Saturday, June 30, 2018

6/30/18

On the last day of the month I am sharing an image that I took on the first day of the month.  This is a five shot panorama of Butterfly Hill out on Konza Prairie.  I took this on the evening of the Wildflower Walk refresher.  The Butterfly Milkweed was having a great year and was blooming rather profusely, it's all the orange you see and this image is best viewed large by clicking on it.


Friday, June 29, 2018

6/29/18

Another very hot day, 102F or 39C.  Ick  We are supposed to cool off just a bit tomorrow and get rain, we shall see though.  I took this image last October when the Painted Lady Butterflies were around and very plentiful.  I captured this one and an interesting moth enjoying some nourishment on a Cone Flower or Echinacea.


Thursday, June 28, 2018

6/28/18

A scorcher of a day today.  42C or 107F.  UGH  Poor plants are really getting fried with being so behind on rain as well.  😟  My image today was taken a week or so ago as I was going to take some flower images and only had my macro lens with me.  This beautiful Red Tail Hawk was flying overhead and I liked how the light was really defining it's wings and tail.


Wednesday, June 27, 2018

6/27/18

My pond finally has enough water in it to run the waterfall.  I am guessing that will only last a few days as we are heading into several days of 100 plus F today.  Sigh  It's lovely while it lasts.  The Dragonflies, especially Twelve Spots are enjoying it as well.  I captured this one as it posed for me on the head of a spent Penstemon flower.  This is straight out of the camera.


Tuesday, June 26, 2018

6/26/18

This is an older image I took out near Milford Lake.  These birds are usually spotted sitting alongside the highway looking for a meal.  I spotted this one in a tree somewhat close so had to get a shot.  It really blends in well with the tree so very well camouflaged in general, I got lucky cause I saw it go into the tree. 


Monday, June 25, 2018

6/25/18

We are getting rain!  I may be getting enough to fill up my pond, I am very excited.  Anyway, today's photo.  While I was in Minnesota I was at the home of some relatives who have a small Prairie Dog town that I discovered in a pasture while trying to capture an image of a Pheasant.  They didn't know the town was there because it is behind the treeline of their property.  This little one posed very nicely for me, so cute.  Not sure the farmer thinks they are cute. 


Sunday, June 24, 2018

6/24/18

Today's image is from my most recent ride on the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad.  They were blowing down the locomotive as we went around a curve to get rid of sediment in the boiler.  They are having a drought as well so it also helped wet down the vegetation.  With the cool weather it made for quite the show and you could hardly see he locomotive for a bit before this.


Saturday, June 23, 2018

6/23/18

I captured this fierce looking guy alongside the road in Tamarac Wildelife Refuge.  I am pretty sure it's a Snapping Turtle and I did not want to get too close to it so I shot it with a zoom lens.  😁


Friday, June 22, 2018

6/22/18

I Captured this image on the evening of the Annual Wildflower Walk out at Konza Prairie.  This Great Spangled Fritillary was visiting the Butterfly Milkweed and stopped for a moment so I could get a photo.


Thursday, June 21, 2018

6/21/18

Happy Summer Solstice, enjoy the longest light day of the year!  While I was in Minnesota last week I got to photograph a couple of Bald Eagles in flight near where We camp at while there.  I had only ever seen one in this area a few years back as we were leaving, it was almost flying alongside us.  I see them more north usually.  I took a bunch of photos and a few turned out fairly well so here is one of them.


Wednesday, June 20, 2018

6/20/18

I was in Minnesota last week and the state flower was in bloom at Tamarac Wildlife Refuge.  There was a large group of these pink Lady Slippers off to the side of the road into the refuge.  This is a 2 image focus stack of a rather lovely trio.


Tuesday, June 19, 2018

6/19/18

This is an older image that I found and liked and decided to share.  The General's Mounted Color Guard puts on demonstrations at times of riding and shooting skills from back when Fort Riley was a Cavalry Post.  This was one such event that was held at the Spring Valley Site of the Geary County Historical Society.


Monday, June 18, 2018

6/18/18

I mention wanting rain and our new land and a pond I have that I am restoring after it sat dormant for about 10 years and became over run with Cattails and weeds.  This is an image I took this spring when the Crab-apple tree was blooming and I had removed several Bobcat loads of cattails.  I still needed to weed the waterfall area on the left at this point.  I hope to get it running but the weather this year has other ideas like 100 degree temps in June and no rain.  We have a chance that it will change this week so fingers crossed.


Sunday, June 17, 2018

6/17/18

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there who visit my Blog.  
I shot this image at around sunset on Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend.  I was at the yearly Steam Up that a friend of mine holds and running my Mimi Live Steam locomotive on his high line track.  It's great for when you get older, you don't have to get down on your knees to operate.  😄


Saturday, June 16, 2018

6/16/18

I took this image the evening of the Wildflower Walk out at Konza Prairie.  We were just finishing up the last part of the walk and were treated to a lovely sunset view.  A great end to a very nice evening.


