Cows.

I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I might just be a country person after all.
Don't get all excited about it though, because I still hate the smells....and the mess....and the wild creatures/rodents that hang out where it is quiet.
But I do love Ike and Duke the horses.
Mostly because they let me kiss them and call them foolish love-y names.....
....but also because they eat our grass and keep some of the wildlife away.

I also enjoy cows.
I know, I know.  I have expressed my love of the Bovidae family before, but when we went to the Royal Winter Fair on the weekend, my love of the beauties was rekindled and I am convinced we need to have a few.
As pets though.
Not food.
But......
I wouldn't want a bull because they are big....have balls to the ground and look at me like they want to eat me.

Or sit on me.


But a few friendly, pretty girl cows named Mabel and Maude would make me happy.

Cows that come to me when they are called.
Cows that let me shower them with the hose, brush their "fur" and blow dry it with heavy duty blowers like they do at the fancy shmancy farm shows.
Maybe they would even let me put a few pink bows in to make them look purrty.

I am a simple person.  

Go here for more rural stuff.

Fall Fairs Should be Fun....Except They Arent.

My husband is a Fall Fair Junkie.
Yes, really.

Every year he drags the family to a Fair way up in the middle of nowhere, so we can see chickens and cows and horses and mullets.
And every year we go anticipating something exciting.  Something different.
Except it doesn't happen.

It is the same shit, every single year.
Just with more mullets.

We saw chickens.  Again.
They still looked like chickens.
Most of them......anyways....


We saw sheep. Again.


We paid a ridiculous amount of $$$$ for each 2 minute ride....for each kid.
Seriously, wtf is with that???


There were tantrums.
And attempted "runaways".
Totally not anything new.


We saw cows.
I stepped in manure....while wearing sandals.
Whatever.


I snapped photos of ginormous ball sacs.
Yada yada.
Same old stuff.


We paid alot of $$$$ on a game, so she could go home with this piece of crap.

{Look at her dirty fingernails. Icky icky.}

But look at how happy my hubby is.


He had fun.
Just like every other year.
Maybe next year the Fair will have lions and tigers......and sharks.Or even a whale.Now that would be fun.

Cows and horses and barns, oh my!!!!

I am not sure how it happened, but this blog is becoming a farm/country blog.
I still have kids.
And a husband.
But our farm life has become a huge part of our existence.
Who would have thought?
Not me. Not in a million years.If I could have predicted my life, this is never what I would have predicted.

Anyways, many people spend their Saturday afternoon going to the movies or running errands.
Not us.
We go on a farm tour.
And lucky for you, I took pictures!
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I learned alot while touring farms.
I thought I was an expert already, but nope........

We learned about Ike the horse's first home.
This is where he lived before we brought him to his forever home. Where he belongs.

I love Ike alot, but while there, I met a horse named Peggy. I fell in love with her. I want Peggy to come live with us...and Ike...and Duke. I want Peggy because she is pretty. And she is named Peggy the horse. It suits her. She would fit well here.

And I liked this girl. If she lived here, I would clean her up and name her Pat.


I learned that you have to be extremely rich. Like so rich, you must pee out dollar bills, to own a farm like this.
Whatever.


I learned that Thoroughbred horses are not the most friendly to me and my family.
Not like Peggy the Percheron...
..and Ike and Duke.
I like to be able to kiss my horses on the lips and apparently Thoroughbreds aren't into that.
Jerks.
So we left.


My big learning experience of the day was at the big beautiful dairy farm.
I am madly in love with dairy cows.
You see, when I was a young child, my grandparents ran a large dairy farm. I can remember the smell of the milk room. I can remember visiting the horses.
But then I left and played in the sandbox.
As an adult, I felt differently.

As soon as I walked into this place, I felt at home.
Like I should own dairy cows.
Like I should have a milk room in our barn.
Like I should name each cow.
One would be Wilhelmina.

There would be a Phoebe.
A Betsy
A Ruby.
Ohhh, I could go on and on.

I learned one more thing.
Princess loves them too.
We couldn't get her out of the place.
And as we walked out of the barn, she turned around, waved and said "Goodbye Cow Friends".

Like Mother, like Daughter. Sooo....I end this post with some questions.Do you ever go on farm tours or is it just us?Do you kiss horses on the lips?What would you name your dairy cow?Are you rich?Could you lend us some money?

***Thank you to the many wonderful people who read my last post and offered up some kind words and support.  If I could hug and kiss you all , I would.   Maybe even on the lips.  xo

How to Take a Good Picture of a Cow

Yes, you read that right.
The famdamily went to a country fair this weekend and I learned another lil' thing about myself.
I enjoy cows.
Bulls.
Anything bovine.
I think I took about 72 pictures and 65 of them were of cows.
I am sure the cow people thought I was odd, but that's OK because everyone else does.
I knelt down in manure.
Stepped in manure.
Made funny noises to get their attention.
And I showed them some love.
That is all they want. Just a little bit of lovin will get you far with a cow.Think outside of the box. Stall. Whatever. You don't always have to take a picture of your subject's face to capture an interesting picture.
DO NOT piss off your subject because they could give you the evil eye, break free from their rope and stomp on you. Safety first people.
Capture what catches your attention. I liked the "hairdo" on this beauty and felt the need to snap away just because. In the end, I captured what I wanted to and it made me happy.  And, afterwards I realized that I snapped a photograph that sets off an emotion. Capturing an emotion is my number one goal when I photograph anything.
Capturing an emotion makes Momma happy.
Do whatever it takes to get your subject interested. If you succeed, you cant go wrong.
Composition. Focus. I didn't want a picture of the farmer dude eating poutine or the many other bovine bums close by. I wanted a picture of this beauty and that is all. So many people screw up photographs by capturing "stuff" that has no value to the picture. Know what you want and then snap away or don't snap at all. Or at least know how to edit so you can eventually end up with a half decent photo.
Same goes for this one.  When you look at this photograph there is no doubt in what is in it.  Your eye immediately goes to this big...very big animal.  There aren't people, piles of poop, food platters or anything else to take your eye away from the subject.
I wanted a picture of him and him only.  So that is what I got.
Sometimes a moment happens when you least expect it. Like this one. A moment that is full of emotion is what I love to capture. Just because.

Love Momma