09 August 2009

JUST ANOTHER WEEK IN PARADISE

There were two major events this week, one kind of sad and one quite exhilarating.

The sad one was, Friday marked the seventh anniversary of my mother's passing. I was compelled to write something about my feelings on my other blog "Musings and Memories". I didn't advertise it because it was really just me indulging myself. If you would like to read it you can find it here ... REMEMBERING LADY JANE.

The exhilarating moment happened early Tuesday morning. It was a glorious summer morning. I could not resist taking Koty for a walk in our forest. One of the especially nice things about having acreage is you can walk a long time and never leave your property. To give you a visual of how much of a beautiful morning it was I took this photo of my "Walden Pond".

WALDEN POND

I call it Walden Pond because I am a very big fan of Thoreau and my time here kind of reminds me of his at Walden Pond. The big difference being he was only at his for two or three years I've been here seven and have no desire to ever leave.

Back to the "big" moment. Koty and I were walking along just enjoying being when I caught movement up ahead. Sure enough two cubs were scampering up a tree. My first thought was "Uh, oh, where's mama bear?" Bears with cubs are about as dangerous as moose and their babies. The grass was quite tall where we were standing and no sooner than I had the thought the mama rose up out of the grass right in front of us. That is the first time I've ever been close to a standing bear. I said in a quiet voice, "Pardon me, mama" and slowly backed away. She just stood there and watched us leave. It's a good thing Koty is always on a leash or the outcome could have been quite different. As it was, this was another moment never to be forgotten. The kind of moments we live for. The kind that let you know you are alive!

YELLOW SPIDER

We didn't take any particular trip this week. Too much work to do at the ranch and there's plenty of images to capture right here. I don't know what kind of spider this is but I thought it interesting.

WHITETAIL DEER

As usual there was a steady parade of deer passing by. These guys were standing just off the front deck and I was wanting to test my zoom lens just back from Nikon repair. Seems to be working again. Something had run acropper with the contacts.

TURKEY CHICKS

About two minutes after the deer passed by along came a mother turkey and her little brood. I say little because four isn't all that many. I have often seen mothers with a dozen or more. The coyotes have been awful this year and all mother's have had a hard time protecting their young.

TREE FUNGUS


TREE FUNGUS

I always find these tree fungus to be beautiful. It is a never ending fascination to me that something so mundane can be so intriguingly beautiful.

LOADING LOGS

Of course, we did have to make our obligatory trip to town to pick up the mail. There is no mail service here so we must to drive into town to get it. But, even a drive to town offers up interesting and beautiful sights. The above photo is of logs being loaded at the ranch below us. You may remember we had a nasty wind storm awhile back? Rumor has it this rancher lost over one thousand trees. And, lost is the appropriate word. Even though they are shipping them out they'll be getting bottom dollar for them.

CATTLE CALL

A little farther down the road I found this bucolic scene. I tell you it's tough not to experience beauty around here. It's simply everywhere.

And last, but certainly not least, the most beautiful wild thing on this ranch!

WILD THING

So, that was our week around the ranch. Hope you had a great week too!

©KINSEY BARNARD PHOTOGRAPHY

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