12/19/14

Well another day where we have not seen the sun.  I am beginning to forget what it looks like.  This image is from a lovely day in June in Minnesota.  I was out with some relatives on a photography outing and we saw several of these yellow Lady Slipper flowers.  The shape is what gives them their name and they are part of the Orchid family.

12/18/14

Well we got some snow but it only ended up being a couple of inches so just enough to make it very annoying.  So dreaming of summer again.  This is a Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly that was on some garlic blooms in my garden that have gone a bit wild.  This type of butterfly is very small, only about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches wide.

12/17/14

Really have gone in to winter now, a winter storm watch is underway.  We are not supposed to get much and I hope we don't.  I took this photo back this summer at the top of Mount Evans in Colorado.  It was incredibly cold and windy up there but this mountain goat seemed to not mind with it's lovely fur coat.  Wish I had had the same while I was taking the shot.  I did have a jacket thankfully but it was still pretty chilly.

12/16/14

Well, we are back to winter now.  Knew those warmer temps couldn't last.  This is from this past summer on Mount Evans in the Bristle-cone Pine Forest in Colorado.  They grow at a high elevation so the view is quite lovely across the mountain range.  The clouds added to the view as well. I love the shapes of these Bristle-cone Pines.  They seem to twist and turn as they grow.

12/15/14

So yesterday it was 60 degrees out and today it's snowing.  Ah, weather in Kansas, gotta love it.  Or not.  This is an image I took this past fall at a friend's house of one of their roosters.  They raise chickens for their eggs.  She got a poultry one by mistake and she makes sure it exercises every day so it doesn't get too heavy like they are supposed to do if you were going to eat them.  Too cute.  This guy was very handsome so had to get a shot of him strutting around the yard.

12/14/14

Today is our 5th dreary day in a row.  Have not hardly seen the sun in these days.  Not getting any rain out of it either.  Our best chance is for this evening.  Hope we get it.  This image was taken on a dreary morning in Rollag, MN at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion.  Locomotive 353 is about to head up the hill, the steepest grade on the track, to the station where passengers load and crews change.  The hill and improper operating on the fireman's part has caused many a repair to flues.  If the fireman opens the firebox door to add coal as it is going up the hill and working hard it draws in too much cold air and causes expansion and contraction in the flues that carry water through the boiler.  This then causes them to leak on the area where coal is and then you have big problems.

12/13/14

Hey, cool date today!  12/13/14  :-)  This image was an experiment with a fade effect in Photoshop.  It was inspired by a line in an Elton John song, All my pictures seem to fade to black and white.  I liked how it turned out so thought I would share.