3 November 2007

It has been a difficult week and I am still not resolved on the last issue I posted about or if there is anything I can do about it. It is so frustrating. Thanks to all of you who visited and commented on my last post I appreciate it.

I have been sifting through some of my old photos, I have bought an external hard drive which I want to use to just save the original files of pictures that I think have any value as stock images or art. I am not sure where to start. I also am getting stuff together for the magazine that I have been submitting photos to. I have thousands and thousands of photos and if I ever get my negatives back there will be so many to go through there too. I really need to get it all together, get a DVD of my horse stock made up and distributed to the magazines I submit to with all the keywording etc. and hope to get that done this winter. The one above is one I shot a few years back and is a crop of a larger picture but I liked the shape of the mane when I saw her riding in the ring and zoomed in as much as possible but still had more in the frame than I wanted. I love all the different ways that they braid the manes here it can look so cool.

Well not much to report other than that. Finally finished my fence and it is working great and holding up so I am pleased and we have found someone to help with the replacing of the water spickets, only problem is one went in and worked perfectly straight off and of course we went ahead and put the other one in which was 4 foot down underground and a pain to dig down to and like dimwits we filled the hole back up before we tested it and guess what????? It doesnt work so we are going to have to dig up four foot of clay mud AGAIN!!!

Hope you are all having a good weekend. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx

28 October 2007

I finally finished the fence today. Got all the tape up and it is working (I know because I got zapped!!! LOL) When I first went out the three boys were getting into everything and wanted to supervise me. I had my camera with me and snapped a few shots of them, these are of Eb finding a nice big weed which he pulled up out of the ground, Dream had to come and investigate and get his teeth in there too and of course last but not least, Blaze had to be in on it too LOL. They are really getting their winter coats now, they look like little teddy bears.

I put Taxes in with Blaze for a short while again today and they were fine until Blaze decided that he had to breed Taxes!!! OM Gosh wrong sex boy, he started chasing and herding him so I had to put an end to that little escapade before someone got hurt. I am going to have to decide which of the yearling fillies or if in fact all three of them will accept him but I am just so scared of those wire fences now. We will have to see. I do know that Brat baby has calmed down quite a bit just from those two encounters and is nowhere near as mouthy and pushy as he was 2 days ago.

We woke up to our first freeze this morning, 31 C and frost on the ground and plants. We are expecting 30 tomorrow morning. It is hard to think that we were in the upper 90s a month ago. It warmed up nicely into the upper 50s. I like this time of the year just wish it would last longer and the days werent getting shorter. The flies are on the decrease, the horses enjoy the cooler weather and I feel like doing stuff because it is not sweltering. I put the horses out again after they had eaten and they are spending the night out too. I only really put them in when it is raining so they dont have to eat their hay in the mud and they dont make a muddy marsh of the field with their hooves. After a couple of hours the excess water has drained away and the footing is better. I have had the fields so bad that the horses have stood up to their knees in mud for weeks on end because it has been so wet. They leave hoof marks which fill up with water and because it is cold it doesnt dry up and then they walk all over it again making the holes deeper and so it goes until it is just a marsh. I cant walk out there at all because I sink past my knees. So I decided I had enough of that and started managing the fields a bit better. We only have 5.5 acres so it is hard to get all the horses time out. I want to fertilize the one field this spring and harrow it lightly and sow some good grass and alfalfa. Next year I will do the same with the other side and see how it copes. Hopefully by that time I will be down in horse numbers and overgrazing wont be such a problem. I am sure that the people down the road will let us use their field next year again for 4 horses which will be great. Okay enough rambling.

Hope you all had a good Sunday. The Colts (The Indiana American Football Team who won the Superbowl last year) won their game in Carolina today resoundingly so it has been a good day.

Abraham your site looks wonderful, you have come such a long way in the short time I have known you. I always love visiting your site because you share the same passions and loves that I do as far as animals goes. I love squirrels but have never been able to capture any really good ones of them yet.

