On a cool spring afternoon mud flew into my face as I gripped the reigns and attempted to hold my camera under my Carhartt vest laughing with delight as the horse paced faster in front of me. I never imagined I'd get the opportunity to sit in a small little two-wheeled cart called a sulky, let alone be the driver. I was in good hands though, Rusty, the 5-year-old standardbred, knew exactly what his job was as he took a warm-up jog around the dirt track at a farm outside of Beaver Dam. Unfortunately, there's no photographic evidence of me in the driver seat, but there's no chance I'll ever forget it. 

Always in search of a good story, I was delighted to hear a few years back that my high school classmate's father, Larry Feilbach, of Juneau, had recently started harness racing after taking many years off from the hobby. I quickly learned that Larry, in fact, hailed from a long line of harness racers. His grandfather John Feilbach, of Clyman raced in the 40's and 50's, his father, Oscar Feilbach, and uncles Bernie and John Jr. Feilbach, all raced in the 1960s and 70s. 

Now, first off I have to admit... I love horses. I've grown up riding them around my parents' farm and I'm simply drawn to any type of interesting story that happens to include horses. I've done stories about unique breeds of horses, extremely expensive horses that were jumpers, a wild mustang being trained and I've even done a story on a horse that painted. That's right folks, a horse that gripped a paintbrush in its teeth and painted. There seems to be no end to my fascination with horses. 

All of that has led me to my exciting day on the dirt track with Larry and Rusty. One of the main reasons I love my job, is because with every single story I learn something new. Larry and Rusty's story is no different. Larry shared the history behind the sport, what the racing involves, the equipment needed and the work that goes into it. The history of the sport really sparked an interest to me. As Rusty pulled the sulky around the track, Larry explained that the sport started out with friendly farming neighbors racing down dirt roads. I was even more surprised to learn from Larry that just 30 years ago harness racing was a popular event at the Dodge County Fairgrounds, until car racing over took it. 

We talked about the unique characteristic of the standard bred. Larry shared that the name standardbred came from the fact that in order to be registered, a horse had to be able to complete a mile in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, which was the standard time back then. Larry explained that those time are not even a good workout in today's world as the record is closer to 1 minute and 46 seconds.

As the horse speeds around the dirt track, its unique pace is a specific part of the breed and the race. While kicking up mud in a pace, Rusty moves both legs on one side of his body at the same time, unlike a trot when the the horse strides with its left front and right rear leg moving forward simultaneously. Some folks say the standardbred's pace can be described as waddling like a duck. 

My full article about Larry and Rusty was printed in the Watertown Daily Times in the spring, but they weren't able to include many of my photos. You can search for the article online if you're interested to read more, but take a gander at these photos of Larry with his horse Rusty. I can't think of a better way to spend a spring day than hanging out with these two. The racing season is done for this year, but to check out some harness racing in Wisconsin for next year, visit www.wiharnessracing.com. You won't find any races in Dodge County, but with just a little bit of a drive you can watch one of the oldest sports in America with one of our very own Dodge County racers.

The year of 2018 seemed to go by in a blur, as I spent a lot of time behind my camera making sure people were in focus.

I had the great opportunity to take lots of photos of friends and family this year and enjoyed the laughs and fun that went with it. While I absolutely love taking photos with my feature stories I write for the paper, it was a new venture this year to try out some creative ideas on the portrait side of photography. I have to say I still feel my favorite pictures are the ones capturing a spontaneous moment between the people I'm photographing, blending portraits with my love of photojournalism. I had a wonderful time photographing several folks doing the things they love to do and others spending time with their family. I photographed a few newly engaged couples, an expecting momma, lots of families, a baseball and a softball player in action, a sweet one-year-old birthday girl, a wedding shower and a beautiful newborn baby. To my shear enjoyment several of my photographs included farm animals from horses to chickens and goats, I adored them all. 

Here's a look back at a few of my favorites from the start of 2018 to the end. As we start a new year, if you have a fun family activity you'd like photographed to capture your family story, along with some beautiful family portraits, keep me in mind! Cheers to 2019!

 

 

 

Who could ask for a better end to a year.. a baby wrapped in bow! Thanks all for letting me capture those memories!

