Sunday, November 28, 2010

A Rare Vacation Day

The hubster and I rarely have a day off work... together.  He decided to take a week's vacation at the end of October, and I requested a few days off work, so on October 25th, we drove down to Oklahoma City to take in some team roping finals action.

I didn't take too many photos, but instead decided to just enjoy the day!

behind the scenes

top-of-the-line horse trailer displays

hmmm, can we dream for a few minutes??

disagreeable photo subject

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A Lightning Strike

Do you know how many shots I've snapped with my Nikon camera on a stormy day, trying to to get a lightning capture?  I've been known to snap off 300-400 shots and all I captured was flash lightning in the clouds.

So I'm at work several weeks ago when a bad storm came through our area... all I had was my cell phone and lo and behold, I managed to capture a lightning strike.

So it's blurry and grainy.

What do you expect from a cell phone camera?!  ;-}

Note:  The little building has extra gates and such for our K-Tag lanes and that other little structure which is cut off in the photo?  That's our tornado shelter.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Late Autumn Kansas Sunrise

to the north, a lavender glow

to the southeast... the sun struggles to rise

to the south, orange and lavender collide

My early morning sleep was interrupted on October 25 by three very noisy dogs clamoring to go outside... but when I saw our sunrise, I wasn't upset about my sleep being interrupted!

Instead I rushed to grab my camera, running outside with my jammies still on... and left the dogs staring at me through the screen door while I snapped off as many pics as I could before this glorious display disappeared.

Luckily for the dogs, it only lasted a few more minutes!

(All photos are SOOC, straight out of the camera, no Photoshop needed!)

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

September Storms in Kansas


We had some stormy days in September, but this one on September 15 was spectacular.
Above, the front as it heads to the east.

The stormy sunset to the west.

Storm clouds after sunset to our east.
I set the exposure really low to get this shot, hence the purple glow.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Baby Longhorn Eats Lunch


I just adore our neighbor's longhorns.  So many great photographic opportunities.  This mom had two babies earlier this summer... on my way home from work one day I stopped to watch the two kids play... alas, no camera with me!  A video would have been the ultimate - they were so much fun to watch. 

But on my way to work a month or so ago, one of the babies was eating his lunch, I had my camera ... and the beautiful Kansas sky provided yet another perfect photo opp!!

Watch for this photo to appear in the next Grit magazine issue.  :-)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Country Simplicity

Fluff is so much like me... she enjoys the simpler things in life, like a beautiful sunrise.

Our Kansas sun rises over verdant green fields.

What are the simple things in life that you enjoy?

Friday, August 6, 2010

SOOC

Sunrise near Kansas/Oklahoma border
Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC)

Skies so beautiful, no Photoshop necessary.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Barn Kat aka The Bird Assassin


Barack finally took care of that pesky mockingbird a few days ago, the one that's been swooping at him all summer (and last summer too!) Well, one of them... we still have another mockingbird that sings at night.  I hope he knows better than to bother Barack.

Vengeance is mine, sayeth the kitteh.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Black & Yellow Argiope Spider

black and yellow argiopes are common garden spiders
(funny, I've never seen one before!)

size of spider in relation to a horsefly
(Tom killed the horsefly and threw it into her web)

Monday, July 12, 2010

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar

feeding on my dill plant

Not sure which variety of swallowtail butterfly as there are approximately 550 species.  This caterpillar most closely resembles the Anise Swallowtail, or possibly the Black Swallowtail.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Sunset... Color or Black & White?


I think whether it's in color, or in black and white, each style conveys its own message.
Which do you like better?


Monday, June 21, 2010

Welcome Miss Molly.... er, maybe Miss Meg

Not sure yet on her name... but she's the newest addition to our animal menagerie. I rescued her from the side of a busy two-lane rural highway when I was almost home from Ohio last week.

She's one lucky kitty.... right after I picked her up, two semi-trucks went rushing by at over 70 mph!!!!



Saturday, May 15, 2010

Mama Bird Feeds Babies

Thought we had a grackle here, but it's just a common starling.  Darn.

All the same, it's been fun watching her feed the babies, in a nest in the side of our old garage.  One baby kept falling out of the nest... we put him back twice, but on the third day his luck ran out.  One of our cats must have found him.

I gave him a proper lil burial in one of my new flower beds.  Poor baby.



The babies anxiously watch for mum to come back with lunch... check out those silly lil tufts of hair on their heads!!  Do they look like geeks or what??

Mum's back with an exceptionally yummy bug for lunch!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

SkyWatch Friday: My First Tornado!

On Monday, May 10, 2010, around 4:30 p.m. Central time, I witnessed my first tornado as a Kansas resident.  This tornado was 1 mile south of where we live.  After the storm, we drove south and found the path of destruction right along the KS/OK state line. (See more photos on my regular blog... link to the right in my sidebar.)

This was not a huge tornado, but there were several other tornadoes to the south of us in Oklahoma, one large one near Medford (30 miles) and one with multiple vortices near Wakita (45 miles).  There was also a wedge tornado spotted in Hunnewell, KS, only 6 miles away. Both the Medford and Wakita photos/videos were shown on local and national TV stations.  I even had the honor of having several of my photos on our local Wichita TV station on Tuesday.



This first photo (above) is straight out of the camera; as you can see, the sky was light, and so was the tornado, so it's difficult to see.

After I adjusted the contrast, and added some post-processing effects, this is the photo I ended up with (below)... my son said it reminded him of the Wizard of Oz!  How appropriate, huh?



Next time (IF there's a next time!!) I will try to calm down and get MORE and better photos.  Needless to say, being this was my first tornado, I was flitting about like a nervous bird!!!  But I learned that a tornado goes by quickly, and you only have a few chances to get a good photo, so you better hurry up and focus and HOLD STILL.

Visit SkyWatch Friday to see amazing and beautiful skies from around the world this week.

Monday, May 10, 2010

The Quiet Before the Storm(s)


It's a quiet, foggy and misty morning in these parts today.  I took this photo about 2 hours ago... right now, I can hear the wind beginning to kick up around the house.  Our afternoon forecast is calling for a tornado outbreak, so I guess it's going to be an interesting day, huh?????

Friday, April 23, 2010

Paint Horse Published in Grit Magazine!


Featured Comment: "I want to live far enough out in the boondocks that when we hear the sound of a car, we'll know that somebody is coming to see us."  ~comment left by Paul Myers on one of my Grit online blog posts



I just love this autumn photo of paint horse in the pasture.  I guess the great folks at Grit magazine -- which includes Jenn Nemec, web editor, and Caleb Regan,  associate editor -- liked it too, since they used it in their May/June issue.  When I received my complimentary issues of the magazine, I was thrilled to see the comment they selected to go along with my photo... Mr. Paul Myers, you couldn't have summed up country living any better!!


The above photo of paint horse was also published in the same issue of Grit, on the "Your View" page.  So now paint horse is almost as famous as Ringo.  :-)

Side note:  My good friend Sara of Red Pine Mountain was also featured on this same page in Grit.  That's HER blog below my photo, in the Reader Blogs box.  Many congrats to Sara!!  If you have a minute, do visit her blog.  Trust me, you will NOT be disappointed -- she lives in a most beautiful northeast kingdom called Vermont.