Category Archives: Photographs

WPC — RÉSUMÉ

Posted on May 25, 2014 by | 2 comments

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Only basic employment
for two hundred years
looking for water.

 

 

weekly photo challenge—twist

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SOLID GROUND

Posted on May 24, 2014 by | 2 comments

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The nonsense of the world pulls away,
withdraws behind uneven ridgelines.
Serious crimes thump dull as distant

war drums in the valleys, but I am done
listening to love songs to consumption
and slogans trying to peddle more.

Heavy feet don’t cover the same ground
as quickly as yesterday’s forgotten
urgencies that once surged incessantly—

that drove the train well-off worn tracks,
to shuffle instead upon solid ground
that never ceases to amaze me.

 

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BETRAYAL

Posted on May 23, 2014 by | 1 comment

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We know their fathers
and their mother’s mother.
We send you their children.

 

 

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LEAVES

Posted on May 22, 2014 by | 1 comment

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Just a wall of leaves endure
between us and endless realms
without rules.

 

 

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WATER

Posted on May 21, 2014 by | 2 comments

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Black and brazen, the crows light close
to harvest nests in this speck of green
upon miles of dry and dusty brown as if

they own it—as if they labored here.
After last year’s cherry crop, Golden
Orioles homestead the Palo Verde tree.

In a patch of yellow monkeyflowers,
cottontails and quail cue up at the leaky
water trough, not a drop goes to waste.

 

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SUNSET

Posted on May 20, 2014 by | 2 comments

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A volunteer Buckeye
and high-tech remnant
find light in the garden.

 

 

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PALO VERDE 2

Posted on May 19, 2014 by | Leave a comment

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Barstow transplant
likes its water, blooms high
into the last evening light.

 

 

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Paregien Ranch Calves

Posted on May 18, 2014 by | 6 comments

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We’ve had a busy week gathering and hauling the calves from the Paregien Ranch to the weaning pens where we’ll ship them to the Visalia Livestock Market on Tuesday for Wednesday’s auction. A short week’s wean instead of our normal 45-day+ wean for the Internet auction. Though a 100 lbs. lighter than normal due to poor feed conditions, the 90 head of mixed calves averaged 530 lbs. after an hour’s gooseneck haul down from 2,000 foot elevation on a 104° day. We expect to get some of the shrink back on good alfalfa while they emotionally adjust to not having the security of mother by their side.

All things considered, we’re very pleased with these calves.

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WPC – Work of Art

Posted on May 18, 2014 by | 10 comments

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Our short moment at dawn
from a long evolution
of spine and bone.

 

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work of art

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You Never Know…

Posted on May 16, 2014 by | 12 comments

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…what you’re going to find in a haystack.

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This five-foot gopher snake ‘on the move’ took my breath away yesterday afternoon as I loaded hay from the barn.

 

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With apparent interest, judging by the comments, I’ve added this photograph of the gopher snake poking its head in a Black Phoebe’s nest of mud about ten feet up the vertical stack of hay bales. The nest has been empty for quite awhile. The snake knew just where it was and I suspect the Black Phoebe decided to move to another zip code.

On the Move

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