Look what I found, a Shamrock Orbweaver.  They’re maturing, and will be quite active August through October, so look for them in the garden, fruit trees, eves of the house, etc.  Don’t kill her.  She’s not only harmless; she’s your friend.  She has a voracious appetite for all kinds of pesky insects, and with a “belly” this size, she’s about to lay eggs and release her reinforcements: baby orbweavers when mature will also attack and destroy insects.

Listen up ladies – ready for some toxic femininity?  Female orbweavers catch medium to large insects including those larger than themselves.  They ignore small insects.  Males, however, are not able to catch prey larger than themselves and must settle for puny catches.  Tell me you’re not smiling…

Her web is fashioned like an orb about 20 to 30 inches in diameter.  She then makes a retreat out of silk near one edge of the orb connected by a signal thread to the center of the web which is a vibration conduit when prey is snared.  You go, girl!

Shamrock OrbweaverFemale spider is wonderfully beneficial. Found in Skagit County, WA

How fascinating: spider silk transforms from liquid protein to solid thread when it leaves the the spider's body. Spiders can produce up to seven types of silk, each one comprised of varying protein sequences. Each serves a distinct purpose such as flexibility to absorb impact from prey, another type makes the thread less brittle, and one protein type fights bacteria and fungus which keeps the web moist.
 

Spiked LegThe Shamrock orbweaver has spikes on its legs to help catch and hold prey.

Her legs have tiny spikes which aid in catching and holding prey. (Stop Resisting!!!)

Shamrock OrbweaverPacific Northwest Photographer

On a whimsical note?  She’s also known as the Pumpkin Spider.  I think she must like Halloween.

 

FORGED by the FIRE

A GLIMPSE OF PERCHERON HISTORY AS A FIREHOUSE HORSE

Not every horse was a viable candidate for serving as a firehouse horse.  They had to be incredibly strong, quick, athletic, and fearless.  When responding to an incident, these horses had to remain calm as flames and embers mixed with myriad distractions surrounded them at every scene.  No other horse has ever stood as tall in the face of such harrowing demands than that of the noble Percheron.

It is difficult to imagine, but most are unaware that horses were not well-received in the firehouse community during the 19^th century.  In fact, in 1832, the New York Mutual Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 bought a horse to pull their engine, a novel move at that time and one that many speculate was caused by the yellow fever epidemic which precipitated a serious shortage of men.  Yellow fever–a viral hemorrhagic disease– spread during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and killed more than 100,000 Americans from New Orleans to Boston with the last epidemic departing the infectious disease stage in 1905. 

Everett Washington Fire DepartmentGrey Percherons reenact the days of yore by pulling The Continental built by Ahrens Fire Engine Company, Cincinnati, Ohio.

That man-loss devastation is further underscored when one considers that exceedingly heavy steam pumpers and fire equipment were pulled by volunteers; men would gather in large numbers and struggle to drag the heavy equipment to the site of the incident; a process fraught with brutal challenge and one that devoured time critical to saving structures and, ultimately, lives.  Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, or in this case, it was a nostalgic intersection of man and horse.

When that first firehouse horse was purchased by New York Mutual Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, neighboring stations averse to the use of horses were so contemptuous and cynical that they entered Ladder Company No. 1’s stable, shaved the horse’s mane and tail, and painted a white stripe down the animal’s back to resemble a skunk.  As a further insult, the Oceanus fire company beat the horse-drawn Mutuals to a fire incident.  Clearly, a lot of upturns were in order to establish parity, and those who believed in a joint endeavor between man and horse rallied to make that happen.

3-horse-team-pulls-steam-powered-pumper Steam Powered PumperA three horse team pulls a steam powered pumper. 3-horse-team-pulls-steam-powered-pumper Steam Powered PumperA three horse team pulls a steam powered pumper.

As steam engines gained repute and usefulness, they understandably grew in size and weight.  Early firefighters, albeit reluctantly, began to view horses as far more compulsory to incident response and success, and it didn’t take long for the resentment to give way to a deep affection for the horse. 

