Day Forty Eight

Budding tulip after last night's rain, amazingly unscathed following this weekend's ice storm

Day Forty Seven

Ok, back on track, at least for the moment! Here is a wall of storm clouds and rain, just to my south tonight.

And a rainbow to the east of me! Rainbows come and go so fast, I did not have time to run to a prime position for this photo, so regretfully, there are power lines (non-working power lines, I might add!) in this photo. I wish I could have run further down our road to get the rainbow with only open field in the shot! In this first photo, you can see there is actually a double rainbow!

Day Forty Six (Sunday)

I can't believe I am getting behind again, this time due to our intermittent DSL and lack of electric power. We are still running on the little generator we have, 3rd day in a row now. I am crossing my fingers that our electric is restored soon, so that I can make the blog rounds and look at all YOUR photos. I am really missing my bloggy world, but I can't spend that much time on the computer as the generator's primary job is to keep the refrigerator cold!!

Until then, here is Sunday's post.

Prairie grass encased in ice on Saturday

Day Forty Five (Saturday)

Saturday evening sunset, after the blizzard
You can see ice-laden branches that have snapped off the tree

Day Forty Four and SkyWatch Friday

Early morning moon over fields of winter wheat in Kansas

Visit SkyWatch Friday for beautiful sky photos from around the world.

Day Forty Three

I was cruising along some old country roads this afternoon when I saw this wild turkey cross in front of me. Of course, by the time I got to the point where he crossed, he was making some pretty fast tracks through the woods, so this was as close a shot as I could get.

Day Forty Two

Um, yeah, the hubby and I... I guess you could call us pyromaniacs... I decided to burn some trash today since there's hardly any wind. It was a safe burn this time.

Blurred this just slightly around the edge and applied "antique" effect in iPhoto.

Day Forty One

Sepia tone of gerbera daisy...
on black posterboard (per my tip in prior post)

Day Forty

The sky... about 4:30 p.m. CST. Tonight should be an eventful night with thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches posted.

Day Thirty Nine

Red rocks of Sedona

One of the shots from my short vacation in Arizona last weekend. This is a bit repetitious, as I also posted this photo on my regular blog, but I rather like this one, so I guess it is my prerogative to bore everyone post what I want. :-)

Day Thirty Eight

Ringo and Tori, waiting for Tom to throw the frisbee

This isn't the best picture, the setting sun blew out Tori's white fur, but it'll have to do.... we spent the whole day tearing out old fence and barb wire, then we both pulled out our camp chairs to relax, made a few drinks, and broke out the frisbee for the dogs. I'm bone tired and we'll be working on fence again tomorrow... but it was so much fun to throw the frisbee for the dogs at the end of the day and you just know they enjoyed it!

I want to thank everyone who takes the time to come past my blog and leave comments, I so love every single one of them. I've been so busy outdoors yesterday and today that I haven't had time to come by YOUR blog, but trust me, I'll get back to it, because I love to see your photos too! ;-)

Day Thirty Seven

Time for annual shots... on our way
to the veterinarian earlier today!

Yum, apple flavored wormer!!

Day Thirty Six

And finally, I am back on track with my photo blog!! Yay!

I was messing around with some macro shots a few weeks ago, and I rather liked this one. I had bought some large white and black posterboard to use for backgrounds; that way, I didn't have to fix the background in Photoshop, which simplified my life!

X is for Xanthippe and Trixie!

Check out Martha's blog "Menagerie" and play her A-Z Photo Challenge!

Socrates' wife, Xanthippe, emptying a chamber pot over his head

Plato's portrayal of Xanthippe (in his Phaedo) suggests that she was nothing less than a devoted wife and mother, however, it seems that Xenophon's portrayal of her in his Symposium has been the most influential, for the term "Xanthippe" has now come to mean any nagging scolding person, especially a shrewish wife.
~Source, Wikipedia

What? A shrewish wife can be called a xanthippe? I couldn't resist including this in my X photo challenge as I found it rather amusing.

Finally, I just have to include a photo of my TriXie Lou... I mean, she does have the letter "x" in her name! :-) Sleeping on our bed, one of her favorite places to be....

Day Thirty Five and SkyWatch Friday

(AKA Wednesday, March 18 post)

Fluffy white cloud day in Kansas, big sky country

And yes, that is our mailbox [grin]... we have a new mailbox and post, we just haven't got it up yet... but honestly, I like the old ramshackle one better as far as photos go! It's what was already here when my hubby moved in several years ago... in case you can't see it in the photo, it's stuck in an old milk can, which I've already instructed hubby to keep when he tears this one down. I think he thinks I'm cwaaazeee! :)

Click the SkyWatch link below to see other beautiful skies!

Day Thirty Four

(AKA Tuesday, March 17 post)

Close-up of hubby's saddle with his rope

Day Thirty Three

(AKA Monday, March 16 post)

A photo from my archives. But my husband informed me that my favorite scene no longer exists... see "Burn Baby Burn" post at my other blog for explanation....

Day Thirty Two

(AKA Sunday, March 15 post)

Paint horse grazing, same day as the ditch fire
(see sliver of black in distance)

Day Thirty One

(AKA Saturday, March 14 post)

This is a "guest post", from a friend in Ohio. Yes, Ohio has old barns too, just like Kansas! I believe this particular barn was near their home, like, in their back yard... but I think it's gone now. It either fell down, or it was demolished.

