104?

Ok, there is no way I can do a 365. I took some shots this weekend, I think I can do a weekly shoot, maybe even 2x (both weekend days) but I cannot fathom a 365. So, have some shots from this weekend. I am going to hold on to them a bit, to see how the week goes, but I know already what is going to happen, and if I know, then for sure.....

Stay tuned.

365?

Thinking about doing a 365 project but I don't know that I have the discipline, or the time. I am currently trying to take photos weekly, not sure I can do it daily, in fact I am very doubtful. But, maybe I will have to try it, this weekend may be a good time to start. I don't have to use my slr all the time, I always have a camera phone, albeit totally sucky resolution, its still at camera......

Summer Heat

Recording setting summer this year, we are well into the 2nd most consecutive 100+ days on record, currently at 37, and rapidly approaching the record of 42. The weather report said there is a cold front approaching this weekend, but that is still a long ways away and in my opinion, unlikely to crack the high pressure cap we have had all summer.

Back to our little back yard menagerie. The baby birds continued to eat and grow, with the parents being fairly protective in that the were not too afraid of us or the cats in the backyard, especially if we gave them a bit of space. Saturday we had a few folks over and the birds had more than a few observers. Sunday afternoon, the nest was vacated! That was barely over a week. Unfortunately as often happens in the wild, these little birds were not the most fortunate, as they were birds and not ducks. We watched them try to fly a bit Sunday but by the end of they day, they were not able to avoid the pool.




This past Saturday I wanted to get out early and try to get some insect shots. I went to a good sized pond up the road and there were lots of dragon and damsel flies. I got a few shots, but it was a bit breeze, at least just enough to have slight movement in the reeds and grasses, so my shots weren't as sharp as I would have liked. I have a few that turned out well, here are a few of my favorites.

Backyard inhabitants

Its 105F today, but backyard wildlife continues to flourish. We have had some small birds, finches perhaps, fluttering around the plum tree while we have been outside, and even while the cats have been outside. These birds seem oblivious to any danger in the backyard. I am watching one bird periodically flying into a hanging planter but I think nothing of it. Later, while watering some plants, I see some slight movement in the hanging planter. I thought maybe it was the bird, but upon closer inspection there is a nest with at least 3 very tiny baby birds in it. I tried to get some photos without disturbing them too much but they are quite sensitive and think I am bringing food every time I try to get close to take a picture.

Later there were lots of bees around our "butterfly" bush, and a small green lizard decides to make his presence known.

Albuquerque, NM

Spent the last couple of weeks in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Was there about 12-14 years ago so had some good memories. Was there on business, but was still able to take advantage of the location. We did the Sandia Peak Tramway, we took a dinner trip to Santa Fe, taking the back road back through Madrid, and took a couple of trips to the Petroglyph National Monument. It was very dry this year, with extreme forest fire danger and in fact many of the public lands were closed. There was an extremely dangerous fire encroaching on the Los Alamos National Laboratory which resulted in a fairly large scale evacuation.

Here are a few shots that capture some of the sights. The jackrabbits were running around the petroglyphs. It was so dry there was very little wildlife. I think I saw a total of 4 lizards. We also took a trip around the backside of the Petroglyph NM where there are a series of very old volcanoes.

Saturday night at the races

Saturday night we went to TMS for the Indy Car races. It was a new format, two distict short (275 mile) races, with potentially 2 seperate winners. The first race position was determined by pole, the second race position was determined by a draw, in reverse order of the finishers in the first race, so it was total luck of the draw. Danica Patrick was racing, as well as most of the well known Indy racers, even Paul Tracey who hasn't raced here recently.

As usual, taking photos at the race is difficult, with the protective cage on the barrier. I did get a couple of shots though. Here is one from a pit stop that I think captures some of the action.

By the way, the high speed FPS on the 7D is scary fast. I turned it back to regular after my first burst!

Mckinney Farmer's Market

Darlene and I went to the Farmer's Market in Chestnut Square in Mckinney. We've been a couple of times before as well. Today we bought some fresh vegetables and made a hodgepodge for supper.