In the beginning it was, of course, trial and error.  Horses were stabled near the stations, but crews soon realized that when the alarm signaled the menace of fire, precious time was needlessly spent accessing the barn, collecting the horses and harnessing them to the engine.  Fire companies were determined to improve, and before long, horses found themselves living at the stations alongside their human counterparts.  Hostility toward the horse vanished, replaced by adoration.  The men who now doted on their equine partners were some of the very individuals who originally scoffed at the idea that horses could ever be part of a response team.

WA DC 1914 Fire EngineThe way it looked in 1914, Washington DC

Skimming the pages of history, the great Chicago fire is a pockmark of unmitigated fire disaster.  Legend holds that on October 8, 1871, a cow kicked over a lantern in the barn of Patrick and Catherine O'Leary which resulted in a two-day infrerno that swept the lives of up to 300 people, destroyed 17,450 buildings, left 100,000 people homeless, and was responsible for $200 million in damages.  By today's dollars that would be in excess of $4,081,632,653.  Other theories of how the Windy City fire- which consumed four square miles- include the speculation that a comet started the fire.  Whatever the cause for that historical annihilation, dry weather was a contributing factor which caused two fires per day in the city in 1870 and some of the 20 fires throughout Chicago the week before the Great Fire of 1871.

Cash, Cody and Colt Valley View Percherons pulling a 1907 Continental engine for Everett Fire Department

Although the union of horses and fire engines divorced after only fifty years, the glut of fires during that marriage proved educational; modifications with an eye toward enhancement and increased efficiency soon introduced horse stalls into the stations with the firemen, positioned behind or next to the fire rigs.  The innovation of a quick-hitch came to fruition, developed by Massachusetts firefighter Charles Berry who created that hanging harness with quick-locking hames.  His invention was as practical as it was popular, and he eventually left the fire department, patented his invention, and began a nationwide marketing quest for his Berry Hames and Collars.  What is the quick-hitch you ask?  With this style of harness, a fire horse could be ready to go in less than a minute.  The quick-hitch was a network of leather straps suspended from the ceiling of the firehouse.  When the alarm sounded, the horses instantly scrambled into position beneath the harness.  At the opportune time, a firefighter manipulated a control switch whereby the harness dropped down around the horses’ bodies.

Fire Engine PercheronsEverett Washington Fire Department hosts Valley View Percherons
          Also emerging on the firefighting horizon were new protocols for firehouse horse selection.  Fire departments became more discriminating.  Both mares and stallions were eligible to serve, and veterinarians carefully evaluated all potential recruits. In Detroit, weight requirements were eventually issued for the horses.  For instance, horses pulling a hose wagon were required to weigh at least 1,100 pounds, while a steamer horse needed to weigh in at 1,400 pounds.  For horses pulling a hook and ladder, 1,700 pounds was the minimum weight requirement.  Stations also embraced uniformity in the horses, striving to create matched teams of two and three horses.

Everett Fire DepartmentPhoto by Judy Ann Photo of Sedro Woolley, WA

Some cities established stables specifically for training firehouse horses, but in the interest of practicality most horses were trained on-the-job.  Detroit actually had a horse college and asserted that they were the only fire department to set up such a training regimen.  The facility featured a fire station with apparatus, training stalls, quick-hitches, feed room, equine hospital, and a 700-foot racetrack for practice runs.  They claimed to be the only fire department to train their horses in this manner.  Additionally, horses were issued progress reports and report cards at the close of their tutelage.  Horses at the top of the class were quickly assigned tenure with city fire stations with their employment lasting four to ten years.  These departments eventually added horse ambulances and farrier wagons to their repertoire.  It is interesting to note that in 1858, the Philadelphia Fairmount Engine Company gave their fire horses a vacation each year which quickly became tradition, and it happened long before human firefighters received vacations.

