ISO? Aperture? White Balance?

So... It has come to this... [insert instant dramatic tension]

I have bit the bullet and am *attempting* to learn how to use a real camera. Hoo boy...

For years I've been using a dinky, albeit cute, Kodak point-and-shoot that, while no great wonder in itself, gets the job done. I wanted pictures, and it was a method of getting them.

Either that, or I would wheel, deal, beg, and badger my younger photography nut of a sister to get some shots for me with her fancy big black Canon. It got old really fast for both of us.

But using any camera other than a point-and-shoot was daunting to me. I would say it's right up there with using a gun. It's too many moving parts for me... ISO? What in the world is that? White balance? What on earth for?? Aperture? I don't even know how to spell that!!

So the little pink Kodak camera stuck around...

But I'm also a spoiled blogger who happens to really like good pictures. I'm a snob, in short. My own pictures weren't good enough for me and I hated that fact... When I visit blogs, the first thing I look for is really good pictures. Picture quality is what makes me go back again and again. I swoon at shots from a Canon 5D Mark II. That camera is awesome. 

So, I bit the bullet and am now learning how to handle our ancient Canon 10D. It's heavy. It's awkward. It's got a lot of buttons. Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!

So these ridiculously huge pictures are from today's first lesson. Yeah, they've got mistakes, but I'm a little pleased that I was even able to take them. I knew how to change my ISO when I went from inside the barn to outside in the pasture, and I even managed to understand when and why to change an aperture (well, somewhat...).

I'll get better eventually.. Bear with me here. I'm still struggling with finding the button that actually takes the picture! ;) I don't see any Canon 5D's in my near future, but I guess for now I'll start at the bottom with this little 10D and work my way up... Who knows, maybe someday I'll have a 5D with a fish eye lens to boot!

I Want A Dirty Truck

   My Carhartt coat is a wreck. I've had it for only four months and it no longer looks like it used to. It is faded in color due to being covered with dirt. It is broken in so well that it is my best fitting article of clothing. It has cobwebs stuck to the back. There are broken zip ties, pieces of hay, and feed bag ingredient lists in the outside pockets. The inside pockets are filled with random things which weighs it down. It's heavy to pick up and feels like a horse blanket. I love that coat...

 While working on fencing today, I thought about how I want a dirty truck someday... I am finally putting my nose to the grindstone in getting my driver's permit/license (yeah, now that I'm turning 20...), and hope to have a truck of my own before the year is out. My vehicle choice is something that can't be argued. In fact, I would hardly call it a choice. I need a truck and that's all there is to it. A few years ago I sighed at the sight of a Subaru Outback (okay, I still harbor feeling towards them), but it doesn't make economic sense for someone like me to own one. Nope, this farm girl needs a truck. And I want it to be dirty.

 My Carhartt coat is filthy and I love it that way. It is not to be washed (forewarning for ya'). My boots are just as filthy. My clothes are always filthy by the end of the day. I live in Oregon, and here it is wet. Wet equals mud. Mud equals mess. My Carhartt coat is left dirty because it shows that this girl knows how to work. She knows the ins and outs of this dirty life. And she leaves the dirt on because she likes it.

 I want my truck to be dirty too. I don't want it to look clean and sparkly, as if it never saw hard use. I want it to be obvious that this is a country girl's truck. A vehicle that is used to haul livestock, hay, and slaughtering equipment. A mode of transportation for a girl and her trusty farm dog named Dulcie. It will rumble and growl when the ignition is turned, there will be dirt streaked on the sides, a dog riding shotgun, and music blaring from the speakers. Oh yeah.. That's a truck.


Someday I'll have that four-wheeled beast of my dreams sitting in the driveway. And I'll drive it while wearing my dirty Carhartt coat...

My Warped Sense of Humor...

But I laughed when I saw this!

Carnival Of The Animals

Peaches and Summer have bonded. They sleep together, play together, eat together, and get worried when they can't find each other. Peaches hangs her head over the fence in the barn while I bottle feed Summer in the main area. And summer pokes her little head through the kidding stall hole to watch Peaches eat her dinner. One weighs eighteen pounds, and the other weighs one hundred and eighty. Opposites attract.

P.S. The strange doohickie on Poppet was an experiment I tried to see if it would keep Poppet from escaping the pasture. It worked, until Poppet found a bigger hole. Phooey. So it's taken off now.

Which Would You Choose?

Suppose you were looking for something particular... And you knew this something particular was going to cost a moderate amount of money. More money than you might normally have at any given time, but not a huge sum altogether.

Now, suppose you found something very similar to what you wanted, but it was FREE. Sure, it might have a few minor problems that are fixable, and it's not what you were originally looking for, but hey, it's free.

Which would you choose? Would you sit on your hands and wait for what you first wanted, and pay for it? Or would you go the route of free, even though it's not quite what you wanted? 

I'd like to know. I've found myself in this predicament today and I'm not sure which way to go... 

Goat Song Farm Has A Website Now!

Truth be told, I've been holding out on y'all. There's a small piece of news that I haven't announced yet (although some of you readers have already seen it).

Goat Song Farm officially has a website!! Hurrah!

And yes, that now means that I have two websites, plus this blog. Oy. I may eventually merge my goat website, Goat Song Nubians, into my new farming website but that is yet to be decided.

So, without further ado, you can see my grand new website by clicking HERE!! 

Making Progress!

When Peaches first came to Goat Song Farm, she weighed in at 150 lbs. 

Tonight I weighed her and she is now 180 lbs.!!! In a span of one week she's gained thirty pounds. Hot dawg!! ;)

She's also shedding out her fuzzy coat, so she's beginning to take on a sleeker appearance which is both good and bad. For while she's starting to look like a little lady, the lack of fuzziness is showing her ribs quite prominently. I've always been able to feel her ribs, but seeing them jutting out so sharply is quite a different matter... Another 30 lbs. on this girl should make a world of difference. That, and one more worming this week, plus some good kelp meal (which I should be picking up from the feed store this week). Yep, I'm seeing a lovely little cow emerging from this diamond in the rough. :)