"Give A Man A Fish..."

"My perfect life...fishing to sustain the lazy a** cats..." ~~ Saint Tim (via email this morning)

Lolcats are a great way to start the day. Or slow up the start of the day.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

And sheep.





And shepherds.



And cats.



This is the view out my office window today.



Let's zoom in for the full bellied effect.

How about an afternoon siesta? Everyone else is doing it.

Sunday Stills - Or The Chicken Chronicles

"Silhouettes: This should be easy, just put yourself between your subject and the sun or bright object and shoot away. It can be anything……"

I really struggled with this challenge. I wanted to try to do something besides a sunset; something that would challenge me to learn to do something new with my camera. This was not the best week for research however, and other than stumbling across an entry on Pioneer Woman's site, I headed out to take my "test" without having done much studying.

I pulled out one of the carriages (it needed to be washed, or at least de-cobwebbed, anyway :-/) and snapped a couple shots. Not right.

Changed a setting and tried again. Hmm.

Let the chickens out.

Came back and tried a different angle. Still not getting it.

Fed the boys and headed back to the house for "the book".



The chickens followed me. Down the driveway. To the house. We don't know why they've started following us all over. Everywhere. They are not moving to (or even visiting) the porch, I can promise you that. And one of those chickens ain't really a chicken.



So, with a little encouragement, they headed back to the barn. And you haven't seen funny until you've watched chickens run. Busy chickens on a mission (the ones out front at least).

Meanwhile, back at the barn (with some helpful hints from the owner's manual), I finally sort of get the exposure right, but realize the composition isn't good. Too much busy fence in the background.

Saint Tim suggested trying to get a simple dog silhouette, so we picked a less busy spot and he stood there while I experimented (once again to no avail).



And look, again with the chickens.



I was about to give up (at least for the morning - I seldom actually give up) but stopped under one of the Red Bud trees and decided to try a leaf and sky picture. Pretty boring, but if you squint your eyes, it almost looks like a silhouette.



And while I was sitting there, surrounded by cats and dogs, I realized that one of the cats wasn't really a cat.



Here's the only picture I took this morning that I really liked. I suppose a shadow is sort of a silhouette. If you squint your eyes just right.

Here's my favorite picture of me and my shadow.

For better Sunday Stills Silhouettes...

All Creatures Great And Small

Recently Dr. Barron asked me to paint a folk art card featuring as many farm animals as possible. "Something like your Christmas cards, but with a sympathy message inside."

My initial concern was how to fit horses, cows, pigs, sheep, dogs, cats, llamas, alpacas, goats, chickens... all in one scene. But as that came together and I started painting I realized I was actually more concerned about how it felt to paint something, knowing the recipient was not going to be happy to see it.

My folk art paintings started out as a fun way to introduce some new animals on our farm and I thought it made a cute Christmas card. We'd put a diagram on the back with everyone's name and when they hit the mailbox, I assumed that was the last I'd see of them.



One went to a local folk art gallery though and she stuck it in a frame, hung it on the wall and sold it. Quickly. And called to order some more. I've been selling them ever since and am just blown away when people come into my Punkin's Patch booth each year to collect the new design. We've had a lot of fun.



This card however was not "fun". I'm a complete sap (especially over animal friends) and this card was sad. I talked to Saint Tim about it. How I wished I hadn't agreed to do it. How I wanted my paintings to all be happy.

But we agreed that life is not all happy. Life with animals especially is not all happy. Their lives are too short and no matter how much joy they bring us, we eventually end up with broken hearts. Always.

So, this card was painted with love. And some tears.

And the hope that none of us ever has to receive one.

Return Of The Kitchen Lambs

We had a big storm roll through last night, right around ba-ba time. The weather channel was calling for severe lightning and nickel size hail, so I just brought the boys back to the porch so I wouldn't have to worry that they were scared up at the barn. They might be getting big, but they're still babies.

Of course, with the lovely plastic gone, the rain really started blowing in, so we all had to move into the kitchen.

GL: "Did you really used to live in here?"

K: "Yeah, but everything was way taller."



GL: "Well, I'm going to sit over here where I can hear the tv."



K: "Mmm, okay, Graham. You do that."



Keebler stills dreams and talks in his sleep :-).



From the cell phone archives.