My Favorite Place

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is to photography our favorite place. It was easier to think about that place than it was to get there to photograph it. But hey, it's a challenge afterall, so I ventured down the hill to my husband's shop. Scary, isn't it?

Once inside, I have to crawl over lawn mowers and around whatever car he and his buddies have torn apart today. Ah, but there it is. A bit of paradise tucked away for the winter.

So clean, so pristine among the oil stained rags and engine parts scattered upon the various work surfaces.

I open the door and peek inside. It's dark and cold. The battery was pulled for the winter. But the air fresheners strategically placed to combat the smell of a NASCAR pit team has prevailed.

My horse trailer. My summer home on wheels. My getaway. My favorite place.

Frame It!

Happy 4th of July! There is rain in these parts this morning. I won’t complain. We just got done haying, so the fields need the moisture. The parties that go with the holiday aren’t my thing. So I’ll take advantage of a down day and get clothes packed for vacation. In less than a week, we will be heading west to ride in the Medicine Bow National Forest in the Cheyenne/Laramie, Wyoming area. This is kind of a bittersweet vacation because my oldest son has decided to forgo the family vacation for his job and detassling corn. Now the thought of leaving a 16-year-old home alone scares the bejeezes out of me, so I’ve enlisted the help of my brother (who wrote the book on teen craziness) and my niece (who is home safely from Iraq), so he won't truly be home alone. More on the vacation in the days to come.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge is “Frame It”; a photo that is framed by something. I have found that I frequently do try to frame my subject into something natural in the picture. Keeping it horse related, here are my contributions to the challenge.

This picture of Butter and Blue was taken on the trail to Harney Peak in South Dakota.

This is my friend Kathy on Zuni, taken at Two Rivers.

I liked how the trees framed this picture of Vic, on Deacon, along the Oak Creek Trail.

And this shot was taken in our pasture.

This was taken from our driveway looking out to the west pasture. The maple trees framing Butter and Baby are on the driveway side of the fence.

History

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is "History"; defined as something 60 years old or more. I would have loved to have gotten on my horse and rode around my country roads snapping shots that fit the category, but I had a terribly busy week at work and there was just no spare time. However, this challenge is a good opportunity to share some pictures from my archives that were taken in 2005 and the story that goes with it.




Early that year, my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For those who don't know your cancers, that is the bad one. The "Michael Landon" cancer, we called it. Not a matter of "if", but "how long?" It was about a 2.5 hour drive to Mom's house from ours and each weekend, I would take one or both of the boys and we would go "home" to spend time with her. Part of our weekend ritual was to get in the car and drive somewhere. Chasing memories, I guess. On this particular day, we drove to the farm where Mom was raised.




Mom's dad, Frederick Hornbussel, was a German immigrant, coming to America when he was just 18 years old or so. He arrived in New Orleans and made his way to Nebraska, where I understand other from Germany that he knew had settled. He farmed until his death and then Grandma moved in with us. Dad and my uncle kept cows out to the farm and each day after school, we would go to the farm so dad could do chores. We played in the barns & explored. I am thinking the family sold the farm around 1966. The house was torn down in the years that followed. I remember each bedroom had etched glass windows. I think Dad said some vandals had stolen all of the glass from those doors. The above picture of my boys with their grandma was taken on what was the steps to the back porch of the house.




The building to the left was the garage. Dad had an old tractor that he kept parked in this garage. The building behind it was just a working shed. We kept a chute beside that building and the calves would be run up that chute when they were vaccinated and dehorned. You can see this same building on the left hand side of the photo at the beginning of the blog, taken when my mom was a child.



My sister and I always called this building the "Dairy Queen". We would play like we were Dairy Queen workers and one of us would place an order through the window my boys are looking through. I remember once when high winds came through, this building was overturned. I don't recall my dad straightening it out; perhaps this was done by the new owners.



Here the boys are sitting in the doorway of the corn crib. My mom said Grandpa would always take a break there and sit down to fill and smoke his pipe. When he died of an apparent heart attack, this was where he was found. It's not morbid to me; just a piece of history.




This view is looking back toward the barn and the corn crib, with the "Dairy Queen" in the background. We used to have barn cats that ran wild here. But they all had names and we would search eagerly for them every time we were out there. The hayloft in the barn had a big rope that we would swing across from bale to bale. What good memories...




This was the last time I visited the farm. Mom died about 45 days after these pictures were taken. I love these pictures and the history and the memories. But what haunts me are my boys' eyes. Especially Case, my youngest. He is so sad. When I told the boys that Grandma was sick with cancer, McCain asked "Is she going to die?" They never knew my dad except that he died of cancer. To them, cancer meant death. I told the boys that we will pray Grandma is with us a long time, but that we have to be prepared for her to go. I remember McCain whimpering. He said, "I don't know what to do about that?" I thought that was an interesting thing for a then 11-year-old to say. And you know, I didn't know what to do about that either.
This day was bittersweet. I had such good memories of growing up at the farm. Of the poppy flowers that you could see out the west window of the house. The big mulberry tree right by the well. Our first horses were kept in that very same barn. The wheat field was just beyond it to the south. This challenge took me back to that day and beyond.

