The First Picture Tonight

I took a bunch of sunset picture this evening. This happens to be the first one. I like it. It might not be the best one...but it might be. I'll look at the rest tomorrow.  In the meantime, enjoy a new puzzle :-).

On The Subject Of Names

Several years ago (!) when Baaxter was a baby, it took forever to come up with his name.  A name that suited him and suited us and he could wear (or we could wear out ;-) for years to come.  In the interim I called him Lamby Lamby, which is what I call all lambs.  

Now, years later (!) if I'm trying to get his attention and he's not responding to Baaxter or Baby B, I quietly say Lamby Lamby and he immediately turns his head.  This has also been confusing for him with subsequent bottle lambs who I inevitably call Lamby Lamby in front of him.  Poor Baby B...

I should never be put in charge of names.  While Big Moose is a name that Big Moose can wear (and we can wear out...and already are :-o), Mini Moose...poor Mini Moose...  I think he's already learned Mini Moose and I'm not sure we could change it even if we came up with something perfect.  Poor Mini Moose...

He does seem to recognize the name Cute Lamby...but that might be confusing with subsequent lambs... ;-)

Two new puzzles :-).

Enjoy!

Sunny, Smiley...Cheeto?

I wish I'd never called this pretty ewe "Cheeto".  It was cute nickname at the time...but surely we can come up with something better?  Help!

*      *      *      *      *

I first met "Cheeto" back in 2014 apparently.  I recently stumbled across an old photo of her in my sheep files.  She was snuggled up with a cute white ewe lamb and I'm wondering if she was one of the early Lamb Camp Calendar models?  I'm not sure why it was in a random folder with no similar pictures around her though.  I honestly think it was destiny.

The first time I actually remember meeting her was early last spring.  That morning she was just another ewe I was watching in the lambing field.  She was resting out in the field, legs crossed in front of her, and I thought she was cute...so I took her picture.  

Later that day and into the evening, every time I turned around I'd see her looking at me.  Sometimes standing right beside me.  "Hello there! Would you like to take my picture again?" This went on for a couple of weeks until she lambed...and I took pictures of her and her pretty lambs.

This spring she picked up right where she left off last year.  I'd be crouched down helping a lamb or taking a picture and I'd turn around and she'd be standing right next to me.  "Hi there!" It never failed to make me smile :-).  

She had two beautiful lambs this year, Big Moose and a sister who is staying at Final Frontier Farm as a replacement ewe.  She probably could have lambed one more year, but she has an arthritic knee and I wanted to retire her here so I could see her smiley face every day. 

I don't know why we pick the friends we do or why they pick us.  I'm just glad we're friends.

"Hi there!"

"Would you like to take my picture?"

One of these is a new puzzle :-).

Enjoy!

Gold Christmas

No white Christmas this year, but the golden sunlight was a pretty good trade.  A couple new puzzles for you :-).

Merry Christmas!

Playing With Light

A couple new puzzles :-).  

Enjoy!

A Kaala Puzzle

Enjoy!

Just Like Fireflies

Actually, not really very much like fireflies...but they did appear to glow in the setting sun.  I didn't get a great picture of all of them floating around, but I do like this picture of Petunia and Renny grazing together with Buddy looking on.   Might be a fun puzzle :-).

As The Sun Begins To Set

A couple quick and easy puzzles :-).

a

Enjoy!

No Matter How You Look At It

Backwards...

Or forwards...

We all have so much to be thankful for, even when it's sometimes hard to see.

Happy New Year!

It Never Gets Old

One of my favorite blogs is The 7MSN Ranch.  I love her photography, her animal family, her frequently funny videos of, say relocating a rattle snake from her back porch (!).  She (re)posted some gorgeous sunset pictures the other day and a stat of how many sunsets she's watched from there.

As we were coming up on our farm and family anniversary, the fall equinox, the maths were pretty easy to do for here.  I decided I'd copy her idea, go up on Stella's hill, take a sunset picture last night celebrating our 13th anniversary, take off my shoes and socks and count up the days.

