Monday, April 30, 2012

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Rye Field

It looks like tall grass, but its a field of rye almost ready to be cut and chopped for silage(food for cows).

Apr 27 (1)

Here’s Mrs. Red-Winged Blackbird---most likely standing guard over her nest.

Apr 27 (2) She looks nothing like her male counterpart and I wonder if she gets tired of having a name that doesn’t describe her at all.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Fieldwork

Field cultivator kicking up dust,

Apr 26 (3)

getting ready for more corn planting.

Apr 26 (5)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Skywatch

Photo taken last week…

Apr 20 (4)

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 SkyWatch icon

Admiral Butterfly

There’s been lots of admiral butterflies fluttering around outside lately, but they are difficult to photograph.  Lo and behold, one showed up inside the house the other day and I promptly held an impromptu photo session as it sat on a window:

Apr 24 (5)

Apr 24 (7)

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Yesterday

Yesterday was a bright, sunny day offering a great opportunity for my husband to start planting corn.  This photo was snapped when I went to the field to take him his lunch:  

Apr 24 (2)

Also yesterday, my mom was here.  She just got back from a trip to The Netherlands where she got these Delft-themed slippers:

Apr 24

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Cats

When I can’t find anything else to take pictures of, I turn to the cats.

Apr 21 This one was dozing on an old tank the other day:

Apr 21 (4)

This one was playing hide-and-seek in the junk pile:

Apr 21 (1)

And, this one now finds herself busy with a litter of kittens:

Apr 21 (6) Her expression seems to say, “How did I get into THIS situation?!”

Monday, April 23, 2012

Barn Charm

April 17, 2012 (1)

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Barn charm

Prairie Phlox

Yesterday I found some prairie phlox beginning to bloom along the road by our farm.

Apr 22 (2)

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Dandelions & Clouds

Apr 18

In the foreground is part of our lawn which is bordered by a hayfield beyond.  The other day I mowed the lawn for the first time this spring.  Bye, bye, dandelions!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Friday, April 20, 2012

Skywatch

Photo taken mid-morning, a few days ago…

Apr 17 (1)

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Thursday, April 19, 2012

Old Logos

We have old machinery sitting around here and there waiting patiently to be hauled to the junkyard.  The well-worn logos seem blogworthy.

Apr 15 (11)

Apr 15 (10) 

Apr 15 (9)

Apr 15 (8)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Random Variety

Yesterday my husband sent me on an errand.  Here’s a variety of things I saw along the way:
A pair of lovely flowering trees… 
Apr 17 (7) A cool bridge…
Apr 17 (6) A doorway to an eerie place…
Apr 17 (9)
And, an old threshing machine…
Apr 17 (20)
The eerie place is in a cemetery.  It is an underground room used long ago to store the bodies of people who died during winter when it was too cold to dig graves.  I once read a newspaper article about it and had always wanted to see it, so yesterday was the day.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Barn Charm

In desperate need of repair, but still standing…

March 11 (12) Thanks for stopping by! 

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Barn charm

Monday, April 16, 2012

Trying Textures

Nancy from A Rural Journal has started a new blog containing textures.  I decided to try this one called denim fade:

Copy of Apr 15 (15) denim fade texture copy Here is the original photo:

Copy of Apr 15 (15)

I took a photo of the side of a barrel and then lightened it and removed a few spots so I could try using it as a texture:

with barrel texture Here’s the barrel texture if you want to save it to use:

 Copy of DSC_0005

Here’s how I apply textures using Photoshop Elements 6:

Open the texture photo in PS.  Then open the photo you want to add the texture to.  Drag the texture photo up onto the first photo.  Stretch it to fit.  Over on the right of the PS page, click the button under the word “layers”.  In the box that opens, click “normal”.  Click the “layers” button again and choose “overlay” which will apply the texture.  So far that’s all I know about texturing.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Maple Leaves

Apr 8 (9)

Yesterday we had an overcast day after enjoying cloudless skies for most of the week.  On one of those sunny days I snapped this photo of new maple leaves. 

Friday, April 13, 2012

Skywatch

Morning sky from earlier this week…

Apr 7 (3)Thanks for stopping by! 

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Heifers in the Rye

The other day we turned the heifer group out into the nice green rye field:

Apr 11 (1)

It was my job to bring them back from the field in the late afternoon.  As you can see, they don’t cooperate very well for photos:

Apr 11

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Grackles

Apr 4

This photo was taken through two filters---a dusty window and a window screen. 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Favorite Colors

Blue and green is one of my favorite color combinations.  Apr 9 (4)

Above is an ash tree beginning to leaf out. 

Below is a hard maple tree now in bloom.

Apr 9