The South Dakota Cowgirl» macro mondays

Porcupine Quills

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:32:09 +0000

These calves let curiosity get the better of them, and they ended up with porcupine quills in their noses.

Her, we’ve seen before.

But this girl, we haven’t. And she gets to be the calf to demonstrate the process. Lucky her.

We ran the calf (not physcially ran her of course) but that’s the term we use, down the chute, into what’s called a squeeze chute. And it is just that. It can be adjusted to hold the cow/calf still, so that if you’re preg checking, or pulling quills out of the calf’s nose it can essentially immobilize them. We also catch their head in what’s called a “head gate”, and that just keeps them from being able to back out and makes it easier for whoever is working on their face, if you were cutting off horns or draining an abscessed tooth, or what have you.

A good pair of pliers and a strong hand are all you need.

Sometimes their noses bleed when you pull those bad boys out.

This particular calf was very quiet and nice, once she realized we were making her nose feel better. And people think animals are dumb!

Zach’s youngest brother Bud, was going the pulling.

While Zach pointed out a broken quill he missed.

And with that photo, my camera battery died.

It’s not just calves that get porcupine quills in them. It’s dogs and horses too. And it happens at least once a year to some critter on the place. You’d think they’d never do it twice, but sometimes the dogs at least, never learn.

This post is my Macro Monday post for this week. For more Macro Shots, be sure to visit Sunday Stills.

Fall Flowers

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:23:13 +0000

This will be the last set of photos I get for this season, because it’s supposed to freeze tonight. I may dare to plant some pansies but let’s don’t hold my breath. For now these Day Lilies will have to do. I had a little fun with them this time, because well, my birthday was last week, and my present was…

wait.

for.

it.

A Mac Book Pro!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

And I had their cool Aperture program installed. So I took some photos of a few new, blooming day-lilies and tried out all the cool stuff you can do with photos right from there. Here’s what I came up with.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Fall Jewelry Designs

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:25:44 +0000

Before we get to the new jewelry I’ve made, some of you know today as Columbus Day. But here on the Reservation, it’s known as National American Indian Day. I didn’t know this day even existed until I moved here. And some of you probably didn’t either, so I thought I’d share.

Now let’s see what lovely goodies I have in store for you! Some of these pieces were barely photographed before they were sold. Those that aren’t sold will be placed in my jewelry shop. If you wish to buy them, you can do so from there. Shipping is included in the prices!

First we’ve got what I like to call, Rustic Elegance. It’s a gold, glass bead, swarovski crystal and Tiger Jasper mixture. This set isn’t actually new, and as such it’s on a major sale. I want it out of inventory. $35 for the set!

Next, it’s Fall in necklace form. This piece is sold. And if you’re nice to me and enter my contest, I might be inclined to make you a similar one. It wouldn’t be the same- no way, because all these pieces are originals.

This piece is also sold, but again, I have more skulls, so if you were to be nice to me, I would make you a custom piece.

Back in Black, is made with swarovski crystals and black onyx beads. It is stunning and there’s a handmade pair of sterling silver drop earrings to match. It’s ready for your next night on the town. I promise! $40

Choke me Colorful, is a beautiful choker-type piece with big, bulky colored stones of turquoise, orange, pink, purple and green. It was actually made to be 18 inches, but due to the size of the stones, it’s wears shorter than that. It’s so cute as a choker though that it would look awesome under a white or denim collared shirt at a big barrel race and if it were too long and you wish to wear it to run barrels it’d bruise your neck due to the weight. $40 If you were interested in this being made longer I would remake it for an additional $5.

Kaleidoscope, is a super fun piece with all kinds of colors. Imagine the possibilities of this one- you could wear it with anything! $37

Buck Me Turquoise, is a fun, playful piece with lots of sparkle! $40

Southwest Red is a longer double-strand piece with swarovski crystals, brown turquoise, green turquoise and red jasper. It’s really a rustic, pretty piece and it’s an older piece as well which means it’s on sale now for $35!

And that my friends, concludes this most recent tour of the jewelry shop.

Happy Shopping, Happy Monday and Happy Trails!

Macro Monday

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:36:36 +0000

Shots from my last week’s Colorado Trip:

A pretty conifer:

Sumac:

A Macro with my 70-200mm lens:

For more Macro Monday Shots, visit Sunday Stills.

Macro Monday

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:18:04 +0000

Bugs and Sun Flowers

For more Macro Monday shots, visit Sunday Stills.

Macro Monday

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:58:37 +0000

I know I haven’t participated in ages. Summer has me super busy.

But I captured a cute, blue dragonfly at the river the other day.

Happy Monday!

Macro Monday

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:36:29 +0000

For more Macro shots, please visit Sunday Stills.

Macro Monday (and pink ear-tags)

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:00:00 +0000

I’m going to be pressed for time the next few days, so I’m combining the photos of the pink, calf ear-tags, with some macro shots of the same! And we live in our house, so my kitchen table and kitchen are basically a disaster area in these pictures. Lately we’re here just long enough to make a mess and move on! Enjoy the pink!

[flickrset id="72157624219519524" thumbnail="square" overlay="true" size="medium"]

Macro Monday

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 31 May 2010 11:40:58 +0000

I was too busy this week to take new photos, but luckily I had a couple random shots in my archives- though they were taken last week. Spring is here on the ranch- the young trees that are planted here at our house are budding!

Macro Monday

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ — Mon, 24 May 2010 03:06:33 +0000

I promise to get the pictures of the foal birth we were fortunate enough to witness up this week! But in the meantime, enjoy my EARLY Macros! This is only happening because at 6:30 in the morning tomorrow, I’ll be horseback, at the neighbor’s place, gathering, sorting and branding. It’s definitely the busy season here in ranching country.

This week we’ve got butterflies on salvia, wild onions that are starting to bloom, some pretty purple flowers- they look like wild onion, but they’re not, and some crazy yellow weed! Enjoy!