40 Acres More or Less

Dogs small. Trees big.

2012-02-20T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken late January-early February, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2012-02-19T05:00:00.003-05:00

Harbingers

February Garden Activities and Chores in Red Bluff
USDA Zone 9
Compiled by Karen and Mike Garofalo
Green Way Research, Red Bluff, California

Browsing and ordering from seed and garden catalogs.
Pruning leafless trees and shrubs.
Weeding and tending the winter vegetable garden.
Relax and read books from the library.
The soil is usually too wet and cold for much digging.
Keeping cold sensitive potted plants in protected areas or indoors.
Make sure that the cuttings in protected areas do not dry out.
Repair fences.
Put straw mulch over fertilized vegetable garden areas not planted.
Distribute fertilizer and minerals.
Prune and mulch dormant perennials.
Remove dead trees, shrubs, branches, and twigs.
Enjoy the bulbs and rosemary in bloom.
Repair and sharpen tools.
Construct gardening boxes and flats.
Keep hardwood cuttings moist.
Write a poem. Keep a gardening journal.
Fertilize with 20-9-9 or 15-15-15.
Trees without leaves need little or no watering.
Take a walk in your garden.
Sit and observe.

Wintergold

2012-02-18T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken January 30, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Change Happens

2012-02-17T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken January 29, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Gone Under

2012-02-16T05:00:00.005-05:00

Taken January 28, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Picking a Path

2012-02-15T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken January 24, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Wintergreen

2012-02-14T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken January 23, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Ice Week Plus: Ice is Us

2012-02-13T05:00:00.008-05:00

Taken January 21, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2012-02-12T05:00:00.001-05:00

Not only are roses red.

click for larger

My Funny Valentine
by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

My Funny Valentine
Sweet Comic Valentine
You Make Me Smile With My Heart
You're Looks Are Laughable,
Unphotographable
Yet You're My Favorite Work Of Art
Is Your FigureLess Than Greek
Is Your Mouth A Little Weak
When You Open It To Speak
Are You Smart
Don't Change A Hair For Me
Not If You Care For Me
Stay Little Valentine Stay
Each Day Is Valentine's Day

Ice Week: Slick

2012-02-11T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken January 21, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Ice Week: White on White

2012-02-10T05:00:00.009-05:00

Taken January 22, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Ice Week: Topped Out

2012-02-09T05:00:00.007-05:00

Taken January 21, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Ice Week: Meeting Over Ice

2012-02-08T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken January 19, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Ice Week: A Freak of Nature

2012-02-07T05:00:00.005-05:00

Taken January 15, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Play Date

2012-02-06T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken January 14, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2012-02-05T05:00:00.001-05:00

Did you hear something?

click for larger

Fallen Trees
by Murphy Payne

Throughout the forest
I see fallen trees
Old, wrinkled
And full of character

Year after year
They left behind
Their leaves, their bark
And good feelings about life

A resting place
For birds and squirrels
A shelter place
With food for others

They took in the sun
And made shade
They broke in the wind and rain
And gave us the calm

As they lay in state
Still giving
Lending life to those now
They could not while living

And when they died
The forest cried
Birds stopped singing
But their seeds survived.

More and more
Sometimes I think
That I am a tree
Or at least someday
Hope to be

Round and Round and Round Some More

2012-02-04T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken January 16, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Take a Bow

2012-02-03T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken January 13, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Light and Blue

2012-02-02T05:00:00.008-05:00

Taken January 15, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Lines and Textures

2012-02-01T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken January 14, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Garden of Ice: Blooming for Dina

2012-01-31T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken January 18, 19, and 22, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Looking for a Glorious Morning

2012-01-30T05:00:00.008-05:00

Taken January 10, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2012-01-29T05:00:00.001-05:00

Arches & Columns

click for larger

Winter Morning
by William Jay Smith

All night the wind swept over the house
And through our dream
Swirling the snow up through the pines,
Ruffling the white, ice-capped clapboards,
Rattling the windows,
Rustling around and below our bed
So that we rode
Over wild water
In a white ship breasting the waves.
We rode through the night
On green, marbled
Water, and, half-waking, watched
The white, eroded peaks of icebergs
Sail past our windows;
Rode out the night in that north country,
And awoke, the house buried in snow,
Perched on a
Chill promontory, a
Giant's tooth
In the mouth of the cold valley,
Its white tongue looped frozen around us,
The trunks of tall birches
Revealing the rib cage of a whale
Stranded by a still stream;
And saw, through the motionless baleen of their branches,
As if through time,
Light that shone
On a landscape of ivory,
A harbor of bone.

