Back Home

I'm back home after a great week and a half in North Carolina and Virginia.

This is Jim who took me along on this trip; thanks so much Jim

Yes, that's me with the facial hair... I'm becoming a bum I know...lol.

Behind me is one of the most beautiful waterfalls I think I've ever seen, so I'll get out of the picture and let you see it in all it's glory.

 ============

Here are some of the creatures that we saw on the trip.

Chain King Snake

Beautiful Box Turtle (although he didn't want to poke his head out for the photo)

Couple of Spotted Turtles

Green Grass Snake

Baby Red-Bellied Slider Turtle

An interesting flower though I don't know the name

Copper-Bellied Water Snake

An interesting just-budding flower

A Dragonfly (once again for my daughter)

Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies near a river

One of a number of Black Bears spotted in Great Smoky Mtns

Mama Bear and her two cubs (she sent them scurrying for trees when she thought the people were too close for comfort; fortunately there was a Ranger there to keep the folks out of their way)

Here's one of the cubs up close

=================

And last are a couple of interesting places on the trip.

I've long striven to copy a photo I once saw similar to this one, but this is the closest I've come so far

And this is one of the cabins in the Smoky Mtns (sorry I don't remember which one it is)

I hope you've enjoyed some highlights of my latest rambling

Brad

In the North Carolina, Virginia, & West Virginia Area

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I am currently in the North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia and will be for the next week or two.  If you're in the area, let me know, and maybe we can meet up!

Here is a black bear that got hit on the highway.  It's a shame!

He was probably hit the night before I saw him.

Here are 2 Spotted Turtles sunning on a log.

A third one on the left is asking for permission to come aboard.

Here's a sad sight.  In a National Wildlife Refuge trash blown in from a nearby road ends up in the midst of the beautiful wildlife here.

Please, please!  Do not throw out trash on the streets.

Here's a colorful fellow, a Green Snake posing on the boardwalk and stretching out into the greenery.

Hope you enjoyed a few pictures,

Brad

Baby Sandhill Cranes

Just a quick blog to put up a couple of pictures of some young Sandhill Cranes that I just saw here in Lakeland.

I'm not sure how old they are at this point, but I would guess a few weeks old.

There were two adults and two juveniles.

I actually saw these guys on the shoulder of the road as I was driving, so I made a quick turn into a business entrance, jumped out, and took these pictures.

I had to use the full extent of my zoom on this (10X zoom) and still had to crop the pictures, because I didn't want to get close enough to scare them into running out onto the road.

It's rather amazing how daring these Cranes are, since I've seen a number of the adults feeding right along the road a number of times.

I don't have much more to put up today, but I wanted to get these pictures up now.

Enjoy,

Brad

A Wonderful House-warming Party

My daughter, Brandi, put together a house-warming party for me today, and it went wonderfully.

Here's the group that showed up with the exception of Karen C, who had to leave early.

We laughed until we cried at some of the jokes and stories told.  I couldn't ask for a better time with friends and family.

Here are a couple of pictures taken near my new place.

(Sidenote: the ladybug is not actual size!)

What a beautiful flower to be from a thistle plant!

Here's a view of my new rental.

Enjoy!

Starting up a blog

Hey Folks,

I am finally taking the time to get a blog going, and I hope to add to it regularly.  To start it off, here are a few photos that I've taken over the past year or so that I recently printed to hang up on my walls.  

This little guy is a baby Golden Eagle.

I saw his mother on an abandoned windmill on the road into Sumner Lake State Park near Ft Sumner, New Mexico.  I came back later, climbed up the windmill, and took a few pictures.  The mother had flown off and kept a close eye on me from high in the sky, and once I left, she immediately returned to her nest.  There were actually two chicks in the nest, but I didn't want to  get any closer to them than I did.  As it was I was concerned that one of them might try to fly off to keep away from me.

This next one is just a dragonfly (mosquito hawk).

It's a favorite of my daughter, so I wanted to be able to take it for her.

A decent enough sunset over Clayton Lake SP. 

We saw even better ones, but you know how a picture just never does a sunset justice.

Once again a picture just doesn't do justice to the rainbows we saw at Eagle Nest Lake SP.

 Because of the summer monsoon rains that came most afternoons in New Mexico, we had awesome rainbows almost every day there.

This last picture was my experiment with shooting flowers up close with sunset clouds over the mountains in the background.

I like it, but it didn't quite come out like I had visualized it.

I hope you all enjoy the pictures.  They were all taken while on a summer trip throughout New Mexico that Trish Masters led in 2009.

Brad