R.C.P.

 

Here's one of my favorite family stories from 2018.

Ruby's Story

On a warm summer day, I watched from the dining room window as the rain poured down and the red vet truck pulled back to the pasture where our red angus heifer grazed. Ruby was due to have her calf any day and it looked like it was happening soon. "Today's the day," I said in the voice message to the vet, my husband Ralph, a few hours earlier before the rain started. It looked as though Ruby was starting to calve just as the rain clouds moved in. 

We were excited and had been anxious for this day to come. Two years earlier we were given Ruby by my parents, retired dairy farmers, who raise a small herd of red angus beef cattle. She didn't take to the mom and and was a little sick and needed to be bottle fed several times a day. As a stay-at-home mom I was happy to have the new calf at our 3-acre hobby farm and the kids were excited as well. After 40 years of bottle and bucket feeding dairy calves on their dairy farm, my mom was also happy to pass her along. It didn't take long for the name to be decided. Our two older sons, fascinated with rocks and gems, suggested Ruby, which of course, her red color fit the name perfectly. She's pictured below a few years ago after bringing her home.

Bring Ruby home a few days after she was born in 2016.
Now at this point if you're a farmer, you're probably thinking we're crazy spoiling this one little calf and me writing about it seems a little nuts. I have two best friends, one is a dairy farmer and the other is a beef farmer, both with a lot of head of cattle, and I'm pretty sure they just shake their heads at me most days as I spoil all these farm animals out here, but honestly, it is fun.

So, over the year we spoiled Ruby, she'd follow the kids around in the pen and was sweet as can be. A year later we paged through a book of sires looking for a bull we'd like to breed her with. Side note, we also have close college friends from Minneapolis, Minn., who came to visit right around the time we were looking for a bull and now they thought this was absolutely crazy. I have to chuckle every time I think about it, having to explain the whole process of how farmers can often choose the sire for their cows from a book and then order the semen. They were in awe. It's an honest to goodness case of the story, "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse." When we go to the big city we are just as bewildered at some things, but that's what makes it a fun friendship. Moving on...

So, we chose a bull called Pie Cinch. He looked really nice, but most important to me, he was listed as having a great temperament. With only having 3 acres and four kids climbing in and out of pens, it was important to me that this calf had a good personality. The kids were excited, already picking out names, if it was a girl they'd call it "Ruhbarb Pie." 

Life went on and Ruby carried her calf through the winter and into spring. In the meantime we planned our first out-of-state family vacation to South Dakota. Planning around baseball, softball and swimming lessons, we had the last week of June open, much too close for comfort to Ruby's due date. June came and Ruby looked great. Ralph ultrasounded her and was positive of the due date of early July. We went on the open road and left our animals in the good hands of my parents and a young vet student who updated us occasionally on the trip.  

We enjoyed our long drive out to South Dakota and the unique landscape but after a week we were anxious to get back to Wisconsin. Looking forward to having our children see Ruby's calf being born was next on our summer list. Growing up on a dairy farm, I saw calves being born all the time, but for my kids it would be their first time. Our older two kids, who are 10 and 11, were especially excited, so we returned from South Dakota but a few weeks later the boys were headed off to 4-H camp. When they left for the weekend, we told them Ruby would hopefully wait until they got back to have her baby. Unfortunately, it was the night before they returned from camp that our new addition to the farm was born.

On that rainy afternoon Ralph walked out to Ruby in the middle of the pasture, put a halter on her and tried pulling her across the pasture and into the barn where she could have her baby in a nice dry bed of straw, but she wasn't into that plan and wasn't about to move. 

I threw on my coat and boats and walked slowly as the rain poured and the lighting flashed through the sky. He was ready to start pulling and yelled explaining that we needed to get the calf out now because the placenta had separated and if we wait any longer, we'd have a dead calf. He worked on it for a few minutes pulling but nothing was happening. Yelling to me to run back to his truck to get his lariat, I took off through the pasture, got to the truck, found the lariat and raced through the rain back to Ruby and Ralph where a beautiful big bull calf was lying on the ground. 