In the fall of 1872 in Toronto, an outbreak dubbed "most destructive recorded episode of equine influenza in history,” known as the Great Epizootic, spread among the horses, and within twenty-four hours, 300 horses died in Buffalo, New York.  The equine epidemic spread rapidly to many cities and paralyzed them since all cities now relied heavily on horses for transportation.  In late October in Boston, out of a total of 75-90 horses, four had died and 22 were unfit for duty. Until the epidemic ended, firefighters with the aid of citizen volunteers often found it necessary to drag the equipment to fires manually. On November 9^th, 1872, the Great Boston Fire burnt continuously for sixteen hours. It consumed 776 buildings, left 20,000 unemployed and 1,000 homeless. There were fourteen fatalities, including eleven firefighters. A century later John P. Vahey, a Boston fire chief, wrote about this catastrophe and renamed it the Epizootic Fire, after the disease that felled so many horses.

It was a sad day at the fire station when a horse was declared unfit for duty. Many retired fire horses continued to work for the city in a less demanding capacity while others enjoyed pasture retirement.  Occasionally the horses were put up for public auction, and of those horses which were sometimes purchased by junk drivers and delivery men, the former firehouse horses would forget their new jobs.  Many a hollering driver could be seen trying to stop his galloping team as the delivery wagon bounced perilously behind.  At the sound of the fire gong, the horses’ allegiance to service was instantly resurrected, and off they charged, looking for a fire.

Everett Fire DepartmentCody, Cash and Colt of Valley View Percherons photographed by Judy Ann Photo of Skagit Valley Everett Fire DepartmentCody, Cash and Colt of Valley View Percherons photographed by Judy Ann Photo of Skagit Valley Everett Fire DepartmentCody, Cash and Colt of Valley View Percherons photographed by Judy Ann Photo of Skagit Valley

                                   Never back down from a challenge: holding three tons of horses and taking the photo.

As published in Percheron News, authored by Judy Ann Photo
 

 

Did you know that grey is not actually a true color in horses?  It’s a gene mutation that causes a process of hair depigmentation.  Since I regularly field questions about grey horses and why they dapple out and eventually turn white, I’ve laid out a series of photos I snapped from around North America over the last decade.  The photos help illustrate this enjoyable stroll through some very simplified equine color genetics of Percheron horses. 

 

GarthHandsome Garth, left lead of the Valley View Percheron hitch, Custer, Washington

(Above) This handsome fellow is about five years old and has turned from his birth color of black to a rich dapple grey.  

 

Dapple grey Percheron horsesPatrick Wilder of Valley View Percherons

Depigmentation is well underway on this pair who were also born black.  Farmers Day Parade in Lynden, Washington.

 

Phantom A four-year old gelding has not yet greyed out. Valley View Percherons

The beautiful dapple-grey Percherons of the Valley View hitch are born very dark, almost black.  This is four-year-old Phantom.  His mane and tail are grey, as are parts of his face.  His dark coat is beginning to lighten and is already sporting some gorgeous dapples.  

MelodyHidden View Melody of Blue Ribbon Days is a rich dapple grey in her younger years. Hidden View Melody of the Blue Ribbon Days hitch is seen here a few years back when she was a dark, dapple grey. 

 

Percheron gelding, CashValley View Percherons, Custer, Washington at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup

They lighten as they age, and every horse is different; some are completely white by the time they’re six to eight years old.

 

Cody and LucasDapple grey Percheron at the Washington State Fair

Some horses are slower to turn white, maintaining their grey dapples even until ten to twelve years of age.  Cody was twelve years old in this image and still covered beautiful grey dapples.

 

Percheron HorsesJudy Ann Photo of Sedro Woolley captures this dapple grey Percheron in Custer, Washington.

