November Skies

I have noticed lately a change in the colors of the landscape in central Kansas. When I am driving, the distant hills have a subtle purple tone and the fields are all different shades of greens, red, and tans...sorta like a country quilt. I have been wanting to take the camera out again, but my free time during daylight hours has been limited, although the light has been favorable for good chunks of the day lately. We moved our cows home for the winter on Saturday and helped uncle John move his cows on Sunday. I took the camera along and was able to steal a few minutes to capture the clear blue sky and the landscapes as best I could. The sunset even cooperated...the horizon was ablaze with color at precisely the same time I had nothing to do but admire it. The moon must have been in the perfect phase this weekend because the cow moving went the best it ever has and the photos...well you'll see what I mean about the colors!

Sunday Morning Serene Adventures

Spent my Sunday morning driving around the countryside in the snow, looking for pretty scenes. I originally set out thinking about looking to photograph both small and panoramic -thinking about some closeups of snow with fuzzed out backgrounds and a panorama of "the valley" looking at Lincoln from the hill to the north.
When I got out away from the house, I realized there was too much fog to do a panorama today, so I was disappointed because I was feeling brave enough to go up on that hill and take that shot today! And when I started searching for "closeups," I found myself drawn to the trees and the water. In the end, I didn't get any close ups. Gotta go with the flow I guess.
I wound up spending most of my time shooting from various river and creek bridges...and I did get to have my adventure when I took off on foot across the big river bridge on 14 highway south of town. When I started, there wasn't a car to be found, but sure as shit, once I got out there where I was at everyone else's mercy, church got out! And everyone drove by me - me being totally myself in a sloppy sweatshirt, jeans tucked into my camo mud boots - not laced up right. Hair not fixed. I was totally happy - at least until I started meeting the church crowd on the bridge while I was getting a photo that isn't bad but also wasn't my best of the morning. So my challenge to you is to guess which one of the 6 shots below is the highway 14 river bridge adventure picture!

Icey Adrenaline

A month has past since I wrote last and I haven't exactly done so well with recording the happenings of my life. All the good things should be recorded - all those memories should be forever cemented in my history - but it seems the only times in my life when I've felt driven to write were times when things weren't the best.

Maybe writing isn't the only medium that can be used to record life. My pictures tell a lot about my view of the world, and I've taken more pictures this year than any other in my life. When you look at the "My Pictures" folder on my computer, you see multiple folders under each month - and my Canon 30D has helped me grow tremendously as a photographer in this last year. I would love to be able to drop what I'm doing (work) and go take photographs any time - as if it were my full-time job. But I can't make that jump to depending on my photographs to sustain the economical side of my life. I guess if all you had to do everyday was take gorgeous photographs and find a place to market them...well maybe it could work. I could see how that could get expensive fast - especially when you aren't selling anything. Scary!

Anyway - the whole point of this blog was not to ramble on and on, but to share with you the pictures I've taken so far of the ice storm we had last night. I've been out in the cold several times today shooting the streets of Lincoln - including my own backyard. Many times now I've thought I should get out after dark and capture main street - with all its Christmas glow - but usually after dark in the winter my laziness gets the best of me and I opt to stay in. I think tonight I'm gonna do it tonight - the ice crystals will only add sparkle to the night shot. Maybe I can turn around and sell my "stock" photography of Lincoln to the chamber or tourism groups. I'm feeling spunky today - my adrenaline is flowing.

catchin' u up

I haven't written in this blog in forever. So you're behind. Whoever "u" are. So here is my summary of the last year. I've decided that it's really important to record things because it's so easy to forget things that have happened even just a year ago. Write things down, what happened when. Organize your photographs, write down who's in those photographs. Don't put it off. Do it now. Little bit by little bit.

Started with a self-improvement goal
In March, I started going to a new fitness facility here in Lincoln. I wasn't happy with myself, and I am continually feeling pressure that everyone thinks it's time for me to have a baby. I am not going down that road until I'm in better shape to start with. So my friend Susan prodded me into going to the WOW center. I never did get to working out consistently with Susan, but I made a new dear friend. I think it was all meant to be. That Amy and I met there for a reason.

So I worked out consistently for about 6 months, and I got a little bored. Maybe lost sight of my motivation. I had gained a lot of muscle, felt a lot better, but really hadn't lost any weight. I needed to be pushing myself harder and I should have changed my eating habits as well. I used the farm as an excuse to stop going for awhile. I played softball for a few weeks, got injured. Didn't get back into WOW until November. And I haven't been very consistent so far. BUT this month I started recording what I eat online at my-calorie-counter.com. I think, for me, being forced to see on paper, or on-screen, what exactly is going in helps me keep my love for eating in check. For some, writing things down all day is a pain in the ass. For me, it' s not a problem because I'm at the computer all day anyway.

So my new goal is to use the winter months to keep working out, get my eating habits regulated better and lose that first 10% of my weight. That should give me the motivation to keep going. And doing it over the winter is precisely the time of the year when I normally gain another 10 pounds so I have a high goal, but that's a good thing.

Old Mac-Jrod had a farm -e-i-e-i-o
So our farming is steadily improving each year. I am always looking for ways to improve the business side of things, make it into something profitable. The Easter freeze didn't help the wheat harvest this year, but the wetter year (compared to the last 5) made for an awesome fall harvest. Jarrod and I have taken over another chunk of 1 of our farms, and are getting to make the decisions on what goes into it and how. My baby has grown so much over the last 5 years into an excellent farmer and rancher. I can't wait to see him grow even so much more in the next 5 years. Making smart decisions and conserving what he has to work with. I just wish we had the financial independence to really do it right. But I guess that's part of the learning process - making the best of what you've got. And constantly trying to put yourself into a position to do better.

One of these days, we are going to have a gorgeous farm that we maintain, complete with animals, crops, us, kids and lots of love. Patience is hard to maintain over time. And it's so hard to gauge or judge when you need to sit back and be patient and wait for that better deal to come along, and when you should push, and aggressively go after what you want. I think that being patient the last 5 years has given us some time to mature, learn how to work together better, and prepare for what it will really take to manage a farm. I no longer feel like a big kid stuck in a grown ups world. I feel mature like I'm ready to move forward. When did that happen? Sometime over this last year I think.