You Do Not Want to Miss This Video

You are invited to the gala premiere of Galen's video. Now ready for the big screen.

For the best viewing, click the lower right button and enjoy the full screen version.

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Sorry we can't serve popcorn, here.

Peace and Quiet

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I enjoyed tromping around in the snow, last Sunday. The snow lay like a great, soft blanket over the valley wrapping everything in quiet, muffling the usual everyday sounds. It was a peaceful day. Not many people were out. One of the few vehicles we encountered was the snow plow. As I was completely caught up in the scene at this stop, the clattering of the plow did not register until it was virtually on top of me. Then, I was startled by the intrusion on the calm.

I can't blame snow, but something certainly has made me quiet. While it is true that I have been deeply immersed in projects, that does not normally still my voice. Over the past few days, I have worked like mad—processing, printing, backing up, shooting, and exploring. But, I am virtually mute. I struggle to put five or six words together in a meaningful sequence. It is a peculiar state. I am not in a dark mood, nor am I overly reflective. Still, it isn't easy to put thoughts into words.

Up the Road to Jawbone Canyon

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Monday afternoon, we made a quick scouting trip to Jawbone and Red Rock Canyons. There wasn't any time for photography other than a few grab shots in the "drive-by" mode. But, my mouth is watering now that I have seen these two spots.

The verdigris colored rock in the photo here is known as Blue Point. It is located at the mouth of Alphie Canyon off Jawbone Canyon, and at the end of Alphie you would find the San Antonio mine. The color is produced by the oxidized copper in the rock. Kern County was mining country starting in the mid-nineteenth century and some of them continued producing until the 1940's. We see remnants of abandoned gold, silver, quartz, and copper mines off most of the old roads in our area. It's scouting trips such as this that make me regret not being thirty years younger, male, big, and strong. There is some fine exploring to be done up here.

We made the excursion because The Husband is looking for a place to ride outside Bear Valley Springs. Our slippery trails have him eager to escape. There is so little sand in the soil here that the water doesn't drain well and, with more rain and snow coming this weekend, it looks as though we won't dry out for months.

Jawbone and Red Rock seem to fit The Husband's needs fairly well. Plenty of sand. Of course, the downside is rocks. Because both our horses go barefoot (like most of the horses up here), he will need boots to handle the rocks; but, their first ride there on Wednesday went well. Jawbone is less than an hour away and is BLM land—no parking fees and miles of riding available. Some trails would not be advisable, since Jawbone is a favorite place for off-road enthusiasts. Being on the back of a horse going up a trail and meeting one of those vehicles coming down wouldn't make for a pretty picture.

I am working at talking The Husband into an overnight stay in Jawbone. The colors and formations of the rock are sure to produce some wonderful viewing in golden light. This is a trip we would want to make before May, because it does not sound like fun to be there on a blazing hot day. So far, he is lukewarm about the idea, but I am patient.

Snow—For a Few Hours

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Things got a little crazy around here for a few days, but I am back again. One thing about being out of touch for a bit is that there such a wealth of images to view and plenty of interesting reading to catch up on.

We had snow last Sunday, but it did not last long. Supposedly, we have more coming this weekend. Rather than snow, we have had mostly rain this year. Of course, if this year is anything like 2010, we could have snow as late as May.

I wish I knew what these seed pods are from. I haven't seen any others, but I will be watching for them now.

Posey

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Yesterday was one of those days when I was in the mood to lazily lean back in my rocking chair in front of the fireplace and enjoy the rain from our comfy living room. You have the picture, right? A throw around my shoulders, Sheltie at my feet, a little reading, some music, maybe a little television, and some time spent just watching the rain fall.

Switch the music, something allegretto now, and wipe that last image. Instead, I was working on the large order for my friend and client down south. Having printed proofs a week or so ago, I have spent some time each day, for the last few days, making those final tiny tweaks to all the images. This is definitely not therapy for my back. Quite the contrary. But, it is a labor of love.

Since these are the images on my mind, I thought I would share a couple of them with you. The horse in both of these pictures is one of her stallions, Posey. As you can see by the second image, My friend loves a fanciful approach. While she is a big fan of more straightforward, representational pictures, she also gets pretty excited about a few that are made into something outside reality. Early on in my processing of the files from that shoot last April, I had been playing in Photoshop one day and had fiddled around with this textured background made from a photo taken at her place. Later, when she viewed her sideshow to make selections, I showed her both versions of this one—the "straight" one with the out-of-focus background (same background as the one above) and this version. Without a second's hesitation, she went for the more fanciful treatment. 

Cub Lake

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Having been immersed in projects all day, my mind is darting about from thought to thought. I am writing this on Tuesday for publishing Wednesday morning, and I hope you will not expect anything more than random musings. Heck, it may not even be coherent.

I am missing my walks down at Cub Lake and out on Lower Valley Trail. Unfortunately, one of those boggy spots I mentioned Tuesday is right at the head of the walking path. Eventually, I will feel strong and stable enough to tromp right through the slick mud and slippery grass to pick up the path. Just not quite yet. The photo from Cub Lake was taken a couple of weeks ago and is indicative of my wishful thinking.

For now, I am still seeing quite a lot of our drive out to the road and today I ventured out along the road in front of neighbors' yards. The ground out there is uneven and wears me out faster than a level path, but that's good therapy for me.

Monday was a day for one of those hectic trips to Los Angeles. A medical appointment and some errands did not make for a romantic Valentine's Day, and there was no time for a trip to the camera store. However, we did enjoy lunch together at our favorite restaurant. I relished every bite of my pork taco and refried beans.  It was a low key and tiring day, but we spent it together and that's the best part of Valentine's Day.

