Do Bluebirds mean something?

Every day since December 11th, at least one bluebird is showing up every day at the heated bird bath.

I am always surprised at it of course. Bluebirds don't normally spend winters in our area. There must be enough 'berries' around of some sort for them to eat. But I cannot recall seeing them often even during a good summer.

They come when I am not paying attention and hang around sometimes long enough for me to grab a shot out the window.

Every once in a while. I swear the one that sits on the right stares at me for a while through the window.
 

...and then in a blink of an eye.

It is gone, leaving me to wonder if I'd really seen it at all.

I have proof. That Bluebird is watching me.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Rich's favorite bird was the bluebird. They hung around while he was here in Hospice. 

Did he send them to keep an eye on me?

Hmmm.

Chasing ice

 

Thursday after lunch I took off to go look for ice along the bluffs of the Kickapoo River. I waited until after noon to head out as I was hoping for it to warm up above 10 F. It did, but the windchill was still at something like 9 F, if you were facing the winds.

I knew that hiking along the bluffs would keep me on the east side of the river with the forest and the bluff blocking part of the cool breeze. However, since the sun never shines on this section of the bluffs ... except on late summer evenings, it would be chilly next to the rocks.

That is perfect for the formation of little ice falls. Last year there was almost no ice or water in this area due to the drought we'd been having. This was promising sign to see. There is a small 'pond' under the rock that was frozen solid.

Light reflects strangely on ice and water which is why I took my Infrared Camera again.

I'm not sure why the mosses don't turn out with the same amount of colors. I suppose it is just how the light reached the moss and the ice in these two areas.

What the ice looks like in camera:

I channel swap, which means I swap the colors and blue can become pinkish, reddish, or with this filter more orange colored. The ice will almost turn blue with most filters [except the 850nm range which is a B&W filter...very useful for white fluffy clouds against a black sky]

Here was another unpredictable shot. I thought this would just turn out yuck with nothing fun. I wanted to see if I could differentiate the ice hidden inside this fern and moss covered area. It turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.

Some IR photographers call this 'Candy Colored' and I think it is! But the detail in the ferns turned out pretty neat. 

I did take some normal shots, but not many.

Hiking down Willow Trail.

Long Tall Shadows on old 131 Trail.

Charlie, the Explorer. 

December Colors?

What colors does December offer in

the dullest of all the months

of the year?

December is known for being the most overcast and dark month of the year. Well, at least for those of us in this part of the world.

The days are cold, dull, overcast...and the days get shorter and shorter. What beauty can be found outdoors in this month? Last month I challenged myself with November. Now? Maybe I'll challenge myself with December.

At least that will be easy for moment. There have been some great morning and evening skies to admire.

A long time friend that used to be a neighbor and I went with her son on Thursday evening just after sunset for a night hike along old 131 trail in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.

When we dropped from the ridge to the valley, the temperatures dropped at least 10 degrees. My friends commented on that and I suggested we walk up and out of the valley. We did. As we walked, we were able to catch glimpses of meteors streaking across the sky. This was at 6PM when the meteor shower was not supposed to be at its peak. 

We were able to find the Milky Way and searched for any other stars or constellations we could recognize. I'm not very good at that at all. We found the Big Dipper on the northern horizon and the Milky Way stretched overhead from East to West.  I wanted to take a couple of shots, but that takes time to do.

I asked Briar who will be turning 12 next week to be my model. He was cold but he agreed to stand still and look up into the sky with a headlamp on.

This was a one shot deal and thankfully, I got it!

Those guys were chilled, so we hiked back to the car and drove to their house where we visited for a while before I left.

I got up early the next morning to continue my early morning walks with Charlie. I normally hike across the fields so I can watch the sun come up and enjoy the quiet sounds of the rest of the world waking up.

I was not disappointed at all. The skies lit up like fire. 

I set the camera in the cornfield and put it on a timer. I trotted out a little distance so I could capture myself enjoying the show.

It sure was incredible. And it seemed as if it were never ending.

Charlie and I walked back towards home and noticed that the only sounds we heard were a few birds and some dogs barking off in the distance.

We had the whole world to ourselves.

