Monday, November 30, 2015

11/30/15

Well, November is going out with more dreary weather.  This is our 5th day of yucky icy weather.  It did get us an extra day off of our holiday vacation so not all bad.  :-)  Plus, it is sort of beautiful to look at.  I captured this male Cardinal when the ice was in early stages and not near as thick as it got.  He made quite the colorful contrast to the dreariness.  Hope you all are staying safe if you are having this weather as well.


Sunday, November 29, 2015

11/29/15

These icy conditions are not good.  We lost poser this morning but only for a couple of hours thankfully.  I am worried it will happen again though.  This is as least as bad if not worse than the ice storm we had several years ago.  It has been kind of pretty though.  I have been out taking photos every now and then or through the window.  
As for today's image, I am going back to summer and warmer days and our trip to South Dakota.  This is at the Black Hills Central Railroad.  This is locomotive Number 7, a Prairie 2-6-2 type, that is used on days when the loads aren't so heavy due to the fact that it cannot pull as many cars.  It sits out on static display when not in use which surprised me.  I would have thought they would keep it under cover when not in use.  It was nice to see it and I like the old time style of it.


Saturday, November 28, 2015

11/28/15

So, another cold and sleety day.  Ick.  Looks like it's going to hang on for a couple more days too.  Yuck.  My image today was taken a couple weeks back on a much nicer day out in Lincoln County in western Kansas.  I saw this view and liked the character of the old school house sitting among the agricultural fields.  This view is what, I imagine, causes people to say that Kansas is flat.  I have seen much more expansive and flatter areas in Minnesota though.  :-)


Friday, November 27, 2015

11/27/15

Well, winter has arrived.  Ice and snow, below freezing temps.  YUCK.  This image is appropriate due to the name but the subject makes me long for warmer temperatures.  This is an image of a wildflower we have here in Kansas called Snow On the Mountain.  It is in the Poinsettia family.  Hope all of you out there doing Black Friday shopping are staying safe and that it's not too crazy.


Thursday, November 26, 2015

11/26/15

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US!  Hope you are enjoying it with family.  I am cooking this year but not for a big group and currently smoking a turkey.  Taking a break to post this autumn color image of my neighbor's Apricot tree catching some late afternoon sun.  A quite different day today with rain and ice and snow on the way.  Yuck.



Wednesday, November 25, 2015

11/25/15

Well, looks like our last nice day for a while.  I need to get out and do some things.  Anyway, today's image is one I went 16 miles out of my way to see in Lincoln County, Kansas, west of here.  It's a historic double arch limestone bridge that was built in 1908.  This is a 2 shot panoramic image of it.  It spans the south fork of Spillman Creek which was dry on the day I was there in October.  When it was built they used wooden arches to support the rocks until the final Key Rock, the uppermost center one in each arch, was set in place.  It originally had stone banisters on each side but they were removed to widen the bridge.  In 1946 it was part of a state highway.  In 1993 it saw it's last use when the highway was moved a bit to the west to straighten out some sharp curves in the road.  I liked the textures and color the limestone has taken on, not typical and made me wonder if it had been coated with something.


Tuesday, November 24, 2015

11/24/15

A lovely and warmer day today, hopefully tomorrow too before the bottom drops out.  It's Friday for me at work so trying to take advantage of the nice weather.  This is an image of a tree that changed to lovely Autumn color out at the C&H railroad by the pond.  The trees kept their leaves and color a longer time this year it seemed.  There are still trees with lovely color and it's almost December.


Monday, November 23, 2015

11/23/15

A cool but lovely day today.  Looks like the end of the week will not be so nice.  This is an image from last November that I never shared for some reason.  I was able to capture this Hummingbird Moth feeding on one of my hardier plants that I can't remember the name of at the moment.  It can survive a frost though so I am sure the Moth was glad to find it.  I was able to get several shots.  I used a flash on this one to capture it in better detail.  I didn't see any of these this year at all.  They can be elusive though so hopefully they were around.


Sunday, November 22, 2015

11/22/15

Wow, it was chilly out yesterday, never made it to 40.  Today we are supposed to be warmer thank goodness.  Things to do outside.  For my image today I have one from Rollag, Minnesota at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion from back in September.  I took this on my phone because I was done for the day and not expecting to see anything I wanted to photograph but I was able to watch them putting the 353 away for the night and putting it on the turntable.  The turntable can be operated by only 2 people and it is quite the positioning and balancing act to get the locomotive in just the right spot to do that.  These guys are very good at it.  I was able to capture a steamy moment when a bunch of steam came out one of the cylinders and drifted down into the pit. 



