Etcetera #12 {Barn Dancing, Cute Pets, Farm Life, Etc.}

| Allison

Hello, dears!

Welcome back to another round of random photos where I raid my File Explorer and have fun with editing styles. On the menu for today is Nellie the Cutest Goat, our church barn dance (IT WAS AMAZING), people pictures, and vacuums and muffin tins. 😀

Buckle up because we have a BUNCH of photos to get to today. I got tired of narrowing it down any further, so enjoy what is basically a mashup of a bunch of little posts! Here we go!

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People

Carmen obligingly walked into the picture for me so I could show the scale of my favorite barn on our farm. 😀 I absolutely love the way the sun shines through the walls and onto the hay bales!

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After we got some straw from the barn, we brought it back up to our yard so we could reseed it! We planted grass last year but we kind of neglected watering it just when it got hot, so… yeah. It’s looking much greener out there now (including leaves on the redbud instead of creamy pink flowers).

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Megan and Carmen actually JUMPED IN THE POND after a hot day of seeding the lawn. This was in… March, I think? The water was freezing, needless to say, and they both shrieked when they went under.

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One Sunday we took a walk around the farm and came upon a sapling by a creek. My brothers thought they could climb up and bend it over to reach the other side, but… :’D Well, it didn’t quite work. I’m happy to report no one fell into the creek, at least!

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One Saturday we all went out to cut wood because my goodness, the outdoor furnace devours it (not surprising when it’s heating a drafty farmhouse and the floor of Dad’s shop). Sadly, Megan and I don’t know how to drive much of the farm equipment because our brothers are more than capable and willing to do that. 😛 But that day, I drove the telehandler and Megan drove the skidloader. Yay us!

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We cut one or two dump truck loads of wood, which was most helpful. This tree had already fallen, so my brothers and dad cut it up into chunks and my sisters and mom and I used a log splitter to break up the big pieces.

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Mom has been working outside in the garden and it’s looking much more fruitful than it does here when she was just starting to weed it. 😉 It’s so nice to have a garden, and even nicer to have a mother who tends it, hee hee! So far this year my sister and I have mostly cooked and Mom has mostly grown the food. But we all help out.

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PETS

HA, Mom left her phone out while the chickens were roaming around, and this one (I believe she’s Daisy) came up to inspect the curious device.

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It was most baffling.

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Oh goodness, the chickens are HILARIOUS. One of my siblings perched a hen or two on the magnolia tree where hunkered down in the wind, clinging bravely to the swaying limb and generally looking lost at sea.

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The last traumatic adventure of the hens for today: riding Megan’s noble steed, a.k.a. Eeyore the donkey. We laughed so hard, but neither the chicken nor the donkey seemed much amused.

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I’m sad to report that Olaf the Pink-Eyed has passed away. 😦 She (yep, she) lived a relatively average, if not long life, for a rabbit, so good for her. BUT! In happier news, we’re probably getting a buck soon so we can have BABY BUNNIES AGAIN! AHHHH.

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We’ll probably breed him with Lavender first – she’s the nicest. 😉 Eeeep, I can’t wait!

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I’ve taken a LOT of walks this spring, not all of them with my camera, but most of them with faithful Maggie. She loves exploring.

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the adventures of nellie

Okay, I had to do a whole category for Nellie because AHH, I’ve taken so many pictures of this cuteness! Meet Nellie, the most adorable dwarf goat.

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If you let her out of her pen she will follow you anywhere, particularly if you happen to be Carmen. She’s basically a goat-dog and sometimes acts like a person. (She’ll even put her hooves on the swing and walk back and forth standing up – it’s hilarious!) As I’ve said before, I’m not usually a fan of goats, but Nellie is an exception.

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She’s also quite acrobatic (and hates water). We were walking down the creek with some friends and Nellie followed us until she came to an impassable spot of water. She stood there bleating for a while until she finally got a running start and leaped over the creek! :’D

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This goat is pretty much fearless if she’s with her people. My brothers even took her in the canoe one day when we were fishing, and rowed all over the pond! :’D

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Heh heh, I love this picture! She looks especially tiny beside that big beast.

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We went back to inspect the land my dad and brothers had cleared, so Nellie got some exercise. 😉 I can’t believe she jumped all the way up there!

