Saturday, October 31, 2020

10/31/20

 Happy last day of October and Happy Halloween as well!  I hope the rest of this winter is not quite as bad as October was with temps in the teens already.  Yuck.  I decided I needed a fun picture for today so I hope you enjoy it.



Friday, October 30, 2020

10/30/20

 TGIF!  Today's image is one I took last year and never shared of a butterfly that I think are lovely looking but have a rather unfortunate name.  This is a male Southern Cabbageworm butterfly enjoying the Russian Sage that grows out by the large pond.  As always, I am sharing this image today due to the great bokeh in it because Friday's are Bokehlicious!



Thursday, October 29, 2020

10/29/20

 One thing this year was good for was opportunities for bird photos.  I was able to capture this Mississippi Kite up close one day while on a walk.  It was sitting above me on this wire and didn't seem very concerned with me at all and let me take several photos.  I like this side view because it shows off the eye masking fairly well.



Wednesday, October 28, 2020

10/28/20

 It's Wildflower Wednesday on the Blog!  Today's wildflower is an oddity.  This is Purple Prairie Clover that is supposed to be finished blooming in August.  I photographed this on the 11th of October and saw it still blooming a week after that.  It has been quite a weird year all around.



Tuesday, October 27, 2020

10/27/20

 Today's image is another of the cool visitor I had to my yard a little while back.  This is a side view of a Luna Moth.  They are quite large and lovely compared to other moths.  They are a good 5 inches across the wings.  It was very cool to have one visit and be able to photograph it as they are rarely seen.  Adults only live 7 to 10 days and they are nocturnal fliers.



Monday, October 26, 2020

10/26/20

 Every year my Toad Lily produces more stalks and more blooms which is exactly what I would hope it would do.  😀  This is one of the groups that I took an image of just as it was starting to bloom.  Tricyritis hirta, the Toad Lily or Hairy Toad Lily is a Japanese species of a hardy Lily plant.  It is easy to see why it is called "hairy" when you view it larger.  This is a 3 image focus stack for better detail.  Toad Lilies grow best in the shade and bloom in the autumn.



Sunday, October 25, 2020

10/25/20

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  I only got to do one actual steamy thing this year.  In September I got to go play for a day at the railroad outside Topeka.  We had a day where just families came to play to keep it small and socially distanced. This is Ottaway locomotive 1045 beside one of the railroad signals they have beside the track.



Saturday, October 24, 2020

10/24/20

 Today's image is the only real autumn color landscape I was able to get this year.  With the leaves not turning color very quickly and then the high winds blowing them right off, it hasn't been the most lovely of autumns.  This is a Mulberry tree in my yard that turned a deep yellow and was a bit protected from the wind by the Burr Oaks around it which drop their leaves later than most trees.  This year they have already half dropped as well.  Most likely due to the fact that we have not had any rain for a few weeks now.



Friday, October 23, 2020

10/23/20

 TGIF!  We made it to another Friday!  My Butterfly Bush was very popular this year with the butterflies.  I was able to capture this Clouded Sulphur on my new pink variety of it earlier this year.  It has a little Skipper companion with it as well.  The bit of bubbly bokeh meant I had to post it today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!



Thursday, October 22, 2020

10/22/20

 My Sea Oats grass has not spread like I would have liked it to do but it has thrived in the spot I last tried by the pond.  I love the dainty bowing shape of it with the seed heads dangling from the stem.  They look especially lovely in the autumn when the seeds turn brown and are backlit from the sun.



Wednesday, October 21, 2020

10/21/20

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog!  The wildflowers in this area are just about done for the year.  I was surprised to see this one blooming in this area this year.  I had never noticed it before and it may just have been a really good year for it.  This is Queen's Anne Lace and it is one of my favorites to shoot, I find it very photogenic.  There were still a few groups of it blooming last week but this is an older shot of it from earlier this year.  This image shows it before the flower head has fully expanded and I love the bits of pink in it.



