Wordless (not!) Wednesday - Grand Canyon Ground Squirrel

This is my favorite photo from our entire epic road trip.  A ground squirrel was kind enough to pose for me in front of the Grand Canyon!

2019 Epic Road Trip - Part I - 40 Before 40 Item 10

My husband and I went on an epic road trip a month ago and one of our stops was the Painted Desert!  I have wanted to visit this place since the first time I saw photos of it.  I've been dreaming of taking photos of it for years.  I can finally mark it off my bucket list (and my 40 Before 40 list - it wasn't on the original list, but when I realized I can't donate blood because I'm on thyroid medicine I replaced it with this).  It was smaller than I expected, but still absolutely incredible!! 

The photo above is my favorite out of the group.  It shows the different colors so well.  The others are decent, but uploading them messes with the quality of the photos.  They look better on my computer.  Oh well, hopefully they are still good enough to be enjoyable for you guys.

 

 We weren't able to go at sunset when the colors would have been at their most brilliant, but there was still some great colors.

The one above was looking in the other direction.  It's not a Painted Desert picture, but I had to snap it and share it because of the huge dust devil.  So cool!

 This is another one of my favorites.  The purple color is so neat!

Luckily we were able to drive around to the other side where there were more shadows for more dramatic visuals.

 Hubby taking pictures of the Painted Desert.

 My Rogue made the trip so enjoyable!  I couldn't resist snapping a picture of it in the desert.  It is blue... it just looks black because of the lighting.

 We saw so many ravens out west!  They are the coolest birds!

 This was the path leading down into the desert.... we decided not to hike down there.

 There were some tracks, but they were so far away I couldn't tell what made them.

 I'll post more pictures as soon as I can!  Make sure to check out my other blog (LINK) to see pictures of my mule ride at the Grand Canyon!  Another dream come true!

Happy Eleventh Birthday Jackal!

I just wanted to let everyone know Jackal is eleven today.  He had a great day and was totally spoiled with extra treats.  Happy birthday boy!!!

As an aside, I LOVE my camera.  I'm slowly starting to figure it out.  You can see the improvement in the above photo over the one I took the first day.  I'll put it below for comparison.

I took 1043 pictures the other day of the goats!! That's how much I'm loving this camera.  The sad thing is I just don't have time to sort through them, water mark them and post them for you to enjoy.  *sad face*  I will eventually, but it won't be soon.  At least I get to enjoy my pets and the camera itself, so I'm not going to let it get me down or stress me out.  I'm sure you guys will enjoy them whenever I get around to posting them.  :)

New Camera

I have been so insanely busy I haven't had time to update you guys.  For right now we are done kidding out goats so hopefully things will settle down soon.  I wanted to share my good news very quickly and then this weekend hopefully I can introduce you to all of our new kids.  One of my best friends upgraded her camera and she gave me her old Canon EOS 20D with a 55mm lens.  I've had it a while, but I only recently finally bought all of the stuff I needed to make it operational (battery, cards, etc.).  I am SO excited to be able to start taking photos again!

This is my very first DSLR camera, so there's going to be a huge learning curve.  I've practiced with this camera before (when she was still using it) and I've done some studying, but it's going to take a ton of practice to get any good at using this.  For right now I'm cheating and using the auto setting just so I can get some baby goat pictures for you guys.  I'm not used to using a lens, so the focus is hit or miss, but you'll see once I get them edited and posted.  You guys are used to blurry photos anyway because the focus was messed up on the camera I've been using for a while.  I am very, very excited to finally have my very own DSLR camera!!!!  You guys might start seeing a bunch of landscape photos while I practice shooting in manual mode for a while. :)  I have to go, but I'll definitely try to get the kids pictures up this weekend.

Edited to add a test shot with the new camera.

I LOVE it!  I'm so excited to start using this camera.  Don't get your expectations too high on the goat pictures.  Jackal sits very still and is well trained.  Getting goats to stand still is almost impossible lol.

