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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I am sharing another image of the great farm located on the grounds of the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion. It is such a nice example of bygone days. They use the farm for demonstrations of horse power.
It's Friday, TGIF! The leaves on some trees are already turning yellow and falling. I think it's in part due to the fact that it's been really dry lately. These are some leaves from my Golden Rain Tree that are turning. I am also sharing this image for today due to the lovely bubbly bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
I had forgotten about the eclipse till I was outside the other evening, 9/17, and was reminded so I grabbed my camera and took a few photos. This is the first (left) and last one I took. It never changed very much in about 15 minutes time. It was still interesting and fun to capture. Wish I hadn't blown out the bright part in the first image so badly. 😏
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! These flowers have been blooming like crazy everywhere in my area the past couple of weeks. It is lovely to see them. I took this image on my way home from work one afternoon. These are Common Sunflowers, the state flower of Kansas. They can bloom July through September. We usually get them late August into September. They can grow up to 12 feet high.
When I am out on Konza Praiire I am usually treated to views of these birds. I see them around my area ever now and then as well. This is a Nighthawk that was hovering above me several times while I was out on the Prairie in early June. They make an interesting noise when they dive for food which is usually your first clue that they are around.
Happy Monday and happy new week! I have a co-worker who gave me some Hollyhock seeds which I planted this spring. It took a long time, much longer than hers but mine is finally starting to bloom. It was well worth the wait because it is gorgeous I think. A dual color double. I am looking forward to the rest of the buds opening up.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! The Ortner Railroad which is the official name of the 14 inch scale train area that I help operate at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's reunion had a night run. There were various areas on the grounds that ran at night to give people that are working at other areas a chance to see and do things. It was very well received and they had around 300 riders. They operated until around 11pm. I took a ride but did not work it. The ambiance was really nice with hanging kerosene lanterns around the loop, we used an LED flashlight as a headlight, that was my idea. 😊
There is a very short video located HERE if you would like to see a bit of how it went.
I have seen lots of Dragonflies around lately but not at my pond. They have been flying around the fields for some reason. Anyway, this is an image from earlier this summer of one that I captured resting for a moment. I like how the wings were capturing the light.
It's Friday TGIF! It's also Friday the 13th! 😟 Usually it's a good day for me, hope that continues. LOL My pink Gerbera Daisy has been blooming lately even with the heat we had though it has cooled down now. I captured this image of it with some great bubbly bokeh behind and I am sharing it today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
This little white Crab Spider had been on one of my Coneflowers or Echinacea pretty regularly. I captured it one day and thought it was kind of a fun picture as the markings on it's abdomen in this position look like a face.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog. I have a bit of a mystery today. I photographed this plant in June and there was a good amount of it around at the time. I believe it is a type of Wild Mustard but I am not sure of the variety. The one that looks closest to it, does not grow in our area according to my sources. Anyway, it was fairly photogenic. 😁
Today's image is an older one that I was able to get earlier this year, in late spring. It is a Red Tail Hawk that was flying above me. It shows the bars on the wings that help identify them pretty well.
Happy Monday and happy new week! It's a double digit day today! 😁 At the Steam Threshers Reunion in Minnesota, there are some people who go around to the various areas and decorate with flowers. It makes things look nice and colorful. This year they had some lovely Fuchsia in the Ortner Train area which is where the Wagner locomotive runs. This one was a lighter pink color compared to the darker colors on the one I have.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I was in Minnesota last weekend firing on 3 different trains. It was great! LOL For 4 days I started at 10 on one and finished at about 6 on the last one. There were other people there too so it wasn't non-stop. This is the one I started the day on, the Porter tank locomotive. It is pulling into the station for it's first round of the day on the last day of the show.
Today's image is from the Frontiers In Flight Air Show at McConnell AFB in Wichita Kansas I was able to attend a couple of weekends ago. I really wanted to see this group, the Blue Angels fly. I had seen them years ago when I was a kid. They put on a really impressive show with their close flying acrobatics.
It's Friday, TGIF! Today's image is of one of my favorite wildflowers, Prickly Poppy but I am sharing it today because of the great bokeh. Friday's Are Bokehlicious here on the Blog!
I love seeing Ladybugs which are actually beetles and not really "bugs". They eat aphids which can be bad for plants so it is good to see them around taking care of things. I found this one on my Milkweed earlier this summer.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's image is an older one once again and a different one as it is not from my state. This is a Wildflower from Minnesota that I have been fortunate to see a few times while visiting there. It is their state flower and is rare so it is illegal to pick them or dig them up. It can take up to 16 years for them to produce their first bloom.
Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend an air show at McConnell Air Force Base down by Wichita, KS. I say lucky because the Sunday show was cancelled due to a bad storm in that area. It was hot but not horrible as there were some clouds that would keep it a bit cooler most of the time. One of the flying demonstrations we were able to see was Tora Tora Tora which recreates the attack on Pearl Harbor during WWII. They use T6 Texans to recreate the planes as there no Japanese Zeros around any longer. It was quite the neat show.
I have a video HERE if you would like to see a bit of the performance.
Happy Monday and happy new week! I shared my white water Lily a while back. My pink one has been blooming recently and produced this very nice bloom.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! It's also Labor Day Weekend and time for the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion where I will, hopefully, getting to operate this locomotive. This is the 14 inch Wagner large scale locomotive that I took a photo of when I was there in June. It's sitting at our new loading area.