Sunday Stills ~ Eyes

Sunday Stills is an opportunity to to pick up our camera and meet the challenge Ed bestows on us! To keep in the theme of my blog, I try to keep my photos horse related, although for this challenge, I added in a few others for variety. This week's challenge is "Eyes".

I love McCain's green eyes.

Baby has the softest, deep-chocolate eyes.

Ritz's eyes are dark brown, too and he is always watching....

And Mickey only has one good eye; the bad one is blue. It's kind of startling until you get used to it.

Cattle Drive

Sunday Stills ~ Landscapes. This is our pasture looking up to our home.

Cattle Drive! Okay, bull drive. Singular. The neighbor said we can bring his rented bull back any time. I say today is not soon enough. John said we have to have a plan. I say, “Just do it!”

The trick is to separate the bull from our cows, take the bull thru the pasture gate and keep him off the highway. Turn him 90 degrees and drive him down the road, over the bridge and then drop him off in the pasture on the other side of the road.



I say EZ-peezy. John said we have to practice cutting him off from the herd. But will the practice really vary from the real deal? I think not. With horses and 4 wheelers, how hard can herding one fat bull be?

Men. They have no sense of urgency. Or desire to get the ol’ adrenaline flowing. Why for once can’t we just fly by the seat of our pants and just do it?

PS: Today's Sunday Stills challenge is "Landscapes". We'll use the top photo of this post for my landscape.

Sunday Stills ~ Wildflowers

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is wildflowers.

I returned Friday afternoon from a quick trip to Portland. Finally, our skies have cleared and we had sunny weather. Shortly after I got home, I headed to the pasture to check on the herd and almost as an afterthought, grabbed my camera.

I caught the above picture of Ginger as I was making my way back to the house, the horses had run off ahead. The sun was behind her so I was surprised it turned out at all. The "wildflowers" in the picture are what we call "mustard grass", growing in the alfalfa field.

Sunday Stills ~ Barns

Those of us participating in Sunday Stills were asked this week to photograph a barn or barns. Living in rural Nebraska, that is not a stretch for me. I have one outside my door. These photos are of our barn.



And just to add some variety, you might recall we just came out of the winter from hell. There were some shots of the same barn just a few mere months ago.



Although the snow makes for a pretty backdrop and interesting pictures, I do not want to go back in time.



Brrr! What a nightmare.

Sunday Stills ~ Sports

Each week I try to participate in the online Sunday Stills challenge. This week's challenge was simply "Sports". I took the above picture & the one immediately following at our Trails Committee's annual game day fundraiser where we compete in what is generally mounted games, such as barrel racing and pole bending.


My friend, Mary Hanson, is an avid driver. She competed in the games using her team of Morgans. Her husband, Dwight, is on the back of the cart. His job is important to keep the balance of the buggy. The dust from the wheels show the speed in which the cart was moving. It was really quite exciting to watch.


This past summer, I stepped out of my comfort zone and actually did compete in a couple of Competitive Trail Rides. This picture was taken at Smithville Lake, Missouri, as we picked our way along the trail. It had rained five inches in 2 hours the afternoon before, which brought many challenges to both horse and rider.

Looking at some other Sunday Stills pictures reminded me of these shots taken while on a riding vacation in South Dakota. The boys took a time out from horses to go fishing at Deerfield Lake.

Sunday Stills ~ My Best Shot!

Our Sunday Stills challenge for this week seemed pretty easy. To post our best shot of 2009. Right away, I knew what picture that would be. I do have a favorite. But Ed was feeling a bit generous and said we should post our favorite two pictures. Ah jeez! Now that is tough. There are so many that just didn't make the cut of "favorite", but were a close second.

As always, I try to keep my posts horse related. I have a few of Blue that seemed to really capture his personality. But I also think I may have posted them on this blog a time or two. And I have more pictures of Windy than I do of my kids! So I cheated a bit. And started another series of posts called Lucky Shots. There I can showcase those that just didn't quite fall into the "favorite" category, but that make me smile nonetheless.

Here is my all time favorite 2009 Best Shot.

This picture was taken this past June at our ride at Big Canyon Ranch near Basset, Nebraska. It was late in the afternoon and our bunch road out into the east pastures. We started climbing some of the higher hills. Several of us tackled an even bigger hill while the rest of our group rested on this bluff. When I came back down from that climb, I took this picture of the valley which reaches all the way to the Niobrara River. It truly looks like you can see forever. But when I downloaded this picture, what I really appreciated about is were not only the colors, but the other riders. Their expressions or lack thereof. All of them in their own little world, taking in the same beauty that I was seeing through my lens. This is why I trail ride. It just doesn't get any better than this.




