January 30, 2012, Day 30 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Went for a drive with my husband today. We were looking for moose. I'm always looking for moose. They are among my top ten favorite animals. One year we had three that basically lived in our yard. We had some hay for our cows stored there, and they enjoyed it a lot. I never, I repeat never, got tired of taking pictures of them. Every morning when my kids headed out the door to catch the bus, I went out to make sure the moose didn't charge them, but also to take dozens of pictures of them. However, that isn't what this little blurb should be about. We did not find any moose, but we found other things that I enjoy taking pictures of. I love old buildings. I love to think about who might have lived in this house, what they did in the cold winter, how they made their living (farming, I would imagine) and where they, or their posterity, are now. There was a fence in my way, or I would have taken the picture from a better angle. Since it is old, I figured it would look best in black and white. I hope it was a happy home for someone!

January 29, 2012, Day 29 of my 365 Days of Photographs

From left to right are Isis, Jade and Hunter. They are my three Anatolian Shepherds. Hunter is the dad to Jade and Isis. I had the mother of the females. Her name was Jill, and she was a wonderful dog. She was a guardian dog that we got to protect our cows and calves from coyotes, wolves, bears, etc. Jill patrolled the property daily. She had 10 puppies, and when the pups were four days old, she died. It was such a very sad thing to deal with. I became foster mom to 10 tiny pups. The vet, friends and family all told me to not be upset when I lost pups because of how much work it is to take care of newborn puppies, but I am happy to say that I didn't lose any. All 10 grew up to be amazing pups that went to live in various places throughout Canada. Well, most of them did, two of them stayed right at our place because I couldn't let go of everyone after being their mom myself. I love my crazy threesome. I took this picture when Jade and Isis were watching my little dog, Lucky, and Hunter was watching me. I thought it had a fun, quirky feel to it. Not a great picture, but an opportunity to show off a few more of my beloved critters. 

January 28, 2012, Day 28 of my 365 Days of Photographs

I love these two crazy little girls Today was a very special day for Jody, the one on the left. Diane is her little sister, and I think they love each other very much. I was really happy to be part of the special day.

January 27, 2012, Day 27 of my 365 Days of Photographs

This is Uriah. She is my milk cow. She is the sweetest cow I think I have ever known, and since moving to a cattle ranch in Canada, I can honestly say I have know a lot of cows. Her name is Uriah because registered cows have a particular letter of the alphabet that they have to be named with each year. The year she was born was U, and I remembered liking a band named Uriah Heap when I was a teenager, so I thought it fit. Every time I go outside and call her name, she lifts her head and looks at me. If I act like I might actually walk over to the fence, she comes right over for a visit. Of course, she is hoping that I might have some grain for her, but she is also happy with a scratch on the back. If you think her name is strange, wait until I talk about her calf (the second sweetest cow ever) that was born a few years after Uriah. She got Z. Any guesses on her name???

January 26. 2012, Day 26 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Hey, another day of two pictures. Why? Because it is my blog, and I can. Some days just require more than a single picture to express what I'm feeling. Some days they aren't even great pictures for anyone but me, but they say what is in my heart. The pictures for today are very special to me. Three times in my life I have done something amazing. There have been days when I have done good things, but only three days that count as me doing something that was blow my mind amazing. January 26, 1985 was the first of those three days (yes, the other two will be showing up with their own picture, too). My first child was born on this day, so I took a picture of some photographs of her. All of the pictures have my sweet daughter in them, two have a very special man in them, and two others have two women in them that love Meg more than life itself.

The other picture, spoke to me as I was going through the pictures I had taken today. You may say that it looks just like a picture I put for a previous day, and you are probably right. I love this group of trees, and I love how the sky and light shine through them, but this had something more. I was thinking of Meg when I took it. I took it because she loves cloudy skies. However, I didn't realize until I looked at it on the computer that it had some blue sky in there, too. I personally am more of a fan of blue sky. That is when the picture spoke to me. You see it is a combination of my daughter and myself. A lot of her with a bit of me thrown in for good measures. Rafael, I think you are the sun! I love you both!

