Ashley Fetner Fine Art Photography

 Dixie National Forest is the largest national forest in Utah with almost 2 million acres stretching about 170 miles through southern Utah. Red Canyon is an area of forest that contains spectacular dark red sandstone castles known as hoodoos. These are very different in appearance from the hoodoos just 9 miles away in Bryce National Park. There is a story about Butch Cassidy, who was raised in nearby Circleville, that while he was attending a dance in Panguitch, he got into a brawl over a girl. He thought he had killed the fellow (he was only knocked out) but he hid out from the posse in Red Canyon.
Kay

 The Swift Creek Baptist Church, located in Historic Boykin South Carolina, was founded in 1787 with 55 members. Historical records show that sometime prior to 1810 Dorcas Conway (1785-1826) was baptized at Swift Creek Baptist Church. It is thought there were at least two early congregations along Swift Creek and this church is an outgrowth of those congregations. In 1827, John Boykin built the two-story Greek Revival Church on an acre of his land. In 1994 the church was restored and is listed on the National Register of Historical Places, as is the Boykin Community where the church is located.  I loved this cornerstone—it sits to the left of the steps as you enter the church - at first glance I thought it was a grave stone…

Kay

Ashley and I recently visited Lower Antelope Canyon on the Navajo reservation in Page Arizona.  In both the upper and lower canyons there are hidden “slots” that are carved into the Navajo sandstone.  Sam, our native guide told us that as a child he and the other children wanted to play in the “slot” canyons but they were not allowed.  The Elders believed these to be the “Home of the Spirits”-a spiritual and sacred place –only to be entered in a state of quiet and reverence.  Even today the Navajo ask that as you enter you do so in a respectful manner.

Descending into the canyon I had a sense of another time and a “presence” that was not my own.  Light and rock worked together as the changing patterns, shapes and colors swirled and curved all around me-truly a magical and beautiful place!  There were rocks like giant waves and I found myself “listening” for that roaring sound they make when they hit the beach!

I am not found of “tight” spaces and there were times when we had to turn our bodies sideways and “wiggle” through the rocks (with camera equipment & backpack!) to continue on in the canyon.  When taking camera equipment in you have to be careful of winds gusts up top.  They will cause fine sand to sprinkle down that will damage your camera lens if they are not covered.  We had a couple of gusts just before we climbed out but we had covers!

Ashley captures some wonderful images and I definitely agree with the Elders…the Spirits must reside here-

Kay

 Made by Baldwin Locomotive works in 1913, this engine was one of twenty-five identical locomotives ordered by the Atlantic Coastline Railroad in 1913. Because of their six driving wheels and their four leading wheels they were referred to as “Ten Wheelers”. They were also referred to as “Copperheads” due to the brightly polished crown of copper at the crest of the engine stack. The locomotives home terminal was in Florence, South Carolina running freight and passenger service. Soon after the Atlantic Coastline took the engine out of service in 1952, it was offered to the Virginia and Carolina Southern, a subsidiary in Lumberton, North Carolina. In the mid 1950s it went to the Carolina Railroad then in 1958 it was returned to Florence, South Carolina. The Historical Commission of Florence saved and restored the engine to commemorate the cities long connection with the Atlantic Coastline Railroad. By the 1970s the engine was deteriorating and the city of Florence donated it to the North Carolina Transportation Museum. It was cosmetically restored in 1966 and is currently on display at the museum in Spencer, North Carolina.
Kay

In 1925 the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio built this seventy-ton Shay Locomotive for the Graham County Railroad Company in Robbinsville, North Carolina. The Shays were an unusual locomotive and approximately 2,770 were built between 1880 and 1945. The engines were designed to pull heavy loads across rough terrain and up steep grades. They had a different method of power transmission than the traditional “rod” locomotive. The Shays all used a crankshaft on the right side to turn the wheels. The working speed was ten miles-per-hour and the top speed was eighteen miles-per-hour. For fifty years this locomotive hauled wood products from the Snowbird Mountains through the Nantahala George for paper companies in North Carolina as well as coal, fuel oil and other necessities for the people living in Graham County. In 1970 Engine No. 1925 was the next-to-the-last steam locomotive in service in the United States so Charles Kuralt covered the locomotives last run on his television series “On the Road”. The engine came to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in 1987 and was newly restored in 1997. It is now used to demonstrate a working steam locomotive and to provide tours through the museums grounds in Spencer, North Carolina.
Kay

 Engine No. 501 was built in 1939 by Electro Motive Corporation for the Atlantic Coastline passenger service between the northeast and Florida. In the engines 33 years of commercial service it served the Atlantic Coastline and Seaboard Coastline which later became CSX. With more than six million miles, the 2,000 horsepower locomotive is believed to be the highest mileage passenger diesel engine in the world. Top speed is 117 miles-per-hour and it is equipped with two 12-cylinder, V-type 2-cycle General Motor engines. It holds 1,200 gallons of diesel fuel and the steam generator carries and additional 1,000 gallons of water. Engine No. 501 is regarded as one of the finest examples of America’s prewar streamliners. In 1972 it was sold for private ski train service in Colorado. Sold again in 1977 the engine was used for an excursion train in Wisconsin. The North Carolina Department of Transportation purchased the engine in 1999 for display in the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina.
Kay

Farm kittens having a picnic!

                                                              Kay

Drinking Mom’s milk from a bottle—-

                                                             Kay

Thought I would share a few images from my visit to my friend’s dairy farm. Riverside Dairy Farm is family owned and operated like most of the dairy farms in the country. They have about 200 cows but milk about 101. Dairy farmers take care of the land where they live and work so they can provide the best for their cows and in turn provide fresh and wholesome dairy products for our consumption.  To accomplish this is no easy task- it takes a lot of hard work every day – rain or shine- hot or cold.  The cows that dominate the country’s milk production are the Holstein breed – 9 out of 10 dairy farmers milk Holsteins because of their superior milk production. This “little cow” and her 100 “friends” are milked twice a day and produce about 600 gallons of milk a day. You can recognize Holsteins by their color patterns of back and white or red and white.  They were developed in the Netherlands by breeding the black cattle of the Batavians and the white cows of Friesians. I discovered the Holstein Association USA, which is the worlds largest dairy breed association established in 1885.  There are more than 19 million animals registered in the Holstein Associations herdbook and the ancestry of most of these can be traced back to the animals originally imported from the Netherlands—I find that amazing – their ancestry is better than most peoples!  I enjoyed my visit and I learned that dairy farming is much more than just “milkin’the cows”!
Kay

 This engine was built in 1918 by the American Locomotive Company as Russian State Railways E1198. These specific types of engines were referred to as Decapods due to their wheel alignment of 2-10-0, and were commonly used for heavy slow speed service. Just prior to the Russian Revolution the Russian government placed orders for these specific engines. About 2,000 of the engines were shipped to Russia but due to all the turmoil nearly 200 were stranded in the United States .In 1918 the United States Railroad Administration was leasing the railroad to aid in the war effort so the Decapods were assigned to their controlled lines. So engine E1198 became No. 1088 and was assigned to the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad. In 1926 it was sold to the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad and became No. 311. In 1935 the Seaboard Airline Railroad purchased the engine and renumbered it to 544. The Decapod was commonly seen on Seaboards Tar River Line carrying logs from Lewiston to a sawmill in Virginia. In 1946 Seaboard began to retire their Decapods and in the early 1950’s the engine became No. 206 on the Gainesville Midland Railroad. In 1980 the North Carolina Railroad purchased the engine from the state of Georgia and donated it to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina where it is displayed as Engine No. 544.
Kay