"What the heck!" I yelled at Ralph a little miffed that he pulled the calf when I was gone for a few seconds. I wanted to be there when the calf came out and he laughed and said, "As soon as you ran off, Ruby gave a good push and the calf came out. It's a bull calf."

We stood there soaked to the bone looking over the healthy big beautiful bull calf. The first calf, of hopefully many, that would born out here on our little piece of farm life.

Big Red pictured a few days after being born.

The kids came home the next day and raced out to the pasture to check out the calf that Ralph and I had come to calling "Big Red." He was a big, big calf and the name just seemed to stick. Meanwhile, over the next few weeks, we watched Big Red grow and helped the kids get ready for the county fair where they'd show their hogs, beef calves and one red angus steer. They did fabulous with their animals. Wyatt showed his steer, Remington, also from Grandma and Grandpa's farm, and got a red ribbon, which we were pleased with. We entered the steer in the carcass show following the fair and Wyatt won grand champion. That really got him hooked. Since then he has set his goal on training Big Red to take him to the fair next summer.

Wyatt's nightly routine includes his chores of feeding and watering Ruby and Big Red after coming home from school. When I'm not sure where he is and it's supper time, all I have to do is look out the kitchen window and I'll find Wyatt sitting in the green pasture with that big red calf inching closer to him.

It's been fun watching the kids get so excited about our calf. Who knows maybe next year Ruby will give us a little, "Rhubarb Pie."

R.C.P.

 

While having a coffee with a friend at Higher Grounds Coffee Shop in Beaver Dam this past year, I came across some handcrafted artisan soaps.

So, let's be real here, I am always drawn to handcrafted and homemade items that are on display at any business I'm visiting. I love the idea of supporting local people who have a special talent. The soaps looked intriguing to me and the nice cashier gave them raving reviews. I bought a bar of soap that day and wanted to learn more about the person behind the product. 

After looking into the goat milk soap maker from Neosho, like in many situations, there was a really great story behind her, but her story includes a strength and resilience for life that really drew me in.

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Lisa Hall's beautiful farm, with goats and all, one rainy summer day and watched her package her soaps while she shared with me the incredible story of her life over the past few years. I wrote the article about Lisa and her business "Soaps and Such From the Farm" that was featured in the fall edition of the Family & Friends magazine distributed by the Watertown Daily Times.

The story talks about Lisa overcoming a debilitating sickness, at the same time that her daughter was diagnosed with a rare disease. The soap making hobby, turned business, came into her life at a time when she needed to make a difference to her family during the chaos of these life altering diseases.

You can pick up a copy of the magazine at the Watertown Daily Times or at local businesses in Watertown. Better yet, try out some of the soaps. With no preservatives, these chemical free soaps made from goat milk include lots of different herbs and natural ingredients that will make your skin thankful.

R.C.P.

I have to admit, I'm a little hesitant to write this journal entry. One of my most favorite places to go in Wisconsin seems to be a hidden jem, and it'd be nice if it'd stay that way, but it's too good not to talk about. Marrying into the Stowell family was a further entry into the outdoors life that I already loved. I've been a deer and turkey hunter since I was old enough to take hunter's safety and have enjoyed fishing all of my life, especially with Grandma Toby, but I never really camped much until I met Ralph. From early on we always went camping every summer, his parents moved up to northern Wisconsin while he was in college and his mother works for the Flambeau River State Forest. It's always been a fun way to enjoy our outdoor activities up at the Flambeau and get in a visit to Ralph's parents. That being said, one of our favorite campgrounds is at Connor's Lake in the Flambeau River State Forest. It's a small beautiful campground and actually pretty quiet. There's another campground at the forest nearby called Lake of the Pines. Both campgrounds are beautiful and sit right along two really nice lakes. 

When our kids were little, Ralph and I had a completely awful experience camping with our oldest two boys. Picture a group of 15 tents, a complete tent city you could say and ours was right in the middle with us and a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old, who by the way had never camped before. Let's just say the crying baby didn't like the idea of sleeping in the tent and didn't give up telling us about it for... the entire night. Our tenting neighbors were good sports and laughed about it the next morning, but we were sleep deprived parents who were not overjoyed by our first camping with kids experience. :) So we held off on camping with the kids when they were babies and went with our college buddies, until the past few years. Our college buddies now all have four kids as well, making it a group of 12 kids all the same age, and so we all go together and have a great time. 

