Sunday Stills ~ Games

My Man and I got out of the house yesterday evening for dinner at a friend's house...and a rousing game of a type of rummy called "Melissa's Rules."  A perfect opportunity for "game" shots for this week's Sunday Stills photo challenge.

So, here are my two best shots...but the better shots were taken by our host Lloyd, and he's granted me permission to include them today. Thanks Lloyd...nothin' beats a cute puppy face!!

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"Hey look...I got three 3's...

...that's pretty good! I'm learnin' this game quick...OK, you're turn...hurry up!"

Check out more "game" photos HERE.

Sunday Stills ~ Two-In-One Edition

This week's Sunday Stills Adventure in Photography photo challenge was "fruits and vegetables." Last week's challenge was "sunrise or sunset with buildings." I missed last week's because we were moving cows...but I had the photo...so, I'm posting it today!

I'll start with last week's challenge...

Snowy Sunrise

I think this was the last time we had snow...February 19. A sunrise with our barn.

To see other sunrise/sunset photos, go HERE.

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For this week's challenge:

Veggies for my Swiss Steak recipe

Cantaloupe...a few fresh fruits are becoming more affordable.
It was a tasty change for breakfast today!

To check out other fruits and vegetable photos, go HERE.

OK...I can't help myself...this photo at least still goes along with the "food" category...someday anyhow...but she's just too cute not to show off!

We've nicknamed her "Early Girl" since she was almost a month early.

Shirley asked if she was going to be part of our herd, and the answer is no. We're limiting ourselves to 5 breeding cows because that's about all our grazing land can sustain. So, this year's calves will be sold after weaning.

Hope you have an awesome Sunday!

Sunday Stills ~ Circles

The braided reata is not only a working tool, but a beautiful piece of art. Buckaroos who use them to rope livestock take pride in them and care for them as a treasure...they are expensive!

The coils of the reata form beautiful circles...there are other circles in the photo too if you search for them.

Neatly organized coils of a hand braided rawhide reata.

Below, another buckaroo uses a nylon ranch rope; personal preference, economics, and sometimes the weather dictates what the buckaroo will use on a particular day.

Either way, a loop is thrown to catch the calf's head and another one to catch the calf's heels for branding, vaccinations and castration if it's a bull calf.

The circle loop is thrown with practiced accuracy and lands around the calf's neck. It's branding day.

(Yes, I cheated and used my archives)

Check out other circle photos at Sunday Stills!

Sunday Stills ~ Fabric

The world is made of fabric...it's everywhere!!! This was a very fun challenge; thanks Ed!

Not only do I get to show off my favorite wild rag, but the beautiful custom made silver tie slide was my surprise Christmas present from My Man. The slide was made by Pat Horlacher...farrier and silversmith.

Texture and colors...a set of kitchen towels I made.

My favorite blanket. Vintage from the early 1960's. My mother made this quilt, and I don't remember ever being without it. When I'm feeling sick, I still grab this quilt, wrap it around me and curl up on the couch. I call it my Magic Pink Blanket.

Wild rags...one can never have too many...this is just a few of ours.

Check out the other fabric photo links in the comments at Sunday Stills!

Sunday Stills ~ The Letter "F"

This week's photo challenge for Sunday Stills...The Letter F

FIRST...I have a question. OK...those of you that use Blogger and are uploading your photos directly through Blogger, are you have any clarity issues?

My first photo is "Flooding Fence Posts." There are two copies below...the first through Flickr; the second through Blogger. Look at the clarity, and I had the same problem with every photo that I loaded through Blogger today! I don't know what the deal is, but Blogger seems to be having issues!

This photo uploaded to Flickr then imbedded to Blogger

This same photo was uploaded directly to Blogger

If you know what might be going on, please email or leave a comment.

Onward!!

Fruit
An Orange That Isn't An Orange.
This is a Moro Blood Orange...juicy, but not too sweet.

Farm Equipment
It's been sitting in the same spot ever since we moved here...over seven years.
I bet it hauled a bunch of hay in its time!

Flowers
A surprise from my Geranium in the dead of winter!

Check out the other participants at Sunday Stills...or come along and join in yourself!!


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On another subject...flooding from yesterday's post...I need to clarify things a little bit...visuals are best I think!

Flood water routes

The water fall that's created from the berm comes off the rim rock on the right and goes down hill to the pasture gates and on out to the alfalfa field.

The center arrow shows the direction of the water flow from all the snow and rain that drains from that area, my circus pole and round, which goes into the ditch behind the barn.

The arrow on the left is the direction the water flows from that area which goes in front of the barn...and was too frozen to dig a ditch.

The little brown run-in shed located at the middle of the barn is a high spot, so everything drains from about that point toward the barn.

Long story short, builder (before us) didn't put the barn up on a pad like he should have; he built it level with the ground. Time has taken its toll and low spots have been created at the front and back sliding doors.

The hay storage and tack room have been built up to the correct level. The stalls are about half way built up (need to add more fill), but the aisle down the middle needs to come up 6-8 inches, and I want rubber mats wall to wall in the aisle. We'll put a small culvert at the front and the back of the barn...LOL...when we have money and time...so, it's a work in progress!

Today, everything's all froze up again and we've got to decide whether to leave Whiskey out in that rim pasture on the right or try to get him up the a stall in the barn without falling...it's a sheet of VERY slick ice. So far, he's staying off the ice and has a pool of water to drink from. But that pool will be froze in the next day since the forecast is the mid teens for at least the next week. I hate this part of winter.

Sunday Stills ~ Big Sky

Boy...it's been a VERY long time since I participated in Sunday Stills...and I'm not sure why. The photo challenges are always interesting, the people are fun, and the photography is good.

So, I'm going to get back into the groove of things.

This week's challenge is photos with Big Sky...head on over and check out the other participants! Their links are in this link.

Riddle Mountain in a blanket of snow.

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!!

Sunday Stills ~ In Honor of Ed

It's a potluck photo challenge today at Sunday Stills in honor of the photographin' truck driver...Ed at Thoughts From the Road. It was his birthday on the 18th!

Instructions are to use any of Ed's past challenges...well, I'm sure there were "birds" in there somewhere...so, knowing that these are one of Ed's favorites...may I present this year's brood of Great Horned owlets that live at the Rough String Ranch!

Momma owl looks on with pride.

Let's crop this off and get a lil' bit closer

I see three!! There could be more back in behind.

Sorry for the bit of a blur...that's all my camera can do with it's 20x!

Happy Birthday Ed!!

Check out the other Sunday Stills participants in the comments 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!

Sunday Stills ~ A Small Part of a Whole

This week's Sunday Stills photo challenge was pretty fun. We were to take two photos, one of something large, and the second photo would be a small part of the first photo.

I didn't leave the ranch this week as usual, so I made do with my surroundings.

Rim Rock

I never get tired of the beautiful rim rock behind the barn. Sunny mornings such as when this photo was taken is when my favorite light appears.

Standing back from the rim rock you don't see much except for lots of rock, but up close...I could spend hours taking shots of all the interesting plants, shapes and colors. I took a few macro shots, but, I'm just going to share this one...and it made me real excited...

Grass...GREEN Grass!!!

That's green grass coming out of the clump...yeah...spring is coming!!! And yes, that's a bit of snow there on the left.

Check out the other participants over at Sunday Stills.