is something new around here. The progress of late has been invigorating for the soul, yet taxing on the body. That end-of-the-day shower is becoming a ritual of renewal and recovery after long days of heavy laboring.
During a brief pause between tasks yesterday afternoon, Cyndie brought out popsicles and invited me to join her on rocking chairs overlooking the back yard. With a cool breeze washing over us, it was a precious (and intentional) opportunity to take a moment to enjoy the richness of blessings we are surrounded by here. They are more than enough justification for the hard work we find ourselves engaged in day-after-day.
Horse Stuff
Here is what the arena space looks like after I hung the polytape fencing. I devised a gate which will allow Cyndie to pull up one post and move it to the side without changing the tension of the tape on any other posts.
Cyndie arrived home early enough to do some grooming of the horses yesterday. She surprised me with a text message that said she was “ten minutes away and bringing Dairy Queen ice cream treats.” What a sweetheart. Am I not the luckiest man alive?
A couple of the horses have been bothered by bug bites, and Cyndie took time with each horse, hooking to their halter with cross ties to keep them standing in one place so she could do a thorough job. 
The horses seemed to really appreciate the attention, willingly cooperating to get into the harness and lead rope for their turn.
After she had brushed them out, she applied a chemical fly repellant in hopes of giving them a break from the constant pestering, followed by a reward-treat to thank them for tolerating the funny smell. I was amazed that each horse didn’t just walk out into the paddock and roll in the dusty dirt afterwards, especially Hunter. He is notorious for getting himself covered from head to hoof.
Actually, he has been spending extra time when he does lay down, wriggling around to scratch himself against the ground, sending clear signals that the insects were bugging him.
I captured a picture of Hunter communing with Delilah (in her lopsided vest), in a rare moment when one or the other weren’t trying to demonstrate their perceived dominance.
In all fairness to each of them, Delilah and the herd have behaved with increasing poise toward each other in the days since I stopped driving across the cities to the day-job. I suppose it is a combination of the extended daily exposure they have been able to have, and the maturation Delilah is developing as she approaches the ripe old age of 2.
I’ll take it. Life is so much more pleasant when everybody is able to get along.
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Finally Chipping
My plan was to get both the tractor and the ATV down the hill to the spot where I’m clearing trees to make space for a new fence that will enclose the back grazing area. I put a bundle of tools in the ATV trailer and drove it down, parking between two existing brush piles. Then I walked back up to get the diesel tractor with the wood chipper mounted on the back.
To my surprise, I found the front right tire was completely flat. That certainly wasn’t in my plan.
I pumped it up and verified the leak was serious enough to need attention. The morning agenda suddenly had a new priority. First order of business would involve getting the wheel off the tractor, no small task when you don’t have the proper tools. Five of the six bolts came loose with a reasonable amount of effort, leaving the one that was obligated not to budge, to keep the project from being too straight forward.
Patience —albeit thin— and fortitude, produced eventual results, leading to the second order of business: I needed to find out where to take the wheel for repair. A call to my neighbor produced a recommended service station in town, but that place turned out to be too busy to help me right away. They offered up an alternative. I called the second option and learned they could take a look at it right away.
Now, I definitely know better than to blindly rely on the results produced by a Google maps search, and I even commented to Cyndie that I was surprised it was that direction out-of-town, but nonetheless, I fell for it without a second thought.
After a pleasant drive to discover the error of my ways, which took me down into a beautiful valley where there is absolutely no cell signal, I turned around and drove back up to high ground so I could call for directions. Sure enough, I should have headed the other direction out-of-town. Ironically, this place is where I recently stopped to inquire about finding someone to bid improving the footing of our paddocks. Two businesses operate out of this one location.
They fixed my tire, patching a hole in the tube, and after I got it remounted on the tractor, I was back to my original plan. The rest of the afternoon involved chainsawing and wood chipping. Everything worked pretty well for the rest of the day. I took down some more trees, and created a pile of wood chips by the labyrinth, to be used as mulch.
Working through the dinner hour, and into the mosquito feeding frenzy of early evening, I cleared some of the nearby trail with the trimmer so I could dump a trailer-load of chips there. While doing that, I came to one of the fallen trees that has been blocking the trail since May. Not anymore. I cut it into logs to be split for firewood.
The flat tire was a hassle, but all’s well that ends well. I got a chance to test my ideas and it looks like things are going to work as well as we hoped. The chipper eats brush as fast as I can feed it and the wood chips look perfect for the trail and mulching around plants in the labyrinth.
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Unnecessarily Helpful
Our dog, Delilah, learned too well to use the kiddie pool to wash up before coming in the house. Now she automatically steps in it whether she needs to or not. When it was muddy, this really was an “every time” necessity. Since it has gotten dryer, there are times when a dip in the pool could be skipped.
It’s a sad thing to get frustrated about, but she creates extra work by getting wet, instead of just walking right inside with me. I’ve gotta drop what I’m carrying, go inside while keeping her out, find a towel, and come back out to get licked all over while I try to dry her off.
It’s frustrating, but how can I be mad at her when she is being so darn cute? Plus, there are days when she’s choosing to use it to cool off, not to get clean. I don’t want to deny her that comfort.
She may not need to be washed, but she looks so proud of herself when she does it, I can’t help but thank her for being so darn helpful.
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Morning Light
After the horses finished their morning feed, they moved out into the hay-field. We are giving them access to the big field for a few days, post baling. That gives the grazing pasture a chance to recover a bit. I liked how they looked in the early morning sunlight, and in the absence of having my camera with me, I pulled out my cell phone to capture the image.
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New Camera
My camera of choice for most of the years I have been taking digital photographs has been a simple pocket camera. If I am remembering correctly, the first one was a gift from Cyndie’s parents, and it happened to be a Canon. Since I tend to stick with what works for me, each time I upgraded, I ended up with another Canon —the last one being the PowerShot S100. It has captured some great images for me in the last couple of years, but I have put it through some real abuse. Twice, I have needed to send it back to Canon to be cleaned so the lens would retract and the flash would spring up.
I almost always carry my camera in my pocket when I am working outside, and as a result, it gets heavy exposure to the silty dirt, sand, and dust that is constantly finding its way into my pockets. I only have so many pockets, and I have been known to accidentally stuff dirty or muddy trash I find into my left front pocket, even though I also sometimes put the camera there, too.
Alternatively, I will carry the camera in my back pocket, in hopes of protecting it better. Then I end up sitting on it, grinding in any dust or dirt that has accumulated. Now my S100 needs to go in for a third visit to be cleaned by the factory.
It took a while, but I finally came to the realization that I should look into a waterproof pocket camera if I want one that will operate in the rugged conditions in which I regularly find myself working. That thought conveniently arrived around the time of my birthday, and Cyndie scooped up the idea as her gift to me.
What she unknowingly bought me yesterday from National Camera Exchange happened to be a Nikon COOLPIX AW120. It doesn’t have as big a sensor as my Canon S100, but the rest of the features provide the robustness that I am seeking, so it will be worth it to me to accept any perceptible drop in image quality. I’m hoping you’ll find it difficult to tell the difference.
After I got the battery fully charged last night, I set out to get some test shots just as daylight was fading. Do you think it is going to be sufficient for my purposes? I’m feeling satisfied with it.
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Relative Something 