Door Hardware

At one of the Missions in San Antonio. Sorry, forget which one...

Minneapolis St-Paul

Spent the last two weeks in MSP for business. The first week saw some sights that made me want to bring my camera. In particular the Fort Snelling National Cemetery. There are over 172,000 internments there and they are still accept funerals. It was quite the sight. Hopefully my photos do it justice.








After this, I went into downtown St Paul, which is the Capital of Minnesota and took a couple of shots of some interesting buildings.

This is the Capitol Building



These are some shots of Cathedral of St Paul.

Backyard Lily

We have some Cala Lilies in our backyard. This morning there some sort of drop on one of the lilies that I thought looked pretty cool. Had my Tamron 90mm macro lens on for these shots. Unfortunately there was a bit of a breeze so these may not be quite as sharp as I would have liked as I was using a fairly slow shutter speed and the flowers were in the shade.

Stunt Rider

Here's a couple of shots I took about 2 days after I got my camera. Still haven't figured it all out, and really just tried to take some pics to get used to the feel etc of camera. Haven't figured out autofocus points and setting yet or some of hte other modes, but got to play a bit.

These are photos of Zach Schockey, who is the son of one of our riding buddies. He is a professional but was just at our bike skills class for a bit of a demo.

Des Moines

Dez Moiness. That's how the blonde stewardess pronounced it. Later on the flight, someone must have corrected her, De Moine.. she pronounced it correctely. Certainly, she admitted this was not her regular flight as she butchered other announcements, but geez....

I'm downtown, and actually I really like this city so far. Its a mid-sized city, very clean and relatively friendly as near as I can tell. I didn't bring my camera. Hopefully I'll be back here some day as there are some great photo ops that I don't normally have.

The city reminds me a bit of Oklahoma City, nor sure if that's a good thing or not. I have only been to OKC for fun, this trip to Des Moines is for business so its difficult to compare properly. One thing is apparent, they do love their Harley's here though. A surprising number of bikes in the downtown core. And lots, lots, of bicycles. oops, hockey break, RedWings just came back and tied game 1-1 against Sharks. Good thing, they have been kicking butt all night.

Speaking of my camera, I got a new toy recently, for my birthday. An EOS 7D. I'm excited. I have a couple of shots already I need to post when I get home. Inspired and need to stay that way,

Mardi Gras - Part Deux

Shreveport last weekend, sure, it was a bit premature, but all these partiers and festival goers have to spread their joy over multiple weekend to take it all in.

While several of our friends are off to N'awlins for the real deal, we stuck by the homestead to take in the Krewe of Barkus parade in downtown Mckinney. Like all these Mardi Gras parades, they are annual events and the one in Mckinney is no exception, and is somewhat unique, just like all the rest. However this one may be the rest, as the parade goers are all dogs. Yes, Dogs.

Mardi Gras 2011

Have you missed me?

It doesn't matter. I guess Facebook and other social media are the more common means of communication over the web now. But, I think a blog post is still better for a better story than some little Facebook snippet, or god forbid a 140 character tweet.

Well anyway, the weekend of Feb 26, we joined the AEHOG chapter on their annual pilgrimage to Shreveport, LA for the Krewe of Centaur Mardi Gras parade. One of our members has excellent connections and get us prime seating in a VIP area with a few perks.

With my travel schedule, this year Darlene and I rode up on our motorcycles on Saturday morning, with our eldest son following in his car. This was Ryan's first experience with Mardi Gras, although the festivities in Shreveport are noticeably tamer than say, New Orleans. Still a good time is had by all.

Many thanks to Steven Foster for his coordination, and of course Tee and Carla for their generosity and company.

One of the highlights of this trip was dragging Ryan along to get float beads. As a parade "virgin", we used that to our advantage to get some rare float beads. Hmmm, I may have to try that again in the future as Ryan beat me on Float Bead count!

As always this weekend is a better photo opportunity than many, not that the photos are always great, but still.

Also, its Louisiana. Mudbugs.










Back to the main even, the beads and the parade!