(((((Hugs))))) to everyone.

Lori
xx

13 October 2007

Okay so I was lazy and didnt post the last two days LOL. Really I have had a few blaaah days and have not shot anything in a week so have been very uninspired once again. We had frost this morning, hard to think that a week ago it was in the 90s with minimums upper 60s, now the minimums 7 days later are in the upper 30s!!! I must say I am enjoying the cooler weather a lot more though, just wish that the comfortable temps would last a bit longer, not just the few days between too hot or too cold.

The picture today is one that I shot of Wiggle a few years ago using slow shutter speed to create the blur effect. You would think shots like this would be easy to get but believe me they arent LOL.

The fence is slowly getting finished. The lad who was helping didnt show on Wednesday and we knew he wouldnt be here Thursday or Friday because they were moving house. He came in for about 2 hours yesterday but we wont see him until Monday (hopefully). I really want to get this darn fence finished now so that I can use the area. Taxes needs exercise other than running around in the bottom half of the barn. He has always been so active and he is bouncing off the walls. He is so naughty.

Well nothing exciting to report. Hope you are all having a great weekend thus far and continue to for tomorrow. (((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

7 October 2007

It was a very long day today and extremely hot. Indianapolis has set record highs the last two days with temps in the upper 80s when they are normally in the low 70s. We set out at 8.30am after feeding the horses and getting Larry up and about. The first shoot went fairly well but as said before very hot. The young stallion was very co-operative bless his heart. I posted the first shot of him, just a portrait, I have others but we only got back ater 7pm and after unpacking etc. it was after 8pm so I am exhausted.

I browsed briefly through my pics and picked a few but I can't say I am blown away by any of them. Not really ideal conditions or the right time of day to shoot these types of shots but I hope the owners are happy. The second shoot was a lady who I have photographed at some of the Pinto shows, Cheryl, she is a lovely energetic lady and we had fun despite the heat. The one with the white stallion is of her and the stallion an Arabian is now 27 years old. He looks good for his age but she really wanted some shots of him before he starts going downhill. The next one is a yearling that she has just sold to a young girl who she is giving lessons and instruction on his care and eventual riding, he was a bit of a handful so we just got some of him running, this trot one I liked, looks like he is floating. The next one is of one of the geldings that board with her, he is a Pacer and bless him he had quite a thick coat already from the cold spell we had and was sweating quite badly but I liked this portrait of him. The last one is of a mini pony foal!!!! It is soooo cute, tiny little thing, only about 20 inches high and very spunky. Cheryl is like me, she cant send any of her horses to a sale and she has quite a few that she originally bred many years ago who are now living out their twilight years with her after being returned to her on her farm, fat, sassy and healthy. She also has over 20 horses at the moment, four are minis the rest are paints and pintos of various ages (5 stallions!!!). She is a soft touch like me, and loves her horses LOL. I hope when it cools down some I can get another chance to go there again and get more shots when it is not so unpleasant to spend time outside. Maybe some snow ones!!!!

Well I must get some shuteye, Larry has arranged for a young lad to come and help me tomorrow to get the post holes filled with clay and tamped down well to make them sturdy and secure, help clean stables, mow grass and finish the fence. It is going to be another hot one but then it will cool down quickly in the next two days and we will be more at our normal temps.

Gee is only going to the track on Wednesday now, I really hope the trainer comes to fetch her I will be very happy when she is doing what she is bred for and I am sure she will be too.

Hope you had a great weekend all, ((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

5 October 2007

Catblogging Day!!!! I finally remembered!!!! Missed another day yesterday Sigh, once you miss one it gets easier to miss another, kind of like breaking a $50 bill. It can sit in your purse for ages then once you break it to buy something whoosh it is gone LOL.

Sylvester loves to lay on the roof of my truck and this evening I spied him and Wild Cat so I grabbed my camera and shot a few frames. As soon as they saw me they jumped off to come and say hello so they were a bit far off and this is cropped and a bit grainy.

