It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! During the memorial run at the C & H Railroad one of the former engineers was out for the event and got locomotive Number 5 steamed up. He and I were taking some artsy images of it and this is one of them. Number 5 is a highly modified Ottaway locomotive and is the first locomotive that was run on the railroad. It was nice to see it operating again.
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Saturday, November 9, 2024
11/09/24
Today's image is of a lovely sunset I viewed while walking a couple of weeks ago. Venus is captured in the image as well. The comet is probably in it as well but it was much too dim at this time to see it and the sky much too bright. 😄
Friday, November 8, 2024
11/08/24
It's Friday, TGIF! Today's image is another for Autumn. This is some more leaves from my Amur Maple. Most of the leaves on this tree and others are mostly down now after the 50mph wind gusts we had for a couple days last week. I chose this image for today due to the lovely bubbly bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious here on the Blog!
Thursday, November 7, 2024
11/07/24
Today's image is another from a visit from a large White Lined Sphinx Moth. It was visiting my Surprise Lilies and I was able to get a few images of it of which this is one. They are also known as Hummingbird Moths because their movements are very similar as is their size.
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
11/06/24
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's wildflower is one that I didn't see much of this year, this is a Maximillian Sunflower. They usually flower in August and September. They are nutritious for livestock. They are a bit different than the usual Sunflower because of all the many blooms they produce.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
11/05/24
Posting a bird that I love to capture, they are very bright and beautiful to see. This is a male Cardinal that was hanging out in the Walnut tree in the backyard late one afternoon. I was amazed that it stayed long enough to get several shots of it from a couple different places.
Monday, November 4, 2024
11/04/24
Happy Monday and happy new week! Starting off with an image that makes me happy, a butterfly and a Zinnia. This is a Clouded Sulphur butterfly I captured this past week on one of the Zinnias in a pot on the deck.
Sunday, November 3, 2024
11/03/24
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is from last Saturday at the railroad I help out at outside Topeka Kansas. It was a lovely autumn day and the weather was pretty good and Santa came and visited with the kids which they enjoyed very much. This is an image of one of the steam trains as it was crossing the bridge as it left with it's passengers. I also have a short video of this run HERE if you would like to watch.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
11/02/24
The trees have been pretty lovely this autumn, much to my surprise. It's been so dry several trees have dropped most of their leaves already. The ones that have been left are putting on a nice show. On a day while walking about 2 weeks ago now, we actually got a little bit of rain. The late afternoon light on the trees against the rain clouds was making the colors really stand out.
Friday, November 1, 2024
11/01/24
It's Friday, TGIF! It's also November, Christmas is coming! 😂 My Amur Maple tree is producing some lovely colors in it's leaves. I had to share this image I took due to the fabulous bubbly bokeh behind the leaves. If you follow the Blog you know that Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Thursday, October 31, 2024
10/31/24
It's the last day of October. It's also Halloween here in this country which is a fun day of decorations and candy. 😂 Today's image is just a fun creation I photoshopped together of some decorations I saw this past week and an abandoned house in PA.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
10/30/24
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog and the last one of October! Wow, the year is flying by. Today's flower is Plains Milkweed. It usually blooms July through September. It is in the Dogbane family. It grows in dry, rocky and/or sandy soils and on roadsides. I captured this group on a roadside while on a bike ride.
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
10/29/24
Fairly often, while watering my plants, because we get no rain! I digress. Fairly often I see my Tree Frog buddy. I discovered that he also has a big brother living in another one of these plants, the yellow one. They apparently like Gerberas as much as I do. They don't like getting wet though so that's how I get to see them. 😅
Monday, October 28, 2024
10/28/24
Happy Monday and happy new week! My Hibiscus plants have been enjoying being outside this summer. This one I had almost gotten rid of at one point but it really started to look nice and healthy and has been flowering fairly regularly. I took this image a couple of weeks ago and liked how it showed off the textures of the bloom fairly well.
Sunday, October 27, 2024
10/27/24
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is a closer up view of the Union Pacific Big Boy as it was traveling through the area on it's way back to Cheyenne Wyoming. It was very nice to be able to see it even for such a short time. It was a great time of year for viewing with the trees turning color. The Big Boy was delivered to the Union Pacific in December of 1941 and was retired in December of 1961. It was reacquired by the UP from the Rail Giants Museum in Pomona California in 2013 and was restored and back on the rails by May of 2019. This was it's second trip through Kansas, the first was in November of 2019.
