Kitchen Dragonfly

This little guy is one of MANY dragonflies that call The Orchard Compound home. They float by constantly then their lives end and this is what's left. Very much like butterflies. This one resides on our kitchen window sill.

I shot this with my iPhone 3GS in macro mode. Ran it through photo fx filter and uploaded with flickup. Frankly, I'm not happy with flickup but it's the best I can find that uploads to Flickr and then tweets it. If you know of another app please let me know.

OH! Hi There!

This evening we grilled some marinated pork chops on the grill out on our front porch. After a great meal, I walked out on the porch to cover the grill and put things away. As soon as I opened the front door, this great big bull elk and I scared each other! He was about 20 feet away just off the front steps. So, I stepped back in and grabbed my new iPhone 3GS and started rolling. He sauntered off and I covered the grill. By the time I sat back down and sent this to YouTube, a few of his friends wandered out of the woods.

LOVE that!

Foxglove And A Bee

This evening, as the sun was going down and the summer solstice was happening, Joyce and I went for a walk around The Orchard Compound in Hobart. We spotted some foxglove on the neighboring property that's been abandoned for many months and snapped a shot.

This was taken with my brand new iPhone 3G S. I ran it through the photo fx app but think the original was a bit better and larger. Now that the new iPhone has a better camera, I need to change the way I was taking pictures with the old one.

Strawberry Tweets Forever

After what seems an eternity, the strawberry plants in pots on our deck are finally starting to ripen. If we could get a few more days of serious sun we'd have a basket full of them.

Now, if only the tomatoes would do the same.

This was snapped on my first generation iPhone and enhanced a bit with the photo fx app. My new iPhone 3GS arrives next Friday. YAY!

Also, trying out the beta for sending strait from Flickr to Twitter. Hope this works.

Blueberry Fields Forever

Every Friday I get to work at the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center in Bellevue. It's always great, but when the weather is about as perfect as it can be, then it's awesome!

Today I had the chance to get out and hike around. Found a geocache. Saw a bunch of birds including a Goldfinch, Heron, and many more. The Goldfinch is the Washington State Bird...but I also saw some beautiful rhododendrons, the Washington State Flower. There was a cool garter snake, a frisky squirrel, and other assorted wildlife. The air was filled with cottonwood, almost like snow. My beloved, Joyce is sneezing her head off now. She's allergic.

This shot was taken with my Nikon D-40. The trail I was on consisted of dirt and boardwalks. I took the bridge over the Mercer Slough and followed the Heritage Trail around to find this cache. The trail skirts a wonderful blueberry farm. You can buy the berries at the stand on Bellevue Way. They're great! Come fall, this area will turn quite colorful.

All in all, a great day for a short walk in the wild...just a stone's throw from the big city.

Foggy, Salty Seattle Morning

When I pulled into the Pacific Science Center parking garage this morning before 6 a.m. I was greeted with fog and some salty air. Could just make out the top of this construction crane working on a new church across the street. Just LOVE that smell. Always reminds me of our boating days.

This was shot with my first generation iPhone and run through the Mono filter in the CameraBag app.

Arizona Trip Video...Sort Of

So, I'm stuck at home nursing my sore shoulder. Decided to try making a quick video with a program called Fotomagico. I got this through Macheist last year so it was quite inexpensive. Not sure I would have paid full price for it. But it's quick and easy, for sure. This whole thing took me about two minutes to throw together, then had to wait for it to render. But all settings were default. Could have tweaked each shot a bit to avoid the black seen on some of the slides. Very easy. Here's the resulting HD video posted to Facebook.

A Fishy Geocache

Today is Friday, so I get to work at the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center in Bellevue. This place is like heaven in the heart of the city. Just gorgeous.

After slaving over a hot computer for six hours, I grabbed my GPS and went out for a little geocaching. Found one about a half mile away, but what I really found was serenity. I've driven by this thing a thousand times and never saw it. It's a fish ladder right in downtown Bellevue. This heron was standing there looking like a salmon sentry. As cars and trucks rumbled by right behind me, this little spot was serene. The name of the geocache hidden there is Save The Salmon. Not sure the heron had that in mind.

Some of the interns from Pacific Science Center helped plant the area around this spot. A great program.

Chihuly In The Desert

Being from the Seattle area, we know full well how wonderful Dale Chihuly's work is. Seeing it in the desert was something else. We strolled through the fabulous Desert Botanical Garden on a hot April evening. We saw a snake and small lizard, hummingbirds and ducks, and enjoyed the incredible fragrance of the spring air while mesmerized by the glass.

Another aspect of this stunning exhibit and the garden itself was the photography taking place. Nearly everyone had a camera! Dodging photographers, trying to stay out of shots, waiting for people to move, it was all just as much part of the experience as marveling at how the glass was created or what inspired the artist to place the pieces where he did. While most of us don't have the eye of an artist like Chihuly, many of us are out capturing the sights of the world around us. I think that makes the world a bit better. Here are a few more shots.

Poston Butte Beauty

My brother-in-law, Jim Rodal and I climbed Poston Butte in Florence, Arizona to find a geocache planted up there. It was Jim's first cache adventure and his first climb up there. I'd been up once before, in 1998 BC - before caching :) - and it was even better this time.

If you've ever been to Florence you've seen this hill with a huge, white F on the flanks. It's one of the few pieces of higher ground in an otherwise flat area. There's a monument on top placed there in 1907 when Arizona was still a territory. The view is spectacular. More images can be found here.

There are three Geodetic Survey markers up there along with the cache. We found only two of them. We spotted some prairie dog-type critters, a number of lizards, a few bee hives, and strangest of all, the entire pyramid is a gigantic ant hill! Fascinating to watch the millions of ants swarm all over it.

