Themeless Thursday

Fall colors from the front of our house.

One of my smart Speckled Sussex girls, roosting on top of the hay feeder in their sheepfold chick-pen.

Boy-power; together in the lower woodlot. How did I end up with four boys (three rams and a wether) to five girls??

Standoff. Oreo hasn't exactly rolled out the welcome mat, so Tippy wasn't sure he should venture out of the barn.

When he did . . .

. . . Oreo kept her eye on him!

Vest, unraveled. Patterns printed and waiting!

And lastly, progress with Annabelle. Last night and this morning she ate a little grain from a pan I was holding!

That's it for today from . . .

Wednesday's wonderful web

Monday night Rick got his belated birthday present when we attended a Straight No Chaser concert at the historic Elsinore Theater in Salem. We saw part of a SNC Christmas concert on PBS last year and absolutely loved it, so when I saw that they were going to be in Salem, I snapped up two of the few remaining balcony tickets.

But first, we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. We had a window seat, and I could see a BIG spider web on a light in the small park outside. I found the Night Scenery setting on my camera and tried it out, through the glass and rain, above. Yeah; so-so. Then I used its super powers of zoom and got even closer.
I think that's amazing!

Once seated in the Elsinore, I had to play with the Night Scenery setting and zoom some more. The stage:

A painted detail far, far away:

Straight No Chaser in one of their quieter moments (most of my shots were quite blurry, as they are a fun, active bunch of guys):
Can you tell I'm still very happy with my camera choice? ;-)

That's it for today from . . .

Tipsy Tippy Tuesday

I was going to tell you about our date last night and the fantastic performances of both my new camera and Straight No Chaser, but today's topic was overturned by Rick taking the time to tend to Tippy. Remember Tippy? Poor Tippy has been in "tack room limbo" for way too long, thanks to Rick's heart attack, then a call from a lady who claimed to own him, followed by some investigation, then the same lady's abdication of ownership, followed by concern over whether or not he carries FIV or FeLV (kitty AIDS or leukemia) but failure to hit a vein to draw blood for testing - all seasoned liberally with my dear husband's procrastination. FINALLY, today Rick set aside time to castrate Tippy, planning to collect blood for the tests when he did the deed. Lucky for me, he decided to perform surgery on the laundry room floor instead of on my kitchen table this time.
Lucky for Tippy, once sedated but before slicing, Rick did some professional groping and determined that he had already been neutered! (I had mentioned my suspicions about this early on because the size of Tippy's external anatomy, but had been ignored by the vet.) Oh well, while Tippy was down Rick got the blood necessary from a leg vein and ran the tests, which were negative - YAY! So as soon as he stops being tipsy (it's taking awhile!), Tippy Toes will get to meet Cookie Face (Oreo) and be given the run of Boulderneigh - although all he really wants to is to be a lap cat. Seriously, this is The.Most.Loving cat I have ever met. When I restrained him while Rick tried to draw blood last week, he kept purring, hardly struggled, and never once tried to bite or scratch!

For the record, Tippy weighs in at eight pounds, which makes Oreo look like the "big cat" (she was the "little cat" compared to Ozzie).

That's it for today from . . .

Monday in motion

A stiff wind is blowing in a wet front. Would loved to have gotten in a ride before the rain, but had didn't have enough time. But I did turn Russell out to burn off some steam, and played with the Sports setting on my camera. Not much light so lots of "blur," but I like the effect.


Happy Monday from . . .