Saturday, October 26, 2024
10/26/24
This past week I decided to head out to Milford Lake and see if I could catch the comet with some nice scenery instead of where I took it before. It was a lovely evening and the sky was very clear and I could see the Milky Way overhead so I decided to capture that as well. When I got home and was looking at my photos I saw that I had captured the comet in these photos as well which was a very nice surprise. This is a stack of 6 images to reduce noise and improve clarity. The comet was quite a bit fainter now and could not be seen by the naked eye, I had to use my phone on Night Sight to find where to point my camera to capture it. It is Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas and is heading away from us on it's 800 year journey around the sun.
Friday, October 25, 2024
10/25/24
It's Friday, TGIF! We made it. 😂 Friday's Are Bokehlicious and today's photograph has some lovely bubbly bokeh in it. This is a closeup view of a couple of the sprigs of my Lavender plant. It's a lovely smelling plant.
Thursday, October 24, 2024
10/24/24
It's a double digit day today! 😁 Large butterfly visits to my yard were kind of few and far between this year. I did have a Great Spangled visit a couple of times but this one was seen on a walk early this year enjoying some wild clover.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
10/23/24
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! This week's flower is New England Aster, I believe. Some are hard to tell apart but the leaves and plant in general seem to match. I captured these at the Discovery Center in Manhattan a little over a week ago. They were attracting some bees and Monarchs which was great. Their normal bloom time is September and October. They can grow to 6 feet high which a lot of these were.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
10/22/24
I was in Manhattan at a conference for work a couple of weekends ago. For the closing event we went out to a farm just outside of town. The owner had spoken to us and basically thinks that the way small farms will survive, because they cannot these days on crops alone, is to provide experiences that the public can come out and enjoy. One of the experiences this farm has is a Budgie House where you can go inside and feed them or just watch them fly around or as in this capture, sitting on a perch. I was surprised at all the different colors of them there were, especially the blue. Budgies are probably more commonly known in the US as Parakeets which are a type of Parrot.
Monday, October 21, 2024
10/21/24
Happy Monday and happy new week! I am starting off the week with a Morning Glory photo. I ended up with 2 different colors of this flower, this light one with pink highlights and then the darker all pink one. I have been enjoying these since they finally decided to flower. They took a long time but really put out quite a few blooms once they got started. They survived the frost we had as well behind the sheet I covered them with so that was nice. We aren't supposed to freeze again for at least 2 weeks.
Sunday, October 20, 2024
10/20/24
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is the second cool thing I was able to see this week. On Thursday, the Union Pacific's Big Boy locomotive was coming through my area of Kansas on it's trip home to Cheyenne Wyoming. I went a bit west of town to photograph it with this bridge. The Big Boy is a massive 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement locomotive that the UP restored a few years ago. It had been out on a big Midwest publicity trip. It was pretty late getting to where I was but worked out nice in terms of lighting with the very late afternoon light on it and the autumn colors. I have a very short video of it HERE. It's kind of funny, you anticipate and wait for the day to come and then for it to actually arrive and it is something you only see for about 40 seconds. 😂 Still fun though.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
10/19/24
So, this week I was able to see a couple of cool things. The first was this, Comet C 2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS, what a name huh. 😄 It has to do with when it was discovered and who it was discovered by. I captured it on Tuesday and I was trying to do some different types of processing which was not working for various reasons so I finally ended up with this image. You could see it with your naked eye but it was quite faint but still very cool.
Friday, October 18, 2024
10/18/24
It's Friday, TGIF! My Japanese Toad Lily has been blooming lately. It is a very interesting and different plant I think. The blooms are rather unique looking. They are in the Lily family and are a plant that prefers shade. I chose this image for today because of the lovely bubbly bokeh because, as you know if you follow the Blog, Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Thursday, October 17, 2024
10/17/24
Today's image is a fun one I was able to get a little while back. I was washing our travel trailer and there was a Praying Mantis that was perched on it in the sun. I found it an odd place to find one but a neat place for a photo. I really liked the shadow it was casting and that I was able to capture.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
10/16/24
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Todays flower is Buffalo Bur also known as Kansas Thistle. It is a very drought resistant plant and very aggressive. We have discovered this in some disturbed areas of our yard as it is the only thing that is growing and doing well. When the plant is mature, it breaks off near the base of the stem and then rolls like a tumbleweed and scatters many seeds.
