Ruff Stuff

The photo above is part of where I hike through our valley. Over the last winter and summer, these trees have fallen across the creek bed. Yesterday was warm so I grabbed my little chainsaw and hiked down to the bottom to carve a way through that mess.

If you are a contortionist, you can make it through rather easily but it requires squats, high steps, and a lot of twisting. I thought I'd make it easier on myself with a bit of trimming. The after shot never got taken, however I can walk through without playing Twister right now.

My little saw can take on a lot. But the large trunk of this old oak was still too solid for me to cut through. I cleaned the area up so now I don't have to go around this obstacle any more. The tree toppled in 2018. A 'friend' offered to clean it up. He did a fairly poor job at it. But I beggars can't be choosy. 

So for the past 6 years, I've rerouted. However, now I can just step over the log on the left side of the trail.  It is only about 18" tall.

Now I can go straight down the old trail that was put in years ago instead of detouring. It was originally put in with a bull dozer in 2007 and then again cleaned up in 2016. I don't know if I'll pay to have it done again as I am the only one that uses the trail. I imagine I'll let the next owners take that expense when I sell the place.

At one time my husband used it so he could drive the 4 wheeler down through our land and also use the skid steer to pick up a deer he got in the valley. I use the 4 wheeler, but don't need to drive down into the bottom. I prefer to walk.

I was having so much fun at trimming, that I stopped in the summer meadow on the ridge and knocked off some overhanging limbs on these box elders.

When good spring weather comes back, I'll grab some chains and ropes and drag those large branches into a burn pile with the 4 wheeler.

While I was clearing another bunch of snags by my favorite cottonwood tree, I had to stop and admire the deep reflections from the trees above me. The ice is hard and there was about a quarter of an inch of fresh water on the surface.

This too is part of my daily walk. I just felt like clearing a path along the steep bank that would make it a bit easier to hike through.

Mother Nature will have to break down the big logs. Flash floods will move them to another area. The creek in this narrow valley often gets changes. That is one of the reasons I find it so fascinating.

Below...The Old Man Cottonwood and my shadow.

Today or Saturday I hope to take a hike on groomed trails at KVR to give myself a break from the rough stuff. 

We are so dry, we could really use some nice snow or even rain.

I got distracted again...

I've been fascinated by posable figures. I got this wooden figure in the art and drawing section of a store a few years ago. He was only about 5 inches tall and I thought it would be fun to pose him. 

I have enjoyed using him as a model, but not for drawing. The challenge is, he is super difficult to pose and he falls over quite a bit. I could use wire I suppose, but I am lazy. I want my subject to do it on his own.

[He came attached to a wire stuck up his bum so he would stand on a base. I used cutters and clipped it off. Darn, I bet that was uncomfortable!]

Balance and posing is something we used to do with our 12" GI Joes back when I was a kid. We often spent hours it seemed just posing them in active looking stances.

No matter. Even though this was a difficult thing to do, I seemed to find a way to make him look as though something was happening.

Going on adventures was trickier with this guy. A slight breeze would knock him over. However, the little wooden Dachshund was a hoot. 

And...sometimes the little dog would get in trouble....

It seemed to always work out in the end though. I generally take this duo out during the dull days of winter and mess with them.

However, I found a new very posable figure that is amazing to pose.

It is called Titan 13. A robot and a dog. 

It is a 3D printed and articulated poseable toy.

I actually ordered two of them and they were pretty darned cheap. The fact that these characters are blank slates so to speak make them great for visual stories. No preconceived notions like super heroes or licenses action figures.

I took a hike yesterday to see if I could find anything worth while seeing. The forest is dull and dry. We need moisture badly. I took this Titan 13 along.

A toy photographer friend of mine posted the other day that you can take a Toy photo anywhere. He showed the photo and then the parking lot he took the photo in. Proof is in the pudding!

So ... I did.

These guys are balanced on their own. No sticks or wires to hold them up or edit out. 

This next shot may be my favorite shot of the day.

To prove my friend's point, here is where I shot it... Charlie is patiently waiting for me to get going. He has become a very patient little dog.

I am distracted by these guys. So I will be enjoying them while the rest of the landscape stays dull and brown. Though I will be looking for interesting things in the forest to find.

When it is nasty out....

I turn to Toy Photography which is a great way to explore and challenge yourself with a camera. 

It also works great if you need a distraction or something to do when the weather is really quite horrible. 

Or the news is horrible, or the winds are blowing dust like it is the dust bowl era.

Hubby grounded me anyway, so I'm stuck indoors for a couple of days.

I purchased these cake toppers at a Dollar Store over a year ago and like my other Lego minifigs, they get stored away and then for whatever reason, I bring them out. One of the things I really love about them, is that they aren't moveable. Which may not make sense except that their expressions are so fun!

The MiniBot in the center here has become my favorite character of the Minis. He looks like he is yelling. So indeed, he must be the Leader of the MiniBots. 