Tuesday, October 20, 2020

10/20/20

 It's a 3 number day today, 10/20/2020.  Nothing special, I don't think anyway, just something I notice.  😄  This guy, or probably gal, was trying to get in my garage one day a bit over a week ago.  I didn't want it to get trapped or run over so I moved it over to the garden where it allowed me to shoot some pics of it after I moved it.  A large, green Praying Mantis.  This is a 3 image focus stack of it to get it's legs and head in focus up this close.



Monday, October 19, 2020

10/19/20

 My Maple tree did not turn very red this year.  We have not had rain for a good while now and have had high winds so we are not having a very colorful autumn period.  Most of the leaves just turned this yellow color with hints of red which was still lovely.  They are practically all gone now though, did not last long at all with the wind, fortunately I got a few shots before they all blew down. I like the bokeh in this shot and bokeh is good any day not just Fridays.  😀





Sunday, October 18, 2020

10/18/20

 This is another image from the Steamfest in Owosso Michigan a while back and another that is half of a stereo image.  The Little River Railroad is a tourist operated one in Coldwater Michigan.  Locomotive 110 is a 4-6-2 Pacific type locomotive built in 1911.  It worked as a logging engine early in it's life.  It has a "blind" center driver on it which means it has no flanges and that allows it to negotiate tighter turns than other locomotives with the same wheel arrangement.  It's quite a lovely looking locomotive that the LRR takes very good care of.



Saturday, October 17, 2020

10/17/20

 Today's images and post is a bit different.  Mars has been visible in the sky for awhile now.  Last month there was one evening when it and the moon were fairly close together so I was able to capture both.  You can see the reddish tint to Mars even though it's rather small in the image.


This image is a complimentary image I was able to get this week.  It's a bit disappointing as it is a phone shot and I guess I still need to learn how to use it because when I changed the mode I shot in, it did not give me a RAW file to work with, just a low grade jpeg.  Anyway, this is the moon and Venus from Wednesday morning.



Friday, October 16, 2020

10/16/20

 Happy Fridat, TGIF!  I saw a good number of Monarchs traveling through my area but they did not seem to stop in my yard very much.  Not sure why as I plant for them but at least I got to see and photograph some.  This is one I captured across the way at the old schoolhouse enjoying the Dotted Gayfeather wildflowers that were growing there.  I guess they like those better than what I was growing for them.  Of course I chose this particular shot for the bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well!



Thursday, October 15, 2020

10/15/20

 This summer was a good time for Hummingbird photos.  This is another of the female Ruby Throat after she turned around on the branch she was sitting on to face me.  I was only about 8 to 10 feet away sitting in a crook of a tree trunk with some branches between us and sitting very still so guessing she did not see me.  It was a wonderful close up experience.



Wednesday, October 14, 2020

10/14/20

 It's Wildflower Wednesday!  Today's image is of one that is currently blooming and is usually one of the last flowers to bloom for the year here in Kansas.  This is Heath Aster which grows on stiff stems in an upright shape with many branches.  The flower centers can be yellow to a reddish purple as seen in this image.  I captured this group blooming in my yard this past week.  Their roots can go as deep as 8 feet making them very drought hardy.



Tuesday, October 13, 2020

10/13/20

 I haven't shared one of my Leopard frog buddies in a while.  I have not seen them as often lately around the pond.  This is a shot from a while back of one who posed very nicely for me.




Monday, October 12, 2020

10/12/20

 This is a flower that came up from a seed packet of a wildflower type mix.  I don't know what it is and if anyone does, please let me know in the comments.  I think it's a lovely one and would like to plant again since it did well from the mix.  This is a darker pink version but there were also lighter ones and white ones.  This image showed some leaves as well to help with an ID.



Sunday, October 11, 2020

10/11/20

 I am going way back in the archives again for Steamy Sunday this week since I have not been able to do much steamy this year.  This is half of a stereo shot from the night shoot I was able to attend at Steamfest in Owosso Michigan.  It was cool to see these 2 locomotives together, the Southern Pacific Daylight 4449 and Nickel Plate Road 765.



