Happy Monday and happy new week! Spring has sprung like crazy here in my area. The Jonquils and Daffodils and Hyacinths are up and blooming as are the fruit trees. It's been quite lovely after a pretty cold and snowy winter. This image is just a few of the flowers blooming around the yard. These are mostly Jonquils which are smaller versions of Daffodils.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is a little different, I have not been anywhere to see real steam trains. 😏 I was out in Pennsylvania a little over a week ago. This was taken at a museum I was at that was one of the most detailed HO (oops it is O Gauge, missed the 3rd rail) layouts I had ever seen. This was at the Antique Auto Club of America in Hershey PA. The layout had a gas station and firehouse that actual had working features like moving garage doors and vehicles It was very cool. This farm scene was quite detailed as well. The steam train was moving so is not the sharpest. 😅
The other day as I was heading to work there was a lovely sky created by some thunderstorms to the south of us. I had to stop and get a photo and I was pleased that my phone did not blow out the moon for once.
It's Friday, TGIF! I am sharing another summer image today of my Rose of Sharon blooms. Rose of Sharon is in the Hibiscus family. I chose this image for today due to the bubbly bokeh in it because it's my favorite and Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Today's image is of one of the few large butterflies I was able to see and capture this past summer. This is a Black Swallowtail that was visiting the Bee Balm. It is the female of the species.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one that I like a lot, Antelope Horn Milkweed, also known as Spider Milkweed. It is usually found blooming April through June. The fruits can resemble the horns of an antelope as they elongate and curve.
It's a double digit day! 😁 Dark eyed Juncos come to visit our area in the winter. It is one of the few things I enjoy about winter. 😏 They are quite fun to watch as the look around for food. They usually can be seen on the ground looking for it but I captured this one in the River Birch looking a bit puffed out from the cold.
Happy Monday and happy new week! Starting off the week with a flower that is already putting up it's leaves for the year. This is a Surprise Lily after a rain. The leaves have been coming up for over 2 weeks already. They started the week after the below zero weather as we were in the 60s then. It's been yoyoing between normal and cold but nothing crazy like we had. The leaves die off during the summer and then in late July through August the flowers appear and it is quite the lovely surprise to see them.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is one I took of the Porter locomotive as it sat by the Roundhouse right before our safety meeting. The Porter is a tank engine and carries it's water supply in a tank over the boiler. This can help provide traction but can also cause issue as water does not want to inject into a boiler when it is too warm. Since the water is sitting over a hot boiler the water supply needs to be kept fairly full to keep the water cool enough to inject efficiently.
Since we have warmed up a lot I don't mind sharing some photos from when it was cold out. 😀 It was crazy how we went from such bitter cold and snow to more than spring like temps. During the snows the birds were really enjoying the bird feeders and gave me lots of opportunities to capture some images of them. The Blue Jays were even around and gave me a few opportunities at some fun captures like this one. Not sure what it was looking at but I enjoyed the pose.
It's Friday, TGIF! Today's image is a little Sulphur Skipper that was on my Butterfly Bush or Buddleja this past summer. There were lots of these guys around but not many larger butterflies. I thought the bokeh in this image was rather interesting so chose this for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
On a recent bike ride, the weather really warmed up after our -12, we went to the 60s the next week, very weird. Anyway, on the bike ride I saw a large group of deer in a field and crossing the road. I got a few photos of some of them before they crossed to another field and this is one of them.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's image is of one that is a bit hard to capture as it's blooms don't seem to last long. This is a Prairie Wild Rose. They usually bloom May through July. the plant is very resistant to drought due to it's roots that can go as deep as 20 feet. It's hips are a good source of vitamin C and can be eaten raw.
Today's image is another of the Red Tail Hawk images I was able to get recently. I really liked this one as it circled around in my direction.
Happy Monday and happy new week! This is an image of some of my yellow Gerbera blooms from a few weeks ago. It's very nice to have flowers in bloom even in the winter. They lose a lot of leaves but seem to survive OK.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is of 353 stopped at the station for the shift change and to load and unload passengers for their ride around the grounds. Rides are free and you can ride as many times around as you would like. 353 is an ex Soo Line switch engine.
