Gas Continues to Fall in Price

Day before yesterday, I filled up at $1.939. When I applied by 3-cent discount from Kroger receipts, the final price per gallon was $1.909. I have not paid that low of a gas price in a bit over 2 years. Today, however, the price had dropped another 4-cents to $1.869. I must admit that the gas buddy app helps, but like when I filled up, it advised that prices were going to be stable through the weekend. Not to complain, but the 4-cent drop sure didn't sound like remaining stable to me. But, to be fair, they have saved me a lot of money on gas and I like the app.

They lined up to wait like planes waiting for take off.

Cleared for Take Off!

Here is the Osprey. They were not seen last year, but were seen two years ago. This is my first sighting this years where I could do the 7-point ID check and yes, Virginia----it is an OSPREY!

The weather today was another one of those low, low, very low cloud covered days. It seems that I am changing the white balance on my camera from cloudy to sunshine and back to cloudy more than I have in the past 10 years. Is that possible? The sunshine in Dallas was always king. Now, it seems like it is just another one of those low hanging cloud day more than most Dallas residents do not want.  And, to be fair to that cause as well, it was 76 degrees again today!. 74 tomorrow and then the bottom drops out for the next 10-days.

I went to the lake from 10-2 today even with the low hanging ceilings. I'm glad that I did. I saw the Osprey!! Big Boy too! He arrive and the two-dozen Great Egrets took off  en mass. The thing about the Osprey is that they eat nearly 100-percent fish in their diet, but egrets also have full bellies of fish, too! So, it's not like he's after the Egret for lunch, but he's after the Egret's lunch for his lunch!. The food chain is not always nice and neat, don't you know.
 Also, again, the pelican were in the tidal pool fishing. There were more than 70 that I counted. The cormorants were diving and coming up with fish at every turn. There has been a lot of fish trapped in the tidal pool and the waterfowl that have a hefty fish diet have hit the jackpot.

I watched the pelicans from up at the dam and made my way down to the tidal pool level because I knew that the pelicans would be taking to the air and it would give me some pretty good shots that I don't have in any of my portfolios. Sure enough. I had not been down there 10-minutes when they lined up for take-off. I swear, they were airline pilots in another life. I call  them the White Rock Air Force. And, being so big with a 9-foot wingspan, they are every bit as graceful as a 747 jet landing and taking off.  I could watch them all day. I've never tried to order lunch at the lake, but one day I'm going to do that. Need a picnic table for pizza but Jimmy John's would work.

I was home by two and did a snack thing for a late lunch. And, I did a fried carrot and broc thing with a salmon fillet. It was just right! Besides, I love that fried carrot thing. I'm hooked on it and even save the last two inches of the carrot to be cut in rounds rather than the strips that I slice. The little rounds are the chef's portion. I love 'em when they are hot!! While I am cooking the strips and the salmon.

I've been eating more salmon of late. I can't recall the last time I even bought raw hamburger. For one, I won't pay $6.00/lb  for hamburger period. I grew up on hamburger at $0.39/lb. It's just one of those things. Mom was a Rosy Riveter  at Willow Run Airport building bombers for the Air Force when she was 19. Her older sister made Hungarian Goulash  and guess what--- when mom married, she knew how to cook Hungarian Goulash with elbow macaroni and tomato paste, onions, blah-blah-blah. During the war it was a cheap meal. Not a thing wrong with  it. Then, hamburger started to go wild.

Sea Gulls Have Models Too!

Some of you will think that I am making this up, while others may think something equally worse, like maybe," he's had to many shots of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky." While both make me look bad, it is also funny to know that the captions under the images ARE accurate about these birds. 

One thing that I have learned the past 17 years is that animals are way smarter than we give them credit. Especailly, with waterfowl, they  have such keen smell, sound and sight. They watch our every move. While editing images, I always look to see what the subject is doing and then look to see what the subject is looking at. It's amazing that generally, they are focused on us more than we are foused on them. Some---I tell you---act as if they are models.

Like a Crow, Sea Gulls do remember individual humans. These three were flying a couple of miles from where I usually shoot images of them flying. They made a big circle and came back and paraded infront of me sitting on a park bench. After looking at some of my previous images...these three are in most of my images of seagulls.Not all...but most!

 

This one is one of my favorites.It will pose for the camera until it hears the click and motor run end. Then, it parade and watch to see if the camera is pointed at it. It then, does the same thing and will stop to pose until it hears that click and motor run end.

