Wordless Wednesday ~ Dance of the Ravens

The Rebel ~ There's One in Every Family!!

It's hard to get the three owlets to get together on the same limb...and once they do, one's gotta be a rebel about the whole thing!!!

A family portrait...including the rebel !

Maybe he was sleepin'...Oh well...they're still cute!

When I go out in the evening with the dogs for the night-time potty, there's owls flyin' every which way...it's really pretty cool!

Sunday Stills ~ Music Groups or Song Titles in Pics

Well, I just couldn't pass this Sunday Stills photo challenge up...fun!!!  The challenge was to take photos that would represent either a music group or a song title.

I opted to go with song titles on my photos...the first couple should be pretty simple, but the others are a bit more difficult. Give 'um a guess...but I've put the titles in the comments.

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Check out the other participants for this week's challenge at Sunday Stills!!

Mallard Duck on the Silvies

This female Mallard Duck was enjoying the afternoon in the Silvies water shed on the Bell-A Ranch. I like the mirrored image...it's very peaceful ~

Mirrored image

My entry in the Weekly Top Shot...check out the other participants HERE~

Sunday Stills ~ New Beginnings

The definination for Spring should be: "New Beginnings"...which happens to be the theme for this week's Sunday Stills photo challenge.

Dawn is the beginning of a new day

New beginnings of life come in spring...like cute lil' calves...Paddy was born on St. Patrick's eve.

Milk Face Paddy

Tumbleweed arrived three days later...and tumbled into this world as you can see on her previous posts of when we witnessed her birth and how she got her name.

Tumbleweed bats her pretty Jersey calf eyes for the camera...look at those eyelashes!

Robins have arrived, but we haven't found any nests yet. The photo below was through my dirty kitchen window; yes, it snowed last Wednesday. He's sitting in the Lilac which is just getting some leaf buds.

All Puffed Up

The elm trees will be a while before the leaves start budding out, but they always get these brown, round things in early spring (not sure what they are).

Elm tree in spring

And the beginning of our farming year...the alfalfa is finally coming out of dormancy...it won't be long before we're back to irrigating!

Frost on the Alfalfa

Well, this happens to be my 600th post...I have no idea where I came up with that much to say...I'm actually a pretty quiet person ;~)

Thanks for comin' along on this ride...I appreciate your comments and friendship...you all sure have made it enjoyable...we'll see if I make it another 600!

Sunday Stills ~ Birdstalking

This week's Sunday Stills photo challenge is birds...spring is always a good time for finding birds.

Located in Harney County is the Malheur Wildlife Refuge which is the freeway for migratory birds. Our biggest event of the year is the John Scharff Migratory Bird Festival.

I saw thousands of Snow Geese, numerous Bald Eagles and even a few ugly Turkey Vultures. But, never had a good enough photo op to do them justice.

But I did find these Sandhill Cranes in a cow pasture. There were at least 50 of them...very impressive to see!

Sandhill Cranes

And I got a few good shots of a pair of Northern Flicker woodpeckers in the elm tree in our yard. The day was really blowing as you can see by the feathers!

Wind-Blown Feathers
Northern Flicker woodpecker

Check out more feathered friends at Sunday Stills!

Rural Thursday ~ Calves, Woodpeckers & Owls

What a combination...calves and birds huh?

The mother cows and the yearling needed to be wormed and vaccinated, so we ran them through the squeeze chute. As usual, they were none too happy. But, they're done for the year!

The old squeeze chute...it's old, but still works good enough for us!

The process didn't bother Paddy or Tumbleweed...as week old calves, it's all about the milk!

Tumbleweed has plenty of milk to keep her satisfied.
Her momma, Annabelle, is 1/2 Jersey.

Paddy and Tumbleweed are too young, but in about 3 weeks we'll get them vaccinated and branded.

The weather was fairly nice for a couple of days. After the busy day with the cows and other chores, I took some time to sit on the deck...first time this year to sit on the deck. My Man and I have two favorite spots to sit and chat...winter time it's the wood stove...summer time it's the deck. I've had plenty of "stove time"...I'm ready for "deck time"!!

As I sat, I spied these two Northern Flickers in an Elm tree. They're pretty, but I do hope they migrate on through...destructive lil' buggers!

Northern Flickers...yes, there's two...one is quite camouflaged.

