Dixie is getting BIG! by Morris

I don't know why, but these hound dogs seem to grow like weeds.  
As they grow, they become more irritating too.  
Dixie is nice but she has no idea that she is WAY bigger than me and can knock me down.

I usually have to set her straight with a growl and show of teeth.

She is not bad to go into the woods for walks with as she can 'break trail' through the deeper snow than I can...but generally she has to either chase me, or go off on her own, so that doesn't always work so well.

 Then she likes to follow me or play hide and go seek on...HER.  But Dixie doesn't realize that I blend in with the snow and rocks, while she does not.

 See my tail at the bottom left of the above photo?  I figured you might not see it....

On the driveway or on the flat I can really out maneuver her still.  I can still make sharp turns that leave her with tangled up legs and put the after burners on and jet out of her way.
Alas,
she usually follows.

 See?

But in the end it usually works out.  I find something interesting to dig out of the snow and she usually comes up and investigates also.

 
 

Impressions of Corel After Shot Pro

I decided to look into Corel After Shot Pro and see how easy it was to work with.  
I read and read and...read reviews about Adobe Lightroom 4 and how sometimes it was a bit slow and clunky.

Corel offers their product with a 30 day trail and an attractive price of $59.99 at the moment.

I found that I can shoot RAW files with my Nikons and my Olympus E420 and quickly edit them in a batch.  
I did all these photos as a batch with different settings and then sent them 'off' to be turned into .TIFF files to work with later.

The 'development' of the files took less than 4 seconds.
Okay, I was happy about that.
 
The program edits the RAW files but does not change them.  I even made 3 versions of one .RAW file [all saved quickly into fine quality .jpegs  ~~ not shown here].

Now I am not a techie, nor have I tried Lightroom 4, so I may have to really give that a go too.

The only camera that I have that isn't supported by Corel AfterShot Pro, was my Fuji camera with .RAF files.  No matter I can live with that small inconvenience, Corel may update their program to include it at a future date.

 

There are some fun features in this program that allow you to experiment with your photo.  The only drawback I can see is that you cannot add a watermark while working with them.  That is not a real big issue for me though.

The above shot was off color due to the bright snow, I did a quick check with the 'white' picker in Corel AfterShot Pro and bumped the saturation.  That was it.

You can also do non-destructive editing in layers.  Well, I haven't figured that out yet.  I've only been using it for 3 days.

The black dog in this photo was totally blown away yet I was able to save her image.  I used Corel to properly expose and bring back the black blob of a dog...then I easily sent it to CS2 to use a Topaz Plugin to finish it off.

Lastly.  Speed.
Speed
Speed
I loved this program's speed!

As did my sidekick, Morris.
 

Do you like snow?

I do, but not to drive in ... I walked up to check the mail and could not see the road this afternoon.  
It was as though it had disappeared.

 See that itty bit speck in the middle of the driveway at the top?  That is my husband trying to clear the driveway.

It took about 20 minutes for it to blow back in after he finished [at the top].

I walked up there earlier and couldn't see any indication of the road that is there.  My neighbor down the way [a way I travel to get to black top] said that the Slack corner was filled in.

All the farm animals did as farm animals do, they ate and put their backs to the winds.  

Rest assured, not one animal is cold.  Warm water and plenty of feed guarantee that.

Not only that, they do not care to go inside during this weather, much nicer to have snow baths.

Well, so much for going anywhere.

The Dexter Cattle were happy to see their hay coming this morning.  This evening the winds had switched and you could feel the cold coming in...

I could barely see the woods at one point!  Now the winds are churning and night has fallen.
The high tomorrow is going to be all of 6 degrees.

 
No matter, I'll take the choring slowly...face mask and snow goggles on..., hubby has an appt in Madison, so I'll handle the home stuff.

Just before sunset I took Morris and Dixie out for a quick walk in the meadow.  I kept to the areas that were protected from the wind.

Morris was his happy self...snow swimming.

 

They didn't seem to mind at all.   

 Now it is time to rest and let Mother Nature do her thing.  Just before dark descended, there was a break in the clouds and I was able to see the lovely pastels of a winter sunset.

 

Of rocks, moss, ice, and running waters

I spent over 2 hrs out climbing icy and mossy rocks [with snow shoes on], wading and jumping over rushing water...getting sprayed by splash-over, and getting dripped on by wet soggy branches and berry briers.

And I was in heaven.

There is nothing like the rushing of water [even if it is run off that has brown in it from the soil above and the reddish colored iron-clay] when it occurs in the dry gullies.

It bounces over the mossy rocks with huge intensity roaring at times.  Today was not a 'roarer' but it was quite loud and I could still cross in places without getting too wet.

I peered down the valley and saw the water was wall to wall, running over ice.  I looked at my watch and sighed.

I'd promised to be good and not 'stay out too long', as hubby wanted noon 'dinner'.  I could have been drawn by the swan song of the creek's rushing waters.