January 25, 2012, Day 25 of my 365 Days of Photographs

What an evil-looking cat, eh? The one with his mouth open is Houdini, and the one looking like Godzilla is Hercules. Sometimes they tolerate each other, and at other times they pretty much hate each other. I got pictures of this event from the first smack on the head that Houdini gave Hercules, to Lucky, the dog referee, putting an end to it. This picture was one of my favorites because if you look in the window, you also can see Thomasina in the house looking out. I think she is thinking that she sure is glad she isn't in the middle of their battle. Sometimes we think only humans have drama, but I think my critters prove otherwise every now and again!

January 24, 2012, Day 24 of my 365 Days of Photographs

I love this tall, skinny picture, with a very tall, skinny tree in it. When we first moved to Canada, this part of our land was covered with trees, mostly trees quite a bit shorter than this particular tree. The kids could wander the property (all 166 acres) and usually see this tree from wherever they were. It isn't far from the house, so I figured they could always find their way home. Because it doesn't have any branches until almost the top, I made a joke about it being a Canadian palm tree. Needless to say, that is still how I think of it. To the left in the picture is Hunter's dog house. The dog house is probably about five feet tall, so it gives a bit of perspective of how tall the tree is.  A few years ago my husband decided to have this section of land cleared. He paid a guy to come and bull doze down all the trees. Before the man started, I asked him to NOT take down my tree. He looked at me like I was nuts, but he listened and did as I asked. I love my quirky tree, and I have some fond memories of when my kids were still small enough to need a Canadian palm tree to guide them home!

January 23, 2012, Day 23 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Just thought the sky looked cool this afternoon, so I took a few shots of it. None of them looked as epic as I wanted, but I liked this one.

January 22, 2012, Day 22 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Just out wandering in my yard after the snow storm we had, and I saw this tiny pine cone hanging from a tree. It looked lonely, so I took its picture to cheer it up! I really love the pictures with the blurred backgrounds. It adds character to the pictures.

January21, 2012, Day 21 of my 365 Days of Photographs

It is snowing today. We haven't had much snow this year, so it was actually kind of fun to go out and spend a bit of time enjoying it. Of course, now I'm done and it can go away. I'm not much of a winter person. However, I like this picture and the fact that you can see the snowflakes falling. There is a path through those trees that goes to a little clearing where I like to spend some quiet time. I buried my little dog there. It was a favorite place for her to hang out. Anyway, welcome winter!

January 20, 2012, Day 20 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Not great photography, but sometimes you just have to go with what feels right. I have never been a fan of energy drinks. My husband would get them, I would take a sip and say "yuck, I've had enough." Then one night I was really tired, and I got a grape Nos, and I now have ONE energy drink that I really like, not one brand, just one flavor. I still only drink it when I really need to stay awake. Since I work nights, that could be often, but I refrain unless I am desperate. So, this is just a little advertisement for Grape Nos. Love the stuff!

January 19, 2012, Day 19 of my 365 Days of Photographs

I love how the snow looks on the deck in this picture. It just didn't look as cool when I just took a picture of the deck, so I added the wheels of our wagon that we use to haul wood into the house. The deck has kind of a wood grain pattern in it, and the snow caught in all the little dips and valleys. I think it makes it look a lot like spider webs.

