Friday, August 31, 2018

8/31/18

It's the last day of August already.  Wow.  My image today is of some back-lit Teasels that had bloomed and dried.  I got them to grow in my garden, maybe a bit too well and I may regret it but for now I am enjoying them quite a bit,  Skippers and butterflies seemed to enjoy the blooms as well.  I love the flower head shapes when they dry.


Thursday, August 30, 2018

8/30/18

So yesterday I was out for a drive and I crested a hill and saw all this yellow off in the distance.  I was very surprised when it turned out to be a huge and beautiful Sunflower field.  All the Sunflowers I had been seeing were sad and droopy and about ready for harvesting but these were still lovely and perky.  I titled this one Partly Cloudy.  😃


Wednesday, August 29, 2018

8/29/18

I saw this Blue Heron coming in for a landing near where I live when I got home from work the other day so I quick ran in the house to get my camera and went back to where I saw it.  I was looking for it and not even that close but it decided it didn't like me near it and took off.  I liked the shot I got of it leaving so here it is.  


Tuesday, August 28, 2018

8/28/18

This is an image of a Balloon Flower from a plant I have been nursing along by the Gazebo of my new pond.  I am wondering if it doesn't get all the sun it needs as it seems to be still quite small.  I guess I will see if it comes back next year.  It has been blooming like this from a week ago or so.


Monday, August 27, 2018

8/27/18

I thought this image was a bit appropriate with the sun beating down on us today and a hot day.  This is an almost perfect Sunflower from my garden last week.


Sunday, August 26, 2018

8/26/18

So today's image once again goes back to my visit to the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad.  This is on a walk one evening when I was looking around the yard at Chama, New Mexico.  This is the small roundhouse where they service the engines after they return from the days trip and they also keep ones ready to go in the morning.


Saturday, August 25, 2018

8/25/18

With the good amount of rain we got the other day, it made the mushrooms quite happy and they are popping up everywhere.  I captured these in my backyard and thought they reminded me of a family, dad mom and kid.  I titled this one Shroom Family Outing.  😀


Friday, August 24, 2018

8/24/18

We had quite the rain yesterday, I got 2 inches, some people got 3.  I was happy with what I got.  My image today is of my latest butterfly visitors to the garden.  The Buckeyes have been around lately and I captured this one enjoying the Zinnia.  I find it funny that this is the flower they enjoy the most as this is the one I find the butterflies on and not the others I have planted for them.


Thursday, August 23, 2018

8/23/18

Here is another flower that I wanted to share.  This one was a surprise to me.  I had planted a variety pack of seeds and this is one that must have resulted from it.  It's a lovely Cosmos flower of which I also planted a small variety of.




Wednesday, August 22, 2018

8/22/18

I spotted these lovely Canada Anemone wildflowers while I was at Tamarac Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota this past June. 


Tuesday, August 21, 2018

8/21/18

It's lovely and cooler the past couple of days.  Very odd for August but I will take it.  My image today was taken earlier this year by the Grain Elevator here in town.  I was stopped waiting for this Union Pacific train to come by.


Monday, August 20, 2018

8/20/18

We had a lovely rain yesterday, about an inch and came nicely so it was able to soak in.  My pond is nice and full too.  Wonderful.  My image today is from earlier this year.  I captured a Red Bellied Woodpecker that was after some seed I had out for the ground birds at the base of this Mulberry tree.


Sunday, August 19, 2018

8/19/18

I took this shot just outside our campground in Chama New Mexico of locomotive 484 and it's train heading back into the rail yard after it's day out of Antonito Colorado.  It was just about to cross over the old Denver & Rio Grande Western trestle of which the Cumbres & Toltec and Durango and Silverton are now part of.  I shot this with a zoom lens so I am not as close to the train as it looks and it is not as close to the bridge.  😅



Saturday, August 18, 2018

8/18/18

I felt like some sunny Black-eyed Susan wildflowers for today so here you go.  These were growing alongside the road by my house last month.  I have been trying to establish some in my garden but so far no luck, they don't come back.  I'm going to try again in a different spot next year and we shall see.

Don't forget, I have pages on this Blog devoted to common wildflowers seen in Kansas and hopefully a photo of one you may be looking for an ID on.



Friday, August 17, 2018

8/17/18

This is one of my Leopard Frog buddies at my new pond.  I was able to capture it with some great looking bokeh I thought, especially the sparkly on the right, so had to share it.  My pond is actually full at the moment due to the rain we have had and pumping water in from a collection tank so yay!


Thursday, August 16, 2018

8/16/18

I was able to capture this Dragonfly who posed for me quite still so I could get 2 shots for a focus stack.  I saw this one up in Minnesota at Tamarac Wildlife Refuge and loved the way it was staring me down. 


