Evening chores

I love a great sunset. With my new camera, I find myself looking for nice photo opportunities. Sunday evening (and several other previous evenings) I took my camera with me at chore time. This time of year, evening chores fall during the time the sun is setting. So, I watch the sky on the way down the hill to the barn and on the way back up afterwards, taking as many photos as I desire. The memory card in my camera can hold over 1,000 photos on the highest quality setting. I don’t expect to fill it up on these evening journeys to the barn and back.

Sunday evening there were clouds in the sky to catch the colors of the setting sun, and I snapped a few photos. I’m still learning my new camera. So, I try different shots with different settings. It’s quite fun. I usually can’t wait to upload them to the computer to see them clearly.

Chore time involves cleaning out Josey’s stall, milking her, carrying water for her, giving her enough hay for overnight, and closing the turkeys in their house. We have a well with a hand pump that is about 150 feet from the barn, and I carry water to the barn in five-gallon buckets. There are a few hundred bales of hay which we baled last summer in the loft. Josey’s hay feeder has a chute to drop the hay into from the loft. 

On Sunday, I let Ramiah take a few photos while I was milking Josey just to show that I was actually doing more than taking photos of the sky. I give the evening’s milk to my parents. They use the milk for cooking and cereal after skimming the cream off. My mom makes butter with the cream that Dad doesn’t consume or that doesn’t go in their coffee.

Josey is a gentle and affectionate cow. I’m thankful for that. I’d never owned a cow or been around any before buyer her. When I put her in the stall when she first came to the farm, I wondered about my decision to purchase here. She seemed so huge in comparison to our goats.

Yesterday, I worked for a while cleaning out another area in the barn in which we had goats until last summer. I just hadn’t gotten that job done yet. Josey would also spend time in there with the goats, and more recently I’ve used it for housing Chucky Joe overnight (he’s staying with friends for a few weeks right now). Josey had to be right there with me while I worked, trying to nibble on my jacket or pants while checking out what I was going and searching for any good bits of hay that might have been overlooked. Once I finishing getting it cleaned out, I’m going to move Josey into this area. In her current stall, even though I clean it out and put down bedding twice a day, she still manages to lay down in her own mess too often. The other area is larger which will give her more places to choose from when it’s time to lie down.

Early morning frost, birds, & a skunk

It was a beautiful morning. A clear sky with a bright sun rising above the horizon. I was a little late setting out to do my chores, but the beauty of the beginning day prompted me to take my camera with me in the hopes of capturing some good shots.












There was a heavy frost on everything in the bottom, the result of moist air and below-freezing temperatures. When you view a frosted blade of grass closely, you discover that the frost is made up of very small ice crystals. These crystals catch the light of the sun and sparkle.

It was fun trying to capture the beauty of the morning and the little intricacies that exist all around us. I’m still learning how to do it well, but it’s a fun process. 

The birds were happily flitting about this morning, too. We have a variety of different types around here. Many times when I’ve been out early of a morning during hunting season, I’ve noticed that they all seem to wake up about the same time. With the 10x optical zoom on my camera and the 5x digital zoom, I was able to get close enough to snap some bird photos. One of them was a pileated woodpecker. They make a lot of noise as they fly from tree to tree. They’re good-sized birds.

Later in the morning after breakfast, Danny came over and asked if I would look at something. He said it was an animal he caught in a trap, and he wanted to know what it was. He said it was black with a white spot on its head. I thought skunk. That’s what it was. We let it go, successfully avoiding being sprayed. The little guy didn’t seem too concerned about us and gladly trotted away.

[I used Windows Live Writer to compose this blog post. This is a new tool for me – I just downloaded it today. It handles photos quite well, but there are some quirks in text editing which I hope to figure out as I use it more.]

Miscellaneous: painting, reading, photography

Homesteading is a way of life, one in which we are able to pursue what's referred to as a "simple life." I suppose it's simple in some ways, but it also brings considerable physical labor. Growing, harvesting, and preserving food takes a lot of time and work. However, there is still time to pursue other activities and interests, especially during the winter months when the days are shorter and the nights longer. Also, when it's raining outside, there are quite a few things that I'll gladly put off rather than get soaked.

I recently purchased a new digital camera (a Fujifilm Finepix S700), and I'm enjoying taking photos and exploring its capabilities. I have an interest in photography, at least to a small degree, whether I have much skill or ability in this area. I took these photos of the sunset this evening.

There's more time during the winter for reading. One of my evening activities is reading to the children. Currently, we are finishing Little House on the Prairie. We generally read the entire set of "Little house" books over the winter. The children really seem to enjoy them. This year, Malchiah is old enough to truly appreciate them. Naomi is enjoying them, too, although she doesn't follow all of the stories completely.

I also read other books for my own edification or entertainment. I'm currently reading The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need -- And What We Can Do About It by Tony Wagner. I ordered this as an evaluation copy in order to consider using it in my class. I just finished Created for Work: Practical Insights for Young Men by Bob Schultz. I enjoyed the practical lessons he presents.

Probably because they've all been read to since they were infants and have seen Anne and I reading, our children all love books. Jessica reads every chance she gets. Ramiah is growing as a reader. All four of them love to be read to, the younger three asking quite often to be read to. That's a good thing, and I'm glad they are readers.

Years ago while still in grad school, I participated in an informal painting class put on by a friend. It was based upon Bob Ross' method. You may have seen The Joy of Painting series on PBS in the past. Bob Ross would paint a landscape within the 30 minute program. I studied his painting techniques by watching his program and reading some of his instructional books. Although I haven't painted any pictures in a few years, I enjoy painting. I hope to make time to do so again soon. The photos show a couple of the paintings I've done.