We Survived

I was worried how just my one neighbor and I were going to organize getting all three horses over to his place before sunrise.  If we left any horse behind for a second trip, there would be a lot of whinnying and calling out, which would wake the neighborhood.  I think most people are already out the door to work by 6:00 AM, but I didn't want to take any chances making a racket if just one

Happy Halloween

I found this interesting spider in my garden.  It looks more like a tic, but gross enough for Halloween.  I know it will be a while before a lot of readers have the electricity to visit the blogosphere again.  I hope everyone survived Superstorm Sandy without too much damage.

I finally had that elective surgery I've been in need of for a few years now.  My old doctor and I were making plans

Desert Macros

Surveying the Land

I took Midge for a walk around the barn and noticed something shining off in the distance on the unused part of our land.  After putting her back in the house, I walked out with my camera to investigate.  This is what I found:







That was one big ass snake.  The front of the skin was still bulging as if it had just shed recently while going down the hole.  Well, needless to say, that creeped

Baby Bunny Surprises Me

Baby Bunny, which I've decided is her name, (she understands the rhythm of the four syllables, and the repetitive B and Y sounds), continually manages to surprise me.  For a while there I thought I had lost her to a coyote.  They've been out most nights, and I sometimes hear rabbits screaming, followed by coyotes howling as they fight over the carcass.  After one exceptionally raucous episode,

Wings and Petals Macros

With my Nikon D300s, Capture One, and Photoshop:




















With my point and shoot Canon PowerShot SX10 IS and no editing:
















These next three photos are of a giant swallowtail butterfly.  This is the biggest and most elusive of the butterflies who visit our flowers.  Usually, as soon as I walk outside to take its picture after spotting it through the window, it flies up

Hoofers

The horses received their third barefoot trim and thanks to monsoon season ending, their hooves are finally hardening up, although the farrier said it could take up to a year to get them into the desired shape in which they can travel on any kind of surface without pain.

He had such nice things to say about my horses.  He said that Gabbrielle is one of the smarter horses he's met.  She's

Why I Admire Horse Groomers and Other Digressions

Lostine was looking a bit ragged and the two grays had brown manes and yellow tails, so I promised all the horses that I would clean them up soon.  I went out to the barn at 9:30 AM to start the process of trimming, bathing and grooming three horses and didn't get back into the house until 2:00 PM.  Fortunately, the dogs didn't pee on the carpet, but they were squealing to go outside as soon as I

Slapping Hand on Forehead

Short and sweet, my @$$!  Everything I've read about hiking Silly Mountain suggested that it was a quick and easy hike up to enjoy the view, and a quick and easy hike back down to the parking lot.  I've been waiting for my husband to get a few hours off from being the main person on call at his office so that we could go hiking.

Last night I researched the Internet to find out if there were any

A Satisfying Day

We had a mild storm come through that lowered the temperatures enough for me to make some progress outdoors.  My husband and I are planning a hike on Silly Mountain at some point here.  Start with the short and sweet.

I was having a decent toe day after all the swelling went down and I could feel the bones rattling around under the skin.  Gross.  After cleaning ALL THE MANURE out of the barn

Good Morning

I'm mobile again after breaking my toe.  Now I can appreciate having athletic shoes with that stretchy netting cover.  I used to just wear a slipper when I had a broken toe, but if I went outside in a slipper around here, I'd break the rest of my toes on all the rocks.  I went out and took pictures at dawn:



I thought this was the crab spider that has been hanging out on my porch, but this is

Just Wiggle Your Nose

We often talk about how sensitive horses can be toward their humans and the various forms of communication we work out between us in order to coexist and serve each other.  I've talked about the herd of wild desert cottontails that feast on my haystack each morning and evening.  There is one bunny in particular who I have bonded with on a very subtle level.  She's the only one who doesn't run off

Butterflies and The Jackalope

The previous owners of our new home planted a row of flowers before they left, and the flowers have grown so much that they appear to be one long bush cascading down our retaining wall.  For several weeks now the flowers have been attracting butterflies of all sizes and colors.



When I walk outside, I walk through a cloud of butterflies.  Today I noticed that there seemed to be less of them,