Sunday, May 31, 2015

5/31/15

Well, May was certainly the wettest month we have had in quite a while.  The last day though is starting out sunny.  This is an image I took at a friend's house while he was having his annual Garden railway Steam Up last weekend.  I shot these 2 beautifully made Live Steam locomotives in such a way to make them appear more real and full size.  The locomotive on the right is a Shay type and I don't remember what the left one is at the moment.



Saturday, May 30, 2015

5/30/15

I was out of town today so posting quite late.  I haven't posted a sunrise/landscape photo in quite a while.  Lately we have only had grey skies.  This is from back in mid-April when I was on my way to work one morning.  We had some lovely color then.


Friday, May 29, 2015

5/29/15

The Iris are blooming now, in fact they are almost done sadly.  This is one I captured last year at a home in town where the owner had all kinds of variety's of great and different colors.  She does not live there any longer and the new owner mows them down.  Very sad.  Ah well, at least I was able to get some photos of them before they were not allowed to grow.  This one was a lovely peach and maroon color.


Thursday, May 28, 2015

5/28/15

Well, last week you got a Honey bee butt from me.  Today you get a Bumble Bee butt.  :-)  I was out photographing these Penstemon flowers and a Bumble photobombed with it's butt.  We got an inch of rain again last night.  Quite different from the no rain we were getting for so long.  It's a bit humid now though.  Always something to complain about.  :-)


Wednesday, May 27, 2015

5/27/15

This is an image from Squaw Creek Nature Preserve in Missouri from earlier this year.  I saw all kinds of waterbirds that I had never seen before or knew what they were.  I incorrectly identified this one over on G+ and was told by a reliable source that it is a Northern Shoveler Male taking off to a new spot on the marsh.


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

5/26/15

We saw the sun today!  Now it's very humid though.    I can live with that though if it means we are out of the drought.  Today's image are some flowers I had bought and played with this past winter with different light.  This is did in a high key style and I liked how they turned out.


Monday, May 25, 2015

5/25/15

Happy Memorial Day!  Hope you are having a good one.  The Orioles are finally back.  They arrived last week and were later than usual I think.  I have a one pair at least of Baltimore Orioles and then I have seen an immature male and also an Orchard Oriole.  So our usual group seems to be back.  I caught this male taking a break on the railing between feeding and got a nice close up of him.


Sunday, May 24, 2015

5/24/15

I finally got to steam up my Garden Railroad Shay locomotive.  We were over at a friend's house on Friday at his Steam Up Get Together and got to run this locomotive before the rain hit.  It rained all day yesterday so only ran trains inside.  He has a great outdoor layout with concrete roadbed that has me really wanting to redo mine to cut down greatly on the maintenance.  Looks like I know what I will be doing for a while on that.  :-)  It will be worth the work though to have as smooth a track as he does.



Saturday, May 23, 2015

5/23/15

Today starts summer for me!  Regular school ended yesterday and we now head into the summer sessions.  This morning the heat came on!  Weird.It's dreary out, we have a chance for rain for several days now.  Here is a flower to brighten the day.  This is one of the, I want to call it antique, bulbs that produced a bloom this year.  It has to be at least  21 years old so antique in my opinion.  I liked this Tulip for it's bright color and it seemed to be saying How Do You Do.


Friday, May 22, 2015

5/22/15

I had to do a self  portrait this week for the B&W project I am working on.  If you care to check it out you can go to my G+ Page in the About Me link on the right of this Blog.  This is the photo I was taking in the elf portrait.  My Columbine made for a lovely macro image.


Thursday, May 21, 2015

5/21/15

I saw these bushes blooming with these flowers on Saturday where we usually run trains.  We were out there doing some work and I took a break to take photos.  As I was shooting these flowers I got a surprise when looking at these on computer!  I captured a Honey Bee going in for the blossoms so you get to see a bee butt today.  :-)


Wednesday, May 20, 2015

5/20/15

It's cold today and we got a nice rain over night again.  The heat actually came on this afternoon!  Crazy weather!  This is an image from my visit to Squaw Creek Wildlife refuge in Northwestern Missouri.  There was a very large group of Pelicans who seemed to be in motion almost constantly moving around the main large body of water there.  I got this image of them and decided it worked best as a panorama to really show off the group and movement.  It's best viewed large by clicking on it and opening it up in a new window. 


Tuesday, May 19, 2015

5/19/15

We are getting more rain today!  That's great!  It's not great downpours either which is even better.  Today's image is an older one of a Bald Eagle that I got sitting in the trees in late winter out by Milford Lake.  It's not the closest shot I have ever gotten but I liked it against the texture of the tree branches.


Monday, May 18, 2015

5/18/15

The Barrel Cactus at the office flowers once a year and did so a few weeks ago now.  I like the look of the blooms from all angles, they are rather unique.  I got this side shot of the 2 blooms we had this year that were like to trumpets announcing their arrival.  I did a B&W version over on my G+ stream that I personally like better but people in general don't seem to like B&W as much any more.  You can check it out at the link in the About Me on the right of the Blog if you are interested.


Sunday, May 17, 2015

5/17/15

This railroad image goes back in the archives to our very first trip to the Cumbres & Toltec.  This is from the day after our excursion where we decided to chase the train and take photos.  We were treated to a double header of power as the train headed out of Chama, NM to Antonito, CO.  For half the trip it is basically all up steep grades and is quite impressive to see the engines work.



