8 September 2008

I am getting further and further behind and if there is still anyone out there I will try to give a "brief" account of the happenings of the past two weeks, nearly 3 weeks.

I can't remember if I told you that I dropped my 80-200 2.8 canon lens (very expensive lens, enuff said!) For some reason that day I had put a clear filter on the front of the lens, which a lot of photographers do to protect the actual glass of the lens. If I hadn't had that on I would have smashed the actual lens as it landed on the rim of the lens and is a pretty heavy little baby. The filter smashed and bent the outside edge badly. We managed to get the filter off eventually and thank heavens the lens itself seems to be unaffected. I was mortified.

I have been busy getting my print orders up to date and getting stock submitted and preparing a portfolio and bio for a new website which I am going to be a part of. It is a lot of work but I have a good feeling that this will really be a good move for me and I am getting fantastic support and motivation from the people involved. More later on that when it is all official.

My health has been suffering (stress and depression) really badly as well and I got to the stage of self destruct just before last weekend, which was labor day weekend. I decided to take me and my van and an air matress and camera and computer and go trail riding for three days with friends. This is the first time that I have really ever taken time for myself in a long time and I enjoyed it tremendously. I rode every day, and actually rode one of the fillies that I bred. We had long rides, 5 to 6 hours at a time.

There are natural corrals in the forest made out of smaller trees that have fallen (they are very big into preserving the natural habitat in the forest, keeping to the trails and leaving any downed trees where they fall, if they are too high to step over they will just cut a section out of the tree which crosses the trail and leave it where it lays) so we had a few places in the forest where there are natural springs and shade etc. to rest the horses while we all just relax and chat.

Unfortunately the time off came with the price of having to catch up again when I got home. As it was a holiday weekend I couldnt take any of my own horses to the camp as it is a club and they limit the horses and rigs to members only at those times. It was packed to capacity needless to say. It was nice to see so many families out having a good time with their horses, which were in great condition (with one or two exceptions of course). We were camped right next to a large Amish group who had two trailers and 12 horses between them, and I was really impressed with their work ethic and how meticulous they were with their care of their animals and their camp. I was quite sad to leave on Monday evening. I took some pics while I was there but still havent edited many of them.

Since then it has been as hot as Hades, and on Tuesday morning I got a call from the lady who owns the pasture down the road where our 4 mares are. They have a 4 rail vinyl fence around the field but they are right on a very busy state road. We have had no rain for weeks and everything is turning brown and there is very little for them to eat in the pasture so they have been trying to get to the green grass on the other side of the fence. Of course they are big creatures and once they push hard enough the bar will bend enough to pop it out. They had two of the panels out already.

I couldnt take a chance of them doing it again, because once they have done it once they will certainly do it again and I dont want horses on a busy road to deal with so I had to arrange for poor Stan to haul his trailer over and help me load them up and bring them home. I was hoping to be able to leave them there until at least November, I had been subsidising with a bit of hay. We had 2 tenths of an inch of rain day before yesterday and that is all we got from the first hurricane, dont know if the others will push some rain up our way but we need it desperately.

We were going to try to take our blue roan mare BB to an open show on Sunday but I have never fitted a horse for Halter and just didnt get finished, we left everything til the last minute of course. I still have to finish trimming and braiding her mane, clipping the inside of one ear and a bit on her legs too and then give her a bath. We will definitely be taking her to the show next weekend though. She had shoes put on early Sunday morning so at least that is done.

I set up my bird feeder with the help of Larry and the young man who is helping us out with the chores that I just cant and dont want to do. I have hung all sorts of feeders on it as it has 5 hooks on it and they have started using it yesterday. I have a woodpecker, a golden Finch or two and some others I dont know what they are, some are losing their colored feathers in preparation for winter already. I had it set up as close to the bathroom window as I could but very high and out of the cat's reach but it gives me a perfect position to shoot from the bathroom. Today's photos are a few from this venture. I will post more daily even if I dont type anything I will try to post a picture at least.

((((Hugs)))))) to you all, if you are still coming to visit you need a medal LOL.

Lori

xx

Monday 14 July 2008

Who says horses aren't creative or that they cant be rocket scientists. This picture is proof positive that they have both capabilities LOL. I got my hands on 3 freshly cut roundbales of grass hay last week for a very reasonable price so I put two with the four horses and one with these three. The other horses have trashed both of theirs already LOL but these guys are making a piece of art for me.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

I got a few more shots of the hummers again this morning. I waited until the sun was just in the right spot and put a white piece of fabric over the window where the feeder is hanging and using my 100mm 2.8 lens perched on the stepladder on a rice bag I waited for the little visitors. They dont dissappoint as long as you are perfectly still because I am literally 3 feet from the feeder. Here are just a few of the shots, just wish I was getting more color on the birds, I am going to have to try to get different angles. If you click on the first bird image to see the larger version you can see it's tongue sticking out from the end of its beak.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

(Click on picture to enlarge)

I rode Cayenne again today, I have to say it is getting easier and easier to get motivated right now and Larry keeps on my butt so I do it. We started with her having her breakfast in the trailer, she gave me a small bit of hassle getting in but nothing I couldnt manage on my own.

