Happy Monday and happy new week! It's also a double digit day today! 😀 We have had a few good photo opportunities for snowflakes in the least 2 months, the best one was a little over a week ago. Some had a good amount of rime on them but were still quite lovely I thought such as this one. Rime forms when water droplets freeze on the flake after and as it forms. This is a 16 image focus stack to bring out the details.
Happy first day of February, the year is moving along and winter too, looking forward to being done with that. It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is a steamy shot of the Wagner locomotive that I get to operate up in Rollag Minnesota at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's school and/or Reunion. We were operating the locomotive on this day in September during the Labor Day weekend show. The steam is produced from the injector as it was being ether turned on or shut off. "Train Poop" refers to the ash and coal remnants that come out of the ash pan when we clean it. 😂
Today's image is another that I did of a tree I had seen in Hershey Park Botanical Garden in Pennsylvania. I was inspired by a poster I had seen in an Extension Agent's office. This has an infrared treatment done to it, along with black and white. I really liked how it turned out, hope you enjoy it as well. 😁
It's Friday, TGIF! Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well so I chose this image for today. I thought the wall behind created an interesting bokeh. This is a Painted Lady Butterfly visiting my Sedum this past September with a bug of some sort incoming as well.
Today's image is one I hope I get to see again this year. I grow Milkweed that is the Monarch Butterfly's main source of food for it's young. I had several caterpillars this year which was very cool. I hope they grew into the Monarchs I saw in my yard later on. I have yet to find a cocoon.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one I enjoy finding, Fringe Leaf Ruellia. It can grow very low to the ground so often is hidden by taller vegetation, I think I see it most where it has been mowed, usual height is 4 to 20 inches. They usually bloom June through September. It is also known as a Prairie Petunia and is very drought hardy. Livestock will eat it as well.
This bird is one that I always enjoy seeing because it means summer has come to our area. This is a Dickcissel named for their call. They are colored similar to Meadowlarks but are smaller and chunkier. When they migrate, they assemble into very large flocks. It's classified as part of the Cardinal family but is actually difficult to determine it's closest relatives.
