12/31/16

Usually I post one of these images on Sundays as I co-curate Steamy Sunday over on G+.  I decided to do things here in reverse.  This is an older image of the beautiful Southern Pacific Daylight locomotive during a photo run-by.  We had ridden an excursion behind this locomotive while in Michigan a few years ago and it included a couple of times where we were allowed to get off the train while it backed up and then went past us to allow for photos.  It was a fun experience.

12/30/16

I had captured this image one day on a trip out to Milford Lake.  I was actually on the way home and spotted this Red Tail Hawk in a tree.  It let me get a few shots but it was difficult because of all the branches around it.  Best viewed large by clicking on it.

12/29/16

Today's image I had taken early this year when my Amaryllis was in bloom.  3 of the 4 blooms were open at this time and I put it in the sunlight and shot it against a dark background.  I am trying to make it re-bloom this year but I didn't get started till late so right now it is in it's "dark phase".  Hopefully I can get it to work, we shall see.

12/28/16

I got this image on my in-laws deck in Missouri.  I was watching this line of geese and hoping they would come closer and they did, in fact right over my head.  I was not very prepared when they did that because of shooting with a zoom and trying to follow their path.  Ah well, I did get this one when they were pretty close and captured them in the late afternoon sunlight.

12/27/16

It's the last Tuesday of the year and quite the nice sunny day.  I was in Missouri the last few days and most of the time it was pretty dreary and foggy.  The fog did make nice conditions for Hoar Frost to develop.  This is a Foxtail Grass seed head with a frosty coating on it.  You can see why the grass has that name and is one I can actually remember what it is.  :-)

12/26/16

So last week I posted a male Cardinal, this week here is it's counterpart.  This is a lovely female that was sitting in the tree on a windy winter day.  She's a bit puffed while trying to keep warm.  

12/25/16

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!  Happy Sunday to all!  This image is of one of the Christmas trees set up in the Historic Opera House in Junction City.  The Opera House has been beautifully restored and it was decorated with various Christmas decor and looked even more beautiful for the holidays.

12/24/16

Merry Christmas Eve to all who celebrate!  Santa is on his way.  :-)  This is an image of one of my "Train Tree" ornaments in front of that tree.  It is decorated only with train related ones.  I shot it for the purpose of getting the bokeh of the lights behind.

12/23/16

We are really heading into the holiday now even though the weather doesn't feel like it.  I don't mind a warmer Christmas but I am sure a lot would like a white one, we definitely won't have that here.  I took this image about a year ago now and saved it for use during this time.  We had an ice storm and afterwards the trees and plants were quite interesting with ice as my image from the other day was from this time as well.  Here I was getting a little artsy.  :-)

12/22/16

So going from a very winter post to a summer like post which is what the weather will be doing.  We are having winter the next couple of days and then for Christmas warm weather with a Weather Advisory for thunderstorms and wind.  How crazy is that!  This image is actually an Autumn shot but it was quite warm and the butterflies were out and about.  These are a male, the one above, and female Alfalfa Caterpillars enjoying the Zinnias in the garden.  Not a wonderful name but lovely little butterflies in the afternoon sun.

12/21/16

Well I guess we got lucky compared to other areas not so far from here where they received a lot of ice.  My image today is from an ice storm we had last year.  At times i like to get back to my roots where I started out doing a lot of B&W photography and the days of printing my own.  I thought this image lent itself to a monochrome treatment.  This is a view of a small waterfall in the newer housing area near where I live.  One of the good things that resulted from that, just wish they kept it more accessible.  Anyway, I thought the foliage around it covered in ice made for an interesting image.

12/20/16

Only 5 days till Christmas, are you all ready?  I am not!  Hope to change that a bit today.  My image is of one of my rather unique flowers I found while looking for shade loving plants.  This is called a Toad Lily but the flower reminds of an Orchid.  I had moved the plant from where I had originally planted it due to rats eating it and not allowing it to bloom.  It really seemed to enjoy where I moved it because it grew larger than it had ever been and produced more blooms. This is a macro of several of the blooms it produced.  As always, clicking on it will enlarge it to view details better.

12/19/16

My image today is an older one but taken under pretty similar conditions.  It's very cold out today and the birds are quite enjoying the bird seed from the feeder and water from the heated bird bath I have provided.  I got an image of this male Cardinal on a day like today when it stopped to sit after feeding.  I love their pop of color in the bare trees.

