harvest moon delight

Years ago I scouted local-ish Astrophotography locations. Most are a long drive, making it daunting to return. Saturday night, I decided to go back to one that had been on my mind for over a decade. I had read the Harvest Moon would be the brightest in five years. I don't shoot the moon very often. I checked some data, and decided it would be good to dust off my old camera. It had been a long time since I have gone on a photography road trip. 

Although I never saw the Northern Lights the first night I was there. The trip was still worth it. I remember being in jaw dropping awe, while watching the enormous moonrise I happened upon. Perhaps it would happen again. You won't know unless you try. 

Brad had planned on cooking a delicious meal. However, my wonderful husband changed his plans and decided to go with me. I was extra thankful he did! Later in the evening, a motorcycle passed by me. Shortly afterwards, the guy turned around and came back. It felt odd. I highly doubt he saw Brad sitting in the truck. The motorcycle pulled into the empty (except our vehicle) parking area for a while. Probably innocent. However with Brad there, I could focus on shooting the moon instead of worrying.

Saturdays evening sky was cloudy. I had my doubts. What if we drove all that way and didn't see the moonrise? Thankfully the closer we got to the boat launch area, the clearer the eastern sky became.

We arrived. Yikes! The waterway had overgrown and closed in. I had thought about bringing muck boots. You couldn't even SEE towards the East! Doubt I would have temped fate, in stinky muddy unknown water. 

boat launch 9/26/26

We went over to another spot, further down the road with a wide open view. It was on higher ground. The view was not what I remembered, but at least I could actually see the moonrise!

The best place to photograph was next to a low road bridge, flanked with double large caution signs. I prefer not to stand, walk or even be close to a road. I set my tripod up regardless, and stood back on a wide section of shoulder and waited. 

I was SUPER excited when I spotted a sliver edge of the moon rising over the distant hillside!! I am sure the occasional passing car thought I was completely nuts. 

rising fast

While watching the moon rise rapidly, I started to realize a fun shot *might* just happen. I kept clicking, watched and waited. In suspense.

I played with some camera settings, enhanced in post. The moon continued to rise in the direction of...

...a tree!!! Ta Da! A classic moon shot. My favorite shot/s.

Harvest Moon Delight

wider view with a balanced moon



iphone view from tripod (very bright outside)

I turned around (always turn around!) to shoot the start of sunset with my phone.

the sky was pretty and ever changing

last shot from the road

Mosquitos started getting bad. Time to head home. If the water had been clearer I would have held out while swatting, for some reflection shots. 

moon shot through some weeds

The evening light continued to change quickly. Manual camera settings need adjusting. My camera started picking up the sky as a solid darker royal blue. The moon was more white and defined. The shot below is probably my best shot of the actual moon. Taken with my trusty shorter 70-200mm lens. I used it on all these non-phone shots. In hind-sight I probably should have hauled at least my wider angle, and maybe my 100-400mm w/w-out adapter. Or both. Instead, I enjoyed less fussiness. Less bracketing. Less elusive perfect shot-ness.

All that to say, I like capturing moments with simple less processed photography. However I do crop, sometimes slide a value or two and have to sharpen (I shoot Raw) all my photos.

On the way home, I watched a few cool cloud veils masking the moon. I wanted to shout "pull over" LOL. It didn't last long, and the moon went behind thick clouds.

We were almost home when my phone told me the Northern Lights were active. Whatever. Our area was socked in with clouds anyways. After a long drive and a good night of photography, we were tired and hungry.

g'night!

what is going on...

...and where is all this going to end up? 

I wonder. Most every day. Que a venting post. Not meant to be political, just concerning. Feel free to scroll past. Not that anyone will even see this post!!!

Let's start with Blogger. If you use it, then I can only assume you are experiencing similar dysfunctional issues. One of several issues is my read feed stopped working. It has been a minute since it pulled up blogs/posts that I follow. These days, I either have to remember the blog name to search or click on a commenter name. I've unintentionally lost track of multiple blogs.

More recently, I received an email notification warning me multiple videos (of mine) are being deleted. That brings up SO many questions! I totally get digital restructuring. I used to work in the digital world. Why those specific video's? Oh, but they can be added back. Okay. Whatever. Not that important.

Proof that a blog does not securely keep information from vanishing.

In the email I received Blogger folks (AI?) recommended downloading the entire blog. I have downloaded my blog several times. Earlier versions are saved on a hard drive. However, a buncha of outdated code doesn't do much for preserving memories. I just might have to bump an edited hard copy version up on my endless to do list.

............

Onto phone issues. Our Cell Phone provider was bought out. More cell towers and more reach/service! Wouldn't that be great, if only it was true. We went from spotty service, to days of flat out nothing going out/coming in. It is random and not just for those of us living in the country. Our city friends are experiencing the same problems. What if we have an emergency? Send smoke signals?! Perhaps time for a new provider.

