The Moon and Saturn

This is as much "reach" that I can do with my current camera. I put both my 2x and my 1.4x on my 200mm lens. This is called "stacking." It isn't the sharpest picture I've ever seen of the moon, but it is the best I can do. I also used mirror lockup to eliminate any camera shake on the tripod. I don't think that I'll be able to take many "stacked" pictures in real life situations, but it was fun to try it on the moon.

Just in case you are wondering what the first picture is.....well, it's Saturn. Looks like a white dot to me, but Darwin assurred me that this is a planet. It is a disc, not a dot....for all you non-astronomy type people.

Garden Glories

My June bearing strawberries are in. This is the 2nd year for them. K-9 goes out and hunts along the fence every time he is let outside. Oh, if his nose was only a little longer, the top strawberry would be had! He sure likes this time of year! It has been an unbelievable Spring!

Softball

I went to a softball game to watch Darwin's co-workers tonight. It was very fun to have my camera along. The sun had just set. I had to use my 200L lens....gee that is getting used a lot lately!!! I had to have my ISO at 800 after the top two shots. I found out that as long as I could keep the speed up over 1/125, I was getting pretty clear shots. I didn't push the ISO up to 1600. I just put my camera away at that point.

Sunrise at the lake

My walking partner was gone this morning, so I went to the lake with my camera gear instead. It was a beautiful sunrise. I caught this poppy with my 200L and the bridge with the 10-22mm. Both shots were taken with a circular polarizer.

Sterling Colorado - goodbye

After dinner, Kelli took me for a mini vacation to Atwood to watch the sun set. This was the first time I had ridden in a Miata. Very, very fun!!! The river is the South Platte.

The next night, I went out to Janie's childhood ranch with her. She grew up with 10 brothers & sisters! It was beautiful to drive around and hear her share her stories. I thought it was so interesting to see how much the bird blended in with the surroundings.

I stopped along the road on the way north to Sydney, Nebraska to take a picture of this house. What totally surprised me was that the hillside on the side of the road was covered with catus in bloom. That would be FULL bloom!

Breakfast at the lake

So I went to the lake early this morning to see if I could find the heron. Did I ever. I got a little ahead of it and just sat down on the grass. It was fishing! And what a good job it did. It was so fast. Then, it walked into the sunlight.....oh what a difference light makes in photography! I took the bottom 2 pictures with my 200L + 1.4 TC and the top 2 with just the 200L lens.

Holmes Lake Flooding

Well, we had 5 inches of rain in the last 3 days. The lake is up about 4 or 5 feet. It is wild to see it so high. The babies don't mind at all. It will be fun to get out and kayak in it too. Won't be walking on our path for a few weeks probably.

Lincoln Marathon

Today was the Lincoln Marathon. It was a little wet and very, very windy. The marathon goes right by the back our house both ways (Mile 18 & 22). It was amazing to see so many people running and the different running form every person has. These pictures were taken with my 200L lens today as I needed the extra apeture since it was so dark and cloudy. The truck is the running time at mile 22. Wow. I can't imagine running 22 miles in 122 minutes! This was the first runner behind the truck. I wonder if he won?

This was the first non-runner. Just amazing to watch!

This guy was very light on his feet. I caught him in-flight!

This guy gets the best socks award!

How's this for an escort?

Run the line.

I think he would have been very hot yesterday. It was 80 degrees & 100% humidity!

This couple reminded me of a wedding....walking down the aisle. Wait, we're in the middle of a marathon! After a brief stretch they were on their way.

Award for most alike runners!

This guy was super lean. He had a big smile as he ran by me and greeted me. Hope he had a good run.

New life Part 2

This is the little family 48 hours later.

New life

I got up and went to my office this morning at 6:30 am. There was just enough light to catch some of the action. It is so fun to watch the parents manage all of their newly hatched young.