Diane Putnam's photos

He has 10 so far. I guess they're youngsters, they look like it. Travis has become crazy about farming and plans to also go into the hay-growing business, which can be very lucrative.

The buck of the pronghorn herd, given that name by my daughter-in-law. He is staying back in protection mode so the does and youngsters can run ahead. The interesting pronghorn (not sheep, not antelope) can form herds of thousands migrating up and down the North American grasslands. The herd local to the area where my son's family lives is a few hundred, but breaks up into smaller groups of a few dozen in Spring/Summer. Great information about the Pronghorn: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Zy2tVuiMs One of the family dogs came home with a pronghorn leg, recently. Most likely killed by coyotes, but possibly a wolf. None of their dogs could have run fast enough to catch one - they are far beyond the abilities of a domestic dog!

I recently spent 5 days in Dorris, California with my son and his family. They live on an enormous hay ranch (not owned by them). This little trailer is their summer guest quarters and their camp trailer when they go to the coast. It was really fun to wake up next to the horses.

...with Reba, Crescent and Ernie on a hot day. Clyde dips himself in the tub at random times during the day. The other dogs always gather around, but don't go into the tub. He's an absolute character and a mutt that was found out in the middle of nowhere. Nate and Steph were so curious about his DNA that I sent for a test kit for them for Christmas. He is a huge assortment of herding types, including kelpie, border collie, German shepherd, etc. (Surprisingly, no Lab!) His temperament is very sweet and he's kind of a comedian. If my daughter-in-law had not been driving down the highway and he had not jumped out of the ditch as her car approached, he would have died out in the Klamath marshland. Far from towns or even ranches.

Travis with a load of hay for his mother's horses.

Needles are very short, about 3/4" or 2cm. It's a very attractive, fluffy tree. Not a spruce, as I had originally thought. The needles are too short to be a spruce or a pine. After some lengthy comparing of needles and growth habits, I finally arrived at what I believe is the proper identification. The Blue Atlas Cedar is a good, tidy landscape tree. This one was not "in nature," but planted near a business. Identifying the different conifers can be very confusing. There are "old world conifers" and "new world conifers" to make it seem even more baffling. gardenerspath.com/plants/landscape-trees/identifying-conifers

Oh look, my shipment of chemicals has arrived!

This was parked in front of a muffler shop. Presumably, this needs more than a new muffler. ;-p When I was two years old, this was a new pickup! It has a lot of big holes drilled around the walls of the bed and around the grille. Would that be to reduce the weight? I've never seen anything like that. Regarding the image; In order to "fudge" the crowding at the front of the truck's image, I added some stuff for breathing space. This is an example of the difficulty I have taking pictures with poor eyesight,now. I didn't see that the image wasn't properly in the frame. So, I could go back and do it again tomorrow, or just add something called a mirror frame and call it a day. ;-)