Connor's Lake has been the campground we have gone to most years and is especially nice, with a shallow swimming area and a nice sandy beach, and again not a big crowd. The past few years our whole group of kids have really found kayaking fun and are entertained with it for the whole time we're there. Our kids look forward to this camping trip every summer.

So when hearing that Discover Wisconsin is having a photo contest highlighting some great places around Wisconsin, I thought it'd be fun to enter some from our Flambeau River State Forest trips.  I entered a few pictures from those camping and kayaking excursions and you can vote for them if you'd like, but just go check out the photos, there are some amazing photographers out there traveling the state. :)

Here's a link to one of my photos, http://a.pgtb.me/Qd5zRJ/nQ9TC?w=66624273&e=188129926. Or on Facebook you can like the Discover Wisconsin page and see the entries there. 

It takes about five hours to drive up to this campground from our home, but it's well worth the trip. Happy paddling. :)

The bagpipes echoed throughout the airport, flags waved and people of all ages cheered as veterans from throughout the state returned home at Madison Airport Saturday evening while hundreds upon hundreds of people lined the terminal shaking their hands and thanking them for their service. It was a welcome many of these veterans didn't received back in the days they served their country, but a welcome so very much deserved. 

These veterans were a part of the Badger Honor Flight program. Veterans from throughout south central Wisconsin who served during the Korean War, Vietnam War or WWII were selected to take a one-day trip to Washington D.C. where they toured memorials and monuments and witnessed the changing of the guards. Each veteran was accompanied by a chaperone for the day, which began at 6 a.m. flying out from Madison and returning to the airport at 9 p.m.

I had the wonderful opportunity to join the welcome party at the airport with my family. Ralph's great-uncle Howard Haase, of Juneau, was selected to participate in the program. He served in the United States Airforce during the Korean War and was based out of Alaska. Many members of the Haase crew met at the airport with signs and flags greeting Howard as he walked through the crowd. 

Badger Honor Flight organizers kept the crowd informed as to how far away the plane was from landing and when it landed as they waited in the terminal. Once the veterans arrived at the airport they walked down an aisle through a large crowd escorted by their chaperone and a member of the Army National Guard. Pictured below Howard reaches a few of his family members who greet him with hugs. The welcome home at the airport was kept a secret to Howard and most other veterans. Many seemed very surprised at the large crowd. Howard had no idea of his many nieces and nephews and extended family members who came to celebrate his arrival home.

Howard is pictured above in his uniform at his parent's home in rural Juneau during his years in service. It was truly a wonderful opportunity to thank these veterans for their service to our country.  The Badger Honor Flight is a regional affiliate of the National Honor Flight organization. The first flight for this affiliate was in 2010 and since then the Badger Honor Flight organization has flown over 2,000 veterans from the southern Wisconsin area out to Washington D.C. to see the memorials in their honor. Honor flight participants are nominated through an application process and are selected on a first-come, first-serve process. The program is free for participants and their guardians for the day pay a trip fee. Donations help make the program possible. For more information, visit badgerhonorflight.org.

For the past two years my kids have toured Ledge View Nature Center in Chilton where they toured their maple syrup operation. As part of the tour, the guides shared some history of maple syrup with the students including how sap was discovered and first made into syrup. There are lots of versions of the story, but the story my kids learned and seem to enjoy the most goes a little bit like this... a Native American chief threw his tomahawk at a maple tree where it stuck in the tree and stayed over night. A bucket happened to be below the tomahawk that was stuck in the tree and the clear liquid that came out of the tree dripped down into the bucket. Later, the man's wife went to collect water to make supper and went to grab the bucket by the tree. She saw the clear liquid in it and thinking it was water, she cooked the family's venison in the sap. Early settler's learned about maple trees and how to make syrup from Native Americans those many years ago and as time goes by many are getting back into the seasonal hobby of collecting sap to boil down into their own syrup.

