Can't Sleep? Solve the world's problems!

 Yeah, I do that too.

But I am not very good at it at all. Last night I kept waking up for 'no' good reason. So for a long while I just mulled over everything. That means politics, house keeping, elder care, yard care, tree trimming, fences, mules, farrier scheduling, hay ordering, and then there was my list of things I'd LIKE to do.

Bike riding, hiking, hiking, hiking, bike riding, trying out camping, traveling, and of course photography.

None of that really helped me go back to sleep.

I decided to just turn the light on and read a boring book. That didn't help. I put the book down and got a pad of paper. I made out my list of to-do's for the next day and checked the weather report. I laid out my plans for the week and wrote down a plan of action.

I turned off the light and rearranged pillows and Charlie. Yep, he sleeps with me. Honestly he rarely takes up any room and never bothers me at night. I moved him over and put my chin on the window sill and started listening to the night sounds.

Something struck me and nearly took away my breath. The crickets were singing, off in the distance an owl called her/his song. 'Who Cooks For You?' Another answered. There were no other sounds. I wrapped myself in those thoughts. Peaceful, quiet. Just outside my window for me alone to enjoy.

I decided to not waste any more time and I got dressed to take a walk. Why? Why not? 

Because the view was this. A sliver of a moon and stars coming through the light layers of clouds and mist. [Cell phone shot with my Google Pixel phone---night site really came through!]

On the walk up the driveway and out to the ridge I counted 8 fireflies. I was so surprised. I never thought I'd see them in late August.

I popped up some deer who blew and snorted at me before they crashed off through the forest. Forest sounds.

Somewhere close was another creature walking through the forest. There was a faint crackle and the slight noise of leaves being crunched. After about a half hour or so, I headed back home. I felt more relaxed and my mind wasn't on all of those things that were running about in my brain.

I made some coffee [I drink decafe] and took Charlie out on the porch with me to sit some and listen while the skies started to brighten.

I tried to get a shot of the moon sliver. Here it is, but it isn't very good. [Not cell phone!]

Soon enough I heard realized which birds had already left. There were no Robins or Wrens making their morning racket at all. They'd been missing for a while, but I hadn't gone out in the predawn just to sit and listen for them.

The catbirds were still around, but less of them. Just as the sky was starting to brighten, I heard a pair of Sandhill Cranes. 

And one even perched on the old oak tree east of us.

Just as quickly as the sky started to brighten, the fog moved in and obscured the sky.

Maybe not being able to sleep wasn't a bad thing after all. I got a walk in, I enjoyed seeing things I normally wouldn't see. 
Charlie was content to sit on the porch bench with me and enjoy the night scents and sounds with me.

I did not solve the world's problems and I was disconnected from the outside world which left me free to let my mind chill out. Plans are made to be broken. Life doesn't always go the way we want.

And sometimes, you just have to adjust and deal with it.

I think of that Disney Movie song:

Let it Go.

Waking up early

 

I haven't always been an early riser, but now I am. It is frustrating to have your eyeballs blast open while it is still dark outside and your body tells you "Get UP"!

I even try for a few moments to lull myself back to sleep. But it doesn't come.

So I decided to make good use of my early wake up time. I made some decafe coffee [yeah, decafe...but I am used to it now] and decided to go watch the sunrise over the ponds at Kickapoo Valley Reserve. 

The skies were brilliantly clear and beautiful with stars twinkling merrily.

Yeah.

Until I got into the river valley, that is.

Then.

Fog.

Dense fog.

But that was fine too. Not what I planned but not unexpected for this area especially near the Kickapoo River. 

I parked by the dam site and got out to look up. I guess I wasn't going to see a brilliant sunrise with the colors and clouds reflecting off the ponds as planned. It was murky and dark. I thought about getting back in the 'Ru and driving to another spot where I could climb a bluff. But tossed that aside.

After all, the dense fog was a challenge. What could I do with it?

The first thing I wanted to try was to catch the 'essence' of the predawn morning with a photo of Bridge 18. I had to use my headlamp to light up the bridge. But with a timed exposure, it didn't look very dark!

This is one of the things with fog, it throws the camera sensors into a frenzy of confusion. After an 8 second exposure it looked as if I'd just taken it on a cloudy day.

I tried a shot of the river but it looked weirdly bluish and strange. This was a 77 second shot.

I was tickled with the outcome though, because it was so strange looking and at least you could see how thick the fog was.

I walked down to the ponds and the fog got even more intense. 

In one photography class I'd taken, I was criticized for not planning far enough ahead. I was told that I should never depend on serendipity for a good photo. But here I was just having a fun time playing in the fog when I hadn't meant to.

I couldn't help myself but to be enchanted by the terrible conditions. So I thought Minimalism! How could I do that?

Easy, Nature was showing me how to do it. 
I didn't achieve true Minimalism though until I shot the middle of the pond like this:

Full version of the same scene:

I spent some time waiting to see if the sun would penetrate the fog. 

