Oh I love Spring.
It was a really nice day to go out on a woodsy adventure.
The mud and water was really fine looking on my white legs.
I don't think she appreciated it at all.
She even threatened me with the word, bath.
Nope, I've had plenty of baths this spring.
She was looking for something she calls wildflowers. She sure does like looking at things on the ground.
I like running through the creek and smelling old bones.
I like to run circles around her and sometimes hide behind a tree.
She gets pretty aggrivated when I hide and she can't see me.
She makes this 'phfft phfft' noise and clucks her tongue if I don't come right away she then makes my name very loud and verrry long.
'Moooorrrr-iiiiiiiisssss' she hollers, oh that is when I know I am in for it. I come right away and sit down at her feet and look up at her innocently.
Usually then she notices that I've been rolling in something delightfully icky. I didn't yesterday though. I really was not up for a bath, I didn't want to smell like flowery shampoo.
She acted all excited and told me that she had found the Dutchman's Breeches coming up...
Then she found wild leeks all over the place.
Gosh, you'd think she found gold or something. I wasn't impressed at all. She likes to pick these things and add them to soups and stews I guess.
Then she found the little starts of Jewel Weed...she doesn't like them much as they grew up tall in the creek last year and made walking very hard.
They don't stay in the creek if there are heavy rains.
And then I thought she was going to do something rash when she found Mayflowers.
But heck, it is May soon right?
To top things off she found MaidenHair Fiddle Sticks. I guess they come up red.
Nicest thing though, I got to smell all sorts of good smells, I got muddy and wet.
And she did not make me take a bath.
I got toweled off when we got home and settled in for a nice nap on her pink sweatshirt.
Spring is nice.
Life is good.
Yesterday, Saturday promised to be a nice Spring day. So I decided to do some nice quiet activities outside.
One of those things was collect more 'stuff' for the next Junk Day at our township.
I disposed of our old TV! For those who know my hubby, he rarely likes to toss anything out. He complained that I would have to pay for dumping the TV.
Oh, so that is a reason to hang on to it? NO!
Anyway, history was made, I got rid of it at no cost.
Not only that ~ I got rid of some 'stuff' from the garage. Old broken halters, poly electric fence that was not usable, and other items.
So I was back in the garage when I found this old wooden chair I'd bought years ago. It was being used to stack Junk on. I disposed of the junk and took the chair out.
I got out my paints and decided to paint myself another 'Happy Chair'.
Hubby came along and was horrified to find me painting an 'antique'.
I won. I am now working on making the old chair a brightly painted cheerful chair. When finished, I might give this to my mom as a gift. I think everyone could use a 'Happy Chair'.
Hubby came out of the house after his nap and we decided to pile brush. He used his beloved skid steer to pick up the big pieces and I tossed the small stuff into the bucket.
After supper I decided to go out and have a talk with my mules.
The winter paddock has slightly dried up. There are places though that are knee deep in muck still.
I used my hands and scratched all my girl mules on their backs.
After I left Siera and went over to Mica...
Siera came up and let me know that she was there.
And that she was unhappy that I was giving a massage to another mule.
First she just looked at me, then she tried to push Mica out of the way with her chest.
Then she laid back her ears and looked as ornery as possible.
Mules, they sure do get jealous if they think they 'own' you.
I really need to get the shedding blade out and give everyone a big 'make over'.
There is nothing quite like having children to guide you down a path that you've taken before. They show it to you with fresh eyes...
My neighbor's little girls wanted to go for a hike and look for rocks with me. I had to keep Morris on a tight leash as the youngest was very timid and a bit afraid of the bouncy guy.
We made it to the creek and began to walk, finding interesting little rocks to put in the backpack I'd brought along.
Soon enough the girls became fascinated with the creek itself.
It seemed that even when I cautioned them that they were entering deep parts of the creek...Deep like up to their knees deep. And that they would get water in their boots deep...
They laughed and informed me that they have been wet before.
Indeed they have.
They even informed me that mom wouldn't care if they got sopping wet and muddy.
I had some moments when they chose to jump off from boulders into the water when ... I slightly cringed. But they were confident and never broke stride.
I'd opened up a wonderful new playground for them.
Half way through the hike I let Morris off the leash and he followed the girls and watched over them.
Give him some youngsters and he will keep up with them and be with them no matter what.
When the youngest sat down on a rock to empty her boots of water, Morris slid up next to her and gave her a quick 'kiss' on the cheek.
She was elated.
I was elated.
I couldn't think of a better way to spend a couple of hours.
Kids and dogs, they bring joy to your life.
I never thought I'd see the day that Morris would slow down. Today as with every time we hike Morris ran everywhere trying to make sure that he properly 'watered' anything that a male dog could.
He ran circles around me. He ran ahead, then ran back to me. He is always close by.
In fact he has always been my helper and my hiking or riding buddy.
He started out at 6 weeks old hiking with me. Below is a photo of him in my backpack. He had tired out and I had given him a lift.
Here is another photo from our very first hike.
Cute little bugger wasn't he? Look at how dark his face was.
Today was no different.
Run.
Run.
Run.