Saturday, May 16, 2015

5/16/15

Another day with some rain.  It's been nice.  I hope we don't all get it at once and then nothing.  As for today's image, here are some more of my Tulips.  I called this one The Line Up.  They seemed to be waiting for something with one a bit impatient to get moving.  :-)


Friday, May 15, 2015

5/15/15

Returning to my rain celebration today.  We had quite the storm today, quite the driving rain at work.  This is from after the rain we had on Sunday.  It left lovely droplets on my Pond lily which is blooming already.


Thursday, May 14, 2015

5/14/15

I am taking a break from my rain celebration to share a nature one from this Spring instead.  This was when the Red Buds were blooming and the Honey Bees were enjoying the blossoms.  It's good to see the bees around.  We did have rain over night so that was great as well.  Our April showers for May flowers just came a bit late it seems.  :-)


Wednesday, May 13, 2015

5/13/15

So today is really a celebration for rain as we are currently getting more.  It started raining over an hour ago, a nice sprinkle.  I took this image last Sunday of a couple of Daisies in my garden after the rain before the sun peeked out.  I love Daisies but they don't bloom long unfortunately.


Tuesday, May 12, 2015

5/12/15

I'm continuing on with my rain celebration since we get so little of it lately.  The Iris are blooming now and I got a shot of this light purple one just as the sun started to peek out after the rain on Sunday morning.  Some of these purple Iris smell like grapes.  Quite lovely.



Monday, May 11, 2015

5/11/15

I always complain about no rain.  We finally got some very nice rain on Saturday and Sunday so I thought I would celebrate that with photos I took with real rain drops and not faked ones from a spray bottle.  This is one of my new Columbines that I bought.  This version is the color that is Colorado's state flower.


Sunday, May 10, 2015

5/10/15

Well, another dreary day.  We did end up with a nice shower yesterday just after I got all my veggies planted so yay!  Something went right. 
On to the photo.  Today I went back in the archives again to when we went to Steamfest in Owosso, Michigan.  This is Nickel Plate 765 pulling an excursion out of Owosso.  This locomotive is a 2-8-4 Berkshire type and is operated by the Fort Wayne RR Historical Society in Indiana.  I haven't ridden behind this one yet, we only chased and photographed it.  Hope to someday though.


Saturday, May 9, 2015

5/9/15

So yet another dreary day.  Looks like it's our last chance for rain for a while as well.  Guess we shall see.  Most of my older Tulips in my gardens turned out to be pink except for a couple of red groups in the front.  They are quite lovely and this one I found a bit unique with the way it's petals curved outward on each side.  It even inspired me to give it a title, I call it Flair For the Romantic.  :-)


Friday, May 8, 2015

5/8/15

Today was a pretty dreary day and no rain.  We do need more or the sun might as well be out.  :-)  I decided on a colorful image for this dreary day.  This is an older one that I took this past winter when I was buying flowers to brighten up the house.  This is a macro of a Gerber Daisy that I had just misted.





Thursday, May 7, 2015

5/7/15

So it was cloudy all day today but no rain so far.  We do still need more but I wish it wouldn't all come at once.  Beggars shouldn't be choosy though I guess.  :-)  This is an image from last summer.  A lovely Monarch came by late in the season and was feeding from a Marigold.  I hope to see these lovely butterflies this year and have been planting things to attract them.  We shall see. 


Wednesday, May 6, 2015

5/6/15

Instead of April showers we are getting May showers.  I was worried it wasn't going to rain again.  We got about several month's worth in one night so wish it was a bit more spread out but will take what I can get.  This is a spent Dandelion in my yard that I photographed last week.  I call it Escaping the Crowd.  I did it in a toned B&W process and quite liked the result.  


Tuesday, May 5, 2015

5/5/15

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  :-)  I don't have anything relative to that to share.  Today I thought I would share the photo I was able to get a Squaw Creek in Missouri of a Bald Eagle on a nest.  It was quite some distance away and there were lots of branches in the way but I finally found a good spot to zoom in on it and this is the result.  Not the best photo ever but neat in that it shows the nest and you get an idea of how big those nests are.


Monday, May 4, 2015

5/4/15

Well, we just gt quite the rainstorm and at an only 30% chance.  Weird but I will take it.  I just got some plants in yesterday so this is great.  Today's image is of a Blue Jay with a bug snack.  We have a River Birch in the front yard that the birds like to sit in now and then and I was able to capture this Jay a few days ago.  I was surprised when I saw the snack in it's beak while looking at the photo on my computer.



Sunday, May 3, 2015

5/3/15

Still going back in the archives for my railroading images as steam season has not quite arrived.  This one is from when we went to Steamfest in Owosso, Michigan and got to see several locomotives in action.  This Little River Railway locomotive which was beautifully restored and is a Pacific Type 4-6-2 was pulling several excursions during the time we were there.  We never did ride behind it though we saw it out and about.


Saturday, May 2, 2015

5/2/15

This is a group of Tulips that I planted last fall.  While planting I tried to mix up the colors but with this image you can see I didn't quite manage that all the time.  :-)  I can use the excuse that I was working with new bulbs I had never seen and couldn't really tell.  I do love the lovely little group they made though and was pleased that all I planted did come up.


Friday, May 1, 2015

5/1/15

Happy May Day!  Now that Spring is finally here, it is going so quickly.  SIGH  The Iris are just beginning to bloom. The first ones are the dark purples and the whites.  More colorful ones like this are yet to come.  I shot this one last year near where I work against a cloudy sky.  Loved the colors in it.