December 23, 2012 Over the hump....

Well....we are past the shortest day of the year!  All sunny days and being productive from here on out.......right!!   Maybe in our dreams that happens; but, I suspect real life is different.  I usually don't notice the days seeming longer until about the end of January.  But, we have had three sunny days in a row now, so that is a good thing.
Yesterday morning, my favorite big buck was standing in the yard nibbling alfalfa, waiting for me.  He saw me in the window so he headed for his "magic door."  He was  wearing only one antler.  So.....work cut out for me.  There is very little snow so far.....which means......I should be able to find the one he shed!  Well, I went out and brought them a new supply of treats, took Toby for a walk, which included a loop on a deer trail he might have been on, and back in the house to make breakfast.
While we were eating breakfast, I noticed the two 8 point bucks were having their usual morning match to see who was the toughest.  All of a sudden, one backed off and just stood there a minute.  When I could next see him, he was minus an antler too.  He had just lost it in the scuffle.  So, now I had reason to go out and find that one too.  After an hour or so, the deer all moseyed off for their morning siestas.  Into my warm clothes and boots I get again, ready to go retrieve that 4 point half of the 8 point antlers.  That was easy.....I walked across the yard to where I had seen them pushing each other and there it lay on top of the snow.  Now, to go find the treasure!  I headed out one trail I sometimes see him leave on in the morning and made a big loop around some of the areas that trail covers and back toward the house.  No luck.  Figured before I made the next loop, I better get the mail.  So, I got Toby and off  we went.  Then, back to the deer trails.  This time, I started on one other one I thought he used a lot coming in in the morning.  I got out there on that trail and was back to the house in 5 minutes to show my husband my "treasure."   Oh.....what a happy person I was.  I absolutely love shed hunting.  I don't usually do much this early....because there is usually too much snow and because, not many have been shed yet.  However, now and then I know there is a big one to be found and will make efforts to find it.  This time, it paid off.  Now, the waiting game starts, watching for the  other one to fall off.  This morning, both bucks still had one each and the other two bucks had both of theirs.  No shed hunting today!

This is a photo from my day out hiking with macro lens on the Winter Solstice.  I, of all people, understand why we need small format photos on blogs.  I, for one, on my dial up internet, could never load it if it was a full file.  However, so much detail and all the neat fern shadows are missing this small.  I could tell you to go to my Moose Valley Photography page on Facebook, or my website:  Moose Valley Photography.....but, many times they are small format too, for the same reasons.  But, I am a detail person, so....I like to see the details.   We do the best we can with what we have!

This photo of Toby was also taken with the macro lens that day.  I don't think I ever go out on a photo walk without taking at least one photo of Toby.  He loves to pose!  But,  a lot of people think a macro lens is only for taking pictures of bugs and small plants and things where you want lots of details.  It makes a wonderful portrait lens.  The subject has fine detail and background isn't so sharp so they make a nice fit.  I suspect if I did more people portrait stuff, I would like to use this lens and do natural outside settings for posing them.  Thus....you have your photo tip for the day!  :)