What I know...

 ...from Mary Oliver's Poem

What Is There Beyond Knowing

What I know
I could put into a pack

as if it were bread and cheese, and carry it
on one shoulder,

important and honorable, but so small!
While everything else continues, unexplained

and unexplainable. How wonderful it is 
to follow a thought quietly

to its logical end.
I have done this a few times.

But mostly I just stand in the dark field,
in the middle of the world, breathing

in and out. Life so far doesn't have any other name

but breath and light, wind and rain.

If there's a temple, I haven't found it yet.

I simply go on drifting, in the heaven of grass

     and weeds.

There is light...

I thought the Fireflies were done, until I walked out the other night at dusk to put the pony back in his pen for the night.

I thought I'd check out the meadow this time with a view to the northeast.

The old apple tree across the fence is in deep grass and brush. The photo is dark, but you can see that the Lightening Bugs were sure busy!

I then took the camera and faced it towards the evening sky. There was barely any light at all, but the neat thing about modern day cameras is that they pick up light better than the human eye.

The meadow's grass is pretty short here from grazing so I didn't see a lot of bugs lighting up. However the color of the clouds and the sky were beautiful.

I also could see the Big Dipper!

I set up for longer exposures hoping to get more Fireflies and more star movement all in one shot.

I used a 8 minute LiveComp exposure setting on the camera and hit the jackpot.

In the distance there was some lightening from a storm cell, I got the start of a star trail with the Big Dipper at the center, and the Fireflies showed up in great numbers. They also streaked across the sky in front of the camera.

Lucky me, I only got one airplane flying through the exposure.

I set up to do just one more exposure, but the Mosquitoes simply were not cooperative. I could have set the camera up and walked away for 10 minutes but I get nervous leaving the camera on a tripod when we have wildlife that move through the area.

Normally the bugs are not this bad. In fact, I think we are quite spoiled as we don't have lakes and ponds in our area, only rivers and streams. It does cut down on the bothersome skeeters.

Even sunrises are not so much fun right now. 

This was my Friday night attempt at a shots.

The crescent moon is on the left and my neighbor's yard light on their farm 1/2 mile away is on the right.
The fireflies are in the are down below. It was very warm and just after sunset. They were exceptionally active! I was quite surprised. The shot is taken over the mule pasture which is full of weeds and grass.

I turned north and spotted the Big Dipper just coming out in the dusk. It looks as though it is dumping right onto the spot where our house is!

As it got a bit darker, I decided to shoot a star trail over our house with the Big Dipper as the center.

Nah. I didn't quite get the Dipper in the middle and then I quit because no matter how many times I tried...airplanes had decided to use the north-south corridor in their flight pattern.

I tried several times only to continuously get airplane tracks.

One of the planes was rather low!

That is the bright white streak.

In my imagination ... later on. This could have been an alien ship trying to beam us up! Right?

Alas, it was just a small airplane flying low overhead. I imagine it was going to our tiny local airport which was having a pancake breakfast and fly in on Saturday morning.

I guess I'll keep trying.

Last night some storms came through to the south of us. I set up on the porch for a little bit to see if I could catch any lightening action.

Nope.

I did catch the night sky light up with lightening far off and some lightening bugs were busy in the yard.

It would have been cool to catch a lightening bolt.

I gave up and went in as the skeeters decided I was great food.

The night sky is a reminder
that even in the darkest
times.

There will always

be

light.

Christmas Eve

Here are my ladies. On the 23rd with temperatures in the 40's which by nightfall dropped into the teens and by morning it was 6 degrees.

The gal in front is Sunshine. I delivered her from my mare ... who was my very first horse. She has been a rock for me over the years. Faithful, wonderful, and dependable.
Her half sister is the other red head in back. Yep, they are all fuzzy with magnificent winter coats. The bay mule is my other sweety. Siera.

Anyway they went into the woods last night and dropped down to shelter out of the high winds.

I went out to do chores as day broke into the valley. The elder mules behind me and all of the others had nice snow blankets on. I am constantly amazed at how well insulated these creatures are compared to myself. 

Points to photo above...

Around noon Charlie and I headed towards the ridge to grab the mail and check for the mail by meds that were supposed to be delivered. Ahhh, no go. However I did check the tracking and they could be delivered on Monday.

I put on the polarized goggles for that walk. It is a fairly long one and the sun shining off the new snow was awfully bright. Charlie thought the walk was too short.

