Boo, the baby cow
Date: 06/30/2007
Boo is the first of the twin girl cows born just days before we arrived at the farm.
Bee, the baby cow
Date: 06/30/2007
Bee is the other baby cow. Gene thought people would like to see Boo (and) Bee at the fair.
Baby cat
The smallest cat on the farm while we were there.
Date: 06/30/2007
This is one of the cutest kittens we've ever seen (right up there with our three - Manny, Moe, and Mac). When he wasn't loving the attention, he was feisty and playful (or is that painful - sharp nails and teeth!). This is the kitten that Mitch (Gene's son) found and nursed back to health after being abandoned by its mother.
Barn and hill (1)
Just a shot of the hill behind the machinery barn.
Date: 06/30/2007
There are at least a couple of these shots in this album. It is a common view from the yard at the house. Just one of those views of which you just can't get enough.
Mitch with the cows
Mitch working in the barn.
Date: 06/30/2007
This is Mitch, hard at work as he can almost always be found. He's one tough kid, and he's the one that saved the little kitten.
Barn and hill (2)
A sunnier view of the hill.
Date: 06/30/2007
Like I said, there are likely to be a few of these shots. This one is a bit sunnier, and a little more zoomed in.
Humming Bird (1)
They even have humming birds!
Date: 06/30/2007
I don't believe I've ever seen a humming bird up close. This was quite an experience. They are so fun to watch.
James on swing
The front swing got lots of use.
Date: 07/01/2007
The big tree by the front walk of the house has a well used swing. James is sitting on it, and looking just as happy as he could be. Of course, he wishes the swing was a four-wheeler, but that's another story...
Matt and Mike
Not often can one get a shot of the twins together.
Date: 07/01/2007
Matt is in blue, Mike in red. They are enjoying cake at Coca's (their great grandfather) birthday party. This was early in the cake eating, if you know what I mean.
Stacey
The start of the picture war.
Date: 07/01/2007
Stacey and Victoria have been friends since the last time we visited the farm back in 2004, just before Abigail's struggle began.
Stacey, again
The war continues.
Date: 07/01/2007
Stacey got her hands on a camera and decided it would be fun to have a picture war with me. These are some of the results.
Stacey and Aunt Cheryl
Trying to hide behind her hair.
Date: 07/01/2007
Just another in the "war" series. This was just after a couple of not so great side shots of her reviewing her pictures with Aunt Cheryl.
Deer in the headlights
Someone forgot we were still at war.
Date: 07/01/2007
It kept going. I was on "quick shoot" mode, so there are lots of pictures I cropped from the gallery. But, I just wanted Stacey to know that she was "spotted."
Kids on the steps
Karen's idea for a picture.
Date: 07/01/2007
This is the official "all the kids" shot for the birthday picnic. We missed three of the older kids that had just left, but managed to get 11 of them. At the top are Stacey and Mitch (crouching), Victoria and James just in front of them (green and yellow shirts), followed by Abigail and Delaney (in the dark blue), then Matt (electric blue sleeveless) and Grant, with Mike, Gavin, and Emma in the front. Just getting them to look was an issue. This was the third (and best) try!
Frank's haircut
Let the clippers fly!
Date: 07/01/2007
Anissa was having a grand time cutting the kids' hair. There was hair all over the lawn. Then Grandpop Frank had his turn.
Still cutting
Is that concern on Frank's face?
Date: 07/01/2007
Only a few minutes later, and here it looks like Frank is getting concerned about how long the cut is taking. This is actually the first time I think I ever saw Frank without his hat.
James and Uncle Todd
James gets his wish.
Date: 07/01/2007
I was having all kinds of issues getting a shot of James and Todd on the four-wheeler. This is the best I could do for this first ride, and they had stopped to talk with Gene or I probably would have missed this one, too!
Abigail and Stacey
Abigail also wanted a four-wheeler ride.
Date: 07/01/2007
James isn't alone when it comes to four-wheelin'. Abigail wanted a ride, too, so Stacey came to her rescue. Notice Stacey's "deer in the headlights" look again...
Finishing the ride
Abigail coming in for a landing.
Date: 07/01/2007
All rides come to an end sooner or later. The dogs, Beauty and Chips, were there to greet the girls.
If only...
...this thing would start...
