I was ... bored--ish.

Charlie...that goof ball woke us up at 4am. He'd gone into the bedroom by Rich and started howling. I mean howling like he was being murdered. I leapt out of bed and hurried into the bedroom. We still don't know why he started howling.

But that got us up. It was nice in a way because Rich was done with his breakfast, meds, nebs, and morning routine in time for me to drive up to the ridge to watch the sunrise. It felt like a treat to get to my favorite spot and watch the sky and clouds turn colors.

The first shot is with my regular camera lens, the second was with the Lensbaby SOL 22 lens. 

The shot below is more soft as this is what the artistic Lensbaby lens does. I sort of like it!
I wasn't sure about using it in a landscape situation, but without experimenting, we never really know if something really works or not, right?

I got to the Farmer's Market to get some pie for hubby. Ruth is a Mennonite that has a bakery and she is generally there on Market day. I was going to get an apple pie but Ruth recommended the raspberry or the cherry pie. She said fresh apples from the orchard made much better pies that the ones she had. 

I left with a raspberry pie, a cherry pie, 3 bundles of fresh carrots, and several large tomatoes. 

I spent the morning chopping up and blanching the carrots for vacuum sealing and freezing. Last week I froze 3 dozen ears of sweet corn and 3 pounds of green beans.

Growing my vegetables is very satisfying, but with the extra work I have to do here, I've decided that purchasing fresh veggies at stands and markets is easier than toiling in a garden. I'm almost at my goal of fresh frozen veggies for the year.

While cutting up carrots, I had a funny idea. There is a new 'phone' app called NaukNauk that will take a single uploaded photo and turn it into a 5 second animation. So I tried it.

Doesn't everyone need a Ninja Warrior
to help with food chopping???

Both Rich and I giggled over what the AI generated mini movie did with my character. 

By the time I finished the carrots, a full blown storm arrived. The winds were fierce even down in our hollow, we had an inch of rain in less than 30 minutes.

Since the rains kept coming down in buckets, I decided to open up DxO labs and try some of the things they have in their Analog Collection. One of them is called Multilens. It was fun. Not sure what I'd use it for, but it took the photo in a different direction.

I then tried the double exposure component with this shot. 

It doesn't really work as a true double exposure with a shot like this. The program doubles the shot and allows you to resize it, adjust it, and even motion blur it. 

The double exposure section also allows you to add another shot, this time I didn't do that.

I just did a blur on the edges. It was interesting, but not something I'd use often.

I did this one of Charlie in the winter woods a few years ago. This worked out so much better as Charlie was on a white snowy background. One shot of Charlie in the bright snow, and one shot of the forest behind him.

This was done in DxO Labs.

I did an unintentional double exposure. 

I took a few shots of this. The camera was on a tripod and I set the camera up to take 3 shots as I sprayed a bit of mist at the shots.

I set it up in layers and I didn't align them. I liked the result and dubbed it a double exposure.

Dr. Cob and his dog Cog. It seems they are doing some time warping with the minibots.

Uffdah. Time to get out my cleaning supplies and get at it while hubby is up and about.

Nothing like being literally stuck indoors!

But I best get at it.

We are going on our third inch of rain and we are not even in the 'flood watch' area.

Rainy day fun with Still Life

 

Teddy Bear Garden Club
Meeting

With two days of darkness and dreariness filled with rain and well, gloom...I decided to mess around with --- toys of all things! Surprise!

I had to be quiet because the other half was Mr. Sleepy Head. I did chores of course along with transplanting Bee Balm plants that were emerging. They are so hardy and tough. I knew with the rain, it might be a good time to move things [in between showers].

I decided to clean up my old camera and hired a crew to do that while I swept the house for Charlie hair.

Kidding of course. I decided to take advantage of the low light coming in from the east and south windows. It wasn't harsh, but perfect for Still Life.

You don't need much room to 'make' a scene.

Clean up Crew

What it looked like before I put up a tea towel...

"Oh no Chuck, we need some eye drops! Can

you get the top off?"

These are HO Scale pieces and they don't like to stand up on their own very well. Viola! Some Elmer's Glue works very well. This wipes off easily and works wonders! It goes on purple and fades to clear.

It is amazing what happens to a creative person when she gets bored from being quiet around the house. 

