A Post About The Weather & Snake Picture Warning

The storms south of us in Kentucky and surrounding states have been devastating, a few nights ago there were more than a dozen tornados in the Kentucky area and surrounding states and they have wreaked havoc. Some of these tornados stayed on the ground for 20 or 30 miles. We dont normally start worrying about this kind of weather until about May.

A story that really got me this morning was a police officer who was searching the debris in the surrounding fields and he saw what he thought was a doll as there were lots of pieces of clothing laying around, but suddenly it moved and it was a 9 month old baby, still alive. Sadly the baby's mother died in the tornado.

There are about 52 dead the last time I heard. My prayers go out to all of those people, if anyone knows of credible organisations who are needing help/donations with the cleanups and especially for the animals which the news reports and everyone seem to forget and never seem to report about, please let me know.

We have flooding warnings around all over the place, with our flat land around here we get roads flooding a lot in the country areas and this is one at the bottom of our drive. This water all runs under the road through pipes and through our field and then under the railway track. Bottom left is the top of our drive and the water on the other side of the road in the trees is about 8 feet deep!!!!
If you look at this pic of our field with the lake which is all the water trying to run through those small drainage pipes into our field and you can see how high the road is, the water is just about level with the road all along that stretch!!!! Our driveway and the flooding area is further to the right.
Yesterday I got the opportunity to photograph a few snakes, two Boas (one about 6 foot long and one 2 foot long) and a Ball Python about 2 foot long. This is the python below and the one under that is the larger Boa.
I am hoping for another opportunity to take some more shots, the last week has been so dull so I couldnt use available light and these guys are really mobile so it was hard to get shots of them, they just wanted to slither all over the place. I just used the pop up flash on my camera so the lighting wasnt great. Next time I will plan it better with my Metz flash.

Well that is it for today, hope you are all safe and warm (((Hugs))

Lori

10 December 2007

It was a few degrees warmer today so the ice has slowly been melting all day and has left a muddy slushy mess. The first picture is some icicles that built up on some plants at the side of our house. The horses have been in again all day because it is just too unpleasant for them to be outside.


The second picture is of Gee on her second outing, we had a bit of sun the day after her first outing and I particularly like this one because she is being all frisky, rearing, jumping and shaking her head. She does this little squealy grunt before she lets off steam almost like a squeak and then she bursts into motion. Unfortunately I havent been able to get her out again because the mud is knee deep. She did have fun though and has calmed down a bit in her stall, she was really getting restless.
With all the flooding in Washington State and surrounds over the past week there are so many people who have lost their homes but we all tend to forget the animals. Many animals have lost their lives in these floods and storms and continue to be stranded and standing up to their bellies in water. The rescue efforts are enormous for both people and animals and when you think that because of all the displaced people, they wont be able to take their animals back because they have to find somewhere for themselves first. On one of the other blogs that I read the poster had a video of some horses standing in water and Abraham Lincoln said that he didnt want to watch it because it would upset him too much. He also questioned whether his deep compassion, love and concern for animals, even the small ones like birds and squirrels, in recent years was odd and uncommon and I have to say, definitely not, I cry over a dead bird, an injured animal and have such a deep love for my horses. Unfortunately there are many people who still look at animals as dumb and unfeeling and who can be abused in any way they like, but this could not be further from the truth. More and more people are being educated and hopefully we are winning the battle, if I can even change one person's view on a horse and how they are thinking, loving, feeling, compassionate creatures I will be happy. They may not function in exactly the same way as we humans do, but they do function. So in answer to Abraham's question, no you are not strange, you are a true human being and I am so glad that you have found such a great passion in your photography and surrounding haven.

I posted some more info on this flooding problem in yesterday's post with contact details for anyone who would like to support this effort in any way, every little bit helps.

That's it for today folks, I hope everyone had a good Monday. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx