Elaineobrienphoto’s Blog

 Looking from my front yard across to the neighbors

My house is surrounded by wheat fields and I love them! They change color with the time of day and with the weather conditions.   When I first arrived in Abilene, the fields were green like liquid emeralds and they would sway with the breeze and the smell was so fresh and clean.  Then as the fields matured, they began to get brown at the tips and they were a deep green with golden halos and they still swayed in the breeze.  One of my friends said the fields undulated like a cat’s back when being stroked.  

The fields ripened to a golden glow as the weeks wore on and when it rained the gold deepened to a soft golden brown and then when the sun would hit the wet fields the wheat would glisten and turn to a glowing orange/yellow with sparkles as the sun would hit the collected rain on the stems.  I was not looking forward to the harvest and to losing the beauty of the fields. 

 The view from my living room window

The harvest time came and the combines and tractors arrived and began doing a do-see-do dance back and forth across the fields and they brought their own sense of fun and a different sort of beauty in the slow and rhythmic sashay as they collected the fields.

When the combines left, the fields were reduced to stubble, but they still maintained the beauty of their golden color and now it changed from a glowing gold to a butter yellow spread all across the acres of land behind my house.  Again, the fields’ color would change depending on the time of day or the type of weather. Nothing was lost but a new view was gained.

Now, the fields are being either plowed or burned in preparation for next year’s crops.   The fields that are plowed turn a dark black/brown with wisps of gold sticking out.  The smell is the richest loam you can imagine with that fresh, newly rained on earth smell.  The fields that are burnt have their own beauty as well.  Turning a dark blacker than black and leaving behind a lingering smoky fragrance as if the whole area had just been smudged with sage.

I had always enjoyed the song, America the Beautiful.  I have been lucky enough to have experienced the “purple mountains’ majesty” on many vacation trips and when living in Southern California on days when the smog was rolled back enough for me to see the mountains.  Now, I can say that I have also experienced the beauty of “Spacious skies and Amber waves of grain” and I am looking forward to many more years of enjoyment from seeing them!

Nicki in front of the wheat field

Well, things are going great here!  I am going to try to answer all your questions here so this may get a bit long.  Bear with me please!

Everyone wants to know how Dad is holding up through all of this.  Well, the first day he saw the place I was not sure I had done the right thing.   He was a bit shocked. The house had sat vacant for almost a year and had been neglected prior to that.  The property was covered in weeds, as you can see by the before and after shots I took and posted here. Once we started to get settled and things started to get fixed, Dad has really taken a liking to the place now.  He refers to the outside as his “park”.  Inside we are finding there are a lot of nice amenities to this house.  It was built very well.  Here he is with his new wagon on the little tractor.

Cousins Duane and Cathy came out the first weekend we were here and brough their big trailer and stayed and helped with all the little odds and ends and really put the house back together again.  Cathy scrubbed cupboards and cooked and helped me unpack, while Duane and Dad were all over the house fixing doors and vents and lightbulbs and so on.  Brad, (Duane and Cathy’s son) and his girlfriend Sara even stopped in and helped for a bit too!  My friend Patrice has also been by several times and has been great moral support and makes sure we take breaks and relax in between all the chaos.

The town of Abilene itself is so charming.  We really have everything we need there for grocery’s and everyday stuff and if we need any big items we can go to Salina or to Manhattan which are both about 20 miles from us.

The weather here has been intense.  We spent a few hours last night under a tornado warning.  It definitely makes us both a bit nervous.  We are glued to the TV and watching the weather maps very closely during these times. We have a “weather” radio that blares out a warning if there is extreme weather in the county.  That way if something moves in while you are sleeping, you still get warned about bad weather coming your way.  We have had several days of some extreme weather with LOTS of thunder and lightning.  The thunder and lightning don’t bother us, just the tornado warnings! Yesterday it rained all day and was WONDERFUL. It was a nice soft rain that just cleaned everything up and it dropped the temperature a bit too.  Today we are right back up into the 90’s and of course it is VERY humid.  The humidity here is so different than what we are used to in CA.  In a better way.  In CA when we get the high humid days, it feels as if the air is being sucked away from you and it is so still with no breeze and you cant breathe because of the heavy smog.   Here, the level of humidity is about the same, but there is ALWAYS a breeze and the air is so clear you don’t have any trouble breathing.  Don’t get me wrong, Dad and I are staying inside with the AC on during these hot days, but the humidity is not as bad as it was in CA.