Saturday, October 10, 2020

10/10/20

 Double digit day, 10/10/2020.  Nothing that special, I just notice it when typing in my date title.  😀  Today's image is of the Sunflower field I was able to take pictures at this year just a bit south of where I live.  Our sunsets have been affected by the wildfires out west.  The sun appears quite red as it sets.  I hope California gets some relief soon and that everyone stays safe out there.



Friday, October 9, 2020

10/9/20

 TGIF!  I have some Wild Snakeroot growing by the large pond and last weekend before the cold snap I had some butterflies visiting.  This is a Painted Lady with a Pearl Crescent providing some bokeh.  The cedar trunks in the background provided some other lovely bokeh and I chose this image for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!  Since the end of September I have not seen many butterflies around at all.  I guess they got outta here when the cold front came through then.



Thursday, October 8, 2020

10/8/20

 I was able to get a fairly decent shot of a Mississippi Kite in flight not that long ago so I thought I would share it.  These birds have only been in this area fairly regularly for the past couple of years.  Making their way west is search of places to live I guess.  I think they are neat looking birds with their mask around the eyes.  They glide a lot on the wind as well, more than some other birds of prey.



Wednesday, October 7, 2020

10/7/20

 It's Wildflower Wednesday on the Blog once again!  Today's flower is the state flower of Kansas once again as well.  These are Common Sunflowers and they were growing in my yard like crazy this year.  I decided I am not going to allow that as much as the stalks get quite high and quite big around and heavy and are incredibly difficult to clean up.  I do quite enjoy their blooms as sunny Sunflowers make me happy.  This was a lovely trio of them.  They are just about done in our area but you can still see a few blooming by the road sides.



Tuesday, October 6, 2020

10/6/20

 My Butterfly Bush or Budhelia was pretty popular this year.  I captured this neat little visitor one day enjoying the blooms.  This is a Bee Fly and they are quite fuzzy and have a long proboscises to feed on nectar of plants.



Monday, October 5, 2020

10/5/20

 When I first got my new large pond it was very overgrown with Cattails.  I worked a LOT to thin those out and clean up the pond from old debris and other weeds.  I discovered after cleaning all that out that there was a yellow water Lily growing in the pond as well and then this year I added this white one which I thought was going to be pink.  It seems to be thriving as well and I got this image of one of the flowers it produced recently.



Sunday, October 4, 2020

10/4/20

It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  It was just a year and a few days ago now I was out in Pennsylvania in Strasburg seeing and riding behind Norfolk and Western J Class 611 that had come out for some special excursions from Virginia.  A gorgeous locomotive and a very fun time back when days were normal.  It was just starting to move out from a station stop and you can see the steam being exhausted from the wheel cylinders to make sure there is no water in them for any undue pressure and problems after it sat for a bit.



Saturday, October 3, 2020

10/3/20

 The Goldenrod is in bloom and the Monarchs are traveling through right now.  They have been enjoying some of the flowers that are still blooming in the yard like the Butterfly Bush but they always seem to enjoy the Goldenrod as well.  This image shows the blooms of a Goldenrod up close as well, they look like little bursts of yellow.




Friday, October 2, 2020

10/2/20

 TGIF and Friday's Are Bokehlicious too!  I captured this image fairly recently and I loved all the bubbly bokeh captured behind the spider in it's web.  It was a nice fairly flat web as well so I was able to capture it mostly all in focus as well along with it's creator.



Thursday, October 1, 2020

10/1/20

 Happy October 1!  Seems like autumn snuck up on me somehow this year but it is here as the leaves are falling like crazy and most of my flowers are done for the year.  Today's image is one I took at the Sunflower field south of here.  I was there at sunset and this bee seemed to be hunkered down in the side of this bloom for the evening.  You can tell how big the bloom was as I could only get just a part of it in relation to the Bumble bee.