one of my favorite Meatloaf songs was titled this...
When I go tripping by car either as a passenger or doing errands, I take my Infrared camera along.
Sure I might miss some cool stuff that could be taken in regular light. But I prefer a world that is wildly different.
AND..
yes, I pull over to take shots.
Same road, different day, different view with a different light spectrum filter.
The neighbor's shed that live 1 mile away.
Finally, looking across the ridge to a beef farm.
The best days for infrared are those days with bright sunshine and clouds in the sky. A bonus are those days when I can find water included.
So fishing days are the best days for Infrared.
However....
During my rush to fix up a take a long bag, I accidently swiped my old IR camera off the bed and it crashed to the floor.
The camera survived. The little lens I'd purchased years ago, sadly, did not.
My IR filters are all for that lens which have 37mm threads. It is a general walk about lens that is not pricey and is super light. It shoots from 14mm-45mm. Perfect for most of my IR photography.
I swapped out a 14-100mm lens with a 58mm threads and found some old colored filters and made the best of it. Actually it was sort of fun.
Charlie went along and provided us with quite a bit of entertainment. He got to see his first fish and was super curious.
Steve and Charlie are infatuated with each other. Here Steve explains to Charlie all about worms.
Worms don't taste good.
But wiggly fish is another story!
Charlie had to inspect each fish caught thereafter.
It was a great fishing day and we cleaned 8 nice little fish for our supper on Thursday night!
Thankfully, I looked on line and found a used replacement lens at a good price.
Finally. The weather has broken into something I can live with!
And... I didn't have to run errands when Respite Tammy came on Tuesday!
Instead, I decided to run away from home (figuratively). I wanted to run. You know, really run.
I decided to take Charlie along. Did you know this little dog can boogie?
When I started down the trail, Charlie was game. He wanted to set the pace. Off we went onto Little Canada trail. A runner passed us going the other way and grinned at us. She was in her cutest running clothes. I was in my cargo pants and T-shirt with my running vest on and a long sleeve shirt tied to my waist.
I certainly did not look anything like an athlete. But watch out for old ladies in disguise.
I let Charlie set the pace and it was impressive for such a short legged dog. Our first mile was around 9 minutes. We did a walk/jog/run thing.
Sometimes I'd tear ahead of him grinning like an idiot and jumping over rocks and roots. Then I'd stop and wait for my buddy.
Our first 3 miles went pretty quickly. Then we started to just hike with intermittent bursts of joyful speed.
It was like dancing in a way. We had the woods and trail to ourselves.
I only took my smartphone and supplies in running vest. Charlie wore his beeper collar to prevent him from running off into the woods after a chipmunk.
I didn't take photos of all the damage done to the trees from that last horrible wind and rain storm. Places along the trail were littered with tops of trees, roots, branches, and areas where a crew had to work for a long time to recover the trail.
Thank you KVR crews, you are as always, awesome.
By mile 3 we slowed down quite a bit. My purpose in covering the first half or so quickly, was so that Charlie and I could look around on our way back through the loop.
I have 4 hrs.
There is a 25-30 minute travel time there and back.
The trail when hiked slowly to look for things can take at least 3 hours. More, if there are a lot of cool things to look at. I had to time things out. Run or hike quickly --- and explore when I saw something.
Of course I brought mini me and mini Charlie.
Since I don't do selfies on the trail, we did mini shots.
Since most of this summer has been too hot for Charlie to get out and hike with me [and I have had very limited time to hike], he got tired. I tied my sleeves of my shirt in a knot and made a sling over my neck for Charlie to rest in. It is easier to carry him that way.
I may look into designing a sling for him out of some long scarves I have.
Charlie is often a good reminder not to be in a rush all of the time.
When we got home, he was tired.
We did it!
So he got some time to chill out in his favorite place.... our little hammock.
These photos were from about a week ago. I just haven't had much time to look through my 'stuff' with so much on my plate.
There was quite the racket outside on our Hickory Tree. I got out my long lens and figured out what all the noise was.
A young red headed woodpecker was clinging to the bark of the tree and 'crying' 'begging' and making a huge racket until the parent showed up to feed it from insects on the bark or from something it brought from the bird feeder 20 feet away.
Below is a young Grosbeak ????? Maybe???? I didn't catch it in the bird bath splashing around, but I did catch it in the pine tree shaking itself off.
This goldfinch was pilfering sunflower seeds. Actually, I planted them there so the goldfinches would come and eat them. They are fun to watch doing antics as they pick out seeds.
I imagine they may even reseed for me.
I had to remove the Oriole feeder a week ago. The oranges attracted bees. Not the nice kind of bees that I want near my porch. They are still around and I imagine they will be migrating very soon.
This was a lazy shot. I was watching out the window to see the bee activity when I thought I'd try a shot through the window and screen.