Oh and of course, he supervised everything I did. What a good pal to watch over me when I set up a tripod or kneel down to take a photo.
But the years are starting to show up on the little guy.
When we get home he goes straight to his blanket on the couch and instantly falls asleep.
Tonight he was even slow to get up and nag me for his supper.
He is now curled up near the heater fan and is getting warmed up before he goes to bed.
He will turn 9 this year.
His face is turning whiter.
His naps are getting longer.
Maybe he and I are starting to age 'gracefully' with each other.
I find I take naps more often now too.
Goodnight Morris.
You are loved.
I will not pretend to understand the IFS flames in Mandelbulb 3D at all, but I do know that using a IFS flame in the first formula presents with interesting results.
I went to some artists sights on devianArt and studied their parameters. I then spent some extensive time making some 'maps' for colors for both Incendia and Mandelbulb.
I was particularily excited with this one.
The day I made it, I felt a bit out of sorts and therefore off kilter, that is what I wanted to portray anyway.
Oddly enough I found this checkerboard .jpg hanging out in a file and decided to use it on this creation since I was exploring black and white anyway.
The .jpg used:
Not interesting in itself, but when used on the above fractal, it had some great possibilities.
Next I used MengerIFS with Amazing Box and got this:
For this texture or...color I used the following:
Not something you'd expect right?
So I've been experimenting in IFS flames in MDB 3D along with adding colors of my own with very interesting results.
Not a great or stunning Mandelbulb, but I was studying how to color it more than anything else.
Then for some fun in the Wave IFS and the Amazing Box thanks to parameters by ~Len1 on deviantArt I did this.
So I've decided to do some exploring in some more smooth and less complicated fractals. And make sure of the color maps provided and add to them.
The color maps become useful in Incendia also by the way.
The sun was shining which is a rarity around here lately.
I grabbed a leash, the gun, the cameras, and then went to the door ...
Morris was leaping and whining.
He knew it was 'walk time'. Time for him to run around, find deer pellets to eat [smart pills], pee on everything that needs marking.
We found Skunk Cabbage!
Morris wasn't really interested in that though, he was checking out the recent changes in the creek.
The past week of heavy rains had changed the creek in a few ways.
We even saw trout.
What a treat.
I sat on a log at the Big Spring and watched the flow from the Spring. It was amazing the amount of water that came out of the bottom of the hillside.
Not far from that Spring Marsh Marigolds were beginning to bloom.
Further down the creek next to the 'almost' washed out Culvert that the snow mobile club had put in, I found a Wild Parsnip.
The flowering wild parsnip is a noxious weed. When flowering in July and August they can burn you.
But.
The root tastes the same as a regular parsnip.
I figured this had been uprooted from the Flash Flood the day before.
I stuck it in a plastic bag and put it in my pocket. Along with some sprouts of wild onions and some frozen morels, I had some good ingredients for the soup I was making.
Oh and if you are wondering, it did taste pretty good!
On my way home I walked through the creek towards our property.
I found yet one more iron concretion rock. I have quite a collection of them now.
They are basically ugly and bumpy, not colorful or beautiful.
But from what I understand, they are not common. Yet while wandering about, they seem to appear at my feet for no reason.
Oh well, always was a 'rock' hound!
JWildfire
Apophysis 7X
Mandelbulb 3d
Incendia
Processing done in CS2 and some processing done in Bryce.
The following piece was done in Incendia and Mandelbulb 3D. Image of the face came from Dagwanoenyent an Artist at devianArt.
I used Mandelbulb 3D in conjunction with Incendia to produce this item I call:
Medusa in the Fractal
The following fractal image began as an Apophysis 7X flame that I opened with JWildfire. I was easily able to edit the colors and the 'flame'.
I layered two flames with the same gradient together to come up with this.
Other than being pretty, I'm not sure what this really does for me.
To me art weather it is abstract or not should cause a reaction. Not just a 'hey that it pretty' response.
But sometimes I'm happy in the fact that I can just 'make' something.
The above image is interesting to a degree, but the tinkerer in me wants to add something to it.
Would it look good with a flood plug-in?
How would it look as an Incendia backround?
Perhaps I could make a Mandelbulb with these colors.
The list is endless.
As are the possibilities.
This morning we had a brilliant orange sunrise.
I ran out with the camera and grabbed a few shots.
Lately, seeing the sun has been a rarity as was this beautiful sunrise.
Forecast for later today...indicates 1.5 to 3" of rain by morning. That is a lot of water.
We've had two days of sunshine this week and there was even a bit of drying out in the higher areas of the winter pastures.
However, this morning's sky was worth getting outside for and to watch the sun come through the tree tops...that is, before the sun disappeared under a mass of grey skies yet again.
Yesterday on my trip back from town I stopped by the Readscreek where a small pond is and found some Canada Geese.
At least the world around us is slowly making a transformation into spring. A cold wet transformation.
We are told we need the rain, yet I don't think all of the frost has come out of the ground so the rain won't seep in.
Anyway a rain of up to 3" quickly won't do well for the ground, it will run quickly off.
For now, I am happy to see the green spikes of the daffodills coming up out of the brown yard.