In laymen’s terms, grey is the result of a mutation that causes the hair shaft to lose pigmentation over time, eventually losing all color.  The gene variants responsible are known as alleles.  Just like in humans, there are dominant alleles (genes) and recessive alleles; with eye color, brown is dominant to blue; therefore, a child born with a blue allele from mom and a brown allele from dad will end up with brown eyes.  (Remember, we're talking about the genetic code, not the color of the parents' eyes.)

Dapple greyCurt Wilder of Valley View Percherons, Custer, Washington driving one of the family's geldings. With horses, the grey allele is dominant.  If a grey horse is homozygous, meaning that it has a grey allele from both parents, it will always produce grey offspring no matter the color genetics of the horse it is mated to.  Above is a Valley View Percheron at about six years of age.

 

 

Eaglesfield PercheronsBrigadier owned by Brian & Colleen Coleman, Alberta.

A horse carrying one copy of the grey allele regardless of other color genes present will always become grey, and this means that all grey horses must have at least one grey parent.  That also means that it’s impossible for a horse to carry a recessive grey gene: because all grey horses have at least one grey parent and since grey is dominant over other colors, that horse will always turn grey.  Percheron stallion, Eaglesfield Brigadier, Alberta, Canada. 

 

CodyWashington State Fair Draft Horse Show; Valley View Percherons

Another question that arises is, what is the difference between a white horse and a grey horse when the hair coat is completely white?  The grey allele does not affect skin color, and here’s your answer:  look at the “points” of the horse, much like you would a Siamese cat.  His eyes and other skin areas where hair is sparse such as around his muzzle and his the tail will be very dark.  A "white" horse has unpigmented pink skin which is evident at birth.

 

PhantomValley View Percherons, photo by Judy Ann Photo of Sedro Woolley Phantom’s pigment will always be dark even as his hair becomes depigmented. 

 

Beautiful Percheron geldingPhoto by Judy Ann Photo of Sedro Woolley, WA of Valley View Percherons Unlike the hairs, the grey gene does not cause depigmentation of the skin or eyes. So grey horses will almost always have dark skin and dark eyes.  Though he is getting lighter over the years and will eventually be completely white, Cash still has his dark eyes and dark pigment around those eyes.

Dapple greyGrey Percherons carry the dominant grey allele. It's a depigmentation of the hair that causes the lovely dapples of these horses.

That means if you shaved a dapple-grey horse, the skin beneath that hair coat would not be dappled.

 

Vitiligo in grey horsesDominant alleles in equine color. Dapple grey Percheron from Ames Percherons, Jordan, Minnesota. There is one rare exception in that some grey horses can go through a progressive depigmentation in the skin, called vitiligo. This results in pink-colored patches around the eyes, muzzle, and under the tail.    

 

Grey color in Percheron horsesVitiligo on muzzle of a dapple grey Percheron. Photo by Judy Ann Photo of Washington State

Signs of vitiligo beginning on the muzzle.

Dominant allele in grey horsesA pair of grey Percheron geldings owned by Valley View of Custer, Washington. Photo by Judy Ann Photo of Sedro Woolley, Washington

One more note.  If a grey horse carries one copy of the grey allele and is mated with a non-grey carrying horse, there is still a 50% chance of grey offspring.

 

Dapple grey PercheronsJudy Ann Photo of Skagit Valley; from the Valley View hitch performing in Puyallup

The next time someone mentions a grey horse?  You can politely educate them that grey is not actually a color, it's a process of depigmentation.  No butts about it.

 

Hannah DeerShe Melts the Snow

I meet so many wonderful people, people with stories that are as unique and beautiful as they are. Here’s the deal, folks: stop and talk with others, say hello, engage in conversation, offer a friendly, encouraging smile. Stop what you’re doing and take the time to get to know others. “Too busy” is not a valid reason; you could be missing out on one of the many treasures life has to offer.