12/18/16

Yikes it is 0 F or -17.7 C out this morning while I post this!  Winter has definitely arrived.  We ended up with some snow as well, maybe half an inch to an inch, it blew a lot.  My image today is from Minnesota but a much warmer day that was also foggy.  The ex Soo Line 353 was pulling out with one of it's first loads of passengers and the steam from the cylinders in these conditions made for quite the steamy sight.

12/17/16

Today starts my vacation and winter has really set in.  Our first snow flurry where you can see it on the ground.  It's just a dusting but it's cold and windy out as well.  A day like today makes me dream of warmer days.  This photo was taken on a much warmer evening just south of where I live in Kansas.  These Sunflowers were past their peak but still lovely.

12/16/16

So my image today is mainly for the festive bokeh I got while taking it.  I have a Geranium that is an indoor plant and it is blooming right now so I shot a macro image of it in front of the Christmas tree.  The blue-ish color comes from the LED lights and the gold comes from the regular string I have on it for some special light up ornaments.  The shape is the result of the shutter's aperture when taking the photo. 

12/15/16

So winter has really come, only a high of 26F or about -3C today and by Saturday even colder.  Have I mentioned lately I don't like winter?  :-)  I am dreaming of warmer days and looking at images of warmer days.  I got this image on a lovely warm day.  This Ladybug was looking for aphids on these Daisy Fleabanes and I was able to get a shot when it sat still for a moment.

12/14/16

I captured this image on the first day of this month, my how time flies, I thought I took it just last weekend.  It's rare when a Black Cap Chickadee sits still and even rarer when it does it in a spot where I can get a shot and extremely rare when it's fairly close.  I got really lucky with this image.  The ISO on my camera was set pretty high so it's kind of grainy in the tree area but it allowed me to get this shot on a very cloudy morning.

12/13/16

This is from my trip to South Dakota last year and the Badlands there.  I saw this grass in several areas and found it interesting.  The seed heads are flat, a lot like the feathers of an arrow.  I don't know the actual name, I call it Flat Grass.  I took this image of it to show the Badlands behind.  A really beautiful area and like a desert with very little vegetation.  This grass grew on the edges. 

12/12/16

I took this image a few weeks ago before the first frost when I brought in several of my Zinnias to enjoy.  I set up a few of them on a black background and used a supplemental light and took this macro image of them.

12/11/16

This is an image of the locomotive that pulled our train to the Grand Canyon and back from Williams, Arizona on my trip there a few years back.  It was a great experience and I am not sure they do steam any longer.  I decided to give this photo a black and white treatment and I think it made for a bit more dramatic image.  Locomotives usually don't have much color anyway.  

12/10/16

Choosing a color to paint a room is difficult, you have to decide on something you can live with for many years.  That's my current dilemma. :-)  The colors of the Grand Canyon are quite beautiful even under cloudy light.  I took this shot on a day we were walking the trail you can see in the shot.  I didn't have enough time to walk the whole way because we had to catch the train but I was on the part you can see in the image.  The black dot in the sky is not dust but is actually a Condor.  Very cool birds and I was able to capture one up fairly close.

12/9/16

Another really cold day and winter is not officially here.  This is from much warmer days when the butterflies were coming to visit.  I captured this shot of a Painted Beauty on the Autumn Sedum with another out of focus in the background creating some lovely bokeh.

12/8/16

So it was pretty cold out this morning, only about 13 F or -10.5 C while I was going to work.  Winter has arrived.  We were spoiled with a lovely warm autumn.  These are some leaves that were still on my in-law's Ornamental Pear tree at Thanksgiving time because of that.  Caught them seeming to glow in the afternoon light.

12/7/16

Heading into a few really cold days now.  This image is from a warmer day in July in Michigan along the shore of Lake Huron.  This is another image of the Heron I was able to get so close to.  It was really amazing as here I can't get within a hundred yards it seems.  This one came so close I could hardly get it all in frame at times.  Cool birds with their long legs and Legs is the game for Bird Poker this week on G+.  

12/6/16

I saw this tree while in Missouri at the in-law's.  This Red Maple is in their neighbor's front yard and in the afternoon sunshine it seemed to be on fire, it was just beautiful.

12/5/16

Starting off today with a couple of renovation tips.  Don't ever do Popcorn ceiling removal by yourself, it is a mess!  Bonus tip, don't do major renovations at the Holiday Season.  They are busy enough.  Sigh.  My image today is of a lovely Barrel Cactus bloom that was a vibrant red.  Red is a very hard color to photograph and get detail, about as bad a s white.  I think I did OK here though.  :-)

12/4/16

Quite dreary out this morning after a rainy day.  My image for today goes back to a much warmer day in September at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion.  The locomotive I get to fire on was pulling one of it's first loads of passengers around the grounds.  It was passing by Gunderson Pond which is not named for any relatives as far as we know but is sometimes fun to make people wonder.  :-)  The display engine the train is pulling is a Minneapolis Steam traction Engine as the featured engines for 2016 were Minneapolis.

