Category Archives: Photographs

GOING HOME

Posted on April 1, 2014 by John | 2 comments

They know the way—
only need a cowboy to
open and close the gates.

(After weaning, July 28, 2012. Enlarge to see the silhouette of a cowboy in the dust.)

2 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014

Tagged haiku, photographs, poetry

ON GOOD HORSES

Posted on March 30, 2014 by John | 1 comment

Looking between their ears
watching the business
on the ground stretched

and rolled for needles, knife
and iron, the mesmerizing
dance of humans ‘round

a calf to be turned back
into a jungle of Poison
Oak and Manzanita,

the impassable wilds
of Woolly Canyon
it took four days to gather—

all done in an instant.
Little progress here,
but no less futile

than punching a clock
where time is money
and the earth is flat.

1 Comment

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014

Tagged branding, Douglas Thomason, photographs, poetry

McKee Branding – Woolly Canyon

Posted on March 30, 2014 by John | 1 comment

1 Comment

Posted in Photographs

Tagged branding, McKee, Woolly Canyon

WPC – Signs of Street Life Non-sense

Posted on March 29, 2014 by John | 11 comments

Not a good sign for us that our asphalt connection to the outside world has received more attention during this past year with more non-sense emanating from town, reflective reminders, spaced every tenth of a mile, that nothing ever stays the same.

Shortly thereafter, Dry Creek Road got its first double-yellow line for its initial eight miles to where the pavement becomes too narrow to accommodate a vehicle either side of it, false hope for tourists taking the backway to Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park towing fifth-wheels with no place to turn around. The most recent signage also suggests sharing the road with bicyclists. Tricky business when the latest fine for crossing over the double-yellow line was $350.

Then a white fog line painted on and off the dirt. Thank you Tulare County government, dollars well spent!

Weekly Photo Challenge

11 Comments

Posted in Photographs

Tagged Dry Creek Road, photographs, weekly-photo-challenge

Image

Dawn

Last to see the light
in the shadow of mountains
rise both day and night.

1 Comment

Posted on March 28, 2014 by John in Photographs, Poems 2014

Tagged haiku, photographs, poetry

AFTER RAIN

Posted on March 27, 2014 by John | 5 comments

With native grass
we cling like clouds of steam
to hillsides after a rain.

5 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014

Tagged haiku, photographs, poetry, rain, weather

SHADE

Posted on March 26, 2014 by John | 3 comments

Comfortable in shadows
no one rises
when I enter their room.

3 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014

Tagged haiku, photographs, poetry

Mosaic – Ranch Update 3

Posted on March 25, 2014 by John | 2 comments

Ever-hopeful and in anticipation of tomorrow’s rain, I took a few photos of today’s feed conditions, intending to concentrate on the filaree, having turned red a week or so ago in places, then purple and brown. A miraculous and extremely strong non-native cattle feed, it is the predominant species in dry years. With good moisture, it can come back to life and turn green again. With less than 4” of rain and only about 30 days left in our rainy season that averages about 16” annually, the grasses never really germinated completely, resulting in a mosaic pattern almost everywhere today.

Just through the fence that separates our driveway from the pasture, I wanted a good shot of where the filaree had turned a purplish brown, only to draw one of the Roadrunners nesting in some nearby Prickly Pear cactus, closer.