Caught ya nappin’

1 10 2023

Auntie Maia keeps baby Odin company as he naps. He didn’t move a muscle, even as she moved on to graze. No matter the species, babies rely on their adults to keep them safe while they nap the sleep of innocents (not to mention innocence). 🙂





A hole in the clouds

1 10 2023

A crazy ol’ wind blew in some stormy weather above Disappointment Valley on Saturday. Our biggest color change down here in the lower valley so far is flowering rabbitbrush and snake weed. But lookie: Up high, the aspen are going gold.

We didn’t get any rain in the mid- to lower valley or Spring Creek Basin (beyond, maybe, a handful of windblown drops). See Benchmark Lookout atop the Glade, right under the curtain of rain? Check out this short PBS video about fire lookouts Rick and Linda Freimuth, who staff the tower during fire season. Bonus points if you pick out Spring Creek Basin icons. 🙂 (And yes, we ARE very thankful for their observations!)

No rain, but it sure left some beauty in its wake before the hole in the clouds over the western horizon closed for the night.





Glowing grass

30 09 2023

Galleta (mostly) and grama (some) glow against the evening light while Skywalker grazes.

Sometimes, it’s not too bad to photograph grazing horses eating. 🙂 We have a bounty this fall.





Golden hour blue grey and velvet black

29 09 2023

Two nights ago, the sun was setting as the moon rose, so the horses were in shade as our planet’s satellite rose over Spring Creek Basin’s eastern horizon (Temple Butte and McKenna Peak are just out of frame to the right).

Just possibly, though, in the above pic, it’s the GRASS that steals the show. That’s galleta and grama Temple appears to be wading through. Only the best for our wild ones!

Last night, the full September harvest supermoon rose over Spring Creek Basin’s eastern horizon after sunset.

Lotsa practice the last few nights. 🙂 Hope you all enjoyed the last supermoon of the year, wherever your place on Earth!





Another night, another moonrise

28 09 2023

It’s the being-there that’s so awesome. 🙂





The almost shot

27 09 2023

The pic I wanted to show on yesterday’s blog post. 🙂

They were napping, which was good (because their heads were up, not eyeball deep in grass), but there was a little arroyo between me and Piedra and Kestrel, and along the edges of the arroyo, right where I needed to be to aim the camera at and over the mares where the moon was actually rising, greasewood, right in front of and nearly obscuring Kestrel. … Best laid plans. 🙂

Some day, the horses and I and the moon will align with Temple Butte and/or McKenna Peak, and it won’t rise faint and immediately into the cloud hovering JUST “above” it.





Faintly rising

26 09 2023

Piedra, of course, is beautiful with any background. But there’s something particular about this background. … Do you see it? … With the sun still fairly high above the western horizon, the “it” looks like a cloud on the basin’s eastern horizon.

How ’bout now?

It’s not yet full, so it’s not yet super … but it’s about to be both. 🙂





Walking into sunset

25 09 2023

We’re starting to see the lower-elevation signs of autumn (which began Saturday, by the way): snake weed and rabbitbrush flowering golden, ponies just starting to add some velvet to their coats.

It’s a beautiful time of year. 🙂





Sightseers

24 09 2023

Sometimes, while watching the mustangs, you have that feeling of being watched. …

These two weren’t sure what to make of me, and after they gave a few warning calls to the horses, took themselves out of sight down the other side of that hill.

Check out the buck’s interesting, inwardly-curved horn. It gives him a sort of rakish air, don’t you think?





Nibbler

23 09 2023

Maia nibbles on some tasty four-wing saltbush while checking on the littlest member of her band, who was off visiting another family. … Kinda the mustang equivalent of “visiting the neighbor kid down the block” – or the next ranch over when your backyard is 22,000 acres.