I got out the kid blocks and a little light and set them up on my 'play' table.  For special effects I put the camera on a timer and simply used a face mister for fog and water in a spray bottle for rain.

With almost no edits, I got these photos of this little Lego figure:

Pre-edit. 

Upped the blacks and....decreased

the color...

I even tried making Frank the Trooper float, and that failed miserably. I used a fishing line to suspend him and tried the following. He kept swinging around and nothing worked out for me.

I went back to what worked before and added a filter to the light.

Original:

Final:

I added some contrast and a used brush that comes with ON1. It is supposed to be a comet, but I thought it looked like a blast from a blast. The 'rain' is from the spritzer.

Friday morning we had sunlight! It was cold and windy...but Charlie and I adventured down into the valley to the Big Spring.

More about that...

later.

Today it is snowing again.

thhhhppptttptptp...ffffttt.

Wild Life

My husband's vision isn't supposed to be THIS good! However, he notices anything out of place anywhere he can see out a window.

"Hey, what is that?" he said to me. 
Earlier this year we had a Turkey Vulture sit on a tree right next to where this hawk is.

I ran over to the Oly camera that had the monster zoom on it and walked out on the porch. This hawk was probably 200-300 yards away. [I cannot tell distance, but hubby can!]

Count me tickled and happy!

I got some lucky shots for sure.

Here is another shot of a doe approaching our fence line from the neighbor's land to the east. That land encompasses over 400 acres of woods where I usually do a lot of my close to home hiking.

Did she see or smell me? I don't think so. She jumped the fence and moseyed on through our summer pasture.

These quiet mornings are pretty nice. AND...
I have to sit still and be quiet. Which is a good thing for me to learn, as I am not very good at it.

Here is a photo of a nice buck we spotted on our Trail Cam:

He is nice enough that hubby wishes he still hunted. For the meat and for the nice rack this guy has. I'm happy enough to catch glimpses of him on the camera.

I'd be tickled pink and all sorts of colors to get him in my viewfinder on the camera.

On our other trail camera we often get a lot of deer taking naps or doing cute things like this:

The spot above seems to be a gathering place for deer to settle in. 

It is pouring cats and dogs outside so it looks like this Saturday will be an indoor day. 

Perhaps I should get out the lego people and some dragons and see what happens in the Still Life Department!

Rainy day Squatching

March is a tough month in a few ways. The cold rainy days are dismal yet we watch outside with anticipation. Hoping to see that first crocus or daffodil to poke up out of the ground.

Yesterday I found earth worms on the porch, so the ground has had enough frost come out so the worms could come up!

The Robins were happy and full of song when I did chores, as were the other birds. The mushy part of the driveway was a bit firmer so there was that.

When hubby got ready for his morning nap, I told him that I was going to go out and look for raindrops. He chuckled and gave me that look. 

"It's raining. There are your raindrops."

Me: "Yes, well, maybe I can see how good my water resistant coat and pants are!"

He made a comment about it being wet and cold and shook his head.

Charlie was all in on this. He keeps an eye on things when I'm down near the ground looking for interesting mosses. Of course he is surveying the area for killer chipmunks, or squirrels.

The briars looked like they were decorated with raindrops hanging on their thorny branches.

I thought it was neat that I could see the trees above them reflected in the water droplet. 

I did some hunting around and found some bubbles in the creek. I shot this which wouldn't be possible on a sunny day.

A multiple selfie with me waving at the bubbles.

 

A closer look:

I was looking for some mosses on a log that I know hold tiny water droplets. 

There was Squatch trying out his bark raft. He looked a bit wet!

Apparently it was time for his spring shower.

He definitely got wet!

The rain started to get heavier so I decided to head home. My water resistant lined pants were getting pretty damp but I was still warm. My jacket was starting to take on a bit of moisture.

Charlie was soaked, but his heavy undercoat was warm and dry.

I hung up my wet things to dry and toweled off Charlie. We got back before hubby awakened and snuggled in on the couch with a book.

Bored but busy

What on earth can I do when it is screaming hot out and it is raining every day? Monsoon time! 

Dog Days of August. 

Monster Skeeters. 

And very scary storm cells...

This one actually just had wind in it and blew right through. The temperatures dropped for a bit and then the sun came out and the heat went back up to miserable.