Island in the Stream

2012-01-28T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken January 10, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

A Frosty Grace

2012-01-27T05:00:00.007-05:00

Taken January 8, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

There's a Hole in the Sky

2012-01-26T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken January 8, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Background Color

2012-01-25T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken January 7, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

In the Grasp

2012-01-24T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken January 7, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Life's Just a Stroll on the Beach

2012-01-23T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken January 6, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2012-01-22T05:00:00.001-05:00

"No tongues."

click for larger

A Puppy's Prayer
by Unknown

Now I lay me down to sleep,
The king-size bed is soft and deep..
I sleep right in the center groove
My human being can hardly move!
I've trapped her legs, she's tucked in tight
And here is where I pass the night
No one disturbs me or dares intrude
Till morning comes and "I want food!"
I sneak up slowly to begin
my nibbles on my human's chin.
She wakes up quickly,
I have sharp teeth-
I'm a puppy, don't you see?
For the morning's here
and it's time to play
I always seem to get my way.
So thank you Lord for giving me
This human person that I see.
The one who hugs and holds me tight
And shares her bed with me at night!

Ice and Shiny

2012-01-21T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken January 4, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Creating a Brilliant Ending

2012-01-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

Taken January 4, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Icing the Edge

2012-01-19T05:00:00.004-05:00

Taken January 3, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Snow Squall

2012-01-18T05:00:00.004-05:00

Taken January 2, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Finding Myself

2012-01-17T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken December 31st, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Zen Sniff Ponders the Etymology of January

2012-01-16T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken January 2, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2012-01-15T05:00:00.000-05:00

Meeting the Demands of Dogs

click for larger

Walkers with the Dawn
by Langston Hughes

Being walkers with the dawn and morning,
Walkers with the sun and morning,
We are not afraid of night,
Nor days of gloom,
Nor darkness--
Being walkers with the sun and morning.

On the Edge of Change

2012-01-14T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken December 30, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Good Night Moon

2012-01-13T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken December 29, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Garden of Ice V (and final)

2012-01-12T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken December 26, 28, 2011 and January 2, 2012.
Click image to see larger version

Plain and Simple

2012-01-11T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken December 25, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Before and After the Fall

2012-01-10T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken December 23, 2011.
Click image to see larger version
h/t to Jim for the title.

So Close and So Far Away

2012-01-09T05:00:00.001-05:00

Both taken December 28, 2011.
Click images to see larger versions

Sunday Poetry Post

2012-01-08T05:00:00.002-05:00

Changing States

click for larger

States of Matter Poem
By: Shannon Harris

States of matter here and there
Different forms everywhere
In solids and liquids
And gases in the air
The pressure forced on you that you can’t bear
Could it be that Boyle’s law or Charles’s law
Will explain it to you
And don’t forget plasma, a state of matter, too.
Next comes change of state, the changing of one
Form to another
There are different ways to do this
Could it be melting, or freezing
Or vaporization, Oh brother!
It could be that boiling is the way to go
Or maybe evaporation or condensation
For a show
Sublimation or the conversion of a solid
To a gas
Don’t forget liquid, which you bypass.

Waltz Me Again

2012-01-07T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken December 22, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Color Between the Lines

2012-01-06T05:00:00.005-05:00

Taken December 21, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Garden of Ice IV

2012-01-05T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken December 12, 17, 25, 2011.
Click images to see larger versions

Passed Time

2012-01-04T05:00:00.000-05:00

Taken December 19, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Sturm und Drang

2012-01-03T05:00:00.005-05:00

Taken December 15, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

A Fog of Dogs

2012-01-02T05:00:00.007-05:00

Taken December 18, 2011

Taken December 20, 2011.

