A wren and pretty wildflowers

The bird landed on the porch right outside our bedroom window.  The shot was taken with our Canon 70-200 lens and through our sliding glass door.  This is probably the closest that I have ever been to a live bird.  I think his arms are so cute in the second photo!  The wildflowers were taken over a period of a few days.  Been busy with graduation portraits and found some time to share these with you for your viewing pleasure.... :)

Friday Night at The Smith Ranch

It was nice to enjoy sunny blue skies after several rainy days (that were very much needed)!  I couldn't let it pass without going out and capturing some moments on the ranch.  I have included some comments with each photo taken below....

Here are our cattle taking a stroll down our driveway! :)  Seriously, I am on the bed of a pickup truck with a bucket of range cubes bribing them to get back into the pasture.

 Ol' Red is the shyest of the bunch.  He's the only one we aren't able to feed from our hands.

 I don't know why I enjoy taking photos of backsides but I think this one is kinda cute!

 Mr. Steer is having a "hay day" munching on some brohm hay.

 You wonder what is going on in these two steers' heads.... :)

In the morning and late evening are the best times to get reflections from the water.  It was pretty dark when this was taken and the colors weren't so great so I converted to sepia.

I saved this shot for last for those that might get creeped out!  This spider was my first shot of the day.  I was trying to get a backlist shot of this spider on my living room window while my husband was keeping it still.  

Queen Java

Meet Queen Java!  She is sitting on her royal throne and her majesty doesn't like getting her portraits done.  So to get her to pose with my new pet crown, I dangled lunchmeat near the camera.   I have included my favorite shot from her majesty's portrait session.  Enjoy! :)

Nine Fuzzy Babies

Nine fuzzy baby steers recently joined The Smith Ranch.  The average weight for the nine angus steers was 327 pounds.  This is our third year for getting cattle and these are the smallest ones we have gotten so far. It's so neat to watch how our horses and donkeys reacted to their new family members. I thought you would enjoy seeing them interact so I have included some of my favorites from their photo session!  :D

Stardust joins The Smith Ranch

Stardust joined our family on January 19.  She is an 18 year old Palomino. Sad to say we sold Emily and Dakota. :(  I so miss Dakota and I will sorely miss watching him and Ace play.

Ozark (our miniature donkey) welcomed Stardust by braying and chasing after her.  It was totally hilarious watching them!!!  I've included photos of Stardust's arrival and the interaction of her with the rest of the Smith Ranch family.   Stardust is tanner/darker in color than Ace.

Enjoy!

Our babies are gone...

Boy, it sure was tough to see our babies go off to the sale barn!  We sure got attached to them since we got them last Spring.  We were able to feed a couple of the steers from our hands.  These close-up photos were taken with my "fun" 20mm lens.  Aren't they the cutest steers you've ever seen?

More Alaskan Favorites

Here are some more of my favorite photos from Alaska.  This mountain range photo was taken on our first train ride from Fairbanks to Anchorage.

Some photos look better in black and white and I thought this photo fit that category...

I saw this seal before anyone else on the ship since I was using my 100-400mm lens.  It was a gorgeous first morning of our cruise.

The lighting made for some good reflection photos for this glacier.

Another glacier reflection photo...

I never get tired of photographing seagulls.  Here's one looking for a treat! :)

Here's two more.  This photo reminds me of two bombers coming in to bomb their target! :)

I stayed out on the ship till it got dark to get this photo.

Just before dark the sky had a pink hue.  It was beautiful!!!

This was taken after arriving in Canada before taking the train ride back to Alaska.  These rock collections have a meaning for the natives but I forgot what it was! :)

 This is my favorite shot while in the rain forest in Juneau, Alaska.

 Here's another version of the fireweed in front of the Mendenhall Glacier,

 I don't know what kind of fish these were but they were jumping out of the water.

God gave us beautiful weather on our last day cruising to Vancouver, Canada.

To view a slideshow of my entire Alaskan trip, click on this link.  To view slideshow at www.photodex.com, you will need to download their Presenter Plugin. Enjoy!