Wednesday, June 23, 2010

If you find it let us know. :)

Sydney's Balloon (by KansasA)

Sydney's Balloon (by KansasA)

Sydney's Balloon (by KansasA)

When Sydney let the balloon go it went up directly towards the two power lines, we thought for sure it was going to hit them… as we held our breath, it gently floated right between the two lines!  You can see it’s made it quite far. :)

Sydney's Balloon (by KansasA)

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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Cowboys & Cowgirls!

A few weeks ago I asked Hubby if he wanted to take the kids and I over to the Ashcroft Rodeo.  He said “Rodeo? You?”  He was raised on ranches, rode horses, & milked cows, I, on the other hand, am considered a “town kid” around here.  It doesn’t matter that I went to the Lillooet Rodeo’s when I was a kid, or even attended and worked as the treasurer for Pritchard and we did quite a few rodeos there.  In a way I can see his point, I really don’t have much to do with rodeos unless I am somehow involved or at least know some of the people who are riding in them.  So my sudden interest in the Ashcroft Rodeo sort of surprised Hubby.  But you see there is a method to my madness… I wanted to take some action shots… and what better place than a rodeo! :)

So on Saturday we all jumped in the truck and headed for the 48th Annual Ashcroft Rodeo.

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

There was breakaway roping.

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

And lots of barrel racing.

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

Bull riding is always fun to watch, especially the faces of the guys hanging on the fence.

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

Ouch!  That looks like it might hurt a bit!

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

None of the riders made 8 seconds and the bulls all won.

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

We got dusty and dirty, ate hotdogs, hamburgers, and french fries and had fun.

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

And what would a rodeo be without a clown to keep us entertained during the breaks.

Ashcroft Rodeo 2010 (by KansasA)

I can’t remember all four of us heading out to do anything off this ranch so it was a nice break away.  I think next month we are going to head back over that way to see the drag races, after all I still need some more action shots. ;)

For a ton more action pictures of the Ashcroft Rodeo visit the collection at my flickr site:
Kansas A 








Flickr

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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Winter, Summer… make up your mind.

We had a few, well barely a few, hot days and now we’re back to rain.  I don’t know what’s going on with our weather but it’s quite the change from last year (or any year that I remember in Lillooet!).

Here’s a few pics I took the other night at the sunset out on the barn field.

One of the horses grazing before bedtime.

Rosebank Sunset (by KansasA)

While Hubby and I were taking it all in, Pops came up on his four-wheeler.  We just couldn’t get over how strong the glow was.

Rosebank Sunset (by KansasA)

Within a few minutes it was almost gone… and with it so was our good weather for the next few days.

Rosebank Sunset (by KansasA)

I’m so hoping it’s going to be nice for the weekend because we’re planning on heading over to the Ashcroft Rodeo.  It’s been years since I’ve been to a rodeo and I’d love to snap some pics of the bull and bronc riding.

Over at DPS last weeks “Graveyard” assignment was judged this past Saturday and my “cross” pic didn’t make the top three.  Oh well just gotta try harder I guess. :)  This week it’s “Dutch Angle.”  Yup I’d never heard of it before either lol.  Apparently it’s when the camera is tilted like in the old Batman movies… but I remember the comic books more so than the movies (my brother was/is a die-hard collector and we always had tons around the house).  Anyway back to Dutch Angle… I took a pic of the pigs waiting for their food and here’s the pic:

Feeding time! (by KansasA)

I have no idea if it’s what they are looking for but I did learn something new. :)

As always I had a second choice but I went with the sepia one, here’s the other one.

Where's the food? (by KansasA)

Something else happened this week that sort of shocked me.  My aloe vera plant is going to flower!  It may not seem like much but I’ve just never had one show a bud before.  I saw one on Mikey’s blog and asked her about it moons ago but she lives in Arizona and I guess they flower down there a lot more than they do here.

Aloe Vera bud (by KansasA)

I blogged about this Aloe Vera plant a couple of years ago and in that time it’s gotten a whole lot bigger with a ton of babies growing off of it!  Can we say “outta control”?  I’ve placed an arrow where the bud is.

Bloom (by KansasA)

Well that’s it for tonight, I’m off to bed, have a great night folks (or morning if you happen to be just getting up). :)

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Another Assignment

This weeks assignment over at DPS is Cemeteries.  The kids and I took a walk over to the graveyard (is there a difference between a cemetery and a graveyard?) so I could snap a few pics… well more like 150 before I finally settled on one I liked. :)

I made this cross for our graveyard back when we first moved to the Ranch in 2001.  It’s got I don’t know how many coats of stain and varathane on it and it’s stood up to the weather quite well.  I think for lying halfway down the bank on dried horse and cow manure with the sun blinding me the picture came out just the way I wanted it to (good Lord the things I’ll do for a picture!).

Graveyard (by KansasA)

 

Jevan was invited to a birthday party last weekend and he really had a blast flying a kite in the school yard.

Having a blast! Remember the days? :) (by KansasA)

 

The string was out as far as it would go and with the windy weather the kite would go UP for a short time and then plunge to the ground.  It’s too bad we didn’t have more string but Jevan didn’t care, he was having lots of fun!

It looks higher than the clouds! (by KansasA)

I’ve also had a couple of new birds show up at my feeder this past week, Mourning Doves.  Such a pretty bird and they sure have quite the shine to their necks.

Mourning Dove (by KansasA)

Mourning Dove (by KansasA)

Mourning Dove (by KansasA)

Friday was Sydney’s 12th birthday and Jevan turns 7 on Monday so we are having a weeny roast with all the unhealthly snack foods tomorrow, including A&W root beer pop (My goodness Sydney can talk me into anything!).  It’s getting late and I have a cake I have to bake first thing in the morning, have a great night all! :)

For more pics of the kite flying, Mourning Doves, and life on the Ranch visit my flickr site!

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