Friday, June 30, 2017

6/30/17

We had more rain last night, all the flowers are loving it.  My image today is of some Sedum that was blooming earlier before the heat and dry hit, it is not fond of that.  This is 3 images stacked together to bring out details of the flower yet keep the background out of focus.  I love the focus stacking process, amazing to see the details that pop out as it combines the images together like the little web fiber in the lower left area.  View large by clicking on the image to see what I am referring to.



Thursday, June 29, 2017

6/29/17

Well we finally got some significant rain this morning. Hopefully the cracks will close up in the ground now, some were almost an inch wide.  I captured this image in Minnesota the day we arrived a couple weeks ago.  There were all kinds of Dragonflies and Damselflies around.  When I first got this shot I was thinking it was a pretty god one, nice in focus and all.  When I looked closer, it made me a bit sad to see what it had captured, a Ladybug.  I actually thought of a title for this one too, Lunchtime For Dragons


Wednesday, June 28, 2017

6/28/17

Two weeks ago today I was in Minnesota and heading out to dinner in the early evening and captured this image of a Loon on one of the ponds.  I had 3 opportunities this trip to see and photograph Loons and it was quite exciting for me as even though they are the Minnesota State Bird I have not seen them very often and when I did they were quite far away and elusive.  This time they were all fairly close and quite content to have their photo taken.  I love their red eyes.


Tuesday, June 27, 2017

6/27/17

When construction on the street I live on finished, they planted wheat.  I thought it a bit odd at the time but it grows quickly and the area is very sloped so it would help stop erosion.  It has made for a nice photography subject.  This is some that is growing right at the end of my driveway.


Monday, June 26, 2017

6/26/17

What lovely weather we have been having the last couple days.  Yesterday was almost too cool.  Nice to be out of that blazing heat for a bit.  My image today is one I captured on a photo trip in Alexandria, Minnesota a couple weeks ago.  This is a Mallard couple next to shore in the lake there.


Sunday, June 25, 2017

6/25/17

My image today goes back to A Sreamfest in Michigan that I got to attend a while ago and where I got to ride behind the beautiful Daylight locomotive.  This is a former Southern Pacific GS-4 which is a streamlined 4-8-4 wheel arrangement locomotive built in 1941 by the Lima locomotive Works.  It's bright color and matching color passenger cars made for a beautiful sight back in the day and still do to this day. 



Saturday, June 24, 2017

6/24/17

It's a cooler day out today and reminded me of our Spring weather.  Nice.  I decided to share a photo from this Spring of a lovely Tulip I captured in Wamego, KS.  I loved the light pastel purple of this one.


Friday, June 23, 2017

6/23/17

I have not seen many butterflies around my home lately.  There have been a few but not as many as I would like especially since I have planted a number of new plants for them.  When I was out on Konza Prairie during the first weekend in June I did see a number of Monarchs which made me happy.  A lot of those were even busy making more Monarchs.  This one though was just enjoying the Butterfly Milkweed and I captured it when it stopped for a moment to enjoy this bloom of it.


Thursday, June 22, 2017

6/22/17

So one more hot day and then a few nice and cool ones it looks like, yay.  Today's image is a close up of a Bumblebee that was busy working on the blooms of my Butterfly Milkweed plant a couple weeks ago.  He did not seem to care much that I was taking it's photo, it was just furiously digging in the blooms so I was able to get fairly up close and personal.


Wednesday, June 21, 2017

6/21/17

Happy Summer Solstice!  It's officially here even though we have been feeling like summer for about a week now.  Here are some lovely wild Sunflowers to celebrate the day.


Tuesday, June 20, 2017

6/20/17

Hot days already, yuck.  Will be interesting to see what July and August are like.  My image today is of a Ladybug I was able to capture on a Milkweed leaf.  It was looking for Aphids and there were some further up the plant.



Monday, June 19, 2017

6/19/17

This is an image that I captured out on Konza Prairie while walking out there in early June.  The Bird Poker theme today was Passerines and I had to look that up but it is the more scientific name for a perching bird.  This Dickcissel certainly fit that very well as it was perched high up in a dead tree.


Sunday, June 18, 2017

6/18/17

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!  My image today is from the land of steam where every Father's Day weekend they hold Steam School.  This is the locomotive I get to help operate just heading out with our first passenger for Kid's Day which is held on Saturday of that weekend.  This is a basically, 14 inch scale Wagner type locomotive built in 1942 that began life operating at Niagara Falls.


Saturday, June 17, 2017

6/17/17

I was able to view a large number of Geese families the other day.  Usually there are no birds on this particular pond but this day there were at least 8 families of Geese floating around, I think more.  This is a shot of 2 of them.



Friday, June 16, 2017

6/16/17

Fridays are all about bokeh for me so I thought I would share this lovely Daisy shot I took recently.  These are growing beside my pond and the bit of pink bokeh is a Water Lily blooming behind them.


Thursday, June 15, 2017

6/15/17

This is an older image that I captured a while back when I was in Scott's Bluff Nebraska.  This Magpie was standing on this rock face and I liked the Minimal look of it plus it was a good shot, for me of a Magpie.  ðŸ˜‰


Wednesday, June 14, 2017

6/14/17

This is something fun I found out on Konza Prairie a couple of weekend's ago.  I don't know who made it but thought it was rather fun.  A Fun Fact:  Grasshoppers consume the most amount of plants and grass on the prairie, even more than the Bison.


