An encore for Anne

Last May, I got to meet in person a dear friend who had been reading this blog since the early days.

After her visit, I remember telling Ethel and Danni and Justina that they all had to meet Anne someday 

because she's cool and fascinating and drops as many f-bombs as I do.

If you're a regular reader of the comments, you know her as Anne Boleyn (her real name, by the way). 

Anne suffered a heart attack on Sunday and passed away.

How fuckin' wrong is that?

I'm republishing this post from Anne's visit in her honor.

What a dame. 

And she knows I mean that with the greatest respect. 

 ***

My hope for every first-time visitor to the 7MSN is that
they get to enjoy the full ranch experience,

which this time included a wild ride home from the airport

through 11.4 miles of deep mud. Anne was totally cool with it. Me? A total wreck.

Anne has been a dear friend and reader of this blog since longer than either of us can remember,

and it should come as no surprise that she loves all of my animals and vice versa.

The windy, cold weather was a bit less than hospitable, 

so we spent many hours in the sunroom swapping stories,

interrupted only by last week's frequent breaking news bulletins. 

Anne: You're not going to believe this.

Smooch: What's he done this time?

We took full advantage of the sunshine when it finally made an appearance.

 Few things bring me as much joy as sharing my sunshine with others.

Saturday encore ~ It's all about the pie

This encore post is from September 12, 2016.

The 2017 Pie Town Festival is today. I won't be attending because 

this year, it's all about George and Lucy, not the pie. 

Lucy showed some tiny signs of improvement yesterday.

I'll try to post an update tomorrow.

***

This is the pie I baked to take to the Pie Town festival on Saturday. 

It was a peach/raspberry. I rarely bake pies, and for good reason.

They're a lot of work! Perhaps it is my inexperience, but by the time

I researched a recipe, made the crust, peeled the peaches, wove the lattice,

then baked the darned thing, cleared the smoke out of the house

and cleaned the oven, we're talking six hours that I would never get back.

 I thought about entering it in the contest, 

then I thought about all the work that went into it,

then I thought about it being just another nameless, faceless pie
that the judgmental judges wouldn't appreciate

nearly as much as some other people I know,

  so instead of competing with it,
 I took my pie to Pie Town and served it to my friends...

 

...some of whom I was meeting in person for the first time.

 Hi, Janet! Janet has been a regular reader and commenter on this blog since forever

and came to Pie Town all the way from Arizona.

 Hi, Aunt Jean! Another regular reader and commenter since forever, 

Jean and her husband drove all the way to Pie Town from Denver.

Never underestimate the lengths people will go to for a piece of pie.

Before we leave this picture, let us not overlook the bearded man in the corner

who appears to making an offering to the pie gods.

 Hi, Tom and Kathy and their well-behaved dogs, at the finish line of the PiK.

It was 3.14159 miles. 

Tom and Kathy were my neighbors before I moved to the 7MSN,

and they introduced me to the whole Pie Town festival experience in 2010.

Tom and Kathy both placed in their divisions in the PiK race. 

Their dogs, having pulled them up the last hill, felt they deserved 

their piece of the pie, but Tom wasn't buying it.

 I would not have been able to resist this face.

 Thorin is a Rhodesian Ridgeback with very large paws.

 I had as much fun taking dog pictures at the festival

as I did eating pie.

Saturday encore ~ Johnny's turn at bat

This encore post is from August 29, 2016. 

 I was in the sunroom, watching Johnny watching Something. 

I knew not what.

 Given Something's proximity to a swallow's nest, I figured Something to be: 

a) a rodent going after swallow eggs or
b) a snake going after the rodent going after the swallow eggs.

 Me: Get down, please, so that I might get a closer look take pictures.

 Eeewww. Eeewww. Eeewww.

 My batophobia kicked in, and
I insisted that the feral beast leave the area immediately.

 Of course he did not obey. Cats never obey...

 ...particularly cats who do not suffer from batophobia.

 So I just googled "fear of bats." It's called chiroptophobia, not batophobia,

which is stupid because I'm not afraid of chiropractors. I'm afraid of bats.

Anyway, I gave up and left the feral beast where he was, getting a stiff neck.

Oh wait. Maybe that's why it's called chiroptophobia? 

