Stuck inside

 Normally if the outside air temp gets to zero or just above or the wind is not too severe, I would be out and about. At least exploring the frozen creek. In fact I was looking forward to it.

Instead I pulled some lower back muscles and kind of mucked myself up. I think Grandma had a different word for it. 'Stove up.' Not sure where that comes from but dang it is how I have felt for the past few days.

Chores are a work of agony in a way. I have to use a hay fork and pile up hay in a huge sled and drag it out then toss it around. Thank goodness for the heated stock tank, but draining the hoses after filling it was another interesting experience.

Rest, Ice, and reading have been my new companions. Also getting yelled at gently by my hubby. 
Today I have to drive him to the Madison VA for his shot. Good, at least it will be in a facility that can help if he has a reaction. [My biggest worry]

So, because I'm going stir crazy, I decided to get out some items and follow an instructional video on specular lighting and Still Life.

Charlie has been doing his best to deal with no daily walks. I think he is doing better than I am!

So the Video Dude said to get out a bunch of things that would throw off light.
Check...

So the gnome doesn't throw off highlights but in the back of my mind I wanted to mess around with the gnome and the paperweight anyway.
The Video Dude said to 'sketch out' Still Life set ups. Pfft. That never worked for me at all. I just start placing stuff here and there and go with it. Video Dude said to follow the Rule of Thirds, to use the L shape for interest and leading lines. 

Um.

Then he went on to close all the light from HIS windows and then brought out a Light Stand with a Soft Box diffuser on it. 
Oh.
Granted, he was using HIS dining room table in an apartment, but he was using lights I didn't have ...and a flash tethered to his camera. Um. Not stuff I have or am going to invest in unless I become a person who sells my stuff.

I stopped the video. I'd thought it was going to present me with some ideas on how to do some Still Life without the fancy lights.
Poo.

So I got out my scrap piece of felt and draped it over the laptop, a chair and across the table. Then positioned the Gnome and the glass paperweight.

The idea was to get reflections off the glass orb and light up one side of the Gnome's face. So I sort of did a low key shot with specular highlights. That sounds like a mouthful. Basically I moved things around with the felt cloth until I could 'control' the light. No flash, no soft box. Just the kitchen table and felt.

I was happy with that and decided to try something else. I placed a board down on the old busted chair and draped the cloth over it. I'd put a sheet up to tone down the sunlight coming in from the porch and to keep the afternoon sun from shining in on Rich's face while he was watching TV.

The poster board was supposed to reflect a tiny bit of light on gnome and dragons for highlights.

The shot before darkening the black.

The shot after darkening the black felt and highlighting the beard and dragon faces.

I have some more 'polishing' to do on the black, but here are the first drafts.

Next up. 

The sleeping dragon and the Wizard Gnome.

Before.

After.

Oh yes, should I include the grumpy guy on the couch? I kept walking back and forth in front of the TV while setting things up and shooting. He kept sighing.

I set up some more dragons and items but I'll save that for another time.

I did shoot my English Ivy plant but was so disappointed in all the reflections on the pot.

The fix? Easy. Crop the sucker!

I'm still going to figure out ... I hope, how to take glass objects and figure out how to control the light and reflections. It will take sheets, felt, windows, and creative thinking along with a lot of mistakes.

But I may as well make use of my time while I am stuck inside.

Sunday Stuff

I thought I had my day planned.
Sunrise with Charlie. That went well, we drove to our sunrise 'spot' and watched the sun come up. Yes, I DO use my Subaru to go find beautiful places to photograph! Indeed I do!

To fans of 'Ru's...
How do you Subaru?

Charlie did not get sick or drool!
I consider this a huge improvement. But I made it so he could watch out the window and get fresh air. Perhaps he is maturing or maybe I was lucky. Either way, he enjoyed his morning sunrise jaunt with me.

After chores were done, I drove to Genoa to drop off some photos to some friends. I'd taken photos last weekend of their daughter in the softball playoffs and thought they'd like them.

I had a few errands to run in town so it worked out nicely.

The road on the ridge is curved, the telephone poles are in a straight line.

The sky was amazing, one of those days where the clouds made you want to stop what you were doing and just sky watch.

After lunch it was time to see if the mules would like browsing in the forest section.

It was rather ho hum. They stayed on the ridge road first and then wandered down the trail to browse.

I decided to take some time for myself. Weed eating was on my list as was picking green beans and other garden items, but I decided to walk to the creek and get some quiet time in.

Our neighbor came down and started to cut up and brush out the two trees that Jeff, the bulldozer man knocked down.
Rich was in bed.

I couldn't resist taking some Bears along.
These two cooled off in the creek.

Rabbit and Bear.
Doing their thing.

An isolated thunderstorm moved in and my day was done.

Today is Monday.
The green beans are calling my name and as soon as the dew is off the plants, I'll be picking.

There are phone calls to make and phone calls to take.
Appointments to get ready for and ... it looks like my day of rest is over.

A Not Day

I think after I do the morning chores, and go to town for groceries, I will be coming home and I will NOT do any other physical labor.

Well, that is my good intentions, to take a day off and relax. The vegetable  garden needs a good hoeing and the flower gardens need weeding. I may get a the little squishy pad out and sit next to the flower garden and pick and poke at weeds and listen to music in the afternoon. That is relaxing.

Yesterday I walked to the meadow and fired up my Weed Eater and tore through a large patch of Canada Thistle. I know the cattle will eat the wilted thistle so last night I let them out into the meadow. My hope is that they eat it, if not that is okay. When I chopped down another patch by hand, the mules ate the chopped thistle and then stripped the remaining stalks.

My neighbor and her kids came for an afternoon jaunt down the new ridge road to the creek yesterday. We walked through the meadow and my neighbor noticed the Ox Eye daisy invasion and mentioned that her goats absolutely loved those pesky daisies.

Let's pause briefly for
Creek fun:

Back to the goats. Hmm. The Mules are natural browsers and so are the Dexters. I used to raise goats but never had them in the woods. It has been ages. I may have to see about 'borrowing' the neighbors' goats for some cleaning and gleaning. I know they eat multiflora rose bushes and those pesky berry briers along with burdock.

So last night my mind was whirring away, here I was trying to figure out a rotation to include a goat or two and wondering if I could pasture them with my Dexters. Mules are not generally happy with goats, however in the past two years the neighbor goats have been constant companions on the other side of the fence...and occasionally a wayward goat finds its way into the mule pasture.
I was sure that my red headed mules would hurt the goats.

So far that hasn't happened.

And then I wonder what I'd do with goats in the winter. Sigh. I do actually have the room to keep at least two.

Decisions, decisions.

However I've decided to NOT work on fences or thistles, or much of anything today. The yard needs mowing. Maybe I'll just trim a bit.
See? There I go again.
But I see rain in the forecast again starting tomorrow for the next two days.

Enough already!
And then I think.
Perhaps Sunday should be a NOT day.

And then there is that new fence line I thought I'd put up...and our pony who was wandering around this morning loose. He's broken his tie out...
and going to visit MIL...and...

Oh heck. Can I just have one day of doing nothing please???