Pictures

I still haven't ordered a new camera.  I've been using the photo-editing tools that come with Iphoto to edit out the big blotch that appears in the sky, on all my outdoor pictures.  I will be getting a camera before long, it's just that we have some doctor and dentist bills that will be paid first.  
We're very close to the Missouri River; you can see it from the highest point on our place, back at "the point".  However, I haven't been successful in getting it to show up in a picture.  The other day while taking our walk, I gave it another try from different angles than I normally use.  

Click on this to make it larger (by the way, I see my blotch; I didn't edit it well enough).  In the middle of the picture near where the land meets the sky, you can see the Missouri River.  I think.  

I can see the river in this shot, because I know where to look:  behind a distant line of trees.  Most of the water you can see here is not the river, but simply water standing in the river bottom.  


I spent a lot of time down there when I rode my horse, Blue.  I miss him, but I can honestly say I don't miss riding... except that I miss going to places I will never visit again, because you can't get there with a car.  


Places like the ghost farm.  


It was fun riding over fields that are so often flooded, planted with soybeans and corn.  Sometimes I'd see the actual harvest going on.  

I loved riding right down to the river's edge.  

I think Blue enjoyed it, too.  


I'm so glad I took literally hundreds of pictures during my time with Blue.  I've very thankful that while I was still able to ride, I had what was, for me, the perfect horse.    


Rest in peace, my friend.

So, Cliff has this co-worker

The guy is a perfect physical specimen, according to Cliff. He goes to the exercise room when Cliff does and RUNS on the treadmill for thirty minutes. Runs FAST.

There's going to be some kayak race on the Missouri River... in July, I think. When I google it, I get other years, but nothing for 2009.

Anyhow, the guy wants some practice before the big event, and he doesn't really like the one place in Kansas City that gives access to the Missouri River; we won't talk about why. That's his business.

So Cliff told him to come on out this weekend.

Oh dear Lord, you've answered a blogger's prayer! I shall be there with camera in hand, whether the guy puts his craft in at Napoleon or Lexington or Sibley.

Stay tuned.

I found some green!

After Cliff went to work, I saddled Blue and went for a ride to the Missouri River, my favorite destination. Alas, the world is still brown and dreary-looking.

Blue is bored with the river. He's seen it enough.

There's the green! The winter wheat is doing its best to grow. Wind took a lot of the fun out of riding; it gets tiresome, fighting it all the time.

Blue saw the train in the distance and tried his best to get to it. For some strange reason, he loves moving trains.

The turkey vultures are back from wherever they spend their winters.

They're nasty birds, but I love to watch them flying and gliding in the sky.

Cousins, then and now

When my parents and I moved to Kansas City, our first home was in a very poor section of town north of the Missouri River known as Harlem. It was there that I first made an almost spiritual connection with the Missouri River; the Harlem levee and the A.S.B (Armour, Swift, and Burlington) bridge became my playground. I'd stroll right down to the river's edge and watch strange (and sometimes nasty) things floating past.


Some country cousins spent a week at our house, and I introduced them to my wonderful playground.

Yesterday at a family reunion some of those cousins and I talked about those days.

Here we are actually on the bridge: The cousin standing in the center, above (Mary), is the one in the center below, in the green. The one with chin in hand above (Carolyn) is the one on the left below in red.



The little girl on the right above, Junie, is the lady on the left below. Her sister Lela ( second from the left above) is on the right below. June hasn't changed a lot in fifty years, has she?

And now, changing the subject a bit: Considering how much I loved the Missouri River back then, do you think it's any coincidence that I ended up living in a place where I can get on my horse and be on the banks of that river in twenty minutes? I believe God hears the desires of a child's heart.

Picture taken at 6:30 A.M. today.

pictures taken with flash, and without

I took my usual Missouri-river-bottom ride this morning. Although clouds covered the sky and rain sprinkled on me at times, it was a lovely ride as usual.


With flash....

Without flash.

With flash...

Without flash.

No flash shot was necessary here; I love the reflections.

When I'm riding near the river, praying comes as naturally as breathing.

morning rides

Thanks to the fact that the levee is being repaired, I can get close to the Missouri River once again.

Click to make this picture larger and you'll see a heron taking flight.

The dozer men have made big headway with their repair work.

Of course, I was much too early to find anybody operating the bulldozers.

I often wonder how farmers get their rows so straight.