And the second runner up, goes to my boys. Kind of horse related as it was taken when we were putting up hay. Once again, what I like about this picture is how it captured their personalities. McCain is looking away from the camera. He is not avoiding it. He probably has no clue I am taking the picture. He's a dreamer. Nothing bad about that - he takes after me. And I can tell he is caught up in one of his big dreams at this moment. Probably picturing himself doing anything besides putting up hay. And Case, he sees the camera and no doubt, the shot before this and the shot after, he has some sort of funny face happening to try to ruin the picture. And the boxers coming out of the jeans? I have no idea where that look came from! Finally, Ritz, the dog. He is the most obedient dog I ever owned. Just last night I had him doing similar poses on snow drifts. So I tell him to get on the bales for a picture, he gets on the bales. And isn't he photogenic? That dog doesn't take a bad picture! So my boys, all three of them, garner the spot for my second favorite picture of 2009.

I have to give Ed credit - when he offers a challenge, he makes me think not only about just capturing the subject, but taking a good shot. Can't wait to see what our photo assignments are for 2010.

Moving On

Here in Nebraska, we appreciate that we have four seasons. Really, we do. But we always worry. We expect spring rains (April showers, May flowers), but if we get too much, we worry that we are “losing our spring!” And if the hot days normally experienced the end of July violate us in what's expected to be mild-weathered June, we worry that we will have three months of humidity. But, God forbid, when snow comes in October, it rocks our world as we know it! We don't worry that we lost our best month of riding, we know it! If you have read my blog or my Stable Talk before it, I’m sure you’ve recognized my distress year after year. But truly, until this early winter, we have had some usual temperatures these last few years - and not all of it bad.

Really, I don’t mind the snow necessarily (as long as it's winter and it goes away quick!) It takes away from the winter gray. But I take exception to BANG! A foot and a half before we have even packed away our bathing suits! It’s been a few weeks now and as I was walking back from the barn this morning, in full weather garb, I came to the conclusion that I have hunkered down for the season. Just two months to go.

Today, winter has brought us the dreaded “wintry mix”. It such a pretty word with a horrible definition. Short version: rain, ice, freezing temperatures and driving hell. No doubt, followed by a foot of snow! Now is when the weatherman starts reporting with alarmingly swell accuracy! Amazing that he can’t figure it out when we want to go on a simple trail ride in May without raingear!

But all this aside, I’m moving on. Making plans. Not only thinking about summer vacation, but I joined one of the Mane Challenge teams competing at the Nebraska Horse Expo this coming March. Pay no mind to the fact that I have never entered a horse show in my life! Nor do I have any idea when or where I might practice this feat with that next foot of snow coming in twenty four hours?

(Have I lost my mind?)

Ah, it’s only 2 classes.

How bad can that be?

(Don’t answer that!)

My friend, Joni, offered me her seasoned show horse, Prinny. Very tempting, though I would hate to embarrass the chap. He is used to winning! Nah, Windy and I are going down together! At least she’ll look pretty whether she accomplishes anything or not. Me?

I need to lose a pound

or two

or ten.

Quick!

Sunday Stills ~ Holiday Lights & Decorations

Sunday Stills is an opportunity to to pick up our camera and meet the challenge Ed bestows on us! To keep in the theme of my blog, my pictures are horse related. This week's challenge is Christmas Lights & Decorations.

I had about an hour of daylight left and found in my barn just the thing that would fit the challenge: the jingle bells. Case's mare, Butter, was the only horse hanging out by the barn so Butter is the bell model.

"Butter models bells by the barn!"

Say that five times fast!

I'm not sure she has ever worn the jingle bells before, but she took it all in stride. She still wonders how she ended up a boy's horse. She'll never admit it, but she just loves to be fussed over!

Sunday Stills ~ Technology

Sunday Stills is a place to hone your photography skills. Each Week Ed issues a new “Challenge” that gives us the opportunity to pick up what ever kind of camera we own and try and meet it. This week's challenge is technology!

I take a lot of pictures. For every thousand or so, I might get one good one. Truly, it is not skill on my part, but luck! But sometimes there are those that, with a little help, can be improved on. So I'll open them in Photoshop Elements or Picaso or MS Image Pro in hopes of finding a quick fix.



Now let me state for the record, when it comes to photography, I ain't no Pioneer Woman. I don't really know my way around a camera at all and although I use three photo programs, I never have mastered even one! I know I can do certain things in Photoshop and other things in the other two programs, so it is truly a team effort!

I liked the look Windy seemed to be giving that barrel that had blown into the pasture, but I really didn't like the barrel in the picture. It kind of gave it a trashy look.

So, in Photoshop, I was able to erase it. I know there are ways I could fine tune the erase, but haven't figured that out yet.

Recently, I started using Picaso, a free program from Google. And I've had a lot of fun with this program so far.

I can add a soft focus to the picture.

Or change the tint.

Or try a lot of other fun features.

And finally, using Microsoft Digital Image Pro, I can do flipbooks and captions as well as making frames and albums.

Now I know if I really tried, Photoshop would probably be able to do all of these features since it is one of the most common programs. Although I love all the fun that technology offers, the learning curve is steep. Someday, in my spare time, perhaps I'll figure it all out. Until then, I continue to hunt and peck to salvage a few shots that were just on the cusp of being halfway decent. So technology in itself, is a challenge!