I stuck to the gullies, climbing, ... rerouting, using the ice picks in the shoes to grip in otherwise dangerous footing.


I was sad to turn away from the creek. 
My husband thinks that I get 'geeked' out by sucky weather.
That is because I find such beauty in it.

Today I got 3 or 4 shots that are print worthy. 
It was a good day.
 
[8 second exposure ~ using a X4 ND filter]
I am sleepy and dreaming about an ice/sleet/snow storm headed our way.  

Ice Storm!

As you can see people don't heed the do not travel in these conditions.  At the bottom of the screen there is a vehicle turned sideways.  I checked on the camera 2 minutes later and the vehicle was gone.

There are very dangerous driving conditions that are rapidly getting much worse.  This was seen on the WI 511 road conditions website.

Around here it is coming down as rain/sleet/freezing rain.  From NOAA:

SIGNIFICANT ICING IS OCCURRING AND IF IT
CONTINUES TO ACCUMULATE...IT COULD BRING DOWN TREES AND POWER
LINES.

ICE ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 2/10 TO 3/10 OF AN INCH. SNOW AND
SLEET ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE.

LOOK FOR AREAS OF FOG TONIGHT. THE FOG COULD BE DENSE WITH
VISIBILITIES LESS THAN 1/4 MILE. 

So you see this is not anything to really mess around with.  4 wheel drive doesn't help on ice.

Meanwhile the chores are done, water tanks filled and we leave the weather to Mother Nature now.
Here is the driveway  at 10am.  I'll take a photo of it later to compare.

Above is the sleet as it began to pile up on the ground.

Although Morris and Dixie were not bothered by the weather in the least when I took them for their morning exercise.

Stay safe!
 

Stuff and Stuff...

My youngest son, has announced that he is getting married in June of this year.
It sounds like I'll have another grandchild come this August.

Oh yes, do the math.  But this is a different world that we live in, so I am told.  I know, I sound like a fuddy duddy and I probably am.
The wedding will take place on my ex husband's turf which is fine with me.

He sounds very excited about it and this makes me smile.

So it looks like I will be planning a small trip in June.  I'm not sure but I may end up helping out doing the photography or planning on doing the photography for the wedding.

I think that would be sort of cool.  

In other recent events I thought of changing my job, that didn't pan out as the job listed was a bit of a political hotbed here in my area.

I had a supervisor the other day try to talk me into applying for full time status.  I started to crunch the numbers and with having to pay back 50% of Social Security bennies on hubby and after a couple of tax deductions I would end up making about what I brought home this past year.

So it goes.
I've been getting the ache to travel again and started to think of places I'd like to go, other than Hawaii.  

I have a nice brother who lives in a beautiful area.  Maybe that will warrant a trip.

I've also thought of British Columbia, Canada, the Badlands, Arches National Monument, the Grand Canyon, and Australia.  Well, one can dream can't one?

 
 

 

What a Great Day!

Saturday was warm.  It wasn't until about 4pm that the screeching, howling, train wreck winds came sliding through.
And then it was not fit for man, beast, or tree outside.  Things hit the house all night.  Nothing major but branches.  Everything was fine this morning.  Whew.
But yesterday.
The dogs and I decided [see?  we are a pack!] that we were going for a nice long hike, to wander around in the forest and see what the warm air had done to the ice flow that wasn't too far from home.

In places the creek was still frozen on the top.  The ice was thick enough to lay on it with a camera and get some fun shots of Dixie.  This is not recommended if the ice is thin.

I sat down on a mossy rock and watched the dogs run, sniff, run, sniff, run some more, and then stop and look at me as if to ask:
Which Way Now?
I'd get up and walk a ways and then find another spot to stare down at the water running over the rocks or watch the deeper part of the creek where the trout were darting about.
Well the winds began to roar and the muddy dogs and I headed home.
It was very obvious that my partially white Jack Russell was no longer partly white.  

He was black with mud.  Dixie had flopped in the mud in the summer pasture and was dirty as ever.  I swear both dogs were grinning at me.
Bath time.
Morris first.  He is well experienced at baths and bears them as if they are something to be ashamed of.  But he is a good boy.
Dixie.  32+ lbs of Hound Dawg Puppy, wiggling, wagging, hound dog puppy.  I was worried about her bath.
I lifted her into the tub and then began to wash her.  She hung her head on the edge of the tub and stood quietly.  She let me shampoo, rinse, and do a conditioner on her ... wow, I was impressed!
Then I lifted her out of the tub and knelt to wrap her in a towel.  She literally melted into me and pushed me to the floor.
I sat with a big ol' puppy wrapped up in a huge towel on the floor. 
Dixie had decided that it was the best tail waggin' love-fest that she'd ever been too. 
She groaned in ecstasy as I rubbed her dry.
With the wind screeching outside, we settled in for the night.
What can I call it but an almost perfect day for me....