Sunday, July 31, 2022

7/31/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  I haven't done much steamy this year so far so having to still dig in the archives for images.  This is from my visit to Strasburg PA last year when I got to see Norfolk & Western locomotive 611 visiting the railroad there.  I love steam trains in B&W so decided to process this image that way.  I captured 611 here on it's way back to Strasburg from Paradise.



Saturday, July 30, 2022

7/30/22

 When I was in Minnesota there was a tree near where I was working with the large scale train that had quite an impressive fungus on it.  I took this image with my phone of it.  It was fairly large and there were several groups of these.  I had never seen one so large and yellow like this before.



Friday, July 29, 2022

7/29/22

 It's Friday TGIF!  Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well!  Today's image is of my Coneflowers with some beautiful bokeh behind them.  



Thursday, July 28, 2022

7/28/22

 Here is one of the frogs at my pond being quite cliche.  I still have not seen any Leopard frogs this year which is very weird.  I have lots of these guys, Bull Frogs I am pretty sure.  I think Bullfrogs have the ridge by their eye to their ear.



Wednesday, July 27, 2022

7/27/22

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog!  Todays flower is an incredibly prolific one here in my area of Kansas.  It grows everywhere and very easily like a weed.  It has lovely dainty flowers though.  This is Daisy Fleabane, named that because early settlers believed it would keep fleas out of their cabins if they brought cut flowers from the plant inside.



Tuesday, July 26, 2022

7/26/22

 I still have some photos I took early this spring of birds I was able to capture this year.  One day the Kestrel was being cooperative and sat closer than normal on one of the wires.  It gave me a nice over the shoulder look before it finally moved elsewhere.



Monday, July 25, 2022

7/25/22

 Happy Monday!  This is a closeup on the flower of my Spring Cactus that bloomed again this year.  The plant looks a lot like a common Christmas or Easter Cactus but the flowers are different.  I enjoy when it blooms but it isn't as reliable a bloomer as the others either.



Sunday, July 24, 2022

7/24/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  This image goes back to Minnesota once again from this past June.  This is another image of the Porter locomotive I get to help operate.  It's a Tank style locomotive which means it carries it's water in a tank over the boiler.  There is a coal bunker on the back as well.  A nice self contained locomotive though it's range is more limited.



Saturday, July 23, 2022

7/23/22

 It's been pretty hot around here lately, high 90s and 100s.  It was only 95 the other day and it was amazing how much difference 6 or 7 degrees made.  This is another farm scene that I took when I was in Minnesota in June.  Looking at it makes me feel a bit cooler.  😊



Friday, July 22, 2022

7/22/22

 It's a double digit day!  It's also Friday, TGIF!  I have an image for you today with some lovely bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious here on the Blog as well!  There have been several dragonflies hanging out around my pond finally.  It seemed to take a while for them to arrive.  This 12 Spot was hanging out on a spent flower and made a lovely subject.  



Thursday, July 21, 2022

7/21/22

 ! was so pleased again this year.  The Monarchs once again found my milkweed plants.  I captured this Monarch caterpillar on the plant.  There was another smaller one that was actually eating, this one was moving between leaves.  Common Milkweed is the young Monarch's primary food and so the prime place for them to  lay their eggs.



Wednesday, July 20, 2022

7/20/22

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog.  Today's wildflower is one you will be seeing more of on the Blog as it is one of my favorites and I have been getting some lovely bokeh shots with them as a subject.  These are pink (sometimes referred to as purple) Cone Flowers or Echinacea.  They are blooming very profusely in my garden right now.  They spread from a few plants to a large group and I have been enjoying them as have the few butterflies I have seen this summer.  On the very left in this image is a very young one just opening.  They change quite a lot as they fully open.



Tuesday, July 19, 2022

7/19/22

 The Mississippi Kites are fairly new to the area.  They have only been around a lot the last 3 to 4 years.  I discovered the other day that we have a pair nesting in one of the trees on the edge of part of our property.  I was able to capture one of them, guessing the female on the nest this past weekend.



Monday, July 18, 2022

7/18/22

 Happy Monday!  Wow, July is going so fast and soon summer will be over.  My water Lilies are blooming well this year.  This is a bloom from my pink one in my small backyard pond.  It looked so perfect it almost seemed to be fake.



Sunday, July 17, 2022

7/17/22

 A year ago I was at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania which I have been sharing numerous photos from.  This is another locomotive on display there.  This 0-4-0 Switcher locomotive 94 built in 1917 and retired in 1956.  Switcher locomotives were built to move railroad cars around to assemble and disassemble trains.  They needed to be powerful, nimble and compact and have often been described as the railroad version of the Tug Boat.  No. 94 was one of the heaviest 0-4-0s ever built and has a sloped back tender for better rear visibility.



