365 in 2021, days 43-49

02/12/2021

Texas froze over, most of eastern Portland metro was having horrible ice storms, and we got some snow and sleet. We still had ice but no where as bad as elsewhere. And the dogs could still play in it.  

Leia is getting quite gray now. She's 10. She still runs and plays hard, but she feels that later and will start limping and having trouble getting up.

2/13/2021

Leia used to jump up and down this retaining wall A LOT.  We call her monkey for a reason. She can jump high and really liked to even if we tried to slow her down or stop her.  

Chewie won't jump as often, but he was having a blast running through the snow playing chase and tackle with Leia and dove off the retaining wall a few times to escape her because he knows she'll only jump once. 

2/14/2021*

For Valentine's day I made chicken parmesan from scratch cause it's one of our favorite meals. We were all snowed in and we're still in a pandemic, and we don't really like going to restaurants on the busy days anyways even if they were open so it was better to chill at home.  

This is my hue shift afghan that I've been working on/not working on for like 5 years now.  I don't remember when I started it. There are four sections of the afghan, and this is the end of section one. I'm having a horrible time with this last block and have had to rip it out and start completely over 5 times. I keep dropping a stitch or forgetting a decrease or doubling the decrease or I dunno what's wrong but it's wrong. I got a little bit further than this photo and put it up for the night, and haven't had a chance to pick it up again.  I'll eventually finish it and it will be lovely. 

2/15/2021*

Us over on the west side were finally thawed enough to get the horses out. They won't get turned out when it's sleet or ice since it's miserable for them and/or they could slip and get hurt.  

If you look close you can see the rainbow right above Chester.  We had a pons at the end of the rainbow! 

2/16/2021

Cheddar ponies!

2/17/2021*

I got stuck on the couch under a Chewers. I sat down to watch a show, he curled up next to me and fell asleep and I didn't want to wake him.  

 2/18/2021*

There was another really awful stormy day, and because it just makes Chester look miserable I had them keep him in for the day.  

Since he stayed in and didn't get a lot of movement, Carus had him run around the arena a little when we went out for chores.  

He kept trying to go over and stand in the mud. Cause he's a weirdo. 

52 Week Photography Challenge: Week 2 - Landscape

Landscape:  Traditional Landscape

Shoot a beautiful landscape and share it with the world.  Find a nice foreground and don't forget the sky.

Phone photo of the view from the front window.

There were so many landscapes that I wanted to go out and get while we had our snowpocalypse but was mostly stuck at home.  The roads were not safe to drive and while we could have done okay with my all wheel drive car and Robert's truck, we didn't have to risk it, so we didn't.

Instagram photo of Chewie looking and the view.

It snowed, then the clouds left and it got really cold. With the sun out during the day though, the snow on the streets melted enough for people to start getting around and we went out to the barn to do chores and haul water buckets all over since we'd only hook up one hose to fill waters.  The morning crew would take the evening's buckets and put in the tack room to thaw out for the evening crew to switch with the day's buckets.  And pushing wheelbarrows full of manure through snow to dump is a pain in the butt. Almost literally. Carus slipped a few times pushing up hill (I clean stalls, she dumps) but we managed and were rewarded with some lovely sunsets.  

Cold weather and clear skies gives some pretty sunrises and sunsets.

Phone photo of the sunset colors at the barn.

Adam shoveled our driveway and some of the sidewalk and then made me a snowman.  If you look just so, you can see he has two eyes and a smile. 

I did get my big camera out on my lunch and breaks and walked the backyard with the dogs. (Downfall from working from home - no snow days.)

View from our back porch

7 inches of snow

Adam making snowballs for the dogs. 

And then he bit on it and was confused when it disappeared into the rest of the snow.

Playing with the frozen soccer ball.

My frozen clothes line.

One of the evenings we were out at the barn doing chores, Carus and I decided to go for a little ride. 

We probably spent more time tacking the horses up than riding. It was COLD!  

More information about the Dogwood Photography 52 Week Photography Challenge can be found here.

#dogwood52, #dogwood2017, and #dogwoodweek2

52 Week Photography Challenge: Week 1 - Rule of Thirds

We've completed the first week of 2017, though it already feels like it's been longer than a week. I started hearing commercials for tax prep and it feels weird.  Like, we can't already be back at the part of the year where we pay taxes, right?!

The challenges are separated into three categories; Story-Telling, Technical, and Artistic Impression.

Story: Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is the first compositional rule most photographers learn; but most don't know why they learn it.  The rule of thirds is amazing for telling a story.  Tell a story using rule of thirds.

I didn't have a plan for what images I was going to take for the challenge this week. I tried to just keep it in mind whenever I picked up my camera or felt inspired.  While I want to make sure that I use my actual camera/DSLR more often, sometimes the best camera is the one you have with you. While I'm at the barn, I have my phone 100% of the time so it becomes my go to.  Plus, I like being able to share my photos on Instagram and Facebook. I like the instant feedback (read: attention HA!).

Leia and Chewie love playing in the snow and we've been getting snow so I took them outside and kept the rule of thirds challenge in my mind.  Yoda isn't a fan of the snow, but he likes following me.

Dusty and Scout seemed completely uninterested in the snow, they just wanted the hay, some attention from Carus, and maybe a cookie.