Ralph's parents are among those taking up the hobby and have been making maple syrup on their property in the north woods of Wisconsin for the past few years. It's always a fun process to see first hand. Over Easter weekend we were able to help make the sweet treat. 

The Stowells started collecting the sap in February this year when freezing nights alternated with warmer days of sunshine and a little thawing took place that helped make the sap flow. They tapped just over 40 maple trees this year and collected 140 gallons of sap up until Easter weekend. Above, Oliver checks out a bag that's collecting the sap.

Taking a walk through the woods, the kids inspected how much sap was in each bag. New this year, the Stowells lined each bag with duct tape to deter squirrels from chewing into the bags. Once the clear liquid is collected, it's slowly poured onto the outdoor pan where the liquid is cooked down slowly over a fire. 

Starting the fire outside around 8 a.m. on Saturday, the Stowells cooked the 140 gallons of sap all the way down until the remaining portion could be cooked inside the house in two large pots on the stove. They cooked the sap outside on the big fire until 1 a.m. Sunday morning and then finished the process later in the day. Nearing the end of the process the liquid was filtered several times. While the the sap continued to cook on the stove closer to the final product, the Stowells consistently checked the sugar content level closely to determine when the syrup could be bottled. Below, Abby checks the sugar content with a hydrometer.

When the sugar content is at the right level, the family puts the syrup in hot quart jars and seals them. Out of 140 gallons of sap, they made about 19 quarts of syrup. It's a lot of hard work for a little sweet treat. Like so many things that are home grown, it's difficult to eat syrup from the store after having this homemade stuff. I've found preferring the homemade syrup is similar to preferring eggs laid from our own pasture-raised chickens. I just can't eat store-bought eggs anymore, I've become an egg snob. I think my children feel the same about maple syrup now and are a little spoiled with Grandpa and Grandma's product.

They can certainly tell the difference between the real stuff and other popular syrup brands in the store. We ran out of Grandpa and Grandma's maple syrup recently, but bought some other Wisconsin maple syrup for our Sunday pancake breakfasts. The other weekend Oliver noticed the different jar and asked my Dad as he poured syrup on his pancakes, "Grandpa, is that the stuff from the trees?"

It's hard to beat the real stuff, especially when it's good on so many things, pancakes, waffles and our kid's new favorite...ice cream. :)

At our little country home we have a variety of farm animals and in just a few weeks we'll be adding four young pigs to the barn. Growing up my family was actively involved in 4-H. My three sisters, brother and I, along with many of my cousins, all showed animals at the Dodge County Fair. So, it's been pretty exciting to see our kids get involved and enjoy it as much as I did.

In my 4-H days, I showed pigs and steers, once or twice I showed a rabbit and I think possibly a goat. The goats and rabbits were more my older sister's thing, but everyone in our family loved showing the pigs. My brother probably liked his beef cattle more I suppose, but regardless the pigs were always a fun project for us in the summer. Last year was the first year that my oldest son could show pigs. Pictured below, is my youngest son checking out the pigs on their first morning at home last year. Our two older boys will get their fair pigs in a few weeks. 

The Dodge County Meat Animal Sale leaders have been raising funds for the past several years in order to install new pens at the fair for the pigs. The old pens have been there long before I was in 4-H and are in rough shape. The pens are rusty and can be difficult to open and close for some of the younger 4-H members. Last year enough funds were raised to replace half of the pens in the barn. This Saturday the Dodge County 4-H Meat Animal Sale Committee is hosting it's annual trivia night event with all of the proceeds going toward purchasing the new pens for the remaining half of the pig barn. 

It's always a fun event and again this year Waupun Veterinary Service has sponsored our team and is also among one of the many local businesses sponsoring rounds of trivia at the event. While it's likely too late to get in on the trivia fun if you're not already signed up, local residents can come on out to Dodgeland in Juneau to check out the silent auction or to purchase supper and support the pig project. The doors open at 5 p.m. 

I'll have this pretty photo framed and on the silent auction. I took this picture a few weeks ago on my way to a 4-H meeting. These steers are on a farm just down the road from my house. It's been a scene I've driven by so many times over the past few years and have always wished I had my camera along. Finally, the other night I was driving by at the right time with my camera in the seat next to me. I've always loved silhouettes. 

