A little bit of snow...

Before our light snow+++

A look at the old trail that heads down towards our creek and valley. Dusty and brown.

Out on the edge of a field, I found a lone milkweed pod that still had some seeds on it. This plant was about 3 feet from the forest and probably protected from the winter winds.
 

We got snow. Not much. Not even enough to have the town plows hit the gravel roads. But still, it is moisture and hopefully it will eventually melt into the ground.

A little bit of snow does change the looks of things and these barberries stood out with their bright red berries in the forest. I stayed as much as possible in the forest because getting out where the wind was blowing was very cold.

This next shot is probably only interesting to me. It is of an old oak stump cut down when this area was logged 28 years ago. Probably not interesting to others though. It's texture with snow on it created something interesting to my eye. Too bad we couldn't see it in 3D.

It snowed a bit on and off for the rest of the afternoon and evening so I went out this morning to the summer pasture to get to some shots of the sparkly snow and some shadows. We only received perhaps an inch and a half in total, but it was a nice change from the browns of the day before.

The trail at the top of the hill was much prettier. Plus there were no tracks yet from the critters other than a lone coyote.

The summer pasture did have some pretty spots. I tried so hard to get the snow 'diamonds'. Dad used to call the snow sparkles 'diamonds'. They were there, but so tiny!

The sun was SO bright it hurt my eyes! I had to squint. The temperature was 3 F [-16C]. The sun was shining and I was out of the wind so I did feel just fine.

I think the hardest thing to do with such bright white snow is try to get the exposure spot on. But this was just a little wander around the summer pasture and how it looked with a little bit of fresh snow on it.

In places where the wind had blown, the grasses showed through the snow quiet well.

The shadows of the plants and the textures of the snow were so fascinating.

Of course, Mini Me and Charlie had to check it out too.

According to NOAA [which I hope is not de-funded], we are to get up to 5 inches of snow Friday afternoon and night!

Temperatures will be super frigid come Sunday night.

...oh... parting shot through a window with a screen on it...

The Redheaded Sisters snoozing this morning with their snow blankets on.

Plans for Valentine's Day? None here. Every day is full of ❤️ in our house.

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.