Take a good look at her pictures. Her name is Hannah Deer. She was perched on the seat of her purple wagon, reticent yet unafraid, svelte and posh in her designer clothes, a slight smile parting her lips as she spoke. She held the lines of her horses; a pair of one-ton Percheron geldings, steadying them with one hand in a calming tug of the lines that was imperceptible to the casual observer, but a move her horses drew reassuring command from. “Yes,” she smiled, nodding, when I asked if she was full native. Indeed, she’s full-blooded Mohawk, and suddenly I’m able to connect the dots when reading her wagon’s lettering: HD Rapids Percherons, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. It dawns on me that Rapids is drawn from the Kahnawake which, in Iroquois means “on the rapids.” Clever girl.

Between competitions, we snap some pictures of Hannah with her favorite horse, George; a monstrous black gelding with a big heart and a sweet nature. And there against the live oak draped with curtains of moss, I lens her beautiful face, appreciating that I have been blessed with an incredible portal to the past. I see more than the young indigenous woman poised gracefully before me; I see a piece of history, like a snapshot from a time forgotten, a time many have never known of. Her obvious native features murmur of her heritage; in her dark eyes I see a memoir that whispers of strength, of familial bonds, of a complex people we know so little about and whose past intrigues me with a persistence that demands that I observe and learn. She shares the tattoo on her left thigh; an amalgam of a deer and wolf. “The deer is for my last name, and the wolf is my clan.”

Hannah Deer shares with me something incredibly special: her Mohawk name is Kanietanawéntha. It means, She Melts the Snow. Indeed, some stories are too wonderful not to share. Enjoy.

Hannah DeerReady for the show ring

Buddy HollyMemorial to Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper nestled in an Iowa cornfield. Except for the legions of crickets who begin their chorus long before nightfall, there is only the occasional rustle of cornstalks from the ghostly breeze. It’s a quarter mile trek from the gravel road marked by the bent green sign of Gull Avenue and 315th Street. Beside me to the north, a rusty barbed wire fence is choked by tall grasses. It borders endless acres of quiet cornfields. Beside me to the south, silk-topped cornstalks stretch for miles, poking into the blue sky. My camera swings from my hand. My steps are muffled in the thick, clipped grass of the path that gently rises and falls with the landscape. Cresting a knoll, I catch sight of the glint, an indicator that I’m almost there. My wish to visit this place was seeded nearly a dozen years ago, and although I've never been here, I immediately recognize the site where the Beechcraft Bonanza went down 59 years ago, the day the music died. We’ve all heard those songs. Most of us have watched the movies depicting the lives of Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper Jiles P. Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson.  Clear Lake Iowa, February 3, 1959 was the day that three music legends chartered a plane after performing at the Surf Ballroom during the Winter Dance Party tour, en route to their next stop of Moorhead, Minnesota. Moments after take-off, the single engine plane plunged into a cornfield at the very spot in front of me. Sobering, touching, heartbreaking, but I’m so glad I made the journey. And as I stood there absorbing the surroundings and the resulting emotion, I heard the distant echoes of La Bamba, Chantilly Lace, and Peggy Sue…

Famous eyewearBuddy Holly's famous glasses mark the memorial site entrance.

I love producing breathtaking photos, but I’m also captivated by the science that underwrites such beauty.  The colors of vivid sunsets result from the scattering phenomenon which means that molecules and small atmospheric particles change the direction of light rays, causing them to scatter.  That influence affects the color of the sky’s light, but the real details are determined by light wavelength and particle size.  Short wavelength colors of blue and violet are scattered more readily by those molecules than other colors on the spectrum; that is why blue and violet light reaches our eyes from all directions during clear weather.  However, our eyes aren’t as proficient at detecting violet, therefore the sky to us appears blue.

When the sun is dropping low on the horizon, sunlight passes through more air than during the day.  More atmosphere means more molecules to scatter the violet and blue light from our eyes.  If the path that light travels is long enough, it will scatter the violet and blue light completely out of our line of sight while reds, yellows and oranges dominate what we are able to see during sunset.  A final note: red has the longest wavelength of any visible light.  That’s why the sun is so red in these images; it’s traveling an extremely long atmospheric path that blocks out all other colors – colors that are still present, but we just can’t see them.

