CANDID PHOTOS OF WHAT I SUSPECT IS A FATHER & SON ‘FISHING LESSON’ THIS MORNING AT LAKE WAWANOSH
I like wandering up through Mennonite country Sunday mornings. Lots of buggy tracks on the gravel roads with folks headed off to gathering points for their Sunday morning services. No churches in the area so I figure they all congregate at a designated neighbors farm somewhere. Despite many tracks I only saw one horse & buggy on the road. 
SAME BUGGY, DIFFERENT LENSES…300mm TELEPHOTO & 18mm CROPPED
I managed to add another 48 barns to my growing 'old barns' photo file & I noticed something different with the Mennonite barns. Many of them have horses near the barn where other barns it is unusual to see animals except maybe for cows. And always big healthy looking horses in the nearby fields. Mennonite farms always look very well kept, neat, & clean. Houses are always white with green trim. Barns vary in color but red seems to be most popular.
Pheebs & I made half a dozen stops along the way but with each stop we were swarmed by mosquitos. Seems to be a particularly bad summer for mosquitos & todays growing humidity brought the miserable things out in droves. 
A FIELD OF CANOLA
Feeling better today & I think my many trips up & down our tall step ladder while washing the Motorhome may have contributed to my elevated leg discomfort Saturday afternoon. Thinking back I shouldn’t have even bothered mentioning it. That’s what can happen to a daily Blogger when trying to think up things to write about at the end of a slow day.
PHEEBS RESTS IN THE SHADE OF AN EMPTY HAY WAGON…NOTICE THE STEEL WHEELS
PHEEBS MEETS A NEW PAL AT LAKE WAWANOSH >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Noticed this morning how in the area I was traveling through it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep wind turbines out of photos. This was brought to my attention again this morning while trying to photograph barns. I take the majority of my barn photos from the drivers seat so I am limited as to my angles & quite often in the background are wind turbines sticking up over top the barns. Sometimes with a slight overcast haze in the air like this morning I don’t even see them until I get home & open up the photos in my Picasa photo editing program. Power lines & towers used to be & still are one of the biggest bugaboos for landscape photographers but with the way wind turbines are mushrooming out of the ground in our area they are quickly becoming the biggest bugaboo of all.
HADN’T EVEN NOTICED THE 3 WIND TURBINES AT TOP RIGHT WHEN I TOOK THIS PHOTO & I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS PIECE OF MACHINERY DOES
I THINK THIS IS A HAY RAKE
We just might head out & have us look at a well known local cheese making operation in the morning then drive ourselves on over to a historic Lake Huron lighthouse. And when I say 'we' I mean Kelly's coming this time. Much more interesting for her than just driving up & down dusty country roads with Pheebs & I when we head out on our weekly photo oriented Jeep drives.
When you click on the photo album a page of photos will appear. Click on the top left photo making it larger. Now you can choose to see the photos in a slide show format by clicking 'Play Slide Show' at the top or view them one at a time by clicking the arrow at the bottom.
GROANER’S CORNER:(( One month into Marine Corps training in San Diego, we were preparing for a ten-mile march in 100-degree weather when a jeep drove up with a large radio in the back. "Who knows anything about radios?" our drill instructor asked.
Several hands went up, and anticipating a ride in the jeep, recruits began listing their credentials. Everything from a degree in communications to a part-time job in a repair shop was declared. The DI listened to all the contenders, then pointed to the most qualified. "You," he barked. "Carry the radio."
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- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
Always a nice sunday morning drive in Mennonite country. and now a local cheese operation is always at the top of our list too.
ReplyDeleteVery nice collection! You saw a lot of animals on that drive. And 48 new barn pictures!? You take long drives and lotsa pictures! That old machinery looks a bit like a hay wagon loader from back in the days when hay was gathered loose.
ReplyDeleteFrom my stand point mentioning your aches and pains and what caused them is very valuable information for me. It helps me at 4 years younger than you to pay attention to things that can cause trouble as I age. Thank you for the input.
ReplyDeleteOne day, far in the future, people will look at your pictures and ask...."how come there are no wind turbines in his pictures? In those days they started to use them for energy production". Pictures can be pieces of art....or they can be a document of the time they were taken. Or they can be both. I like your barn-collection. I like barns. We had a real old one in Norway - way over 100 years old.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos of your drive:) Glad you didn't include the swarming mosquitos:) I was wondering if this is a Mennonite community or Amish community. Having lived next door to Lancaster, PA for many years which is an Amish area, I was under the impression that only the most traditional Amish still use horse and buggy and plow horses. I did do a little research on your area and the article said that some Amish have joined the Mennonite sect but the old sect Amish remain separate and still adhere to tradiition and can be identified by the horse and buggy and no electric. My understanding is that there are Mennonites with some stricter rules but they do drive cars and have electric. I was jsut curious since I've live around traditonal Amish for so long.
ReplyDeleteThat unknown piece of equipment is a hay elevator, used to load a wagon or cart that is pulled behind it. Al, you are correct about the other piece being a hay rake. Love your blog, thanks for it! Max.
ReplyDeleteWe have seen fields of yellow flowers like that and wondered what the crop was. Now we know, canola.
ReplyDeleteUnlike farmers with cars I imagine the barns and horses are more like garages and cars for the Mennonite. Their "cars" are beautiful! Love the field of canola - such a bright yellow. The old equipment in the album looks like sculpture with the varying colors of rust and weeds.
ReplyDeleteI was under the same impression as John and Pam. Looks more like Amish. Regardless..photos are priceless.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos today (as always). I'm more dissatisfied with power lines in my photos than wind turbines, but there is always something that gets in the way I suppose.
ReplyDeleteSure can tell those horses are workers as they are so stout looking.
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