Below it seems he is dressing down the Droids in front of the other MiniBots. The Droids do look a bit sheepish.

He even has a name.
Steve.

I created the 'scenes' with junk. I've explained before that I enjoy taking trash and turning it into a diorama. I use pieces and parts so I can reassemble them at will into different scenes. 

Most of what went into the above scene was an old humidifier that went kaput. I took it apart and used my craft paints to make the parts look rusty and old. There is even a soup can in the picture.

Moss that is spread about is part of a cardboard box I painted black.

I've also taken some plastic soda tops and straws and glued them together, along with those pesky medicine tops that you have to push down and rotate. They make great little bits for background. Toilet paper rolls always have endless possibilities. Old rusty bolts provide a great scene for ... 

when the Minibots find a Worm Hole to travel through.

I started my interest in toys because I simply wasn't very good with regular items in Still Life. I tried to make beautiful arrangements of cups, sauces, flowers, and other items but I generally ended up inserting something odd.

I once put a Lego minifig into a cup of tea I was shooting. I was trying to do serious Still LIfe, but ended up doing silly stuff instead. 

Once I went there, I was hooked. Silly Still Life is much more amusing.

My favorite toys to photograph are those that aren't Licensed. You know, ..not... Disney, Marvel, and others. I feel obligated to make licensed toys do the things that they were made for. But isn't it more amusing to put them in other situations? 

For whatever the reason is, I've had some fun with these little cheap cake toppers. I mean, what kid would want these ugly little robots on their cake?

I have to admit, they used to look cleaner before I got after them with a paint brush to 'distress' their looks.

One of the easiest things to do is shoot them with a background I made in Deep Dream Generator using my laptop.

I simply typed in something like *wet dark alley, gloomy, with trash laying all around*. Viola. I had a digital set for my MiniBots.

I almost felt guilty for having such an easy set up for these guys. Usually it takes quite a bit of work to set up a diorama and then position things over and over and try to get things lit up just right.

I did a couple more grungy scenes with them then cleaned everything up and put it away. I have another project that caught my attention. I'm like that.

I can be on my way from one room to another and take a detour in the middle of what I am doing to ... do something else. I can have 3 things half finished by the time I get back to what I should have been doing in the first place.

Seriously though, I am much more single minded while doing the chores. 

We have ferocious winds here today. I cannot imagine how awful they will be on the ridge. I'm happy we live in a hollow.

And here we go...on towards the middle of the week.

What next???

Visit to the East Dry Run

 

Finally, I got out of the house to 'blow the stink off' as my Father in Law used to say. It was an expression for getting out of being stuck in the house for a long time. I picked up some of their sayings and this one stuck...

along with ...

Worserthanawful [said as one word].

But today was not worse. It was beautiful, sunny, and in the 20's.

Charlie and I headed out across the ridge to the place where we would explore the long ravine [dry run] about a mile away.

There is a place that is a ravine ... or dry run as we call it on the eastern edge of the valley next 'door'. There is a tiny spring that trickles water along the boulders and rocks in this steep ravine.

In 2009 I happened to hike with my Jack Russell, Morris, to that area on a cold winter day. What I discovered was that the tiny little spring through the cold weather built an ice flow in the ravine which covered the boulders.

Here is Morris on the ice which looks blue in this shot.

Charlie on the ice yesterday. He could walk on it. I didn't dare because I didn't bring my YakTraks.

The slow movement of the spring water on cold days dribbles over the frozen surface and freezes giving the ice texture. Layers keep building and reaching downhill from the spring.

Morris on ice in 2009.

In the other three seasons, one has to carefully climb over boulders to get up to the spring.

What the area looks like without the ice....

Morris in March 2008.

Those rocks he was standing on are under ice right now. Imagine the volume of water and ice needed to do that!

Seriously, I cold have spent hours there if I'd had my YakTraks with me. As it was, I spent a very long time exploring as I could from the steep banks. 

When the ice builds, the seeping water followed this log and ... froze. Isn't Nature amazing?

There was water trickling off the little bits of ice in this photo below. But I didn't dare climb out on the ice without being ice cleats.

Here is a view of the bumpy ice as it forms going down hill. I bet I could slide on my butt up to the logs! If only I was a kid again!

The view from above. The ravine bottom is about 150 feet below me and I am not at the top of the 'ridge' yet.

This ravine/dry run is nearly 1/4 of a mile long from its top near the ridge to its bottom at the creek. 

My hike home was across the cropland. Charlie hunted down a vole in the hayfield and did his thing. He really does love cold weather hiking as long as it isn't super cold.

We timed everything just about right. The clouds moved in and the winds picked up. 

And the wind blew our 'stink off', we came home fresh and relaxed.

Considerations

I just went through my short list on FB and unfollowed 90% of the noise on there. I also snoozed most places that had posts that I generally just browse when I am totally bored. That is stupid on my part.

