Its all about Fractals!

Fractal art is stunning in my opinion.  It is not everyone's piece of cake, but it intrigues me because the possibilities are endless.

You take a 'Fractal Program' and literally design your own abstract artwork.

You can take images you make in a fractal program and combine them in any image editing program and come up with some stunning and unusual.

I have found some unusual and extremely beautiful fractals done with the Mandelbulb 3D program, the following artist is extremely talented in multiple programs.

His name is Jorge and his blog is called 'fraktalblog'.  You should stop and browse his artwork and check out his links to other blogs and websites.

I stumbled upon his artwork and am glad I have.  He has pointed me into some new and exciting directions with Mandelbulb 3D.

I have just downloaded the latest version of  Mandelbulb3d v1.7.9.3which can be found here:

fractalforums.com.

There are many tutorials that go with this program that can also be found at the following link.

fractalforums.com tutorials 

I just enjoyed experimenting with one of the new parameters included in this latest version.

Dodeca Torus.  I call this my Dodeca Torus Star.  I did fool with the formula a bit with this.

Opal the People Challenged Mule

I've talked about Opal before.  The people challenged mule.  
Seriously.  She dislikes humans.
Well.  Most humans.

Tonight she gave me the giggles.  I went to see Badger and thought I'd brush him a bit and check on his breathing.  He'd been listless all day and he managed to perk up when I haltered him and led him into the 'catch' pen for some grooming time.

I however did not chain the gate behind me.  Next thing I know, Opal has stuffed her muzzle in between the gates and is pushing it open.
I reach over and pulled it shut.

As I am pulling, she tucks her muzzle into the metal frame and gives it a hearty push as if to say...'Oh NO you don't!'

Well, if she wanted to be groomed that badly, then who was I to say any different?
I relented and let her in with Badger.

I curried her until she shone.  She may have even liked it.
Badger stood quietly and watched me curry his now 'favorite' molly mule.  I keep them together so Badger isn't 'lonely'.
We put Fred in with them and he is the outcast.  He loves to pick on Opal, who loves to hide behind Badger.


The people challenged mule let me rub her ears tonight and run my hands over her poll and face.  What a great old coot she is.  I think had I gotten my hands on her at a much younger age we could have had something really special together.


Hmm.
I think we have something special going on right now!
Just gotta love mules!

 

Badger & His Equine COPD [update]

Badger.

Equine COPD.

Let's say I am not fond of this subject.  It rather is a sore spot for me.

Each time Badger breathes in dust or pollens, he has a reaction that lasts for days.  This can be while he is on grass pasture too. 

Think of having asthma in a human, or COPD, or Emphysema.

It is a progressive disease which worsens over time. Early in the disease, shortness of breath may occur with exercise and activity but symptoms gradually worsen and may occur at rest.

Badger not only is at the stage where breathing at rest is difficult for him, but he won't eat much either because he is spending most of his time trying to breath.

His overall appearance and general body condition has dramatically worsened.  I look at photos of him from two years ago when he was first diagnosed ...

to the photo I have of him this past fall.

Note the change in overall condition.

This spring he had a few good days where I was able to hand walk him to the ridge and then ride him on the flat.  He however would stop and catch his breath.

With the onset of summer heat and humidity Badger is again suffering daily.  Even on grass pasture he spends most of his day just standing.  Meds no longer help him much.  

It seems each spring I go through this at the beginning of hot and humid weather.  

But today as I drove home, I called my hubby and mentioned something about hay and feeding.

He confirmed what my fears had been.

He too has noticed the poor condition of this once fine and strong mule.  He questioned our reasoning to keep him in such a way.

Badger.

I struggled with putting Cheyanne down last April.  It was time though and she was in misery.  It is hard to think about this right now.  I keep hoping for a miracle but know there is no 'miracle faerie' handing out cures.

Beauty in the Sky

Grandma was one of those folks who tended to take this little girl and point things out to her.

One day I claimed I was bored out of my skull.  It was the mid 1960's and we had no running water, no TV, no phone, and aside from beating the crap out of my sister at Crazy Eights [card game], there wasn't much to do in the afternoon.

Chores and garden weeding had been done.  Nothing an 8 yr old could do anyway.  

I hadn't gotten 'old' enough to take my brother's bike and ride the country roads,...yet we could explore the woods if we were brave enough.
Sigh. It was a magnificent day for the clouds.  Grandma pointed that out to me.

'Watch the clouds,' she said. 'Find formations, find animals, use your imagination!'  Harrumph.  Well this 8 yr old did.  And found she was hooked on clouds for the rest of her life.

I found that the clouds and the sky were something incredible, yet taken for granted.  We should never ever take the heavens above us for granted.
If one watches close 
enough,

the sky...it always changes.  There is always something interesting going on above.  Even at night.

So I took up cloud watching with enthusiasm.  Now I need to learn the names and 'kinds' of clouds.

I know Grandma said these were 'horsefeathers' and predicted rain within 24 hrs. [Grainy but you get the idea...]