12/3/16

A dreary day here today.  I thought I would brighten things up with one of the sunrises I saw in November.  I was treated to several photogenic ones and I was able to capture this one mid month.  Very colorful, I even went a bit out of my way going to work to capture it.

12/2/16

Well winter sure arrived this morning.  It was only 18F out when I went to work.  Possibility of snow tomorrow too.  Yikes.  :-)  So now, of course, I am dreaming of summer and flowers again.  At least this time of year is festive.  My image today is of Zinnias in my garden and one has a buddy on it of some type.  I like the bokeh produced by the second one and the leaves behind as well plus a nice bright color and undamaged flower bloom. 

12/1/16

December is here and ice formed on my pond this morning so feels more like the season now after the warm Autumn we have been having.  Because of how warm it has been, I was able to get this image at the in-law's home of their Ornamental Pear tree as it still had a lot of it's leaves that had yet to fall.  I liked those in the late afternoon sun, reminded me of little flames.

11/30/16

I have 2 Fridays this week as I have a lot of work to get done at home in preparation for work on the ceiling this weekend so I am able to post earlier than normal.  This is an image from the archives from a trip to the Grand Canyon.  It was a quick trip so I wasn't able to spend much time walking trails, a bit of a major one can be seen at the bottom middle of this image, and I definitely didn't see much of the park.  I'd love to get back some day and see more.  It's a beautiful and awe inspiring place to visit.

11/29/16

I took this image at the in-laws home as well as the one from yesterday.  They have a row of ornamental grasses that catch the late afternoon sun.  I took this shot of a few heads of their Pampas Grass that seemed to be glowing in the light.

11/28/16

The Bird Poker theme for this week is Blue and close up.  I actually got an image on Thanksgiving day that fit the theme.  The Blue-jays were  coming to feed at my in-law's home in Missouri.  They were not very cooperative about having their photo taken but one sat for a bit in the Ornamental Pear tree so I was able to get a few shots.  I do like the back view of them because it shows of the pattern of their feathers rather well so I was happy with what I got.  

11/27/16

My image today goes back into the archives and my trip to West Virginia.  The place is Cass Mountain Scenic Railroad.  This is the locomotive that pushed our train up the mountain and then pulled us back down.  This is a Shay type locomotive that was used a lot in logging operations which is what went on in this area of the state.  The gearing on a Shay locomotive allows it to be very powerful and not slip on steep grades like a regular geared locomotive would.

11/26/16 Extra

An extra Post for today to alert you to a new feature on the site.  I have created Pages where I have gathered together my photos from Kansas of Butterflies and Wildflowers. They are always found at the top of this Blog. I intend it to be used as an easy reference.  If you are out and see a butterfly or a Wildflower and wonder what it might be, check this site.  I have acquired quite a collection of various Butterflies and Wildflowers I have seen and I am always out taking more photos so these pages will continue to grow as I see and find more.  I have tried to present them in a way that is easy to tell what the butterfly or flower is.  I know when I am out and see something, I sometimes wonder what it is so I hope you will find this useful.  I am not providing informational detail at this time as I am not an expert, I'm just helping to identify and make it easier to search for info.  Thanks for stopping by and, again, I hope you find the new Pages useful.

11/26/16

I was going through the archives a couple weeks ago and came across some photos I never shared and like a lot.  This is from a trip to Chicago I took a while back for work.  Chicago is my favorite city, I've spent a good amount of time there over the years.  I love the architecture, there is so much to do and it's an easy city to get around in.  One afternoon after work was done I went walking and went up in the Sears Tower, I refuse to call it by it's other name,  :-) and was treated to some great views of the city.  This is one looking towards a couple of other well known things, the Hancock building and Lake Michigan.  The black dot is not dirt, it is a buoy in the lake.  :-)

11/25/16

Happy Black Friday!  Hope you are all staying safe out there in the craziness.  My image today is of a Monarch butterfly that came to visit the Zinnias this Autumn.  It had a buddy too in a Sulphur that was heavily backlit by the sun.  I loved the bubbly bokeh behind them.

