JEEP WITH A NEW JOB!

How as Ron has been locating caves with Treasure Chests full of gold and jewells, thought the team might need a suitable vehicle to transport such finds!

That rascal is even diving in Hawaii trying to find more laden Chests of gold! Found this perfect transporter of valuable goods that I think if the tires are aired up and an oil change, should make it to California and back to Oklahoma when the goods arrive from Hawaii. In the meantime will put it to use gathering the cave finds and bringing them to the vault for safekeeping.


Tongue In Cheek Post, Just For Fun!

Unreal Photo

No, really, it's not real!

Well, technically, it is real. It's a real photo of a turtle in the doorway of a sunken ship and a real photo of me scuba diving. I just got really tired of working yesterday and decided to play with photoshop a little for a short break and put parts of both photos into one.

I don't know why this technique fascinates me so much but it does. Maybe I could get a job with the C.I.A.  LOL

Peek-A-Boo

Big game hunting.

I'd sure like to know where he dropped those antlers!

FIRE LINES!

These pics from the Wichita Mtns. were taken just a few days after the fires around the First of October. The Firefighters were still cruising around checking for hotspots.

Defined by a randomly wandering line drawn in the grass by the burned area,  there was no doubt where the fire ended. Sometimes the Wind drew the line, other times the Firemen drew the line by containing the fire. I was also told that most of the time this was a true Wildfire and burning completely out of control.

Aided by the road, which made a good fireline, there was a stark contrast between charred and green. When I left the Wichitas a couple of weeks later, these burned areas were already beginning to sprout green grass, and the Buffalo and Longhorns grazing the new growth in preference to the old!

B&W.

Evening Walks!

Sunsets....

... they're easy to get out of bed for!

This is another sunset from the same batch of photos the last one came out of. This was taken on the Wildlife refuge in Southwest Oklahoma, back when I actually had time to get out and take photos!

Wind and Rain!

Took this picture yesterday near Port Hardy. Here on the West Coast we get hurricane force winds (over 60 mph) and rain, lots of rain! November is usually the worst or best (depending on how you want to look at it) for storms like this.

Reflecting on days gone by

Digging through the old files again. I think I posted a version of this a year or so ago. I have a series of shots I took at the same time (about 50) and I pulled this one out to post. Hopefully it's not a duplicate.

This was taken in the Wichita Mountains of southwest Oklahoma.

Making a point

I took this from the back porch of my house in July of this year. At first I was intrigued as the clouds spun down to a point and then it dawned on me, this might not be a good thing since it was so close.

Fortunately, as it came to a point it just spun itself out and disappeared.

Turkeys on the range (instead of IN)

Parker said you can't have too many turkey pictures on this day so here is my two cents worth.

This is one of the few times turkeys blend into a wide open space. Burnt and barren, the ground is great camouflage for the turkeys. Not so much for the buffalo on the ridge line.

Taken on the refuge last month after the last fire. I couldn't decide what to focus on and tried an "all in one shot". It came out all in one but all of it is out of focus instead of all of it being in focus.

This one's coming for you Parker, you've got one of it's relatives in your oven.

GIVING THANKS

On the dawn of this beautiful Oklahoma morning I have much to be thankful for. In just a few hours the house will be filled with our kids, grand kids and lots of friends. My wife and I still have our Dads who also will share the day with us. Twenty-six wonderful people at last count. As I sit here in the calm before the storm and reflect on my many blessings my thanks also go out to my friends and readers, each
who have there own way to enjoy the day.

The smells coming from the kitchen are beginning to make me remember another thing to be thankful for. Just think of Grandmas house on Thanksgiving Day! Sorry Mr. Tom Turkey, one of your domesticated kin, will be the center of attention.

