Tuesday, May 31, 2016

5/31/16

I don't see many of these around.  I must not have enough Aphids for them to eat.  I caught this Ladybug on a leaf of the Catmint that I have growing in my garden.  When I see them, they are usually moving around quite quickly as well.  I was pleased to be able to get a good photo of it.


Monday, May 30, 2016

5/30/16

I was invited to a 7 Day Nature Challenge over on Google+ so it's great that I have been able to capture some nice images lately to share.  This one is of a bird I had never seen at our house before but it's been coming for the jelly we put out for the Orioles.  This is a Redheaded Woodpecker and is quite striking I think with that beautiful red head.  Best viewed large for good detail.  :-)


Sunday, May 29, 2016

5/29/16

Well we had one day with sunshine and no rain, that was nice.  Looks like maybe more coming but good to have a break because the ground is so saturated.  My image from today is from Friday evening after it rained most of it.  We were at our friend's annual Steam Up and when the rain finally stopped I went out to run on his new layout that had just been finished that day.  I had the first successful run on it which you see a shot of here, with my Shay locomotive.  It was getting dark so I had to take shots with a flash but I like how it made the steam stand out against the dark sky.  It was really putting out the steam because of the humidity in the air.  It runs on butane and water.


Saturday, May 28, 2016

5/28/16

Well, had another 1 1/2 inches approximately.  The ground is so saturated it's not even soaking in as it should.  Only a 10% chance today too so maybe we can dry out a bit.  My image for today is of a couple of my red Tulips in bloom.  They are the oldest ones I have and still do well every year.


Friday, May 27, 2016

5/27/16

Well the rain is starting to make me wonder if it's a be careful what you wish for situation.  We have had about 3 inches over the last 2 days, almost 2 inches over just last night alone.  I hope all this holds us OK when it turns hot and dry as the Farmers Almanac is predicting.  I also hope we continue with our good luck of the hail staying away.  My image today is of one of my favorite wildflowers, Blue Flax.  I think it's just a beautiful one with it's color and shape.


Thursday, May 26, 2016

5/26/16

Well, that weather yesterday was a bit too close for comfort.  Thankfully the tornado that was headed for us headed south.  I guess we are in a bit of danger again today so hopefully we will dodge that again.  I was in the mood for something happy and colorful.  I thought this Painted Lady Butterfly was perfect for that.  This was the first butterfly I caught for this year.


Wednesday, May 25, 2016

5/25/16

Well, we have had rain every day for 3 days now, that's different.  It's coming in bits too, about 1/4 inch more or less at my house each time which is good I guess as it will soak in well.  I'd prefer a bit more so that we build up before the hot and dry comes though it's already hot, mid 80s.  Yuck and now humid too, double yuck.  My image for today is of a lovely waterfall from my trip to South Dakota which was just last year but seems forever ago for some reason.  This is Spearfish Falls in Spearfish Canyon.


Tuesday, May 24, 2016

5/24/16

Day 2 of our week of rain.  Yesterday didn't amount to much at my house, only about a 1/4 inch.  Today though we are having some thunderstorms with fairly heavy rain so will be interesting to see what we end up with.  My image for today is what I was looking to photograph when the Hummingbird showed up that I shared yesterday.  I was shooting this Blue Damselfly on the reed in the pond and got lucky capturing a second one fairly in focus flying in.  If you view large you can see remnants of Damsel nymphs on the reeds near the water.


Monday, May 23, 2016

5/23/16

Well, here starts our week with chances for rain all week which is weird for here.  Today is our best chance it looks like.  I captured this image on Saturday at the railroad I was helping run at.  I was taking a break by the pond with my camera hoping to capture some dragonflies by these yellow Iris growing at the water's edge.  Imagine my surprise when, what I thought was a large dragonfly out of the corner of my eye, turned out to be a Hummingbird enjoying the Iris blooms.


Sunday, May 22, 2016

5/22/16

Yesterday the private railroad that I help at had their first run of the year.  We were supposed to run 2 weeks before that but got rained out by our first rains in quite some time.  This is an image of the locomotive and train that I get to operate.  Obviously, I was on break at the moment and the hubster was running it at this moment.  I took this image from up high before it entered the tunnel.  It was a good day and a lot of fun.


