Kingbird

From Photo of the day (2009)

Spotted this Western Kingbird (a type of Flycatcher) by the cemetery on the way home from work this afternoon. I stopped the car and snuck up on him, taking shots as I went, expecting him to take off. I haven't seen a live one before (only stuffed ones in the bio lab) so I was quite enthused. He flitted about, chasing flies, from one fence to the other side and then up on this support cable for a phone pole. I was surprised how close he let me get. This is cropped and sharpened. I think I might have played with the highlights but now I've forgot.

Lined up

From Photo of the day (2009)

So much for daily! I have been left to run the farm more or less on my own, boss's daughter milks the cows at night and Anita feeds the babies in the morning, but it's been a lot of work. Between that, teaching on Saturday, Bible study on sunday, and a slough of extra chores the last few days I haven't had time to post. I did get this on Sunday (26th) - they've been doing some work on the railway near Agassiz and I guess they wanted to get them out of the way for the weekend so lined them all up on the siding across from the Agricultural Hall in town. They were quite the site - look like they would be fun to drive. I cropped this, nothing more.

Cherry trees

From Photo of the day (2009)

I have been busy with travel as I said, but yesterday was also another long day of moving goats so no shot then. Today I got this one on the way home from the evening shift - the cherry trees starting to blossom all in a row caught my eye. They belong to the Experimental farm here in Agassiz. I pulled over and had to stand on my tailgate and shoot over my truck to avoid standing in traffic. The light at this time of day is just fantastic. Mount Cheam is in the background.

Island

From Photo of the day (2009)

Taken on the way back from Victoria out of the car deck window of the ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawassen. The last bit of land before the larger gap of the Georgia Straight between the gulf islands and the mainland. What else can I say? I liked the blue sky and sea, and the lighthouse was just nice.

Robber Fly

From Photo of the day (2009)

This was also taken on the 18th, so its not really a daily photo per se, but seeing as I've only had about 8 posts so far in April all told I'm trying to do my best to catch up. I found this guy on my way down from hiking up the bluff. He only stayed for a shot with my wide angle lens so this is cropped and a bit worked over, but I think it came out pretty well. From the forward pointing legs (basket like) and the mobile head, I would place this in the family assilidae - the robber flies, though it is a bit hard to tell. They catch other insects aerially to eat.

My farm

From Photo of the day (2009)

This was taken on the 18th of April, but I was very busy dashing off to teach my computer class and then off to catch a ferry before I could post it. While I was in Victoria, I forgot all about taking photos or posting them (as per usual, pathetic I know) so I'm finally getting around to it now. I hiked up the same bluff as I did in March (see "View" for the 13th of March) but took a smaller photo of just my farm through the trees. If you look at the big version you can see the cows in the back field.

Cheam

From Photo of the day (2009)

Wasn't sure if I was going to get a shot today. It was raining hard when I went to work in the morning, drizzling until well after milking, then cloudy when I went to Paul's. While I was in town with the dog to mail things, hit the bank and the library it started pouring, then storming with big lightening bolts and thunder to boot. When I went to work in the evening it was like this! I didn't even take a coat. I got this shot on the way home from the road by one of our back fields. Mount Cheam in all its spring evening glory. There is a trail up to the top of it, I did it last summer with some friends - the view is spectacular - and I will likely do it again this year.

I increased the fill light to bring out the foreground, saturated to bring back the blue of the sky, sharpened, straightened, and (horrors!) used the graduated tint to get that sky just back to how it looks when you see it bare-eyed. All done in Picasa.

Free range

From Photo of the day (2009)

We started letting our milk cows out in the fields this week - within 5 minutes of opening the wire the barn is empty. Even the old arthritic guernsey managed to hobble out a ways and eat a bit before lying down and eating the grass around her. She is the closest cow in this picture (not the black and white holstein). I liked the shadows they cast, the highlights in the dew of the grass, and the way the cows lead off into the distance - of course as soon as I got my camera the sun faded. oh well. I cropped the original as the sky was miserably burnt.