It felt weird to be this close to the Visitor Center and not see another soul. However it was still before 6AM, so I guess I was the weird one.

So I walked around the other little ponds to see if I could come up with something interesting. The western pond that has the blind in it was totally obscured by river fog. 

Eventually the fog started to brighten up and I decided to head home.

Parting shot of Bridge 18:

I didn't get out of fog until I got home. I had to leave the river valley. 

So I think .... hmmm, next time get up on the bluff and look down on the fog and gaze at the sky!

I was home before hubby woke up and all was good.

Whew. 

Guess I'll go to bed early again tonight!

Night out

Nah, not that kind of Night Out.

Instead I sat on the porch for a while after dark to watch the sky. I figured the clouds would obscure the stars and the Milky Way so I was content to sit for a bit in the warm night air and rock on the porch.

Charlie thought he'd go in after he listened to the Barred Owls hooting. 

I thought I'd spend a little time playing with light painting. I wanted to highlight the night sky and the trees in the woods to our west of the house.

My experiment with light painting with my headlamp. 

Then I walked to the driveway to look where the Milky Way should be appearing and took a 15 & 25 second shot.

I did this partially 'blind' in a way because with the naked eye and the clouds, I wasn't exactly sure of what I was getting. [I learned a little bit later to use the 'Boost' feature in the Bulb/LiveView Modes to sort of see what I was shooting at.]

I may have gotten some meteors? The upper arrow points to two downwards streaks.
The lower arrow points to where the Milky Way should be.

Then the clouds moved on!

and...then,

there it was! 

Looks like a meteor particle was zooming through also.

Bonus!

It is hard to see those little streaks of light, however if you click on the photo you should be able to see one little streak in the upper right quadrant of the shot.

I hadn't intended on looking for the Perseids, but perhaps I did find them!

They are supposed to be starting and getting stronger until mid August.

I think this may have been my first time 'catching' a meteor!

Once the clouds moved on, I took several shots of the MW and even tried one of those fun shots where I look up with a head lamp on. The shots really didn't turn out well. But here is one. 

I am standing in our driveway not far from the house looking up towards the ridge. My Subaru even glows in the headlamp glow.

There are so many things to learn about I night photos and adding light. The headlamp actually has a nicer beam to it when the humidity in the air is higher. LED lights turn up bluish.

I wonder if I had some glow sticks twirled them around? Wouldn't that be sort of fun and crazy? 

I am practicing at home so one day in the few weeks, I can try this near the ponds at KVR, or the old dam.

These night shots are not easy. Fortunately I have a feature called Starry AutoFocus which helps quite a bit. I use a 12mm lens. For my camera the ISO is at 1600 and I often use a feature called LiveView to find where I will shoot as the camera 'boosts' what you can see through it. 

I still can't quite get the hang of the right colors for the night sky. 

Clouds are orangish from the light in the towns or farms in the distance.

I like my star skies to be more bluish and cool toned.

The photos are generally pretty noisy, but as technology improves as well as a good Denoise app, it doesn't look so bad.

For this shot of the house, I pointed the camera northwest and gave it an 8 minute LiveComp. This feature takes an initial shot and then the camera adds any light as it changes for the next 8 minutes. 

That is Olympus's work around to standard star photos which have the photographer taken 100's of shots of the stars and then put them through another program which 'stacks' them together. 

I like this feature for so many things.

I tried several times to combine star trails with a bit of light painting to show the house and trees. Most of them were just bad... and a failure, but I think I did get one decent effort.

The middle pine tree is dead and reflected the bluish color of the LED headlamp.

Still, it was fun and I learned a bit more. 

I'd like to try this at one of the covered bridges at KVR.

That is a goal I'd like to complete this summer.

One last Milky Way shot in a 

cooler tone.

I like this one best as it makes me think of galaxies and star travel. 

There certainly is something to be said for watching the stars at night. I eventually went inside reluctantly because I knew I needed sleep.

It was a great night out!

Enjoy the Perseids if you can find a dark sky. The full moon this year will blot out the peak time for the meteor showers. 

I used:

Olympus E-M1 Mark III

12mm lens 
f 2.0

ISO 1600
Different exposures for different shots.

Tripod

Couldn't sleep

And it all is another blogger's fault. 
I'm laughing because really it isn't anyone's fault.

But I woke up suddenly and thought: What if the Heater quits all of a sudden?

So I sat up and went out to the living room to listen to the heater. We have a cabin heater for our tiny cottage. It does just fine. But I was obsessed with the thought of it not working. 

I decided to read a book on my Kindle.
Then I got to thinking about Moss and Lichen and spring and summer.
So I started a search on books about Lichen and Moss. Identification guides.

...and then there was this Grumpy Dragon:

I decided to stop looking at things. This was no good!

I gathered some blankets and laid on the loveseat with Charlie and started to drift off. I checked the outside temps. -10 with a wind from the North. The mules were playing and chasing each other in the pasture. Must have needed to warm up a bit.

Guess what? The heater worked even when I wasn't watching it.