THE HORSES…
I stopped over to see Melvin yesterday…it was the first time in a number of weeks. (OH!..for all of you who are new to the blog…Melvin owns the herd of horses that I photograph…) Melvin seems to be doing well! I took a little basket with some Easter candy in it to him and I think he liked that…He had me open a large trunk that sits in his living room…he wanted to show me all of the little Easter decorations that his wife used to sit on the shelves at the house. She liked to decorate for all of the seasons and the trunk had all of her little treasures in it. He encouraged me to take things out of the trunk and I think he just wanted to see them again and share his wife with me a little..She died in 2001 in a car accident. He talked about her a lot yesterday….so sweet and we shared some sadness…It’s not the same thing at all, but I told him that my cat of 17 years, Zero, had passed on Thursday…and for some reason that triggered his thoughts of his wife.
I went out with him to put the horses in the barn for the night….he gets around very slowly…walker to the front door, walker to the steps on the porch…cane down the steps to his golf cart…a cane to open and close the door for the horses and then a walker once they’re inside. I go on ahead of him to the horses…he doesn’t want ANY help getting around, so I leave him to it…(I sneak a look every now and then to make sure he’s doing all right). I took a few quick shots while the horses were waiting for Melvin to get there and then I took one of Melvin…I JUST LOVE THIS PHOTO!!!!!!!
So following along the lines of my visit with Melvin…on this very special weekend, celebrate the love and the life that was given to us.
Love to you all….Zannyro.
Mac….
Melvin
I’M BACK BOB!…
After being gone for five weeks…I was anxious to visit Melvin, Bob and the rest of “The Boys”…For those of you who haven’t met Melvin and “The Boys”..Melvin is the most wonderful man, he is 85 and still gets out every day to let the horses out in the morning…and back into the barn every evening…I wrote my book “Being Bob”, about Bob and the herd…had to do something with all of the pictures I’ve taken of them.
I decided to stop over early yesterday before the snow storm came..(it brought us 9 inches)…
When I first walked up to the fence Bob was the first one to come to the barn door…but, he took
awhile to size me up…
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Slowly he left the barn and stood and stared at me, as if to say, “Is that you?”
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I think he finally got me figured out, because over he came to see me!
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He let me pet him and say hello and then the rest of the boys came out of the barn..circled me a bit and then, single file, they walked over to the adjoining pasture…so of course I followed “the muddy men”…
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I don’t know if they were glad to see me or what..but Bob and Mac started to play..they went zooming past me back to the other pasture and they played and played…then they raced back to the other pasture and got so rowdy that Mac FELL DOWN!!…before I could move he was back up and they were playing again..such a treat for me! ( Now don’t worry, they don’t hurt each other…it’s just play).
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Is it just me?, or does Mac look a little like a camel in the image above??
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Before I knew it, I needed to head home and as I started to walk away, the herd left what they were doing and followed me back to the barn…Bob came over to be petted one more time and as I did, he reached down and nuzzled the camera and gave my scarf a little nip.
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As I left the yard and chained the gate behind me, Bob stood and watched me…….and of course I got a little emotional…what am I going to do?…I love this horse…
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POINTING TOWARD A NEW DIRECTION….
I’m wondering if this image of Bob is trying to tell me something………I feel a change in the wind..
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AND THERE IT WAS………..
I’ve been going through my archives like a mad woman for the last several days…preparing images to go onto a site….and what did I find this morning?……The image that started my whole journey with “The Boys”….I never forgot the image I had once captured of a herd of horses running through a field on a snowy day….and after MANY years of pursuing other areas of photography..has it only been four years??… I decided one day to knock on the door of the farmhouse where the horses lived and ask for permission to shoot images of the horses…
And that’s when I met Melvin, and Bob and the rest of the boys…..This image changed my life…I should say these two images….
What really set me back this morning was the moment I opened the first image… there was BOB giving a kick to MAC! This wasn’t an image of some of the previous horses that Melvin had owned….all this time….that image in my head had been of Bob, Joe, Mac, Jack and Jake….I can’t believe it’s THEM…and IT WAS THEM all along!
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE…THAT’S JOE IN THE FRONT…BOB IN THE BACK.
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BOB IS FIESTY!
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BOB JUST WANTS TO HAVE FUN….
It’s Friday….need I say more?
WA-HOO!! IT’S FRIDAY !!!!
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FAR FROM PERFECT….
From the Angel Horses……to a very different….Bob…
BOB WALKS WITH MELVIN
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SPECIAL DELIVERY….
Yesterday was just the weirdest day…I won’t go into everything…but….I will tell you that I was delayed in my voting, because when I looked out into the backyard there were chickens out there….I’m not making this up…unfortunately I video taped me taking a walk with one of them..AND IT WILL NOT UPLOAD!!
Anyway….I stopped by to see Melvin…I dropped a large image of Bob and Joe, called “The Understanding” off at his farm. The buyer was going to stop by his house and pick it up. I was talking to him and stopped mid-sentence…he had a black eye…lonnggg story, but he hit himself in the temple..just missing his eye…WITH HIS CANE!! As you can see in the following image..at least we could laugh about it 
MELVIN AND ” THE UNDERSTANDING”
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NOT THE BEST…BUT I LIKE IT..
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THEY SEEM A LITTLE SUSPICIOUS OF ME, DON’T THEY?
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WHAT IS IT WITH HATS?….
I’m guessing this is just hat week…..I made a joke about wearing a hat with a book on it yesterday..and later in the afternoon I got a surprise…
I went over to see Melvin for a minute and there was Bob….with the hat that came all the way from Istanbul on his head…the hat was a gift from nia http://photographyofnia.com/..but it was intended for Baldy the Bald headed squirrel and the last time I saw it, Baldy was wearing it…
MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE?
