Finally Flying

     Four weeks! I endured four weeks sans Scissortail while the mechanics inspected, repaired, and renovated my ol' bird. Finally, MyMrMallory and I flew.

Someone took this image in Mobile showing the aircraft that raced in the 2011 Air Race Classic. That's my Scissortail there, pointy nose number twenty. (I have long felt that 'er nose resembles the nose of Jimmy Durante.)

Jump ahead to today, and here I show the shadow of my hand on the instrument panel, waving.

Through my window, the Red River.

Hodge Runs

      Eleven-year old Hodge runs joyfully in the north forty. 

Flight Lesson: How Planes Fly

      My flight instructor, Jim, emailed this diagram to me. Since I respond visually to learning, it all makes so much sense to me now.

Created by http://www.lefthandedtoons.com/874/

Lichen Up Close

Snows Reveal

    A predatory bird found dinner, perhaps, an owl or a hawk, and a squirrel, or a songbird . . . 

Snow on the roof of our shed reveals activity.

Lights Reflected on the Wing of a King Air

Made this image in Louisburg, Kentucky during a stop-over.

Mamiya Lichen

     Intriguing in their colors and most particularly in their location, my attention to the lichen on the rocks knows no end. Here they are again, taken with a Mamiya 645, 45mm lens, 1/500 sec., and some tweaking of sharpness and cropping the overblown sky in the digital darkroom.

         Gnarly rocks covered in lichen and a Mamiya: A fine combination in photography.

Night Flight Helicopter

Wild Cam Image of Two Does

Dogs Hunting Hogs

     As MyMrMallory and I wandered about in the countryside, we came upon quite a sight, well, quite a sight for this town gnome. We saw two all-terrain vehicles piled with several men and dogs. The dogs alone were a sight to see. A couple of them stood on the hood, noses up, vigilant for the odor of wild hogs; they had dogs that wore protective vests; and all the dogs wore tracking devices around their necks.
      We stopped. "You look as if you are ready for anything," said MyMrMallory.
      "Yeah!" said the hunter. "Why don't you follow us?"
      And we did. We watched until the hounds and the hunters in their all-terrain vehicles disappeared into the winter bushes. Wikipedia has an interesting entry on hog hunting through the ages.

Rough terrain rarely stops passionate hunters.

Banshi, a pitbull, wears a protective vest. 

Jasco and Skipper rushed into the wild when they smelled a hog.

Focussed.

Red Dog, the youngest and most vocal.

Red Dog announces her eagerness to run.

Hank is steady on the hood as they traverse the country in search of hogs.

       One of the all-terrain vehicles pulled a wagon in which, at the end of the hunt, they held a captured 230-pound sow to take to market.

Tracking the dogs on his GPS.

         The hunters released the hounds and all disappeared into the bushes. At this point, MyMrMallory and I turned around and returned to bird-watching on our own. 

The next morning, the wild cam made an image of a wild hog.

Nice Day for Countryside Walk

Cloudy skies, gnarly oak trees, interesting rocks covered with lichen . . . my cup of tea.

Shadow of a King Air

Wintry Wind

I like the effect of moving my camera as I open the shutter. 

Leafless oak tree.

Evening tree lights. 

Yellow in the Parking Lot

Still Snow

      We've had a wintry week with snow remaining on the ground since our white Christmas.

Fortunately, Hodge has a sidewalk and keeps his paws dry 

as he returns home from doing doggy things.

Ice Formations

      Walking, um, running Hodge -- I have to say running the dog because Hodge runs, having only two speeds, zero and run -- has more potential for photos during the slow thaw of snow and ice. While he dashes (joyfully) on the snow, stopping occasionally to acknowledge a squirrel, I stoop down with my nifty little Coolpix P7700 to record some of the amazing formations that thawing ice can make.

Dripping ice from the tip of a leaf.

Broken ice on a leaf.

Hard snow on a clump of leaves fallen on the ground.

Reflection of a green door on ice formations and leaves.

Ice on concrete.

Moss thrives on the north side of my house even during these times of drought. 

White Christmas

Wildlife at the Creek, Four and Two-legged

     The stealth cam functioned last night. It took several pictures of wild hogs munching on the corn that MyMrMallory and I spread around. A couple of raccoons pop up in the collection of images, as well as cattle and our vehicles.

         I liked what I saw as I looked up at the ridge, so I attempted to make a photograph of it. The sun shined brightly through the cloud cover that will bring, we hope, some moisture this evening. The path below the ridge leads to the creek where we placed the stealth cam that took pictures of the animals. I improved the image in Photoshop by darkening the sky and bringing up the foreground in order to see the broomweed and other plants. 

And now the stealthcam images: 

Wild hogs enjoy the treat of corn.

Big hog on the left. 

Two raccoons. 

Cattle cross the creek in the morning. 

Approaching the stealth cam.

Wild Cam Near Possum Lake

       I made my way into the country to check on the wildlife cameras MyMrMallory and I installed near the creek. What a lovely countryside even in winter time! 

         Two deer watched me with too much curiosity, I thought, as I drove past them only seventy yards away. 

And a sweet calf exchanged glances between her mom and me. 

And what did the wildcam capture? Not much our first time.

       Never mind the year and date. I had difficulty managing the menu; the next images should show the correct data, but I'm not holding my breath, doofus at computers as I am. The flash lit up the broomweed but no creature of God. New batteries and a fresh SD card, more corn and acorns spread around, and another day watching for wildlife may reveal our visitors.