Saturday, February 28, 2009

Three Tenors and friends

These sandhill cranes are my entry for the Camera Critters Meme...click on the link above to join the participants or to just visit a few more. Now to the pictures, I am sorry there are so many of them but I had a heck of a time narrowing them down to this many. I really hope you will click on them for the full benefit.
This one above is the one I call The Three Tenors...
Wednesday was one of the nicer days this week and we decided to go north to the Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife area...we were hoping to fish a little bit but all except one small part of the lake was still frozen. So, we decided to go to the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife area....I was hoping to see the Sandhill Cranes. In talking to another visitor there at Willow Slough, he said his friend had called him and said the cranes had started returning.
So even though it was later in the afternoon, we headed over there. It was only about a 30-45 minute drive. I must say it was so worth the time and effort.
I know what we saw was only a drop in the bucket to what it will be like later. I cannot image what the sound will be like cause it was so noisy with the ones that were there...I would think there was a hundred or two of them and these are just a few photos of them.
Don't you just love their landing still...it made me want to laugh out loud to watch them. They remind me of someone in a parachute...do they you? Time after time we seen them land like these.
They have a wingspan of almost 7 feet...and are around 3 1/2 feet tall.
The ones here were closet to the viewing stand...
We were there about and hour--till closing which is at 4:00 p.m. All that time they were coming and going, but for the most part coming.

We were walking down the ramp and heard all this noise. We turned around and almost every single one of them had taken flight and was leaving. There were deer there also and they took off running, only to pause and look.
I can only say I want to go back!
and remember to click on these photos to enlarge.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sky Watch Sunset

It is time to join that wonder meme, Sky Watch Friday. It is loads of fun, either to join or just to visit the ones that have joined. So check it out. I always find a few new blogs that I want to return to on a regular basis when I get to participate. Lately, that is less often than I like.
Roger and I went on a little one-day road trip yesterday to check out a couple wildlife areas. More from one of them later....right now I wanted to show sunset photos from the trip.
I chose these three for today and have more I will share later.

BTW, all of these enlarge even more. I think they are worth taking the time to enlarge...just something about sunsets and sunrises that I love.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

We passed this top mural one day last month...I have had it scaled down since the day I took it, but have not gotten around to posting it. It was a drive-by shot...could have been better but not to bad from a moving vehicle.
These were taken years ago in a little town about 20 miles north of here. Icannot remember if I have ever published them...I know I had it planned for July 4th and think I forgot them. But I may have published them later.
I totally love both the top mural and this flag...just something about someone that can do something on this scale. Actually, that they can do them on any scale. I don't have a lick of talent when it comes to drawing....my husband does and so do the girls. Not me.

I even find myself loving a lot of the graffiti on the sides of trains...I keep wanting to photograph some of it and post it but am afraid I would be posting gang symbols. So I restrain myself.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Look at Me!

Look at me. I mean really look at me. I know I am not much too look at now but at one time I was the answer to prayers. I was loved. Someone once saved and scrimped to have me, and was so happy when they could finally claim me as their own. I was one of the high points of their life. They worked and did all kinds of stuff just to have me. They planted flowers and bushes for beauty to surround me.

I had a family….I heard the laughter of the children along with their quiet talks with mom and dad. I heard the children playing on my porch and in the yard. They had a swing in the old oak tree that used to stand out to the side here. They caught lightening bugs in the dusk of summer evenings…finally, after growing tired they would settle on my front porch to plan for another day.

I was home to them...I kept them warm in the winter and sheltered them from the storms of summer. I was the place they took refuge in when life got hard. I saw them through the Great Depression, I was here when the son came home from WWII. I saw one daughter sneak her first kiss in the swing on my front porch. Another left here to be the first to go to college.
Meals were cooked in my kitchen, Thanksgiving and Christmases were celebrated, friends came and went. I was at the center of their life. My living room was a welcoming friend at the end of a long day's work. I was the holder of their dreams.

What led from then to now, happened so gradually I was hardly aware of it happening…the children grew up and married and had homes of their own…after several years the dad died, and not too long after that the mom passed….you can sort of imagine the rest. I was going through my own grieving and was hardly aware of time passing.

Now I am in this state and an eyesore to some, while a few others look at me and wonder what tales I could tell if I could talk.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Cold......

Just thought I would show you proof of how cold it was the other day at the strip pits.
I tried to think of an appropriate title for the post, maybe I should have called it 'Frozen in Time' or something like that. Either I saw that on someone else's blog the other day or someone's picture made me think that. But I don't want to copy someone unless I can give credit, though frozen in time is a common enough saying.
All of these shapes were at the same pond or strip pit. Around here we will say we are going to the strip pits, but once we are out there we say we are going to this or that pond. It is all a matter of where you are when you are talking about them.