Science aside, enjoy the beautiful pictures of Belgian mare, Harriet, against the blazing Iowa sunset, one enhanced by the local corn harvest that is flinging a plethora of particles into the atmosphere.

 

Have you ever smiled at the antics of apes because you recognized their capers as remarkably similar to our own? The same is true with wolves and domestic dogs. A chance meeting with grey wolves, precipitated by a snowstorm which stranded me in Yellowstone Park, opened a splendid window for observation and education about our domestic dogs' wild cousin. All dogs from Chihuahas to St. Bernards and everything in between descend from wolves; specifically from the grey wolf. There are 34 species in the Canidae family including domestic dogs, wolves, foxes, coyotes, and jackals. After a long absence from Yellowstone Park, a group of eight Jasper, Alberta wolves were transported and reintroduced in 1995, and the park classroom has been in session ever since. As of January 2020, there are at least 94 wolves in Yellowstone park. Eight packs have been recorded, and the population since 2009 has fluctuated between 83 and 108. In the following images, I have included much of what I learned from park rangers and biologists about this fascinating canine, also known as canid. Enjoy.

Love him or hate him, the cascade of change from the wolf’s presence continues to unfold. In the 1930s, the wolf was completely annihilated, and as a consequence, predatory pressure on elk populations was downgraded to the extent that elk pushed the limits of carrying capacity. Elk ceased to migrate for winter foraging, instead desecrating the willow, aspen and cottonwood stands that beaver needed to survive. Here’s what’s really intriguing. According to park officials, we have three times the number of elk than in 1968 when there were no wolves and yet, willow and other trees are thriving. Why? Because wolves keep the elk on the move. Beaver are synonymous with stream hydrology, and because they now have a robust food source that was once crippled by non-moving elk, the dams they build help flatten the curve of those damaging pulses of seasonal runoff. Not only that, they aid in recharging the water table, provide more shading and cooler water temperatures for fish, and songbirds benefit from the fortified habitat.

Which dogs are most closely related to wolves?  Not surprisingly, two are the Akita and the Alaskan Malamute.  The question arises, how many times were dogs domesticated from wolves?  One theory from a 4,700 year old wolf skull strongly suggests that it happened only once, and from a single group of wolves.

DNA studies are continuing to reveal so much about these animals. The first large study of North American wolf genomes revealed there is only one species on the continent: the grey wolf. Two other purported species, the Eastern wolf and the red wolf, are mixes of gray wolf and coyote DNA.

So how did wolves become dogs? One theory is they were unintentionally domesticated after they began trailing ancient hunter-gatherers for scraps. The more docile wolves probably enjoyed extra treats, passing on their friendly genes over time and eventually became our beloved dogs.

Just how smart are they, you ask? A 2017 published study of Scientific Reports by an international team of researchers at the Wolf Science Center in Vienna, Austria concluded that wolves are smarter than dogs. Studies revealed that domesticated dogs cannot make the connection between cause and effect. Wolves, however, can. Remember the Jurassic Park scenes about the velociraptors? They remember…

Wolves have very large feet in relation to body size compared to that of dogs. Wolves actually run on their toes which aids in those fast turns and prevents their paw pads from wearing down. They also have small webs between their toes which makes them excellent swimmers, paddling distances of up to eight miles.

Dogs and wolves share 98.8% of the same DNA. They readily interbreed but it is reported that the offspring are typically not fertile. Dogs and wolves of comparable size share a similar captivity lifespan of about 12-14 years.

If you call, they will answer. Biologists find that wolves will regularly respond to humans imitating their calls.  The International Wolf Center in Minnesota even sponsors “howl nights” where you can talk to the wolves.

A wolf's bite force is actually related to skull size; larger wolves have greater bite force. The average is 400 PSI; but biologists conclude that in defense mode, a wolf rivals a grizzly at 1200 PSI.

