Petroglyphs

As a former anthropologist, petroglyphs hold a special place in my heart. I absolutely am intrigued by them. They are, of course, in Europe, Australia, and Africa where they are hundreds of thousand of years old. It is amazing to me that something so old can last so long. It takes a lot of time to carve images into rock, even small images, yet there are millions around the world. These are not to be confused with pictographs, which are paintings on rocks. This petroglyph photo was taken in Washington State. There were quite a few petroglyphs on the rock face that were moved to a state park to protect them from a river construction project and from people destroying them. This one is my favorite image I took that day, because you can clearly see and understand the image.

On a different note, I recently have been struggling with a decision that would affect my career path. Recently, I spoke with my good friend, Amy, and she didn't know it at the time, but she helped me reach the decision of a lifetime. I moved back east from Wyoming almost five years ago. I have been happy here for the most part, but long for the days of the west with the jagged mountains, the red rocks, the stunning landscapes, and the Ponderosa pine trees. At the end of February I will once again be headed back out west, destination unknown. I went back to school to become a nurse, but not just any nurse, a travel nurse. The ultimate job where I can move every three months, have my travel expenses paid for along with my apartment and still get a paycheck. On my days off, I plan to explore the US, and get some great photos to share. I am finally ready to go, I have my family and friend's support. It's time to go. I will let everyone know where I am headed once I reach that decision. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get everything in line, but am looking forward to it. I hope that I have a lot of visitors (ahem...AMY!) to wherever my feet land, especially when in the super cool places that are next door to national parks. Yes, that is the plan, live close to the parks to enjoy them on the days off. It's a big dream for a once timid Fulton County girl who never liked to drive on the interstate and never really went anywhere.

Cody

This is my brother's horse, Cody. I decided that he should have a blog entry because he is one of the coolest horses I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. This horse has more personality than some people I know. The photo was taken during the winter, as you can tell by his long winter coat, after he decided to roll in the mud. He is always one of the dirtier of the herd. Cody is the horse in the field that will be the first one to come and see what you are doing, and then follow you and "help" you until you are done. He will be the one in your face while you have your camera out trying to take photos of the others horses. His nose will be the one that shows up in the photos, because he is curious about the camera. He will carry things for you, he will not let you forget your hat or ponytail. He loves clean hair to nuzzle and drool on. Cody is also the one that will pick the hose up and start swinging it around. He enjoys playing with the other horses, and exploring anything and anyone that comes into his field, including machines, birds and people. All around a cool fellow with a dynamic personality!

all good things...

I do not remember where I took this picture. I am not even sure why I like it as much as I do. It's dying and not very pretty. It has lost all of its' beauty. And, yet, it has character that makes it unique.

playing with shutter speed

I admit it, I am still learning how to use my camera. I haven't studied the art of photography, I do not understand half of what my "guidebook", aka instruction manual, says my camera can do. I have had this camera for two years, and still need to whip out my guidebook on occasion. I also tend to read up on one thing, then try it out and see if I like it. The first photo, was me playing around with shutter speed....I think. The second is a stitched together photo using my panoramic function. I think I like the angle of the first photo better than the effect of the water, as a rule, I tend not to like photos that have running water looking like a white sheet. The second one, I like the water because it looks real, and I think it is hard to tell where it is stitched, but I am sure those of you that know how to use every function of your camera can spot it pretty easily.

On that note, it is my goal to get better at understanding my camera. Does anyone know of a good generalized book dealing with all the basics of photography?

What do you you think he is pointing at?

I have been away from the internet for a few days, had to stay in town to make sure I could get to work in the big ice/snow storm that hit. Unfortunately, all the pretty ice on all the trees melted today before I could run outside and photograph them as I was stuck inside all day working. So I decided to post another Gettysburg Battlefield statue, taken the same day as the previous 2 posts. I wonder what it was made to be pointing at?

snow makes everything pretty

As you all have figured out, I love snow! It makes the world seem pure and fresh, especially when you are the first one outside to make the first footprints in the snow! It can also make dead and dying weeds look more interesting. I took these two photos directly behind the parking lot of our apartment complex in part of the grass they do not bother to mow.

statue in snow

It snowed a few days ago, I was dying to get outside and take some photos, but had to work. I work 12 hour shifts, so I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. Today, was my first day off post snow. I had to attend an in-service at work, and then had the rest of the day free. I went to work armed with my camera to stop at a state park on my way home. On a whim, I took a side road that led through part of the Gettysburg Battlefield. There were snow flurries today, so the sky was gray, and all of my photos had this eerie monotone look to them. At first I was not happy, then I looked again and discovered that they had the appearance of a black and white photo even when in color. This monument was just beautiful with the snow on it, and then to my surprise you see just a hint of color. It's a small flag peaking out from under the arm of the soldier.