January 18, 2012, Day 18 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Ugly old chair, eh? Why take a picture of it? Well, there is not a time in my life that I can't remember this chair being a part of it. When I was a wee little girl, this chair was in my sister's bedroom. She had a sweet little vanity table, and this was the chair that went with it. Even back then it was this color of pink. In fact, I would bet that it has not ever been repainted in all that time. I have loved this chair all of my life. What a silly thing, to love an inanimate object, but I do. When I was little, I loved to go in my sister's room when she wasn't home and sit at her vanity, on this very chair. I'm sure she would not have been happy to know I was in there. Then when I was eight, my sister got married. At that time, her room became my room, her vanity became my vanity, and most importantly, her pink chair became my pink chair. I would dare guess that she still thinks of it as her chair, but she must have been about 12 when she got it, and she left home at 19. That means it was her chair for about seven years. On the other hand, I was eight when I claimed the chair, and I also had it until I was about 19. That means by default it is my chair. When I left Utah and moved to Canada, the chair went into storage with a lot of my other important pieces of furniture. A few months ago I finally was able to move that stuff to Canada. The first thing I did when I unloaded things into our storage unit was bring the pink chair into the house. It may be old, it may be ugly, but it is sturdy and I love it. Yeah for the craftsmanship of the old days. This chair will outlast all of us!

January 17, 2012, Day 17 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Hmm, you think this picture seems a little old for me to have taken? Okay, I didn't take it, but let me explain. Today is my birthday (and I feel old enough to have taken the picture). I have never enjoyed birthdays, not even when I was little. I could explain why, but no one will get it, so why bore you. We will just leave it at me not liking birthdays. So, I was trying to come up with something intriguing to take a picture of today, and I saw this photograph hanging on my living room wall. This is my grandmother, Stella Broadhead Lloyd, and her father, whose name escapes me at the moment. Anyway, I wouldn't be here to have birthdays if it weren't for those in my family that came before me, so I took a photograph of a photograph because my grandma was very special. She died when I was barely four, so my memories of her are very limited, but one very important thing I remember about her is that she loved me. I used to sit on her lap while she rocked in her old green rocking chair, and she would feed me dates. I didn't even like dates, but I ate them because it was special time with her. So, on this day, I take a moment to say thanks to those amazing family members that came before me and allowed me to come to this earth, and I especially say, "I love you, Grandma! 

January 16, 2012, Day 16 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Let me start out by saying, this is not a great picture! However, today I had an adventure, so I am going to tell a little story, and this picture goes with the story. This picture shows a couple of our guinea fowl. Guineas are crazy, flighty, noisy and annoying birds. However, I dearly love them. We had some many years ago, and then I couldn't find them again for a long time. Last spring we got a bunch of tiny newborn chicks and raised them. Now they live in a chicken coop in our yard. When the weather is nice, they have an outdoor area in the coop, but when it is nasty cold, like right now, I keep them locked up in the indoor part. Today when I went out to feed them, I opened the door to the inside area, and I spooked them. Did I mention that they are very flighty? Anyway, I thought one flew over my head and got out, but I didn't see any sign of it, so I went on with my chores. However, I kept hearing the distinctive sound of a guinea, and it wasn't coming from inside the coop. Finally, I went back over to look, and sure enough, there he was on top of Grandpa Hatch's little house. Hmmm, how to get him. "Good thing we have a net for catching chickens," I thought, "this will be easy." Wow, talk about famous last words. When I got close to him with the net, he took off flying. Now these birds live in a pen that doesn't give them the opportunity to fly, so you wouldn't think he would have the strength to go very far, but he flew way back to where the hay bales are and landed on top of them. The hay bales are in where my big dogs live, so I was a bit concerned that if he got down too low the dogs would go after him. Well, I got out there and tried once more to catch him with my net, but he flew away again. He headed back in the direction of the coop, but I guess by now his unexercised wings were getting tired, and he smacked into the back of another chicken coop and landed on the ground. Now you have to understand I can't just run over to where he is. We have electric fences, gates and a few other obstacles I had to go through to get to him. By the time I got to where he was, he must have been getting his second wind. He didn't have enough energy to fly, but he took off under fences, around posts, through the electric fence and out with the cows. All this time I was chasing after him, but I could not get close enough to snag him with the net. Finally, he went into our garden spot. There are some tall weeds growing there, and he hunkered down in them. I think his thoughts were that I couldn't see him. Lucky for me I could. I calmly walked up to him, as calm as you can be when you are out of breath from chasing a critter for that long, and set the net on top of him. Imagine his surprise to find that he was captured! Anyway, I got him back to the coop, and he seems no worse for wear. And that explains my choice of pictures for today. I actually took this picture after that fiasco, but I can't guarantee that either of those birds is the escape artist!

