Tag Archives: animals

A Day in the Life

Posted on by

Digital Photography School.com had a challenge this week. Record a “Day in the life.” It could be a friend , a pet, a stranger or in my case, I used me.

Remember the Comic strip Family Circus by Bill Keane? Billy never went from A to B in a straight line.That’s kind of what my day was like.

I normally have Monday off from work but we’re really short-handed these days so I volunteered to work Monday afternoon for a few hours. I set my alarm for 8:30 am since I didn’t have to be at work until 12:30. Seemed like a good chance to grab a little extra  shut-eye.

I should have known better. 7:30 am I am being pawed and pounced on by my 2 furry tormentors. Eventually they settled down (I guess they got the hint) and I dozed back off. But minutes later the alarm went off. I hit the snooze button dislodging Smokey who was camped out on my arm. Rocky was draped over my feet so I managed not to disrupt him.

I tried again but Smokey was sure that the noise from the alarm meant I should get up and like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors demanded  “FEED ME!” There was no getting around it so I gave in.

Cats fed, kitty litter changed, bed made, showered and dressed, I sat down for a quick breakfast and a dose of the news. Following the morning newscast it was time to check my emails, confirm my blog post had linked to my Facebook page and play a little Farmville.  I am slowly selling off the farm as it has become too time consuming. Really it’s out of control. I have other things to do with my time, like write blogs and clean my house now and then! 🙂

About 11 am I headed out the door to go to work. I took the long way and left early because I am on a quest for fall pictures and the extended forecast is for rain so I may not have much chance for outdoor work.

My first stop was at a Farm Stand loaded with pumpkins and gourds, corn stalks, hay bales and fall flowers.

Scarecrows

Attractive displays

Even Halloween

Next stop was the local convenience store. My lottery ticket had won me $2.00! Can’t get far on that so I just turned it in for 2 more tickets. Maybe I’ll get lucky.

Back on the road I stopped at the Herring run.

 Not much going on there today. So I headed on to Plymouth. Maybe I’ll just have time to grab a quick snack before my shift starts at 12:30. I pulled into the Wendy’s drive through at 12:02. While I waited for the line to move I spotted a late blooming flower so I took the picture right out the car window.

Wendy’s is right down the street from work so moments later I was pulling into the parking lot for my office.

By 12:25 I had finished my snack and entered the building.

At 4:30 my shift was over and I hopped back in my car to drive to Marshfield to the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary. I thought I was prepared. I had my sweatshirt hoodie, my hiking boots, my bug spray and all my camera gear. At Daniel Webster I sprayed myself down with Deep Woods Off and put the 300-500 zoom lens on the camera. I also strapped my tripod to the back pack and headed off to hike the trails. It was the perfect time for the animals to be active. The shadows were starting to get  long as dusk approached.

I did not expect the bugs to be so bad with all the spray I used but the mosquitos were a cloud! I pulled my sweatshirt on and pulled the hood tight to keep them off me and they still they got up my sleeves and behind my glasses… but I wasn’t ready to give up. And I wasn’t disappointed.

My favorite meadow off the trail called  The Secret Path was filled with deer. I love deer. They are such beautiful creatures.

Even though I couldn’t set up the tripod without spooking them I was able to brace myself enough to get a couple of pictures. I am so glad I had already set up with the big lens! But the mosquitos were having a field day with me so as much as I would have liked to stay longer I had to get moving again or be eaten alive..

I saw more deer along the trail and finally made it to the observation platform but the bugs were terrible there too so I turned back right away. I made one last stop in one of the blinds to get some relief from the cloud of insects.

I spent about 45 minutes in the blind hoping the bugs had given up. It was quiet. I saw some reeds moving but I couldn’t see what was causing it. There were no ducks or geese today. As it began to approach evening I stuck my nose out and was rewarded with a beautiful sunset and far fewer bugs. The temperature had dropped a little and that may have been why they gave up.  I snapped the sunset as I headed back to the car.

That pretty  much wraps up my day. It’s a pretty typical day. When I get home I can count on my kitties being at the door to greet me. I feed them and pet them  and fix my dinner.Then I  settle down to process the pictures I’ve collected over the course of the day. Sometimes I prepare a post for this space.

Often I get a call from my friend  JR.  He also enjoys photography and you can check out his work at http://www.jrstjeanphotography.com/

So I’ve completed my assignment from  http://www.digital-photography-school.com and I’ve brought you along with me for the day. I hope you enjoyed the peek into my life.

