Cow Country

What I've been up to these days: theres a hitch on the car, a trailer in the back yard, and a skiff ( or John-boat as my husband likes to call it ) sitting next to it. A motor for the boat will be next.
I've become familiar with the print shop where I've had some posters printed out, the stationer (who has a really large wide format photo printer ), and still have to pay the galleryand museum a visit. I have to get proper business cards printed up still and am marketing my skills as a photo re-toucher and photographer. Time will tell how this works out.

Ponderosa Pine
Bigger view here.

My garden is practically non-existent at the moment- I don't even want to post pictures till more stuff is growing. What little there is came out of pots and has not had enough time to thrive. We are slowly, manually hacking out the top layer of soil where we want to seed grass and plant trees- unfortunately there is a lot of trash in the ground in the form of broken glass. Horrible.

We had a yard sale for the first time ever and made a few bucks and met a few neighbors. In fact, one of them decided to sit with us for most of the day and then another showed up who decided our little camp out was a good a place to while away the roasting hot day...it was quite fun actually.
Around that time we met one of the members of the local shooting range and his wife who are quite the characters. Friendly, outgoing and always actively involved in the outdoor sports. Good people to know.

Osprey On Fence
Bigger view here.

And finally, exploring. We do a lot of that together but sometimes I strike off on my own with only my camera and lots of liquids. Eventually I will make a post detailing various route worth driving in this area Thompson Nicola.Yesterday for example. I headed out for Nicola with the intent of re-photographing an osprey's nest which we had passed by before as well as the historic origins of Merritt but seeing as I had time I decided to go down the Quilchena road which theoretically was supposed to come out just north of Aspen Grove.

I had a grand old time photographing more ospreys and picturesque views as well as stopping every now and then to collect sage and rose hips ( for herbal tea ). I eventually entered into an Indian reserve and the road started to climb steeply and get really rough but at the top of the hill was a wonderful view and I was actually thankful to step out of the car to take a set of panorama shots from the cliffs edge.

Church in the desert.
Bigger view here.

But just as I began there was a horrible clatter in the woods behind me and suddenly the dirt road was full of panicked looking cows. I started to get nervous as I'm not really a farm girl at heart and the cows struck me as being...assertive, lets just say. I made a sloppy job of the photos and hastened back to my car in great relief; not just from fear of getting bullied off a cliff's edge but also from the heat which was roasting.

I got back on the road and hoped the cows would get out of my way. They took their sweet time but once I passed them a few meters down the road a massive bull crashed out of the woods ahead of me. Dang. He was bigger than my car. Thats when I tried to call my husband on the cell to ask his opinion on the merits of passing a strange, startled bull on a strange, perilous road but of course there was no reception. I sweated bullets and pressed on weaving the car left and right slightly in an attempt to make myself seem bigger to the bull and tapped my horn lightly every 5 seconds. He made his way up the road in front of me turning and tossing his head back every few seconds as if to say "you follow ME little cow".

Lost In An Unnamed Valley
MUCH bigger view (click download at the left)

Yes, I don't mind saying I was thoroughly intimidated.
When he finally moved off to the side I slowly passed by with my head facing forward but my eyes going sideways never leaving him until I was sure I could put the petal to the metal if need be.
Then I got lost.
The road into the reserve should have branched west but instead I was headed east into this valley and the road was getting atrocious. Plus, it looked like I would go through private land and I had no idea what the etiquette on a reserve was and for all I knew they could have a locked gate on the other end which would have made the whole trip senseless.
So I turned back and headed back the way I came extremely frustrated and annoyed with myself for not having the new map book with me.

Thankfully the bovines weren't loitering around on the return trip and I got out of there in a
quarter of the time it took me to get in.

Fun stuff. :)