It's a double digit day today! It's also Friday, TGIF! I have Phoebe birds that have built their nest above the bathroom window next to my home office. Once in a while I see one of the parents sitting on a wire right outside my window as it keeps an eye on the nest and I was actually able to capture it doing that. I liked the bokeh in this image so sharing it today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious here on the Blog!
I have several stands of milkweed and the yard and I am pleased to see when Monarchs are on it. I was even more pleased to see that I had caterpillars that resulted from it. I couldn't find it the next day but I choose to believe it was just somewhere I couldn't see.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one that has been in bloom recently, Spider Antelopehorn. It is in the Dogbane Family and is also a milkweed. It blooms April through June. It is named after an antelope because as the fruits of the plant develop, they elongate and curve and resemble their horns.
I have been lucky to get some nice and closer Heron images lately. This one was at a pond in the neighborhood right behind my house. I decided to stop by with all the rain we have been getting to see if one was around and there was. It was on the bank right near me and then flew to some rocks that were not very far away. I was amazed and got off a few shots before it took off from there of which this is one.
Happy Monday and happy new week! My pond Iris bloomed pretty well this year despite the late cold snap and regular Iris not blooming at all or in very small amounts. This plant can spread quite a bit so I have to keep it in check but I find it quite lovely. I wish the flowers lasted longer.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is a very appropriately steamy one. This is one of the Ottaway locomotives as it was being "blown down". This where you open the valve on the boiler and let the remaining steam and water and, hopefully, any sediment that may have gotten in there to blow out. It helps to cool the locomotive off the rest of the way and to get all the water out to help prevent rust and scale.
As I have been mentioning, we have had quite a lot of rain lately. We went 3 months with basically nothing and now, we are getting it all. When we went to play trains a few weekends ago, we were running in between storms. These are some retreating clouds that I really liked how the setting sun was illuminating. The cloud just to the right of the windmill was especially cool with it's light outline.
