Ebony Remembered

Ebony was the black hen that got killed last week. She was here almost a year. She was very beautiful. She hated the camera and would never let me get a good picture of her. That's why it's so strange that the day before she died I got this short sequence of photos. She was always impossible to get a picture of except at night when she was on the perch. It breaks my heart that she tried to be a mother four different times. Every time, her nest was stolen by one of the other hens. So her black babies were all raised by grey mothers. The best part of the story is that we have three of Ebony's babies to continue her legacy. All three are hens.

...her last five minutes...

Don't Be A Frayed

So, I'm frayed like a rope...Sometimes, it doesn't seem like it's worth all the trouble to have the chickens...that's when another beautiful Sunrise makes it seem like I'm the richest guy on Earth...and my birds are the finest. I think I'm gonna keep 'em...because, without them, I'd fray like a rope...

Mystery solved...

In the grand scheme of things...there is no mystery.
Everything is magic because Nature is God.
I was wrong about what I saw the other day. I thought the coyote had a rooster in its mouth. It was not a rooster. It was my black hen Ebony. This was a prized bird. She was very pretty. I didn't figure it all out until yesterday. Anyway, I'm trying to accept that she's gone...and that she probably tried to tell me goodbye, but I was too busy to notice. Like I have said, this life is about letting go of the things you love. Isn't it obvious?
I will do a tribute to Ebony very soon.

Miscellaneous, Etcetera

Here's some nice shots of random stuff.
Also, I have included a self-portrait photo of yours truly!

 

Baffled

I love mysteries...
Life is a mystery...
I love Life...but, will I be able to figure it out? I am mystified right now. Two days ago, I watched a coyote grab a rooster and take him up the hill. Well, I just looked at the pictures from this morning. To my amazement, that rooster is in some pictures. I haven't seen him for two days...I am going out to look for him. If I find him, then I was mistaken about which rooster the coyote got. But, if he is still gone, then the pictures below are of a ghost.

Vertical Horizon

Horizontal and vertical are nice...
but, a rooster sees the horizon as something that go on forever!!!

Hurt is a funny thing

I lost another rooster yesterday. It never seems to end. Losing one of my birds is always painful. This time, I watched the drama turn harsh...suddenly, there was only Nature. The supreme law revealed itself in an image of a golden ray of Sunlight with four legs and a coyote's tail. The streak of light was very brief but very bright and was underscored by a thin black line made of feathery ink. The whole thing was like watching a stroke of the brush upon the canvas of my mind. The paint was wet and flowed with grace then quickly became surrounded by the other colors from the richly diverse palette of chaos, confusion, violence, calm...and, then a big silence. The cycle has completed itself and must now start again. Time stops and for a brief moment there is a sense of relief that we are getting closer to something...but, we can't see what it is. Hurt is a funny thing. It is the only thing that makes us stronger.
There is always something eerie about a last photo...at least where roosters are concerned. There always seems to be "good-bye" written across their foreheads. I took these pictures and an hour later, he was gone.



Five minutes before he died...then, gone