Not literally---

Allow me to indulge in a minor rant for a moment. I just heard a very sincere sounding lady on the radio describe how her son would "literally" fall apart after his school day. Really? I don't remember reading the news reports of this event, which would no doubt have been worthy of some public attention. The child did not *literally* fall apart. His head and appendages were still attached to his body at the end of his meltdown. What happened was that he "figuratively" fell apart. I didn't set out to write about this today, but it's an ongoing source of irritation for me since the term has become not just over-used, but *incorrectly* over-used, which is even more annoying. "Literally" means that whatever it was that is being described *actually in real life* happened. What most people mean when they use "literally" is "figuratively"--it was

*as if * he fell apart, or he *metaphorically * fell apart.

Meanwhile, back at the original subject matter for the day, I would like to report that last week we did indeed get snow, and wind, and cold, and freezing rain, and ice. All at once, and for a fair length of time. We were ground zero of what has been described as a "weather bomb" that started detonating here in Saskatchewan and carried on to make big trouble in several provinces and about thirteen states. Here in the Saskatoon area we didn't get hit quite as hard as the south of the province, but it was still bad enough, thank you very much. Luckily that was then, and this is now, and we are once again in the midst of rising and moderating temperatures, the ice on the sidewalks has melted, and things are generally looking pretty nice for the coming week.

I really am going to have to catch the darn goldfish from the outdoor pond before it ices over for the rest of the winter, and that's always a lot easier to do when not working around large chunks of floating ice. Goodness knows I've "gone fishing" many times in the last couple of months for the one fish that's left in there, but he is fast, suspicious, and elusive. At least when the weather gets good and cold they slow down quite a bit. Likely (and tediously) we'll have to drain most of the water to get at him, but it's got to be done and we're lucky to have semi-decent weather in which to finish the job.

Before the bad weather hit, I was out to my friend Vonda's to do a late fall shoot of her young horses (and her very old one). In addition to a nice collection of Warmbloods, Vonda has a varied selection of cats of many shapes, sizes and colours. This fine fellow was enjoying the warmth of the morning sun from his perch atop the fence when I arrived for my photo shoot. Getting a nice shot of a grand cat is always a good start to any photo session in my books.

On to the actual subject matter of the shoot at Vonda's, here is young Galahad trotting out in the pasture. This is the youngster that was orphaned by the death of his mother when he was only a few weeks old (several months ago now), and was "adopted" by Grandpa Cody, a 32 year old gelding who has taken on the job of mentor and care-taker. As can been seen in this shot, Galahad has been thriving in his situation and is a healthy, handsome, and lively young fellow.

I always like it when I can get shots with this old building in the background (I'm a sucker for falling-down old structures with history). This one is reputed by local lore to have been used briefly in an earlier time by the outlaw Jesse James, who is reported to have hidden out in the Dundurn, Saskatchewan area, which is nearby. Makes for a good story, but whether it can be verified is another question.

Shot three shows the front of the main barn at Ebon Stables when I got there early Tuesday afternoon. The drive out was harrowing, and at one point I contemplated securing my camera bag with a seatbelt so the camera wouldn't be harmed when I slid off the road into the ditch, but somehow I made it to my destination by driving very slowly and with a lot of luck. I did head towards a steepish slope at the side of the road with a body of water at the bottom of it after encountering a particularly hazardous stretch of ice, but somehow I stayed on the road.

I now have an appointment to get the winter tires on my vehicle as I don't think my nerves would stand another driving session like that one. As to the photo, I think it would likely be safe to put the golf cart away soon, although it will certainly still be usable this week as all the snow has now melted.

Shot four shows one of the barn cats trying to keep her feet dry while she waits for someone to open the door and let her into the barn.
Shot five is the sight that greeted me at the side of the driveway when I got home from the barn. My lovely fall-flowering aster hung in through the snow, but minus 10 (C) temperatures since then have wilted the lovely flowers and the leaves and it's a sad-looking spectacle now.