Spring.

With continued sunshine, warmer temperatures - and a week with time off from work for me - there have been more opportunities to hang out at the ranch. Yesterday I spent some time out in the pastures taking photographs. The horses seem comfortable with my presence; my only problem lately has been getting enough distance from them to compose new shots, as one animal or another is generally coming my way to investigate. My earlier bribery with carrots is probably to blame.
Late in day, Paul and Quip let me tag along as they checked on the cow herd in the lower pastures, a couple miles down the road. There were many new calves, and a particularly bold white-faced newborn had no problem leaving its mother to check out the strangers in the field.




There is one certainty: there is an infectious tranquility in spending time with large,quiet grazing animals. It is a different experience from, say, listening to young urban males performing courtship/territory dances in 300-horsepower machines with 1000-watt sound systems.