Day Thirty and SkyWatch Friday

(AKA Friday, March 13 post)

Lovely Kansas sunset a week ago, before I left for my Arizona trip

Since I missed SkyWatch last Friday, this post can be considered for this Friday's SkyWatch.... or last Friday..... or whatever you want. Trying to get caught up on my photo blog, and I shall do so in the next day or so!

Check out other beautiful skies at SkyWatch Friday... click on the link below!

Day Twenty Nine

(AKA Thursday, March 12 post)

One of our farmer neighbors was burning off the ditches around his wheat field last weekend... I was a bit slow on the "shoot" and so missed getting flames in the photo.

Day Twenty Eight

So, I guess I need to catch up. This photo will be for last Wednesday... Barack is always out in the pasture looking for field mice and rats. He's an awesome mouser!! I really liked this shot of him through the barb wire, and thought it looked much better in black and white.
A big THANK YOU to all of you for your comments while I was on vacation. I'll be catching up with everyone over the next few days, and can't wait to see all your wonderful photos that I've missed while I've been gone. :-)

On Vacation and Out of the Loop!

I must apologize... I had planned to stay on top of my pic-a-day blog while in Arizona, but I forgot the tools I would need to post pics each day. ACK!! I hate it when I forget things. But such is life, and I will get right back into my bloggy groove when I return home next week.

I will, however, take this opportunity to thank every single one of you who has stopped by my photo blog and my other blog, City Girl Moves to Oz Land..... I love every comment you leave me! And trust me, I'll be back to stalking all of you on your blogs when I return home next week. ;-)

Day Twenty Seven

Caught this little guy on one of our fence posts the other day. Now, I am the dumbest when it comes to birds, but I'll just bet Leedra can tell me what this is! Someday I will take the time to identify them better; we have a huge variety of birds out here. But today I've got lots of stuff to do since I am hitting the road for Arizona tomorrow!!!

Day Twenty Six

The bell that gets the horses in from pasture in the summertime....
they equate it with grain.

Day Twenty Five

Finally, I got a picture of one of the meadowlarks that frequent our pastures! I'll tell you what, these little buggers make short work of horse manure. I'm amazed at how fast they break it down to nothing!! Regretfully, our cats have managed to catch one or two of these beautiful birds, which makes me sad. :-(

Day Twenty Four

My husband has quite the sweet tooth.... me, I'll take a potato chip over chocolate any day!!

W is for the WHOLE Enchilada

Check out Martha's blog "Menagerie" and play her A-Z Photo Challenge!

Hey, better late than never! I had thought of the WHOLE enchilada a few days ago, but then I forgot when I made these last night to get my photo. ACK!!! I hate it when I do that. So this is a photo of a cold WHOLE enchilada, fresh from the refrigerator. One of us will eat it up tomorrow, reheated in the microwave. Pretty tasty, even when reheated....

Day Twenty Three

So since it got up to the low 80s yesterday, I managed to snag a bit of time to sit outside in my camp chair and I even made a margie!! Sublime. The warmth of the sun felt so good on my skin! Since I am going to Arizona next week to visit my mother, I wanted to try to get a little color. Today will be another great day, but less wind, so even better! Again, the infamous chicken coop turned cathouse sits in front me.

Day Twenty Two

So, I was trying to get some sky photos yesterday evening, and this one ended up being my favorite. I used my gradated neutral density filter to maintain detail in the sky. Next on my wish list (my affordable wish list, not my pie-in-the-sky wish list) is a polarizer filter.

That's a former chicken coop in the lower right corner, by the tree. We have a small ground level trap door propped open and our cats use it for protection.

I think with spring approaching, I'm going to get some really good opportunities for interesting cloud formations... who knows, perhaps even a tornado!! It's one of those mixed blessings... if I do get a good photo, I hope it skirts our house!!!!! At least I can see it coming out here, with all this open land. Fingers crossed.....

Day Twenty One

Archive photo today! Not sure if I will be able to get any new shots... but I will still try, if not to use today then to post for tomorrow. :-)

Miss Trixie Lou, on our 2004 road trip through New Mexico /Arizona
I like the dappled shadows and sunlight on her

Day Twenty and SkyWatch Friday

Oh, how I wish I had a wide lens!!! I see so many breathtaking sunsets right off our front porch, but I never feel that I can capture their total beauty, only a small sliver. This stretched so far both ways; maybe I need to try Photoshop's stitching together capabilities. But I think I must get a wide lens next...

I'm not sure which shot I like better -- in the first, I caught the vibrant hues in the sky. In the second, I caught more landscape detail. Tell me which one YOU like best! :-)

Day Nineteen

Evening reflections on our pond

Day Eighteen

Barack, our kitten-almost-cat, being his goofy self

Looking for trouble

Sunday Stills: Motion

I wish I could have gotten closer while these ducks were still on our pond... we tried sneaking up on them this evening! At least I did manage to get two shots of them flying away.

I really wanted to get some cool shots of the horses running for the motion challenge, but of course they wouldn't cooperate today. I've been so busy this week painting the kitchen cabinets, I didn't have much time to put into this challenge earlier.

And finally, I couldn't resist... here is the OPPOSITE of motion... labs sure know how to chill, don't they?!