11/24/16

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US and Happy Thursday to everyone else.  It's very dreary out today so I wanted to brighten things up.  This is a lovely Sunflower that I grew.  I was happy I got a few pretty perfect looking before the bugs got to them.  :-)

11/23/16

Today starts my long weekend!  Yay.  My image for today goes back to a day in June in Minnesota.  I captured this Swan family feeding near some reeds in one of the many bodies of water there.  This one fit in for special mention in the Bird Poker Game on Google + because it is a side view and there are 5 of them.  I like that I captured one of them in the actual act of diving for food.

11/22/16

A bit of rain overnight.  Haven't had any in a while.  Windy out today though so it will all dry up.  Glad it's not snow.  :-)  My image today is of a tree I have photographed out on Konza Prairie a few times.  It sits in an area of the prairie by itself and, to me, has great character.  I decided to shoot it from a bit different angle because from the other point of view I have to deal with power lines.  This is coming from the north up the path towards Butterfly Hill.

11/21/16

So this week's theme for Bird Poker is "Side View".  I have a lot of shots I could play for that but I won't do birds all week, just a couple days.  LOL  My first for today is of a Black Capped Chickadee sitting on a Sunflower head in between eating seeds from it.  I was pleased to get a decent shot as they are almost constantly in motion.

11/20/16

I was digging into the archives this past week and looking at Grand Canyon Images I had taken and never shared.  We rode a steam train out to the canyon, stayed overnight and then rode the steam train back.  At the time, this was the last year you could do that behind a steam locomotive although I have heard they may have brought steam back.  I need to check.  Anyway, this is an image of the locomotive we rode behind.  It was beautifully maintained.  I captured this as it was moving around the station area at the canyon.

11/19/16

So this past week, everyone was talking about the "Supermoon".  To us normal people you can't really tell any difference.  It was only about 15% larger appearing.  If you saw images where it looked really big they were because they were faked, like mine today.  I tried to make mine more realistic and like a scene I had actually seen 2 days before but missed getting a shot of because I was not prepared, I am a bad photographer in that way.  I shot the photos used in this image on the same day.  The moon I shot as it was setting in the morning and then the prairie is a 3 image panorama shot in the late afternoon.  I love the light at this time of day on the prairie grass as it makes the color so vivid.  The moon is a bit larger presented here than it actually was as well.  :-)  Best viewed large, of course, by clicking on it.

11/18/16

I have a day off today so posting early.  :-)  Autumn has set in today, dreary, cold and windy, maybe it's more like winter.  My image today is from a while back and a visit to Mount Evans in Colorado.  It was very cold and extremely windy while I was up there due to the elevation.  This Mountain Goat that I was able to get a good image of had a nice wool coat to protect it, I just had a wind breaker.  I was happy to be able to see Mountain Goats up close and get some good images of them.

11/17/16

What a beautiful sunrise we had this morning on our last day of un-seasonal warm weather.  I took this image just a couple weeks ago of a late hard working Honeybee still out collecting pollen late in the season.  The Zinnias it was working on are gone now and it seems more like Autumn and tomorrow with more normal temps will be even more so.

11/16/16

This Autumn has been quite warm so far.  This past Friday, November 11, I spotted and captured this Buckeye butterfly while at the railroad just east of Topeka, KS.  I don't think I have ever seen a butterfly of any size that late in the year.  I had hoped to capture it on something more interesting but the contrast with the rock and the light really shows off the detail and iridescent quality of the wings.  I'm not sure I really ever noticed that before on this variety of butterfly. 

11/15/16

I was looking at and working on a few old photos.  I had gone to the Grand Canyon a few years back.  Some of my photos were of these interesting Cedar trees with the canyon as a backdrop.  I love these old tree with the way they twist and turn and the lines in their trunks.  They have such character and make for a different photo of something photographed quite a lot.  :-)

11/14/16

This is a macro image of one of the blooms from my African Daisy varieties that I grew this year.  I took this image late in the summer but this plant bloomed all the way to November which was quite nice.  I thought it a good sunny image to start the week.

11/13/16

So we are warming back up into the high 60s and 70s again.  Crazy weather.  My image today is one more from seeing Union Pacific's locomotive 844 travel through Topeka, KS.  This is a wider shot as it left the city and you can see a bit of Union Station behind and also some of the large number of people who came out to see this beautiful engine as it traveled back home to Cheyenne, Wyoming.  It's a sight to see and hear, it has a beautiful deep whistle that can be heard quite some distance.  It made my eardrums vibrate as it passed under the bridge and blew it.  :-)