Category Archives: Camera Critters

Camera Critters – Baby, the Sheep

Friends of ours that have some acreage close to town have various critters including sheep.
My favorite is “Baby” so named because her mother rejected her and so she was raised in the house. She doesn’t know that she is not human. She has always been very trusting, maybe too much so.

Recently Baby was attacked by another animal. They don’t know what. Baby survived and is being treated but has changed.

She is miserable with her injuries and she is no longer trusting. She is fearful.

Hopefully she’ll get better.

Not a hundred feet away a lamb is resting. Mom is checking me out, I kept my distance, I didn’t want to stress them.

Camera Critters

Romeo and Juliette

Big Romance last summer on a ranch in western Oklahoma.

Unfortunately Romeo (the white one) split and hasn’t been seen since. We don’t know whether he made a clean break or ended up being coyote bait.

Danged rascal anyway.

Camera Critters

Camera Critters – Coyote Geocaching

I was at a local park very early Friday morning to hunt a geocache. As I was walking to the cache I looked up and saw a coyote.

He noticed me about the same time so we stopped and looked at each other. He was nice enough to hold the pose so I could get this shot.

Then he trotted off. I was able to get this last shot of him. As I was walking another coyote came out from the woods to the left. He didn’t stop so by the time I got my gloves off and camera out, turned on, and pointed in the right direction, he was gone.

I was worried about one thing though. They had come from the direction of the geocache so I went to check it out.

Nope, they hadn’t found it before I did. Whew.

Camera Critters

Pawnee Prairie Park Deer

I was in Wichita, Kansas a few weeks ago and spent an afternoon at their beautiful Pawnee Prairie Park.

It has miles of trails and is very secluded. It has lots of white-tailed deer and they were out and about.

They seem to have a good home there, lots of grass, water, and cover and not many people to bother them.

Camera Critters

Lomographic 3G Cattle

A couple weeks ago we visited my wife’s “old home place” the ranch. A cousin of Sweetie’s is running cattle (as we say in Oklahoma) out on the ranch under the 3G brand.

Of course, I take all my cameras with me including my ultra low tech cheapie toy Diana Mini Lomographic analog film camera that can shoot half frames, to take the cheapie concept one step futher.

The thing about cows ( and you can write on the back of a postage stamp what I know about cows, and most of that would be wrong) is that they always show up if people show up.

That is it for the Lomographic Photographs, the rest are digital.

They have a couple of rescue donkeys. Here is Kim, the faithful girlfriend, feeding Juliet, one of the sweetest donkeys, you’ll ever meet. Kim showed up at her boyfriend’s family reunion and fit right in. Kim was styling with the hat and the cowboy (cowgirl?) boots. She was a good sport.

It was well over 100F that day, so SuperPizzaBoy hung out in the four wheeler with his uncle Glenn.

Sweetie was in her element. She loves all critters, except snakes. I can tell you that if you are snake, you would be wise to steer clear of Sweetie. Cows, kittens, babies, and puppies, Sweetie is the best friend that you will ever have.

This is Tyler, Kim’s boyfriend. He is a Marine artillery officer. When things get hot, you want to be where Tyler is, you don’t want to be down range.

Wesley, Tyler’s younger brother. An extremely nice young man.

There is Sweetie, taking charge, making sure that everybody has enough to eat. It’s the Mom’s of the world that keep things going if you ask me.

Yeah, well, more of the same. Sweetie is number one among the 3G herd.

Who’s number one in your herd?

Camera Critters

What is Lomography?

Why am I so Lucky??

We have three dogs and two cats. We don’t generally take them on trips. We think they are more comfortable at home. We have a twenty pound Maine Coon who for some reason really misses me when we are gone and won’t stay away from me when I get home.

I guess it is nice to be loved.

Camera Critters

Gaggle or Skein

I get so confused, what is a group of geese called? Flock, Gaggle, what? I know what the thumb in the photo above is called, its called a goof.

Thanks to Al Gore inventing the internet we have Wikipedia. They say that a group of geese on the ground is a Gaggle and a group of geese in the air is a Skein or a Wedge. Thanks Wikipedia, thanks Al, really.

I found this gaggle at my gym. I have no idea where they came from nor where they were going but they were in formation and they were on the move. I didn’t want to get in front of them but I could tell I was making the adults a little nervous so I called it quits after the the three pics. All I had for a camera was an old recyclable that didn’t do very well in dim light.

Camera Critters

A Mule Named Jed

This is an update on son SuperPizzaBoy’s therapeutic riding program, “Bit by Bit” at Roger’s State University here in Oklahoma. He is still participating and doing very well and loves it even though he and his Mom have to drive 25 miles to the program after school on Monday evenings.

Recently they have switched him over to a mule named Jed. Jed is over 20 years old but still looks great. (To my unknowledgable eye at least.) Jed seems like a very calm and collected mule. SPB’s instructor says he is doing better than ever. We are big fans of Bit by Bit.

Bit by Bit has very few paid staff. The outrider’s ensuring the safety of the rider and the people taking care of the horses and the stable are all volunteers. We appreciate them very much.

We the clients of Bit by Bit are big fans. They do a lot with not very much.

Son is gaining more and more confidence with every session. He is going to participate in a Pinto Show and an Appaloosa show at the Tulsa Fairgrounds later this year.

There is no way that he could do this without Bit by Bit.

SPB has a form of Autism called Asperger’s Syndrome. Hippotherapy helps with his body awareness in several different ways.

I’m sure that there are similar programs near where you live.

Give them a little love if you are so moved and able.

Camera Critters

April is Autism Awareness Month (autismsocietyofnc.wordpress.com)

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve

Earlier this week I took a day off and the family drove up to Pawhuska, Oklahoma to visit the Tallgrass Praire Preserve owned by the Nature Conservancy. It was my third trip there in the last year but neither Sweetie nor SuperPizzaBoy had seen it before.

They have bison, lots of bison, all over the place.

They have grand vistas of sky, rolling hills, and trees.

There are also birds, including this (What I think is a killdeer?)

She was yakking at us. We must have been too close to a nest or something. We left here alone.

The Preserve, formerly a working cattle ranch, has oil wells, apparently existing in harmony with the bison.

And there were spring breakers photographing everything in sight.

Including each other

The preserve encompasses 39,000 acres much of it the bluestem grass that the bison love to eat. Here is a link to travelok.com with some more information and describing how to get there from where you are.

On the way home to Tulsa, well outside the Preserve, we came upon a prairie fire. It was spectacular.

It’s been dry and windy lately. Hey smokers don’t be tossing your butts out the window!

We also passed this ranch gate. We’re guessing it is to the ranch home of the Pioneer Woman. But that is just a guess. If you have never checked out her blog you need to. It is something else.