Saturday, May 21, 2016

5/21/16

Well today is the first day of the year for playing steam trains.  As this posts I should be steaming up a large scale locomotive to run for the day.  This image for today is of a lovely purple tulip that I saw in Wamego this Spring.  I loved the spikey look to it. Different from other tulips  have seen.  I made the background leaves a bit more subdued to make the flower stand out more.  


Friday, May 20, 2016

5/20/16

Well we have a chance for rain through the foreseeable future right now.  That's good because I saw that the Farmer's Almanac is predicting a "Hot & Dry" summer for our area.  I'll take what rain we can get right now.  My photo for today is of one of a pair of, what I believe are, Carolina Wrens.  They were building a nest in a decorative bird house that I have hanging on the porch that looks like a big turnip.  They are very loud with their chirping when they are around.  I was able to capture this one in the Oak tree that is near the bird house.


Thursday, May 19, 2016

5/19/16

My image today was taken this past winter.  I had bought some Sunflowers to brighten up the house while it was so dreary out.  I took this image against a black felt background in some sunlight that was coming through the window.  I planted some sunflowers this spring.  So far some of them are coming up nicely so hope to see some lovely ones for me and the birds to enjoy.


Wednesday, May 18, 2016

5/18/16

Today I am posting a more sunny view of the falls at the Geary State Fishing Lake.  I like this image in that it shows the layers of Limestone Rock that is so prevalent in Kansas and found all over the state.  Out west, fence posts are even made of it.  I like how the water has brought out the colors in the layers as well.  It also shows off a large fissure that runs the whole width of the falls.  I'd like to know more about what caused that.  I wonder if it was an earthquake back during that time period?


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

5/17/16

Well the rain has been nice.  My gauge had finally made it to 3/4 of an inch approximately and it has been slow so it has soaked in well which we needed.  We had a gloomy start to the day but actually got to see the sun at times.  My image for today is of a friend's Sea Oats grass.  I loved this grass so much I bought some this spring to try and start at my house.  I just love how the seed heads catch the late afternoon sunlight and the arch of the grass.



Monday, May 16, 2016

5/16/16

Well a gloomy day and not a whole lot of rain but glad we did get some.  I was able to capture this Ladybug last week on a leaf of one of the flowers in my garden though I can't remember which one right now.  I love the dreamy quality because of everything being out of focus except the ladybug.  I actually came up with a title for this one, Out of the Deep.




Sunday, May 15, 2016

5/15/16

It's getting a bit chilly at night these days but I am glad we are not like the Dakotas where they were having frost warnings and definite freezes.  Yikes!  My image for today is of more Garden Railway fun and it is a bit different.  I captured my Mimi Locomotive pulling it's train on our friend's track and I really liked the motion blur created in the shot that showed it was moving.


Saturday, May 14, 2016

5/14/16

My own tulips were not that great this year except for my pink ones.  I shot this lovely duo in Wamego, KS.  It's one of my favorite color combos and I had not seen ones that were this plump before.  Usually this color is a more slender tulip.  I thought they were lovely and bright for a lovely and bright spring morning.


Friday, May 13, 2016

5/13/16

Happy Friday the 13th!  Today also marks my 1000 posting so I have been doing this for 1000 days!  Wow.  :-)
I hope you are not tiring of the Salvia shots.  This flower has been a great opportunity for nature images this Spring as it has been very popular.  I was able to get close to this Honey Bee that was busy feeding.



Thursday, May 12, 2016

5/12/16

A beautiful Spring day out today.  Highs in the mid 70s.  I captured this image while I was getting ready for the event at the Spring Valley Historic site a couple weeks ago.  This image is pretty much right out of the camera.  Most of the flower was in shade except for the blooms that were being caught by afternoon sunlight.  This is a Prairie Groundsel that is a fairly common Spring wildflower in Kansas.