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She didn’t quite make it to the top, although she tried. XD XD I recently took a TON of pictures of Carmen and Nellie together and eeep, it’s one of my favorite photoshoots ever, so definitely be on the lookout for that post in the next couple of weeks. 🙂

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Nature & LANDSCAPES

We can’t start this category without a sunset now can we? 😉 This one was so pretty. The sky was pretty blue, but the clouds were gorgeously colored.

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I thought these sycamore branches looked so neat against the sky (and the moon)! I love the shape and pattern of the little seed “ornaments.”

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The view from the balcony is so peaceful at golden hour. (Although to be real, the balcony itself is NOT because a bunch of birds are making nests there. Bleh.) I just now noticed the long shadow stripe across the lane. I think it’s a telephone pole, maybe?

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I couldn’t quite capture this with a camera and editing, but one evening when we were fishing, the moon was clearly reflected in the pond and ah, it looked so neat!

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Taking dandelion pictures always reminds me of this old post and the days when dandelions were one of my favorite photography subjects. I can see why. They’re so PERFECT and delicate and beautiful up close.

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Ooh, I love this one! Some days, the pond is so serene and glass-like that reflections are almost perfect mirrors. The simplicity and clarity of this photo is just so satisfying to me.

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Here’s a less-serene water photo. 😉 I absolutely love taking pictures of water drops. It takes some patience and a high shutter speed, but it’s so rewarding to look back through the zillions of photos and find the ones when you snapped it at the right time.

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The shapes one tiny drop falling can create is just amazing!

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Also the way the light reflected on this puddle was lovely. So starry and sparkly, despite the less-than-perfect surroundings.

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barn dancing

YAY FOR BARN DANCING! These pictures are long overdue since I took them on February 29th, but I still love them. I’m so, so glad we got to have the dance before the whole coronavirus thing happened!

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Most of the photos are actually of the time before the dance since 1) taking pictures requires me not to dance and that’s sad, and 2) by the time we start it’s getting dark and the lighting is NOT good for moving subjects. So enjoy some daffodil bouquets. ❤

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I just love these pictures! It looked like a painting, the way the sun fell and illuminated the bright flowers and my friends filling mason jars with more sunshine.

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I mean…! This has become one of my new favorite editing styles, if you can’t tell. 😉 I love the way understated, dramatic lighting can tell a story so much better than a flatly diffused picture does.

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At the risk of being repetitious… here’s one last daffodil picture of the completed tables. 😉 I was in charge of decorations and ahh, it was so fun to do that again! I used to decorate tables for our church every month before we moved. We kept things super simple since we had to take down everything after supper, but I still love the way it turned out.

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Okay, and now for a couple of dancing pictures! I tried to get some when people were standing relatively still which, as you can imagine, doesn’t happen much in barn dancing. XD There were SO many people there – I think upwards of 100, which is more than we’ve had at these dances in the past! We could hardly fit in the building – there’s another circle of dancers to the left – and it was glorious.

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One thing I love about our church dances is how family-friendly they are! We had seniors and babies and everyone in between. It’s a BIT difficult to dance with a 6-year-old when you’re almost 6′, but the little boys make you smile so hard that it makes up for it. 😛

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Etcetera

AlllRIGHT, we have made it to the last category of this post, guys! Time for some extra-random randomness. Like this little wren who peeked into my studio window one day. (Yes I know that pane looks terrible, but I didn’t break it! It was that way when we moved. :P)

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An excellent photo opportunity on the dock of our pond. 🙂

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Heh heh, this is me being a photographer. I look down at a vaccuum-cord-nest and the hardwood floors and my fuzzy socks and decide it needs to be documented. *nods* Honestly, I love these random bits-of-life pictures. The ordinary moments like this take up most of your days, so why not appreciate them?

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Ooh, scary excavator coming up. 😛 I took this, again, while Dad was clearing some land. It was pretty impressive to watch such a huge machine take mouthfuls of wood and drop them into the fire.

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The fire was mostly smoke at first, since a lot of the wood was still green. It made the most marvelous white clouds that looked AMAZING in real life. I had fun editing it to look much more ominous than it really was. 😛

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Another random photographer moment. I’m not sure I ever noticed how cupcake wrappers cast such neat shadows! Isn’t that so neat??