We've all watched our dogs bury a favorite bone or toy and then dig it up later. That behavior is more than just play; its instinctive. It's a throwback to survival skills that the grey wolf still practices today.

Wolves have a variety of distinctive facial expressions for communication as well as for unifying the pack.

Since reintroduction, genetic studies have revealed much about the packs from health to kinship to behavioral traits. One of the most fascinating involves coat color. About half of Yellowstone’s wolves are black; the other half grey. This is just color; they’re still all grey wolves. Researchers have determined that black coats are due to a single beta defensin gene, CBD103 or K-locus. All black wolves carry a mutation linked to this black coat color and it is believed to have originated in domestic dogs. The origin of the K-locus likely occurred from hybridization between dogs and wolves in northwest North America in the last 7,000 years when humans brought domestic dogs across the Bering Land Bridge.

Additional studies on links between coat color, reproduction, survival and behavior also revealed astounding details. The K-locus gene is involved in immune function, intimating pathogen defense. Black wolves have greater resistance to distemper outbreaks, but grey wolves are more aggressive and territorial. 

A fierce predator, you bet. But they warmed my heart as I watched them frolic in the snow just as our own dogs do.

 

 

Grizzly bear

A few years ago I was fortuitously stranded in Yellowstone with what has become my favorite North American omnivore. My nightmarish fear of grizzly bears was wondrously transformed into one of awe and respect after spending a few days with sanctuary biologists. I got to thinking about the Thanksgiving holiday and the smells of roasting turkey. Is there anything better than that aroma wafting through your home?

The biologist pointed to a distant hill and explained that a grizzly's olfactory (sense of smell) is so acute that from miles away, he not only smells you, he can actually tell what you had for breakfast. To put it into perspective, our paltry 40 million olfactory sensors bring us the delicious smells of our holiday feast, but for our dogs who possess up to 300 million of those sensors, it’s no wonder they whine at the table for a few scraps as their senses are so highly developed.

Grizzly Now, enter the grizzly. His sense of smell is 4 to 7 times more acute than the most decorated of canine trackers: the bloodhound. Any surprise that bear can smell you from 20 miles away?

A bit of advice during the holidays. After you stuff yourself with turkey and trimmings and home-made pie, you might want to rethink that hike in the woods. A six-hundred pound male grizzly clocks in at about 35 MPH – horses clock at 45 MPH so think about that for a minute. The average human? A non-athlete will be lucky to hit 10 MPH; stuffed with turkey and pie – I don’t need to tell you who will emerge the victor if the grizzly decides to chase you.

Happy Turkey Day everyone, and eat like a grizzly before hibernation!

 

Beaver Moon

The Beaver Moon.  This lunar name will certainly spawn jokes and winks, but the meaning behind this November full moon tributes the semi-aquatic, dam-building North American rodent whose lifespan is about 24 years in the wild and he/she weighs in at 60 pounds. 

Monday morning’s wee hours full moon is especially significant because it was also a penumbral lunar eclipse – these are different from a full eclipse and for most, it isn’t visible even through a telescope.  This type of eclipse occurs when the moon moves into earth’s penumbra which is the outer shadow.  The moon simply looks darker than normal, and for me even though I shot at peak eclipse of 3:41 a.m. central time, the only notable change was dimmed illumination. 

Here are a series of moon shots for you to assess for yourself – can you see a shadow?  It is interesting to note the complexion of the moon in terms of craters changing position during lunar orbit, in particular, the Tycho Crater which is near the bottom and resembles a citrus navel.  It is low to the right during moonrise about 5:00 position and by moonset this morning it held a 9:00 position. 

Back to the Beaver Moon.  I pay reverence to my wonderful Native American friends:  they branded it the Beaver Moon because they associated it with beavers completing their lodges of branches and mud in preparation for winter.  The full moon of November is also known as the Frost Moon due to the cold temperatures.  Enjoy.