Click images to see larger versions

Sunday Poetry Post

2012-01-01T05:00:00.002-05:00

Waving Out and In

Fairy-tale Logic
by A.E. Stallings

Fairy tales are full of impossible tasks:
Gather the chin hairs of a man-eating goat,
Or cross a sulphuric lake in a leaky boat,
Select the prince from a row of identical masks,
Tiptoe up to a dragon where it basks
And snatch its bone; count dust specks, mote by mote,
Or learn the phone directory by rote.
Always it’s impossible what someone asks—

You have to fight magic with magic. You have to believe
That you have something impossible up your sleeve,
The language of snakes, perhaps, an invisible cloak,
An army of ants at your beck, or a lethal joke,
The will to do whatever must be done:
Marry a monster. Hand over your firstborn son.

Let's Dance the Night Away

2011-12-31T05:00:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year's Eve.

Taken December 13, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Garden of Ice III

2011-12-30T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken December 8,9, 10, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Rising Above

2011-12-29T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken December 11, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

A Shadow of Design

2011-12-28T05:00:00.008-05:00

Taken December 7, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

My Impressions Are Golden

2011-12-27T05:00:00.004-05:00

Taken December 10, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

2011-12-26T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken December 5, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2011-12-25T05:00:00.006-05:00

Have a berry, berry, berry Christmas

click for larger

Maniac Magee
by Jerry Spinelli
(Excerpt from Chapter 31)

Snow had fallen several days before. In much of the town it had been plowed, shoveled, and slushed away; but in the park -- along the creek, the woods, the playing fields, the playground -- it still lay undisturbed, save for the tracks of rabbits and squirrels. Beyond the tall pines, stars glittered like snowflakes reluctant to fall.

They visited their tree. They stood silently, just to be near it, letting the magic of it drift over them. In the pine-patched moonlight, the Queen Anne's goblets looked for all the world like filigreed silver.

They walked the creek woods all the way to the zoo, meandering wordlessly throughout the snowy enchantment. As if by design, they both stopped at the same spot, above the half-submerged, rooty clump of a fallen tree. Somewhere under there, they knew, was the den of a family of muskrats. The old man laid a pine branch at the doorway. Maniac whispered: "Merry Christmas."

A Monstrously Good Christmas

2011-12-24T05:00:00.001-05:00

to all who celebrate it.

Taken December 9, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Garden of Ice II

2011-12-23T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken December 1 and 2, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Signs of Things to Come

2011-12-22T05:00:00.008-05:00

Greetings to Winter 2011

Taken November 29, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Living in the Sticks

2011-12-21T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken November 26, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Another Way of Seeing Sunset

2011-12-20T05:00:00.008-05:00

Taken November 25, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Bebo and Sniff Dream Warm Thoughts for Beth

2011-12-19T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken December 11, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2011-12-18T05:00:00.002-05:00

Green glass, goblin.

click for larger

from Land of Heart's Desire
by William Butler Yeats

Come, faeries, take me out of this dull house!
 Let me have all the freedom I have lost;
 Work when I will and idle when I will!
 Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
 For I would ride with you upon the wind, 
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
 And dance upon the mountains like a flame.

Hanging on for Dear Life

2011-12-17T05:00:00.006-05:00

Taken November 27, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Stratified

2011-12-16T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken November 21, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Close-up Moon Shot?

2011-12-15T05:00:00.006-05:00

Taken November 21, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Bathing the Moon

2011-12-14T05:00:00.001-05:00

A bit of weirdness: this is at sunrise and it's in the southern sky.

Taken November 19, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Garden of Ice

2011-12-13T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken November 18, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Not Standing for It

2011-12-12T05:00:00.006-05:00

Bebo joins Zen Sniff in pondering the grave injustice of being made to go outside when the humans leave.