Mostly Boggy, with Some Sunshine

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Since we moved here, the small pond at the BVS Equestrian Center has been nothing more than a hole in the ground. When I drove down there Thursday, I was quite surprised to see a real pond—full of water. Of course, I shouldn't have been surprised. We have had quite a lot of rain this winter. All our trails are still slick and there are small sections of the walking paths at the Cub Lake recreation area that remain under water.

The Husband has had his share of frustration with the wet trails. A couple of days ago, he took the chestnut out for a trail ride and ventured off the valley floor. Unfortunately, at the end of a steep grade, Lancer hit one of those slick spots and, after a brief slide, ended up standing three-legged with a scraped hind leg. After being hand-walked for about half-an-hour to the Equestrian Center, where The Husband hosed off the leg with warm water, Lancer was ready to go again. After a couple of days off, I'm happy to report that neither is the worse for wear.

We have been enjoying a long, lovely stretch of sunny weather, but this week the forecast includes rain. Not much snow this winter, but plenty of the wet stuff. It may be a few months before I start doing part of my walking down at Cub Lake.

Kern County Cowboys

Apparently, when Waylon and Willie were singing "Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys", they didn't get through to some mamas in Kern County. There are quite a few cattle ranchers up here. On our way to the DMV, earlier this week, we passed a bunch of cowboys branding calves and just had to steal a couple of minutes to take in the sights. The scene we saw was a rare treat for us. We see lots of cattle roaming the hills up here, but we have never run across a work day like the one we encountered that morning. There were half a dozen horse trailers parked off to the side and quite a good collection of riders along with those working on the ground.

It was fascinating to watch everyone work. No hotdogging, no drama, just getting the job done—roping, branding, castrating, vaccinating, all the jobs that have to be taken care of with each batch of new calves. The calves were squalling and their mamas were bawling—afraid for their babies. But, in the midst of the smoke, the dust, and the bawling the cowboys and cowgirls seemed to be in good spirits.

We parked across the road and watched the folks work for a bit before we had to scoot. We were hoping they might still be there when we came their way again. But, the crew was too efficient. By the time we got back the place was cleaned up, and you would never know that all those people and all those cattle had been there a couple of hours earlier.

Free at Last

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Lately, I haven't published posts about places I have been and I am combing through archives for photos. That is because I haven't been anywhere! Things have been very quiet in my life for a several months now.

But, things are finally changing. My endurance level has increased and, in the last few weeks, the pain level in my back has decreased dramatically. My left leg is still a bit strange. But, at least it actually feels like it belongs to my body.

Besides, my being mostly housebound was about more than physical issues. I haven't had a valid driver's license for months. It came due for renewal late last year and the last thing on my mind, at that time, was driving.

Tuesday, The Husband and cruised down to Arvin for my appointment to take the written test. (Yes, the photo, above, is another of those drive-by's and taken with the G7. I would love to say that I spotted the hawk first, then waited for the right moment. But, that would be a lie. We were moving way too fast. I am grateful for all gifts, great and small.)

All went well at the DMV, and I now have one of those temporary paper licenses that fills in, until I get the official one in the mail. By the way, I have read that, in California, the delay on those plastic cards can be two months—or more. Interesting, since the temporary license expires in two months. Hmmm. Wonder how that works?

Nevertheless, for now, I am a legal driver. I feel like a kid who just got out of school. At last, I am free to see how much driving I can do without stirring up my back. Being more independent will open up considerably more photo opportunities.  Hot dog! Time to fill up those hard drives.

To Computer Hell and Back

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Edit: Fixed the link.

I never went into detail about the computer chaos last week and thought I would elaborate a bit. When I booted up my system that fine morning, I found that two hard drives (a 500 GB and a 1TB) contained no data. Big surprise to me. They happened to be the master drive and the backup drive for 2010 and 2011. No big deal.  Eeeeeek!

After innumerable deadend efforts to locate the source of trouble, (including painful excursions on hands and knees under the desk checking connections) a System Restore restored the missing data. It was good to breathe again. The particular shade of blue I was acquiring is not a good color for me. I took a short break (believe me, I needed it), then returned to open CS3. I was ready to get to work, finally. But, no. I was greeted  by a charming little note from Adobe informing me that I had five days in which I must repair and re-validate my program. What?!!!

Now, to grasp the full impact of this notice you have to know something about the way my brain functions. When I see long strings of number, my eyes begin to cross, I start sweating, and breathing fast. (Admittedly, breathing fast is preferable to not breathing at all, but it still is not ideal.)  Naturally, the Adobe form and instructions consists of, you guessed, it several interminable strings of numbers. What we had was a 9.7 stage episode of formaphobia.

The Husband wasn't around to revive me had I passed out, so I braced myself and called the Adobe phone number hoping for the best. Somehow I got through the repair and validation still conscious. I even had a valid and fully functioning CS3.

By that time, I was wrung out and decided that, in the time that had elapsed from the moment I entered computer hell until I emerged, I had clearly lost an hour of my life.

Flash forward to 2031. Anita is winding down. When the moment comes, The Husband looks at the clock, shakes his head, then turns to the doctor and says, "I know she would be ticked off about this." "She had a good," the doctor begins. But, The Husband interrupts, "Had it not been for that computer scare back in 2011, she would have have had another hour to live. She would have been able to see the series finale of Justified." Of course, by that time Timothy Oliphant (as Raylan Givens) is quite gray and moving a bit slower, but Anita would still say, "That man does know to wear a hat and cowboy boots."
             
Note: I  realize that, in light of my silly ramblings, it's a bit macabre; but, yes, the photo, above, is from our Death Valley Trip. Let's not read anything into that. Okay?