We no sooner got back to the porch when a red truck pulled down in. I recognized her as the special delivery UPS gal. Charlie squealed and cried and rolled in the snow at her feet when she jumped out of her truck. 

'Ch..hhhar....lie! You sweety ...MERRY Christmas!' she chimed in. She was dressed in a face mask heavy coveralls and gloves. I got Rich's special order meds and wished her a Merry Christmas too.

For whatever the reason she made my day.

I love snow. I love cold. I love the challenges they bring. 

Tonight I will sit up by the Christmas Chair and re-arrange things and listen to some music. Perhaps sip a glass of wine. I'll wait until a few moments before Midnight and then bundle up to go talk with the mules under the stars.

Because you know...the animals do talk for a few moments at the stroke of Midnight. And I'd love to know what they have to say.

And believe me.

They will have a LOT to tell me.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Goats, Campfire, and Cotton Candy

Saturday morning Daryl and his youngest daughter got up early and headed out to bow hunt.

Rich was sleeping, and the rest of the house was quiet so I grabbed my Nikon and headed out the door. I did have to go pick up milk at the little local gas station before the rest of the house appeared.

And why not enjoy the morning sunrise at the same time?

The photo is looking east from the ridge top across the Kickapoo River valley. New cell towers seem to always be popping up. I think they sort of ruin the pictures. I can easily erase them. However, they they are.

We eventually all gathered for a quick breakfast of 'whatever you can find to eat' and headed out to go to the Vernon County Fair.

As usual the last county fair in Wisconsin was packed with locals and visitors. There was the usual fair food that delights yet causes intestinal distress later. I didn't participate in the photography show this year. The time to organize my photos just wasn't there and my heart wasn't quite in it.
I did enjoy looking at the fair displays though. My favorite displays were those of flower arrangements, potted arrangements, and crafts.

I mentioned that I'd wanted to have a campfire in the evening. We could sit on chunks of wood and watch the full moon come up along with a nice small campfire.

The dogs and Sven joined us. It was an experiment which worked out very well. Charlie stayed very close and kept trading laps. Scout decided he wanted to go back to the house when the coyotes started to sing.

Sven hung out after he inspected the flames and decided they were not Goat-Worthy of tasting. One of the kids had a bag of Cotton Candy and Sven sought that out, grabbed it and walked away.
It led to a lot of laughter and the kids got it back.

They asked if Sven could try a bite. Yes he could. And Charlie wanted in on the action.
Sven's reaction was hilarious. He loved it. Of course! Who wouldn't like pure spun sugar?
From that point on, he kept circling and begging for candy until it was gone.

Sunday morning we took the dogs and Sven for a hike to the creek. After all, my friends can't seem to spend a weekend without going to the creek to check it out.

Apparently, Sven thinks that Charlie is HIS personal pal and other dogs need to leave his little buddy alone.

And of course, everyone including Sven enjoyed the creek. See him next to the Grace watching Daryl? He is a curious and fun companion to have along.

Sven browses as he walks and then trots up to the next person to see what they are doing.
Amanda set her waist pack down on some rocks.
Sven calmly walked over and picked up the pack by its strap then began to walk off.

A shout of "Sven! No!" doesn't faze him at all. He just gives you the Goaty Eye and continues.
I think the souls of goats are lovable imps.

How are the ribs? Wow, they were still terribly sore all weekend. Laying down to sleep and get comfortable is a challenge.

However.
I need to get over it and back into the swing of things.

I think I need a bit of goat 'lovin' and another campfire....

[taken by Grace]

Lessons from Charlie

Yesterday I took a break from the 'CareGiving' organizing and scheduling for both Rich and MIL. I took Charlie out so he could inspect the bulldozed ridge road. When we got to the creek, he calmly walked through the mud and silt picking up each leg higher than normal as he boldly inspected.

I really think he noted the difference in the bottom. He looked right, left, and slowly turned around and then spotted the trail going up the other side of the creek and took off trotting. He stopped and glanced back at me as if to say "Coming? Human-slave?" 

I was coming. 

However on our way through the mule pasture, I noted that the gate was not hot so I decided not to really explore any more but to go back and figure out why the fence was not working. I would have preferred to walk the whole trail all the way to the back fence, however the thought of loose equine turned me around.

I asked Charlie to come and he turned back and we headed towards home and the meadow.

[Note! Charlie is coming most of the time now when I call him, especially in the woods! He still likes to play catch me if you can in the yard sometimes.]