 

 

CodyPuyallup, Washington

The most important element of photography is one that has intrigued scientists for hundreds of years; that element being, of course, light.  Many early philosophers pondered the subject of light, some declaring it to be a particle stream while others argued that it was composed of waves.  Isaac Newton championed the corpuscular theory of light which asserts that light composed of tiny particles or "corpuscles," which travel in a straight line with a finite velocity, and that their properties include impetus. 

Recall that Newton performed 17th century experiments including his famous sunlight and prism demonstrations which proved that white light is actually composed of many colors.  Some of you may recall those experiments in grade school.

All fascinating of course, but the science of light for photographers is broken down into more easily understandable and appreciable components.  Visible light is the spectrum a photographer pays heed to when setting up a shot.  You need proper lighting to make sure that your subject is illuminated in the best possible fashion.  Highlights on the hair, a golden illuminated backdrop, lovely skin tones – these virtues are all defined by what is known as visible light, and any shooter worth their salt will pay substantial attention to the light that is present for a shoot.  In short, it’s the stuff great photos are made of.

For those of you who love science, here’s a meatier tidbit:  light– or visible light– is simply this:   electromagnetic radiation within the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometers, or 4.00 × 10⁻⁷ to 7.00 × 10⁻⁷ m.

Judy Ann

“I’m an old cowgirl, she told us.  “From Virginia.”  She smiled beneath the brim of her hat, waiting behind the crowds that blocked her view of the Percherons she’d come to see.  Her ailing legs confined her to a motorized scooter, but it wasn’t enough to dim her enthusiasm as she waited and hoped for that chance to get close enough to see– maybe even to touch– a Percheron.  Cash was led from his stall, parting the crowd until he stood waiting, waiting for the women to be brought to his sweet, trusting face.  Hushed, we watched with the crowd.  The Cowgirl from Virginia removed her hat and pulled herself up, rejuvenated by the calm majesty of the enormous horse who stood before her.  And for a few moments they embraced, heart and soul, and Cash knew as all good horses know, that he had once again brought love and restoration to another fragile, human heart.  At that moment, the poignancy of Patty Barnhart’s poem was revivified. 

Virginia Cowgirl Virginia Cowgirl Virginia Cowgirl Virginia Cowgirl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHEN I AM AN OLD HORSEWOMAN

When I Am An Old Horsewoman

I shall wear turquoise and diamonds,

And a straw hat that doesn’t suit me

And I shall spend my social security on

white wine and carrots,

And sit in my alleyway of my barn

And listen to my horses breathe.

I will sneak out in the middle of a summer night

And ride the old bay gelding,

Across the moonstruck meadow

If my old bones will allow

And when people come to call, I will smile and nod

As I walk past the gardens to the barn

and show instead the flowers growing

inside stalls fresh-lined with straw.

I will shovel and sweat and wear hay in my hair

as if it were a jewel

And I will be an embarrassment to ALL

Who will not yet have found the peace in being free

to have a horse as a best friend

A friend who waits at midnight hour

With muzzle and nicker and patient eyes

For the kind of woman I will be

When I am old.

 

 

 

Yoder Family Hay CompanyLisa Yoder, one of the darlings of the Yoder Family of Westcliffe, Colorado, sits astride one of their champion Percheron mares during Denver's National Western Stock Show How She Rolls:  Behind her smile are the stories she will one day tell; for now she's a bundle of gorgeous energy that you can see in her eyes.  Lisa Yoder sits astride one of the Yoder Family Hay Company mares during the National Western Stock Show in Denver.  Lisa was born into her Amish family on her parents’ farm along with nine brothers and sisters.  Her life was enviably down to earth albeit full of hard work, salted with grass roots beauty and tradition that most of us only dream about.  As a consequence of their lifestyle, every member of the family is an expert at handling horses.  As a journalist, I consider the Yoders to be one of many blessings that have crossed my path; the kind of people who inspire, who motivate, and who make you glad you’re a part of this world.