My Hiding Spot

Looking at this you wouldn't think that one could hide from a turtle but believe me, it is possible.  At this point he's swimming around in the water near those orangish looking blobs to the right of the straight up blade of grass.  When I say swimming around I do mean around.  It must the something wrong with one of it's flippers as it seems to swim in circles most of the time.  When  under water it seems to go in a straight line.

Bee on a Flower

While standing in a neighbors yard and trying to get a shot of a turtle sunning its self I happened to look down and spot this flower with a bee on it.  All I did was point the lens in its direct and got real lucky.  Editing the mulch background out was done in OnOne Perfect Suite and a twist of Lightroom.

Crack of Dawn, Double Sun

Sunrise through a doorway.....I added the doorway because none of my doors face east and I don't have a door like this.

Something To Think About

The top picture was taken late February this year and the second picture was taken in late March.  Remember these days as we swelter through the opposite time of the year temperature wise.  I know I complained about it being so damn cold and that all activities had to be done indoors. 

On June 21st the days started getting short and once we hit July 4th you might as well consider summer over as all the retail stores start clearance sales to get rid of their overage in grills, bathing suits etc, just to make room for, yep, candy for Halloween.  I have seen some Thanksgiving items out and QVC has had their Christmas in July adventure.  I would imagine that as soon as Labor Day shows up, we will see Valentine and Sweetest Day cards and candies out.  Oh yea, Sweetest Day is actually a Hallmark card day in the mid-west only.

Did I forget to say.....the kids all got reminded right after July 4th that school was about to start again with the Back To School sales.  Some had only been  out  for the summer 2 or 3 weeks.

Give me a break retailers.....slow down and enjoy the holidays, at their appropriate times.

Through the Clouds

Some lightning in the distance and lightning that didn't penetrate the clouds but lit up the atmosphere to make the clouds seem very thin.

ISO 100, f-2.8. 4.0 sec, focal length 16mm

Wind and Rain

After the storm with the lightning we had more storms the next day.  Flash floods everywhere.  Sheets of rain blew over this house.

Lightning Shots.....Lucky

We had a very strong thunder storm come through here Tuesday night.  Up to 60 mph winds, hail and rain.  I wasn't going to try to get the lightning since in most incidences I find all I get is the bright burst of light.  I took a bunch of shots, even put the camera on burst for a bit.  I didn't think I got anything because of the slow finger to react to the flash, however I found I got lucky.

The storm came out of the NW  and most of the lighting was taking place to the north, however, you couldn't see out of the window.  I got these shots looking east and still have quite a few water spots showing.  The other thing about these images is they are all hand held photos.  If you look closely in the water in the second image you can see the ducks that make this pond their home base for the summer.    They tend to always face the storms and I'm sure they were paddling frantically since the wind kept pushing them backwards.