please pray . . .

. . . For my kitty, Lenny. He was in a bad fight a week or two ago and seems to have a tail or back injury that has him in a lot of pain all of a sudden. He's been hiding since yesterday morning (cats don't like to be bothered when they don't feel good . . .), so we can't even find him to take him to the vet. We suspect something is broken, out of joint, or possibly abscessed.

So if you think about it . . . I would really appreciate prayer for Lenny's safety and healing.

Thank you all so much. :)

bloom!

I'm full of aspirations. I often think, "Wouldn't it be neat to do this?" or "If only I could do something like that." I love opportunities and adventures, but sometimes I hear myself saying, "Hallie, there's no way you could do that" or "You're not good enough for this to succeed." Ideas like that can really curb productivity.

That's why it's so encouraging to me to know people who willingly step out in faith and do things for Jesus. That's what KyAnn at Bloom! Magazine is doing--launching an online magazine by tween/teen girls for tween/teen girls.

You can subscribe to have the magazine emailed to you (it's free) right here. And if you're 11-18 years old and interested, KyAnn is accepting applications for staff positions in photography, writing, and graphic design until August 9th. What an amazing ministry to be involved in!

summertime chaos :)

I'm not exactly sure what happened to the last 23 days. Sometimes I'm sure God trimmed a few hours out here and there when I was asleep. I've finally finished a few of my summer projects--but even more are looming up on me!

The fair is less than a month away . . . talk about a scary thought! But I got my photo entries ordered yesterday. Thank you to everyone who helped me pick out my flower photos!

The lambs, my other major 4-H project, still need a lot of work. Like a lot of work. In fact, I would rather not talk about how behind they are. . . .

I took Drem to our local Rodeo Bible Camp this past week. Riding in western games and that sort of thing has been something I have always been dying to do, so the last two years I've learned the basics at this camp, sponsored by our chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys. Drem and I always learn so much! Besides teaching barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, tie-down roping, team roping, breakaway roping, bull riding, chute dogging, and bronc riding, the camp is an amazing place to learn about Jesus and strengthen your walk with Him. I think that's my favorite part.

Drem and I competed in barrel racing and pole bending. Pole bending is harder, but we always do better in it because it's always our first event, so Drem is fresh . . . and not as crabby. :)

A few pictures I took when I wasn't on my horse at the rodeo. . . .

That's gotta hurt.

Hannah took Splash to camp, too, and they both did fantastic. :) And there's another picture of Drem, all trimmed and cleaned up.

Dad's just finishing up a field of barley, and has one more to do after that before second cutting starts. . . .

 

I hope you're all having a somewhat relaxed summer!!!

take five

Okay . . . I need help again.

Here, I asked for suggestions about which pictures you all thought I should enter in our county fair. Now I need help narrowing them down! The rules in open class photography limit photo entries to 5 per class and in 4-H they're limited to 3 per class (which is frustrating but a very good thing because otherwise the photography building would be bursting at the seams!). It all adds up to a maximum of around 75 photos for me to enter.

And right now, I'm still trying to trim from about 90. So I have a few more to cut . . . and these last few are always the hardest!

I'm going to post nine of my prospective entries for the "Open/Plant Life/Color" class. You get to choose which five I should enter. :) So I'll number them, and in a comment, leave the numbers of the photos you choose. Thanks in advance--this will help me so much!!!
 
Photo #1

Photo #2

Photo #3

Photo #4

Photo #5

Photo #6

Photo #7

Photo #8

Photo #9

And are there any other flower photos you don't see in this group that you'd like to suggest? I have two other possible classes of flower photography and am very open to suggestions!

Thanks everybody!

belated

Boy, does that word ever describe my life right now! A belated welcome to the seventh month of the year; a belated "happy 234th birthday" to the United States of America; and a very belated blog post! Welcome to July, everyone!

Our fields have all been swathed and baled--

The bales have been collected in the harobed, stacked, and tarped--

And the irrigation is up and running once more!--

We had a beautiful, cold, and very windy Independence Day, typical of Goldendale. :) We gathered with our neighbors for our annual barbecue and fireworks. I spent a lot of the time taking pictures in Sue's beautiful garden, which was paradisaical as always!

  

My pyromaniac brothers and father manned an excellent firework performance (except for the "strobe lights," which were a minor irritation). I played with settings on my camera until I found the best one for firework photography. I tried to capture "sparkler artwork" using a long shutter, but it didn't work out quite as well as I'd hoped. . . .

Finally, a few photos of the gorge on a gusty afternoon. The wind was so strong that I was almost afraid of standing near the edge of the ridge to take the pictures!

Distant wind turbines overlooking the bridge--

Vineyards stretching down to meet the riverbank--

And an experimental picture of a historical museum overlooking the river--

Happy belated Independence Day, everyone! I hope you enjoyed my belated blog post too. :)