Taken November 24, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2011-12-11T05:00:00.001-05:00

Outside Looking Out

click for larger

Window
by Adélia Prado

A pretty word, window.
Window: the wingbeat of the yellow butterfly.
Two carelessly painted wooden shutters open out,
clumsy blue window.
I jump in and out of you, ride you like a horse,
my foot dragging the ground.
Window on the open world, from where I saw
Anita, expecting, get married, Pedro Cisterna’s
mother urinating in the rain, from where I saw
my love arrive on a bicycle and say to my father:
I have only the best intentions regarding your daughter.
O wooden-latched window, child’s play for thieves,
peephole on my soul,
I look into my heart.

Finding Focus

2011-12-10T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken November 15, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Hanging On Till the End of Day

2011-12-09T05:00:00.007-05:00

Taken November 16, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Speckled Things

2011-12-08T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken November 14, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

We Lichen Rocks

2011-12-07T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken November 10, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Going the Distance

2011-12-06T05:00:00.005-05:00

Taken November 9, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Follow the Leader?

2011-12-05T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken November 19, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2011-12-04T05:00:00.001-05:00

Floral Fungus

click for larger

Dirge in Woods
by George Meredith

A wind sways the pines,
And below
Not a breath of wild air;
Still as the mosses that glow
On the flooring and over the lines
Of the roots here and there.
The pine-tree drops its dead;
They are quiet, as under the sea.
Overhead, overhead
Rushes life in a race,
As the clouds the clouds chase;
And we go,
And we drop like the fruits of the tree,
Even we,
Even so.

A Farewell to Color

2011-12-03T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken November 7, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Over the Edge

2011-12-02T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken November 7, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Covering the Spread

2011-12-01T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken November 6, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Color by Sunset

2011-11-30T05:00:00.002-05:00

Both taken November 5, 2011.
Click images to see larger versions

Frost by November

2011-11-29T05:00:00.002-05:00

Click image to see larger version

Life on the Edge

2011-11-28T05:00:00.007-05:00

Taken November 6, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2011-11-27T05:00:00.002-05:00

Looking For a Place to Hide from Winter

click for larger

A Noiseless Patient Spider
by Walt Whitman

A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark’d, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them—ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,—seeking the spheres, to connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form’d—till the ductile anchor hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.

Remembrance of Seasons Past

2011-11-26T05:00:00.003-05:00

Taken November 4, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Bound for Burnt Umber

2011-11-25T05:00:00.005-05:00

Taken November 2, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Always Thankful

2011-11-24T05:00:00.001-05:00

Taken November 7, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

High Contrast

2011-11-23T05:00:00.009-05:00

Both taken November 1, 2011.
Click images to see larger versions

One Fine Day

2011-11-22T05:00:00.005-05:00

All photos taken October 31, 2011.
Click images to see larger versions

As Easy As Dogs on Logs

2011-11-21T05:00:00.001-05:00

Click images to see larger versions

Sunday Poetry Post

2011-11-20T05:00:00.001-05:00

Light in November

click for larger

Earth
by John Hall Wheelock

"A planet doesn't explode of itself," said drily
The Martian astronomer, gazing off into the air—
"That they were able to do it is proof that highly
intelligent beings must have been living there."

Because Candis Said

2011-11-19T05:00:00.001-05:00

that I should post these two pictures together ("they really complement each other in a micro/macro way"), I am.

Both taken October 30, 2011.
Click images to see larger versions

Both Sides Then

2011-11-18T05:00:00.002-05:00

Both taken October 29, 2011.
Click images to see larger versions

Red and Gold Recalled

2011-11-17T05:00:00.000-05:00

Both taken October 28, 2011.
Click images to see larger versions

Beeches: Near and Far, More and Less

2011-11-16T05:00:00.011-05:00

Both taken October 27, 2011.
Click images to see larger versions

Morning Drive

2011-11-15T05:00:00.002-05:00

Taken October 26, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

What a Maroon

2011-11-14T05:00:00.004-05:00

Taken October 31, 2011.
Click image to see larger version

Sunday Poetry Post

2011-11-13T05:00:00.002-05:00

Waiting

click for larger

Learning the Patience of the Spider....
by Ric S. Bastasa

by patience is the
spider's trick &
i am learning
such virtue, &
when i am
confronted with
such a situation
that demands
the quick action
of temper, I,
simply spit,
spin my web
& in it, I,
entangle you.