Field of Dreams

If you're dreaming of daffodils that is.  

We can see the back end of this field from the back of our property.

Skunked!

Skunk cabbage, seen on our afternoon walk.

Hexagons

These are some sort of wasp nests that are in the greenhouse.  They are empty over the winter, and then when it warms up, wasps show up again and start using them.  The wasps and I pass each other without issue for the most part.  I don't think they have ever stung me.  Larry complains about them, and I think they got him once or twice last year.  Well actually I think once was from a bunch that were nesting over the chicken coop door.  There is no external covering over the group of cells, they are just open to then environment, well mostly protected from the rain because of where they are built, but they just consist of a bunch of connected cells.

This one was on one of the cross beams over the rafters, so I was looking at the roof,  and the one below was on one of the corner posts.

Cravings

The dogs occasionally get sardines added to a meal.  I just open a can and split it between them.  If Smudge happens to be around, she'll get a bit too.  And sometimes I really crave them for myself, so I'll sneak a bit.  

We are not big seafood eaters, no oysters, clams or squid here.  The occasional bit of cod or salmon, and canned salmon or tuna.

This morning the dogs didn't get sardines, but I saw a tin, and had a real craving for them.  So I ate a whole tin of them,  with toast, for breakfast.

Larry hates the smell, so, as he would say... 'it takes the worry out of being close'

I'm sure he'll be keeping his distance:)

Oh, and if I make dried liver or kidney treats for the dogs, I love those too, well especially the liver:)

Not much of a photo, I know.  But, this was part of our day.  About noon today we headed to an agility lesson for Larry and Luna.  Since it was located halfway to White Rock, where we had to be at 4 this afternoon anyway, we just continued on there after the lesson.  We did some fruit tree pruning for my mother, Larry visited his mother, I sold a whole bunch of eggs, and Luna chewed on some freezer dried chunks of beef that I had taken along in case we were still there at supper time.  So we got the plum and the pear tree pruned, and this is the apple tree.  It's certainly seen better days.  It is one of those combo trees, that has 4 or 5 different varieties all grafted onto the same tree.  It's really quite sad looking now, and maybe in a year or two we might end up cutting it down.  It didn't have a lot of apples last year, so it will be interesting to see what it has this year.

Lucky Shots

As you've heard before, from Meredith and myself, Smudge is very hard to photograph. If she sees you pointing the camera in her direction, she usually runs.

Just now as I was trying to think of what to take a photo of in the last hour of the day, she appeared at the living room window, scratching to come in.  And it so happened that Meredith's little point and shoot was there on the window sill.

Luna of course is *thrilled* to have her back inside.  Here she is, trying to cut Smudge off at  the pass  the top of the stairs.

Mini Rhubarb

Through a selective breeding program that we have here at Wyndson Farm, we've finally been successful at producing miniature rhubarb.

Why miniature rhubarb you say?  Well then you can grow it in a pot on your windowsill.

And the point of that would be?

Aw hell, I don't know, and since it isn't April Fools Day yet....

This is actually a Delphinium coming up, and it's called Blue Jay.  

I'm happy to see that it's back again this year, as some of the perennials seem to have croaked over the winter.

And yeah, I'm late again posting my picture.  Mostly because I wasn't really thrilled about any of them, so I put off the decision of picking one.  This is Friday's.

One Cool Dude

The story to go with this is over here

Short and Stumpy

Today was one of those days that we always say that we could take for the rest of the year.  Sunny, a bit of a breeze, warm enough but not too warm if you were working outside.

After a lovely (not!) visit to the dentist this morning, and then some shopping, this afternoon was spent outside. We were working down in the garden, and it was warm enough I had to go back in and change into some of my old capris.  I needed air around the bottom of my legs.

It was warm enough that I put on sunscreen and a hat.

I've had skin cancer once, and I'd prefer to avoid it again.

Obviously there was a better angle to take a shot of my partially bare legs, because they are really not that short and stumpy looking.  Thankfully you can't see how badly my legs need shaving, I hope!