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I’m wondering how the hat ended up ALL the way over at Melvin’s….flying squirrel possibly??? ANYWAY…..I think Bob is planning on going to the book signing with me. I hate to tell him this but I don’t think he’ll fit into my backseat…
MAYBE BALDY THE SQUIRREL IS ACTUALLY STILL IN THE HAT!!!
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MELVIN, BOB AND THE BOYS..NEWSPAPER ARTICLE!…
Melvin is SO HAPPY!! The article about his herd and his life came out and it’s awesome…Lois Lane did a tremendous job writing the article! And just for the record…they still love her better than me…they ran right past me, AGAIN…….So without further ado…here it is! OOPS…One ” Ado”…If you would like to say hi to Melvin and Bob, I’m going to tell him where all of you Bob lovers are from..so feel free to say Howdy!
http://www.news-sentinel.com/section/LIVING Just run your mouse over the top part and you should be able to click on “more”..or just click on the link below.
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120926/LIVING/309269988/1017
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BOB AND MY CAMERA BAG.
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SILENCE IS GOLDEN.
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O.K…..SO NOW I HYPNOTIZED MYSELF…
You know the other day when I did the post on the Mugger squirrel, trying
to hypnotize the Little Squirrel of the Woods??
I listened to the Little Squirrel of the Woods’ instructions
and I’m starting to quack like a duck….
(don’t all hypnotists make you quack like a duck? Or is it a
chicken?) O.k. So maybe I didn’t hypnotize myself to be totally accurate…
I know something has happened for sure and I’m blaming it on the Mugger
Squirrel…, I’ve been walking around in a fog….and all I
want to do is to take a nap! Obviously, not enough chocolate has been
consumed, but that was my goal….didn’t know how much sugar must have
been flowing through my veins…..so now……………………………………………
Since the energy is LOWWWWWW….I’m just going to post a few of the images
I love…..there are too many, so you might get tired of hearing me say that I “love”
an image…but I love most all of them…..
After you look at them I want you all to yell as loudly as you can….
WAKE UP ZANNYRO !!!!!!!!!
JOE AND MAC
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Bob and Mac can never resist an audience, so they put on a show for the two “lurkers” in the background…
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THIS IS HOW I FEEL……
THE WOODS ARE SINGING ME TO SLEEP.
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“BEING BOB”……..AT LONG LAST…
I am happy to announce that “Being Bob”, the story of a horse…
is now available on Amazon.com!
I’m going to get a little choked up here….but….you know I’ve been waiting
to see my second little dream, bookwise, come true..and now it has.
You can find it on Amazon..if you go to Amazon and type in “Being Bob” Suzanne Rogers,
and of course I’m putting all of that info on the side of the blog…I’ll figure out how to
get an order button underneath,,,but you really don’t need any of this, if you just
click on the image on the right of the blog.
Thanks for all of the supportive, kind words that you’ve sent me as I traveled this
journey!
MINE…
‘BOB’
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Well…..he’s getting closer.
Today I pushed the very scary button and approved the final digital proof for my new book…”Being Bob”.
Many of you have met Bob before on this blog and you know how special he is to me…he’s not mine, but he is mine.
I cannot wait to hold a physical proof of the book in my hands and to know that Bob is once and for all, mine to keep.
This book tells the story of a horse ( a very REAL horse ), who struggles with the question of who he is and if who he is, is good enough.
I meet people all of the time who, even as adults still deal with this issue.
I think we all take this journey in life, and so I hope that with humor and love, the message is once more put out there……love yourself, accept yourself.
On the back of this book, I was able to put down how wonderful it was to walk the fields with Bob the horse these last two years.
Many, many years ago, I walked the fields of my Grandparents horse farm with my older brother.
Golden days of summer will never be forgotten…and neither will the brother that I lost and the horse that I love.
“Being Bob”, part two.
Bob’s life is interesting to observe. For some reason, unknown to me, he is
low man on the totem pole of the herd. If it were up to me I would make him second
in command. Many, many times I’ve watched him
in the pasture off by himself grazing for a bite of grass that looks promising.
He is usually by himself, while the others usually travel somewhat together.
Joe usually has an entourage. Talk about the “King of everything”.
I’ve actually had a horse repeatedly step
between myself and Joe to prevent me from coming too close.
Bob on the other hand is a little more easy going. He does seem to have one
friend and that is Mac. Every so often they get together to “wrestle”. There’s
usually a lot of posturing and face-making…..a few well chosen insults that
are usually no worse than, “so’s your mama”, and “eat dirt”.
I know that I posted a little before about “being Bob”, but it seemed like
someone should really champion Bob and I decided what the heck, I LIKE
Bob, I’ll do it! He can join my herd anytime.
So here are a few more images of Bob. Three of these were taken on an
absolutely golden afternoon, and he does look more “golden” than normal.
He and Mac were having a good old time.
Lots of coaxing on Bob’s part, but eventually Mac decided to “rumble”.
The black and white I love, because Bob stopped and stared in the window
for a very long time. I like this because Bob definitely seems to have a sense
of self. I like to think that he is the most introspective of the
horses and most in touch with his feelings…now you know I’m just kidding
here right? Joe the head of the herd, might have been in the running for most
introspective, but he tried to push me once just to get an apple..
Last but not least, is Bob expressing his opinion of me and my opinions of him.
Best Buds
Come on,,,,play with me
Woo-Hoo.....RUMBLE!!
Bob Reflecting
Bob expresses his opinion of me.