The sky and the clouds are a beautiful thing.  You should take time out of your busy life [yes, Follow My Own Advice!] and take time to watch the beauty of the clouds and sky.

Mandelbulb 3D Not a Quite a Box Parameter

I found an interesting parameter on deviant art by Hal Tenny who is quite the artist as far as Mandelbulb3D is concerned.

He calls it twisted cage and I snapped up his parameter, found here:

Twisted Cage

and decided to see how I could modify and change it.

After twinking around with the formulas I came up with something that reminded me of the album cover from Tubular Bells from the 1973 album of the same name.  It doesn't look exactly like it...but okay, the fractal turned out pretty cool in my opinion.

I like finding interesting or even dull parameters and then adding my own touch to make something quite different.

I'm finding many different things I can do to change the original parameter.  I added _gnarl2D with a strength of 1.5 to get this effect in place of the original #1 Formula, it was purely by accident.

But it was a happy accident all the same.

Herd Sour Mule ~

Well, Siera is NOT Badger.  She is a good mule, she has lots of action and a willingness to please.

I had not ridden her in about a month [my fault, screwy work schedule].

So I decided I'd take her out for a ride this afternoon.  

She was easy to catch, but gave me an odd look while saddling her.

Okay, she is a female, and she does have her 'moods', but usually she is very good with her manners.

It seemed she didn't really really truly want to go.  Well, tough, she and I were going anyway.

What a naughty mule.  Okay, I shouldn't say really naughty ... she was balky, she wanted to turn around and go home.

She wanted to walk 5 steps and stop --not her usual 'go get 'em' attitude.  So I got off and checked her saddle and the rest of the equipment to make sure we were not having 'equipment' failure.

This continued all of the way down to the valley and creek crossing.  Stop, ... start, ...stop, start...then when she saw the creek she stiffened up and braced her legs. 

Mind you this is a creek she has crossed many many times.  Although today there was no path for her to follow, and the creek grasses had grown quite high.

Her: Nope.

Me: Yes.

To her credit she never reared or bucked.  She only tried to turn around towards home.  She refused to cross and that created a dilemma.  I never let a mule refuse something like this, she will only get it in her head that she will never have to DO it again!

Well now what.  

I dismounted and attached a lead rope to her rope halter that she wears under her bridle just for this sort of thing.

I tromped down the tall grass and 'made' a path to the creek, then stepped onto a stone in the middle of it.

Siera followed me as if this were absolutely normal.  She did it quietly and politely.

I told her that she was not going to be having ME lead her across all these little creek crossings!

She was not impressed.

We rode the valley floor like the whirlwind.  She gaited out hard and strong, until we hit the ridge road and Siera decided she'd take that way.  Nope, I wanted more valley riding.  This too became a few steps then stop, few steps, then stop.

Another small creek crossing.  You'd swear the sucking mud would have killed her.  We dealt with that and then headed back towards home.  She was over eager to head to her buddies.  So now it was my turn to make her stop and stand still.

Here are my thoughts.

She is 'herd' sour, or 'home' sour.  Last year after spending 3 days in a pen by herself, she was much more willing to be cooperative and not worry about 'home'.

Second.  She likes her trails to be clear and concise.  When on a groomed trail, she never balks or makes a mistake [usually I'm also riding with my husband].

Third, she needs more deep woods experience.

Lastly.

Siera was doing so well in March and April...also last year that this attitude sort of took me by surprise.  So I have learned that she can be a butt head.  Yet she did nothing dangerous except worry about what was going on at home.

She'll get over it!  Plus I discovered that I can get on and off in all sorts of places and she makes no move to dash off.  She waits patiently even for a remount.

Here is a sample of what we ride through.  The photo is of Badger a few years ago when he was still healthy.  We'd stopped on the side of a hill to photography weird mushrooms.

Incendia Fractal

I haven't done anything in Incendia in a while so I thought I'd just post one for today.

I've been working 12 hour shifts back to back with 8 hours shifts overnight ... it has really stumped my outings in the woods and my mule rides!

You Ate WHAT? Nettles?

Every year I look forward to spring ... not just because I can find Morel mushrooms, but I can also find other goodies in the forest and in other places, such as those 'waste' areas where weeds grow.

As luck may have it, the Lambs Quarters are coming up early this year.  I've already had them more than once as a side dish veggie.

 

Today I tried something a bit different.  I picked stinging nettles, just the top few leaves of those pesky weeds that I truly DO not like.

I don't like the sting at all.  But I'd read and heard from good sources that this was a tasty green and that it also made a wonderful green tea.

Nettles:

Nettles cooked...

There is no sting once the nettles are cooked.  And I can say with delight that the tea was actually pretty good.

Even better.  The Nettle greens themselves proved to be almost as tasty as the Lamb's Quarters!

Right.  

I also harvested some wild meadow onions and chopped them up, freezing them for spices for my winter stews.  I've already frozen a few packages of morels for winter eating.

I have to admit that I even tried a young milkweed shoot.  I tasted it raw.  And was I ever delighted.

