Mini-wheats!

We had our very first snow fall on Sunday.  October isn't even over yet and here we've got this fluffy stuff sitting on the ground.

  I'm pretty sure it will melt though,

 but I've been wrong before!!

The lighting was kind of pretty for this picture

 looking out my front porch.

Looking the other direction.

Now with a slightly different angle...don't you love digital...

you can take so many pictures and just not even worry about how many

you've got and you'll be sure to find

at least one that turns out!

Look at how the light changed here and made such a different photo.

Hey, those hay bales look like mini-wheats!

Never knew cereal grew that way!  Anyone growing Fruit loops??

Cool eh?  Now where's my jug of milk, spoon and bowl...mmmm!

Horses in Snow

Hey all you horse lovers out there -

how's this for a snowy field of studs, mares, fillies or colts

- or some mixture of the above -

who can tell what's what?  Not me!!  Brownie points for you if you can! 

(remember you can click any pic to enlarge)

I really love the coloring on these horses.  I wonder what breed they are.

I haven't seen this coloring very often before.

Such a dark caramelly color for their bodies and then the light straw color for their manes.  It's really quite striking. 

Mmmm - a picture of these beauties with the sun shining brightly would be so gorgeous...better keep my eyes open for a photo op!

This is almost good enough for a frame - if you like dullish, cold, wintery pictures...or maybe a post card or if I knew how to use photoshop, maybe add a Christmas message or something.

Do you see how the horses are scattered - I heard that it's good when the viewer's eyes are drawn in and then zig zag around the page...heard that from a fashion/photo director on Canada's Next Top Model!

Are your eyes zigging? Zagging?

:)

Are ya cross-eyed yet?!?!

:)

Tracks in the Snow

Snow.

Tracks.

Sun.

Trees.

Sky.

Pretty.

Picture.

Snap.

Snap again!

That's it for today!

Have a good one!

Wheels

There's something about wheels - especially old wheels - that I just love.

Here's a song - along the "wheel" theme: Wheel in the Sky by Journey
Check out this early '80's song - note the hair and the high pants!!
Eeeps - we thought they were cool!

Shane Yellowbird sings a cool country song with a cute video about his old pickup truck that doesn't seem to pick up many girls anymore:

Pickup Truck

This old yellow truck is so very awesomely cool...can't really see the actual wheels too good here, but this is more about the truck!

It has the little side step just past the doors and I adore the color and shape of this old GMC.
My Dad proposed to my Mom in this old truck...back when it was running, that is, and that appeals to my romantic side!!
Do you have a vehicle that hits the "romantic button" in your heart?  What is it?  Is it a chopper, a tractor, a limo, a helicopter, what does it for you?

A Lot Of Bull

Would you take a look at this big black bull...he's massive!  What a fine young pile of black bull.  Or maybe he's old, I don't know - he was moving pretty slowly...but even so, young or old, with muscles everywhere...he still managed to scare me!

  Those fences are nothing to him.  If he took a mind to, he could blow them down with one shoulder flick!

Yah, you, big boy...you make me nervous.  And you like that, don't you.

Brute.

Here's a brown pile of bull - he was no less scary.  They kept looking at me and wondering if I was a threat that they needed to take care of.

  Did my camera look like a gun?

  I tried to be submissive in my body language! 

I even tried talking gently to them - "So,  Bossy. So." 

Hmmm, I called the bulls "bossy" to their faces.

  Maybe that's what they didn't like.

And my conversation wasn't that stimulating now was it!?!

 Just can't get very far into anything when you begin and end with "So."

That's probably why they took offence.

They both had to come right over and butt at the fence.

By then I had whipped way far back around behind a few more fences

 and then used the zoom lense!

  I like to keep lots of fences between myself and these big bulls.

I left these powerful iron pumpers alone and went down along the driveway.

  I jumped out of the car just as these baby calves and their mothers were approaching and crouched near the fence.

Hello, sweet curious baby!

You're cute!  And friendly.

Nothing like your Dad!

I like you.  You don't scare me so much.

In fact, I'd like to take you home!

Peek-a-boo!  I can see you!

What a kind little face.  Again, nothing like your Dad!

  Must have gotten all those soft and gentle, friendly genes from your Momma!

  Bless her dear cow heart. 

Good Momma Cow.
"So.  Bossy.  So. 
You understand what I'm talking about, don't you.
Thanks for being you!"