Birch

From Photo of the day (2009)

My dog walk this morning was.... a bit different. I drove up to the new cemetery and the rifle range behind the prisons looking for a new place to hike with the dog but no luck. Then I drove around behind the prisons at the base of the quarry near a friends farm and got the dog out. Unfortunately there wasn't anywhere to go after the dead end of the road - just a very large imposing sign that said NO TRESSPASSING DANGER ACTIVE MINE - I figured it was probably best to pay attention to that one, seeing how large it was, and the fact that it wasn't just some private land. So we went back to the car. And of course Meg didn't want to get in, and ran around my friend's fields, met up with his big dogs (who were friendly thank goodness) and jumped in something very thick and green and putrid. I'm hoping it was just some pond slime and not a leak out of the farms manure pit. Anyways it was revolting and of course there was no clean water, finally managed to get dog in car and headed quickly out towards the river where we were yesterday so I could get her rinsed off. A couple trucks drove down onto the river bed and looked like they were going to be roaring around so we headed into the treed bit on Coyote island. I hadn't been in there since there was snow, and I was pleasantly surprised by the large open space after the first bunch of small alders and birches. Would be a great place to camp. I came across this tree, liked the colour and how it was lined up against an older tree behind so started taking shots of it. Part way through I heard what sounded like sirens, then I realized it was a pack of coyotes, not all that far off, in the bush howling. I listened till they stopped, it was quite eerie but cool all the same. Thank goodness Meg only barked and then hung around me instead of bolting after them. Made me think it would be a neat place to go at dawn or dusk to see them coming and going from the farmland across the river.

Trees

From Photo of the day (2009)

From Photo of the day (2009)

Boy, I'm getting really bad at this. I took photos yesterday but was busy cleaning and doing a bunch of things around home so didn't get them posted.

Yesterday we went for a hike along the Vedder river, made it down to the start of the Trans-canada trail, and came back along the Peach Trail. This fern covered maple was along the Trans-Canada part - I think they are licorice ferns, Anita will correct me if I am wrong.

The other shot is from today - I took the dog down to the dry riverbed behind cemetery hill and walked nearly as far as hopyard hill on the river rocks and sand. We found a beaver lodge just down from these fallen trees, so I assume the beaver cut them down. I liked the reflections in the side channel.

Magnolia

From Photo of the day (2009)

I guess spring is finally here - flowers are coming out properly now and it's been 20 degrees out the last few days, just beautiful! Of course it won't last and its supposed to rain starting thursday but whatever. I got this evening shot of a magnolia blossom after work in Debra's garden.

Bricks

From Photo of the day (2009)

This seems to be turning into a photo-of-the-every-other-day site. Oh well. I'm tired and running out of ideas. And after a long morning of work, the last think I want to do is take pictures of goats. Anyways, it was a lovely day today so took the dog out for a walk about town to get a few things and to check out a garage sale I saw on the way home. Spotted the wording on the metal cage around a tree in town and the lighting, patterns, etc all caught my eye. So here it is. Third times a charm (the first two I took had my shoe in them).

Lambs

From Photo of the day (2009)

So the weather has finally gotten nice enough to let the lambs out, well that and the lambs have really gotten too big to be confined anymore. For the last couple days they have been frolicking around outside from the cheese plant and I had just enough light to try and capture some of their antics this evening. I didn't get any really exciting action shots though, and then the dogs came and they all huddled close like this and stared at us. Made for a good group shot. I will have to try for the frolicking sort of shots another time.

Library

From Photo of the day (2009)

I am having a bit of a rough patch at work - we have a very uncooperative brown swiss heifer who has just calved and is not keen on being milked, which makes my day a fair bit longer unless I rush so I really wasn't in the mood to take photos during the day. I tried a few yesterday in the evening but nothing came out. I had to return a library book today on my way home and caught this on the way out. The library at dusk. And for the Dr Who fans.... Stay out of the shadows...