Marvelous mustang merit!

27 06 2022

Ginormous congratulations to Kathryn Wilder for the win of “Desert Chrome” in the creative nonfiction category of the Colorado Book Awards!!!

From Torrey House Press:

Kathryn Wilder’s personal story of grief, motherhood, and return to the desert entwines with the story of America’s mustangs as Wilder makes a home on the Colorado Plateau, her property bordering a mustang herd. Desert Chrome illuminates these controversial creatures—their complex history in the Americas, their powerful presence on the landscape, and ways to help both horses and habitats stay wild in the arid West—and celebrates the animal nature in us all.

“Testimony to the healing power of wildness . . . a candid memoir that interweaves a trajectory of loss, pain, and hard-won serenity with a paean to wild horses.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS

Give it a read. You won’t be *disappointed*! 🙂





Shades

26 06 2022

A little bit of smoke haze has continued to infiltrate our skies at various times. That said, this view, from the basin’s northern hills, is one of my favorite in Spring Creek Basin. A landscape painter (or photographer) couldn’t have a much better background for a magical subject. 🙂





Over it

25 06 2022

The wind. It exhausts us.

It hasn’t been too terrible lately (the gnats can attest), but it’s also *not* bringing the rain we so desperately need.





Good grey girls

24 06 2022

Pretty girls Mariah and Winona, just trying to survive the wind.





Fat little grandfather

23 06 2022

This may have been the healthiest horny toad I’ve ever seen. S/he’s a big granddaddy/mama; I think his/her body would almost have filled the palm of my hand.

Look at that belly! And that tongue!

This is a wonderful Navajo legend about the relationship between the Diné and horned lizards.

This link talks about the symbolism of horned lizards. According to the site, “Na’ashǫ́’ii dich’ízhii (horned toad) is called Cheii (Grandfather) by the Diné (Navajo). Grandfather Horned Toad possesses great spiritual power that enabled him to triumph in a contest with lightning, an incredibly powerful force. The Diné use his songs and prayer for protection from the dangers of the world and the evil intentions of other people.”

And we can all use songs and prayers for protection from the dangers of the world and the evil intentions of other people, eh? 🙂 I didn’t have even a sprinkle of corn pollen or any other offering, but I did endeavor to protect the critter from stout hooves as s/he scuttled between sagebrush.

Who couldn’t love that face!?





Summer solstice sunset

22 06 2022

Are words necessary?

I don’t think so, either. 🙂





Wind-day napping

21 06 2022

Wind and smoke and haze, back.

But we also got rain. 🙂 Not much. Enough to dampen the dust … until the wind picked up the next day … this day, pictured.

We’ll take whatever we can get.





Who goes there?

20 06 2022

Storm, for 2.7 seconds after he realized *someone* was nearby. When he realized I was that someone, he went back to grazing. 🙂





Wisdom of the ages

19 06 2022

Sweet Seneca has that *look*. The look of mares with wisdom to pass on to the next generation. She wears it well.

**********

And for goodness sake, happy Father’s Day to all fathers and father figures out there!

With all the busy-ness lately, I’ve pre-scheduled blog posts and simply lost track of advance dates, when I was behind (!). It wasn’t long after I called my dad this morning (and left a message; he and my mom are even busier than I am) that I remembered that I’d forgotten to hail dads today on the blog.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad. 🙂 Thank you for all you’ve done and all you continue to do – especially getting little kids up in the saddle!





Busy bright bees

18 06 2022

As I was leaving the water-catchment work site the other day, I admired the spectacular bloom of *color* alongside the road and smiled to myself, thinking, WOW, that’s some nice color in our otherwise very brown world right now. … Then I hit the brakes, shifted into reverse and went back to take some pix. Because brightness deserves to be shared. 🙂

Odd note maybe only of interest to photographers: The blooms were in reality more purplish-red than the reddish-red depicted in the photo (I took multiple images to be sure I had stamens and bees and petals and pollen sharp, at least in places). But they’re still very bright and beautiful!