Often he stopped to listen to noises in the woods. I know he is close to the ground so he can't see over the brush and undergrowth. But he does listen and seem to think.
I heard a robin, a Titmouse, and in the distance I heard a wren scolding something while I stood and waited for him to check things out.

Charlie took a keen interest in the deer tracks on the ridge road. Probably looking for delicious deer poop. Not something I'm going to try any time soon.

In the meadow I had to set him down to fix the fence. First I had to introduce him to the mules who were all curious as to why I was in their pasture and why I had Charlie with me. I let the redheaded mules sniff Charlie in my arms. Seems that they don't perceive dogs that I am close to as threats.
They will chase down strange dogs and try to kill them. Charlie is so small, I think they don't believe he is worth chasing. They don't chase the cats that walk through their pastures either so I wonder if they think he is a cat?

With Charlie ignoring the mules and sitting between my legs, I found that the electric wire had gotten wrapped around barbed wire by some animal. Perhaps a raccoon had been chased through the fence. I've seen the girls do that before too. I fixed it and Charlie insisted on walking [with his cord attached to him of course] through the tall grass. I'm sure we looked rather funny.
Tiny dog, Human-slave, and 4 mules in single file walking through the meadow.

Did you know how interesting straw is? We have to stop, inspect it, and then chew on it. How about that bumble bee on the wild geraniums? Stop, inspect, watch, and then move on.
We eventually made it back to the house and Charlie flopped onto the rug I have on the porch. I brought him and I some cold water and we enjoyed the light breeze and the shade for a bit.

He was panting so I took him inside and let him rest. Rich was still napping. I had fence to rebuild and wasn't looking forward to using the post pounder but went back out and did it anyway.

.....

The lessons really came much later. After dark Charlie asked to go outside. I was in my PJ bottoms so I went out with him. He did his business quickly and then ran back to the piece of carpet on the porch and sat. I sat on the carpet too. He crawled into my lap and leaned against me.

His head kept darting back and forth. His ears would perk up when he heard the tree toads on the west side sing. Then his head would dart back to the east and suddenly he leaned harder and stomped his feet. I could see him trying to figure something out. Then it dawned on me.
Charlie was watching lightening bugs. He was listening to the toads and the June Bugs were buzzing in the Hickory tree nearby making the tree sound like it was electrified.

So I sat for a long time on the old chunk of carpet on the concrete with Charlie in my lap.
We listened to the toads.
We watched lightening bugs [he growled softly a few times...at them].
We listened to the June Bugs in the tree.

Fast isn't always the answer. Sometimes just sitting quietly and using your senses is the way to go.
Charlie is an expert at chillin' out.

It is a good lesson to learn.

Early to bed early to....what?

Rise?
I awoke at 3:30, that is in the AM. Morris woke up too and followed me into the kitchen. I checked the time and then looked out the window. The moon was not quite full but it was brilliant out.
I let Mr. Morris out and stepped onto the porch.

I decided to go back to bed.
As I laid down I thought about my drive through Tainter Hollow the day before while running some errands.

Lucky me, I'd seen an eagle perched just above Tainter Creek.
He/she stayed there long enough for me to take out my zoom lens and swap it out for the one I had on the Olympus camera.

I stopped at Tainter Bridge and admired the tree and its reflection. I thought it would make a nice subject for the black and white challenge I'd accepted.

As I tried to go back to sleep I wondered how things would look in the moonlight at Tainter Bridge. Could I get a shot of the same tree and the water? Would the moonlight wash out the sky?

The more I tried not to think about it, the more I thought about it.
Finally I got up and warmed up a cup of coffee.
I was going to go to Tainter Land.

There is a challenge to shooting in the dark. But the bigger challenge was to be able to take some shots while the moon still shone into the valley. The valley is very steep.
I got there at 4AM and set up as quickly as I could.
Finding the right spot was not too hard. I've photographed this same spot over the years during the daylight and sort of knew where I should put the tripod.

The next challenge was the cold. The temperature gauge on the Subaru said it was 28 degrees in the bottom. It had been 34 on the ridge. And my fingers felt the cold. Those fingers that had somehow aged on me and had osteoarthritis in them.
Note to self. Next time, bring hot hand packs!

As the moon began to sink towards the trees on the ridge, I pulled out my flashlight and took another shot...in the night.
I wondered if my light would be enough to help lighten the tree trunk as it fell into darkness.

It did.

And suddenly.
The lights went out and the valley which was bathed in moonlight was dark.

I stuck my hands in my pockets to warm them up and listened to the barred owl and the stream.