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Picture contains: Jeff’s arm, Carmen holding the biggest fish we caught that day, and Nellie trying to climb into a chair which later had hilarious results with her getting all tangle up in the slats. XD

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I took this picture just the other day while I was photographing my dad baling (post coming soon). I never see it from this angle but ah, I thought it looked so pretty in the golden hour light! I still remember seeing the picture of it for the first time when we were moving, three years ago now. We had to replace the roof and cut some trees down, but otherwise it looks mostly the same. And if you’re wondering, the window I can see out of right now is the left of the two gables on the right wing. 🙂

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We shall end with a hopefully aesthetic picture. The setting sun shone through the old, wavy windows in our bedroom the other day and threw gorgeous patterns on the wall. Ahh, it was beautiful. And somehow I’ve never noticed! Perhaps it’s only for a season that the sun shines through at the right angle, or maybe I just haven’t taken the time to look. 🙂

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*deep sigh* Phew. That took a LONG time. But my, it was fun! I hope you guys enjoyed scrolling through that enormous post. Thanks for sticking with me. 🙂

What category or picture(s) did you like best? And… goodness, there are so many questions I could ask that I think I won’t ask anymore. XD You are hereby free to comment answers anyway. 🙂

Thanks so much for reading, dears, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D3400 and a 35mm lens. Edited with picmonkey.com.

75 thoughts on “Etcetera #12 {Barn Dancing, Cute Pets, Farm Life, Etc.}”

  2. EEE SO MANY PHOTOS 😍I can’t really go through and comment on each one individually, but they were all amazing. Y’all’s farm is so gorgeous! And little Nellie made me smile 😂Thanks for sharing!

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  5. AHH YAY ANOTHER ETCETERA POST! My goodness, and they just keep getting better and better. NELLIE IS SO CUTE OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS. And I love that second smoke picture. And the water pictures! And… I don’t know, I LOVE. THEM. ALL. Another slice of your life. ❤

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    1. Ahh really? That comment made me so happy. I don’t know a lot of farmers (besides relatives, who are mostly all farmers XD), so that’s fun!

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  11. Oh that poor hen! :,D I love the pic of it in the tree.
    NELLIE IS THE CUTEST AHHH! ❤
    And wow that moon reflection in the water and the daffodils lit up with the darkness around them are so cool! I just love seeing all your pictures, Allison! 😀 ❤

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    1. HAHA I KNOW. And yesss, she is!
      Ah, thanks! I love those too. And I’m so glad you liked the post, dear!
      P. S. I GOT YOUR LETTER! It was so beautiful, ahh! I can’t wait to reply. 🙂

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  13. Oh my goodness! Those photos are so nice! That was a lot of fun to scroll through!! I could look at photos all day. 😂 Haha, I consider myself a random photographer, too. Sometimes if I see happen to see something, I’ll be like, “Let me grab my camera!” Anything can be made a nice photo. 😉

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  19. WOW!! These are all so pretty!! 🙂 I love the ones of your family and Nellie is so CUTE!!! It looks like you all had so much fun at the church barn-dance!! 😀 So fun!! Thanks for sharing all of these beautiful photos with us!
    *hugs
    -kaelyn 😛

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  21. Every time I thought I picked out my favorite pic I ended up changing my mind after I kept scrolling, they are all so beautiful! I LOVE the scope of the barn in your first picture. I thought that would be my favorite but then I saw the water drops! So awesome the way you captured them! And also maybe every picture with Nellie was also my favorite! 🥰

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  22. I love reading and looking at the photos in your post. Especially the Barn Dance pictures. Because I love the idea of dancing, even though I’m too self conscious and get way to nervous.

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  23. I showed my husband your pictures… He says you remind him of Bruce Davidson (early 80’s, book called “highschool”). I still love your pictures, the barn shot is beautiful and the bunnies are adorable.

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  24. So many pretty pictures! I’d have to say my favorite category was Nellie just because she’s so cute 🙂 You could easily write a children’s book about her. I also loved the photo of the barn, the excavator, the bonfire smoke, and Carmen with her fish. Thanks for sharing these! I always look forward to seeing your pictures, and the etcetera posts are especially fun because of the variety they contain 😀

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  30. Yeeeep!! Allison, these are probably some of my favorite pictures you’ve ever posted!! And help! Nellie! The Cuteness! *dies* I love love looooved this post! It brought me many smiles. 🙂 Have a lovely day! 😀

    -Laura ❤ 🙂

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  32. That last photo of the colorful waviness on your wall! And, your note that of how easy it is to not take notice of these at times and then, one day, there it is, or maybe has often been there and now I see.

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  35. Pingback: Etcetera #13 {Skyscapes, Self-Portraits, Mysterious Feathers, and Inflatable Pineapples} – A Farm Girl's Life

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