January 15, 2012, Day 15 of my 365 Days of Photographs

A friend mentioned that she liked pictures of just parts of faces or different things, so I thought I would try a few. This is a picture of my little dog, Joon. Surprisingly she held still so I could take the picture. It isn't as good as I would like. I don't have the right lens for my camera for taking super close up pictures. I guess I need to put a macro lens on my wish list. Anyway, I think Joon has a cute little nose and great eyes, you just can't see her eyes very well because she needs a hair cut!

January 14, 2012, Day 14 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Hmmm, another black and white picture. This looks old time, so I thought it would be good without any color to it. This is our chicken coop. Along the front is a wood pallet that we have set up as a fence to stop the turkeys from getting out of the barnyard. I actually though from this angle that it does look like a fence. I was practically laying in the snow to take the picture. I think I may go back out when it warms up a bit and actually try laying in the snow to take another picture.

January 13, 2012, Day 13 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Winter has returned to my neck of the woods. We were so enjoying almost no snow and unusually high temperatures. Not to be any more! It is about -26 as I write this. However, normally the snow would be higher than the tire flower bed in the picture above, so I shouldn't complain. I'm kind of sticking with my black and white theme. The flower bed has a bunch of dead tomatoes in it, and I thought they looked better in black and white. As you can see, the snow is tramped down around it. It is a favorite spot for my little dogs to visit!

January 12, 2012, Day 12 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Wow, Houdini two days in a row. I figured I let his foot be seen, so I should let all of him be seen. He gave me the perfect opportunity for that when I found him asleep on this storage bin today. It doesn't look like a very comfortable place to sleep, but he stayed there for over an hour, so I guess he enjoyed it. What a nut!

January 11, 2012, Day 11 of my 365 Days of Photographs

I have five cats! Two of them spend all of their time in the house, two spend most of their time outside and the last one controls our lives and pretty much does whatever he wants to. He was a little stray kitten that showed up at the end of our driveway, and shock of shocks, my husband brought him home. Now he is a big, beautiful, orange cat. One day he was sleeping on the back of the couch with one of his front paws stretched out, and I thought it would be fun to see how my new camera would do with such a close up. I love how it shows a lot of individual hairs around his feet. Great foot, Houdini!

January 10, 2012, Day 10 of my 365 Days of Photographs

This is a slightly strange picture to have taken. However, I was feeling nostalgic, and walked by the Micky Mouse tea set that is sitting on my bookshelf. The little tea set belonged to my mother. When I was little, she kept it in a cupboard above our fridge, and I was not allowed to touch it. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, so guess what I did every time my mom was gone for the day? Yup, I played with it. Sometimes I drank Coke out of it, or milk, juice, water, whatever was in the house. I was very fortunate that I never broke any of the pieces, and she never found out that I played with it. I wish I knew the story behind the tea set, when she got it, what she loved about it, etc. Why didn't I ask those questions when she was still here? Anyway, I love the tea set. I just brought it back after having it in storage for almost 11 years. I like walking by and seeing it on the shelf. It brings back a little piece of my mom. I love you, Mom.

January 9, 2012, Day 9 of my 365 Days of Photographs

This is not a great picture, but it is my first attempt at taking a picture in a very dark setting. It is a picture of the moon in the early morning hours. I read up a bit more about settings and such, so I am going to try to take another picture tonight when the moon is full. We shall see how it works, and if I decide to add it as my Day 10 picture.

January 8, 2012, Day 8 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Driving home from church today, I stopped at a spot where I have wanted to take a picture for a long time. It is just off the highway, but it has always interested me. I love old log cabins and other old buildings. I put this one on in black and white because it is old and looks like it should be from the old times.