Wednesday, May 11, 2016

5/11/16

So we got a little more rain last night.  A bit disappointing that it wasn't very significant but glad we got a bit.  It did cool it down so that was nice.  Mid 80s already is a bit hot.  My new plants need to grow and not wilt right off.  :-)  Due to parts of the area getting rain the waterfall south of here at the Geary State Fishing Lake is running fairly nicely.  I went out last week and got this image of it.  I tried to be a bit artsy with this one and the rock.


Tuesday, May 10, 2016

5/10/16

Well, the rain last night was quite the joke.  Sigh.  Didn't even wet the seed I had planted.  Today's image I played for Bird Poker over on G+ because the theme for the week was Bird named after a Body part.  I thought Tufted Titmouse fit sort of.  As I mentioned there, I liked the image so you get to see it as well.  :-)


Monday, May 9, 2016

5/9/16

Well, the rain was pretty much a bust.  We got a couple of OK sprinkles but no good amounts to speak of.  Starting out dreary today too but not much chance of rain.  I thought I would brighten things up with a macro image of a Clematis bloom.  My friends have this growing and it is blooming quite profusely and I love the color.  They are such a lovely magenta.


Sunday, May 8, 2016

5/8/16

So it's quite the dark and dreary morning.  It's beginning to sprinkle and I hope we get more than that, we are still behind on rain.  My image for today goes back to a lovely sunny summer day a while back and a trip on the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad.  Here we were stopped at Osier Station for lunch and I took a shot of our locomotive #487 sitting and waiting with our train.


Saturday, May 7, 2016

5/7/16

A beautiful morning but supposed to be heading up to 85F today.  Yikes.  That's early for those kinds of temps.  It's supposed to rain then and cool us off tomorrow.  We shall see.  My only tulips this year to do well were my red group out front and then the pink ones in the back yard.  These tulips are interesting because the blooms change color as they mature.  When they first emerge they are almost white but as they grow older they become a deeper pink.  You can tell how far along they were when I took this image of a lovely trio of them.


Friday, May 6, 2016

5/6/16

Another lovely day today though we are supposed to get quite warm the next 2 days.  The radio called it our "Roller Coaster Temps".  The Iris are beginning to bloom.  I captured this dark purple one a few days ago.  It appeared to me to be sticking it's tongue out so the title Say Ahhhh popped in to my head with this image.  :-)




Thursday, May 5, 2016

5/5/16

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Can't believe it's May already.  It's chilly in the morning right now too but has been rather lovely later in the day.  I captured my first Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly on such a day last week.  They are difficult to shoot because they are almost constantly in motion flitting from bloom to bloom and very skittish when I get close.  I always have to use a zoom lens and wait patiently for them to sit for a moment.  I got lucky with this shot that I was ready and got it in focus as well.


Wednesday, May 4, 2016

5/4/16

So over on G+ they play a game called Bird Poker.  This week was Birds of Prey and then you have sub-themes of different things of which I hit 2 of, Perching and 2 or More with today's image.  There was also one of Humorous and I may have hit that too because I thought the way the older one was looking at the juvenile was kind of funny.  It looked to me like it was thinking, "What are you doing?"  I captured these 2 Bald Eagles out at Milford Lake a while back.  So that's why the 2 bird images this week.  


Tuesday, May 3, 2016

5/3/16

So the day started off cloudy and cool again.  No rain in the forecast for  awhile, we could use some more before it stops for the summer.  My image today was taken on a rainy day in Missouri at my in-laws house.  I was taking images of their Weeping Cherry tree through the window and thought it was very much living up to it's name.




Monday, May 2, 2016

5/2/16

I have had this photo for a while but I was never happy with how it turned out.  I was able to shoot this Barred Owl at a friend's house in her backyard.  It's the only time I have been able to photograph an owl in the wild.  It used to hang around her yard and visit the bird bath and stay for fairly long periods of time which was how I got to see it.  Anyway, since I took this image, my skills have improved a bit I think and I like the look of it now.


Sunday, May 1, 2016

5/1/16

It's May Day!  A dreary one so far which I wouldn't mind it it would rain but nothing so far.  Can't believe how fast this year is going.  Yikes.  My image for today is of a friend's cool Live Steam locomotive.  It's a Climax type locomotive and it runs on butane and water like mine do.  I love the detailing in these small locomotives and it's cool to watch them run.