Nicki had to stay in CA for a few more weeks. She has a banged up leg and the vet and the shippers all wanted her to heal a bit more before sending her cross country.  So “Aunty” Carly is still baby sitting, (THANK YOU!), and the vet will re-evaluate Nicki next week and then hopefully she can come the week after that.  I guess it is for the better because her barn will be well under way by that time.

The barn is going to be 36′ x 60′!!!  I will have 4 dutch doors on one side to let horses in and out and then 2 12′ slider doors on either end and one more in the back side of the long end.  Grading starts this Wed or Thurs.  The man we found for Grading the site is the same man who did the grading for this house in 1993!  He also gave us the builders name and the builder is also still in business and we are going to eventually use him to finish the basement!  Small towns are great!  I will take pictures of the barn as it progresses so you can see it develop!

I start work at Fort Riley dispatch tomorrow.  Ok all of you from OCFA are going to hate me for this…..NO FORCES…EVER!!!!!!!!!  If someone calls out sick or if they need extra personell, they just call in a soldier!  If someone wants the OT they can have it, but no one HAS to stay beyond their regular shift.   The shifts are 8 hours and it looks like I will have my choice of day shift so I will be working 0700-1500  five days a week.  It takes me 25 minutes to get to and from work so do the math people…I am home early enough to ride in the afternoon EVERY DAY!!!!!!!  By the way, the grader is going to be doing my arena while he is here too! 

The bugs here are EVERYWHERE!!!!!  There is a particular little critter called a CHIGGER that is a no-see-um bug that crawls up the inside of your pants and socks and it seeks a warm, moist area…..ummmmm you figure it out.  YIKES!  Luckily they come right off in the shower and you can treat the bites with some anti itch cream and no lasting damage, but OOOOOHHHHH the itching at first.  We are learning to spray with repellent before going outside now !  We also have ticks.  EW.  Man I hate them.  Zach has the once a month tick repellent on and it seems to work well.  I have not found any ticks buried in, but have brushed some off of his hair.  The cats are also on the repellent and of course they don’t go outside.  Honky Tonk, the goose is the happiest of all.  He has a dog kennel run and stays in there all the time.  I open the door during the day so he can come out if he wants, but he is perfectly at home in his house and has his pools and his food and seems happy as a clam!

Well, as you can tell, Dad and I are adjusting quite well I think.  I just love it here.  The entire area is so green and pretty and the people are all so nice.  We had to have a plumber come out and fix a bunch of things and he came in, did his work and said, “bye!”  I stuttered, “What about payment?”  He said, “I’ll just send a bill”  That’s how they do everything here, “I’ll just send you a bill”  It’s so refreshing!  When you go to the grocery store, they walk you to your car with your things.  Even if you say its ok that you can handle it, the polite reply is, “No ma’am, this is how we do things here”  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

Well, I guess that is long enough of a blog for now.  You either hate me or have fallen asleep by this point!  I do miss all of you, but as you can see, I don’t really miss CA at all.  As I get a better routine set up, I will be better about keeping up on this blog and on my other sites where I communicate with all of you.  By the way, my horseaholic@sbcglobal.net address will be remaining in effect.  ATT is letting people keep a free email and so I will keep mine.  You can always reach me at Elaine@elaineobrienphotography.com too so either one you choose to use is just fine. 

Everyone take care and I hope you are all well and enjoying life !

