Letting Sleeping Dogs Lie!

My wife and I are complete saps for our dog, Cheyenne.  When we go anywhere, we always come home with too many pictures of the dog.

So when I downloaded the images from Jane's camera and I spotted this one, I just had to post it even though I did not take the picture.  Cheyenne is on the travel trailer sofa with her head propped up on the arm of my chair pushed against my laptop case.  It is so hard for a dog to get comfortable, but she can sleep anywhere!

Who could resist such a cute face?

-Brian-

Placid Warrior River

After harassing the wildlife, Dr. Tim Coleman and I took a leisurely trip up the quiet morning Warrior River.  I snapped this just before we turned around to head back to the river house.  This was October 3rd, and you can see just the slightest color in the foliage.  It would be interesting to get the same shot in about a month to see how it changed.

-Brian-

Wildlife on the Warrior River

After the fog dissipated, Dr. Tim Coleman and I headed out in his boat for a little morning fishing.  We were not the only one's fishing.  This fellow was looking for a good breakfast, I think, but we were a menace to him.  I did not have have my 300mm lense, so we coasted the boat as close as he would let us so I could get this picture with my zoom lense, 24mm to 120mm.  Just after I took this photo, he leapt into the air, but the photos of him flying did not come out clearly.

I think if he could have filed an injunction against us for harassment, he would have.  We snug up on him two more times including one with him standing on a big branch in a tree.

-Brian-

Warrior River Webs

I've been a meteorologist for over 40 years, but I don't recall any weather folklore about spiders or webs.  But I have noticed around my house and on this river trip with Dr. Tim Coleman the large and prolific number of spider webs.  There is one between my trees and my neighbors house that must be ten feet across.  I cannot remember a year with so many of them.  It will be interesting to see how the winter shapes up.

This photo is actually two webs, one on each side of the dock handrail.  The early morning fog which was quite dense for a short period of time has condensed on the webs leaving fine water droplets that sparkled in the early morning sun.

-Brian-

Boat Dock in Fog

After the beautiful sunset on the Warrior River on Thursday, October 2, which you can see in the post below, we awoke to a foggy morning with visibility close to zero.  As I emerged from the river house owned by Tim Coleman, I saw the boat dock somewhat obscured in fog and thought it made a nice picture.  A boat could have been 100 feet away and I would never have seen it.

There is something mighty comforting on a warm Fall morning when you are shrouded in fog listening to nature come awake.

-Brian-

Warrior River October Sunset

On a recent trip with Dr. Tim Coleman on the Warrior River west of Birmingham, AL, we took a quick spin on the river to chase a tug - and some fish.  We caught the tug - see the post below - but no fish, not even a nibble.

But we did catch a beautiful sunset.  This is looking generally west-northwest along the Warrior River not far from the Tim's river house.

-Brian-

Warrior River Tugboat

I recently had an opportunity to go with a friend, Dr. Tim Coleman, to his river house on the Warrior River.  It was my third trip, and we often try to go in the afternoon, stay overnight, and come home the following afternoon.  It makes for a more interesting trip than just driving down for a quick trip on the river.

To get to the house, however, you have to travel by boat.  It is a short distance, so we usually load up the small boat kept at a boathouse near the road, motor over to the house, unload our provisions, and then sit around or take a short boat trip.  We sat around on this trip, but decided as the the sun was setting to see if the fish were nibbling.  They weren't, so when a tugboat went by, we took off on a tug chase and caught it about a mile from the house.  I had no tripod, so I managed to get this handheld shot at about a tenth of a second.

I love the deepness of the colors and the reflection in the water.  The photo has not been re-touched in anyway.

-Brian-

Mushroom Condo

This photo was made at Cheaha State Park on Mt. Cheaha in early August.  When I saw this cluster of mushrooms, it immediately brought to mind a cluster of high rise condos, hence the title of this post and picture.  It was actually located on the campsite next to the one where we were located.  And I got creative with the camera putting it nearly on the ground, letting it auto-focus, and snapping the picture.  I then looked to see how it was composed and this one came out well.

The mushrooms were growing out of an old stump which is very hard to see since there were so many mushrooms.  Unfortunately the cluster did not last long and was completely wilted just a day or so later.

-Brian-

Nature Unleashed

One of the main objectives of my recent Chicago trip besides seeing my daughter was to see the "Nature Unleashed" exhibit at the Field Museum.  My daughter is a photo-holic and just loves using my Nikon D70S, so I loaned her the camera to take a few shots to prove that I was there.  Of course, in today's digital age, I could do this with Photoshop, but I didn't.

"Nature Unleashed" is a tremendous exhibit developed by the Field Museum with a focus on natural disasters and educating people about them.  They tackle topics like tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and tornadoes.  Naturally my interest was with the hurricane and tornado portions of the exhibit.  And there was one aspect to the tornado portion of the exhibit that blew me away - sorry for the pun.  Professional storm chaser Tim Samaras designed a cone with seven cameras pointing in all directions that he was able to place in front of an oncoming tornado.  So you step into the middle of seven screens and watch the tornado come right at you.  The center of the tornado passed within feet of the cone, so it is about as close as you can get to going through a tornado.  We were so taken with it we went through the video presentation about nine times - it only lasts about 3 minutes.  Unfortunately I cannot show you any photos of the exhibit since they asked that no photos be taken inside the exhibit.

The exhibit is supposed to go on the road in 2009 and might come to Atlanta, but that has not been firmed up.

-Brian-

Chicago Air Show

During my visit to Chicago over the weekend of August 16 and 17, a big event going on was the Chicago Air and Water Show.  The Air Show featured the Navy's Blue Angels from Pensacola, FL.  I did not actually attend the show, that is, I did not go to the Air Show viewing area along Lakeshore Drive.  But an Air Show like this one takes up lots of sky, so as my daughter and I were doing our site seeing, we could often catch glimpses of the various planes.

Just after getting off the 'L' at the Sheridan stop, we heard the planes, so we stayed on the elevated platform and watched them come overhead.  The main action, naturally, was along the lake front, but it was pretty exciting for us to see them come right over us as they made their turns on the northern side of the Air Show main stage area.

I captured several shots of them flying in formation, and yes, I enhanced this one just a tad to bring out the colors in the airplanes.  If you want to get some great information on the Blue Angels, their web site is www.blueangels.navy.mil.  It was such a treat to get to seem them and without braving the huge crowds along Lakeshore.

-Brian-