My moonlight excursion at the bridge had lasted all of 12 minutes.
I got back in the 'Ru and started it up to thaw out.

You know what? The moon is out again tonight. Moonrise tonight is supposed to be the Super Moon of 2017.

I'm going to pack some hand warmers and those hunting mitts in my bag.

I guess a day nap will be in order.
I hope the owl sings to me again.

While you were asleep

Insomnia is a wonderful thing to have.
Sometimes.

I woke up for about the ... well let's just say I woke up and since I stop counting the times I wake up at night and only count the times that I actually sleep more than 4 hours in a row, I just got up.

The moonlight was brilliant and the clouds had disappeared while I was sleeping. I quickly got dressed and tapped the smartphone to see what time it was. 3 AM!
Well. Still, the moon was out and the night outside looked like a black and photo.

I swiped my little magic phone and took a peek at the weather. Cold, clear, and a north west wind of 10 mph, with a wind chill of -7. Ouch. That was pretty cold.

But the moon light was so brilliant!
I warmed up a cup of coffee from yesterday morning and gathered a few items. My sturdy tripod, extra camera body, and a hand warmer which I broke open and stuffed in a pocket.
I hit the remote start on the Subaru and slid my Nikon with the nifty 50 into the bag, just in case.

I was going to experiment with the Olympus again and had hoped to have another moon lit night.

I pulled on a pair of my polertec fleece PJ bottoms to go over my lightweight long johns.
A fleece hoody went on top. Gloves, warm hat, the fox one with the ears flaps would do nicely.
My trusty coveralls and insulated boots.

I grabbed my headlamp and stuck it on. It is very useful in helping the camera to find something to focus on and it leaves my hands free while I am monkeying around with the settings.

I softly opened the door and stepped outside. The tail lights of the 'Ru greeted me as well as the silver glow of the moon.
I was awake and the rest of the world was not.
[Well unless they were working the midnight shift somewhere]

I really had wanted to go out across the field and find a nice tree to use in a photo, but the temperatures were pretty cold and I wanted to be able to get back into a warm car.
The other night when I was out with Lauren it had been much warmer and only a whisper of the wind. That had still made the wide open very cold.

I drove up to my 'sunrise' spot and thought a photo of my neighbor's cattle gates and fence would make a nice moonlit shot.

Eeeks! In my hurry I'd forgotten to turn off my headlamp when I pressed the shutter. You can see the eerie blueish light from the LED headlamp.

I decided to do it again.

Much better!
However the moon light was so strong that you can see my shadow next to the post's shadow.

Here is a similar shot at sunrise in November.

By the time I waited for the second shot, the cold brisk air was getting to me. As the camera was 'thinking' or developing its shot, I moved into the car and started it up.
The cold felt brutal on my bare hands. 

I didn't have a good isolated tree to focus on anywhere on the ridge so I decided to see if I had enough moonlight to take a shot in the valley on the bridge. It was closer to 4 AM now and if I didn't take the chance down there, there would be some stray vehicles.

I parked and walked back to the bridge. I set the camera up and realized that the only gas station within 15 miles of any direction would 'pollute' the scene with its light. However since the moon was dropping behind the hill in back of me, I thought I'd give it a go.

It turned out okay, but I should have thought out the whole shot better. I should have come here first while the moon was still up behind me.

I took another shot in the other direction and had a difficult time getting a focus.
I should have had a different shot here too, but I was trying to work quickly.

However the yard light gave off an eerie green glow, the moon was still bright just behind the trees and the creek reflected a lot of light.

I guess if you don't try things and make mistakes you won't be prepared for the next time.

I took my frozen hands and placed them on the heater vents. I felt around in the camera bag for the hand warmer. I couldn't find it. Frustrated and thinking I forgot it, I moved on down to the next bridge.

I was chasing the moon. And the moon was beating me.
I tried another water shot but it didn't work. I knew I should have pointed the camera west up the gravel road that had a faint glow from the light, but didn't. My camera's battery light came on blinking orange.

I'd killed it.
Thankful that I had remembered to bring another one, I hopped back in the car and turned it on, letting the heat blast me while I changed batteries and carefully put things in their place. 

It was time to go back to the ridge and see if I could summon up another good shot.

I swapped to the long lens and hoped I would get the moon as it set.

The light was fading very quickly now.
I turned the tripod south and did a Hail Mary shot.

I was shivering. I was pretty sure that nothing would show up so I left my light on and shined the gravel road.