Date: 07/01/2007
This was one of the most common sights during the trip. James was able to find a four-wheeler somewhere on the farm, and I'd see him sitting there, just hoping for a ride...
Chick(en) rescue
Karen and I save a baby chick(en).
Date: 07/01/2007
The little guy on the left of the photo was running around outside the barn. The dogs will tend to eat little things like this that are running around, so Karen got James and me to help rescue this little guy. He wasn't so happy with us, but was glad to see mom again...
On Mom's back
Not to be ignored, the chick jumps on Mom.
Date: 07/01/2007
Mom kind of looked like she was ignoring the chick (in the last picture). It wasn't having any of that, so it jumped on Mom's back to remind her it was there. Mom seems to be saying something like "Yeah, thanks for returning this one!" Oh, and the rest of the chicks decided to moon us.
Farm buildings
A view of the farm buildings.
Date: 07/02/2007
James and I walked up the hill behind the machine shed, and took some pictures of the farm. This is a pretty nice shot of the area. The house is the brick building just over the red machine shed (with the white roof).
Farm house
Here's a better shot of the house.
Date: 07/02/2007
Just pushing the optical zoom of the camera (no digital, or I'd be in a window), this is how the house came in from the same vantage point.
Panoramic hill shot
Human panoramic shot.
Date: 07/05/2007
Without a tripod and the proper fitting for panoramic shooting, this is about the best I can do. Same vantage point as the previous two pictures, but with four shots combined into one panorama. Some color correction on the first and second shots, but they fit together pretty well for my first attempt at this type of photography.
The view, again
One more shot from up here...
Date: 07/02/2007
With all the effort we expended getting up the road to this point, we had to take at least one more picture of the area. Beautiful, isn't it?!
Old tractor
From days gone by.
Date: 07/02/2007
On our walk back, James and I stopped to get pictures of some of the old equipment still on the farm. First was this great looking old tractor, a workhorse, I'm sure, that epitomizes the farming experience (for me, anyway).
More equipment
Another piece from days gone by.
Date: 07/02/2007
I don't know (and won't pretend to) the names of all the farm equipment. This seems to be either a tiller or planter of some sort. Just the red color is what I've always pictured as meaning "farm."
And another piece
Always interesting to see and imagine.
Date: 07/02/2007
Maybe this is the machine that used to plant the seed, and the previous was for tilling. I don't know, to be sure. Seeing the equipment used today, one wonders how it was done back when these pieces were the state-of-the-art tools for farming.
Big Wheels
James is almost as big as one of them.
Date: 07/02/2007
Speaking of today's equipment, this is one of the tractors in the machine shed. James is standing by one of the wheels just as a reference for how big the machinery of today's farm is. James is over four feet tall, so those tires have to stand over five feet. Big wheels...
The road home
Walking back from the tractors.
Date: 07/02/2007
Another nice shot of the house and yard as James and I return from our picture expo on the hill and with the tractors.
On Musser Pond
James on the dock on the pond.
Date: 07/02/2007
He wasn't ready for a swim, but he was getting close to the edge fussing with that pole in the water.
Upper Pond
Serene shot of the upper of the two ponds near the house.
Date: 07/02/2007
Standing between the two ponds, looking at the back of the upper pond, I got this shadowed view of the still water.
Lower Pond
The sunny lower pond.
Date: 07/02/2007
Turning around from the last shot, this is the lower pond. Slightly more sunny and more open with less surrounding trees, this pond is reported to be about nine feet deep. This was reported by Uncle Todd, who says he can't swim, and doesn't know why someone who can't swim would have jumped in to a nine foot deep pond to begin with. But he did, and he got tangled in the growth on the bottom, and it wasn't pretty, from what he says - it was long ago.
Who's driving?
Kids where they shouldn't be.
Date: 07/02/2007
Here's a shot of one of the other tractors in daily use on the farm. It was parked next to the car barn (where the cars are parked, close to the house). The kids (not naming names, but I see James, Abigail, Mike, and Matt in there) were not supposed to be in the cab, and were removed shortly after this shot. They didn't get near the tractor again.
No pictures, please...
Date: 07/02/2007
James likes sparklers and fireworks. This picture wouldn't lead you to believe that though.
None for me, thanks!
Abigail, avoiding the fireworks.
