Chipmunk Cheeks

Renny got mis-identified in the comments a few days ago. Dat super sized sheep was Boudreaux. Poor Renny... ;-)

I thought it would be funny (or scary) to post a better picture taken of the big boy that day, so pulled that folder up this morning, scrolled through pictures I'd taken that day and not only noticed his enormous size, but also how he's not only the biggest sheep, but also the dirtiest sheep. Okay, so maybe the blog will be about how/why Boudreaux is a walking round bale of hay.

Then I saw this...and haven't stopped laughing.



Oh, Lala. Could you have any more food stuffed in your mouth??? You've got chipmunk cheeks!



"You say that like that's a bad thing."

Sunday Stills - Corners

This week's challenge it to photograph corners…..corners on buildings, boards, streets…..just find yourself a corner and play with light and shadows.

One of the examples in the neat photo tips video involved combining multiple exposures to create a desired image. As I was walking around trying to find an interesting corner shot, I saw an opportunity to experiment with that.

Disclaimer: this is all just to my best understanding and I may be way off base.



This is a bird nest in a corner of the Wool House porch. When I tried to take a picture of all the chicken feathers, baling string, hay and wool used in the construction, the bright "sunlight" back lighting everything blew out the lower half of the image - way overexposed.



It would be easier to see if the sky wasn't gray white, but if you watch the loose material hanging down from the nest, you might be able to see what I was trying to fix.



Here I shortened my exposure time and corrected the exposure for the loose material, but now the top is all way underexposed.

I set up my camera on a tripod, fixed my focal point and took several different images, varying my exposure time from way too short to way too long. Then I came in, googled how to merge the two images above, spent about an hour of time (that I should have been using to knit my mittens) trying to figure it out and here is the final result.



The nest up inside the dark corner is exposed nicely and so is the loose material hanging in the bright light. Interesting!

For more Sunday Stills...

Reason #634 Why Hank Hates Hickory

Although most of the earlier reasons involve Sheep Bowling or just General Principle, reason #634 Don't Sleep On My Bed!!! may rotate higher in the list.

It's been down in the teens for the last few nights. While Hank has never acted cold (as opposed to Hickory who seems a bit perturbed by the whole "misrepresentation of moving south"), I have noticed that he does prefer to sit on some hay on really cold nights.

I set several piles of eating hay out along the top of the hill in front of the run in stalls for Handy and Hickory. The other night I took a half a bale of some old bedding hay and shook it out into a fluffy pile for Hank.

"Here Hank. This is for you."

That's all I did. All I said. He 'got it' that that particular pile was his. Handy moseyed over to check it out and Hank growled at him.

"Get away from my hay!"

"Okay."

This is why that while Hank doesn't like Handy, he doesn't hate Handy. And what does enemy #2 (coyotes come first...usually) do?



He lays down in Hank's bed.



Oh Hickory...



You are pretty cute. Not that Hank cares.



Beautiful, but frosty morning. Handy has to eat behind bars so Hickory doesn't steal his food. Seems to be a pattern here ;-).

Iris Maybelle McGillicutty

Iris Maybelle doesn't get much blog time, mostly because she's far too busy for any silly computer stuff.

Her most important job is as a therapy dog. She used to go make rounds at a couple of nursing homes and was very popular. In farming communities such as ours, almost everyone of that generation grew up on a farm...with a Border Collie. She'd sit by their bed and listen to all sorts of stories about dogs they'd had back when "everyone around here had some sheep".

Now, other than an occasional public appearance, she mostly just provides Border Collie therapy to us and anyone who visits the farm. Even if you didn't know you needed some therapy, she provides it. And it's hard to beat good Border Collie therapy.

Her other main job is farm security. She's the farm police. She keeps an eye on the front, the road, Stella's driveway. If she sees a threat, she sounds the alarm and Hank comes running from the back. They make a great team and Hank would love to be more than work associates. He likes to try to get her to play with him, but she's too busy for any silly dog games.

Iris's part time job is sheep herding. While sheep herding sometimes gets trumped by "road security", we can't really fault her. She was a rescue dog, picked up off a nearby highway. Her sheep skills are just what she instinctively knows and a little of what we've been able to encourage.

She gets lots of practice helping me herd everyone back to the barn when I've accidentally left a gate open, but her favorite job is keeping the sheep in check when I purposely leave a door or gate open when I'm going back and forth, setting out hay.



This is her "YOU STAY IN THERE AND DON'T TRY TO BUM RUSH THIS GATE!!!" face. And it works.

Her least favorite job is babysitting bottle lambs, but we aren't going to talk about that because too much talk about bottle lambs...makes me want a bottle lamb and it's getting dangerously close to that time of year lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala ;-).

In The Bright Midwinter

If it's 54 and sunny on a January day, you have to go riding. I think it's a written rule somewhere. I missed riding most of December because it rained and rained and rained. January's been a blur so far (It's almost the middle of the month? Really?), but I made sure I set aside a few minutes for some seat time with Hickory yesterday.



I'm having a ton of fun with my new phone. It takes great pictures and the video feature tempted me to try for a Ride a Good Horse video.



Nowhere near as good as Shirley's, but it was fun and I'll try again...when it quits raining...again.



Luckily Hickory walks on autopilot. Or more like a heat seeking missile headed for his food tub I used to get on ;-). That's Handsome Handy in the shadow next to us. I took a picture of us like that on a warm winter day almost five years ago.



I had just carried everything out to the paddock rather than try to fight through the mess in the barn. When we got done I untacked, brushed him out, turned him loose and started gathering everything up to head back up the hill. Hickory thought he should get "a little somethin' for the effort" and walked over to his food tub.

"I'm waiting..."



"I'm still waiting."

Oh good grief, Hickory. Okay, I'll feed you guys a little early.



I have no idea why he has to wear a 52 girth now, Paige :-o.