Musings

A little agriculture…lots of irrigation around here, not all productive row-crop fields, but most, it seems to me. And the product must move to the consumption area. Not many alternate farm roads, so we travel the US highways with tractors and combines….

Three long views…different colors. The third is the heights of the southern Bighorn range. Note the surviving snowpack, in the last half of AUGUST, kids.

Midground color variation…red/green (not the man/show), and the grey rocks of the cliffs on one flank of the Bighorns.

I didn’t check it, but the crossing from Ten Sleep to Buffalo seemed to have long, grinding climbs/descents, just as we found east of Greybull. I don’t know if they were 10 miles, but they are close. This runaway truck ramp, really some cable-gates, I thought, is on the descent into Buffalo. (Will they change their name to Bison? Is there even a movement afoot?)

Aha. And the geology. An igneous island amidst eroding sedimentary formations. Or the twenty-second wonder of the world, something like that.

Despite the many signs in the parking lot and along the trails below Devils Tower preaching sensitivity to this place that is sacred to many indigenous Americans, as in, they wish you wouldn’t climb it, the splash page on the NatPkServ website is all about what a wonderful climb it is. Doesn’t even mention the deer, turkeys (no photo), and prairie dogs you may see.

And this deer, in the low ground inside the bend of the river…better photo than the one we saw at DT, and a pretty river to boot!

And now my back posts are caught up! Yay for connectivity and energy…in conjunction. Thanks for waiting for me, Gentle Reader.

Posted at 11:46 PM | Comments Off on Short stories

Have you spotted the cat on the fence? Behind the right light-post? Stretched out like the owner of the property?

Cats!

No popup showers today, and the afternoon sunshine broke up coming through the stained-glass window that has only clear glass…but beveled panels….

UPDATE: umhem, yes, we did have a popup shower…I was distracted, and forgot when I was typing earlier…fact is, the rain-time was brief and we mostly had sunshine….

Posted at 5:52 PM | Comments Off on Cat + prismatic comet

Let’s see. Where to start.

I went down to the beach and thought about how this camera is good at shooting fast, and crouched down and caught a few moments when the waves were coming toward the beach, to crash on the sand.

Now, there wasn’t that much wind behind the wave action, but it sure made for fun shooting.

Mind you, that isn’t the curvature of the earth (I’m pretty sure) recorded in the horizon, but the curvature the lens created….

I cleared out around the “wild” rose and it’s liberated (for the time being) from the grass…. I also found one (!!) foxglove in bloom (not enough light), and I think one neighboring foxglove plant, just leaves, no flower shoot.

Like the nearby rhubarb plants, they need more light.

Next garden chore…plant-liberation movement….

I also found this…well, in my insect-ignorance, I’d call it “a grasshopper.” Interesting color patterns on his/her “side.”

Parked on a mint plant.

Only it’s not my favorite mint for eating, but botanically it IS a mint….

Which means it has square stems….

Posted at 9:36 PM | Comments Off on Survey (misc)

Before the rain arrived in late afternoon, I went down to the beach. See how the sky is already anticipating the incipient precipitation?

The wind has kicked up the waves, and they are toying with the dock. Love the bubbled, lacy look of the thin and thinning leading-edge of the wave on the sand-shore. It’s only there a heartbeat before gravity triumphs, and the cycle launches again.

As I was returning to the cottage, I discovered this moth artfully resting on a daisy. If I’d paid more attention I would have gotten a less blurry shot.

Posted at 6:24 PM | 1 Comment »

The overt reason for our car/woods-jaunt was to pick up our mis-delivered rugs (back porch is coming UP in the world!). Vendor’s screwup, and John negotiated refund of shipping costs, and we’re fine with the outcome. And the new look!

We ended up hither and yon along one section of the Tahquamenon swamp, then touring Laketon, a ghost town (takes only a minute). We even crossed the river on a wood-decked span I’m sure would have been labeled “WEAK BRIDGE” in the Brit Isles.

Found this wee fur-bearer at Eagle’s Nest/Eagle Nest. Naming doesn’t match. I know s/he is NOT an eagle. We’re thinking weasel relative…?

Our critter count also included gulls (of course), LBBs*, a doe and pair of fawns, and a 4-point buck (running FAST).

All that plus new rugs, yes!

Posted at 7:20 PM | Comments Off on Quotidian and novel

Some days I look through my photo collection (including a few courtesy of the Guru), and I quickly zero in on The One. Sometimes I eyeball a few, then am able to pick one. On occasion, it’s “reply hazy, try again later.”

Do I select a typical go-to, a flower?

Blue flag (I’m pretty sure).

Do I go for a critter? We watched him/her toss the fish several times, easily recatching it each time, I guess before he/she liked the alignment, then, zip, down the hatch.

Common loon (again, pretty sure on this).

Then there’s the pattern option. I really like studying these images. How many scales/types of patterns and asymmetries can I identify?

And then The Guru takes interesting images. Sometimes ones I can’t get.

Posted at 10:17 PM | 1 Comment »

Awakened early, and set out for my (way) pre-dawn prowl, timing based on my sl-o-w adjustment to the five-hour time change the other day….

Pretty quiet…a few robins a-bobbing. A couple of doves cooing.

Then, out of the shadows in my peripheral vision, something coming at me across the street from a particularly gloomy spot. Ohhh I said, and jumped, and the critter quickly backed off, as I turned my head and saw that the dark ghost was just a tabby trying to be friendly. Sorry, I apologized, and talked nice, and s/he came over, and I gave her/him a scritch behind the ears.

Posted at 9:19 PM | Comments Off on Pals after all

Looks like the insects have found the green tomatoes…is this worse than the squirrels finding them…and carting them off???

Posted at 4:25 PM | Comments Off on Host (or insectarium?)

I figured that spring…minnows feeding…and…Letterman is leaving….

I also figured that minnows are important to the food chain….

More enigmatic…minnows. [Well-tailored Great Blue really blew the competition out of the water….}

[I’m not discussing the demodulator.]

Posted at 11:11 PM | Comments Off on Stream of…mumble

Damage isn’t quite the right word. A storm changes things. Above this display, the tree is mostly leaves with only a few petals remaining airborne. And look at the petal-carpet! This is a very large and mature tree, and it was loaded with blooms…. Poor, frustrated tree…it’s an ornamental, so all that energy invested, and it’ll produce no fruit or offspring (via seed).

I’m pretty sure that rain/wind also brought down this wasp nest (it may not have been built/used by wasps, but that’s what I call these multi-celled nurseries). So delicate….

Yes, you are right to assume I got out for a walk—finally. Still have phlegm/cough, but better better! Good mental/emotional boost….

Posted at 6:44 PM | Comments Off on Storm results