Blog
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Sept 8, 2017 – Hey, Irma is due to arrive here Sunday night, – so while waiting, I practice PhotoShop and study the elements of good photo art.
09 08 2017 Perla practicing “Dismount”. 
09 08 2017 – Drummond bear and tracks – confirming my philosophy of life. Well, “Maybe, I will follow in the footsteps” You see, I have thoughts of the inscription on my Great Grandpa Abe’s tomb stone “Be content when you pass by. For as you are now, so once was I. As I am now you soon will be. Show kindness to all and prepare to follow me”
My response to Great Grandpa Abe “I will be kind to all but I will not be content to follow you until I know which way you went”
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August 17, 2017 – Singing in the rain, fishing in the rain, and the dreams of an outdoor and of a city women while getting a facial.
What do you do on an Island when the winds are a steady 15 to 20 miles per hour, driving rain (that made the rain look like sheets of snow) , and temps between 50 and 60 degrees? You do not lay on the beach and sun bath that is for sure.
So, I play with PhotoShop and here a a few products of that play.
“Just a Singing’ in the Rain” 
Women are dedicated fisher people – “Here Fishy” 
V2 – “Just a Singing’ in the Rain” RETURN TO TGO PHOTO CLUB’S WEB PAGE
I do have fun with digital art – hope they make you smile too -
July 23, 2017 – All day rain here on Drummond – Good time to do some office work – Why? ’cause I spend most of my days outside, like a farm boy, if it is not pouring rain.
My friend was called to Jury Duty – the defense attorney interviewed him and each potential jury member.
She ask my friend what he did for a living – he replied proudly “I am a farmer” —
The attorney said “No, No – You did not understand my question, I ask “What do you do for a living – You know, How do you earn money to buy cloths, etc?”
“Oh” my friend replied, “I drive school bus sometimes.”
With so many opportunities available to young folks, why would any one of them choose to be a farmer. Sixty three years ago I left the Brethren Farm community I grew up in and never went back. But now, if I do not look at old photos, my aging mind sees it a little bit more like the Future Farmers of America shows it.
Now days, organizations like the FFA do a lot to glamorize farming as a way to “Make a Living” . I did not grow up in much glamor of farming.
I looked like this:
The Girls on neighboring farms looked like this:
An advertisement for Knee Deep farm clothing sees it like this:
FFA shows it clean cut and smiling like this:
and like this:
The photo above shows more glamor then I saw when growing up! Maybe being a farmer nowadays ain’t so bad.
This week we hauled 400 bales of hay for the horses winter meals. The young folks at the farm loaded the wagons and stacked the bales in the barn after a 30 mile drive (including the ferry boat ride) –
They told me I was too old to keep up with them – I would just be in the way – they said “Just stand by and we will get the job done” – so I stood by and remembered when I told Grandpa to stay out of the way – and thought how great it is to work outdoors with family and learn – you know at 12 to 16 years old we farm boys are given assume responsibility to get the job done, – In this case they planned how to stack bales to stay on the trailer/wagon for the 30 mile drive home, they drove the tractor and place the wagon to make the bale transfer easy, they told each other how to do it right without making their friends mad enough to clobber them, (they worked as a team), they were clean cut and smiling.
Giving instructions (Tractor driver is 13, the boy giving instructions on how close to get the wagons is a 15 year old) 
working 
working 
working 
working 
working 
working 
getting another wagon into position 
Waiting for the ferry to Drummond 
working 
Second load ready This haying trip where I was too old to help – I only got to drive the truck 30 miles from our horse barn to the hay farm, and drive back fully loaded. Sitting watching the work being done by young farm folks gave me a chance to thank the Lord that God made me a real farm boy from a Church of the Brethren farming community! Few get to have such a wonderful upbringing, then go off and do other jobs that allowed them to make a living, and then return to sit and watch a new generation of themselves still being me as I was 60 years ago – WOW.
I hope the city “Wannabe”s do get to have a little taste of it too – in their own way of course – You know who I mean – The rich New York kids that want to look poor like a farm girl – and walk the streets of The East Village where everything is pretend – I read that part about pretend this morning while researching what The East Village is – Gloria told me she was there for dinner and a show yesterday – Go ahead look it up – it is a fun read. I often heard of the “Village People” but never knew what it was.
Oh, I went to Neiman Marcus to see about Farm Jeans for the East Village Wannabe’s – for around $600 poor dollars you can get a pair like these:
Rear view 
Front view Bet that would bring the young farm boys to the streets of The East Village and help them forget about riding the tractor back in Michigan.
That is my thoughts for now – you decide if any of my thoughts make sense
Oh – See my photo club’s photos of Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker and the coast of Maine – click a photo below
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JULY 8, 2017 – GOOD MORNING – It has been nearly a month since I posted here.
My life here has been very busy, I maintain our own home and work with the horses, etc – Yesterday my friend and I commented that we still do and still enjoy what we always have done – clean up the barn, groom the horses, plan for the storage of this winter’s hay, fix tractors, mow the lawns, cleaning house, pull weeds, cut up trees that fell in the winter storms, ….. – but at 80 plus years, it just takes us a lot longer to do it all!!! So, that is why I have not been updating this blog. – I have just been slow and busy.