Another mystery to us: how did the people who built the monument pound those big iron rods into solid rock? There are a bunch of them up there. Talk about a tough job!

Since Jim and my sister Janice live down there for half the year, and since Joyce and I vacation here every year, we're thinking of making this sort of an annual pilgrimage.

Slithery Geocache

Joyce and I were out geocaching while on vacation in Arizona when we came upon this little guy near one of the caches. Needless to say, we gave him a wide berth. We did find the cache though and were none the worse for the encounter. He (she?) just ignored us.

Not sure what kind of snake this is. If you do, please let us know.

Dead Skunk In The Middle Of The Road

Way back when I was playing the hits on small market radio stations, one of my favorite novelty tunes was by Loudon Wainwright III. It came out in 1972 and we played it on KUPY 1450 The Voice Of The Valley in Puyallup, WA and I think we even played it on KTKN in Ketchikan, AK. Anyway, it's a classic. Today, while on vacation in Arizona, Joyce and I came upon this smelly little guy stuck to the road just outside Florence and couldn't resist. Had to dodge some cars and a buzzard circling overhead. But fortunately, the smell had subsided. Loudon, wherever you are, thanks for the memories. Would love to buy you a beer sometime.

This was taken with my first gen iPhone. Ran it through the camerabag app using the 1974 filter.

First Skunk Cabbage of 2009

I was out tromping around our woods this afternoon and spotted this guy poking his head up through the marsh. They don't smell great, they're not all THAT pretty, and they have a funny name. But it was good to see it.

Yes, today is another typical Pacific Northwest winter day, even though it's officially spring now. Cold, rainy, dreary. But seeing the skunk cabbage starting to poke up from the wetland is a welcomed sight. This was the only one I could find that was up, but there are many others out there. A little bit of color - and the promise of more to come - on an otherwise dismal day with sky the color of a battleship. Can't wait for warmer weather.

Games People Play

So, we were sitting around this afternoon as the sun was setting. Snow, hail, rain were all falling...and the sun was shining. Had a fire burning in the stove. Joyce and Kelton curled up in her chair and she continued teaching him the finer points of solitaire.

It's no surprise that three-year-old Kelton has been playing video games for quite awhile. His father started when he was two and still plays them now. But our grandson hasn't yet mastered solitaire. So, that's his grandmother's job.

I snapped this with my first generation iPhone and used the CameraBag app with the Lolo filter. Even in the low light it works OK.

Early Morning Dinosaurs

Next month I celebrate my third anniversary at Pacific Science Center. Many things have become routine, but I still find myself in awe of the place. Hopefully, that feeling won't go away anytime soon.

I get to work at 6 a.m. It's still dark most of the time and I'm pretty much alone in there. It's still spooky and scary and totally awesome to walk around in the dark through all the exhibits. I especially like the dinosaurs. They're turned off, there's no sound, and very little light. But their eyes still glare down and those teeth look terrifying. Love that!

Hope to be writing something similar many years from now.

Sweet Cache

My geocaching buddy/grandson and I went out to run some errands and find a cache today. Kelton turns four next month. He's got this treasure hunting thing down quite well. This particular find was soggy and in need of serious repair. But it was still fun and we topped it off with a trip to the bakery just around the corner for some maple bars and apple juice. Sweet times.

Tough Old Cat

Joyce and I were out walking on our road yesterday when we spotted this black cat. He came right up to us and started purring. We recognized him right away - it was Midnight, one of our old cats who vanished years ago.

Midnight was one of four kittens we took in from some friends. They were the friendliest cats we've ever had. Great molers and mousers, they were always purring and wanting attention. But one by one they all disappeared. We've never seen any of the others, just Midnight. He's sorta feral now, mean as heck with ragged ears but he still purrs for awhile before running off to wherever he lives now. For as old as he is and living outside, he's actually looking pretty good, so somebody must be feeding him somewhere and giving him shelter.

Cats. Weird little critters.

Sunrise Moon

Sunrise is my favorite time of day, so you'd think getting good shots at home would be simple for me since we've lived here so long. It's not. The Orchard Compound is carved out of the forest so when the sun comes up it takes quite awhile for the light to actually get into us, especially in winter. So, this shot is pretty boring. A few minutes later the light was better on the trees, but the moon was gone. A few minutes earlier the moon was brighter but everything else was too dark. This was taken looking to the southwest with the sun off to my left. A few more clouds up there would have helped, maybe catching a bit more color from the sun. Next time.

You know what they say, the first rule in improving your photography is to shoot more often. Just need to get my lazy butt out of bed and shoot more!

Hobart Hell Hole

The property next to The Orchard Compound in Hobart, WA has been the scene of a bloody suicide, a recent shooting, years of illegal dumping, and some squatters who moved in and have been stealing from all the neighbors. My wife, Joyce and I are on a mission to have King County clean this place up once and for all. The video below gives you a sense of what's been buried on this small piece of land for the last quarter century. What you can't see are the years of abuse, violence, heartache and more. The unimaginable that is buried there makes us cry just to think of it all. Please, can someone help us get King County out here to close this little bit of hell and help some family move in and bring life back to this place?

Hobart Sunset

I've been so focused on the awesome sunrises this week almost forgot about sunset. On Wednesdays, Joyce and I telecommute from Hobart. So, as I was sitting at my desk at home today, just happened to notice the great light at sunset. When I grabbed the camera and ran out, there was a great sunset to the west that I started to shoot. But when I looked over my shoulder I saw the moon and this great vapor trail from a passing jet way up high. But what really got me you can't see. At this time of day, the bats are very active. They zip between the trees at dusk. And believe it or not, there had to be at least three big bats fluttering around when I shot this, but they didn't show up.

Either way, east or west, it was a great evening.