November 22, 2007

November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated the holiday with a delicious turkey, stuffing and mashed potato dinner alfresco on our patio. Aimee and her mom did a great job preparing it while I supervised. In the middle of my third helping we got an unexpected and uninvited dinner guest. A large hawk flew in and perched atop our neighbor’s patio. I had to physically restrain my mother-in-law from tossing him a drumstick.

A few minutes and several pictures later, the hawk found his own Thanksgiving feast by swooping down on an unsuspecting snake in the golf course rough below. The snake was not a happy camper. What gave me the jitters though was thinking about the day before when I went searching for an errant golf shot in a similar spot. I need to learn how to keep the ball in the fairway when playing desert courses.

November 13, 2007

November 13, 2007

Despite living in the middle of what seems like Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom I haven’t captured too many good wildlife photographs. The coyotes are like ghosts and don’t show up during the day. The quail and cactus wrens don’t like my company and won’t let me get close. I have only seen one roadrunner and that was in the distance. I give the bobcats plenty of space. The flowers on the front stairway attract hummingbirds and hummingbird moths but they are way toooo fast. So I had to settle for a fly willing to pose patiently.

November 8, 2007

November 8, 2007

I have taken lots of photographs documenting our travels. This year I bought several photography books and pored over the camera manual trying to improve my skill. I have not been overly impressed with some of my middle of the day pictures especially here in Arizona. The bright cloudless sun washes out the colors and textures of the mountain scenery. Unfortunately if I were to only photograph national parks at dusk and dawn or on cloudy days, it would take me decades to see the US. I am not that patient.

One of my readings suggested a solution. I ordered a polarizing filter for the camera and tested it out today. Wow! What a difference! This filter is going to be my new best friend. Who would have thought my camera just needed sunglasses!

November 3, 2007

November 3, 2007

Aimee dragged me to a sheep shearing event this morning. I am not sure why this would spark her interest. Maybe because she grew up in a Chicago suburb far from the farm life. The event was held at a very small desert farm only a few miles west of us. This “gentleman” farm is owned by a woman that raises a couple dozen sheep and goats for the local craft wool market. The public shearing was performed to attract new customers to her business.

Aimee and I watched a couple Angora goats being stripped of their dreadlocks. They were not happy campers. Afterwards the owner gave us a tour and related some of her goat breeding experiences. Near the farmhouse were a collection of tables demonstrating wool carding, dying, and spinning. I hated to tell them they could go to any good clothing store and buy wool yarn with a lot less effort.