While thinking about all the hard work that these 4-H kids put into their animal projects, my husband and I made the sign below. He's the carpenter and I'm the painter. It will also be on the silent auction.

Hope you can come and support the pig project! As you may already know, pigs are in fact one of the smartest animals, well... at least that's what my vet says. :)

The winter Olympics have been over for weeks now, but the amazing athletes that my children watched and cheered on will be in their memories for a long time. It took one day of watching the Olympics for my kids to try out their own "Olympic" feats at home. My 5-year-old happily dragged out boards of plywood from his father's wood shop through the snow while my 10-year-old and 9-year-old gathered up logs to prop up the board. In no time a nice jump for their Olympic re-enactment of the snowboarding and skiing competition was in place. Flying down our small hill there were shouts of pure joy for "landing" the jump they made along with lots of high 5's to each other. 

Move on to the speed skating competition and almost immediately the rollerblades are on and our four kids are doing their "Olympic" speed skating around my dining room table and up and down the hall. Ice skating and roller skating happens to be an activity that we love to do as a family, so recently we had a birthday party for our daughter and niece at the area roller rink, Watertown Family Skate Express. Another great opportunity for my four children and my six nieces and nephews who all also happen to be very skilled roller skaters, to show off their love of speed skating along with our friends and other relatives. It was also a great opportunity to catch some action photos. 

Below, my two nieces are pictured practicing for the push races. The lighting in the rink is fairly dark at times, so it can be a challenge to get a super sharp action photo, but I was really excited about this one.  For this photo I had a focal length of 24 mm 1/15 sec at f/2.8 and panned the girls as they came by pressing the shutter and following the shot through as they continued skating. 

Working to get the skate in perfect sharpness was a fun challenge and turned out great with this next photo. This little guy was fast. :) With only our family at the rink, I was able to sit in the middle of the floor close to the skaters and catch them going by without having to use my telephoto lens and as an extra plus not worry about getting run over. The focal length in this photo was also at 24mm 1/13 sec at f/2.8.

Here's a few of the skating crew preparing and listening to rink owner Marty Laufer as he explains the rules of the race. 

The push races involves the front skater staying still while the back skater pushes them around the rink. This is actually super tough, I think, after trying it once or twice I'm more afraid of rolling over my child so I let them work it out. It always amazes me how fast they pick it up.

While it's probably highly unlikely none of my kiddos will someday make it to the Olympics, it's sure fun watching them prepare. Of course in March in Wisconsin we had about a week of warm weather, the snow melted and I put away the "Olympic" snowboarding jumps. I had been happily making plans and thinking about my gardens and spring flowers. This morning we woke up to several inches of snow and I hear shouts of joy coming from the kids. They're already making plans of dragging out the plywood to practice their Olympic snowboarding skills. :)

Here is a story today about a family enjoying time together in the outdoors. This is one example of my take on family photojournalism. Hope you enjoy the moments you see and the story behind the photos. - RCP

 

Ice skating was the plan, but throwing a few snowballs was the highlight. On a warm winter day, a 7-year-old and his 5-year-old brother both gathered up snow in their black gloves, quickly forming a snowball while eyeing up their parents who stood nearby, well aware of the snowball flinging that was approaching. Warmer temperatures on that Sunday afternoon had made the snow just a touch melty creating a perfect recipe for snowballs. Giggling could be heard as the family walked slowly along the path through the woods talking aim at each other as they walked toward the pond where they planned to go ice skating for the afternoon. The family outing was much enjoyed on the Sunday afternoon, taking a break from their regular busy schedule.

"I've got a pretty good aim," Milo explained as he packed his snowball and arched his arm aiming for a tree along the path. He released the snowball and sure enough his aim was right on target. "I play baseball in the summer," he said. His brother Braxton also took aim at the trees and was quite successful as their parents walked along further up ahead of them. He is hoping to be a pitcher on his baseball team in a few months, he added.