BTW, this is the pond the swans were on in Saturday's post.

Ever feel like an old shoe?

Or maybe an old boot? I have been seeing these old boots for I don't know how long. They are on fence posts a couple hundred yards apart on the road to Paris, Illinois. All this time though, I thought that the bottom of the boot sole was like the tongue of a work shoe hanging down. I guess I just assumed since it was at a farm, that it was that kind of working shoe.
It is not your eyes with that top photo..it is a tad bit blurry...it was taken the other day when it was so bitter cold. The wind was cutting right through me. Of all days, I did not have on good layers of clothing. I did have on pantyhose, but they don't help much on days like that. That requires long johns of some sort under the jeans. And maybe even the pantyhose on under them. And preferably either a heavier coat or a couple layers under the carhart hoodie I had on.
I would love to know the story behind these shoes...I know they have been there well over a year. Are they a joke on someone or are they to remind someone of something? I suppose I will be wondering for a long time to come.

But I have felt like an old shoe the past couple of days...have tons of stuff I need to be doing and instead I do nothing. I have been fooling with my cameras...the other day when we were at the strip pits, my zoom lens started this thing of when it focused, it did seem to focus but the motor keep running...and the focusing ring on the lens just kept moving back and forth ever so slightly. I have looked on line to try to find what to do and can find basically nothing...I did find one sight talking about another brand of lens that suggested pressing and releasing the lens release button a few times to do something...I forget what.

I did that...no help. I changed the battery in my camera hoping the one I had in was maybe getting too low to run the zoom lens. It did seem worse if I had it out to 300mm...but that didn't help. So, even though I hated to, I took the lens off the XTi and put it on my digital rebel...it did that thing on it, only maybe not quite as bad. So, I took the lens I had on the Rebel and put it on the XTi, and it worked fine...to me that indicates it is not the camera itself. After all that, I switched the lenses back to the way I had them. So my mind has all this running in the background. Wondering what to do...

It snowed just a bit today--I really thought we were going to get the 1-2 inches predicted by the way it snowed this morn, but it slowed down, then quit, and the sun came out off and on for a little bit, then we got just a bit more snow...but only enough to cover the ground. The wind has blown the entire day, and now it is snowing as I speak and it is going almost sideways.

A cardinal is on the bird feeder and it almost dark...Puss Puss is sitting here beside me watching it through the window. I think the cardinal has its eye on her also..it is taking its slow, sweet time in deciding whether to eat or not. Or maybe it is that the wind is so strong it has the feeders swinging back and forth more than it likes.

The cats are another thing...with it being so cold they go in and out, in and out. A lot of the time one will want out and when we open the door for them, and they feel the cold, they turn around and walk away from the door. They don't want any part of it...or if they are brave enough to go outside, they want back in in about 5 minutes.

So, today and yesterday has been made up of cooking and washing dishes, a little bit of picking up and straightening up, a little laundry, and letting the cats in and out! And I am worn out from it all. LOL

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Just have to share....

If you came for camera critters scroll on down....I just couldn't wait any longer to share these.
I spent the other afternoon with my daughter and Lorelei....I managed to get half a dozen new pictures. That is a b-i-g old yawn in the photo above.
She is so adorable....or at least this grandmother thinks so!
She is very, very cuddly and I did my share of it that afternoon.
I even heard her attempts at crying a couple times but she never actually goes into crying mode. The starts and stops before you know it.

Camera Critters mixed bag

If you want to join the fun of sharing your critters this week, click on the badge above to go join Misty's Camera Critters meme. Just make sure you sign up for the right day...I am posting this early and will join when it opens. There are always some great pictures, and usually some that make me laugh as well.

First, I would like to ask a favor of you if you are very familiar with hawks and did not see this already--would you go down and take a look at my Sky Watch post and see if you know what kind of hawk the one in the first picture is and tell me what you think or know for sure.
Now, to today's post...the one above is of course from the strip pit...there were several of these. What do you think they are...are they trumpeter swans? I took several pictures and this is the best...it was so darn cold I couldn't hold the camera steady.
The calves above are on the way home from the strip pit...at least on the long way home. I wonder if the owners see me stopping and taking photos...I stop quite often to take a few pictures. I hope this summer that I can see someone out and talk to them though I am pretty sure by now that they have figured out I mean no harm.