Wednesday, August 15, 2018

8/15/18

This is an older image I was able to get out by Milford Lake.  Red-Tailed Hawks are hard to capture when sitting, they fly off quite quickly.  I was able to capture this one in a tree fairly un-obscured by branches so I was fairly happy with it.  I don't think it was too happy with me though.  😉


8/14/18

Oops, crazy day yesterday and I forgot to post.  This is a companion piece to my Roundhouse photo from last week.  These are the Water and Coaling towers at the Greenfield Village of the Henry Ford Museum complex off to the other end of the turntable.  This is a great place to visit if you are ever in or around Dearborn Michigan.


Monday, August 13, 2018

8/13/18

In the middle of summer I am thinking of Spring.  We have good chances for rain a couple of days this week and I am hoping we get it.  These are a lovely group of Tulips that I photographed in the Tulip Capitol of Kansas, Wamego a while back.


Sunday, August 12, 2018

8/12/18

I took this image from the train as we left our lunch stop at Osier, Colorado and were heading to Antonito.  I shot this image across the valley of the other train that was on it's way to Chama, NM after stopping.  I was pleased it came out clear with the rocking and rolling the train was doing and I was using a zoom lens which made it even more difficult.


Saturday, August 11, 2018

8/11/18

I was on a walk in Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago and their Bee Balm was still in bloom a bit.  I captured this Bumblebee enjoying the last of the flowers.


Friday, August 10, 2018

8/10/18

I have been quite lucky this summer that I have been able to see and capture Swallowtail Butterflies.  I have seen them mainly on the new land but also in my newer native plant garden.  I captured this male Tiger Swallowtail enjoying an Ironweed plant and found I had a bug bonus.  😁


Thursday, August 9, 2018

8/9/18

This is an image I took of a waterfall outside Pagosa Springs Colorado in May called Silver Falls.  It was an interesting one to get to, a very bad over 8 mile road that I was very glad to have a 4 wheel dive vehicle for.  Because the road was so bad there are not many people who go there so we had the waterfall to ourselves.  I had forgotten to bring my filters to use to slow my shutter speed down but I got lucky that it was a partly cloudy day and the clouds darkened it up enough to do it.



Wednesday, August 8, 2018

8/8/18

This is an image I captured a while back in Minnesota of a lovely duck family.  I believe they are Mallards.  I think the young ducklings are very cute when they are so fuzzy looking.


Tuesday, August 7, 2018

8/7/18

My image today was taken when I visited Greenfield Village of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan.  This is the Roundhouse that they still use to service the 3 steam locomotives that they rotate in operation.  It was originally built in 1884 for the Detroit, Toledo and Milwaukee Railroad in Marshall Michigan and was then moved here.  The locomotive on the right is a static display because it is too large to operate on the current tracks.  You can walk down underneath it for a unique view.


Monday, August 6, 2018

8/6/18

I took this image from the Cumbres & Toltec train this past May.  This is as we were on the last leg of the trip heading towards Antonito Colorado and looking into Colorado.


Sunday, August 5, 2018

8/5/18

I took this image the day after my train ride on the Cumbres & Toltec railroad.  I was chasing it and getting shots at different locations.  This image was taken as it is on it's way to Windy Point.  The grade here does not look steep but it has to climb several feet to the top and into Cumbres Pass.  The fireman must be shoveling in coal at this point to make sure the locomotive has enough steam power to make it up the hill since there is so much coal dust in the smoke.  It's dark after it's first shoveled in.


Saturday, August 4, 2018

8/4/18

We got rain last week so my pond and waterfall on the new land have been able to be enjoyed.  This is one of my Leopard Frog buddies that lives there, the other is twice his size.  They let me get very close and take photos and even skim the pond right near them.  I think they are appreciative of me cleaning up their home.  😊


Friday, August 3, 2018

8/3/18

This is an older image aswell that I never shared for some reason.  This is a Gulf Fritillary Butterfly that I captured on Grayhead Prairie Coneflower.  The cone looks gray after the seeds fall off or are eaten.  It is easy to grow from seed.



Thursday, August 2, 2018

8/2/18

I had taken this image a while ago.  I always liked it because the pose with the beak open as it was flying toward the lake always kind of reminded me of a Pterodactyl.  This is a Great Blue Heron I captured out at Milford Lake in the Milford area.  I wish the bird stood out more in the image instead of kind of blending into the trees but I still like the shot.


Wednesday, August 1, 2018

8/1/18

This is an image I took this past June on an evening walk out at Konza Prairie.  I liked the light rays in this one and the clouds.