Introducing Challey

While in TN in October, I had the interesting experience to meet "Challey"which is short for "Challenge". This horse was rescued by the humane society and is probably one of the more drastic examples of animal abuse. Apparently, she was kept in a small pen with two other horses knee-deep in muck. They were not being fed or had appropriate access to water. They were severely underweight and very skittish. There feet were simply horrific. These were not the type of horses you could walk up and put a halter on. In fact it took a very long time to get a halter on Challey. My family, of course, took in this horse and have been working with her everyday for months. My family brought in a professional trainer to help as well. This is Challey after months and months of horse rehab. She is still very wary of humans and not one to come up to a human, unlike our other in your face horses. She will come into a stall, but is unable to have the door closed behind her.

eye-level frog

There he was hanging on to the glass door. Apparently, he thinks it's a tree? I was surprised to see this little guy just chilling out at eye level on the glass door of the house. I first saw him from a distance out of the corner of my eye and at first, he scared me. It took me a minute to figure out what was hanging onto the glass. When I did, I grabbed my camera and tried to get a shot at night without getting reflection on the glass.

the obsession continues

What can I say, I love fall, and I love what shows up on my camera. There is just something special about the colors that exist in nature on a cool fall day. It's nice to find real colors that do not involve dye or manipulation.

101

Another fall post with an interesting leaf.

Funniest sign ever

Somewhere in South Dakota someone felt the need to put up this sign. I think its one of the funniest things I have ever seen next to the side of a road. It is also sad that someone felt the need to tell others to "Please don't run over our puppy!" It makes me wonder how many puppies lost their lives. Once again, I am posting a scanned photo from film so the quality is not the best.

Some Gave All

"All gave some
And some gave all
Some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall"

SNOW

I saw snow today...I saw snow today! woohoo! I saw snow today driving to work this morning. I am so excited to see some snow! I have been waiting for some good flaky snow to get some photos. Snow led me to think of Snowy Range in Wyoming, so I decided to post some shots from up there! I miss a good old fashion cold winter! I apologize for the quality, as they were film originally.

budding

While hiking a couple of months ago, I came across this budding little guy. I think it is interesting because you feel like you are part of that leaf in the foreground looking back at the bud you are apart of. You feel in the plant. Yes, I know I am strange.

sign of fall

Fall is here, judging by all the postings of leaves in various shades of colors. Another sign of fall are these dried berries. They jumped out at me and I just had to use my macro to try to get a decent shot. It was hard to get these little guys in focus as the wind kept trying to blow them away.

mutual affection for the same barn

ASH and Chad have both recently posted photos of this barn. Having known ASH for years, I too have been to the barn, and have taken photos of it. It is interesting, because my favorite photos of it are of a slightly different orientation than theirs. I also went with color photos to show the beautiful wood. So here are my barn photos!

more old school

So after reading an email from my friend, Amy, I decided to post this photo in honor of our first road trip. I believe we had just finished sleeping in my Jeep at the top of a truck run away ramp. We were just about to head to the Grand Tetons. Leonard decided to become a little man whore on the hood of my Jeep, with Amy obviously enjoying some monkey butt!

old school

I am happy today. Really happy today. Not sure why. I apparently like short sentences today too. Interesting. I had a good day at work, and a sweet gift when I got home. So I decided to share probably the happiest day in any girl's life. Her first horse, which in my case was Yellow. This is ME on Yellow. I think I was 5. I scanned a bunch of old school pictures while in TN. This one has always been a personal favorite.

Fall Creek Falls

While visiting TN, I traveled to Fall Creek Falls, and Rock Island State Park. Fall Creek Falls is the longest waterfall east of the Rockies. I was very excited to see it, however there has been a drought in the area and very little water in the falls. As you can see from the first photo, the pool the water fell into was very sparse. So I mostly took leaf photos and some landscape photos of the mountains. The second photo is Twin Falls located on the outskirts of Rock Island State Park, I wanted to go downstream on the trail, but had to head home to be able to feed horses in the light. Maybe next time I will be able to explore a bit more.

Rate my Photo

I entered a photo contest at picture.com. Vote for my photo here to help me win stuff. I encourage all of you to enter photos on this site for a very slim chance of winning money. They try to sell you their collection books with your photo in it and they can get annoying with all the emails. However, any chance to win 10,000 for your photo is pretty cool in my book. Plus, I do not have an ipod, so I am using my blog for propaganda purposes. I know, I know, I am a sell out. This is the only time, I swear. If you are already on the site, send me your link and I will rate your photo! There also tend to be some pretty cool shots on the site and I have enjoyed looking at other peoples shots.

Unique angles

Having so many animals to photograph, I get bored with all the "normal" shots. So I try to find a unique angle that is more for fun rather than to show people, and sometimes I really like the results. I was laying on the ground to get the first photo, looking down at a mini for the second while he was looking up to try to steal grain in the bucket too high for him, and the third, I was just a bit lower than the horse. It added just a tad more interesting perspective as it was not a straight on shot.

can you guess what it is?