I did go out for a walk up through the woods to drop off some mail after the storm passed with Charlie. In a few spots, the bugs weren't too awful, but in others?

.......OHHHH my!

You may be able to see the swarm of very hungry skeeters attacking the netting. My father in law gave me this head net so it is pretty old, but very useful. I have about 4 others too, as I've tried different kinds, but this one works the absolute best.

I did find some cool fungi, but I'll get to that later.

I needed to 'do' something. 
The other half was watching boxing on Showtime at Full Volume.  I couldn't deal with the constant noise. 

Mowing was out, his mower still needed to have more hydrostatic oil stuff in it and the ground was still mushy. 
I needed some 'porch' time and some peace and quiet. 

I am so pleased that we had outlets put in on the porch. Charlie and I can sit on the porch and enjoy a nice breeze from a large fan. He can sleep and I can read or do something else.

I wanted to 'find' a small chair appropriate for my larger Teddy Bear. Something I could carry into the woods for doing 'stuff'. 

I checked out some online shopping sites and was horrified at the ugly stuff they had for sale. The choices were cheap looking plastic chairs that were pink, ugly, and overpriced.

I gathered down branches from the last storm and some bark.
I whittled the bark off from the sticks and instead started to figure out how to build a tiny table for the tiny bears. 

I am not a woodworker nor am I much of a carver. But I can peel sticks and use imagination. I wanted to concentrate on something other than running amok in the woods with the heat and bugs.

With a glue gun, I was able to make the 'table' just high enough for Lil Bear to sit on a bark chair.

I'd made a stick chair once before and it fell apart. 

I have watched videos on line and have decided that I am not talented enough to use all sorts of the woodworking tools hubby has. I'd cut my fingers off for sure.

These little bears can be found in the kid section of most toy places.
I think they are called...Calico Critters. I am lucky to get hand me down toys. 

I looked up little houses for them out of curiosity and was not pleased with the plastic cheap houses.

I am forming a plan to make my own little bear house. Every fun idea starts with a notion.

After all, I started on the primitive furniture and it isn't turning out so badly.

I even encased some flea bane flowers and chicory in the table top to imitate an epoxy topped table.

Oh wait, why on earth would a person like me put an effort into toys? Well, I think of how we played as kids. We made 'scenes' with our toys. We called them Set Ups.

I mean I could pick up a hobby that was meaningful. Like sewing or perhaps doing something practical like putting an effort into baking or ... some such thing. Maybe I never lost my love for creating and playing, right? [Generally, August is my month of putting up produce, but this year we only grew sweet corn, and that is coming on late..]

I figured if the Bears had a table to eat at, they might want to invite friends over for a meal.

I took out the leftover Model Magic I had tightly sealed in a ziplock bag. I dabbed some drops of paint on my fingers and made some tiny bowls with a couple of dragons watching over my work. 

Sorry, crappy picture...pointing below....

I did get a couple of great books, I'm reading one right now about the disappearance of Geraldine Largay on the Appalachian Trail. Geraldine was a woman after my own heart who met a tragic end when she got lost. 

One of my dreams is to take on a long hike. Not the AT but perhaps parts of the Ice Age trail here in WI.

A wandering Pluviophile

 

It just started out muggy and foggy and turned into rainy and misty with a continuous drizzle.

I do appreciate a sidekick who doesn't mind getting wet. Of course most of the undergrowth is taller than he is. He actually likes getting dried off after the walks we take.

This is from another walk we did not the one we did today.

Sometimes I let my mind wander as well as my feet. Charlie doesn't mind it at all. He doesn't need my undivided attention as long as I can hear the bell on his collar and he comes back to check to me when I say *cookie*.

I sometimes follow narrow deer paths. The most fun thing about that is trying to continue to follow them after they disappear. While I was checking out how the creek looked, the sun tried to peek out for a moment.

The cold water from the creek and the hot and humid air clashed creating this mist/fog just hovering above the water.

The rain was never very hard and under the trees we were dripped on. We got wet but we were happy.

The rain was so needed and it wasn't at all unpleasant.

I know we wanted this rain badly! After 4 days of rain we are knee deep in grass and dandelions!

Pluviophile: One who loves rain; one who finds peace and joy on rainy days.