Saturday, November 21, 2015

11/21/15

Well, our very first very cold day.  I knew it was coming but still not ready.  I am not fond of winter.  As for the photo, I have had this for quite some time but never shared for some reason.  I captured it while out at Milford Nature Center.  It was one of the injured birds they were taking care of at the time.  They are quite beautiful birds.


Friday, November 20, 2015

11/20/15

Winter is really on the way unfortunately.  I knew it was coming but I didn't think it would drop that low right away, lows of 19 and highs in the 30s?  YUCK  I guess we have been too lucky with the nice days we have had so far.  Anyway, for today's image, a plant I have in the house that blooms almost constantly.  It's called a Crown of Thorns and is a type of cactus.  I have had for a while now but have trouble figuring out how it likes to be watered.  They don't like a lot of water but apparently it likes more than I give it.  :-)  I like the flowers on it, they are actually fairly small, about 1/2" across each.  


Thursday, November 19, 2015

11/19/15

It was nice to see the sun today!  We only got the one day of rain but it's been cloudy and dreary for several.  As we head in to winter I find myself thinking of flowers in the garden and the butterflies.  We had such an odd summer this year that was cooler and rainy in the beginning but then got very hot when the rain quit that we didn't seem to get many butterflies this year.  I captured this Red Admiral butterfly back in May while it was visiting the Salvia that was in bloom.


Wednesday, November 18, 2015

11/18/15

So still dreary out and colder too.  Temps are dropping as the week goes on so will feel more like the Holiday Season.  This image today is from a cooler day in the summer when I was in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  This is Bridal Veil Falls, one of 3 lovely waterfalls in the Spearfish Canyon area.  The sky was overcast this day so I was able to do a long exposure image using a neutral density filter as well which helps to darken things to allow for longer images without overexposing.


Tuesday, November 17, 2015

11/17/15

Well we finally got a decent rain to head us into winter.  Today is dreary again so I decided to share a pop of color.  This is from the Topeka, KS Huff N Puff hot air balloon event I was able to attend a couple of days.  This was on the second evening when they were doing a flight demonstration.


Monday, November 16, 2015

11/16/15

Dreary day today.  Really feels like Autumn except it isn't too horribly cold actually.  Today's image is another view of the female Praying Mantis that was posing for me a few weeks back.  I tried to get an image of her in the pose that gave them their name but she would only bend one of her front legs like I caught here and not both.  Models can be a bit difficult at times.  :-)


Sunday, November 15, 2015

11/15/15

Windy day here in Kansas again, the weather is going to be changing.  Today's image is a follow up to one I posted a few weeks ago.  This is the Durango & Silverton train after leaving the High Line on it's way back to Durango.   Looking at the image you can see that they did not cut out any more rock than they had to in the old days as the train barely fits through.  That's why it's so dangerous to be on tracks if you are not aware of your surroundings.


Saturday, November 14, 2015

11/14/15

Going to have another nice November day it looks like.  I shot this photo at a friend's home a couple weekends ago.  This shelf fungus was growing on the side of a tree stump and was quite large, 6 to 8 inches across where it attached to the stump.  When viewed at this angle, I thought it looked like a mouth that was hungry and feeding on some leaves.  :-)


Friday, November 13, 2015

11/13/15

Well, it's Friday the 13th today which is usually considered a day to be bad luck.  I am writing this a bit earlier than it's posting time so don't know the outcome of the whole day but I hope it doesn't hold true.  It's usually a good day for me and I am hoping that holds as I have had enough bad ones this week to make up for it.  Anyway, on to the photo.  I took this on my trip to South Dakota this past summer on a very dreary day.  I made it appear even darker and more dramatic with a bit of post processing.  This is a macro of a Queen Anne's Lace bloom.


Thursday, November 12, 2015

11/12/15

Well, it's feeling a bit more like Autumn now.  I had a stressful day today so needed to relax thinking of lovely things like butterflies.  This is a Red Admiral that I was able to capture on a Milkweed bloom.  This image is actually from last year, I did not see many of them at all this year.


Wednesday, November 11, 2015

11/11/15

Happy Veteran's Day to all of you who have served in the Military either past or present.  Thanks for your service!
Wow, it's windy out today but at least we didn't get the severe weather they were predicting.  So I shared a photo a little while back and mentioned I was able to get the best Egret images I have ever gotten that day.  This is one I consider my best yet.  I was able to get fairly close as I was behind a tree.  It was actually fairly tolerant because it didn't leave as I moved out from behind and started to walk away so I was able to get several shots of it.  This was at the smaller body of water at Milford Lake.


