Daily Photo - Sliding Shelves

I spend entirely too much time reading home improvement and construction books. I just finished my second sliding shelf in my (until now) least useful kitchen cabinet. When I get to it I'll be pulling both out and shellacing them. Right now both are still bare wood, and that isn't really good in a kitchen. I guess I could go lazy and paint them white. They might blend better white.

Daily Photo - Chickadee

Chickadee checking out one of the peanut feeders. I had to use flash but it wasn't anywhere near as dark as it looks now.

Daily Photo - Swan

Photo at Stony Brook also from Monday. This swan had just finished chasing 3 geese out of the water and was now chasing the forth it had cornered. Eventually the goose flew off, but the three that had climbed out kept calling for it.

Daily Photo - Wood Frog

I got up around 4 am yesterday and made it to Moose Hill around dawn. I wandered about until 8 am. I didn't see much actually, but two wood frogs. They made the trip totally worth it. The one above was about the size of my fist. I'd never seen one that large before. Random annoyance: there is a male cricket loose in my bedroom who keeps chirping at odd times.

Daily Photo - Not Sure

Some kind of vole maybe? Whatever it's eating was good. I was less than 5 feet away taking pictures with a flash and it kept coming back.

Daily Photo - Dragonfly

I'm digging through all my old images and deleting everything that is completely out of focus. I keep finding folders full of out of focus and unlabeled pictures. At least part of this is because my backup drive just started complaining about not being big enough, and I don't want to upgrade to 1 tb yet.

Daily Photo - Isopod

Spotted this guy coming down a tree at Daniel Webster.

Daily Photo - Turk's Cap Lily

From the garden.

Daily Photo - Belted Kingfisher

From Wellfleet Bay Audubon Sanctuary, very early in the morning.

Daily Photo - Damselfly Emerging

Still drying.

Daily Photo - Sand Spider

It was only about 2 inches leg tip to leg tip. Nicely camouflaged too.

Daily Photo - Ebony Jewelwing

Another from Skunkett River.

Daily Photo - Damselfly

From Skunkett River Mass Audubon Sanctuary.

Daily Photo - Holes

Canyonlands. Sort of looks like there should be some bees coming out of those holes.

Daily Photo - Sago Lily

Another one from Zion. It's still too hot to do anything...

No Post TOO HOT...

It's hovering around 100 F here, and I'm hiding in the library living off their air conditioning until they close. This is the first time in 2 years I kind of miss my crappy air-conditioner. I've been having to drench the garden at least twice a day, and I think we still might lose some plants. It's just too hot. Here's a random pic of some Petroglyphs from Capitol Reef.

Daily Photo - Green River

This is my favorite view from Canyonlands. The Green River is still digging out canyons.

Sunrise at Daniel Webster

It would be so much easier to photograph at Daniel Webster if it wasn't 45 mins from my house. I got up at 4 am. The moon looked nice. I startled plenty of deer, up close even. I even spotted two mice. Chicory was just starting to open. The path reflected in this spider web. Two more opening chicory. There were only 4 or so rabbits. (I saw more on my later walk with one of the dogs.) And begging babies rounded out my walk. Then I walked a dog and crashed for 3 more hours of sleep...

Extra Daily Photo - Mourning Doves Again

They're just too cute.

Daily Photo - Mourning Dove

There are two just fledged Mourning Doves hanging out just beyond the back fence of my yard. I'm hoping neither are dumb enough to try to get through the fence or they're going to end up a snack. One of the dogs noticed them, but lost interest since they aren't really moving and aren't making any noise. I expect the weird light colored one I keep seeing is one of the parents.

Daily Photo - Green Fly

From the garden.

Arches National Park

We were in Arches from the 22nd to the 25th. due to the tiny biting gnats. We only went on the Devil's garden hike and avoided the campsite most of the time by hanging out in Moab. I did take a side trip to Canyonlands on the 24th while my cousin rented a bike. At Arches most of the rock tended towards reddish, but time of day altered it dramatically. Since it was so much warmer than Bryce I was up around dawn each morning.

Devil's Garden Trail. Landscape Arch Start of the non-primitive trail. Partition Arch. Water Holes. Navajo Arch. Raven. Sleepy lizard.

One part of the trail is across one of the fins. It's fairly wide, but I still got ridiculously nervous on the way back. There is a stiff wind from the right, enough to knock you over if you aren't paying attention.

Views from the road and Park Ave Trail.

Balanced Rock

Little gray praying mantis I spotted. Cracks. Ripples.