Alone.

"I hear the ticking of the clock, 
I'm lying here the room's pitch dark. 
I wonder where you are tonight,
No answer on the telephone.
And the night goes by so very slow, 
Oh I hope that it won't end though, 
Alone." 

Life is funny; sometimes you can’t wait to have time to yourself and then when you do, you wish you didn’t. In the end, I suspect we all want to have some form of friendship, togetherness, and even a relationship that takes you away from being alone.

Over the past few months, off and on, I have had plenty of time to know the feeling about being alone. My wife and kids did a lot of traveling to see family and friends; the house was quiet, except for me and our dog Cash. Whereas Cash is a friendly dog, and certainly part of our family, he is very interested in sleeping, eating, and going outside as often as he gets the urge. That dog gets the urge frequently.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are benefits of being alone. I watched whatever I wanted to on TV, made whatever I wanted to eat for meals, and if I wanted to go to sleep at 9 o’clock because I was tired, I did. Once I got beyond these benefits I realized that I am a people person and I do need people in my life. 

During the time my family was away I ventured out and took photos. I went out to the Western suburbs where there is farmland and photographed barns and animals. On one shoot, I was able to get up very close to a horse that wanted to either see my trusty Nikon, or was curious why I was invading his space. I took a number of pictures of this horse and the cows he was “protecting.” I shot pictures from above the wire fence, through it and from the ground upward to capture angles of my new friend the horse.

Until.

I suspected the wire fence was there to keep the animals in and what I thought was right. What I didn’t realize is that farmers, based upon experience, know that animals can escape by literally pushing through a fence---whether it’s wood or wire. Unless it has electricity going through it that is; then it tends to keep the animals in and everyone else out. That day I was part of the “everyone else” and learned the hard way.

As I was getting up off the ground, my lens touched one of the wires that held the fence together; the lens as you might suspect is made of metal as well. The shock I received reinforced that keeping a 1000-pound animal confined takes a lot of electricity. I was stunned and thankfully my camera took the jolt like a champ; after I figured out what happened, I checked to make sure it was not fried. Luckily it was okay.

The photo above was taken before the voltage went through my body and the Nikon’s body; I suspect the cows were well aware of what was going to happen should I touch the wires that they know all too well. With their heads down I wonder if they were laughing and waiting for the moment---if so, they are probably still laughing about it.

Thanks for stopping by.