Saturday, July 16, 2022

7/16/22

 I was in Pennsylvania about a week ago visiting family.  I captured this image while out for a walk one day of a local Amish family most likely returning home after church.  I'm sure they were probably thinking, "darn tourists", but they smiled and waved as they passed closer as did I.




Friday, July 15, 2022

7/15/22

 It's Friday, TGIF!  Friday's Are Bokehlicious so I have chosen this photo for today.  My red Lily by the Gazebo pond was flowering quite well recently.  I took a photo of a large group of them and loved the bubbly bokeh to the right especially.



Thursday, July 14, 2022

7/14/22

 Today's image is a fun one I got while at a friend's house for a garden railway meet.  We were sitting around talking and these bees kept flying around in a fairly regular patter so I was able to be ready when it flew into my field of focus again.  I believe it is a Carpenter bee.



Wednesday, July 13, 2022

7/13/22

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog!  Today's flower is one that usually can only be seen if you are a morning person.  This is Western Salsify or Goat's Beard.  The flowers close up by around noon on a sunny day.  After the flowers fade they get a head on them like a giant Dandelion.  The name Goat's Beard refers to the bristly top of each achene or seed head.



Tuesday, July 12, 2022

7/12/22

 I was able to capture this shot earlier this spring.  It's another of a Horned Lark that I got while bike riding.  Once I knew what I was looking for and where to look, I saw them a few times.  I liked this pic as he seems to be a tough guy saying "What are you lookin' at?"  😀



Monday, July 11, 2022

7/11/22

 Happy Monday!  Here are a couple of nice bright flowers to start the week off.  These are the blooms of a friend of mine's Azalea bush.  It was gorgeous and full of blooms when I was there this spring.



Sunday, July 10, 2022

7/10/22

 It's Steamy Sunday on the Blog!  This is the locomotive that I was working with while in Minnesota recently for Steam School.  This is a Wagner locomotive and is only 14 3/4 inch track scale.  It's sitting just outside it's fairly new roundhouse just as I was getting it ready to fire up to run.  The angle of the image makes the scale a bit deceptive looking.  The doors are about the size of a normal person door.



Saturday, July 9, 2022

7/9/22

 I took this image when I was in Minnesota a few weekends ago.  I was coming back from dinner one evening and the wind had finally died down and the water on this pond was like a mirror which made for a lovely rural scene.



Friday, July 8, 2022

7/8/22

It's Friday!  The summer is going so fast. Today's image is one of my favorite flowers, a group of Bleeding Hearts.  I liked the streaky bokeh behind them created by the concrete wall they are near.  This image was chosen for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!



Thursday, July 7, 2022

7/7/22

 It's a double digit day.  I was finally able to capture a decent Dragonfly image at my pond recently.  The Cattails are bent every which way due to the wind and I captured it resting for a moment on one of them.



Wednesday, July 6, 2022

7/6/22

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog!  Today's flower is a very lovely, dainty one.  These are Pale Poppy Mallows.  They bloom May through August.  The root is edible.  They are usually listed under "white" flowers but the petals can range to a fairly dark pink as well.



Tuesday, July 5, 2022

7/5/22

 I captured this image of a Blue Jay in my yard this past Spring.  I have seen them around my house more often this year.  I like how it was posing in this shot and showing off the patterns on it's wings and tail.



Monday, July 4, 2022

7/4/22

 Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US.  I took this image last year at a private fireworks show that was about as good as any public one I have seen.



Sunday, July 3, 2022

7/3/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog once again.  I was in Minnesota a couple weekends ago.  The Porter locomotive that I have been able to work on in the past was out and about running for Steam School weekend.  



Saturday, July 2, 2022

7/2/22

 This is another bird I was able to capture in Minnesota, the same evening as the Loon but in a different pond.  It went by me quite quickly in the water as I walked by and then cooperated for a bit while I snapped photos of it.  This is a female Hooded Merganser, I had to ask for an ID, I didn't know what it was when I saw it.  It had some young ones with it which I saw as I was walking away and probably why it was cooperative, keeping my attention from them, but the picture was pretty crap since it was so dark out.



Friday, July 1, 2022

7/1/22

 Happy July and it is Friday, TGIF!  Friday's are Bokehlicious and today's image is of the flowers of my Mock Orange bush which bloomed recently.  It smells quite lovely when it blooms.  They have some nice bubbly bokeh in the background produced by the light on the leaves on the trees once again.