On the Great Horned Owl front, momma is sitting on the nest...I'm thinking that by now the eggs should have hatched. But, it will be a little while before the lil' ones start peeking out over the edge.

Momma owl sitting on the nest.

Enjoy more Rural Thursday participants...come along on the blog hop!

Sunday Stills ~ Trees

PLEASE...if your blog is hosted by Blogger, turn OFF the nasty

new word verification. Here is a great site that tells you

exactly how to do so if you don't know how:

Ramblings and Photos

Just Say No to Word Verification

You may not even know that your comment section

is asking for word verification. Check and see.

Personally, I'm almost to the point where I won't leave

a comment if there's word verification...it's that bad.

OK...on to the day's post!!!

Inadvertently, I ended up with a sub-category for this week's Sunday Stills photo challenge...birds. Trees and birds do seem to be seen together quite often!!

Sunning in the Lilac tree

I think Lilacs are probably more of a bush than a tree, but this one is as big as a tree! It's right outside my kitchen window and is a very popular hang out for these lil' guys (who don't sit still for very long).

The Elm and the Owl

Looking almost straight up into one of our Elm trees, you can see papa Great Horned Owl perched in the tangle of branches (center about 1/3 from the bottom). He's waiting patiently while his mate is sitting on the eggs in their rock hole nest...one of our first signs that spring is around the corner!

A failed shot that I like...Northern Flicker woodpecker

I almost deleted this shot, but after a while I decided that I sort of liked it. I took it through a window from the house. This Northern Flicker was just passing through...thankfully. Last year they punched numerous holes in our barns...needless to say, I'm not overly fond of woodpeckers ;~)

Head on over to Sunday Stills and in the comments you'll find links from the other participants for more "tree" photos!

Friday Fences~Mornin' Fence Sittin'

Yes, I've surfaced out of the deep, dark hole...it's been a few weeks since I've posted. I think it's the annual frump I seem to get into about this time of year when riding time is at it's lowest.

The camera hasn't even called my name...but this mornin' came cool and crisp with hardly a cloud in the sky...the sun shining brightly...and it's Friday Fences day!

So, out to feed the herd with camera in hand to see what I might find...

Mornin' Fence Sittin'

We've got hundreds of these lil' guys, and they love the chicken coop...well, they actually love the chicken lay pellets! Fat lil' buggers aren't they?

OK...I'm back up on my bloggin' horse so to speak!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend~

Wordless Wednesday~Whoo Whoo

Wordless Wednesday

Mornin' Ritual

Unless I'm heading off to help a rancher work cows or working at the PostOffice, every mornin' is sort of the same...

Watch the sun come up for another beautiful day~

Feed some hungry critters~

Listen to the lil' birds chatter on the electric lines and fence lines...
wondering what they all have to say~

Checkin' to see what the owls are doing. Momma owl is on the right,
but we still don't know if it is Pappa owl or one of the owlets
sitting with her...I'm beginning to believe (and we hope) it's Pappa owl~

It was a serene, pretty mornin' an hour ago...but now it's snowin' 'n blowin'...we'll see what the day will bring.

Happy Friday everyone!

Participating in Skywatch Friday ~ Farm Friend Friday ~ Farmgirl Friday!

Mr. & Mrs. Robin~Round Two!

~If you can reason with a man 

you might be able to get along with him.~ 

~Edna May Randall 1907~

The two of them are back at the same nest in the wood shed that they built earlier this spring.

One Ruffle Feathered Momma Robin!

There were 4 pretty blue eggs again (here's photos from my post back in May), but it looks like there's only three babies. That nest sure fills up in a hurry...they grow like weeds!!

Overflowing the Nest

This was the best pic I could get of the babies in the nest...I was duckin' 'n divin' to keep from gettin' scalped by momma Robin!!!

I'm sure these lil' ones will be out of the nest within the week...now, to keep the dogs from gettin' 'um...

I'm linking this post us with FarmChick's Farm Photo Friday!!

Check out some other great photos!

Wordless Wednesday

You'll find more Wordless Wednesday over HERE!

After the Egg...

Two days after I took photos of the beautiful blue Robin's eggs they hatched. Baby birds sure are ugly!! Momma Robin is very good at dive bombing me though!! OH she gets mad at me!

They built the nest in the woodshed on top of the stack...hope the cat doesn't find them :( Silly birds.

And yes, that was snow in the photo on Wordless Wednesday...from the night of May 16...we're trying to get into spring!