ReluctantFarmChick.com

It was farm day again yesterday.  I know – it was Wednesday, and farm day is supposed to be on Thursday.  BUT Prince Farming got done at the office early, and my plans postponed, and the weather forecast predicted rain for today, so we decided to farm.  Out of necessity, I assure you.  See, the cows (the post of which you’re STILL waiting for) keep escaping from their lovely TWO fields.  They have two huge and glorious fields in which they  have free roam.  But NO – they want to go into ANOTHER field.  So they keep escaping.  It is too cold, wet, busy, and inconvenient to chase cows this month.  They need another field.  We seem to accomplish the fencing of fields in spurts – I suppose as needed.  This time the barn field fence needed to be completed.  It was mostly done, but . . . I won’t go into those details here.  It’s a skywatch post afterall.  I didn’t bring my regular camera with me.  I did have my iPhone, and couldn’t resist these shots.

I know planes fly over us frequently, but I’ve never seen the traffic in such a grid pattern before.  It was really cool.  I couldn’t capture the smallest contrails – they added a unique dimension.  But that’s okay.  Here’s a different view:

It seems like no matter what direction I looked, there were contrails.  It was amazing.  BTW – the gate in the foreground – right at the bottom left half of the picture is one we just hung – temporarily – till we can buy new gates.  This gate is too short – it is supposed to be able to open across this lane and touch the fence on the right – and the gate from that field opens and touches this fence – creating a passage through which the cows can pass from one field to the other.  Pretty nifty, huh?  I would not have thought of that – which is why I’m just the apprentice in this set up.

The day before yesterday (that would make it Tuesday, I suppose) the sky was amazing.  Again – no camera.  This is another iPhone shot – which just blows me away.  It was snowing on and off – nothing of note stuck, but the clouds and sky seemed very restless.

You can’t see as much of the orange as was present, but still – the differences in color in this small window were truly inspiring.  It reminded me of the verse: 

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handiwork"   

                                                                                    -Psalm 19 : 1

You can see more amazing evidence of God’s handiwork by visiting the Skywatch site here, where hundreds of people share pictures of their skies every week.

It is with pleasure that I report that our mist has dissipated.  It is with displeasure that I report that FREEZING TEMPERATURES have replaced that mist.  Adding to the positive tally, however, is the fact that the skies are watch-worthy again – not that mist was horrible – it was a nice variation – but I love watching clouds.  So here is my weekly report:

Forgive me bloggers, for I have failed you.  The first snow on the rooves of our barns went un-photographed.  A double whammy, I realize. . . . for this was the new barn’s FIRST SNOW.  For the record, I am an unfit nostalgic all the way around.  I knew that I’d be miserable with follow-up.  So the old barn has no "first snow" pictures either.  In real life this is how my photographing goes as well.  You know all those 2nd and 3rd siblings who complain of diminishing pictures?  My children can never hold that over my head.  There is an equal dirth of photographs for BOTH of my children.  So there.

This was taken one morning after the family left for school/work.  You can’t tell as well in the photo, but there are layers of textures – the front clouds are fluffy and cotton-candyish.  The back clouds are more . . . ummmm. . . . textured (I have obviously not been taking notes in Dewdrops class).

But then check these out – almost made me forget the texture (sorry Dewd).

This was on the opposite side.  Can you tell how frosty the mornings have been!?  BRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr.  I almost started feeling sorry for the cows!  Not sorry enough to bring them in to the garage with the chickens, but still – it is pretty downright nippy out there.  Hey – didn’t someone call this a "mackerel sky"?  See – I do sort of pay attention (actually – it’s more about retention than it is paying attention. . . honest!)

Happy Skywatching!  There are all sorts of skies for your viewing pleasure at Skyley . . . where you might even catch a few warmer skies.