Highly Recommended!

Posted on by

One of my favorite bloggers  just went to Alaska. I was behind on my reading so just got a chance to check out her blog. If you want to find out about Alaska you have to check this out! I only made a quick visit just now but will be back after work to read this in detail and enjoy the awesome pictures.

It just looks amazing. If you are interested in Alaska, please take a minute to visit this blog! Tell them Dusty sent you! 🙂

http://homesteadramblings.wordpress.com/

Smokey’s home from the Vet

Posted on by

The news is all good at least for now. Due to  Smokey’s age he is starting to develope kidney problems. This is not unusual in older cats but there was no infection or anything like that. For now he is in the early stages and all are going to do is make some adjustments in his diet to try to reduce the stress on the kidneys.

He will have to have another blood panel in 6 months to monitor any changes so we can stay on top of it. As the condition progresses there are medications that can be introduced but we don’t have to go that route yet.

Rocky was happy to have his buddy home and calm seems to have returned to the household.

You can see Smokey’s picture in the gallery of Yankee Magazine’s cutest cat in New England photo contest. Rocky’s is there too.

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/ecard/index.php?action=See%20Photos&sortby=&category=108

Thanks for all the well wishes and support. Hopefully Smokey has a few more good years ahead of him.

D.W. Field Park

Posted on by

D. W. Field Park is located in the middle of the city of Brockton, Ma. I have heard of the park but I hadn’t been there before today.

I dropped Smokey off at the vet first thing this morning and wanted to stay close to home incase they called so I gave my friend Nancy a ring to see what she was  up to for the afternoon. I was thinking of going over to the Fuller Craft Museum where there is a pond on the grounds.  I thought I might be able to get some pictures there.

Nancy lives in Brockton so through the wonder of miscommunication she thought I wanted to go to the D. W. Field Park that surrounds the Fuller Craft Museum. Sometimes things have a way of working out just right!

I picked up Nancy and her 5-year-old  daughter Dawn and we headed over to the museum. I missed the turn into the Museum parking lot but Nancy assured me we could get in at the next left.

 I found myself pulling through an iron gate set in a stone fence. A paved road led us on into the park. As we drove Nancy pointed out picnic tables and pull offs for parking.

The park itself is over 700 acres of woodland and ponds that support a wide variety of native wildlife. There are over 7 miles of paved roads that wind through the park along with paths and trails for walking and hiking.

As we drove along we spotted a pull off across from one of the ponds. There were benches and loads of ducks, geese and swans. There were even some pigeons. I’d never seen a  brown/red pigeon before but there was one in this flock.

Dawn found some fuzzy caterpillars and seemed more interested in the bugs than the birds although she did feed a whole loaf of bread to the riotous avians and watched the feeding frenzy that followed.

We walked a little way along the pond until we came to a man-made waterfall that is the out source for the pond.

It’s a really beautiful area. It’s hard to believe you’re in the heart of a city. Once the leaves really start to change color this is going to be worth a return visit!

We wrapped up our afternoon with a visit to Asack’s Turkey Farm where they have 24 flavors of soft ice cream. We had the ice cream first then considering the time picked up Turkey pockets for dinner..yummm! The Turkey pockets have turkey breast, stuffing and cranberry sauce. The pockets are really stuffed full. They don’t skimp on the turkey, an excellent value.

Our bounty in hand I dropped Nancy and Dawn back at their home. Young Alex, Nancy’s 7 year old son, had just come home from school so I said my good byes and headed on to my other errands.

What a nice afternoon break!

Day 2 of the Great Kitty Collection

Posted on by

Well It’s day 2 of the so far fruitless pursuit of a urine sample from Smokey. 

 I’ve decided that I am not going to bother separating the cats. Yesterday was too stressful on all 3 of us. Rocky still isn’t eating which is not good for cats. When I got up (earlier than normal) I checked the cat litter hoping to get to it before Smokey let loose a flood but no luck. The Litter with special pellets is now sitting in the middle of the living room so I can keep an eye on it. I have to make sure Rocky doesn’t use it.

Of course Rocky is the cat who is showing interest not Smokey. He keeps going over and sniffing it. I keep calling him away. Of course that’s the way it’s going to be. If we aren’t successful today I won’t get to try again until next week because of my work schedule. It might be easier on all of us if I just take Smokey to the vet after all.