I have one more frost image I wanted to share where it really looked a lot like ferns. I captured this on one of our bitterly cold days on my back storm door while it was still dark out. The frost was illuminated by the porch light. I really like the abstract look of these.
As I mentioned on Tuesday, I have been able to capture a lot of birds this winter. This is a Nuthatch that I was able to capture out my window on the Mulberry tree. I love watching them move around the tree, usually upside down. They are adorable and hard to capture as they don't stay still very long.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's image is one that I hope survived our winter. This is Nipple Cactus. It's height is only 1 to 4 inches and it usually blooms in May and June. It likes dry, rocky prairies and limestone soils. We were quite wet this year so I shall see if it survived, I hope so, I love it's blooms.
I have had a lot of opportunities for bird images this winter. On the first weekend in March I was able to capture a Red Tail hawk fairly closely. It was gliding around on the winds we were having that day and I lucked out that it came towards me a couple of times. They are in our area all year but seem to be more prevalent in the winter.
Happy Monday and happy new week! My Amaryllis is FINALLY blooming. It took forever to bloom this year even though I potted the bulbs up earlier than last year. This is the one that has white highlights but they seemed to show up more on the back of flower than on the front. All my Amaryllis are old bulbs that I save and put outside in the summer and then work to get them to rebloom.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the blog! Today's image is one of the Porter locomotive arriving at the station to pick up it's load of passengers. I was waiting to board as well for my turn at firing the locomotive. I thought this image worked well in B & W which gave it a bit of a moody look.
Today's image is of a lovely sunrise I was able to capture in the beginning of February as I went in the door to work. This is straight out of the camera and only cropped. It was quite vibrant. Don't forget, the time changes tonight and we lose an hour. I think that means I have a chance for more sunrises for a bit but I'd rather we pick a time and stay with it. 😒
It's Friday, TGIF! It's been a week of crazy weather. I am so ready for winter to be over. I am ready to see flowers so I am sharing a flower photo for today. This is a bloom on one of my Rose of Sharon bushes. It had some lovely bokeh so sharing today because Friday's are Bokehlicious!
Today's image is one I hope to see very soon. T on Goldenrod I was able to capture last fall. The flower won't be out until later but I hope to be able to see butterflies around in our area very soon. We had a lot of small butterflies in our area last summer but not very many large ones. It will be interesting to see what we get this year.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one I had difficulty IDing and had to have a Kansas Wildflower expert who runs a website and has a book that I use to help me. He was a bit stumped as well but we believe it is Flixweed Mustard. It is definitely in the Mustard family. It is also known as Tansy Mustard. It is generally found further north. It usually flowers in late spring. It may have been introduced to our area because it was found in an area where there had been a lot of construction.
One day on a walk I got very luck. There was a Bald Eagle that was flying around away from the lake where they usually stay and I was able to capture a few images of it. This is one of the better ones. 😜
Happy Monday and happy new week! It's a double digit day today! 😃 This is a closeup image of one of my Hibiscus plants in bloom. I'll be glad when they can go outside again before they lose all their leaves. I'm happy it is still blooming though.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is another of the 14 inch scale Wagner locomotive while it was being blown down. It was sitting on the turntable at the time to not spray water all over the gravel area and make it muddy. Blowing it down can cool off an engine very rapidly and is not generally good practice if it still has a lot of pressure as it can cause metal stress. It is best to have it cool down slowly to basically no pressure to avoid causing rapid temperature changes to the metal.
It's March already! The year is moving along quite quickly so looking forward to real spring. We have been having much warmer weather but there is still the chance for snow at some point. I was looking through my photos for another image and found this one that I had never shared. These are some very small mushrooms that I found growing in the yard one morning. I liked the ridged or frilled caps on them and I believe these are called Inky Cap Mushrooms.