Driving with knees

You already know that driving while talking on a cell phone increases your chances of crashing by 4 percent, right?

Well, here's something for investigators to find out next:

How much does driving with knees increase the chance of crashing?

I was trying to test this out the other day - no, I'm not a crazy dare-devil driver who wants to put others in danger...

But...

when the need to take a picture arises while I'm driving - I have a bit of an adrenaline rush.  So many things happen so quickly!

I've got to get the car window rolled down - for clarity, of course, and still continue to drive, and so...

 with one hand holding the camera, and the other hand madly pressing down the window button...

that leaves exactly...

my knees

to do the driving!

Look, it's a bird!  No, it's a plane.

 I'm actually quite good at driving with my knees!!

Guess the good ol' country roads aren't safe quite yet...

'cuz as long as I have knees and a camera, you'll never know exactly what might be happening in that car up ahead there on the road!!

P.S. This hardly ever happens.  I promise.  And it never happens near town.

Burning

Burning down the house...remember that song?  Here's a link -

Talking Heads Burning Down the House

And that's just what I almost did tonight...yikes!

Picture this: a nice little soup cooking on the back of the stove,  a pan of (stinky) sausages frying, a grill with a wooden cutting board sitting on top of it for a pretty decoration, and a broken oven fan switch.

There I was - following detailed instructions from Tough Guy - he says "just turn the grill on a tiny bit and it will activate the grill fan"

So I did.
Guess I turned it a bit too much.
So much for my pretty decoration...we burned that board bad!

That was before.

This was after.

Sorry, no picture available as wooden cutting board is in the furnace, all burnt up into ashes!

We had flames.  Actual flames. Licking the bamboo sides and curling up and around the bottom of the board.

Tough Guy freaked out.

 I tried to find my sense of humour through the clouds of smoke.

"Well, what d' ya know, we've got a fire.
Ooopsieeeee daisys! How did that happen? 
Don't you just love the smell of wood smoke!?

  Smells so cozy and homey doesn't it! Mmmm!"
See, in times of stress, I go into slow and careful mode...act as if everything will turn out all right...
even when I'm pretty sure that nothing will ever be the same again.

The girls alternated between shock and awe,
 then whimpering and stressing, then laughing

 and plugging their ears from the smoke alarm

while they rushed to open all our windows and doors.

 

Brrrrrr!  It got mighty cold in here, pretty quickly too!
  JUST MIGHT NEED TO LIGHT ANOTHER FIRE,
DON'T CH'A THINK!!!??

 

Thanks to blackenedmoon.com for this animation

Do you have a plan for what to do if a small fire starts on a wooden cutting board in your little ol' kitchen?
  Are you a baking soda sprinkler or a water tosser?
And how DO you get rid of the smell - it's not so cozy/homey at all!  More like burnt oil and charred ashes!  Yuck!

Cute kids

A friend of mine asked for a few photos of her kids this past weekend.  It was a lot of fun trying to capture good poses and natural expressions.

  I've got so much to learn - like -how to take my camera off of automatic...

how to make interesting photos...

how to pose people...

how to deal with Bright Sunlight...

etc...

but it is fun trying!

Thanks kids, for your patience!

Any ideas or tips for me?  I'd like to learn some more!

Looking for ways to improve here...all comments are welcome!

Fall cheer

Just some happy little fall accessories sitting here on my favourite bench!

I took these with the camera set on aperature - tried something new

- and it worked pretty good - gave everything that warm glowy feeling, but it was still bright enough to keep the picture sharp and clear.

Happy Fall from my house to yours!

Paper tablecloth

For Thanksgiving every year I like to spread a big piece of white paper over the table and set out a batch of crayons.  Then everyone can add designs or words or pictures of things that they are thankful for.

  It's lots of fun and it's nice to see how it begins and then how it ends up being so full...we have so much to be thankful for!

It's nice to have this paper on for when company comes too - gives us something to do and talk about.

And then we eat really carefully - trying not to spill on the words!!

Note to self - buy place mats for next year - every year I say this...hopefully by next year I'll have found some!

We did a really good job...the paper tablecloth ended up staying on even into the next week!

My girl Kam likes potatoes and gravy the best-est!

I'll eat a bit (or a lot!) of everything of course, like a good little girl, just like I was taught! Don't know why I look so short in this picture!!

And this is how the paper tablecloth ended up - full to the edges of thankfulness!

Isn't it lovely!