And do you know what kind of cow the brown one is...I have seen a few here and there but am not really familiar with it. I have been doing a quick google, but being that I have no idea what it is I am not having much luck.
And I just had to include the ones below.
As I have told you before, Puss Puss really loves Roger. She is definitely his girl. Isn't this just the most utter look of contentment?

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Sky Watch

I got to go to the much loved strip pits today...just had to get out there for a little bit. I had noticed that we weren't seeing many geese here at home and I had told Roger I think they have left and I think from what we seen they headed north. I think this is as far south as they come...lots of cornfields and quite a few strip pits...today we seen very few geese and all winter there have been so many. Too many to even begin to count. Today, I didn't see but a couple in flight and not many more on the water.
However, after we had been there we started seeing the hawks...does anyone know for sure what the one above is? I have looked and looked at my books and cannot really decide...he doesn't match anything exactly. Yet from the sound of both books, there are always variations within a species. I don't think he is one of the Northern Harriers...he just was not flying as they normally do. Most times when I see them they do not have their tail fanned out as this one does and if this is one he is a variation.
The sky was interesting...maybe not as pretty as other times but still beautiful.
Depending on the direction you looked, you could get a totally different look. these two were taken within minutes of each other but just looking different directions.
As was this one...just a minute earlier the hill was bathed in sunlight...but a cloud shaded the hill about the time I decided to take a picture. I sat there a few minutes because I thought the cloud blocking the sun was going to pass but it didn't. You can tell by the brilliant blue sky though that it was still there.
And then there was this fellow...isn't he handsome? I think he is one of the Northern Harriers..we seen so many of them today. On one of the pictures of it, I think I can see the white patch on its rump.
If you want to join the fun of Skywatch, click on the badge at the top of this post.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Sepia Scenes

I am headed into town to see that beautiful baby shown above...I don't know if I will be home in time to get this ready for posting so am going ahead and posting early. I do that most of the time anyway.
These first two are from a place called Billie Creek Village in Parke County. The top one is not the best quality but I still like it. I have got to get some time to experiment with sepia. I see things others do and think they are so neat yet I never take time to try to accomplish anything different.
Now, the rake below is one from an Amish farm in Parke county and is one that is actually used...we had one of these when I was a kid. I think mom and dad gave it to someone, but I can't remember who.
If you want to join the fun of Sepia Scenes, click on Lorelei at the top of this blog. She will take you MaryT/the teach's blog for Sepia Scenes. If you are join, make sure and wait till later this evening...it should open up around 4:00 for today's sepia scenes.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Ruby Tuesday

For Ruby Tuesday, I thought I would include a couple entries. Why two? Well, I wanted to show something I had not shown before. That is this hibiscus bloom. It is from a scan, taken in 1996. It was in my mom's yard...she had passed away in February of that year, so this was taken later in the summer.
Then in looking for something for Ruby Tuesday I ran across this barn...I have published it before but not for Ruby Tuesday. It is just sooooo red that I cannot resist showing it again. This is the actual color of the barn...it is so bright it almost knocks your eyes out.
Some might say that it stands out like a sore thumb, but personally I like it. A lot. It is seen if I take a certain route to or from the strip pits. And no I didn't get to go out there today.

I got busy doing laundry, taping off where Roger was painting in what will be Lorelei's room, and the time just flew today. Just think....Lorelei is one week old today! It is hard to believe she has been here a week already.

If you want to join the fun of Ruby Tuesday, click on the little badge at the top of this post...it will take you to The Work of the Poet where you can either join, or just click on links to see other people's entries.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Days like this....

I have been sitting going through some of my photos...I ran across this one and wondered what it would look like in B&W. Needless to say, I am not disappointed. I think both are best if clicked and enlarged. This was taken south of Terre Haute....
Now that the weather is starting to swing back and forth between cold and kind of on the warm side....I think the other day it was into the upper 50's, maybe lower 60's....and today back down to the 20's. Anyway, when it is like this, that is when I really start to long for spring and warmer weather.
And I changed my header back to a summertime picture from the strip pits...it seems like it has been forever since I have been out there. I am hoping to get out there maybe tomorrow. If I don't make it out thee tomorrow, I have no idea when I will get to go.

Tomorrow Lorelei goes back to the doctor for her first check-up...she is still the best little baby. She just sort of squeaks and chirps...I have yet to hear her cry. She is very animated and makes all kinds of faces. She is a living doll.

I have yet to see Otto with her...when we go down he is just so excited to see us that we keep him outside or in a different room. But when it is just them, he wants to sniff and sniff her. I told Sarah that he is implanting her smell on his brain...I really think he knows she is theirs.