So as my family stands to give prayer and thanks before the meal, I will keep one eye open on the food, knowing full well that my blessings and thanks were given at dawn!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since, I'm working today, so there will be no Turkey cooking from me this year.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

EAGLE WITH A FISH

I am always looking for a picture that the elements of wind, sun, rain and what ever else Mother Nature can throw at it can create. When this ageing old cedar stump caught my attention it reminded me of Paul who is one of the posters on this blog. His Eagle pics are something to behold. After cropping and a critical eye, there was more to this pic than first met the eye! I think we all see the Eagle with the captured fish in it's mouth. But, follow the eye from upper center left to slightly lower right and another eye will change the perspective of the pic. It looks to me like a long nosed creature beginning to grow lichens just like the rocks! Above the crown of the Eagle's head is a smaller carnivore of the bird species with a choice morsel in it's mouth.

Just wondering what every one else sees?

The Forgotten Places!

Red Breasted Sapsucker

Found this little Woodpecker on a tree right in front of where I had just parked my truck. He didn't seem in a hurry to leave so I put the Sigma 120-400 on the D90 and took a bunch of pictures. Here are the best two shots of the bunch.

Mother Nature's art

Caught the sun sparkling iridescent in this spider web and just had to try to capture the beauty I was seeing with my eyes! After some retouching in Photoshop the top picture is what I came up with, the bottom picture being the original I was working from.

Sorry Q didn't have the tripod with me so I had to take this handheld. After a number of tries I used f16 so it would all be in focus.

AUTUMN SUNDAY

Wishing everyone an enjoyable Sunday!



Could not make up my mind which picture I liked the best, So, will show both. 

Reflecting

Afternoon fog

This time of year the fog is usually gone by mid morning, today it didn't burn off until almost 3:00. Made for a nice photo opportunity.

Smelling the Roses!

After I saw Parker pictures on the flowers, I just want to show you his flowers is much better than this.

I went out few days ago to shoot a family portrait for a charity work.  I admitted, I did forgot some of the setting on my gears for the family portrait event.  It always happened for an amateur photographer did not do this regularly.  Therefore, the result is not as good as I expected.

Night Falls From Grand Canyon

Tuweep National Park.

Digging out old photos from my previous trip to AZ. and Utah.  These pictures it was taken with GND soft edge filter.

LAST LOOK

Caught these Wild Roses the day before the hard freeze yesterday morning. Liked their look with the grasses behind them.

Robust and rich with color, heirloom roses are my favorite in the rose family.

Growing close by were these mums that were still looking pretty spiffy. Little did they know what Jack Frost had in store for them!

Checked on them yesterday around noon. This was definately the Last Look on these beauties until next year. All were burnt and beyond repair!

Little Red Riding Hood

Had fun with this picture... Originally the young lady's hood was dark blue but after much trial and error I was able to change it to red using Photoshop CS4.

Anybody got a match??

This is inside the powder room at the historic Fort Scott in Fort Scott, KS

I took these pictures a few years back and I think I may have posted one or two on here before but I can't remember and I was too lazy to go look! LOL

This one has a shadow at the bottom of the photo from the Tamron 18-250mm lens I was using. The on-board flash of the Nikon D80 just wouldn't shoot past it without leaving a little shadow and at the time I was without my nice Sigma wide angle lens.

The weather on the day I took these photos is much like it was today, cold and dreary. Our high today was somewhere around 38 degrees.

I think I need to go look at my Hawaii photos!

Winter already?

Ug! It's starting already... Though I have to admit the fresh snow on the mountains is pretty to look at.

This is the view from Port McNeill looking North at the Village of Sointula and the Mainland Mountains in the background.

WELCOME CHANGE

The change of the seasons from Summer to Fall is an anticipated event in our neck of the woods.

The beginning of the fall equinox began September 23 this year. Most of the Northern reaches of our Country were already celebrating the changeing of the colors at this time.

Here it is the middle of November at our latitude and the dropping of the leaves is just now occuring! After our patience trying hot summer all is forgot and we are welcoming the beauty of the cool and sometimes crispy Autumn mornings. Even the Pines seem to enjoy the change!



The cottonwoods always parade their gold, yellow, and orange cast leaves to those who choose to walk the creek bottoms. After the last energy they could muster to show their beauty to those of us who love to muse,  only the leafless branches will remain. A well deserved rest from the tireless job of bringing spring blooms, shade to cool in, and the grand finale of  a fully dressed encore!