Or something…
Tag Archives: animal photography
Still the one
I think that Gully’s been feeling a bit left out since Levi came along, so I spent a bunch of extra time with him this week. (Shh, don’t tell him that I visited Levi in the cat house on my way out.) But to be fair, Levi is graduating out into the big boy pen next week and I won’t have the same “nowhere to run” access to him. He celebrated by bleating on the top of his little lungs for extended periods of time while standing on top of the stove. I held him one last time. Well, two last times, since he leapt from my arms on my first try. He’s already getting heavy. What a cutie…
Back to Gully!
I sat down with him and went to pet his head like I always do. He started bobbing and weaving to get away from my hand. This was so unlike him. I finally got close enough to check out the situation and saw that he was bleeding in the horn area. I, of course, got all panicky but it turns out that he’s just been spending his days head butting one of his buddies. I never said he was smart! In lieu of noggin scratches, I stroked his beard. He nodded off comically until his nose touched the bench, then he jerked back up. But he fell asleep!
You’ll always be number one in my book, Gully.
Filed under goats, gulliver, humor, photography, winslow farm
Little Levi
I visited the kid this week, whose been named Levi, and he firmly entrenched himself in my heart after I decided to pick him up. Expecting him to squirm out of my arms, I was surprised when he just went kind of limp. I cradled him and he looked at me for a bit and tried to shove his nose up my nostril. Then he started chewing on my chin. Pure bliss! Levi was trying to nurse! He sat there contentedly nibbling away while gazing into my eyes. I am not rendered speechless very often but barely a squeak emanated from me.
Sure, it’s blurry, but I couldn’t help sharing his failed attempt at climbing up onto this ledge.
Look at those little legs!!! Those tiny knees!!!!
I heavily contemplated walking out of the barn and driving right on home with him. Unlike last time when I was kind of kidding, this week I almost did.
Filed under goats, photography, winslow farm
From the Farm ~ PIGGIES!!!!
Waterford!
If you missed his video, check it out!
Opie!
More on this lovely girl here and I will post a video of her snoring under the mentioned blanket soon.
Napolean!
This guy has been stealing my heart for a while.
Filed under photography, waterford, winslow farm
Farmtastic! ~Snippets of the Week~
Where to begin?
Cubby was waiting to go inside when I arrived at the farm. He only has one eye now and the remaining one sees very little, but he plugs along. Such a little trooper!
“Who opens gates? Amateurs.”
Lunar, hamming it up at the fence!
“Uh, we’re waiting!”
Gully takes a scratching break.
Messy, messy girl!
Traffic jam…
I know they look like regular roosters, but these guys are about a foot long. Their INCREDIBLY LOUD voices certainly make up for their pint size, though.
“Yes, I am a gentleman. Why do you ask?”
Look for my post later in the week that’s all about the baby!
Words don’t even begin to cover it!
I am not sure that I can even explain how great it was being at the farm this week. I arrived and Deb asked me if I’d met the new addition. I just about fell over when I saw this little guy! He was so freaking CUTE!! All he did was eat hay – seriously. I visited him in the cat house twice. He spent the entire time face down stuffing himself – and try to avoid me petting his ears (unsuccessfully, I’d like to report).
I tried leaving a bunch of times and even got the “where are you?” phone call from Matt, worried that I was stranded somewhere, but I just couldn’t get out the door. He checked my bags when I got home to make sure I didn’t have a stowaway. I didn’t even tell him about my plans to steal the goat! Ah, love.
After I tore myself away from the little man the first time (sooo hard! Did you SEE his tiny horns???), I continued on to the barn and spent time with my friends. I did a little grooming, a bunch of feeding, a lot of petting and spent time antagonizing the pheasant (for reporting’s sake! Usually, he just antagonizes ME!!).
Being around my feathered stalker is like participating in the most violent game of Simon Says ever. When I leave the barn, he walks parallel to me. If I run, he runs. But when I look at him, he freezes. Turn my back? Oh, that’s just “game on” right there (don’t forget you have to tag Simon. This is his favorite part). Swing around to face him? Freeze! Closer and closer he gets until he can safely go in for the attack. When caught, he backs off and starts all over again and the dance continues. He was a bit confused in this video because I turned the tables by following him around. I definitely recommend watching the whole thing though, it’s worth it!
(See? Told you!)
