The weekend's over already?

Wow, that went by fast...

Another relatively quiet day here at the house (I say "relatively" because Kaylee is currently barking at who knows what from her spot on my parents' bed). We had a dusting of snow here overnight, which made for a nice visual at the river when I took Kaylee out for her morning walk:



I snapped this one around lunchtime; if I'd known I could take this decent a bird picture through the sliding glass door I definitely wouldn't have sat outside for quite so long yesterday:



And a couple of Kaylee to close things out:

Watching the birdies

I was feeling fairly lazy today, not to mention fighting a headache. So for today's photographs I grabbed some warm clothes, pulled up a chair on my parents' porch, and waited for the birds to get accustomed to my presence so they'd return to the feeder.

First, a couple of shots of a downy woodpecker:





A titmouse:



A chickadee taking advantage of the bird bath on the porch; it's still got a drop of water on the end of its beak:



And a cardinal:


Today's Kaylee pic was taken shortly after the cardinal came in; she and Greg were returning from their walk, so I snapped this as she came over to greet me:

Lucky day

But first, some early morning color as seen through the trees while Kaylee and I were out walking:



Over the past couple of days I'd started wondering if I really wanted or needed to bring my camera back and forth every day when I went home at lunchtime to let Kaylee out for a bit. I mean, there's only so many pictures of Kaylee fetching her stick and chickadees I could take, right? But today I went ahead and grabbed it anyway. To say I'm thankful I did would be an understatement of epic proportions, because as I drove up the hill I spotted a ruffed grouse on the left side of the road:



So I stopped, put the window down, took pictures like the one above, and followed the grouse as it crossed in front of my car. I put the passenger window down and slowly rolled the car back as it wandered through the brush for a bit, trying to keep an eye on it. It paused for a moment, as if debating its next move. And then, much to my surprise and delight, it flew up into a tree that was no more than 4 feet from my car:



I threw the car in park and started snapping away, soon realizing the grouse was after the berries still on the tree's branches:





In this one you can see the berry's stem poking out of its beak:





Once it'd had its fill, it hopped down from the tree and back into the brush:



Given that I can probably count on both hands the number of times I've seen a grouse, it was amazing to be able to watch one so close up for that length of time, much less photograph it. Needless to say, there's no question the camera will be coming with me from now on.

And as always, we close with Kaylee:

Woof. Woof woof. WOOF.

Today's post title courtesy of Kaylee.

When the two of us went outside a few minutes ago, I was wishing I knew more about taking nighttime photos; the sky was crystal clear and filled with stars. But for now I'm more than happy working in the daylight, especially when the morning sky is equally cloudless:



On our way back this morning, ever-vigilant Kaylee refused to let a stick longer than she was get the better of her:



As usual, when I was home at noon I threw the rubber stick for Kaylee to chase after. Despite the fact that I was standing about 4 feet from the bird feeder, my presence didn't deter this chickadee from getting its lunch:



Tonight my aunt and uncle were kind enough to invite me over for dinner, and while I was there I took a photo of my uncle's burgeoning tomato plants. Since I'll be baby-sitting them for a couple of weeks later this month, it'll be fun to be able to track their progress:



And as always, we'll let Kaylee have the last word:

Gray skies again

But I can't really complain, as we've had a nice run of sunshine for the past week or so.

I didn't really get the chance to do much photography today; I had an 8 a.m. appointment, and wasn't able to get myself out of bed early enough to take Kaylee for a proper walk first thing. Instead we went for an abbreviated walk at lunchtime over to the stream, and I took this first shot on the way there. The trunk itself is dead, and in fact isn't even as tall as I am. But what caught my eye was the fungus growing on the trunk, so that's what I zeroed in on:



This Kaylee pic as taken on the way home, as she wrestled with yet another suspicious-looking branch:



And finally, I managed to capture this image of Kaylee when she stopped to sniff a particularly interesting spot just off the trail:

Six more weeks of winter?

Now there's a shocker.

In other news, Kaylee and I had an interesting experience during our walk today—we heard some coyotes barking and howling just after we started heading for home. No matter how many times I hear it, it's still a pretty unnerving thing to experience. Thankfully, Kaylee was more than willing to stay close to me as we made our way back, so no worries there. But as I was focused on walking steadily and not losing my footing, I didn't really do a lot of photographing for a good part of our journey. However, I did manage to get this shot as I stood on the back lawn before Kaylee and I set off:



Once I got to work I spent part of my morning taking photos of this reel for use in a future auction catalog. It was built by noted reel maker Stan Bogdan, which means this little beauty is worth more than $1,000:





Finally, a double dose of Kaylee cuteness. The first was taken shortly after she stole my spot on the couch, the second when she later rested her head against my leg to indicate she wanted to go outside:





I swear she spends the time no one's at home practicing and perfecting these expressions...

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

Today's post title comes courtesy of Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. I chose it mostly because I couldn't come up with anything else to plug in there, but I also felt it was at least a little relevant to one of today's images. I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say it's art, but it's definitely a mistake that seemed worth keeping. At least to me, anyway.

To begin things, though, two photos I took this morning as Kaylee and I began our walk. This was looking back toward the sunrise from the edge of the woods:



Next, a shot of the mountain ahead of us as we walked; I liked the contrast of the sky with the mountain as it was lit by the rising sun:



I took this on my way through the parking lot of the local Chinese restaurant as I went to pick up my lunch; the red berries popped out at me as I drove around the first corner:



And now the keeper mistake. As usual, while I took Kaylee for our final walk of the day I attempted to take some photos of the sunset. And again, as usual, they all turned out blurry due to the low light. Today I was also contending with strong winds, particularly as we walked through an area that had been cleared of trees for a housing complex, so that certainly didn't help matters—I could actually feel the wind move my hands as I held the camera. However, as I checked through my photos I found I really liked how this one turned out—it reminded me of the effect you get when a watercolor bleeds into the paper. So I thought it was worth sharing here:



Finally, our Kaylee photo. She likes to taunt me in the morning as I prepare to head to work by falling asleep right in front of me:



Talk about your cruel and unusual punishment, huh?