A First, and a Teaser

This is actually Tuesday's picture.  I was dozing on the couch last night from about 8pm on, and when I finally got up to go to bed around 11:45, I daren't come to the computer first and post my photo, because I knew once I sat down in front of the screen, I wouldn't get to bed for another hour.  

In the end I might as well, as it took me forever to get to sleep.

So this is the first photo I haven't actually posted the day of, or within minutes of the day of...

It's also a bit of a teaser for a post I hope to get written tonight (Wednesday). To heck with trying to come up with a totally unrelated photo for the 365 blog.  If the handful of people that look at it are bothered, well sorry, but too bad:)

I Couldn't Resist

Coming back from our afternoon walk, there it was, our very first daffodil! 

Spring really is here, despite the drizzly day today.

This is a clump that I planted many years ago at the bottom of the driveway, right above the ditch.  There's a lot of leaves now, and not a lot of buds, but I'm just happy to see a bloom:)

And the bonus.  Well to get this shot I had to get down in the ditch, and was straddling the water doing a deep sideways leg lunge.  I got a really good stretch on one side at least, and I didn't lose my balance and fall in the water either!

Bet You Can't Do This

Capturing a moment in time is sometimes just really weird.

The more I look at that tongue, .......

well, it's just kinda gross.

Pot o' Gold

We had a heavy shower of rain this afternoon, while the sun was shining.  I went looking for the rainbow, figuring that it had to be behind the house somewhere.  I couldn't see anything at first, because I was looking too high.  This was the weirdest rainbow I've ever seen.  It was off to the northeast, and was barely showing above the trees.  The ground beyond those trees drops down a few hundred feet to a flat river valley.  Usually the rainbows we see from here arch high into the sky. 

This was a first.  Weird!

The saturation has been bumped up a bit to bring out the rainbow's colours.

More Spring Fling!

The Forsythia bush at the bottom of the driveway is just about to burst in to bloom.  Forsythia and daffodils, then it really seems like Spring!

Busting Through

Despite our lousy weather not giving us much indication that Spring is on it's way, the rhubarb is tired of waiting.  The whole row is busting through the thick layer of mulch I put over it.  

Pretty in Sunlight

It was one of those weird days with hail one minute and sun the next, but lovely to have it clear off later this afternoon and get some real sunshine.

This bush, whose name escapes me at the moment, is looking quite lovely with all it's cascades of tiny blooms.

A Photo of a Picture of a Photo

I'm struggling with this whole photo a day thing right at the moment, but hopefully when we get some drier weather I'll have the urge to try for some outdoor shots.

This is a drawing by a former girlfriend of David's, that she did just after Calli was hurt in 2006.

It was based on the photo below that David had taken.

Self Explanatory

When You're Desperate....

...And you haven't taken a photo yet today, and you got home half an hour ago, and it's just about midnight, 

there's always Luna:)

And she's always willing.

Love the tongue!

Deadly Weapons

We were out all day today at an agility trial, and when we did get home just before dark we had to deal with the rest of the animals.  

The new hens haven't even ventured out of their coop yet (well actually there were two out when I went over there), and we have a temporary fence up to keep them close to the coop for when they do get brave enough to come out.  The poor rooster that belongs to that coop is a bit confused.  Where are the sexy mature ladies he used to hang out with?  He doesn't seem to want to hang around and woo these sweet young things.  So being the feisty little so and so that he is, he flew out of the temporary pen, and then late in the afternoon he decided to go and pay a visit to the lovely ladies in the other (south) coop.  By the time we were collecting eggs and getting everyone sorted out for the evening, he had decided he was going to spend the night in that other coop.  Since it already has a rooster, I needed to carry him back to his own coop.  He is a real flighty thing, but my aim was fast and good, and I snagged his legs and swept him off the roost.

If you want to carry chickens and especially more than one, the easiest way is to carry them upside down by their legs, because after some initial squawking and flapping, they just relax, and well, just hang there.  This guy usually screams blue murder if you pick him up, but upside down, he was no trouble at all.