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
10/15/24
Today's image is how I normally see Great Blue Herons. This was taken early this year before I got lucky with a few that cooperated with me. I love to watch them flying and I love how their legs hang out behind them. This one was even harder to capture because of all the tree branches behind it.
Monday, October 14, 2024
10/14/24
Happy Monday and happy new week! I am going to start off the week with something that makes me happy, butterflies and flowers. This is a Painted Lady butterfly that I was able to capture recently visiting my Zinnias. Remember when you are planting next spring, Zinnias are great flowers to plant to draw in butterflies. They grow from seed and are fairly low maintenance.
Sunday, October 13, 2024
10/13/24
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Last weekend I was in Abilene Kansas for their Heritage Day at the Dickinson County Historical Society. That weekend, the steam engine is fired up to run the CW Parker carousel. The engine is from 1901 and is original to the carousel and is the oldest operating CW Parker carousel. I have helped operate it for the last 2 or 3 years now. It was a good day and the firing went well, it has no draft door so keeping the fire even is a bit of a challenge. It is fired with wood that is mostly hedge. Someone there called it "Kansas Coal". It is a quite hard wood.
Saturday, October 12, 2024
10/12/24
The Frontiers in Flight Air Show at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita had several performance planes. The old WWII planes were very cool to see both on the ground and especially the ones that flew. This is Swamp Fox, a P51 Mustang that was very cool to see. The hubster's grandfather help to build them during the war.
Friday, October 11, 2024
10/11/24
It's Friday, TGIF! I finally have an Aster plant that I bought and planted that is doing fairly well. Yay. It was blooming recently and attracting the small butterflies that have been around this year. I captured this Clouded Sulphur enjoying the blooms one afternoon. The image has some great bubbly bokeh so sharing it today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious here on the Blog!
Thursday, October 10, 2024
10/10/24
It's a double digit day here on the Blog! 😀 I saw this cool guy on the roof of one of our cars one day recently. It stayed fairly still and I was able to get up close to it with my phone. This is a fairly large Katydid. I like how the wings really look like leaves, they would blend in well on a tree. Not so much on a car. 😆
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
10/09/24
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! I don't think I have shared this flower this year and it is one of my favorites! These are Black-eyed Susan that are growing on the bank of my Gazebo Pond. They usually bloom May through September. They are also known as Rudbeckia Hirta and are in the Sunflower family.
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
10/08/24
Today's image is one from this spring when I was able to view several groups of ducks passing through the area. I captured this group after they took off from the pond I originally saw them on. There were some Blue Wing Teals and a couple of Buffleheads in the group I believe.
Monday, October 7, 2024
10/07/24
Happy Monday and happy new week! Today's image combines 2 of my favorite things. I captured this Monarch butterfly on my Cosmos. There were a few Monarchs around last week as they made their way south. It was nice to see them again as there have not been many larger type butterflies around this summer.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
10/06/24
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Back in September we did a memorial run for the owner of the railroad that we play at outside of Topeka. We had all 3 of the steam locomotives that he had that were able to operate steamed up and running. It had been quite a number of years since the locomotive with the green tender had last been running. It was a good day and a nice tribute to him to be able to have all 3 operating again. The green one is known as Number 5 and was the first locomotive they had to use on this railroad.
Saturday, October 5, 2024
10/05/24
This is another image of the Blue Angels that I was able to get at the Frontiers In Flight Air Show at McConnell AFB in Wichita. As I mentioned, there is a great documentary on them on Amazon Prime. Each pilot is only in the group for, at most, 3 years. It is a very prestigious position but requires them to be away from home for quite a lot of time. They have a Winter Training where they have to complete 120 flights and then a very rigorous schedule of shows across the country. They fly Boeing FA-18s and pull very high G Forces in the maneuvers but don't wear G suits as it can affect them having complete control over their plane. They control G Forces by doing muscle contractions. When they perform their maneuvers, there are times that they are only 18 inches apart. Pretty incredible.
Friday, October 4, 2024
10/04/24
It's Friday, TGIF! Today's image is of my lovely Hollyhocks. I was pleased to see several blooms open at once. I was also pleased by the lovely bokeh behind them because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Thursday, October 3, 2024
10/03/24
I was out watering my plants this past weekend, because we haven't had enough rain in forever. 😞 This Tree Frog hopped out of my Lantana plant because he, apparently, wasn't fond of getting wet. I had no idea it was in there. It then stayed on the deck long enough for me to grab a couple of images of it. I find these little guys kind of cute.