In addition to doing those things, I like to ride bike every day, if possible – often over gravel roads – With lots of rain – many puddles on the road – while navigating one such puddle my phone left my hip pocket – un-be-known to me – at 10:00pm I discovered it’s absence. The app – “Find my iPhone” showed me it was over two miles down a dirt road. – it did not appear to be in a puddle! So off we go – with Google’s find my iPhone Map telling me approximately where it was and a friend calling me – 41 times I understand – I walked the road in the dark looking for the light when a missed-call comes in and listening for the dog bark (My ring tone is a dog barking) – Finally a glow in the middle of the road followed by a barking dog. We found it!!! We celebrated – Maybe said a silent prayer – Joy on Drummond! –
The scary part is that is not the first time I lost it while on a bike ride on remote dirt roads – I will not put it in that hip pocket again – ha ha – unless I forget! ‘Cause I said the same thing before.
Anyway – here are a couple recent photos of Life on Drummond.
In the 4th of Julyt parade 
Perla will not get back in trailer after the parade – after one half-hour of “Whispering” I decided she and I should have a “Come to Jesus” meeting – In she went! – I think that meeting technique will work in the future too! 
This morning at 6:30 am – Beautiful morning – 48 degrees – Look at the end of the dock – My friend rides her bike to my dock each morning and hauls in her bait traps – she is an avid fisherwomen – every day at least 4 hours on the Bay fishing for Perch 
My garden loves the cool weather and the frequent showers we have been having – and of course they are very happy for the deer repellent I put on every day or so 
The sunsets are beautiful, and the deer love them. Photo is from a few days ago. Do not forget to check out the Photo Club blog that I maintain. – http://photohappenings.com
By for now -
June 11, 2017 – A quick update from Drummond and I want to show you one piece of art created by my “rock artist” friend – It is on display – in what I call her Front Lawn Gallery – to be viewed and enjoyed by all who pass by.
It has been far too long since I updated this site. But, I have been too busy to even think – but, I will explain more later. Yes, we are having a great time and enjoying the Island. This time of year, on the Island is remarkable – wild flowers, wildlife and wildlife babies galore – ducks, geese, deer, turtles, rabbits, bear – see them all almost every day. The bear are more plentiful this year then they have been for several years. They are always running off just as I get ready to snap a photo – I will get one yet if I work at it.
Since you have all seen a goose and a bear and a duck I will not post photos of them – I will post you two photos of our house – in case you have not visited us on the Island because, then, you have not seen it:
Our home from the outside 
Our home from the inside as I sit posting this to the blog. My friend on the Island is a rock collector and rock artist. I will show you her Charlie Brown creation from natural rock. First a PhotoShopped photo of Charlie that I made – You see I photographed him while he was first created and she had him laying on her picnic table. You see I took his photo with me on an airplane ride.
Next I will post for you an untouched photo of Charlie with his cap and shirt on.
Charlie PhotoShopped over NYC 
Charlie on Drummond in my friend’s Front Lawn Gallery – no PhotoShop here – just as photographed at the entrance to her driveway! – I think that is great art work – I will show more of her fantastic creation’s in future posts. Link to TGO Photo Club’s web http://photohappenings.com
Many wildlife avoid my camera -
Updated May 29 – May 26, 2017 – Yesterday was cool and rainy and it was my morning to take care of the horse farm – But the farm is still fun – Come and see some this morning’s photos.
5/29/2017 – See the new TGO Photo Club page
As I did the “horse” chores this morning, I thought of two quotes.
Jimmy Durante said – “My nose is not big – I just have a small head”
“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” said Winston S. Churchill
Curiosity got the camera lens messy! 
Curiosity got the camera lens messy! 
Curiosity got the camera lens messy! 
Curiosity got the camera lens messy! 
In Iceland the growing season is short – Perla – my Icelandic horse knows how to make do with grass that hardly got started to grow on Drummond – I think Perla; is saying this is like a lush pasture in Iceland! 
See – those horses get enough to eat to make clean-up work for me today – Poop pick up is what Allen does twice a day – His pasture is perfectly clean. 
Say I – Spring is coming! 
Every man thinks that he is born a detective – Somebody famous said that – or maybe I just made it up! ‘Cause I like to read the tracks in the sand each morning. This is a sand bed put here by Allen for the horses to roll in and of course sleep in sometimes. 
On remote Islands we need to find ways to entertain ourselves – I study the sand to see who slept here last night (see the flattened sand bed in the right center) – There are 5 flattened areas in the sand bed this morning – sometimes I find other than horse tracks here – last year a coyote visited the “sleeping” horses each night for about 2 weeks – I figured that out from the tracks in the sand! Today, a cat was here (See lower left) buried her poop here! 