I had a good look at the vicious spurs on the backs of his legs, and decided that they were to be the subject of today's photo.

Since I didn't have the camera with me, and Larry was out feeding Pride, I had to go back to the house, kick off my boots and head up stairs to get the camera out of the kitchen, all the while with a seemingly drugged rooster hanging from my left hand.

Those black spurs are quite sharp, but since the rooster is only small and is not at all aggressive, they aren't an issue.  Any now I've just spent half an hour reading about rooster spurs....

What More do you Need?

A lap warmer and a tv remote, what more does a guy need?

Well maybe he'd prefer a lap warmer of the less hairy variety...... and a beer!

A Step Up

From a crocus that is.  We don't have much in the way of early flowering bulbs here, but this little Iris is the first bloomer of the clump that has been there for years at the base of the flowering cherry tree.  Quite often they are blooming in the middle of February.

It's not an early Spring this year.

Alien

Looking like some sort of alien life form, this potato says it's ready to get out of the garage and into the ground.

Why Does it do That?

Quite often is seems if we have a damp day, then around sunset it clears up.  Why couldn't it have cleared up earlier while it was still light?  I suppose there's some sort of meteorological reason for it. Today the mist really started to rise from the ground.

Sneak Peak

The little rooster had 'escaped' from the north field, and was cleaning up under the bird feeder.  He's such a flighty (literally) little bugger that I had to get this shot from inside the garage.  Even then he spotted me, and was ready to make a run for it.

Cloud Imagination

There was quite a striking cloud in the sky as we were driving back from Mission late this afternoon.  At first it made me think of a letter H.

Kind of thought it was neat the way it looks like there is another sun  just below the cloud.  

In this shot I liked how you could see the sun through the cloud

The cloud on the left makes me think of an elephant.

Camera Model Name Canon PowerShot SX20 IS

Shooting Date/Time 06/03/2011 4:24:49 PM

Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE

My Colors Mode Vivid

Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/500

Av (Aperture Value) 8.0

Light Metering Evaluative

Exposure Compensation 0

ISO Speed 80

Lens 5.0 - 100.0 mm

Focal Length 9.6 mm

Digital Zoom None

IS Mode On

Image Size 4000x3000

Image Quality Fine

Flash Off

White Balance Cloudy

AF Mode Single AF

Parameters Contrast          Normal

Sharpness         Normal

Saturation  Normal

Color Space sRGB

File Size 2271 KB

Drive Mode Continuous shooting

A Match Made in Heaven

A fun cup (courtesy of Meredith and Disneyworld) and a great coffee.  Check out their website!

(and a microwave that can't keep time)

Camera Model Name Canon PowerShot SX20 IS

Shooting Date/Time 05/03/2011 11:15:36 PM

Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE

My Colors Mode Vivid

Tv (Shutter Speed) 0.6

Av (Aperture Value) 4.5

Light Metering Evaluative

Exposure Compensation 0

ISO Speed 80

Lens 5.0 - 100.0 mm

Focal Length 5.0 mm

Digital Zoom None

IS Mode On

Image Size 4000x3000

Image Quality Fine

Flash Off

White Balance Fluorescent

AF Mode Single AF

Parameters Contrast          Normal

Sharpness         Normal

Saturation  Normal

Color Space sRGB

i-Contrast On

File Size 2154 KB

Drive Mode Continuous shooting

Tools of the Trade

Lots of tools on the go at the moment, with the renovations happening.  This is a really cool drill bit set that opens up to make it's own stand, 

And then closes into this compact little box

Camera Model Name Canon PowerShot SX20 IS

Shooting Date/Time 04/03/2011 10:22:09 PM

Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE

My Colors Mode Vivid

Tv (Shutter Speed) 1

Av (Aperture Value) 4.5

Light Metering Evaluative

Exposure Compensation 0

ISO Speed 80

Lens 5.0 - 100.0 mm

Focal Length 5.0 mm

Digital Zoom None

IS Mode On

Image Size 4000x3000

Image Quality Fine

Flash Off

White Balance Fluorescent

AF Mode Single AF

AF Range Mode Macro

Parameters Contrast          Normal

Sharpness         Normal

Saturation  Normal

Color Space sRGB

i-Contrast On

File Size 2383 KB

Drive Mode Self-timer Operation

Mmmmm Peanut Butter!