I will keep FB for those few neighbors that text me through Messenger or actually have something to say that interests me. So now when I go to FB, I spent less than 60 seconds looking at it. In fact I am going to see how long I can ignore FB! 

IG may be next. I made sure I was not on 'threads' which seems to have taken off but is still run by Zuckerberg's company. They both may be the next thing to go also. I didn't use IG except to post some of my funny stuff and some toy stuff for the Lego folks. Both my sons use IG so I may have to keep it.

I perused BlueSky this morning. Not even sure I want to get into having 'social' media anymore. At least I never joined Twitter and I am super glad I am not on X. 

I will stay here. Blogs are not the rage anymore and who cares about most bloggers anyway? I do. It seems like one of the last places where you can pick and choose what you want to read.

I do enjoy reading about others and what they do daily. 

I visit news sites and read or watch news on my cell phone. Sometimes I get so disgusted that I turn my phone OFF. Then of course I get worried that I'll miss a tracking message for hubby's meds so...dang it. I turn it back on.

At night, the phone goes on top of the spice rack in the kitchen and that is where it stays from 8pm until I get up to start the day. 

Slowly I am making changes to some of the poor habits I picked up. Less internet. More outer world.

My only real bad good habit is Flickr. I've heard that some people are flocking back to Flickr which is a photographer site but also a site that is a social media. People can share ideas, photos, and daily updates basically through photography. I've made friends on Flickr that I've kept for 15 years. Some of them I've met in real life and some only through messages and maybe a real phone call.

I have gone back to writing what I really think of the world in my paper journal. At least that does clear my mind of all sorts of thoughts before I go to bed.

I used to keep a journal for years and years. I still have a box of my journals all the way back to High School, through college, and my first years of marriage which included my thoughts when I gave birth to my first son.

I'll stay here for now. 

Photography is still my release from stress. So I will continue to do it.

Here is Bear, my cold weather hiking companion taking, a rest the other day. He is a very smart Bear. He knows how to just sit and BE. Something I could learn from him.

I wonder if he is meditating?

The weather is milder today so I am going to go out and enjoy the woods.

This view is from a few years ago on an open field when we had snow.

I need some fresh air.

I want to check out a new 'thing' I got for photography. I don't think it will help out much now...however it could be a game changer later this year when the creeks are flowing. A magnetic ND filter and lens cap.

Instead of screwing and unscrewing the filter, you simply attach the magnetic ring to your lens then carry the filter until you want to use it.

The on & off of the filter takes only a second. No fumbling fingers!

Hopefully I can find a place to try it out today. It is up to 22 F this morning! Whoo!

Meanwhile

A diversion from reality with some of my still life and fun...

I'm sorry, but I have to announce that we have 
cancelled all tours to Earth.

How many times do I have to tell you
....

you are my droids!
None of that Star Wars fantasy stuff!

Beware?
Looks like they are looking for a lost

Dragon!!!

Here I am!!!!

Searching for Intel

This is not what I envisioned when you said
we'd climb Cinnamon Mountains!

Always be amazed...

The reason we write fiction is because it is so much easier to spend part of each day
in an imaginary world. 

~~

Kurt Vonnegut

I have only this...

I got out yesterday. It was still below that zero point when I took a walk up through the woods to go get yesterday's mail. Charlie did go with me as did Bear.

It has been a while since Bear and I went on adventures together. Silly me. When there is no one to hike with, I can always take Bear.

He never complains...

Even if he gets stuck trying to get over a log. 

I had to give him a hand of course and we went on our Merry Way.

In the afternoon we decided to go for a hike along the creek to see what was happening since the Big Chill from last week.

We didn't find many tracks other than a few deer tracks and quite a few rabbit tracks.

I left Charlie home as we were going deep into the forest and this is the beginning of coyote mating season. Mostly the coyotes will leave us alone or run off. But over 30 years of hiking these woods, I did have two instances where the 'yotes followed me and a dog during the day time.

Bear and I stopped for an updated photo of one of my favorite spots on the creek. The trees that lay across this section are now on the creek bottom. The creek no longer flows where I am squatted. It has moved to my left.

Much of the creek had ice on it and in some of the places where there are springs, it was open.

This section had slow moving water from a spring inching its way across the ice. It flows up and over the ice and then freezes.

Layers of ice build over each other.

This 20 second video shows how the water creeps over the ice.... 
I sat in the snow next to the creek and was amazed by how quietly the water just seeped onto the ice.

Overnight, it will have created a new layer of ice and will rearrange the pattern of the snow on the creek.

The ice wall got a face uplift and the colors of the ice seem to glow yellow in all that bright snow!

I spotted this little beauty in among other winter flora. I think it is the tiny hulls of the Fleabane flower.

The next few days will be beautiful with temps still below freezing, but above frigid. I hope to get out and enjoy them....

I have only this left to say....

I do not wish to be ruled by fear. 
I wish for compassion and freedom from fear.
Is that too much to ask for?