30 Before 30 - #23 Complete!

Yay I got to ride off property in the snow!  It was so much fun.  You can see more pictures on the full post I did on my other blog here (LINK).

Snow Day!!

 He's lost so much weight!  Yay!

Yay!!!!! We finally got enough snow to cover the leaves and ground.  :D  It's 2 to 4 inches, but there was ice under it so we got really good coverage.  This is what I've been waiting on. We had so much fun playing in it.  Here are a few pictures.  I'll be posting a bunch of Chrome on his blog.

It was so gorgeous this morning!

My parent's dog.  I love this picture!

 Jackal was playing with Chrome through the gate hehe.

Snow Pictures!

 Jackal's excited, come play with me face.

 When I call his name he whips his head around and then his body follows, so cute!

It's hard to tell in profile shots, but he's lost a LOT of weight!

I need to get better comparison pictures for you guys.

 Chrome doesn't mind the snow, but the goats hate it!

 They refuse to touch the snow/ice at all!

To get back in the barn they would back up under the eaves instead of turning around lol.

They thought so hard about coming to me, but in the end decided not to.

While I was crouched down taking pictures of the goats, Zep came up behind me.

Then he peered around my shoulder at Jackal hiding and using me as a shield hehe.

I really wish my good camera hadn't died because I really want to take pictures of the birds out in the snow.  :(  I'm getting sick though, so I guess I shouldn't sit outside in the cold.  Oh well.  There's always next time.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures of Jackal and the herd!

Super Moon

I was only able to get a couple of pictures of the Super Moon last weekend because there was too much cloud cover.  What do you think?

Furry Friday (or snakey... you've been warned)

Yay I have pictures to participate in Furry Friday.  They aren't furry this time though!!  Anyone who is afraid of snakes has hopefully been warned by the title to not read this lol.

My husband went outside around dusk the other day with Jackal.  My crazy dog started running circles, barking and growling like he was possessed.  Hubby found this guy.

 Isn't he beautiful??

He's very venomous so I'm glad Jackal knows to keep his distance.  Hubby made him go inside, let me get pictures and then disposed of the snake.  We let the non venomous King snakes, Rat snakes, etc. live on our property, but we can't risk having these beautiful guys living here.  After hubby got rid of him my friends told me they travel in breeding pairs........ umm.... so yeah I'm keeping a close watch on the ground.  This snake was a foot and a half long, but I never would have seen him if Jackal hadn't alerted us.  He was even in open, short grass!

Since my camera is working I'll try to start taking pictures and posting more often.  We should finish our base cabinets in the kitchen this weekend and then the counter people will come measure, then it will be a month or more before our counters are installed.  I'm glad we don't have to do that though.  Hanging wall cabinets has about done hubby's back in!  We have to wait for a replacement cabinet for one the delivery truck messed up so we haven't even finished all of them.  I'm getting very excited about having a real kitchen again!  I'll take pictures when it's done, but it will be a couple of months because I want the counters in before I share.  :)

The fawns are back!

This time the does were out too!  Yes, that's plural!  There are two does and three fawns in total that are staying on or around our property.  I think the does have learned the coyotes can't get to their fawns inside of our field fencing so they leave them here when they go out to eat.  I love it!  I'm so happy I was able to move back to the country.  I had missed this!  Let me know what you think of the pictures.

 She's a little thin from nursing her fawns.

We're going to get them a salt block and we might start putting some feed out for them too.  There's plenty to eat in green stuff right now, but the extra calories can't hurt the mommas.  :D

 I wish the fawn hadn't had her head down.  That doe is gorgeous!

 She finally looks up.  So cute!

 Check it out!  I got one doe and three fawns in one picture!  The other doe was hiding.

 

 Such cute babies!!

 A squirrel spotted me hiding behind the vehicles and started chattering, so the fawn went to her mom.

Oops, I'm spotted!  

I LOVE taking pictures of them!  They are so adorable!