I then unloaded and reloaded her and put her in the barn while I shot my hummer pictures because that was when the light was right and in the spot I needed. After I got those, I got her saddled and off we went down the drive with Larry in tow. She was a star and walked with me riding past all the spooks and monsters she saw yesterday and then did a beautiful walk around the huge field and then over a bridge sort of filled in between two small ponds, ducks and all. She then turned back and we trotted up the hill and across the top of the field (there were two suspiscious looking round bales up there which she was a bit leary about) and then walked down the hill to our starting point like a star. I have to say I felt great after riding her, MiKael I am starting to see what pleasure you get out of riding your horses, up until now it has always just been such a chore with so many to look after.

Thanks to all who have visited my blog and those who have also left comments, I appreciate it and know how time consuming it can be that is why I am so far behind on mine!!! That is about it for today, a slightly cooler day upper 70s lower 80s so it was bearable. ((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

Saturday - A Day of Sunshine

Not much happening today, got a bit of computer work done, had a rest this afternoon and then went to do the monthly shop this evening with my friend Lisa. It has been a very pleasant day, sunny and in the 70s.

The picture below is of a tiny little Salamander that the little boy who was on our one trail ride found under a rock. He was quite taken by the fact that I didnt shreak and run away but rather put my hand out and took it. It was only an inch or two long. I put it on a mossy rock and did my best with the lens I had to get a shot of it.

I am getting better at the humming bird photos. Just not enough hours in the day LOL.
This is a tiny little wild flower that I found this morning next to the barn, thought it was quite pretty so snapped it. All of the wildflowers are starting to bloom now and I saw another Hummingbird clearwinged moth today, but the brown one (the last one I shot was green) and it was really small maybe three-quarters of an inch long but before I could get my lens and camera out it had gone. So I will be on the lookout for them from now on.
Need to get diesel and gas (petrol) for the tractor and mower so that I can cut the field and the garden grass, it is amazing how quickly it grows, just wish it looked like that in the fields LOL.

CG and MiKael thanks so much for your continued visits, I really appreciate them and you are also in my thoughts always, I will get back into it one day soon I hope. I neeed to set goals for each day the night before and then see if that will motivate me to do stuff especially with the horses.

Oops pushed publish before I had finished LOL. Hope you are all having a good weekend.

(((((Hugs))))))
Lori
xx

Still Struggling

I was horrified to see that it has been 10 days since I last posted, actually Lisa pointed that out to me and I decide that I just have to make a concerted effort to get back on track with my daily bloggging, I met so many wonderful people in cyberspace through my blog and I am hoping to resurect that comeraderie again.

I finally took a two day trip to the camp site where Stan and Val trail ride every weekend on Monday and Tuesday. For those of you who dont know they have three horses that we have bred and one other gelding so their horses are very special to me. I got to ride two of them and Eb is well on his way to being an awesome trail horse but is only taking short excursions with Stan until he is more seasoned. They decided to spend the week between last weekend and this weekend there at the camp too so it made it possible for me to stay overnight. It was a lot of fun, I rediscovered muscles I forgot I had LOL.

This is a fungus/lichen growing on one of the dead tree limbs on the trail.

Here is Eb standing on the tie line patiently waiting to have his turn on the trails.

This orange mushroom was incredible and is one of the things I wish I could have stopped and dismounted to shoot but we were quite a large group and it would have held everyone up.
This was shot while I was on the horse and he wasnt wanting to stand still so is not really good but fantastic opportunity to see this snake sunning itself on the rock in the river!

I am definitely going to have to set up a kit that I can carry on horseback and go out with just one other person into the woods so that I can stop and mount and dismount when I want to photograph something. I saw so many awesome textures, streams, fungii, a snake sunning on a rock, salamanders, moss and lichens and it was just too cumbersome to carry my camera and small lens let alone all the other lenses which I would have needed t capture some of the shots.

Today's pictures were some of the ones I shot on the one and only ride that I took the camera on. I decided to enjoy the rest of the riding without having to worry about the camera.

I have also been shooting my hummingbirds and hopefully getting better but they sure are hard to shoot.

One positive thing is that I have been using my camera more and am starting to get that passion back again. I feel so relaxed and happy when I have my camera in my hand and stroll around to see what I can find, and it is amazing what you can find if you really look.

Hope you all had a great 4th July (USA) and have a wonderful weekend. ((((((Hugs))))))

Lori
xx