Tonight we are supposed to have patchy fog and rain. Sunrise on the ridge tomorrow morning might be worth looking into. Fog always makes things much more interesting.

The colors aren't just in the sky for December. I hope to find something exciting in the forest also.

Looking for colors in December.

A good challenge.

Sunrise to Sunset

I didn't intend on getting up early, it just happens. I do like sunrises and this winter I avoided a few spectacular ones because I was too lazy to walk to the ridge.
And it was terribly icy and cold.

However there was no excuse Sunday morning.
Our temperatures had been warm and overnight the temperatures had fallen into the 20's. The gravel roads had firmed up.

I warmed up the car and off I went. I didn't go far, but the car makes it easier to get more than one view of the morning sky.

I was able to do a hand held panoramic of the land at the end of the road.

Then I zoomed in towards the old farm buildings and the silo with no top.

I took off towards the other side of the ridge and parked next to a neighbor's cattle pen.

Indeed, the colors seemed worth getting up for.

I got back to the house and had coffee with my husband before the sun peeked over the horizon. Once the sun did make an appearance, the color of the sky was washed out.

We had coffee and I asked Rich if he'd ever been to the Kickapoo Dam, or if he was familiar with that trail. He said he hadn't ever been there, when he was riding the land it would have been a rather boring trail for the mules.

I told him I was thinking of checking it out for a place to go watch the sunset. I wasn't sure I wanted to go alone so when my neighbor Lauren came down the driveway with some fresh eggs, I ran the idea past her.

She mulled it over. I told her that the trail from what the Kickapoo Reserve site map indicated, it would be rather short and fairly easy.

We agreed on a time and I went back to doing farm things. I watered the stock tanks and we fed some large bales out to the cattle.
Buster was feeling lazy and posed for me...

Rich worked in the shed and I wandered out there and took some shots of him working. I've asked him to be my model numerous times. He never seems to mind me pointing the camera at him.

I made a batch of chocolate chip bars and then decided to take a quick nap before our late afternoon adventure.

We headed out to KVR and started our hike.
It was a rather nice one too. Not hard at all.

It didn't take us very long to get to the dam. The project was halted in 1996, you can read about it for yourself. History of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.

I'm happy that this land is here and we are able to do so much on it. How lucky can we be to have so many parks, reserves, and county parks in our county?

Very lucky I say.

The sunset was not spectacular as I'd hoped for. It was rather dull, however the kids enjoyed running and playing until twilight set in.
Then we passed out flashlights and started back down the trail towards the Administration Building.

My conclusion is that this could be a great area to watch either the sun rise or the sun set. And it is always somewhat of a crap-shoot to find out if the skies will bring you something fantastic.

Note: The sunrise shots were done in 'sunrise' or 'sunset' mode on the camera. Most cameras have them. However I find that the colors are often overblown and unrealistic. I prefer to use the manual setting on the camera to get truer colors.
The panoramic shot was done in a sequence of four shots. I was able to bring some of the cropland back from the dark shadows.
A slight underexposure of a sunrise or sunset will also give you brilliant colors. 

Checkin' Fences on a hot afternoon

Bunny was in the 'wrong' pasture the other evening, so I decided I'd better get back to walking the fences every other day and making sure all is right.

I found a place where the deer must have gone through and knocked off insulators and twisted the hot wire over the top of some posts.

I'd never seen anything quite like that before. But I went to work. I'd already taken the Weed Chomper to the other section of fence line and this line was nice and clean.
The Dexters do a great job of keeping the fence line spic and span.

I really do enjoy going out and wandering around looking at the fences, it is a great excuse to get outside and take a few farm shots.
Yesterday however, I only had my new Smartie-Phone to use.

It surprised me!

You can see the Dexter pasture, a round bale, and in the distance two red molly mules in the Merry Meadow.

The sky was incredible. I just loved the greens, blues, and the sky of course!

Thor agreed with me and had something to say when I walked past him back towards the house.

I swear he was saying, "Hot enuff for yah?"

And yes, it was HOT and sticky and very humid.

But the fences are cleared, and all are nice and 'hot' again. I think I'll make sure I go more often.
Remodeling has sidetracked us to some extent and ... well, who can resist going to check a fence when the view is like this?