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
10/02/24
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one I enjoy a lot. This is Wooly Verbena. It usually flowers June through September so it is done now, I took this image during a bike ride a while back. It is very drought resistant with roots that can extend to 12 feet. Cattle do not like the taste as it is bitter. Plains Indians made a tea from the leaves to treat stomachaches.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
10/01/24
It's October already today and autumn is on the way. I have a Hummingbird feeder hanging off the deck but lately the Hummingbird has also been visiting the flowers I have in pots on the deck. It was actually raining a bit last weekend and I was finally able to capture the hummer visiting the Lantana. It looks a bit frazzled due to the rain. I am pretty sure this is a female Ruby Throat.
Monday, September 30, 2024
09/30/24
It's Monday, happy new week! It's also the last day of September already! The year is flying by. Today's image is of my Morning Glory which is finally blooming. It took forever to start but it is putting out several blooms each day and looking lovely. This is a 3 image focus stack of a few of the blooms. I planted 4 seeds and the result was blooms in dark pink and light pink.
Sunday, September 29, 2024
09/29/24
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I had been sharing cab photos and I have one more to share of the ones that I operate. This is the inside of the 14 inch scale Wagner locomotive at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion. This was on Thursday before the show as we were steaming up to test and it started to rain so it is partially inside the roundhouse. The steam pressure gauge is showing close to 125 lbs of steam pressure. The red handle under that to the left is for steam to the oil pump. Just above that in a darker red is the left side water injector steam. The chain is for the whistle. The black handle to the right of the chain is the "blower" to get airflow through the firebox when you have steam pressure up to help the fire burn better. The red handle is for the right side injector to bring water into the boiler. The 3 handles at an angle are the Try Cocks. They help you determine where the water level is in the boiler in case something is wrong with the sight glass (the angled tube on the left of them, or just as a double check. The handle in the middle is the throttle. The black lever to the lower right is the Reverser which also makes it go forward. The little knob down at the right is for the cylinder cocks, to open and close them. The lever on the left is a brake which kind of works. 😂 The blue valves on the lower right and left are for the water from the tender for the injectors.
Saturday, September 28, 2024
09/28/24
At the end of August I went down to the Frontiers In Flight Air how at McConnell Air Force Base. The second day was cancelled due to a bad storm causing some damage that morning. It was a great show with various airplane flying acts of which the Navy Blue Angels were the star of the show. They put on a wonderful demonstration of their precision flying. I highly recommend seeing them in person if you can. I also highly recommend a documentary on them that is on Amazon Prime Video right now and shows how the pilots are chosen, how they train and what their life is like while in The Blue Angels (title).
I have a very short video HERE of a bit of the performance.
#frontiersinflight
Friday, September 27, 2024
09/27/24
It's Friday, TGIF! The Monarchs are coming through my area right now. I saw and photographed one while I was mowing and then saw a couple more in my yard. This is one of them that I captured enjoying my Zinnias. I also chose this image for today due to the great bubbly bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Thursday, September 26, 2024
09/26/24
I have not seen many Praying Mantis around this year but then saw 2 in 2 days. This was the first. It was at the railroad I help run outside Topeka where they store the locomotives. It was getting dark and we had the light on which attracted numerous insects and then this guy who could get a fairly easy meal.
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
09/25/24
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one of my favorites but hard to catch for me. It is Western Salsify or Goat's Beard. It is in the Sunflower family and closes up in the heat of the day. When it goes to seed it resembles a very large Dandelion. It's roots are edible and are said to taste like Parsnip.
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
09/24/24
It's a double digit day! 😁 This image is one that I was able to get this spring, I have not seen these birds around all summer. Maybe they go north to get out of the heat. This is an American Kestrel. They usually hang out on the electrical wires at the corner of the road I walk pretty often. Hope they return this year. They are an endangered bird as their habitat is disappearing.
Monday, September 23, 2024
09/23/24
It's Monday! Happy new week! 😋 We have been VERY dry lately but my Cosmos is still doing well. I really am glad I finally discovered this flower. It grows well and even reseeds itself which is very nice and I love the flowers. This is a phone picture I quickly took one afternoon while walking past them and saw this lovely group.
Sunday, September 22, 2024
09/22/24
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is of the 14 inch scale Wagner locomotive at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion. I took an image of it in front of the fancy coaling tower that the Ortner Railroad received last year. The detail that was put into this building was quite extensive and realistic.
I have a new short video of this locomotive doing a test run with the passenger cars during the show this year. The video is located HERE.