Monday ~ April 23, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 23, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Monday!

Three images for today.  I know, this is a ring-billed gull.  I’ve only posted about a hundred images of them on this blog.  So here is one hundred one.  🙂

Jeanne and I went to the river Saturday waiting for time to go to the reception.  There were some folks throwing bread to the gulls so it made for good practice trying to capture a sharp images of these small birds who are very quick in their change of direction.

I like this image because it reminded me of trying to get a group shot of people.  Someone is always looking the wrong way or has their eyes closed.  The little guy on the right is just not paying attention to his pose and is more interested in the camera.

At the 16th Street Basin we found these pelicans sunning themselves on a concrete wall.  While the the others rest and relax there is this guy keeping his eye out for trouble.  I snuck up on them and only shot a couple of images so I didn’t disturb them.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Sunday ~ April 22, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 22, 2018
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Happy Sunday!

I have three images for today.

This is my beautiful daughter Angie. She was a bridesmaid in a wedding yesterday.  If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time you know that I dislike weddings for a variety of reasons.

I went to this one because growing up Megan (the bride) was one of Angie’s closest friends and she was like a second daughter.

I will admit it was a wonderful ceremony.  Then we had two hours to kill before the reception so Jeanne and I went to the river just to see what was  going on.  I got some great (I think anyway) images that I’ll share tomorrow.

Ben and Angie together at the reception.  It was held at the River Museum, which offered a unique venue.  Lots to see while waiting for dinner to be served.  We were at a table with people who knew each other but we didn’t know.  That always makes for an interesting dinner.  🙂

This is the intricate hair do that the stylist gave Angie.  I won’t repeat what Austin said to Angie when she stopped by the house.  🙂

Today we celebrate Austin’s third birthday.  It was actually yesterday but the celebration is this afternoon.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ April 19, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 19, 2018
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Happy Thursday!

Today I have three images of three of my favorite women.

Addie is eating solid food now and loves yogurt.  I took a couple of images of her after eating but she would later kill me if I showed them.  🙂

Gabby got some jewelry and paste on ear rings from her other Grand Ma.  She was having fun playing with them and getting all prettied up for Mamma Jeanne.

This is how Addie kisses her Mom.  The picture speaks for itself.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ April 18, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 18, 2018
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Happy Wednesday!

I have never met a Blue Heron that I didn’t want to photograph.  I can’t help myself.  🙂

I have three photos for today.

My great friend Mike and I had lunch yesterday and I was about 30 minutes early for our appointment (believe it or not) so I decided to drive a couple of miles to the 16th Street Basin.  I was delighted to see a few Herons fishing there.

The deplorable conditions of the basin (junk wise) is something I have talked about before.  I was overjoyed to see City Crews working diligently picking up garbage around the shoreline.  I stopped and talked with one of the crew and told them how much I appreciated their work and she said that the city was committed to cleaning up the area.  Later that afternoon I saw even more workers picking up trash.

I know  this is a butt shot but like with herons I just have trouble passing up an opportunity to photograph a Goose.  Besides my friend Betty loves geese.  🙂

I didn’t Photoshop out any of the garbage out of this shot.  Normally I will work to get all the distractions out of the image but I wanted to give you an idea of just a small bit of the task ahead of the cleanup crew.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Sunday ~ April 15, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 15, 2018
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Happy Sunday!

I have three images for today and a story.

This is one of the coolest gifts I have ever received for several reasons.  It incorporates my love of photography and my fondness for wine.

I retired from Ohnward Bancshares, Inc.  on February 07, 2018 after 18 years.  It was a wonderful journey and the organization, the owners, and the employees have enriched my life beyond description.  I was the Chief HR Officer for the organization, which allowed me to interact with the majority of staff.  There are friendships that I will cherish the rest of my days.

However, I have never enjoyed “being in front of the camera.”  So when my boss said they wanted to have a celebration of my retirement I declined several times.  Long story short we had said celebration last Thursday at the Maquoketa Art Experience.  🙂

It was an amazing evening and many of my fellow employees both past and present showed up to celebrate my retirement including many of the friends I have made in the community.  I was overwhelmed, humbled, and emotionally grateful for all those who came and the sentiments they expressed.

I am ashamed to admit this, but I have attended numerous retirement celebrations over the years and it never occurred to me to buy a card or a gift for the retiree.  So imagine my surprise when I received over 50 cards and gifts including the one above.

What make this gift so special for me is that it is from three former and one current employees from Cedar Rapids, all of whom made the trip to Maquoketa to attend the celebration and presented this guy to me.  I was speechless.