I like the 'soft' filter it gave to the blue bachelor button. It was like adding an Orton Glow to the photo without any post process.
So as I was going through my shots from over a week ago, I glanced up and saw our Grandbaby Rory on our Frameo. She was looking at a big beautiful purple flower.
20 years ago I made a little book for Ariel with drawings, colors, plants, and flowers. A very simple to read book.
At that time I just used a printer and then put the pages in a binder. It was a great project for me.
And boom.
What about one for Rory? Flowers, insects, and birds? Wouldn't that be fun?
I mean I could do it for myself too. I did little books for my other grandkids with the adventures of Morris who they interacted with quite a bit.
If nothing else, it would be a great project to put together as I am also doing one of hubby.
I use Blurb as my project books for photos. There may be cheaper places to do it, but so far I've had really good luck with using Blurb.
Starting in late August through October if we are not in a drought, it is prime time for mushrooms and a celebration of strange and colorful fungi.
Someone asked me what got me so interested in mushrooms. My simple answer was that I'd seen them and decided I'd like to photograph them.
I like being curious. When I'd find wildflowers, I'd photograph them and take them home to compare to an ID book. Mushrooms and slime molds became fun to find and fascinating to photo. It is like an alien world.
I took these with my cellphone as it seems to adjust to the light better than the camera. They are small. The one below was just emerging from the mix of dirt and sand below it.
I also found what seems to be a hard plant to find. I've only found 6 in all the years I've been hiking. They are not generally seen right next to a trail. I just love their leaves and design. I've seen one in flower one time.
Rattlesnake Plantain:
I also brought along a couple of minifigs. They like to travel and hike with me of course. I found a perfect spot to place the Monkey King.
Last but not least.
I thought I found a Blewit Mushroom
Such a beautiful blue color! So different! I've found them once before in this general area and am always amazed by their color and beauty.
4 years ago in the same general area I found these.
They are so startling. Another time I found remnants of them as someone else had walked along and kicked all of them to smithereens.
I do wish people would just admire these beautiful mushrooms and leave them alone.
I looked into the Blewit mushroom and found that these really didn't quite fit the description. Perhaps they could be a fungi known as Indigo Inky.
So I may have blown the ID years ago, but that doesn't stop me for looking for these each year along this section of trail.
Monday night was particularly stressful with my duties as a Caregiver. My 'patient' woke up at 1AM and I was able to get him back to bed around 3:30. I never got back to sleep. Around 4 I gave up trying to sleep and made a decision.
For my mental attitude [which would be rotten and evil without a good night's sleep], I ditched the plan of running errands. When Respite turned up, I left with my backpack and bug spray. I was going to take some serious quiet time.
Last year I hike 1,000 + miles at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve and other County Parks nearby. Imagine the change I've adjusted to. I haven't gone on a real hike since May 15th. Imagine my withdrawals from Hiking. It was as bad as I would imagine a withdrawal from a drug!
Our area has received a lot of rain. Monday, some areas received over 2 inches or more and the Kickapoo River was rising. Not much of a flood, but the river had seeped into quite a few hay fields and pastures.
I decided to take my feet to the Wintergreen Trail. It is interesting enough and short enough so I can casually hike and look around.
I always make a stop at the 'lookout' and peer down at the river below. It is easy access and only a few minutes from the Visitor Center.
On nice weekends, this is a busy trail. I choose not to go during those times for obvious reasons.
The trails were reported as muddy and buggy, so I didn't think I'd find anyone else along the way. I was right. I had the place to myself. And one mosquito found me in a very wet area where the trail goes through weeds and flowers that where waist high.
The shot below is near the end of the trail which stops on the top of a bluff. There is no magical view of the river, but you can watch it and listen to it between the Pines and Hemlocks.
This may be one of my favorite places to stop and just sit for a while.
I hiked the whole trail to the dead end quickly so I could see if I could find cool and interesting fungi. Then, I took my time returning to the car, walking slowly to peer at every mushroom, interesting tree, and view of the river.
This is another shot I take every single time I hike this trail. I look for this tree that seems to point the way.
Of course, I did take the Minime and Charlie along as well as a couple other characters.
Here we found tiny seedlings of pines growing on an obscure part of the bluff. This is off trail so hopefully no careless hiker will trample them.
[Don't look too closely at the minifigs face...how in the heck did a real Charlie hair get stuck on the minifig's face?]
The spot we found the seedlings is right next to the rocks that are evident in the photo.
I'm going to save the cool fungi and other photos not from my cellphone on another post. This morning I am running out of time between chores and our 'date' with Steve for an adventure.
With all the rain we've had and areas of muddy water, the fishing won't be great so we may just do a drive and a lunch day.
Rich looks forward to these weekly outings more than anything else right now.