Friday, June 15, 2018

6/15/18

Echinacea or Cone Flowers grow wild in my area but I have some planted in various gardens at home.  This is one flower beginning to bloom the other day and I liked the bokeh behind.


Thursday, June 14, 2018

6/14/18

This is a bit of an artsy shot of some baby Maple leaves.  I captured these early this Spring.


Wednesday, June 13, 2018

6/13/18

This is another of the Condor photos I was able to get in the Grand Canyon last year.  Not the best image I have ever taken but I was excited to get it.  Also to have it be clear.  😅  You have to look though, it blends in really well.


Tuesday, June 12, 2018

6/12/18

The National Bi-plane Fly-In was held a couple of weekends ago in my town.  This is the 6th year for it I think and this plane has been an attraction in several of them.  It's a beautiful 1929 Waco, formally owned by Mohawk Airways which used it to fly honeymooners over Niagara Falls.


Monday, June 11, 2018

6/11/18

This is a view of the countryside in New Mexico near Windy Point on the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad.  You know I have to have a train in a mountain scene most times.  😁  It was very cool and windy here, living up to it's name, and I even had to wear a jacket.  Much different from today where we are around 100 F.  Sigh


Sunday, June 10, 2018

6/10/18

The day after riding the Cumbres & Toltec, I was chasing it along part of it's route out of New Mexico on it's way to Colorado.  I captured it here as it wound it's way through the countryside up the 4% grade (track rises 4 feet for every 100 feet traveled) on the way to Cumbres Pass. 


Saturday, June 9, 2018

6/9/18

I captured this image last Friday during the Konza prairie Wildflower Walk refresher.  It was just about sunset and the clouds were making a rather dramatic sky.  The wildflowers were really blooming profusely which surprised me due to the lack of rain we have been experiencing.  We have had a bit recently and it must have come at just the right time.  In this image you can see at least 4 different varieties of wildflowers. Up front on the left and right, the pink puff balls are part of Cat's Claw Sensitive Briar, up front in the middle is Echinacea, in the middle, the orange flower is Butterfly milkweed and to the left of that and around it as well with what looks like fingers sticking up is Lead plant about to bloom.  Don't forget my pages on this site with photos of wildflowers by color to help you identify what you see of some more common ones.


Friday, June 8, 2018

6/8/18

In the summer I get off on Fridays a bit early due to working longer days during the week so posting a bit earlier than usual.  While I was out on Konza Prairie last Friday for the Wildflower Walk refresher I saw one of my favorite grasses just beginning to bloom.  I love how it captures the early evening light.  This is June Grass photographed on June 1. 


Thursday, June 7, 2018

6/7/18

On Sunday evening I was able to capture images of a couple of birds that posed pretty nicely for me.  This is a male Dickcissel that was singing it's heart out from the tops of the Dogwoods.  The name comes from their call which is sot of "Dick, Dick, Ciss Ciss, Ciss."


Wednesday, June 6, 2018

6/6/18

I was out walking on Konza Prairie a couple of evenings this past weekend.  On Sunday evening during the actual Wildflower walk, I saw this beautiful example of a Showy Evening Primrose.  One member of the family I was helping lead stopped to take a photo so I couldn't resist doing one as well.



Tuesday, June 5, 2018

6/5/18

I had some issues uploading today so posting a bit late.  I took an artsy, to me anyway, shot on the way back into Kansas last Thursday.  A UP train was heading into Colorado and I caught it a bit out of focus with the in focus signs.


Monday, June 4, 2018

6/4/18

This image is of the first Ladybug I spotted this year.  It was in a small Fleabane plant which has some fuzzy leaves when seen up close.


Sunday, June 3, 2018

6/3/18

So last week I was riding and photographing the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad for the 4th time, at least.  I tried to get some new shots from places I had not photographed it from and this is one of them.  I took this image of locomotive 488 with it's train on it's way out of Chama New Mexico just as it left the station and headed over the bridge by the RV Park I was staying in.  People from the park go out and wave to the train every day as it leaves and returns to the station.  On this morning the engineer even blew a special whistle to us, the famous Shave and a haircut, 2 bits which i had never heard from a steam train before.  Quite fun.


Saturday, June 2, 2018

6/2/18

I captured this image on my first trip to the Grand Canyon and never shared it for some reason.  I saw this plant in bloom while I was there last year but this was a particularly good example.  This is a Century Plant which lives for about 100 years and then shoots up this spectacular huge bloom and then dies.  It's beautiful while blooming. 


Friday, June 1, 2018

6/1/18

I captured this bird in December in Missouri at the in-laws.  I guess they can be damaging to trees but it was a lovely little bird.  This is a Yellow Belly Sap Sucker on an Ornamental Pear tree.