Field trip

Last week painter Val Hinz and I made a field trip to a friend's farm. We were last there in the spring (well, really more like late winter for the amount of snow on the ground then), and despite our intentions of returning in the summer, it's taken this long for all of us to get on the same page, one way and another. 

We've had the occasional day of less than stellar weather in the last week or so, and the day of our outing dawned as a dim and very foggy prospect. We don't get much fog around these parts, and I am always quite happy to shot in the fog, so off we went as planned. The main concern was actually getting to the quiet country grid road that leads to the farm. To do that, we had to drive through the city and then cross a couple of fairly busy highways. That was quite nerve-wracking as the fog was thick enough in the north of the city that we really had to make a calculated assessment/guess of whether there was on-coming traffic, then dodge across quickly hoping for the best. Luckily we made it to the grid, and proceeded slowly with many stops for photos on our way to the farm.

Shot one shows a raven flying through the mist in front of a stand of trees at the side of the road. There were about a half-dozen of them along with a couple of crows and magpies all in one area. I may need to go back to this hang-out on a sunny day to try again for corvid shots. No such thing as enough shots of them.

A little farther along we came to a herd of cows that were fairly near to the road. Val has an interest in doing cow paintings, so she wanted some shots for her files. I was entertained by this pair who were enjoying each other's company. The cow on the left was giving the one on the right a thorough going-over with her tongue, much in the way a mother cat would give her kitten a good cleaning. I don't know if these two are mother and daughter, or are just good friends.

There were a couple of new work-horses at the farm this time round. Both were harnessed up ready to do chores when the time came, and in the meantime were just hanging out and munching on some handy hay bales. I was fascinated by the one in shot three due to its very interesting haircoat. When I asked my friend about the breed input on this one, I learned that it was a Belgian, Curly and Appaloosa cross. The Curly influence definitely predominates in the coat. I've never seen a Curly of any sort before, and was quite fascinated by this horse. I'm curious to see how this kinky coat will look once it has thickened up for winter.

There's always an abundance of barn cats on this farm, and a couple of good farm dogs, one an older veteran, and this handsome young black fellow (black lab/Great Pyrenees cross) who is taking over the more active work of guarding the property and keeping an eye on things. He and all of the cats have a wonderful relationship, as can be seen by shot four.

Shot five shows the herd trotting in the mid-distance out in their pasture. One of the many reasons I enjoy trips to this farm is the interesting variety of species and breeds that co-exist there. The horse breeds represented in this shot consist of Canadians (the two front ones), then the two Hackney fillies, one Clyde, the Quarter horse, followed by the llama and the final Clyde bringing up the rear. Quite the collection of sizes and shapes!