Why Do They Always Run?

I saw these goats as I was driving past this little farm, so I decided to stop and get a few pictures of them. As soon as I got near them they took off running as if I was some sort of terrible monster. Farm animals always seem to do this to me.

I wish I knew why they always run from me. Sure it could be that they run simply because I'm a stranger, but I always feel like that can't be all of it. Farm animals don't seem to run from other people like they do from me. Others get wonderful pictures of the animals coming up to them to be petted. I always get pictures of their backsides.

It doesn't seem like all animals run from me. Wild animals that should run frequently come right up to me. I used to be able to coax deer to come right up to me. I've even had a few of them motion for me to come closer. It's kind of weird when that happens.

Once I had six raccoons come running up and wrap themselves around my legs. At first I thought they were going to attack me, then I realized they just wanted to be friends. But then I couldn't get rid of them, so I ended up running for about a quarter of a mile over hills and valleys to get away from them. They were hot on my heels for most of the way, but I lost them when I ran through a creek.

Squirrels will routinely run right up to me and chatter at me angrily. They're the most feisty little critters I've ever seen. They seem to feel like every human in the forest has intruded on their land and they will give you a piece of their mind about it. In the end what they really give you is lots of good pictures.

But farm animals are the ones that run. Goats run more than most, but cows have run from me as well. Sheep react similarly to goats so I have plenty of pictures of the behinds of sheep too. I'd love to get that perfect picture of some of these animals, but they never want to cooperate.

So even though I live in farm country, I mostly avoid the farms for my pictures. I guess these running away pictures are still okay, but I'd rather have pictures of them running up to greet me. Wouldn't that be much more fun? Maybe I should take pictures of dogs, they like me. Or cats, there are plenty of those around here, some of them are even wild. Hmm, that's a thought. All sorts of new ideas. I'll talk to you later.

Beautiful Cows

These cows are the subject of my very last pictures from this winter. I wanted to post this before all of my spring pictures and adventures overtake them. These cows posed for me so patiently that I just had to share them with the world. They looked right at the camera for me.

I really think they were just probably wondering who the nut was who was pointing the stupid box at them. I don't think anyone ever did that to them before. Why would they? There are cows all over the place around here.

I was interested in them because they were a pretty good sized herd. There are plenty of bigger herds of cows around here, even right across the road from these at times, but this was the biggest I saw at the time that were close to the road.

I told you before that I'd look around for anything I could find around here to be the subjects of my pictures. My time lately has been kind of limited so because of that I've been running out of ideas. I still look for the buffalo, but that can turn kind of monotonous. The days also have been alternating between warmer and cold.

Just the day before yesterday we had summer type temperatures where I didn't even need a jacket. Yesterday evening it snowed a little. That makes it a little difficult to make good plans to go out exploring, but I've been able to do it. The warmer days will happen more and more often now.

I already have some new pictures, so I'll have something more for you than cows in my next post. I have to admit though that I love the cows because they remind me that I'm home. I've never felt at home like I do here. I don't even notice the smell anymore. Cow smell permeates everything around here. Back around Detroit, petroleum smell permeates everything. You only notice if you haven't been to either place in a long time.

I have something good for my next post. I'm thinking a lot about it. I'll talk to you later.

They Ran Away From Me

I found this sheep farm as I was driving down the road the other day. I thought to myself that I don't have any pictures of sheep yet so I stopped and got out of the truck to get some special pictures. The sheep were hanging around near the fence so I just knew this was going to be a great time.

I lifted my camera, and that's exactly when it happened. Those rotten sheep ran away from me! I didn't do anything special to make them run. All I did was lift my camera to my face. Just standing there seemed to be okay with them, but that camera made them head for the hills, literally. Look in the background. There are the hills.

I started out with the intention of getting some good closeup pictures of sheep, and what did I end up with. This picture of a bunch of sheep's butts. So what did I do next? I decided to share this picture of my misery with you. Hey, at least I got a picture of sheep. I'll talk to you later.

Trying Out HDR Photos

I decided to try out the HDR setting on my camera the other day. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. What this setting does is take a few pictures with different exposures and then combines them for a picture with extra detail.

When this is done right your pictures can seem to pop right out of the screen. I'm not really sure I did it right. Actually with my camera you can't do it really wrong, but I think my subjects maybe weren't quite right for this kind of photography.

I think the pictures turned out fine enough, but they aren't quite what I was hoping for. So, what was I hoping for? I'm still not exactly sure. Maybe these are just fine and I'm just nitpicking. Sometimes I think my problem is that I'm really never happy with the pictures I take.

The pictures do really seem to capture the colors of the scenes the way they looked when I was there. You can see in the pictures that the sky was really clear that day. It was very bright outside, and maybe that caused the negative effect that I feel I am seeing. And maybe I'm just imagining the whole thing.

I'm going to try this HDR setting again, but I'm going to choose some different subjects for the pictures. Maybe I'll choose something like a barn or a farmyard scene. That might work better than these cornfields. I think the cornfields are kind of ugly this time of year anyway, in one way of thinking.

I know I seem negative about the whole thing. That's just the way things come out with me sometimes. But the whole experience was a positive one. I was able to begin trying out the different features of my camera, so I'm gaining so new knowledge. And I've been getting more pictures, so I've been having a lot of fun. That's always a good thing. I'll talk to you later.

A Giant Turkey

I almost didn't get this post up today. I took too long messing around with other stuff. Can you see the subject of my picture? It's a giant turkey made from a bale of hay. I thought it was a pretty fun idea. I've been driving past this thing for a while and I finally decided to take out my camera phone and get a picture.

The phone takes pictures okay, but they're not always the best. I'm going to have to get out there with my good camera and get some pictures. This time of year I start falling behind with these things. There's actually a lot of stuff around here to get pictures of. Maybe I'll swing back by this turkey with my good camera and see how the picture comes out.

I have to say I felt a little creepy while I took this picture because there was a guy watching me from the garage in the background. I decided that only one picture was good enough this time. I'll go back and take ten. I don't think he really minded though. After all, he obviously made the turkey so it would be looked at. I'll talk to you later.