This one is the same one that flew in and landed on the post of the dock at Sun Set Bay. All three are camera hounds!! I'm telling you....they know what they are doing. 

A Lovely Late Fall Day and a Coyote Attack on a Runner

It was a delightful day to be out. The sky was that China Blue color and the colors that are left in the trees were amplified and stood out like boulders. 

While I always look at the stand-out spots where both red tail and red shoulder hawks watch over their territories, Not one did I see, today. Usually, I will see one or two flying or hunting or just sitting on their chosen standard---a tree, a telephone pole, a light tower, but no such luck today. Some what strange, I might add.

On the way in, I stopped at two stores for short, fill in-type purchases. Not much---just a couple of items that popped up in the Tuesday mailer that I have been waiting for. When home, I took my folding chair out on the porch and spent another hour in the sunshine before coming inside until tomorrow. It is forecast to be even warmer tomorrow at 75 degrees.

Shooting has slowed somewhat. I have had a lot published the past two to three weeks that are beginning to show up in both the portfolios and in sales. The transition into winter will start in a couple of weeks and I am already working on what those projects will look like this year. I would like to do more portrait work this coming year but that is a separate animal that once you create, you have to feed the beast and I have my hands full already with the stock and urban expanse images that I enjoy doing.

Tonight, on the local news, an aggressive coyote attack a runner on a trail up in the Frisco area. Ironically, just two weeks ago I had shot both a large male and a female that were only about 2 miles apart. Both were stalking and aggressive. I had spoken with a park ranger about it because I wanted to know what I should do if I encountered one while walking the trails for the fall colors of leaves. He had said to me to call 911 and ask for animal control to relocate an aggressive animal. It didn't answer my question about if you were attack. The runner in Frisco required surgery following her attack by that aggressive coyote.

The problem is stemming from the massive amount of building that is going on that is talking away their underbrush runs  where they normally will stay shy to humans, but when they loose that habitat, they get aggressive out of fear and break in their routines of hunting. It happened about two years ago when the first big surge of building started. Then, it subsided for a bit as the animals adapted to the new runs they were able to make.

It always amazes the different birds that hang out with the pelicans.

Berries and tender shoots that remain had two squirrels filling up their tummies!

There are only three females hanging out with the boys!

However, unlike the surge of building two years ago, this latest surge has not let up and to that end, the runner was attack in the Frisco area.

Three Firemen Hurt;One Civilian;24 Displaced

Hate To See This Anytime, but during the Holidays it is even more difficult.

3 firemen trapped as third floor collapses on firemen. Rescued, 1 civilian injured.

This was an interesting seagull. He visited with me before taking off.

Nature Decorates For the Holidays

Looking  around at what nature beholds in the form of decorations that can put our decorations to shame generally, I found the one that I have been searching for that gives us that Cathederal stain glass and tree.

This was a nature trail that held some pretty neat surprises.Click on any of the images to bring the enlarge panel into view.

The rich, deep reds

The yellows veined in red

At full resolution, the background blends into a mosaic pattern of the juniper giving off that blend look of a distant cathedral window. It's actually a stunning image.

Beginning Test for Final Phase of New Features

We have been under construction for the past 6-8 weeks and most of you didn't even know beyond the post that enlightened you to changes coming. We are in the final test of the new features and you may experience problems on the site intermittently between now and the end of the year.

Those using i-Phones and i-pads may enxperience more than those just using their computers and laptops. So, check back as often as you wish and don't give up the ship---we really are on schedule and making progress. However, there are glitches and we know that they are gong to be there.

Thanks for being readers of our blog. It's not much but we try to make it interesting even if it' just quasi-mundane at times.

The last of the color already.

Fishing Was So Good, I Went Back A Second Day

It seems amazing to watch a cormorant dive for fish, but they have been doing that for thousands of years. In Southeast Asia, fisherman train them to bring up fish to the boat. They have a cord around the cormorants neck so that a fish cannot be swallowed while they are working!

Anyway, with the heavy rains of the past, the tidal pool is full of fish that came over the dam and down the spillway into the tidal pool. And that's where the cormorants and Great Egret and Great Blues have been fishing in extraordinary numbers of late. I've got in nearly 8 hours and  hundreds of shots that tell this fish story.

Nice Fish!

And Another Fine Catch

The Old Birds Know To Get Away From The Crowds that try to steal your catch.