With the help of our neighbor we got the rest of the posts set in concrete yesterday and today put up the first layer of cross bars. I need to go to Muncie tomorrow to get the electric tape, insulators, some more outdoor screws as I didnt buy enough and two gates and voila, my job will be done!! I must say I am quite proud of the way it looks, I can't wait to be able to put Taxes out there and the three boys (Taxes and the boys seperately of course).

It has been extremely hot again, upper 80s as highs, we are normally in the low 70s at this time of the year. Seems that it will continue for a while longer and then what's the bet it will drop 50 degrees overnight and we will be freezing.

MiKael asked who the foal in the snow is. He is a full brother to my filly Lori, he was born on 15 February 2003 and we had a late snow which lay around for a few days so I got quite a few pics of him. He was bought by a guy here in town who also has the one filly born the same year of ours. He does a lot of trail riding and they are out every weekend. I have actually ridden him twice which was great, nice to see them being cared for and being useful.

Gotta get back to work on my pictures. Hope everyone is great and has a wonderful weekend. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx

2 October 2007

October is Halloween month here in the USA. Last year DP Challenge had a pumpkin carving photo competition and having never carved a pumpkin before I got a whole lot of stuff together and came up with this but unfortunately didnt get it in in time for the challenge. I am pretty sure it would have done well but who knows, so I am going to share it here. I was quite proud of it LOL.

I got all but 5 posts set today for the fence so hopefully will get going on the cross bars tomorrow. I will have to go and buy two 12 foot gates and some electric tape so they dont chew the wood!!! but at least I will finally have my other turnout for the three boys, Blue, Gee and Taxes having their turns out there. I am going to take the roundpen down and use the panels to put stalls into the bottom of the barn for when the weather gets really cold and need them to come inside.

Working on my print orders and paying bills. Have been watching The Biggest Loser tonight and now Dancing With The Stars, in between catching up on e-mails and blogs!!! Sheesh talk about multi tasking, and they say women cant do two things at once HAH!!!!!

Taxes has a new home. He will be staying here but we decided to give him to our neighbor, Richard, who helps us when we are away, he comes and feeds the horses and makes sure they have water and is always available to help out if we need him. He does a lot for us around the property and we really appreciate his help, he never asks for anything for compensation, in fact wont take anything. The other day he made a comment about how much he liked Taxes. It turns out it has been a dream of his to own a horse. He is in his 60s so Larry decided that he would make him a gift of the brat!!!! I am quite sad but at least I will still have him here. He is going to be gelded so that he is more manageable as Richard is not an experienced horseman. The other plus is that if anything had to happen to Richard we know that he would leave all of his animals in our care. He has two dogs too. So Taxes would come back to us in this event heaven forbid.

Well that is about it for tonight. Need my beauty sleep, am getting old and wrinkled LOL. Will check in tomorrow again. Hope you are all having a good week.

((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

14 September 2007

(Click on picture to enlarge)

I am getting my post in earlier than usual because I have a lot to do to prepare for the show this weekend.


This is the part of my famous fence that I have finished so far. There is another stretch on the other side of the barn which is about twice as long as this :-( but I have a nice system going thanks to Larry's instructions and it is going a lot quicker. I was hoping to get the upright posts set in their holes with concrete today but just ran out of time. I also need to get a 12 foot gate to put into the gap you see. The drive drops away towards the fence which is why the far posts look so close to the ground, they are actually in an area that is lower than the drive. I am relatively happy with the outcome, at least this is visible (I will also run the white electric tape behind the top and bottom cross bars so that they don't reach over and under or chew the wood) and I will feel safer putting the babies and the studs out in rotation without worrying about them running through the wire.


I am off down the road to feed the horses there so I will end off for today. I hope everyone has a great weekend. (((Hugs))))


Lori
xx