Elaine and Dad

Wow!  Finally here.  I figured I would just blog this and everyone can come have a look as they wish.  We drove from So. Cal to Abilene, KS in 3 days.  Talk about being exhausted!!!!  We did 400 miles the first day to Flagstaff, AZ.  We didn’t hit the road until 11am because the movers were finishing up and we had to tidy up before we left.  It was bittersweet driving out the driveway for the last time.  We were all so anxious to be on the road, but the finality of “it’s not our house anymore” really hit.  Friends and family had all been by for hugs and cheers and tears in the week before we left so we were wrung out physically and emotionally.

Our 2nd day on the road was 700 miles of driving.  From Flagstaff to a small town in Texas called Delhart.  Our drive was fairly uneventful although I was doing “business” all the way down the road on my cell phone.  I had my bluetooth in so I was legal and I kept getting calls from escrows and title companies and real estate agent and so on as I was driving.  It is really tough to solve a crisis at 70mph on the highway!!!!  But things got resolved as they needed to and the Norco house closed first and then it was on to closing the KS house.

The 3rd day of driving was about another 400 miles or a bit less I think.   I was so tired by this point I just didn’t care.  My cousin Duane was in the lead with my truck and trailer then me in my Honda and Dad brought up the rear with his Mercury.  Duane kept worrying that he was going too fast for us and we said, “KEEP GOING!  JUST GET THERE!”   He wasn’t driving that fast, we hit 70-75 most of the way but we also ran into a lot construction zones where we had to slow down.   Duane was a God send on this trip. He and his son Kent helped us pack up and also did the navigating along the way.  As we were about 70 or 80 miles out of Abilene, I got a frantic call from my KS realtor asking if I could find a fax machine.  I looked around and all I could see for miles was nothing but wheat!!!!  By this point we were off the main highway and taking a shortcut that Duane knew and we were in the middle of NOWHERE!!!!  I told Joan this and also asked if it could wait until we got there as I had no idea if we would come to a town before we arrived in Abilene or not.   The next phone call was from the title company, he had to have me sign a paper NOW!!!!!  so he could close and get the money wired off to the bank.  I explained where I was and he knew EXACTLY where I was and told me that I was coming up to a small town and there was a hotel there and I could use their fax.  Sure enough, I found the hotel and the owner was kind enough to let me borrow the fax, (I paid him anyway), and I stayed on the phone with title to make sure he got the paperwork and WHEW, we were done!!!  So back on the road knowing that the house was ours and all the paperwork was done. 

We got to the house about 3pm.  All of us were so tired we could barely see straight.  Poor Dad walked into the house, having never seen it  and was a bit overwhelmed at first.  The house had been vacant for almost a year and it is DIRTY!  There are also weeds up to our waist all over the property.  Dad looked at that and thought, “I can’t do all that weeding!”  Of course he can’t!  I had already put a call into a lawn service to get someone out to mow the whole property.   anyway, once the light kicked in to Dad that HE didn’t have to do all the work, he liked the house a lot better!

We unloaded what we needed to from the cars and then my Cousin Cathy, (Duanes wife), came over to pick up Duane and their son Kent.  Kent is 16 and was a HUGE help on this trip.   My friend Patrice came over as well and we went and got Dairy Queen for everyone and had dinner sitting on the floor of an empty house.

Dad and I are still waiting on the furniture to arrive.  It should be here in the next 3 days. For now, we are sleeping on airmatresses and our living room “furniture” consists of 2 plastic lawn chairs and a step stool for  a table!  Our entertainment is my laptop computer with dvds and music.  We have a stove and oven, but no refriderator yet.  We bought a new one. The one in the Norco house was about 20 years old and making funny noises so we did not want to take it cross country and have it croak before it got here.   Our new one will come in on Thursday.

