Partly for sentimental reasons I’ve wanted to post this first photo to my blog for a long time.
Blog followers know how attached I am to our family farm in Montana and its resident Great Horned Owls. The photo below was taken on May 29, 2008 during one of my first trips back to the farm after my cousin and best friend Ken Dudley died in 2007. Ken had owned and operated the farm for years so that trip was filled with memories and melancholy.
1/400, f/10, ISO 400, Canon Rebel XTi, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 Extender, not baited, set up or called in
One evening just before sunset as I roamed the farm with camera in hand I encountered one of the resident Great Horned Owls perched on the back of one of the old grain trucks. I’m not sure of it but I believe this truck was the ’29 Ford originally owned by my grandfather DeVere Dudley when he bought the farm in ’29 or ’30. When I was growing up it was the oldest running vehicle on the farm and we still used it during harvest.
When I was about 10 years old I started driving that decrepit old truck to haul grain from the combines in the fields to the granaries. It was quite the experience for someone that age. Believe me, if you can drive an ancient truck with no synchromesh in the gears through incredibly soft field dirt with a load weighing anywhere from 14,000 to 18,000 lbs.(depending on if it’s wheat or barley) you can drive just about anything. Those memories are seared into my brain so this photo of one of my beloved owls on what is probably that old truck, parked right where Ken parked it before he died, means a lot to me. The grain bins in the background seal the deal.
To make the photo even more meaningful, grandpa Dudley used that truck in the early 30’s to haul the lumber to the farm that he used to build the old granaries that the owls hang out in to this day. The lumber had to be hauled from what we called “across the mountains”, the Kalispell area near Glacier National Park. In those days that trip was quite an ordeal and grandpa made it many times.
Normally the nocturnal farm owls don’t come out of the granaries to hunt gophers until just after sunset but this owl was out early for very good reason.
‘She’ had a family to feed.
This photo of her two young chicks was taken on the day before the first photo was taken. The chicks are on the floor of the old granary where they were raised. For decades that granary hadn’t been used by humans for anything other than storing old farm junk but the owls love it despite its messy clutter. That wet spot on the wood in front of the top owl is gopher (Richardson’s Ground Squirrel) blood and body juices.
It’s a messy and even dangerous place to raise a family, especially with all those nails sticking up, but it seems to work just fine for the owls. Both owlets were fledged successfully.
I’ll end with an explanation of why I hesitated for so long to post the first photo. In the original image there was a large and distracting blurry white blob in the background. To this day I don’t know what it was but it drove me nuts so until now I’d never used the photo.
But for this version I cloned the damn thing out. Now I can enjoy the image.
Ron
wonderful!
Sure look familiar….there were originally two orphans…i was only given one of them….the other was given to someone else to raise…or kept…orphans came from directerv of Rochester,NY…loved to hear “him” whinny…..
Sounds like quite an experience, Patty.
All your photos are stunning, and your commentary/stories make the photos so meaningful. Thank you.
Thanks, Mary.
Wonderful photographs and memories! Thanks again for sharing.
Thank you, Joanne.
I love love LOVE this post. I follow all of your posts. This one is special. Incredible photos and background story. Thank you!!
Thanks very much, Dolores.
Thank you. Many, many thanks.
I will never tire of your memories or your photos.
Today is going to be fraught (specialist appointment) and I am hoping that your glorious photos are going to be a good omen. And if they are not, they are an excellent antidote.
EC, I wish you all the luck in the world with your appointment today. I’ve had a few of them myself lately so to some small degree I understand your angst.
Thanks.
Delightful!! Please take us down memory lane whenever you wish!
Thanks for the encouragement, Kathleen.
Good photos and good story. Great memories for you for sure. Thanks for sharing Ron.
Thank you, Everett.
Current lens, old body, but still captivating photos. One’s mind wanders and wonders at all the stories behind the old hardware and equipment. A walk about the Dudley farm with you would be a fascinating historical journey. That’s a PBS documentary I would watch.
Lyle, I could probably tell enough interesting historical farm stories to fill up an entire hour long documentary.
Actually that photo wasn’t taken with my current lens, not quite. It was taken with the older version of the 500 f/4. I now have the new version of the same lens.
The cloning tool is totally worth it to let a shot this good see the light of day! The faraway look in the owl’s eyes just makes the shot for me. She is a beauty!
I don’t think I could ever tire of hearing about your family and the farm. ❤️
“I don’t think I could ever tire of hearing about your family and the farm.”
That’s good to know, Marty. I’ve sure babbled on about it over the years, probably to excess.
No way, no how, no chance.
Definitely NOT to excess! I say go for the hour long documentary you mentioned in your response to Lyle (if for no other reason than to keep the family stories alive for generations to come, although I would love to see it too!).
The photo alone conveys so much emotion and then with the added story and history, it’s a big winner. Thanks for publishing it so we can all enjoy it.
I’m glad you liked it, Linda. Thanks.
Beautiful post, thank you Ron!
Thanks, Theresa.
Wonderful memories. Farming was and still is an incredibly hard life style. The owl images are beautiful.
Thank you, April. Yup, farming is a tough way to make a living.
Seeing this photo reminded me of my Grandpa’s old Ford truck, which had a
sort of timbered structure around the bed, with removable side-pieces– he
used it for hauling sheep, etc. I can remember the HUGE circle the gear-
shift made when I rode beside him in the cab–what a workout ! I can only
imagine your memories………
Kris, my grandpa built the bed and side rails of that truck back in the early 30’s. When he bought it there was just an empty frame. .
I love the beautiful photo and your explanation of its sentimental significance.
Thank you, David.
VBG! Great memories even with some being sad….. 🙂 The GHO’s have a special place in my heart also. We still have one old wooden grainy with “stuff”. GHO’s have never used it here that I know of. Glad you finally “fixed” and posted the picture.
Yes, those big old trucks in a field ARE a challenge – nothing quite that old here but was sure glad I’d learned to drive a “stick” when I started coming out here. 😉 Joe & his brother worked in tandem as kids to drive a tractor – one to steer and one to work the peddles……
Judy, I’ll bet Joe could tell some very interesting stories. One day it would be fun to sit down and jawbone with him about farming in the old days.
So very interesting! During one of my nomadic years of traveling about 30 yrs ago I was recruited to operate a wheat combine from TX to MN for 4 mths, and I also drove the grain truck sometimes which was much more modern than the one you drove! But even with all its modernity, it was a bear to drive! The wheat farmers had old equipment laying around, old combines, old grain trucks, all very impressionable and unforgettable experiences! I can very well empathize with your fond memories 🙂 and the beautiful owl seals the deal.
Terri, sounds like you worked for what farmers call “custom cutters”. We have them come through the Cut Bank area too – in fact our area is the last stop on their annual tour since our farm is only about 30 miles south of the Canadian border.
I’m aware enough of the custom cutter’s life to know that you had some VERY interesting experiences while you were working for them.
Yes, I was with a small group of wheaties (custom cutters), all men who treated me (the only woman) with utmost respect. I was recruited because the owner said women are more careful than men with operating equipment 🙂 And our last field in September was in Roseau, MN about 5 miles from Canada. One night during a low humidity evening as we kept harvesting till about 10 PM, the Northern Lights appeared! That harvesting experience was magical, similar to a midwife visiting a bunch of anxious farmers pregnant with wheat kernels 🙂
Terri, it’s unusual for us to see the northern lights on the farm but it does happen occasionally.
Great photos and great memories too!
Thanks, Cindy.