I was picking away at the mess on the kitchen counter, which included an empty jar of peanut butter, waiting to be washed out and put in the recycling bin.  

Jake offered his help.

He's in doggy heaven.  

See his tongue reaching all the way to the bottom?

Camera Model Name Canon PowerShot G10

Shooting Date/Time 03/03/2011 7:10:30 PM

Shooting Mode Auto

My Colors Mode Off

Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/60

Av (Aperture Value) 4.0

Light Metering Evaluative

Exposure Compensation 0

ISO Speed 250(High ISO Auto)

Lens 6.1 - 30.5 mm

Focal Length 18.1 mm

Digital Zoom None

IS Mode Shoot Only

Image Size 3818x2367

Image Quality Superfine

Flash On

Flash Type Built-In Flash

Flash Exposure Compensation 0

Shutter curtain sync 1st-curtain

Red-eye On

White Balance Auto

AF Mode Continuous AF

Parameters Contrast          Normal

Sharpness         Normal

Saturation  Normal

i-Contrast On

File Size 1920 KB

Drive Mode Single-frame shooting

Walk Tall

You know when they say a woman has legs that go on forever....well my shadow was telling me I was part of that elite group this afternoon.   Here's a shot looking to the east from the dyke just before the sun set.  Official sunset today was at 5:52.  Another week and a half and we go to daylight savings time!

And another just before the end of the walk

Camera Model Name Canon PowerShot SX20 IS

Shooting Date/Time 02/03/2011 5:17:02 PM

Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE

My Colors Mode Vivid

Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/200

Av (Aperture Value) 2.8

Light Metering Evaluative

Exposure Compensation 0

ISO Speed 80

Lens 5.0 - 100.0 mm

Focal Length 5.0 mm

Digital Zoom None

IS Mode On

Image Size 3000x4000

Image Quality Fine

Flash Off

White Balance Cloudy

AF Mode Single AF

Parameters Contrast          Normal

Sharpness         Normal

Saturation  Normal

Color Space sRGB

File Size 3070 KB

Drive Mode Continuous shooting

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

And we had just got back from a community meeting regarding a landowner's application to have 61,000 cubic meters of soil dumped on his property, which is a former gravel pit, to bring it back to agricultural use.

And I needed to take my photo.

This was taken through the raindrops on the bathroom window, looking at the light on the end of the barn. Larry is out there shutting in chickens and feeding Pride.

Taken without the tripod, shutter speed of .5 of a second.

And this is a shot of our bedroom ceiling.  Anyone else have one of those clock things that projects the time anywhere you want it to, in the dark?  It's great for us old fogeys to be able to see the time when we wake up in the middle of the night.  No worries about trying to focus the eyes to read the clock radio.  There is the time, big and bold, where ever you want to project it.  The farther you project it, the bigger it gets.  

Note that I had to hold the camera relatively still for five seconds to get this shot.  Five seconds seems like one heck of a long time, but I was laid on my back on the bed.  I might have fallen asleep:)

Camera Model Name Canon PowerShot SX20 IS

Shooting Date/Time 01/03/2011 9:14:06 PM

Shooting Mode Shutter Speed Priority AE

My Colors Mode Vivid

Tv (Shutter Speed) 5

Av (Aperture Value) 4.5

Light Metering Evaluative

Exposure Compensation 0

ISO Speed 80

Lens 5.0 - 100.0 mm

Focal Length 18.0 mm

Digital Zoom None

IS Mode On

Image Size 4000x3000

Image Quality Fine

Flash Off

White Balance Cloudy

AF Mode Single AF

Parameters Contrast          Normal

Sharpness         Normal

Saturation  Normal

Color Space sRGB

File Size 818 KB

Drive Mode Continuous shooting