The animals are all adjusting well.  Zach is still paranoid that we are going to leave him so he sticks to us like glue.  He enjoys exploring the property when we are outside, but keeps us in sight at all times.  That works out great for me since I don’t have to worry about him running off anywhere.  We leave him in the house when we have to leave for any reason and he does just fine. 

Chloe and Tucker were NOT happy about spending 3 days in the horse trailer.   They really adjusted quickly though and once everyone was gone came out to explore the very first day.  They seem pretty comfy now in the house but are upset about not being able to jump into the windows. The sills here are narrow so I am going to have  find a window perch for them so they can see out. 

Honky Tonk, the goose, survived the trip better than anyone else.  He just stayed in the trailer the whole trip and didn’t have any problem being in there.  He has a really nice new house on the property.  It is a dog kennel that is parked under a tree.  He has his pool in there with him and is very happy to eat the grass and bugs and his goose food too.   He is safe in there night and day and I don’t have to worry about any creatures harrassing him during the night.  I will have to find him a warm place to stay before winter but this is great for now.

I was looking out the living room window tonight and my view consisted of  clouds colored gold with the sunset and then a green tree line in the distance and in front of that tree line is about 80 acres of wheat that is just turning yellow so the field looks like gold waving back and forth in the breeze. As I stood there watching a deer walked out from under the trees and was grazing.  She must have heard me because she turned and looked my way for a while before moving on with her leisurely grazing.  Then as dusk came down, the fireflies came out and set off a show of yellow, white and blue lights that made the backyard look like it was diamond studded.   In the distance where the clouds were gathering there was an occassional flash of lightning.  Too far to hear the thunder but you could see the sky light up and then go dark again. 

So, are you all jealous yet?????    There is a lot of work to do here, but it is SO worth it.  The next week or so will be extremely busy with making phone calls and arranging deliveries and ordering horse stuff to get ready for Nicki.  I am going to make her a temporary pen for now and the barn man comes on Tues or Wed to get ready to build her more permenant home.   I already have all her hay for the year thanks to Patrice for buying it for me and for Chris and Lorelle and Patrice for letting me store it at thier place!

Things are coming together and as they do I will get the camera out and get some photos to post.  I ahve not been able to take a single picture on this trip because we just never stopped and didn’t want to take time to sight see.  Now that we have had a couple of days to catch our breath, I will be getting the camera out and make sure I get some stuff online for everyone to see. 

I hope you all enjoyed my little travelog and that this finds everyone happy and well.  Please send email when you can.  I have my new service starting on Thursday so I still don’t know my new email address, but you can reach me through the photo site at elaine@elaineobrienphotography.com.

I had the chance to shoot my first wedding and boy was I nervous!  It is such a HUGE responsibility to photograph a wedding and the fact that these were my friends put even more pressure on me!  I wanted everything to be perfect for them.  I would like to share just a few pictures from the wedding with you.  It was a lovely country wedding and it was so perfect in its simplicity.  It suited Chris and Lorelle so well, warm, friendly and fun!

This is my first attempt at adding a photo into my blog. 

The setting for this photo was the Parade of Tall Ships in San Diego Harbor.  It was so spectacular to see the old ships coming through the bay.  The only disappointment was that the day was a bit hazy and the ships didn’t ever get close enough to where Dad and I were standing to get really good shots.  Then Dad wasn’t feeling well and we had to leave before getting to go on board some of the ships.   In spite of those things though, it was a lovely day and it was fun seeing the ships sailing in.

As we were walking out, I spotted this lady with her cute little parasol.  I just had to chuckle because it was SO out of place.  That parasol has to be from the Victorian era and here she is in shorts, hawaiian shirt and sandals.  Talk about anachronistic!  I decided to go Black and White on this and then use selective coloring to bring her back into focus.  It’s a new technique for me and I need a lot more practice, but it was still a lot of fun.

Just remember when you are out and about, keep your eyes open because you never know what little treasures you will see.  Even if you don’t have a camera with you, you can enjoy the moment and the tale is always better in the retelling later on!