Sun against the sun

Blazing away at each other.

A very red horse

Mid summer, right after a bath and Courtney is seen as a very
red horse. She's often darker coming out of winter.

A blazing summer sun

Sun flower. Sun. Sun on earth. Not of this earth?

Roll on!

Roll on!, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

This wheel keeps bringing me back...

Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City

Always think of this tune when it gets hot!

Independence Day

Okay, so it was July 5. Things are lush and green. Forget corn
knee high on the Fourth of July. How about tasseled and
silked on the fourth?

Bean Horizon

Wish I'd shifted the sun out of direct center. Eh, maybe I can crop
it to my liking some day.

Energy

Sun, corn, power lines - energy!

Green, red, blue

Corn is starting to tassel on July 4.

Hooks

Pea vines send out these tiny hooks. It's amazing to
watch them seek out places to anchor. And they cling tight
once they find a point to wrap.

Pea flower

Following days of rain, the sun is out and things are drying.
There has been so much rain that plants just
grew and grew and grew and we didn't see much else. A
day or two of sun has really brought out the development
phases so we can hope for some fruit.

Pansy portrait

Flower photos aren't my usual thing. In this case the light
was hitting the flowers making it interesting
to try something.

peculiar

That day at House on the Rocks I took almost 200 pictures.
The place is just so weird. This shot was in an area loaded
with circus things: tiny model circuses by the thousdands,
wagon wheels, posters...and this.

Infinity room

The Infinity Room at House on the Rocks. Or something. The "house" itself is
rather cool. The rest of the place is just odd. Lots of it is junk. Some of it
is priceless. Maybe. All a head shaker.

Stormy dinner

This is from a set called "feeding the string." A storm had just passed
and the horses and people came out of their shelters to finish evening
chores.

Over the shoulder

The outcome of the picture seems to imply being blocked
off from going toward the other horse. But not so much.
Just me trying to take a different horse picture.

Running for the barn

A storm blew in as I was out in the pasture taking pictures.
The horses made it back to the barn ahead of me!

Ms. Jersey

Ms. Jersey, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

Curious history. Snapped this shot while visiting an agricultural
experiment station. Ms. Jersey is a research animal. She is not a pet,
or for that matter a member of a commercial dairy herd. But she is,
along with her herd-mates, one of the best cared for animals in the
world. It's a portrait of a working dairy animal. One of my photofans has
commented that, in a set of related photos, the cows don't look so good.
I've asked in a reply why the commenter feels that way. Right now, I'm
guessing that most people see animals as pets and a picture of a working
dairy cow in a work setting is foreign. Ms. Jersey was eating vigorously
before she looked up at me and the camera.

Spooky

Spooky, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

Deer head in a window. I took a few shots thinking it's cool just
on the oddity scale. Later, I was messing around with it in Picasa and
enjoyed the soft focus around the edges. And the more I look at the
image the less spooky it gets and the more intellectual it feels.

Yes!

Aus trees

Aus trees, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

These trees were hybrid crosses between willow and poplar. They grew 60 ft. tall
in less than 15 years creating a hazard in my yard. They did have their moments, however.

At the end of the boom

Up, looking down

Nothing like a 60-ft cherry picker rental to give you a new perspective.

Cut from the herd

Not exactly the open range but a recent cutting horse competition
provided a small taste of cattle handling skills.

Saga of the white wheel

This wheel makes me a little nuts. It hangs on a tobacco strip house.
There's something appealing about the graphics of this but I'm not sure
I've captured it. Yet. As the seasons change I may hit it one day with
just the right light.

red_barn

red_barn, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

There's something about the white and red and green here that compels me. I can take this picture again and again and I never seem to end up with exactly what I want.

tall at sunset

tall at sunset, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

Headed home from the barn the other day and just had to stop and take a shot. Sunsets aren't my usual thing but what the heck?

Shelby & Dale

Shelby & Dale, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

Evening chores. A flake of hay and a dash of horse kibble.

Mail droppings

never a carrior pigeon when you need one, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

Okay, here's the story. Saturday, reading a magazine as spouse leaves, phone rings, "there's a dove sitting on our railing.Kinda cute." So, I peek out the window. Maybe I should take a picture? As I sneak the camera lens between the blinds, the mail truck goes by. Carrier pigeon anyone?

Maggie

Maggie, you silly pup. What do you see?

morning lift

morning lift, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

Bright spring morning light and people hard at work. Nice to see work.

free run

free run, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

The first run after a long rehabilitation and it looks like it felt good!

One morning in the old hometown

One morning in the old hometown, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

There's a love/hate thing going on with me and the old hometown. Sigh, the place has its moments

friends and neighbors

friends and neighbors, originally uploaded by NetAgra.

A day such as this in March brings people out.

Morning coffee

Greeted by Jack at the Koffee Kup

More Picasa/Flickr news

Google can throw its weight around. Today they announced the acquisition of "Picnik," the online photo editing program. Flickr users are familiar with Picnik as the online editor integrated on that photo site. No word yet on if this affects Flickr or not. Probably not but time will tell.

Not having an online editor was one of the distinctions between Google's Picasa and Flickr. If you've ever fooled around with the Picasa desktop photo editor, you'd probably noticed some of its quirks. One was making edits and then uploading to see the original untouched photo. You could work around that quirk easily enough but you had to work around it. I really like the Picasa photo editor so I plan to keep it. But it will be nice to have the online editor, too - assuming they continue to support a client-based photo editor.