Because if you stare at a bat long enough you need a chiropractor? 

The bat remained in place and I sort of forgot about him until I went out to the barn to remove

masks and muzzles just before it got dark and sure enough, as I walked back onto the porch, 

the effing bat decided it was time to do what bats do, which is flap their leathery wings

and fly low and scare the hell out of people.

Have I mentioned I have an irrational fear of bats? 

Saturday encore ~ What do supermoons and solar eclipses have in common?

This encore post is from May 21, 2012, the day after a solar eclipse
in which the 7MSN was allegedly in the path of totality.
It was a total bust, photography-wise, but a valuable lesson learned.
Come Monday, I will have my camera ready, but only to photograph the light on my animals.

***

You won't find a decent photograph of either on this blog. 

I thought I was prepared for the solar eclipse yesterday. I had scouted locations days in advance, 

planning my shots, rehearsing the route I'd take in the Ranger so I could cover them all during 

the four-and-a-half-minute window when the moon's shadow would hide the sun, leaving a ring of fire around the edge.

An hour before the big event, I gathered my camera bag with all my lenses, my assistant, 

and every pair of protective eyewear I could find.

I had instructed everyone, including me, to not look directly at the sun.

How I was going to take pictures of something I couldn't look at would be a challenge.

I put the camera on manual focus set at infinity, then I stopped the lens down to the smallest aperture 

and shot at the highest shutter speed. Then I aimed the camera at the general direction of the western horizon.

Whoo-hoo! Not only did I get the sun, I also captured pink UFOs landing in the pasture.

Nobody told me one of Saturn's rings would be visible. What an unexpected surprise.

Please don't burst my bubble and tell me that's really some sort of lens defect.

I eventually figured out how to make the UFOs and Saturn's ring disappear by putting my thumb 

over the viewfinder to block the weird reflections, but I still wasn't seeing any sign of the eclipse.

Don't let this one fool you. It was taken 15 minutes prior to the time the ring of fire was supposed to occur. 

I think I got lucky and a couple of dust spots on the lens aligned.

7:33 came and went and I've got nothing to show you for it. I do know that the birds stopped singing, 

there wasn't a whisper of a wind, and the light was freakin' amazing. I gave up trying to capture it with my camera 

and just looked around and took it all in. Sometimes memories are better than pictures anyway.

Saturday encore ~ A long walk on a beautiful morning

This encore post is from August 11, 2016.

Today's music is "Through the Trees" from David Tolk. 

 

Saturday encore ~ Branch management

This encore post is from August 3, 2016. 
*** 
We finally some rain Monday night. When I went out Tuesday morning to do chores, 

George and Alan were celebrating in their usual roundabout way.

You'd think they'd get dizzy after awhile.

 

Saturday encore ~ She never met a flower she didn't want to eat

This encore post is from August 2, 2016.

***

 My garden this year consists of four pots of geraniums and petunias 

and two pots of tomatoes. 

I occasionally treat the chickens to supervised visits in this area.

They seem to enjoy the change of scenery.

Look who isn't broody anymore! After nine weeks of self-imposed

imprisonment in the nesting box, Peach finally gave up on the idea of motherhood.

Geraniums are my favorite garden plants, if for no other reason than

they're relatively hard to kill. Also, I like their flamboyance
in this otherwise understated environment.

Mrs. Hughes photobombs the geraniums.

Me: Don't even think about it.

Mrs. Hughes: Think about what?

Lady Mary: You always have to spoil it for the rest of us.

Now we're going to lose our garden privileges.

Mrs. Hughes: Kiss my fluffy ass.

Lady Mary: See? I told you we'd get kicked out.

Saturday encore ~ Demolition expert for hire

This encore post is from July 15, 2016.

Saturday encore ~ Smooch's stalker

This encore post is from July 8, 2016.

Saturday encore ~ Birdland

This encore post is from June 28, 2016.

***

I'm astonished by the number of birds that hang out here...

...despite the ever-present feral beast.

Between the swallows, the curve-billed thrashers, the doves, the ravens, and

who knows what else, the Audubon Society could set up shop and sell tickets.

The feral beast has a front-row seat on the action...

...but the birds are clever enough to keep their distance.

Watching all this activity can be exhausting.