Happy Thursday!
Looking out the kitchen window this morning while I was making breakfast I saw this icicle that had formed. Looks like a little dog to me. 🙂
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Saturday!
We had a fair amount of ice this week in Eastern Iowa. The sun came out yesterday and made everything look so beautiful.
Jeanne and I took a ride through the country to look at the landscapes and I came home with some images on my memory card.
Although beautiful with the sun glistening off the ice it was only 1 above zero and the wind was blowing pretty good giving us a wind chill of around -15 degrees. I didn’t stay out very long.
The good news is that we didn’t see many farm animals out in the cold. Most were in some type of shelter. There wasn’t much wildlife at all but we did see a large bald eagle. Unfortunately by the time I got the car stopped and the camera up to my eye he had decided to leave the area.
Finally, yesterday was my birthday. The best birthday present I have ever received was given to me by my two children. They spent an hour and half with me and even bought my breakfast. They are such amazing young people and I am very proud of them. I took this with my iPhone so I’m not totally happy with the quality of the image but the image itself is priceless to me. It is now my new desktop image.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Friday!
Yesterday I celebrated my one year anniversary of being retired.
I have enjoyed retirement more than I could have ever imagined. It doesn’t seem like it’s been a whole year but the calendar does not lie. There were some things about retirement that turned out to be more difficult than I would have thought but on the whole I highly recommend it. 🙂
We have a fair amount of ice here in my little corner of the world and I captured this image of our bench in the back yard. Too cold to sit there today.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Birthday to my Amazing Son, Mark.
I am so blessed to have two wonderful children.
Happy Monday!
Angie brought the grand kids over yesterday as Ben was on call and working. We had about 7 inches of fresh snow and you know what that means when you have kids. 🙂
The only one who didn’t get to enjoy the sledding was Addie. She stayed inside and after I took these images I went back in and spent some quality time with her.
Austin had his share of mishaps but never quit smiling. He would get back up and carry his sled back up the hill and do it all over again.
Josh had his form perfected after his first few runs and he set the longest slide of the group.
Angie didn’t slide but she was taking pictures of the kids. This is the same hill that her and Mark slid down when they were young. Spent hours watching them come down that hill. 🙂
Got a nice pose from Gabby.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Thursday!
I haven’t been doing much photography of late. I always have a camera with me but just haven’t found anything that interested me. It’s been cloudy and gray for most of the last couple of weeks, not the best light for photographs.
These photos were taken with the Nikon D500 (a cropped sensor DLSR) and with the Sigma 60mm – 600mm f4.5 – f6.3DG 105. Used on the D500 the focal length becomes 90mm – 900mm so I get a good range.
Over the years I’ve had a love / hate relationship with Sigma lenses but their quality has improved greatly and this one is now my favorite lens. It is tack sharp, quite, and fast focus.
The University of Dubuque has a flying program that many future pilots attend and learn to fly. They also get their commercial pilots’ license. The U of D has many planes and on any given day at the Dubuque Regional Airport you can see many of them practicing their landings and take offs. I saw this guy waiting to take off and getting the landing plane in the shot was just good luck.
I was coming back from Maquoketa yesterday afternoon and I saw at least ten hawks sitting on fence posts, wires, and signs. This is the only one that sit still long enough for me to get even this shot.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Monday!
As the sign indicates I took a trip down to Green Island Wildlife Preserve yesterday. I had very low expectations as this is not the best time of the year to visit the preserve, the weather was cold, gray, and cloudy so I fully expected to come back with an empty memory card.
While none of my images are outstanding in any way, I am always happy to photograph a Bald Eagle. Even if he has his back to me and is a long way off. I just love to watch these magnificent creatures.
I also found some Trumpeter Swans at the preserve. Here is an adult with three signets. There was an abundance of swans at the lake as well but too far away to photograph. I enjoyed listening to the sounds they make.
The ever-present Canada geese are always fun to watch and photograph.
It occurred to me that many people who follow this blog have never been to the Green Island Preserve. So I shot this short video to give you some idea of what it is like. Perhaps I’ll do that again in the Spring when there is an abundance of wildlife and migratory birds in the area.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