Tuesday, November 10, 2015

11/10/15

Autumn has been off to a great start here in Kansas.  The weather has been pretty great and allowing for working outside quite a bit.  The tree colors have been lovely as well, at least what didn't get blown off in the few windy days we had last week.  This is an image of my neighbor's Oak tree in the afternoon sun.  Seemed to be glowing quite lovely.


Monday, November 9, 2015

11/9/15

Another lovely day here in Kansas.  I was out on Konza Prairie this past Tuesday for a meeting.  I had my camera along and decided to try some star shots after the meeting was over.  It was such a clear evening and the Milky Way was quite visible but it was pretty windy out and I was doing some fairly long exposures.  This one was 15 seconds and I tried to protect it while it was taking the photo.  I must have done OK as it did not look all blurry so I was quite happy.  I liked this image with the silhouette of the Flint Hills.  The light is from the city of Manhattan.


Sunday, November 8, 2015

11/8/15

Well, yesterday turned out to be quite the nice day.  Hope today is as well though it is starting out windy.  My image for today goes back to our trip to South Dakota and the Black Hills Central Railroad.  We rode this train and then chased it on it's next trip to take photos.   This is one of them as it crossed a small trestle on it's way to Keystone.  The locomotive is a 2-6-6-2 Mallet type Tank locomotive and the only one in service anywhere.  Quite a unique experience.


Saturday, November 7, 2015

11/7/15

Well, really into Autumn weather now, pretty chilly out compared to what it has been like.  Still nice days though.  We can't get any rain lately but it was pretty cloudy yesterday which made for a quite lovely sunset.  We were heading west to Salina, KS and I had to stop a couple of times and take a photo.  This one is a 2 shot panorama that I shot just before we got onto I-70 a bit west of where I live.  I wish I had been able to stop later as the beam of light in almost the middle of the image kept getting more intensely orange and fatter as well.  There was not a good spot to stop after this though.  I has happy with how this turned out and that it made for a lovely drive. As always, the image can be viewed larger by clicking on it.


Friday, November 6, 2015

11/6/15

A cooler day today but nice and looks like it will be this way for a while.  No rain in the forecast either, SIGH.  My image for today is of a flower that blooms late in the year, usually late summer or even Autumn.  This is an Aster, they grow wild in Kansas but you can plant as well.  This is my neighbor's that she has planted by a shed.


Thursday, November 5, 2015

11/5/15

Why can't we get rain these days?  UGH  Glad we got the bit we did last week.  It's still so dry out though.  Our last nice warm day for a while it looks like too.  Ah well, glad for what we got.  I was thinking that I did not see a large number of butterflies this year.  Makes me sad.  I am seeing a lot of Skippers this Autumn, they are enjoying my Marigolds.  This is a Painted Lady that was enjoying the Autumn Sedum blooms one afternoon.




Wednesday, November 4, 2015

11/4/15

Another nice warm day here in Kansas.  The wind could die down a bit.  Our rain chances are dropping as well,  What a surprise.  Sigh.  Anyway, I was going through photos a while ago and found that I had gotten some good images of a Blue Heron in flight out at Milford Lake that I had never shared.  I was trying to capture it on the shore but got too close apparently and it took off but I got lucky and it flew past me heading for another cove and I was able to get off a few shots of which this is one and in focus!  I love how their legs hang out behind when they fly.  


Tuesday, November 3, 2015

11/3/15

Another lovely day today but I have to miss most of it due to work and a meeting.  Sigh.  Hopefully we will have a few more days like this.  For today's image, this goes back to May when I captured this Ladybug traveling up a stalk of grass.  Wish they would come to my yard and take care of Aphids which they feed on.  My Butterfly Weed got them bad this year but the Ladybugs did not seem to find them.  Had to get rid of them by other means.


Monday, November 2, 2015

11/2/15

A lovely sunny day here and nice and warm.  I will enjoy it while I can, this weekend is not supposed to be so nice.  I thought these sunny sunflowers were a great way to start off the week.  I shot this field near the end of the season so most of the field was pretty much done and the seed heads were drooping.  I found a few groups though that were still looking lovely and enjoying the late afternoon sun.


Sunday, November 1, 2015

11/1/15

Today's image relates to what I was doing yesterday.  I was out at the railroad I help at and we were having our annual Santa Claus run.  We have to do it early before our Santa gets busy.  :-)  The weather yesterday seemed pretty appropriate for it as well, it was quite chilly and I was glad to be around nice warm engines.  These are 2 of the 12 inch scale Ottaway locomotives that our friends own and I get to operate the one on the left.  I tried for a bit different perspective and if it wasn't for the building, they would almost look full size.