Star Gazing

While waiting for the Persied meteors in the dark I didn't realize I was getting this tree too. Lighting on it was from a street light some 300 yards or so away.

Persied Meteor Shower

Up until 2AM and only seeing three meteors was discouraging to say the least. Those that I saw were never in the view of my camera. Issue for me was Dayton and Kettering, OH lights as well as a mall called the Green that isn't much more that maybe a mile or so to the north. There was some haze in the air from earlier clouds. The meteors were to come from the north north east so that horizon was pretty well lit up by man.

Anyway, I got this airline some 5 miles up I would guess. It's traveling west to east.

Jet in bottom (west) headed to the top of frame (east).

Leaving the top of the frame.

Going left to right in middle of frame. Small super high clouds whisking by.

Headed towards destinations unknown.

Not sure how far one can see at night but I am impressed with the little lights on these planes. He is a long ways off.

Side marker of a Citation Jet (CJ).

A Well Deserved Drink

We've had a drought going on in our part of Ohio, not as bad as it is in the middle of the country but bad enough. Starting yesterday we got rain and much cooler weather, barely out of the 60's. Last week was a different story as they were forecasting low 90's and the thermometer hitting upper 90's. This is where they say, "but it feels like". All I know is HOT feels like HOT.

It's always hard to keep plants in hanging baskets hydrated. The wife was watering her hanging plants from the deck when I thought that might be a neat shot of the water.

After the Rains

I took a series of shots of the moon a couple of nights ago but failed to reset my cameras Quality setting. I usually shot in RAW but the camera was set to its smallest pixels. Anyway, the shots came out pretty good, just small.

 This one is actually looking down on the reflection in a pond. Only ripples are from the ducks that seem to be active all night, feeding and staying alert of predators.

 Tried a boarder here but not really satisfied with it. 

Silhouette

I was sitting on our deck when I took this. Clouds but still no rain. Some rain was forecast for this weekend but all we got was about a tenth of an inch. 

Coopers Hawk Lunch Time

It took several hours for this to take place. Why I stood out in 90 + degree weather to take these photos is beyond me. Maybe because you just don't get to see it everyday.

A neighbor called and said we had a photo opp, a hawk was on the street light behind our houses. I figured that it would be gone before I got my camera. An hour and a half or so later I decided to call it quits. The bird had land on a wooden pole down the road and hadn't moved for quite some time.

I took something like 246 pictures in raw and it took me several days to get to and process the pictures to .jpg format so they would load here. I have a .pdf file I have sent to friends but the blog doesn't like it. The .pdf  has 51 photos. I will only put up a few in the sequence. This is an amazing bird. Now I need to take a trip to "hippyville-town lives in the '60s" Yellow Springs, OH where there is a raptor sanctuary and learning center. Some photos are gruesome to some people, sorry, but that is nature.

Click the images for a larger view.

Robin is excited about the hawk being near by.

Hawk swooping up to a roof top from a yard across the street.

Perched on the roof across the street from my house.

Leaping to flight, headed my direction.

Didn't even look for traffic was. Just swooped off the roof, down low across the road and up to its target.

Target, Robins nest in tree in my front yard. Came right over my head.

It has its prey but the Robins and Purple Martins and chasing it away.

Time to eat.

Finishing up.

The "dare" look.

Back for another young bird.

Leaving with the third and finale menu item. 

Our Dad

This is a picture of our dad. He was a navigator on a converted C135 used for tracking space shots from Cape Canaveral. Prior to this he was in SAC (Strategic Air Command) where he flew on B-52's and before that B-36's and before that B-29's. As a B-52 flier he was the bombardier, could function as the navigator and the ECM position (electronics for the plane).

There is commercial on TV where a kid puts his dads helmet on. It reminds me of when my dad brought his gear home, flight boots, suit, parachute and helmet and leave them at the back door as he was on alert. My brother and I would put his helmet on and try to walk in his boots.  We were stationed at Loring AFB, Caribou, ME. at the time and the "Cold War" was pretty hot at the time. Regular exercise at school was hit the floor and get under your desk, like that was going to stop the bomb. 

We didn't get to see our dad much during those times. He was in the air waiting for the command to fly a one  way mission to Europe with weapons readied, fortunately this never happened, or in a bunker on base or asleep at home after flying for many hours. By the time the Cold War had settled down and he got out of SAC my brother and I had gotten older and started to find our interests in the world of friendships and activities. This is true no matter what your parents do. When you're young you want them and their attention but they are busy trying to make their way in their jobs so you can have everything you want or think YOU need. He would be 91 today and there are so many things I don't know about him.

He was a veteran and he was our dad