Remember those magazines they made you read in science class? On the back there were always three photos, and you had to guess what they were. They were usually macro photos of some common object. This is a macro photo of something that fell off a common object, can anyone guess what it is? This is also my attempt at abstract art.

Leaf mania

While in a state park recently I had the opportunity to get some interesting leaf shots. The best thing about my camera is that when you point it at the sun, you automatically get that great starburst effect, add in some colorful leaves and a unique angle and you get the first photo. The sunlight totally makes the second photo, you get the light streaming through the leaf, but also the shadows of other leaves not seen. It was a total fluke that it turned out.

The sun must come out

My first couple of days here in Little Lot were plagued with rainy overcast cloudy dreariness. I cannot complain because there has been a serious drought in the area, and was happy to see it rain. It messed up some of my travel plans for the week, but I still managed to get to a few places. You will have to wait for future blogs to see where I went. Speaking of which I got completely lost in middle Tennessee. A bit scary to say the least. On Thursday, I was outside feeding the critters when I saw the sun trying to break through the clouds right before sunset. It was causing light to stream across the sky in a most pretty fashion. I always try to capture streaming light like this and it never quite translates to photos the way I want. However, this time it work quite nicely. I added a few tree branches for framing and got a photo I am pretty pleased with.

greetings from TN

I am currently in TN for the week. Drove down Sunday after work, here are a few of the first images of the trip, with many more to come I hope.

This is the logo on my steering wheel, I was stuck in traffic outside Knoxville. Imagine that! I was sitting there for a few minutes, and decided to play with my camera. So the Jeep logo was right there and interesting. You can see how badly I need to clean my steering wheel.

My house is just a few miles from the Natchez Trace, this is a view from one of the overlooks. The power lines are particularly attractive, and just what I want to look up and see while eating my lunch on that picnic table.

Introducing Lady, the newest member of the family. She is a lab adopted from the humane society. She was here last time I visited in July, but didn't like me enough to let me photograph her. Now that I am the only person here to feed her and pay attention to her, she lets me take her photo and even poses for me...sometimes. I have a ton of animal subjects here on the farm, so get ready, I am charging batteries now.

arty?

So I have walked by this bucket of old rasps and shoes a million times. On this particular day, I decided it looked "artistic" and snapped a photo. I do not know if I still consider it artistic or if random, but its unique.

creepy cicadas

Nothing creeps me out like the empty shells of the cicadas that show up every 17 years. Ugh! They reared up a few years ago and left empty carcass shells all over the place. I remember I was driving to work one day in my Jeep, which did not have AC, so I had the windows open. These guys were flying across the Jeep and in the window, I had a few hit me in the face. Ugh! The red eyes also creep me out. I did however get close enough to get some decent photos. Imagine one of these guys landing on your face.

my pound puppy

There are a few favorite photos of my Panda. She was a pound puppy that was a Christmas present given to me by my mother. She was a stinky little critter when she first arrived home, but with a bath and brushing, she turned out to be the best dog ever. She was super smart and learned really quickly. My brother taught her to bark at words which included, "beer, pretzel, and squirrel". He even taught her to bark loud and softly depending on his voice tone. She knew several phrases like, "wanna go for a ride", and "who's out there" and "wanna to to the barn". Panda used to get angry at me when she saw me packing things up to go to college. She often would not be around to see me off, and when I came home after long periods of time away, I would have to bribe her to come so I could pet her, often offering her a ride in the car. It is pathetic when you have to take your dog for a ride so she will stop ignoring you. She also loved to destroy balloons learning quickly to pull them down with a string to pop them. Oh, and she was the best puppy raiser too, with the seeing eye pups she was freaked at first but quickly learned how to play with them and not hurt them. They of course loved it. She was around for the litter of pups that came much later in her life, she did pretty well with them, even though she was old and arthritic. Best present ever, hands down!

holy terrors

These little guys wreaked holy terror on our house. Our black lab and a golden retriever produced ten of the cutest weapons of mass destruction you have ever seen. Here are just a few extra cute photos of them as pups. You have seen them as full grown dogs, but before they could destroy anything on the coffee table with tails, we could hold them in one hand.

Sometimes the shoes have to come off

While stalking birds and walking around shoe-less at a stop along the gulf coast line, the tide came rolling in. Our shoes were pretty far away, but as you can see, the tide caught them. Luckily for me, mine were on top and stayed dry. I honestly do not remember whose idea it was to put mine on top of the flip flops....but I am pretty sure I thanked them afterwards.

lazy

It is 5:50 am, I am tired, I worked two long very crazy and at times horrid days, and now am up this early to attend a GI conference. I am sore, cranky, bruised, and most of all do not want to leave the warm perfectly stamped bed it took all night to to perfect. Besides all of that, I also woke up a bit early, due to urgent need to empty the old bladder. So with a bit of free time, I decided to post a blog. I chose these elephant seals for my post because the do not want to get up and move either. They are content in the sand, not moving, and groaning the day away. Today I wish I could do that, alas, maybe tomorrow.