As the boys continued their baseball throwing practice with the snowballs at the trees, they were unaware of their father's whereabouts up ahead and were about to be bombarded by their dad who was ready for a little payback. As they entered the clearing of the snow-covered field, the snowballs started landing. Braxton came through the clearing first and dodged a few. He ran toward his mom and watched as Milo ducked under the brush.

The family made their way across the field and to the warming house ready to get their skates on and see if the pond had one more good round of ice on it even though the weather was warmer earlier in the week. 

The warmer temperatures had caused the snow to stick to the ice and although it was not great pond ice skating conditions, the family skated around and enjoyed their time together. They finished their winter excursion taking off their skates and swinging on the porch swing, just in time for dad to get back to the house to catch the Daytona 500.

If you would like to learn more about doing a family photojournalism session and having me tag along and capture moments from your family outing, contact me at [email protected]. Remember to keep on paddling through your day, but don't forget to enjoy the view. :)

In a very bitter cold 8 degrees above zero, Allan and Kayla jumped out of a silver Chevy truck into about 10 inches of snow. While smiling preparing for the arctic air, they took off their coats and were ready to tackle a photo session in excitement of their recent wedding engagement. The bright sun lit up the snow as I stood on top of a ladder looking out onto the frozen snow-covered pond with the heart shaped shoveled path and the newly engaged couple.

Thankful for the tall pine trees blocking the wind, Kayla and Allan wrapped a blanket around them, helping to display the winter weather when their engagement and new chapter in life began.

Shooting darts is an activity that these two enjoy during cold Wisconsin winters. They compete on a team traveling to events throughout southern Wisconsin. The bright sun helped to illuminate the new engagement ring along with his and her darts.

Finishing up the photo session in front of an old white barn door, Allan teasingly suggested they make snow angels for the final photo as Kayla stood in her purple lace knee length dress. I had already questioned whether Kayla was part Eskimo, since she did not complain once during the photo shoot while in her dress in the bitter cold weather. She seemed up for the task. So, I instantly thought Allan's idea was AMAZING, but alas he was merely joking and not so interested in jumping into the piles of powdery snow. Maybe an idea for an anniversary photo shoot?

Here's a look at the person behind the camera at Ruby Canoe Photography.

My name is Teresa and I am a photographer but also, "The Vet's Wife." Well, I'm not only a veterinarian's wife of course, but it's something I hear a lot and something that I lovingly like to take credit for. My husband is a large animal veterinarian and with his job he gets the great opportunity to meet lots of folks in our rural neighborhood. Often times I'll run into people and introduce myself and then I'll hear, "Oh, your the vet's wife." I always smile to myself and enjoy hearing about Dr. Ralph's recent visit working on their cows and calves. 

So, while Dr. Ralph is running from farm to farm looking after cows, calves, horses and any other type of farm animal that may need some medical assistance, I'm home tending to our four kids. Most of those kids are in school, so now here I am sharing my photography with the world.

So, if you've made it to my website, you will find that I am not only Dr. Ralph's wife but I am also a photographer and writer. I worked at a community newspaper for seven years, before staying home with our kids and since then have been doing freelance work for local newspapers, mainly writing fun feature stories and taking photos to go with them. As a photographer I've taken photos of my beautiful children for years as they've grown as well as portraits of lots of family and friends. The past few years I've been doing more portrait work for families and a few weddings. 

A lot of my everyday photography revolves around my little hobby farm home. We have a little house on three acres with a barn and shed that's home to our lovely flock of chickens, three goats, a pony, two rabbits and one (very pregnant) red angus cow.  Our little hobby farm has led to teasingly being called the "E-I-E-I-O farm" by lots of folks that we know, but we love it. Raising animals is good for our kids, and it's good for the soul. The photo posted here is of our red angus steer lovingly named, "Squatchy" as in Sasquatch with my vet. Long story short, my kids find Bigfoot intriguing. 

My passion is photojournalism and with that I hope to bring family photojournalism to all the folks in our part of southern Wisconsin. While portraits are wonderful to hang on your wall, I believe those unposed and spontaneous moments we have in our daily lives are the most precious. There will be more to come on this blog about my passion in family photojournalism. Stay tuned. Keep on paddling through your day, but don't forget to enjoy the view.