We sold our steers...

We sold our six angus steers at the sale barn and didn't make any profit on the sale this year.  This group of steers didn't gain a lot of weight compared to the steers we had the last few years.  Go figure!   I miss watching them graze the pasture.  The images below were taken a few days before we said our last farewell.

Sunflowers and other beautiful country wildflowers

Sunflowers symbolize adoration, loyalty and longevity. Much of the meaning of sunflowers stems from its namesake, the sun itself. I felt blessed to have the below sunflowers growing nearby in our yard this year.  The fifth sunflower image below is a photo of a sunflower before it bloomed.  It looks quite unique!  Comments about the other wildflowers are included above the images below.  Enjoy!

This white wildflower that comes up every year is called snow-on-the-mountain.

These lavender spiked wildflowers are called Dotted Gayfeather.  They look pretty when in a field with yellow wildflowers.

These tiny lavender wildflowers grew plentiful in our pasture recently.  They are purple false foxglove wildflowers. These would have been a beautiful backdrop for an outside girl's portrait!

Rose of Sharon show me how to grow in beauty in God's sight...

After I discovered that the name of these flowers were Rose of Sharon, I immediately thought about one of my favorite songs entitled "Daystar," which mentions the Rose of Sharon in its lyrics.  I have included three images of this beautiful rose along with the song's lyrics for you to enjoy! God bless!

Daystar

Lily of the Valley, let your sweet aroma fill my life
Rose of Sharon show me how to grow in beauty in God's sight
Fairest of ten thousand make me a reflection of your light
Daystar shine down on me let your love shine through me in the night

Lead me Lord, I'll follow, anywhere you open up the door
Let your word speak to me, show me what I've never seen before
Lord I want to be your witness, you can take what's wrong and make it right
Daystar shine down one me, let your love shine through me in the night

Lord I've seen a world that's dying wounded by the master of deceit
Groping in the darkness, haunted by the years of past defeat
But when I see you standing near me shining with compassion in your eyes
I pray Jesus shine down on me let your love shine through me in the night

Lead me Lord, I'll follow anywhere you open up the door
Let your word speak to me, show me what I've never seen before
Lord I want to be your witness, you can take what's wrong and make it right
Daystar shine down one me, let your love shine through me in the night

A beautiful horse, galloping cattle, and a pet lizard

This beautiful horse is not our horse, but I would love to own it!  Our neighbors have six horses with two Palominos with blond mane and chestnut coats.  I'm trying to get a nice image of all six horses and will publish the image when I do so.  After getting this image we drove the truck over to where the cattle were.  I was all set to get the shot when my husband Ron called the cattle.  It was hard not to laugh as they started galloping over to us.  The final image below is a lizard that has taken abode on a rock in our backyard.  Ron decided the lizard needed more room to sunbath so added a tree trunk and a rock to create a higher home for the lizard.

Interesting facts about desert animals, etc.

We spent a few days in Nebraska/Idaho to celebrate my husband's recent retirement.  We enjoyed watching three IMAX shows at the Henry Doorly Zoo.  My favorite show was Journey to the South Pacific.  It was so hot while we were there the first two days that we didn't spend a lot of time walking around the zoo.  Our first of three visits to the zoo was at the Desert Dome which was enclosed and out of the heat.  Most of the images below were taken at the Desert Dome except for the groundhog images.  The first image is of an African wild cat from Northern Africa.  There were two in the cage. While one was prancing around very fast, this one came up and stopped for a second allowing me to capture a shot of him.  It's interesting to note that most cats lack eyelashes.  They have a third eyelid which protects the eye from damage and drying.

This Centralian python is a non-venomous python found in Central Australia. Most female pythons coil around their clutch of eggs and shiver when necessary to produce heat and help the eggs stay warm.

This Tawny Frogmouth looks like an owl but they are not related.  They have weak feet instead of talons and lack a curved beak.

As we were walking the zoo early in the morning we came across some prairie dogs. The prairie dog is in the same squirrel family as the groundhog.

Mertens' water monitors are members of the monitor lizard family found in Northern Australia.

These collared peccaries which are resting look like pigs but are not considered in the pig family. The forage for food at night which normally includes prickly pear cacti.

The kookaburra's loud call sounds like echoing human laughter.  This one didn't make any sounds while were were there.

Meerkats work together in numbers. A few will typically serve as lookouts, watching the skies for birds of prey, such as hawks and eagles, that can snatch them from the ground. A sharp, shrill call is the signal for all to take cover. While a few individuals guard the group, the rest busy themselves foraging for the foods that make up their varied diet. When hunting small game, they work together and communicate with purring sounds. Meerkats are good hunters and are sometimes tamed for use as rodent-catchers.

Rough-scaled death adders are among the most venomous snakes in the world.  Despite their name, they are not related to adders.  Hope you enjoyed these images from our trip to the zoo!

How do you do, Emmy Lou?

My husband and I enjoy calling Emmy Lou's name!  We will call her name real loud and drag out the Lou in a real ol' country fashion!!!  I wish I had taken more images of her this summer but the chiggers are getting the best of me this year!  Now that my husband retired for good, hopefully he will be able to maintain our yard so that I won't be eaten up so bad.  I took these from our gravel driveway.  These images are for a good friend of mine, and you know who you are!  She wanted to see how Emmy Lou has changed and become an all-white donkey.  I'm embarrassed to show you how fat her mom has become.  You can blame my husband for that as he is a real sucker when the donkeys bray, he has to give them a treat!

A beautiful foggy morning and my favorite steer!

I have had a lot of folks ask me if I enjoy living in the country.  They are usually ones that can't imagine themselves doing so.  Sure, it takes extra gas going to and from town and you can hardly have a clean car driving on the gravel roads, but those are a few disadvantages that I know of and don't outweigh the benefits. One is of the beautiful scenery that we are blessed to enjoy, and this morning was one of those occasions.  Since I was using the long camera lens, I was able to capture a bird in each of the three scenes below taken from our driveway facing west and north.  During my photo excursion, my favorite steer showed up wanting my attention. We currently have six angus steers and all of them are all black and brown except for this white-faced one.  Isn't he cute?