Happy Accidents

I am the primary picture-taker in our family, in part because I love taking pictures and the camera is usually in 'Manual' mode, and in part because the flash is broken on our camera and Mr. Blue Eyes has a harder time than he used to have taking pictures, even in the 'Auto' mode.

We really just need to get it fixed (I've been telling myself this for months and months, but can't bear the thought of parting with my camera even for a minute) so that he can have the opportunity to take pictures whenever he is inspired to do so. To his credit, he still tries to take pictures of the kids, so when I'm looking through the pictures on the camera I am sometimes tickled to find pictures there that I did not take nor was I aware of. However, like I said, it's not all that easy for him to get good shots these days.

Take these, for example...

 

Or these...

You have to admit, these pictures would probably have been pretty cute if he had put the camera in 'Auto' mode and we had a working flash. I'm kind of sad that they didn't turn out, because through the blurry haze I'm pretty sure there's some cute moments in there.

The good news is, my Photoshop skills are so far advanced and fine-tuned that blurry, under/over exposed pictures like this are no match for me. Just take a look at how I fixed up this one...

Oh yes, this is much better. It's amazing what a little 'Unsharp Mask' and burned edges can do. I astound myself. For more of my photographic genius, look here.

On the other hand, not all of the pictures that I come across are bad, like this one...

Way to go, babe!

While the shutter speed was waaaay to slow, letting in too much light for this...

...it happened to be just right for this...

It may not be photographic genius or anything, such as the Photoshop skills that I displayed above, but when I found it on the camera this morning it made my day, kind of like most things that are Mr. Blue Eyes related.

I love my husband.

Farmer Gal Ramble #2

It's All Going Down the Toilet

This afternoon I am taking Miss Peaches down for a visit with her doctor regarding her vesicoureteral reflux problem, or backflow (from the bladder to the kidneys) as I like to call it. I am really, really, really undecided about what to do, even after researching and thinking it over continuously... Put her on a daily low dose of antibiotics to prevent u.t.i.'s? Treat the u.t.i.'s as they come and hope that she doesn't get very many? I'm hoping that her doctor, who I like and whose daughter had the same condition, will have some perspective for me.

One thing that I have decided to try is early potty training.

Whaaaat? I know, it's a little bit ambitious. She's not even nine months old. But I have read about people potty training their babies even earlier than this with success. Actually, my mom told me that she had my oldest brother potty trained by the time he was a year old.

My thinking is that, if she learns to use the potty instead of going in her diaper, it will reduce the chance that E. coli travels from her poop up into her bladder, because the poop will go into the toilet instead of squishing around into places that poop just isn't supposed to go.

That's my theory.

And I figure that, even if it doesn't help reduce her risk of u.t.i.'s, at least I may end up with a potty trained one-year-old. I'm on board with that. I'm also on board with it not working at all, if that ends up being the case, but I'm going to give it the ol' college try.

But do you know WHAT? She peed on the potty yesterday. Twice! Seeing her sit on that potty seat was pretty cute, I just have to say. We had a good time... Singing songs, playing with toys, playing 'this little piggy' and 'peek-a-boo'. My goal is to start out having one or two successful potties a day, and along the way teaching her some sort of baby sign-language that she can eventually use to let us know she has to go, and also trying to teach her to understand that once she's on the potty she can 'let loose'.  

So, if you don't see me posting around here from time to time, it's probably because I'm spending a lot of time entertaining babies on the toilet.

Home Cooking

Sorry that I haven't been much of a good cooker lately. We've been more strapped for time and more behind than usual on keeping up with things around the house, so the meals I've been making haven't been all that blog-worthy, and even if they were I didn't have time to take pictures anyway. I'm really, really, really hoping to get back on track soon. I've got a goat cheese lasagna, some good fruit bread and a parsnip/turnip gratin up my sleeve that are in development (that means I'm still thinking over them in my head) so don't give up on me! Recipes always take a little longer to put together and post, and I just haven't had that kind of time lately.

Oh, and bacon wrapped pork tenderloin! That recipe is on the way. It looks like this...

And it also looks like this...

It's yummy. And it's all photographed and waiting with anticipation to be presented at a computer near you.

For those of you who like to check in on the Home Cooking page... See? I haven't forgotten about you. I just care too much to bring you anything less than de.lic.ious.