Date: 07/02/2007
Abigail wasn't much into the fireworks that Uncle Todd brought over. I think she had a sparkler, but knew better than to get too close to the teenagers setting off the bottle rockets and who knows what else. Just remember that throwing a lit bottle rocket into the air isn't a good idea, especially when the wick burns slowly enough that it shoots back at you from, say, 20 feet in the air. Makes for some tense moments.
What's that?
Abigail and Mike, playing with the trucks.
Date: 07/03/2007
Abigail and "her boys" (Mike and Matt) were all over the farm this week. Here, Abba and Mike are playing with trucks in a pile of sand or saw dust.
Load 'Em Up!
So busy...all the time...
Date: 07/03/2007
Abigail keeps moving. When the boys either can't keep up or move onto something else, Abigail just keeps on going. I think she's moving things in a dump truck in this one.
Guess who likes 4-wheelers?
Date: 07/03/2007
Yeah, hard to tell from this shot, isn't it? At every chance, James was sitting on a 4-wheeler, hoping for someone to give him a ride around the farm.
Sawdust pile
Another playground found.
Date: 07/03/2007
Abigail and Mike found the sawdust pile, and they played there for quite a while.
Slide anyone?
Not perfect, but the kids tried to slide on it.
Date: 07/03/2007
Victoria managed to find the kids, and joined them on the pile.
James, covered
Sawdust just gets everywhere.
Date: 07/03/2007
It's good that he had fun in the sawdust pile, because he was really covered with it when he was done.
Hey, I found...
...oh, nothing!
Date: 07/03/2007
A look of joy as Victoria uncovers ... um ... more sawdust? Quietly having fun; that's good enough for us.
Buried Treasure?
Digging was another big activity.
Date: 07/03/2007
Everyone made a hole in the pile, and kept on digging. What a mess when they finally emerged!
Karen and the kitten
A common sight on the farm: Karen, the kitten, and her GBA.
Date: 07/03/2007
Karen was on vacation, for sure. Armed with her GBA (Nintendo GameBoy Advance), she was often seen holding the kitten and sitting in a chair...complaining about the bugs. Whatcha gonna do?
Tiger (Lily) Kitten
Little Kitten thought he was a tiger.
Date: 07/03/2007
The little kitten (later named Mitch by the kids, due to Mitch saving it) loved to play in the patch of Tiger Lilies on the hill right by the house. He would jump and try to get the flowers, and then tumble down the hill. Or he would stalk things from under the leaves, trying to be a dangerous cat. What a cutie!
Charge!
Abigail and James attack the hill.
Date: 07/03/2007
Two happy kids walking up the hill to the house. It was so nice seeing them getting along and having fun, together and apart.
Rocky Run-off
An interesting shot of the rocks surrounding the pond run-off ditch.
Date: 07/03/2007
I thought this looked like an interesting shot of the run-off pipe and the rocks around it.
Alternate view
A different perspective on the machine shed.
Date: 07/03/2007
This slightly different perspective on the machine shed makes for almost an entirely different picture.
Humming Bird (2)
Another in-flight shot of a humming bird.
Date: 07/03/2007
I left out a bunch of shots, believe me. This is the only other one that kind of shows the bird's wings flapping away. Most looked like the bird was hovering without wings. So interesting to watch.
You're not getting away
Is that rope moving?
Date: 07/03/2007
Little Kitten found some rope, and was having a blast pretending they were moving.
Fear Me!
A vicious little kitten, for sure.
Date: 07/03/2007
What fun it must be to pounce on the ropes.
All this play is tiring
Oh, just to rest for a minute...
Date: 07/03/2007
Looks like the kitten is getting tired. That doesn't last for long.
Second, Third, Fourth Wind
Nice to be young and recover quickly.
Date: 07/03/2007
Not a minute later, the kitten was back up and attacking. Never ending energy.
James and Todd 4-wheeling
Date: 07/03/2007
Sadly, with the incredible speed of Todd with James on board, this is the best shot I could get this year of the two on their last ride. Believe me, though, James' smile was from ear to ear!
Abba Rides
Uncle Todd and Abigail after a four-wheeler ride.
Date: 07/03/2007
Oh, Abigail just couldn't wait for a four-wheeler ride after seeing James go.