Tuesday, June 13, 2017

6/13/17

So the post for these last 3 days are related.  The bridge in Sunday's image is where I was standing while capturing this guy since he was not all that thrilled about me getting too close.  He was sitting on the shore of the pond from yesterday's image.  It's a great pond to observe nature.  I think this is a Bullfrog and it was huge.  If I had held it, it would have taken up my whole hand.  I was happy that it posed a bit so I could get some shots, it was a bit skittish.  


Monday, June 12, 2017

6/12/17

Another hot one today.  The wind is supposed to pick up again too.  Sigh.  I captured this image a week ago Saturday.  I liked it for the bokeh created by the water and out of focus Damselflies.  This is a group of Blue Damselflies with the one in front being well reflected in the water of the pond at the railroad from yesterday's image.


Sunday, June 11, 2017

6/11/17

Posting a bit late to day as we had company.  My image is fitting for today since it is pretty steamy outside.  90s and very windy today.  Ugh.  This is from last weekend when I went to the 12 inch scale railroad I get to play at.  This locomotive is my favorite one to run.  When I took this image it was being run by another of the people who get to come play and he was just heading over the main bridge on their setup.  The pond was quite full that day due to all the rain we had been getting and made for a nice scene I thought.


Saturday, June 10, 2017

6/10/17

Well, the heat and no rain seemed to have arrived as we are heading up into the 90s for several days.  I took this image a week ago Friday on a beautiful evening out on Konza Prairie.  It's a 2 shot panorama looking east in the setting sun.  People think Kansas is flat but my area is not, it is the Flint Hills due to all the Flint rock found in these hills.  It's a beautiful sight to see all the green open space of the Tall Grass Prairie out at Konza.  The trails in the image were created by the Bison who, unlike cattle, generally walk in a single file line.  Unfortunately they were not visible on this evening, they were most likely down in the valleys. 


Friday, June 9, 2017

6/9/17

When I was out on Konza Prairie last Friday evening I captured some shots of my favorite grass.  Partly because it is one of the few I can remember the name 😃 but mostly because of how it catches the sunlight in the seed heads.  It looks almost like it is glowing.  I chose this photo today because I loved the bokeh in it too.  


Thursday, June 8, 2017

6/8/17

I have not seen a lot of butterflies around my home lately.  I believe this happened last year as well so hopefully a normal lull.  I was able to capture these two Red Admirals enjoying the blooms of some Tall Phlox earlier this Spring.


Wednesday, June 7, 2017

6/7/17

I captured this image out on Konza Prairie on Friday evening in late sunlight.  It's me trying to be artsy with a different angle image of this lovely wildflower.  This is a Showy Evening Primrose which are blooming like crazy in our area of Kansas this year.  Even along I-70 I have seen huge groups of them blooming.  It's been quite lovely.  

Remember There are pages of this blog of wildflowers by color to help you identify what you are seeing out there.  ðŸ˜ƒ


Tuesday, June 6, 2017

6/6/17

When I was out in Pennsylvania in March, I was walking by the creek that runs by my dad's house.  This Great Blue Heron suddenly took off and was flying by and I was pleased to capture it in focus and so close.  I always love how their long legs hang out behind them as they fly.


Monday, June 5, 2017

6/5/17

When I went to the Overland Park Arboretum, I was able to view many varieties of Iris that were in bloom at the time.  It was very interesting to see all the different types there are.  These that I took a macro image of are similar to Blue Flag Iris, which have more narrow petals.  Blue Flag are may favorite and the color of this one is a lot like it.


Sunday, June 4, 2017

6/4/17

My image today goes back to Cass Mountain Scenic Railway in West Virginia and i decided to go for an antique look.  This is the Heisler type locomotive sitting ready and waiting to run on the day we were there.  Heislers were designed for logging railway work and were geared differently than a typical locomotive.  It was the only one I have ever seen and it was great to know they still operate it.


Saturday, June 3, 2017

6/3/17

This weekend I am spending some time a couple of evenings out at Konza Prairie, last night and tomorrow evening.  Sunday night is the annual Wildflower Walk at 6:30pm where you can walk the Butterfly Hill Trail not normally open to the public.  This is one of the views you can see on the walk.  This is actually the edge of Konza and a cattle pasture adjoining it.  It show off the type of hills prominent in this area of the Flint Hills though captured in evening light.  This is a 2 shot panorama.


Friday, June 2, 2017

6/2/17

It's Friday!  Short weeks always seem long, it's very weird.  My image today is of some Orchids that are in the office at work.  I shot them against a light wall and gave them a bit of a glow for a dreamy effect.


Thursday, June 1, 2017

6/1/17

I captured this image out by Milford Lake at the big pond out there which is called The Gathering Pond, I have been told.  It does seem to be a gathering place for different types of birds.  I usually see some type of waterbird whenever I visit there.  This Pelican was typical of ones I see though, not usually happy with me around taking their photo.  He was swimming away and looking over his shoulder to be sure I wasn't following.