Farmer Gal Photography

This week I have been challenging myself to take part in 'My Life. In Pictures.' It has been fun to stretch my photographic muscle and seeing what others have come up with as well, but I can't say that I did very well on my assignments. Again, time has been an issue, but I have kept up with it daily and it has made me think about photographing my life a little differently.

I am yearning, longing, FANTASIZING about putting together basic photography posts for anyone who is interested to read them SOON! Today, I wish, but probably not. But SOON! I will be starting with the most basic of things that I have learned about my Nikon D70 dSLR and Photoshop, so if you have either of these things and are looking either at your camera dials or your computer screen and drooling like a neanderthal who has just come across his first fork and doesn't know how to use it, I may be able to help. The beginning posts are going to be very, very basic, but after that we'll get into some of the fun stuff, like how I edited this picture...

Did I happen to say these posts were going to start out with the very basics? Because if I didn't use the word basic, I did mean to.

Basic. Basic, basic, basic.

But we'll get through the basics quick-like so that we can start to have some fun.

If you've got photography experience you will be bored to tears. If you are just starting out -- again, in the neanderthal stage -- then I'm your gal.

Just to be clear.

Paula Deen Likes To Do a Poop Stance in Our Bed

At first I found this horrifying. I was sure she was getting ready to use our bed as a litter box. Over time we have realized that it is simply how she likes to nest. I still find it unnerving.

Oh, I should clarify. Not THE Paula Deen... OUR Paula Deen. Our cat...

See how her eyes match our (unmade) bedding? She looks so pretty in our bed. She certainly spends enough time there. I'm just so glad she never poops in it.

Someday I'll capture this phenomenon and share it with you. It truly is unsettling.

I think that's about all I've got to ramble on about today. You've been a trooper if you've made it this far. If I had millions I would give away some sort of prize at this point, like a year subscription to the fruit of the month club or the Garth Brooks box set. But I don't, so I won't. But I sure do thank ya' for stopping by to read today. You're the best.

Winter's Last Hurrah

Maybe I speak too soon... Here in the Colorado mountains we're known to get snow into April, even May. Even so, I can't help but look at these boats and think that they're patiently waiting for balmy summer days to arrive, to lap gently up and down on the water while their passengers bask easily in the sunshine.

On Saturday the babies and I drove up to the resort to have lunch with Mr. Blue Eyes. The recent snow still covered the ground, but the roads were mostly clear so it made for good driving, even down the dirt road into the mountain valley where the resort sits.

Even though we had to be inside, we found a table where the sunlight was streaming in through the window and my camera and I ate it up (along with our lunch, of course)...

Good food. Good company.

Burley was back at work, in what he likes to think of as his natural environment...  

He likes to pretend he's one of those St. Bernards who carries hot chocolate around his neck and rescues people from the throws of frostbite.

Except he's not a St. Bernard.

And there's no hot chocolate around his neck.

And he's never rescued anyone.

And he likes to beg people for treats.

But that's why I said pretend.

By the time I arrived at lunchtime he was ready to hop in the car and come back home with me and the kids. He prefers part-time work when he can get it.

On the way home, the babies, Burley and I did a little bit of photographic touring. I captured the picture above, and a few more choice shots that day...  

 

 

A dusting of snow makes for some good black and white contrast, if you ask me.

These shots were made possible by two sleeping babies, one sleeping dog and one happily road-tripping farmer gal. We didn't venture too far from home, but it was a good outing just the same.  

p.s. If you haven't already, check out the first installment of 'The Adventures of Hickory and Hank'!

p.s.s. For 'My Best Shot Monday' and other photography posts, navigate to my new photography page!

Let's Fall to Pieces Together

FORWARD: The jist of this whole post is that I am soon going to put up a photography page on this site so that, if you're interested, you can learn along with me how to edit photos using Photoshop. That's the long story, short. If you're interested in the short story, long, please keep reading.  

As you can see from the photo above, and the strange photo I posted of Little Blue Eyes and Timber yesterday (I still can't decide if I like it or hate it), I've got a lot of learning to do when it comes to photography and photoshop.

I took this squirrel photo a couple years ago and always thought it was pretty cool, except it was terribly shadowed and dark. And that was back when I used 'auto' and my flash all the time on my camera, so I don't know how I screwed it up, but I did. I guess squirrels are kind of hard subjects to photograph, especially when you've got a large mongrel heavily breathing over your shoulder, waiting for you to tell him to lunge.

I pulled it out the other day and thought I'd test out my photoshop skills to redeem it. I can't even remember exactly what I did... I played around with layer masks, unsharp masks, brush tools, etc...