So for two and a half hours I greeted friends and received their kind words.  I didn’t get to spend the amount of time with anyone that I wanted to as there was always someone new to greet.

After the celebration ownership provided a wonderful dinner at the Decker House for Jeanne and I plus many of the senior management team.  Lots of memories were discussed and then my Friend and Boss Al read a commendation the company had created and once again I was speechless.  In addition to the wonderful plaque there was a donation to my favorite charity in Jeanne and my name.  It just doesn’t get any better than that.

So there were many thoughtful gifts that I received that evening.  Here is an image of some of them.  I think I’m sensing a pattern here.  🙂

Thank you Al, Kendra, Abe, Brig, and the entire Ohnward Staff for an evening and experience I will never forget.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ April 11, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 11, 2018
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Happy Wednesday!

Last week I received a call from my friend Vicki asking me to join her and others for a lunch in Mason City to support long-time Rotary District Secretary John Last.

I hesitated a moment because I realized that Mason City is a 3 hour drive from Dubuque and then said okay.  🙂

In 2003 I was the District 5970 Web Master and held that position for five years.  I worked very closely with John and built a lasting friendship with him.  Vicki (right side of image) was District Governor for one of those years and Richard (left side of image) was also a District Governor.  I served under 5 District Governors during my tenure.

We had a two-hour lunch and had a lot of fun reminiscing about the past.

John is being asked to retire from his District Secretary position.  I won’t go into the details of the situation but I am disappointed in the way it was handled, which in my view is not the Rotary way.

It was a long day but I was glad to see Dick, Vicki, and John.  It and they made the drive worth while.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ April 09, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 9, 2018
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Happy Monday!

Will Winter ever end?  These bubble bottles were set out on the patio last Saturday for the Grand Kids.  It was too cold to play outside and then this is what I found when I looked out the window.  I’m sure tired of Winter.  😦

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Wednesday ~ April 04, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 4, 2018
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Happy Wednesday!

I have three images from Sunday’s session for today.  For my Facebook Friends, you will need to click on the link to see all three.  Also please remember you can click on any of the images to see a larger more detailed version of the image.

I was checking out A.Y. McDonald Park Sunday, when I came around a corner I saw a man (I could only see the top half of him because he was down on the boat ramp) throw what looked like a large bottle of pop into the river.  I decided to investigate.  He was actually working with his dog on retrieving birds and had a couple of training birds that he would throw for the dog to retrieve.

I thought the water looked awfully cold but the dog seemed to be having a good time.

A common red-winged black bird looking for food.  Couldn’t help myself and had to photograph it.

Finally on my way out of the park there were several common grackles in a tree.  I watched them for a while and thought this guy was getting ready to take flight so I tried to capture that moment.  He was just shifting his position a bit.  🙂

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ April 02, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on April 2, 2018
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Happy Monday!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter celebration.

After church I drove down to the river to see if there was anything going on.  It is said that one definition of insanity is, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  I’ll explain…

I have three images for today.  One of my favorite places to photograph wildlife in the area has been the 16th Street Basin for a variety of reasons.  It has offered an abundance of geese, ducks, herons, egrets, eagles, and various other species including pelicans.  I could always count on finding something to photograph at the Basin, no matter what time of year it was.

The Basin was close, only a few miles from home, so it was easy to get to no matter what the weather was doing.  There was a lot of distraction (buildings and power lines) to inhibit photographing wildlife in flight but it could be done.

It had a lot of fish in it so it attracted lots of fish-eating birds.  Two years ago they chopped down all the trees around the Basin.  Trees that provided cover and a resting area for the wildlife.  They put in a large solar farm adjacent to the basin, hence the removal of threes.  😦

I keep going back to the basin in hopes of finding something to photograph thus the definition of insanity, because for the last two years there has been nothing to photograph.

Imagine my surprise when I went to my favorite spot of years gone by and found a half-dozen Blue Herons resting.  I was excited to say the least.  However a sad things is there is no one is taking care of the Basin any more and so I spent a lot of time on each of the photos I’m showing today cloning out all the junk and debris that have built around the banks of the Basin, with Photoshop.  😦

There were some geese and this pair of Mallards swimming near the herons.  I couldn’t pass them up.

That’s it for today.

Enjoy your day and be careful.

Monday ~ March 26, 2018

Posted by Dave Updegraff on March 26, 2018
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Happy Monday!

I want to wish my little Grand Daughter Gabby, happy 5th birthday today.  🙂

Nothing special about the three images I have today.  Some landscape shots of farm scenes and of course an interesting tree.

I enjoy rambling through the countryside looking at and for interesting farm scenes.

Enjoy your day and be careful.