Well, as it turns out, I got a midnight blue sky, trees, star trails and some light pollution as well as the gravel road.
Nothing to write home about or brag about, but it was a very important lesson in night shooting.

I looked to the east. It was now 4:45. Twilight would be in about 45 minutes. The moon dropped below the horizon in a large lopsided ball of orange.
I shivered. My hands ached.
I got in the car and thought about waiting for sunrise.

And then I thought about how nice a cup of coffee would be.

I started up, cranked up the heat and headed for home.

What will this night bring?
More cold for sure, it is supposed to be only 7 degrees.

But if the sky clears.
Well, that remains to be seen.

Oh yes, when I got home and took off my coveralls, I found the hand warmer. It sure felt nice in my hands. I smiled and clutched it while I gathered things for morning coffee.

I watched the day begin from the kitchen table while sipping a hot cup of coffee, still in my PJ bottoms.

I mulled a few things over in my head. 
I wanted to do it again.

I was hooked.

Starry Night

On our drive back from canoeing Miss Lily fell asleep in the car. I suggested she take a nap before we try riding our mules.

She slept until nearly 8pm. Wow, she was tired! We ate supper and made out her school list of supplies so we could go shopping to get them this afternoon. 

We sat at the table after eating and played word games and spelling games. Gramps went to bed and Lily wanted to look at the stars. We took the smartie-phone out and used the Google Skymap to find Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and a couple of constellations.

I had set a rug down on the concrete floor of the porch. Lily, Morris, and I had pillows and a blanket. We snuggled down on top of the rug and talked about stars and...stuff. Nothing important stuff, just stuff.

Lily wanted to see the Milky Way appear so we got quiet and waited for the moon to set.

Lily gasped in delight as we saw a shooting star. And cooed in delight as the Milky Way indeed began to appear after the moon had set.

An owl called. Another answered. The mules snorted in the pasture. A coyote barked in the distance.

Soon we were sound asleep. The dog, the kid, and the old lady.

I woke her up as this old body can't sleep on concrete too long before it gets a bit uncomfortable.

And that was our Starry Night Adventure.

Somewhere over the Rainbow & photo manipulations

Last night after the third or fourth rain shower flowed through, we had rainbows appear in the eastern sky.

I ran out barefoot to capture some shots.

It was quite beautiful and to the naked eye, I could count several of the primary colors.
We were lucky enough to have a double rainbow!

The sky kept changing so rapidly before the heavy clouds moved in and gave us an early night.

I was pretty happy with how the FujiFilm FinePix HS30 EXR handled the panoramic scenes.  This was converted to B&W for dramatic effect using Corel PaintShopPro Ultimate 6X, along with Topaz plug in Filters.

I then used CS2 to take the same photo and edit the color version to see what I could do to make a striking difference.  The rainbow colors inspired me so I took a 'rainbow' gradient and swiped it into a blank layer above the color photo.

I changed the layer to 'Overlay' and reduced the opacity a bit.

It was a fun exercise in manipulation of photos.

Here is the original:

The effect may not be exceptionally realistic, but using gradients can help a 'edit' colors in a most interesting way.

Then there is the texture and lettering edit.
I decided to take a decent sky photo and just mess a bit with it, adding textures, colors, and finally text.

I think the rainbows last night inspired a little creativity in me this morning!

Productive Day!

Recieved my Dolica TX570 Ultra Compact Tripod with Professional Ball Head the day before.  So yesterday morning I took of with the tripod to try it out at Jersey Valley.

The results were more than satisfactory.

It was cold and frosty, but still quite stunning even with the overcast skies.  While at Jersey Valley, it flurried!

Morris went on a hike with me to hunt up little fungi.

We found more than one variety.  I got full of burrs while getting way down on my knees and ...even further  'down' to get the 'shots'.

Morris decided at noon that he was rather done in with all the fresh air.  He promptly took up a spot on the couch and decided it was nap time.

After dark we rounded up Axe and Dixie to take them hunting.  Dixie has never gone before so she was more or less 'job shadowing' Axe.

Axe did a great job.  It was fun to walk quietly through the fields and woods and listen to a hound dog bay.

One of the things I've never done before is try to take photos of a hound 'treeing'.  This didn't turn out so badly for shooting in the dark. 

We traveled about 2 miles by foot and there were a lot of elevation changes according to my Garmin.

Lastly, we rested by the creek before heading home.

Talk about a full day!
It was near midnight when we got home.

I can say the fresh air and hiking really gave both of us [and the hounds] a good night's sleep.