The nose knows! -
May 24, 2017 – Featuring the Island and Me – Say I to you, “Good Morning”
Christopher Columbus said: “My desire was not to pass any island without taking possession”
Jim Brubaker asked: “Why?” The answer is obviously – _”’cause I love Islands – need I say more?”
Gloria had an answer – she read it in the New York Times – She sent me a copy to read – Titled something like “Birding on the SubWay on Manhattan Island”
No subway’s here – But, I will post a few photos from Drummond Island.
The warmest morning since May 9 when I arrived. 
But not the driest! 
But every day – rain, snow, or shine – Perla and I enjoy a ride – until yesterday we cut our ride to 45 minutes – the Black Flies ate us alive! 
But look – Can spring be far behind – went off Island yesterday to bring a little color back – here awaiting for me to spread the manure, turn the soil, and plant the garden of color. Do not forget to view TGO Photo Club’s Web Site
I smell spring in the air. -
May 21, 2017 – It is a rainy Sunday morning here on Drummond Island – But there is something about a place!
Folks ask me: “What do you do up on that remote island all day”
Well, I say: “I work a lot – but then I play more” – Actually, I play outdoors so much that I hardly have time to work or to take photos. I play outdoor ’cause every day is like going on a picnic.
Jack Nicklaus said: “People don’t want to go to the dump and have a picnic, they want to go out to a beautiful place and enjoy their day.”
A beautiful Place: I have been busy cleaning up the winter’s left overs. Raking needles and pine cones, clearing broken branches, turning over garden soil, feeding the plants and garden soil horse manure, putting out and filling bird feeders, and looking at the environment that the Good Lord has given us. It is a beautiful place and I enjoy each day. – enjoy things I see.
Summer is coming: It has been cool here – almost never above 60, this morning at 10:00 it is still in the high 30’s. But in the house it is warm so I thought I would post, for you, a few environment photos I enjoy here on the Island.
What I see: Here are a few things I see asI have my “Picnic’s” of breakfast, lunch, happy hour, and dinner on the Island.
My front yard one evening – sunset, boat dock, three deer watching me. 
Bear tracks? – I think? 
Big foot, Sasquatch, or a bear that slipped and almost fell in the mud – I think. 
Now the locals have a mushroom camp in the center of the Island where they take camping trailers, tents, old cars, beer, etc – looking for morels – but I found these two morels in my neighbors my front lawn. 
Up close – these two are worth 2 six packs of beer and a lie: “Nope, did not see a one, must not be any mushrooms this year” That lie is told so no one will follow you to discover where you are finding the little morsels! 
My friend Linda, emptying her minnow traps for her Perch fishing bait. See loon in the bay – just beyond bicycle handle bars. Since they mate for life – or at least for one nest’s worth of time – I think the mate is sitting on a nest nearby – I have 28 days or so to locate it – just for fun and a photo if I can. 
No body has rhubarb like me – mine are 18 inches high already – everyone else’s are in the range of 6 inches tall with no real leafing yet – Could it be my manure – my horses manure? 
There is the rhubarb maker!!! 
Another manure maker – of course it means more work for me washing it off boat docks, lawn chairs, patios – Linda feeds the gulls the Goby’s she catches in her trap. Goby’s are an invasive fish – not good to eat – and they eat native fishes food supply – they are transported around the world when sucked into and ejected from ballast tanks of freighters plying the Great Lakes. 
On one of Gloria’s photo shoots on the Island a few years ago she was struck by the beauty of Prairie Fire wildflowers – she sent me a copy of the painting she is working on “The Environment of Drummond Picnics” I call it!!! When it is complete you may be able to purchase a copy and have a picnic environment on your dining room wall all year long. 
The does around here are pretty round – soon we will be seeing this scene See what the TGO Photo Club is posting Click Here (photo happenings.com)
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05 18 2017 – Photography – Why? TO SHARE EXPERIENCES!
Hello folks – I sent the following sort of message to the TGO Photo Club membership – But if you are not a member and have photos you would like to share – send them to me and I will work hard to find an opportunity to share them on the Club’s web site— Thanks.
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To TGO Photo Club members:
Go to the Club’s Website and see the latest postings and scroll to the bottom and click on older post.
Do one more thing – send me your photos to share your experiences. jimbrubaker@earthlink.net
MANY CLUB MEMBERS SHARE EXPERIENCES – For example: Dave is a great birder with information never know by many viewers, Linda loves to share her day to day life happenings, Jim Hennigar loves to share his love of life – natures sights, views from a drone, and things that are not real, E. Wezerek, Jim Dick, Bob Boyd, and Gary Whittstock, always post special nature shots, and do not forget Susan’s slide shows and flowers, Karin and Phil have added many photos of the love of life that they photograph and share – The list goes on – Sometime I even fill in the gap with whatever I got.
Some sample photos that are on the Club’s site –
05 18 2017 Dave 
05 23 2016 Jim H 
01 30 2017 Elaine W 
Linda 
Jim H for fun 
Gloria painting for me See, the photos are as varied as the photographer and the viewer – so please contribute to the club site by sending me photos to post – the site is photohappenings.com