Mind you I don't even really know what any of those words mean.

Please don't run away.

Anyhow, what I ended up with was a slightly brighter, crisper, more vibrant picture with an oddly ethereal looking squirrel and bird feeder sitting centerstage. Overall I feel that it's pretty underwhelming and obviously photoshopped and pretty much a failure.

A failure except for the fact that I'm pretty sure I learned something, and the process I was using led me to figure out how to do this.

See? Good things do come to those who wait.

Or to those who dink around long enough and just keep clicking with their finger until something finally clicks mentally. That would be me.

The thing is, I really wasn't planning on having a photography page on this site for two good reasons: 1) I'm not a professional photographer. I don't know if I can even consider myself an amateur photographer. I'm not sure that the word 'photographer' and my name should even be used in the same sentence. Putting a photography page on my site seems a little bit like a misrepresentation or something. 2) I didn't think I really had time to maintain another page, what with keeping the 'Ramblings' and 'Home Cooking' up to speed. (And we all know that my mindless rambling is really what keeps you coming back for more, isn't it?)

Today, however, I'm sort of reformulating my thoughts...

I've been perusing some of the photo edits over at 'I ♥ Faces' for this week's 'Fix-It Friday' challenge. I would like to participate in this type of project, and the whole point is to post it on your blog so that other people can come take a look at your work. I want to do this, along with other photography projects online, but I also don't want to muck up my 'Ramblings' page with photo edits and such, because some of you who stop by to read maybe don't care much for all the photography hullabaloo.

The other mental transformation that I had regarding this subject is that, because I have THE WORST memory ever, I sometimes forget how I go about editing photos, and when I try out new techniques I don't always remember what they are a month later. Therefore, if I document some of my editing I can come back to it later when I forget what I've done.

Because I will... I will forget what I've done.

Just ask my husband. His name is... I forget. But ask him... He has to remind me how old I am sometimes.

And one more thing... If any of you are photographic amateurs... No, WAIT. That would mean you are way better than me. Let me rephrase: If any of you are completely clueless when it comes to photography and photoshop, you can follow along and you just might learn something.

Just to be clear, I will mostly be using Photoshop 7 for ALL my edits. I will most likely NOT be running any actions (actions are a set of steps that are grouped together to edit a photo and are recorded so that you can use them over and over again) because I am trying to learn how to do things step by step.

If you have Photoshop and have no clue how to get started using it, I hope that we can learn something together. If you don't have Photoshop, you probably won't benefit much from my tutorials.

But that's the beauty of putting my photography posts on their own page... If you aren't interested, you don't have to navigate yourself there, and can continue to enjoy my mindless rambling on the home page at your leisure.

Sidenote: I have to come up with a more appropriate word than 'tutorials'. That suggests that I know what I'm doing. It's more like 'just figured out and wanted to write it down before I forget, and if it helps you out too, so be it'. But that's kind of wordy. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment.

Now I'm off to the resort to have lunch with Mr. Blue Eyes and hopefully capture some blog-worthy photos to share with you on the soon to arrive photography page. Stay tuned! Or ignore completely. It's really up to you.

My Best Shot Monday - Curiosity

Horses are kind of like babies in that they use their mouths to explore their worlds. Sometimes you just really can't get a feel for something unless you roll it around on your tongue.

I guess.

I mean, that's how I would guess they feel about it.

I can get by just fine without putting a hairy horse cinch in my mouth. Just fine indeed.

I spent the better part of the afternoon on Sunday working with the horses, followed by a photo shoot of sorts. I left my saddle on the fence rail so that Drifter could look (lick) it over. He is far from wearing one on his back yet, but I think it's good to let him get familiar with it just the same.

Before I went and got my camera (of course) he was really gnawing on it and licking it and it was pretty funny. Once I had my camera in hand I took shot after shot, but really didn't come up with too many that I was especially happy with. The clouds kept on moving over the sun, not over the sun, over the sun, not over the sun, and it was really messing with my shutter speed setting every couple minutes, so I kept having to fidget with the camera. Then my subject kept passing his own dark shadow over me as he came to inspect the camera.

What? Am I complaining? Complaining that I got to spend a beautiful spring day in the sunshine taking pictures of the horses? I'll be quiet now.

I am quite happy with the one above, though... Really liking the reddish brown tones in the saddle and in his coat. I also made out with a few 'outtakes' that I think you'll enjoy...