It's pretty darned hot, even at 5 A.M., for a ride. But that's when I've been going because it doesn't get any cooler as the day wears on. Yesterday I rode later, and was sorry of it. The temperatures were already sweat-inducing.

On that ride yesterday, I met up with an older couple in their pickup near the levee, heading out of the bottoms.

Pulling over, Cordie rolled down her window and told me with a smile, "I'm trapping 'coons."

Turns out she's been trapping them in her garden and bringing them to the river bottoms to turn them loose.

"They're terrible this year. You have corn in your garden?" Raccoons are notorious for ruining sweet corn crops.

"No, but they're taking my ripe tomatoes right off the vine!"

"They need shooting," I told her.

"I know," she agreed, "but nobody will show me how to shoot the gun!"

So this morning I noticed, from a distance behind the levee, Cordie's pickup. I saw her get out and go to the back end of the bed, and I knew what she was doing. As she and her husband headed away, Blue and I saw a half-grown raccoon cross our path in the distance, heading rapidly toward the river.

I DO LOVE A MORNING RIDE!

For those of you who have never owned a horse, I want you to realize that you don't just decide to go for a ride, hop on the horse two minutes later, and go. Nope.

Before I leave the house, I have to remember some very important details.

1. Change to a sports bra. Now, this next may be too much information, but...

2. I deleted this step; my husband wasn't comfortable with it; it involved another item of underwear... (think "going Commando"). Those of you with bloglines will read it as originally written, I'm sure.

3. Make sure I'm wearing either sweats or Wrangler jeans. Anything else means misery within fifteen minutes of getting on the horse.

4. Put on my fanny-pack, making sure it contains my cell phone and the digital camera.


5. Use OFF insect repellent liberally, especially if I'm heading toward the river.

6. Time to head to the barn. If I haven't put Blue in the lot already, I could be in for a twenty-minute search around the pasture.

7. Lead Blue to the barn. If he's rolled in the mud, it'll be caked on his back like cement, and lots of curry-combing is in order. If he doesn't seem dirty, I still curry him, just in case there's something on him that could get trapped under the saddle and cause him discomfort.

8. Use the hoof-pick to clean his feet.


9. Spray Endure on the horse, to keep the flies and mosquitoes off.


10. Use Wipe on Blue's ears and face, because he goes ballistic if I spray those areas with Endure.

11. Saddle up and ride; it's been at least twenty-five minutes since I first decided to take a ride.

Most every morning ride I take starts off with a sunrise shot.


This is an area of the river bottom that hasn't been tilled since the flood. It looks dry, but it's still mucky, making it hard work for Blue to walk through it.

That's Blue's tracks.

Can you see the tiny soybeans peeking up?

There's one!
Farmer Steve's equipment is ready to go to work as soon as he gets up this morning.

Blue and I are heading toward home now. There's a train in the distance.

Ah, Farmer John caught a racoon!

Back home, I give Blue some sweet feed. He doesn't require grain, since he only works for an average of two hours, every other day. But he shows me such a good time, I like to let him have a treat.

Oh Shenandoah.... I long to hear you

Away, you rolling river.
Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you.
Away, I'm bound away...
Across the wide Missouri.

(as always, click on the picture to see it larger.)

Welcome to "the Point"

When we moved to this house in 1975, it came with a little over six acres. A property next door changed hands at some point, and Tim and Barb moved in. When they decided to move, twenty years ago, they informed us of their plans to sell their place. Marvin (who lives there now with his family) had been raised in that particular house and was looking for a place to live; but he didn't want all that land. So we worked out a deal, and Cliff and I expanded our property lines so that we now had over forty acres. Marvin bought Tim's house with the remaining sixteen or so acres.

The property we got in the deal isn't good farmland, although there's enough for pasture, and hay for several animals. Most of it is pretty useless, consisting of ditches that insist on eroding, with banks so steep that most people won't even attempt to descend them. Horses either, unless someone is riding them, making them go.

But the place has one special redeeming feature on which no monetary value can be placed. We call it "the Point", a name I believe Tim gave it when he was the owner. My house may as well be in town, we have so many neighbors crowding around us. But I can go back here and feel like I'm in the country. My cabin is just down the hill to the left of this picture. (Click to enlarge.)


Why the arrow? That's to show you where a bend in the Missouri River is. In my comment section a couple of days ago, I was asked how far it is from my place to the river. You can see it from the Point.

Adam and Jessica intend to have their wedding here, with the river in the background. Of course, it will be prettier then, with leaves on the trees and the pasture greened up.