If any of you have missed posting a Skywatch entry for one week, you might understand how I’m feeling.  It is amazing how many skies there are to share, and missing one week just really makes a person feel behind.  But I’m going to shake these feelings of behindness – goodness knows they’re manifesting all over in my life – and I’ll just enjoy the opportunity I have now to share.  So glad to be back.  Life feels a little out of balance.  There’s nothing like a few skies to browse to wash the tension out of my shoulders (only to have it wrenched back in when I realize how much time I’ve spent visiting sky blogs and how much behinder I just got!)

Fall is in full swing.  The colors haven’t been as intensely varied as in years passed, but I’m still enjoying the colors.  And the cool air (it’s been downright COLD this week!).  The skies change too – I’ve never taken the time to observe the sky changes before this year.  It’s been so much fun!

The clouds seem more dense on some of these fall evenings.  I love to watch them – these were traveling at quite a clip.  They had some other places to see.  Wish they’d take me along!

These clouds were content just to sit and watch my pond.  And the cows.

With the sun coming up a bit later, it’s easier for me to see some colors from the Library window.  I love how the mist just hangs in this picture.  This is quite typical of where we live – sometimes it takes quite some time to burn off.

The color on this evening was SO dense it made the whole farm feel orange. 

Happy fall, and happy sky watching!  Thanks for stopping by.  You can see more amazing sky pictures from all around the world by visiting here.

So many of you leave happy comments about the sky over my pond.  Last week TheFishingGuy asked about the sky over my barn.  What an idea.  Same sky.  Different perspective.  Got on my little Rhino with my little camera, and here’s what you get.

This shot even has a few left-over hay rolls that hadn’t made it into the barn yet.  They’re all safe and warm now.

And here’s the same sky over the field.  The field looks particularly green.  That happens after the hay is mowed and then we had some rain – which has happy new grass growing.

There have been some spectacular sunrise shots on recent Skywatch posts.  I dream of having a cool sunrise.  I’m sure there is one out there – but from my vantage point, here is what the sunrise looks like:

Actually, the sun would be rising from the opposite direction, but since you know how close the pond mostly seems, you know I’d never see the sun, if I can barely see the pond.  Here’s what I saw when I swung around to the east.

Beautiful, ain’t it?  Actually, it is pretty.  Just not with the stunning, dense colors that some people see when the day overtakes darkness. 

Just so you don’t go through complete withdrawal, here’s a pond sky for you.  I’ll settle for cool sunsets.  I’m not usually up in time to see sunrise – colors or not.

You can see more very amazing skies, clouds, sunrises and sunsets from various angles and from all over the world right here.  Better yet, take a shot of your own, and share it with us – everyone can play.

My biggest Farm Regret is not being able to travel.  There’s always so much to do.  Since I’ve been doing Skywatch Friday it has occured to me that even though I’m sitting in one place here on the farm, the earth is rotating and spinning, so I’m actually getting to see skies from all over – these skies have seen the parts of the earth that I’m yearning to visit.  It has become a fun thing for me to imagine what my skies have seen as they’ve "passed over" other people and places.  Just a bit of whimsy as I share the clouds from Gredemeer this week.  Happy Skywatch Friday!

You might not be able to see it very clearly, but there is almost a "pillar of cloud" in this shot:

The reflection of these clouds in the pond makes it look like there are ripples in the water:

These clouds looked extra fluffy against the very blue sky:

Same day as the above shot – just an additional set of texture here.  It’s amazing how quickly the cloud formations and textures change.  The "naked" mountain top on the right has been strip-mined for coal.  When they are done they have to introduce plants back to make it "natural" again. . . there’s a term for this, but it’s not coming to me at this insomniac moment.  Maybe "reclaimed"?

You can see clouds (and other skies) from all over the world by visiting here.  You can play along too, and share your skies, which may very well have flown over Gredemeer some time in the not too distant past!

It’s so much fun watching clouds.  The clouds I captured for this Skywatch don’t really have any very obvious wabbits or elephants or planes, but they’re still cool.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  These clouds are all over my farm (not all-over as in ended, but they were all taken over the farm ).  There’s lots of sky around here.  I feel badly for people who have less sky than me.  Come over and enjoy my sky any time you want.

You can see more cloud pictures (and other sky images) from all over the world here