I have to say that I had no idea that some day I'd be trying out eatible weeds from around my own yard and woods.

But after all, my Grandmother did start me young on 'weeds' from out behind the woodshed.

My husband did turn his nose up at what I was eating of course and would have nothing to do with it.  Little does he know that I've frozen much of these goodies to stick in stews this winter.

If you know what you are doing, wild food is good food.

Just puppy play

When I go on a 'dog walk' it isn't just a 'dog' walk.  It is always an adventure in fun.  I took Thelma and Louise out with a special leash that allows me to hook both of them up at once.

Nice if they are NOT pulling you!  A few stern words and they actually made an effort not to pull me around.  [At the end of the hike, they walked sedately by my side.]

Morris came along and we took to the woods.  I let them loose and let them run.  Puppies need their exercise and I wanted their kennel to dry up a bit so I could rake it and clean it.  I found some beautiful patterns in the fern leaves.



There was a lot of warning growls from Morris as the girls tried to 'play' with him.  

The pups now outweigh Morris by quite a bit!  Morris, being the elder, set the play rules straight and then they all got along quite well. 

It sure was a beautiful day, picture perfect for fun with 'the kids'.

Morris and the girls were worn out and happy after their excursion.

And tell me...how cute was this?

Badger COPD Equine ROA...my buddy

Badger.  The best mule ever in the world.  Well, he is to me.

Badger suffers from ROA, Reoccurring Obstructive Airway Disease.  COPD, Heaves...nasty stuff.

But.

But.

Butt.

We go back and forth, he has terrible days, awful days...and then something happens like tonight.

We have an amazing evening.

I wanted to ride, but didn't really have time for all the saddling and messing around that I usually have to do with the 'younger' mules.  Badger came and stood at the gate.

What could I do?

It was hot and humid.  But.

He was standing there braying in a soft voice that broke my heart.

I opened the gate, groomed him and took out a 5 gallon bucket and .. turned it upside down in the driveway.  [Badger is 15 hands and I'm just a couple of inches over that.]

I tossed his bridle on and then took the leap from the bucket.

I swear Badger smiled.  Really.

He started up our steep driveway.  He stopped midway up and caught his breath, wheezing a bit.  I laid over his neck and offered loving encouragement.  We stood for a while in the driveway.  A wren

scolded us.  Some black birds called and a hoot owl called from the woods.  I laid across Badger's neck and wrapped my arms around him.  

After a few minutes he started up the hill.  I dropped the reins on his neck and put my arms up in the air.  

Free riding.

No saddle ... no directions.. he knew what was expected of him.

We rode up to the neighbor's place on the ridge to watch the sunset.  

Just like the old days.

As dark started to settle in I headed towards home. 

The emotions began to flow over me.  Badger was sick with COPD, Equine ROA.  Yet.

He could still carry me bareback without any fault, any spook, any mistep, to the ridge to photo the sunset.  Something we've done 100's of times over the past 16 years.

Badger still had a purpose in his and my mind.  Our bond is something I may never achieve again in any other equine.

When I got home, I took his bridle off and left him in the yard while I did chores.  

He followed me around.

Damn.

I will continue to fight for Badger's health and to keep him healthy enough for these special moments.

For .. 

I feel..

there will never be any other equine quite like him in my life.

Thanks Badger.

You ARE the best.

Hunting Morel Mushrooms

Hubby said, 'Let's wander down over the hill road and take a look around...I doubt we'll find anything.'

That is usually code for:  I bet the morel mushrooms have started coming up.

So we each grabbed a bag and headed out the door to the ridge road and back into our creek bottom.  

Much to our surprise, it wasn't long before we discovered the first of the morels.

My husband let out a little 'ah hah!' of surprise and then pointed one out to me.  We'd walked here just a day ago and of course I'd seen nothing.

I took the little prize and stuck it in the bag.

We crept along the south hillside checking around trees.  I leaned up against an tree that was dying and looked down into the creek just letting my eyes wander around a bit.  Then I looked down at my feet and nearly fell on my rear end.

Next to my right foot was the largest morel that I'd ever seen!

I let out a huge cry of delight, which brought hubby over.  We both admired it before I picked it.

Then he promptly found a couple more.

We felt like we'd hit the jack pot.

 Morels are not easy to find.  You need to be able to see past the debri on the forest floor and your eyes need to be able to pick out a pattern that may not belong.  The one below was not real obvious to me and I guess you can see why!

We collected enough to have a nice little meal and was still able to get home before darkness fell.  Along the way, I dug out some nice 'ramps' or wild leeks to flavor the night's pork chops.

What I am finding out is that this tasty little plant is very popular right now and is dug up and sold to restaurants.  The issue is, if you dig up a whole patch, it will not re-grow.  I'm determined just to take a select few each year and let the wild leeks grow so that I have a continuous supply.

I'm happy to say that I chopped a few up when I got home along with the wild meadow onions I'd found and sauteed them in butter.

Just a few will go a long way.

It is great fun to go out in the woods and find things you can eat or supplement your meals with!