Of course that didn't happen, but that's okay.  I'm more likely to take a sunrise picture anyway.  Stella gets the great sunsets.  I get the great sunrises.  So, today is the 4,745th (basically) sunrise I've watched from our back porch.  Thankfully with no rattlesnakes ;-).

A happy anniversary!

Enjoy!

Check back later today for a funny Betsy story, an important vote and a giveaway!

Always In Good Light

We had a brief reprieve from the blistering heat over the weekend.  I've never been so glad to see low 80s in my life!  I'd been wanting to get some pictures of the chickens sitting out on their "front porch", the hillside in front of the horse stalls, but since it wasn't miserably hot for a change, they were out being busy.  I got some nice pictures of Hank instead.

You know I love morning and evening sunbeams.  Or at least evening sunbeams when it's not 85 degrees as the sun sets :-o.  I noticed the rays blazing over Hank's head and took this first shot.

And then I moved around a bit and let the sunset bathe him in gold.

And then changed my camera direction and included the sun, which I think tells a better/clearer story...but I don't like the composition quite as well as the next picture.

I wish I'd been able to leave a little more room all around each side.  However, if I had, I'd have lost the bright flare/glare that I find so pretty.  Hank is always a great shot, even in "bad" light.

Now that it's back in the 90s, I'm sure the girls will be back cooling off on the hillside in the evenings.  If I can find the inspiration to grab the camera...

Magic Maisie

Nah, it's just the light ;-).

Momma's Little Ray Of Sunshine

I was doing some (apparently boring) work in the barn the other night.  It took longer than I'd thought it would and when I got done I looked around for Bullwinkle and couldn't find him.  With some lambs (cough Baaxter) this would be very bad, but I trust Bullwinkle quite a bit...or I wouldn't have let him out of my sight in the first place.

Kate and I looked out in the yard but didn't see him.  Hmmm, that's odd.  He usually grazes in front of the Wool House.  I checked around the back side, no "baby".  As I walked back to the barn, I saw him. He'd taken himself out to the side field and was grazing away like a good boy.  I guess he's ready to move to the barn :-/.

"Move to the barn?"

This is some of my favorite light.  Shining into one of my favorite paddocks.  On one of my favorite sheep.  I got a bit carried away.  But that's okay.  It's all fleeting, so enjoy.  

The sunbeam shots are all SOC (straight out of camera, meaning no editing or special Instagram filters...).  This last picture of Bullwinkle and Kate was taken at the same time, but from a different angle - facing the neighbors not the road.  Shots from this angle could be pretty too, but I think the golden sunbeams make the other pictures magical.  

Here's a new puzzle.  This was a really fun one to work :-).

 

My Favorite Time Of Day

Comby, Kate, Weaslie, Hank, Bullwinkle and I walked up the hill to visit with Stella the other evening.  The sunset is always so pretty from up there.  While it doesn't seem like that much of a hill, between the "valley" and the trees around our house and barn, we miss the amazing show every night.  Stella doesn't get to see the amazing moon rises over her house and hill though, so it's an okay trade :-).

I love the sunbeams shining on some of our sheep.  

That's Chocula looking over at us and Baba Bad Sheep (Blossom) on the far hill aka she somehow wedged her fat little body under the fence because there is apparently not enough grass in this field for her ;-).

The Evening After

Just as nice as the morning :-).

Glamour Shots

I took several sheep shots the other evening - my other favorite time of day.  As I was scrolling through them I came to a fun series of pictures of Rebecca Boone.  I'd taken six shots in a row in a span of about ten seconds.  Look at the difference between the first and the last.

These are straight out of the camera, not cropped, nothing changed.  Why do they look so different? Both are nice pictures.  Both show a sheep with a funny personality and cool hair.  Same background, same time of day - as the sun set.

The main difference is that for the last one I stepped just a hair to the right...which changed the angle of the sun.  

I know there's more to it on a technical side, like how the camera read the light and adjusted for it... but I'm pretty happy to just get lucky.  If there's something simple I can do to help that happen, all the better.