I also brought my Nikon with me. My old rule of “no camera on working days” kind of went right out the window. I even went as far as balancing giant food bowls in one hand and the camera in the other in hopes of capturing everything I could. I’m starting a new trend here on Minding the Minis and will be posting more often. Get ready for Whimsical Wednesdays (where I’ll feature videos. I couldn’t think of a good video alliteration. Visual Vendsdays? Ohhh, vampires…) and Photo Fridays (obvious, but it works!)!!
It was a glorious day on the farm. The weather was even better than last week, there’s a new kid in town (HA!) and I spent time petting munchkins like this:
Can’t beat it!
Filed under bunnies, goats, pheasant, photography, videos, winslow farm
Horses and fashion!
I attended my first fashion photo shoot (ever) at work on Tuesday and spent much of the time hanging out with the two featured horses and their great owners. These two ladies answered SO many questions that I had about horses, horseback riding and their own experiences. I really appreciated their insights and how willing they were to part with the info. If you read this, Nancy and Jill, thank you for teaching me so much!
I meant to bring my Nikon with me but wasn’t sure how the day would play out so I didn’t. Next time I definitely will. But I have to say how happy I am with the quality of my iPhone, and it’s not even the newest generation. These boys, Chester and Cowboy, helped a great deal by standing still. They could teach the other animals in my life a thing or two about that!
This is Chester, contemplating the world outside his window as he patiently waited his turn. I watched as his hair was braided and he was so good while being poked and prodded. The photo doesn’t show off the work, but it was intricate.
Aaaaaand here he is grabbing a snack.
His cutie face! He was the busiest of the two horses, so I didn’t have as much of an opportunity to take photos of him as I did of his friend Cowboy. I took this after his modeling duties were finished and he was much more interested in asking for more carrots at this point than sitting still for a photo, but there’s no denying how handsome he is!
And this is Cowboy! He sat in the barn looking out at Chester, wondering why he wasn’t getting any carrots (to be honest, Chester was only getting to look at the carrots too, so he was probably thinking the same thing).
Time for your closeup, Cowboy!
The muscle definition on these gorgeous horses was intense and impressive. And they were so tall. I felt like the miniest-me standing next to them.
I can’t wait until the next photo shoot. I hope my new friends will be there!
Filed under horses, photography
Best Buddies?
Today when I went in for my weekly lovefest, I found Niko in Gulliver’s pen. I pet her for a while as Gully finished eating and then he turned around to face us. Niko was on my lap and Gully reached down and took a bite of her hair. As she cried out in pain, I said, “No, Gulliver! We don’t chew on our friends!”
For a while we sat there and I doled out the pets to both of them. I took a few flash photos and Gully protested by jumping off of the landing and stood outside the pen staring at me. Was I ever happy when he came back over (with significant pleading on my part, of course) and leaned his head back in the mix.
Oh, Mondays, how I love you.
Flash!
“No, thank you.”
PS ~ Sometimes Gully makes purring noises. I know, right?
Filed under behavior, cats, goats, gulliver, humor, photography, winslow farm
Tiny Aerialists
While going about my business this week, I flicked what I thought was one of the giant flesh-eating horse flies off of my head. Instead, I watched as a dragonfly did a swan dive off of me and landed on its back in the dirt. With any non-threatening bug or beetle, my reaction would be, “oh no! I’ve got to help!”, but with a dragonfly, that feeling goes so much deeper.
My kinship with dragonflies go back many many years. Instead of writing it out here, I am sharing a blog post from my other blog. I’m mainly doing this because there are photos and even a video on the post and they add to the story. Please take a moment to read the post here.
After that encounter, I started to interact more with dragonflies. I’ve noticed how willing they are to hang around and it thrills me to pieces. So potentially killing one that sought me out crushed me. I gingerly picked it up and, wanting to make sure it was ok, placed it on my shirt.
It stayed there for about half an hour while I carefully scooped the corral and got dinner ready for my other lovely friends. When I finally had a moment to focus, I turned my full attention on it. I did my sing-song request that I do to my cats when I want to hold them and I swear (and yes, I’m sure it was something completely unrelated but I’m the one living on this cloud), it lifted its two front legs and pushed them in and out way that was similar to a “pick me up” gesture. I put out a finger and the dragonfly climbed on. We stayed that way for a few minutes until it was ready to go. From there it flew up to the top of the barn door where I could keep an eye out. Eventually, while lost in my duties, it flew away.
I wish I had the words to encompass how the experience made me feel or to truly explain why I feel like I am so connected to these tiny creatures. Since moving to Mass, I’ve noticed more dragonflies and have had many small interactions with them, but having that dragonfly hold onto me like that was out of this world.
Filed under behavior, dragonflies, nature, winslow farm
Minding the Minis 