............

Hot off the press, AI is growing so rapidly that humans that developed it no longer understand what it is doing/capable of doing. If you read the news at all, then you already know humans are being outsmarted. If nothing is done to control/guide the crazy AI development, we may likely cease to exist by the end of the decade. Absolutely frightening!! Sounds like a horror film (starring AI created actors) that could turn into a documentary. IF there are even any real humans left to watch it.

What kind of world will be left for our grandchildren??

Hopefully people way smarter than I am will figure out how to save our precious irreplaceable earth, and those of us living on and loving it.

As for me, I will keep dreaming of sunshine and rainbows.

almost missed this outside our front door

9.21.26

land of wonders ~ august 2026

August came and went. It always feels like a long busy month and not because it has more numbered days. Summer closing is the height of garden harvesting and hay season. We try enjoying outdoor life during what is also typically the height of bugs, heat and humidity. A lot of sweat soaked clothes and cooling off breaks happened. Along with these:

I noticed a bright orange thingee peaking out under a plant, right by our front door. It looked like sorta like a tropical snake. I tapped it and accidentally snapped it. Whoopsie.

Google ID: Stinkhorn
(photo is not upside down)
8/2/26

Pretty Brown Winged Wonder

Google ID: Common Sootywing butterfly

What is there not to love about surprise self-seeded plants?! No proper gardens here. Self seeded Marigolds put the purchased ones to shame. They formed what looks like one larger plant and ended up covering a mound with long lasting colorful blooms! I have noticed self-seeders are hardier and flourish on their own.

8.6.26

Beautiful hot pink Snapdragons came back for a second year, in the same spot. I guess that classifies them as returning vs self-seeded. However, they originally planted themselves. 

 orange sunset colors joined the group this year

I also have a separate pink snap plant that decided to grow underneath deck stairs. What an odd spot!

Monarch enjoying long blooming Hello Yellow Butterfly Weed
8.10.26

Overwintered Dahlia tubers have grown huge this year, and so have the blooms! They are extra showy this year.

pls ignore the pvc pipe

Wild blooms also catch my eye. For many, their time to shine seems brief. Over the years, I have noticed the more unique wild flowers spotted on this land sadly do not re-appear. The common hardier ones continue to pop up in different locations. Always a guessing game.

Primrose
8.12.26

Surprise Lilies literally surprise me when they pop up in my garden bed. I was happy to see the few extras that I naturalized also returned. Just for the record, most of our property is left wild. The field strip across from our house is an exception. I plant my extra divided plants/bulbs willy-nilly and hope for the best. Most do not make it a second year in our crappy soil, but some do! I have visions of meandering along that path surrounded by familiar self-care blooms. Hey, a girls gotta dream!!

On our way back from the area I dubbed "Where the Wild Things Live" we spotted a large mushroom growing waaay up high in a tree. We put it in reverse to take a longer look-n-snap.

8.15.26

There were not as many colorful skies this month, or maybe I just didn't take the time to notice them. Some skies just make you stop what you are doing to go outside for the beautiful fleeting changeorama. Sky watching always fills me full of awe and wonder.

8.19.26

crescent moon over our barn

Our window frogs are back! They make us smile.
8.22.26

my heart starts to feel (re) bruised towards the end of August

Towards the end of the month our barn gets stocked with grass hay. Brad had ours tested. Small bales are 17.5 % protein and large square bales are 16.6 %. It is not easy to grow quality hay in sandy loam soil. Especially with the different challenges Mother Nature offers each season. Brad works hard maintaining our fields and harvesting them. He should be proud of the results. Lucky horses!

second crop was late, but plentiful
8.24.26

The last building (above) of the original homestead plan is almost done. Waiting for electrical. It is Brad's new Shod (Shop/Shed). Yes, I made the name up. It will store hay, shavings, farm equipment and give him a shop area to work on equipment and his many projects. Brad installed new fencing around the shod to expanded the third pasture. 

Pearl Crescent Butterflies are very small with pretty markings 
8.30.26

Closing this post with, bring on Fall!! I am so ready to change seasons.

horse update ~ summer 2026

It seems that all I can muster these days are collective posts. Life often offers stretches that feel a bit ordinary. At other times, there are a flurry of things happening ~or~ that don't seem to happen. Ever. No matter how hard one tries to manifest them. I might find the right words to expand on this. Someday. For now, this update is about a busier time with recent horse challenges. In order of occurrence: 

As you know, Koda started acupuncture. His first lameness treatment helped, and a walking program was started. It felt like drawing a "get out of jail" card. Three weeks later, his second appointment was okay. Nothing much changed. Cierra was also treated for allergies. For endless weeks, we heard crickets on vet follow-up/recommendations. I was not impressed.

