Ace was a good horse!

Ace was the boss of The Smith Ranch! Though he whipped other horses to let them know he was boss he was also gentle and lovable.  I only rode him three times and that was bareback.  Each time was when we used Ace to retrieve or return a stray horse.  Sometimes stray horses won't go back where they belong by themselves.  I didn't need to ride him but wanted to instead of having to walk about a mile. :)  I so enjoyed riding him!

He was my baby! I talked to him and called him my, "Baby boy!"  He loved it! Loved me to touch and rub him.  I photographed him a lot!!!

Ace got attached to the other animals on the ranch. When we decided to get rid of some horses or donkeys that didn't quite work out, he would go into a fury when they left.  His strength and power were on display!  It was awesome to watch! After the first time this happened, I was ready with my camera to capture it.

I love animals!  I grew up having cats and dogs as pets, even had a pet chicken that survived Easter coloring as a chick.  I've been wanting to get two inside dogs since our dog Java passed.

I never considered letting Ace go.  When my husband fully retired and threatened to get rid of Ace, I told him if he did I would run away!  However, when two cute little Rat Terrier puppies came into our lives, I started thinking about getting Ace a new home.  The dogs were a nuisance to Ace.  I couldn't just let Ace go to anybody.  The thought of him not being loved bothered me.

You know, God cares about us even in little ways.  Someone who loved animals was praying for a horse.  God linked us up and Ace found him a new home where he is getting lots of love.  He deserves it; Ace was a good horse!

Unleash the joy!

For our Christmas card this year, we did studio sessions with our puppies using various Christmas props to add some variety and to show off Charlie and Toto's new sweaters.  The puppies seemed to really enjoy the sessions!  The small expense of a few damaged props was worth it to get some cute images of our puppies.  It was hilarious watching them bark when they discovered the giant ball ornament on the studio floor.  If you'll look close at the second image below, you can see Toto's reflection on the ball ornament.  Our Christmas cards are on order and I don't want to ruin the element of surprise by showing the images used on the card, so most of the images below are not included in the card. We along with Charlie & Toto wish everyone a blessed Christmas and may you unleash the joy this holiday season!

To view the rest of the Christmas portraits of our cute little puppies, click here.

Don't make this mistake!

Never before having to potty train puppies, I did quite a bit of online research on potty training.  A friend gave me some advice on what worked for her puppy and even gave us some potty training pads to get us started.  When I laid the pads down for our Rat Terrier puppies, this was the response!  Charlie and Toto are still not fully potty trained but I thought it cute to share this response with my blog audience!  Enjoy! 

Charlie and Toto outside the jacuzzi tub

I've been wanting to do this session for a while, at least I thought about it every time I was in the jacuzzi tub and the dogs would come watch me.  Toto and Charlie were very reluctant to get near the tub since they had their last bath, so I had to trick them by giving them treats to get in position. I also wanted to wait until before sunset so that the lighting would be perfect coming through the thick glassed bathroom window which caused pretty catchlights in their eyes.  For some reason, Toto's left ear was limp which adds to his cuteness!!! Here are my adorable 5-month-old puppy dogs standing on the step outside the jacuzzi tub, looking inside at me in the tub.  Enjoy!

Honey Bun the Cowdog!

We were setting up the studio with a country theme for a client when the thought came to get this image of Honey Bun who we were babysitting for a dear friend.  We acted very quickly to get this image of Honey Bun.  I got the camera ready, my husband placed Honey Bun on the saddle, and I blew into my duck quacker to get Honey Bun's attention while firing the shot!  Probably took no more than 5 seconds, so I'm pretty sure Honey Bun didn't mind too much being a cowdog for a moment!

Three cute little dogs!

Honey Bun stayed with us for a few days and this was the second time she got to visit with our Rat Terrier puppies which are 5 months old.  This was the last day of Honey Bun's stay and when Charlie and Toto had finally accepted Honey Bun as part of the family, which meant Charlie wasn't barking at her anymore!  It was so cute to watch Toto chase after Honey Bun; I think he really liked her.  I wasn't quick enough to photograph Honey Bun lounging on our miniature couch, but was able to capture her peeking at our puppies while they napped on the couch (first image below).   Here are a few images I was able to capture of these three cute little dogs!  Enjoy!

Pool puppies!!!

Rat Terrier puppies are known to be good swimmers.  We thought we would try that out to see.  Toto, though he is smaller, shorter and stockier proved to be quite a good swimmer.  Charlie with his long lanky legs proved to be less of a swimmer.  Charlie thrashed about, splashing water every which way!  The first three images below show Toto's superb swimming skills and the remaining four, well... Charlie's not-so-great swimming skills.

Sunflowers and a Monarch Butterfly

Ever since I watched the IMAX show, Flight of the Butterflies, I have had an appreciation for the Monarch butterfly.  Did you know hundreds of millions of Monarch butterflies migrate from the mountains in Mexico through the United States to Canada?  It was exciting to discover a Monarch flying among the sunflowers I photographed in our yard.  Included below are a few images captured during my sunflower photo session.  Enjoy!

A relaxed squirrel, an American white ibis, a rainbow, and Cypress Beach scenery

While photographing family at the park in Tampa, I captured a brown squirrel relaxing on a fence and an American white ibis near the Hillsborough River.  I was surprised how close the squirrel let me get to him before he ran off.  American white ibis were very plentiful at the park.  They were hard to photograph since they were constantly on the move.

I was also able to capture a beautiful rainbow while at Cypress Beach along with some beach scenery.  Enjoy!

Ragweed, hay bales, hedge apples, and a resting foal

Before I left for my Florida trip, I was getting antsy to take pictures outside since I hadn't for a while; and I couldn't resist one evening during a beautiful sunset.  I drove down the gravel road close to our home and took images of some ragweed; the first being a bird sitting on the ragweed plant below.

A lot of people confuse ragweed (shown below) with Missouri Goldenrod (shown next).

Many people believe that Goldenrod (shown below) was a main cause of allergies because Goldenrod's peak blooming period coincides with the peak of ragweed season. An important thing to note is that Goldenrods are bee pollinated, where ragweeds are wind pollinated. This means allergy sufferers are especially affected on windy days as a result of ragweed's wind pollination and not Goldenrod's bee pollination.

These hay bales are accented by the setting sun and a beautiful sky background.

As a child, I remember playing with hedge apples.  After they dropped off the trees, we used them as bowling balls outside.

Remember Laughing Horse's baby?  He's gotten a little bigger and is taking a nap. I still haven't been able to get close enough to find out his gender.  Hopefully soon!

A nursing calf, laughing donkey, lizard couple and a common nighthawk

Photoshop has a feature that lets you create an animated GIF, and I did so with two images of a Hereford calf nursing its mother. Because the wind was blowing, some of the bushes in the background also move.

This is one of the last images taken of Emmy Lou before we gave her to our neighbors to protect their two goats from coyotes.  She's not very far away and can still visit Ace and her donkey family next door.  I miss having her nearby and watching the bond that she had with our Palomino horse Ace.

While it was sunny and hot outside last month, often this lizard couple would sun themselves on this wooden stump in our yard.  If you'll notice, the bottom lizard has a stump for his tail.  The collard lizards cannot grow back their tail when it has been broken off.

Surprisingly, I was able to get fairly close to this common nighthawk bird while it was resting on the wooden hedgepost in our yard.