Scout rarely doesn't head straight for Carus the second he sees her.  The only times he's decided the grass he's eating is more important only lasts until she crinkles a peppermint wrapper or she comes into the pasture.

The photos of the dogs are DSLR and the horses are phone with Instagram filters.

More information about the Dogwood Photography 52 Week Photography Challenge can be found here.

#dogwood52, #dogwood2017, and #dogwoodweek1

Project 52 - Week 7 - Negative Space

The theme for week 7 - February 13-19th - was Negative Space.

 I forced the kids to help me with this one a bit and I'm glad I did.  This is my new favorite photo of them.  They were done posing for me and were making faces at me and each other and just generally being their goofy selves while I snapped away.  

I really love Carus's hair.  

Adam's superhero pose.  

 While half the country is still dealing with mounds of snow and wintery winter, spring appears to have come early to us in the other half.  I don't know if we'll have a relapse back into winter like we usually do after the yearly spring tease - but it feels like we won't.  The air has changed from winter to spring so maybe we'll be . . . lucky?  Do you notice a change in the air with the change of the seasons too? Or am I just a weirdo? 

My daffodils and violas are making an appearance.  My Camilla bush is blooming and there are buds on lots of other bushes and trees. I've started working in the garden to get it ready too.  We removed the last of the dead plants, some carrots I forgot to pull, and brought in some soil to level the ground. Robert built me two more garden boxes and we put some yard fabric down which will cover with bark mulch to help with weed control in the aisles this year. I need to get soil for the new beds and fertilizer for the older beds and then I can start planting. Even if I start now and we do have a winter relapse I think the plastic coverings will help keep things growing.  

The fields surrounding town are all green with new growth.  I believe this is a wheat field - but I could be wrong. 

Here is the full picture that previous one was cropped from.  While the cropped and edited version is more true to the negative space rules, I like this one too.  

A field of spring surround by trees of winter. 

All posts for the project so far:  Project 52 in 2015

The next theme is:  Long Exposure

Fernhill Wetlands

13/365

Since I was up early Saturday morning, all the frost we had was gorgeous, and I got the new lens I had ordered for my camera Friday (a Nikkor 35 mm f/1.8G DX)(did not pay that price) that I wanted to play with, I decided to go out to Fernhill Wetlands.

It was very cold! I think about 19 degrees Fahrenheit.

With my sweater, heavy coat and gloves, my upper half was warm, but my jeans didn't cut it and my legs were so cold by the time I climbed back in the car...2 hours later.  I was rewarded with some great photos that I'm very happy with.

When I got home I noticed I lost my lens cap (seriously, brand new lens and I lose the lens cap GAH!) so Sunday Robert went back out with me to look for it.  We didn't find it.

This first image here is from Sunday, which was also frosty but not as cold out.  It was later in the day so the fog had already burned off and some of the ice had melted. on the path (which made things muddy).

The ducks amuse me so much.  I could spend hours watching them swim in circles and wiggle their tails in the air while they dive for food. And when they're out of the water and they waddle around; very cute.

Now, the images I got Saturday.  I love my new lens, I love these images.

Ducks and geese in the fog.

Do you know what these are?

Fuzzy bars

Frozen path

I think this is a crane.

Frosty Queen Anne's Lace

Unknown plant

Waddling away

Gaggle of Geese

Frost

Frost on the garden fence.

January blues

Raindrops through the car window.



I think January might be the hardest month for me. I always feel quite sad in January.  The weather is usually the worst (in that it is ALWAYS raining).  I feel like I will never see the sun again (though we did have a bit more than a full week of sun) and that it will rain forever. I'm missing some of my family because I didn't get to see them, yet again, for the holidays (we can't travel to them and they can't/won't travel to me). It's a new year, but I didn't get to a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to do the year before and now it's gone...

BLAH!

So yeah, we had about a week of sun with a few sprinkles here and there, nothing really.  On Saturday, the rains returned.  The rain allows Oregon to be so very green and the springs to be very lovely, and keeps the summer drought off much longer than many other parts of the country, but it can be hard to handle.  Sometimes I blame it on being from New Mexico, but New Mexico is no longer my home and I've lived in Oregon longer than I lived there, so it doesn't feel right to blame it on that.  Where we are in Oregon rarely feels like my home either, even though I live here, and I'm not sure why.  Nor do I know where my home is. I don't mean home where I live with my family, but a home where my family and I live that feels right.  A place where it feels like we fully belong.  Does that make sense?  This town and/or house is close, I think, but it's not quite there...

I don't know.  January's make me sad and weird weirder.

Do you feel like you're home?

Carus's first band concert

This evening was Carus's first band concert.  She was in the back so we couldn't see her too well.  Yay for my zoom lens. She is playing the trumpet now, and enjoying it.  The beginner band is doing pretty good.



We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow that quickly melted only for it to start snowing about the time for the kids to head to school.

All day today, it would snow until there was a light covering and it would stop, melt, and start snowing again.



Drip drip drip

Little puddle in the yard.



The neighborhood little birdies were very active with the snow. I tossed some bird seed out for them and they distracted me from work a bit.



Yum! This photo cracks me up.



During one of the melts, the little birds took a bath in the little puddle.



Cute and distracting little birds.