January 7, 2012, Day 7 of my 365 Days of Photographs

This is Hunter. He is my very large Anatolian Shepherd. He is also an awesome model for pictures. I love the look on his face, and I really like how the picture looked when I took it from color to black and white. For some reason it touches my heart just a bit more in black and white. I love this big boy. He is far from perfect, but he touches my heart to the very core.

January 6, 2012, Day 6 of my 365 Days of Photographs

I decided to go with a completely different idea for this picture. I went outside with my camera today and took 356 pictures! There did seem to be a theme centered around animals. Such is life when you live on a farm! Anyway, I took pictures of cows, turkeys, dogs, a cat and some chickens. They were all lovely models, but they weren't what I had in mind for today's picture. I took some pictures of dead weeds, and then I found this dead flower in one of my flower beds. I liked how it had dried, and it was still standing straight up like it wanted to keep growing. The amazing blue sky seems to be a great background for my lovely dead flower, too.

January 5, 2012, Day 5 of my 365 Days of Photographs

Again, the composition of this photo may not be the greatest, but the picture contains two of my biggest masterpieces. Kevin and Tyler are my boys, and I love having this picture of them. Tyler used to tell me that he lost a bit of his soul every time a picture was taken of him, so I am happy to see that he doesn't feel that way any more. They both look wonderful in this picture. Too bad Meg isn't in the picture, too. She is my other masterpiece! At some point in my 365 days, I will also get some pictures of her. Please don't be mad at me, Kevin and Tyler, for putting this picture on my blog!

January 4, 2012, Day 4 of my 365 Days of Photographs

I love this picture. It gave me a chance to learn something about my camera that I wasn't even thinking about, but something I really like the look of. Rifiki is the gray cat in the foreground, and Thomasina is the orange cat in the background. I had the camera focused on Rifiki, and that caused Tomi to be just a bit blurred. I love the look, and I hope to be able to learn more about purposely getting pictures done this way. I also love these two crazy cats!

January 3, 2012, Day 3 of my 365 Days of Photographs

I'm sure there will be a lot of pictures of these two throughout the year. These are my fur babies. Benny is on the left, and Joon is on the right. They are named after two characters in my favorite Johnny Depp movie. They were outside playing on the deck when I snapped this picture of them. I was experimenting with a fast shutter speed, so I got a couple of interesting pictures. One with their ears standing straight up, one where Joon looks like a demon dog and one where Benny looks like he is about ready to take flight. However, I liked how this picture showed them so intent on each other.

January 2, 2012, Day 2 of my 365 Days of Photographs

I had been outside playing around with my new camera, and as I came up on the deck, I turned and caught sight of the three tractors. It struck me as humorous how they were parked, little to biggest. What I saw in my mind was better than what I actually captured. That is really a good thing, though, because I have been reading about how a photographer has to learn to see things differently because our mind can play tricks on us and make us see things that really aren't true. Now I really know that I need some training in capturing the right things in my pictures! However, I do still like this picture.

January 1, 2012, Day 1 of my 365 Days of Photographs

This is my first photo in my self imposed assignment to take at least one picture every day of 2012! This is not a very good picture, but then I want them to get better as I go along, right? This is our Percheron team. Their names are Gin and Tonic. Gin is the smaller one on the left. When they were young, they were both completely black, and they turn gray as they age. If the picture was bigger and better, you could see that their legs are still mostly black. Bryon has them in training for pulling a wagon right now. In fact, Virginia, Brenton and some friends went on a wagon ride the day after Christmas! Maybe I will have more pictures of them as the year goes on!

365 Days of Pictures

Bryon gave me a wonderful camera for Christmas! It is a Canon Rebel T3i, and it is way more advanced than my sweet little Kodak. I'm really hoping to learn lots of things about it. I'm going to take an online course through the college in Dawson Creek, and I am talking to a friend about some things she has learned about her similar camera. Anyway, she suggested that I look into a thing about taking at least one picture a day for a year. Since it is the very beginning of 2012, I decided to start it right now. I actually have pictures for the first five days of the month, so it won't be hard to do. Now I just have to figure out how to download pictures to this blog.