Koda's right front remains straight

In the meantime, our farrier did a slightly different trim on Koda that noticeably helped. For Koda's sake, earlier this year we had switched to four weeks trims. We decided it was in his best interest to pause acupuncture and see how long this re-focused trimming would help. It worked great the first time. A second similar trim suddenly make Koda not want to walk. At all. Perhaps trimmed too short or related to weight bearing with sedation. It was heartbreaking and we felt defeated. Wondering what the future holds for Koda. We made sure our farrier knew, before Koda had another trim done. After the last positive response he was surprised, and felt kinda bad.

You have to try different things to find out what works/doesn't. Always a slow process.

Seven weeks had passed since Koda's last acupuncture. On treatment day, we noticed a difference. There was no doubt it was doing something and incremental walking was re-started. In true Koda form he choose Peppermint over Lavender this time, by flicking the bottle out of the vets hand with his nose. Everyone busted out laughing. He is very expressive.

Koda getting "hooked up" to needles for added Chi circulation

Our current plan is to treat an in-between interval of five weeks. If it holds, Koda will progress to trying small space turn-out. Been there done that with him. We are noodling on what might work best. At this point it is obvious, Koda will never be sound. He will yo-yo from being lame to super lame for the rest of his life. Sad, but true.

 back to enjoying morning walks (11 secs)
8.6.26

The trick is to figure out how long treatments can be stretched, and still maintain comfort.

8.12.26

Then there is Ms. Hope, who needs more schooling. She continues to be mostly sweet and easy to handle. Except for her *itchy stall behavior. Random poop removal remains an issue. Rare for us. All our other horses at home are what I consider stall safe. Including with grain. Consequently, Hope gets taken out of her stall for occasional unplanned scooping. Brad continues working with this issue. Interesting that she is fine with grain/hay, just don't take her piles of gold! Hope hasn't acted on her warning signs, but I don't trust her snake-y behavior. 

Hope's foot trimming

8.18.26

We saw a new side of Hope at her last trim. It caught us all by surprise! For three years she has been fine getting trimmed by the same farrier. Actually, very good. An occasional resistant tug from a hind leg. Always quickly settled and uneventfully trimmed. Not this time. Out of the blue, she said "NO!!" to her back leg being lifted. Hope did a directed fake/not so fake double barrel! Our farrier scooted out of the way. This was not his first rodeo. He tried again, and got a repeat performance. Hope instantly proceeded to pee in the aisle. She was in full blown heat. Sigh. The decision was made to just trim her other front hoove.

No, we did not go off and strong handedly reprimand her. In conversation, some think we should have. I was curious, and asked our farrier his thoughts. His response was "sometimes you just have to let them have one". Hope still had to stand for a trim after her temper tantrum, but we left her back feet for another less reactive time. Sigh. Just when I was leaning towards Mares (vs Geldings) preference.

saddled, tied and standing while we clean stalls
8.20.26

different angle (screenshot)

I learned not to overreact with young horses. It can back-fire in a hurry. Not remotely saying to let young horses get away with naughty unsafe behavior. An entire topic for another day.

~~~

As for Cierra's acupuncture allergy treatment, we both did not notice any difference. She did okay (apparently some horses react and do not like treatment) but did not necessarily enjoy it. We are going to hold off additional treatments. The vet did say acupuncture is more effective/important for Koda's lameness, and herbs for Cierra's allergies. We are hesitant to try herbs especially on her, and they are expensive.

Cierra was given the Earth constitution of calm, steady, reliable nurturer. I found some of the vet recommendations interesting: Chinese herbal medication Concentrated Lily Combination, as needed up to 6 months. Yin-nourishing (cooling) foods/treats offered in moderation include: pear, honey (both specifically beneficial for breathing/cough), bran, peppermint/peppermint leaf, cucumber, celery, watermelon rind, flax, soybean oil, sesame oil.

We woke up to barn drama mid-week. Brad rushed in the house to tell me "Cierra's eye is all swollen". Whaat?! I scrambled to the barn to help. He applied cold compresses on her very swollen eye, until a vet could get here. With emergency calls, you get whatever vet the clinic sends. We lucked out and got the vet we are thinking of using for future routine care. She has been here before, but it has been a long time. It was nice to interact and chat with her again, although not for this reason. 

8.19.26

Dr. L checked Cierra's eye for foreign material, tears, ulcers etc. Nothing was found. We don't know what caused the swelling. Could have been a hay poke, debris or even a bite. She was put on Banamine, Antibacterial Ointment and Sodium Chloride to reduce the swelling. All done in small doses throughout the day. Three days of full treatment later, she is finally better. Day four, Cierra was turned-out. Not sure who is happier, Cierra or Nemo.

8.23.26