Signs of Spring

      The signs of spring, not only by the Cooper's hawk that stood on a dray, claws deep in leaves and twigs, watching the squirrel run away down the tree; not only by the vultures, American and Black, that kettle overhead; and not only by the Great-horned owl that alights in the oak above our bedroom and hoots; or the squirrels stoically carrying clumps of dried leaves up to the fifty or sixty-foot canopies; or the presence of nuthatches and chickadees after a long winter; or the starlings arriving at their old nest: Ay, it is the sound of a White-winged dove quietly, sweetly, warming his voice, slowly at first, and then, with practice, he sings a bit longer, delays his crescendoes, and with confidence, raises the level of sound to reach the ears of his mate.

Clay's Cattle

       Images of a cowboy tending to his cattle.

Standing on the feeder counting heads. 

Leading a Hereford bull into an enclosure in the pens.

Gose City Ghost Town

        During the 1920s in Archer County, on land owned by the Gose family, the Texhoma Oil Company set stakes around which developed a town. The town stood up on a small elevation on the rolling plains. Texhoma City, also known as Gose City, provided for the workers and their families up until the 1930s. By the 1940s, the population had fallen from a peak of 500, it is thought, to 150. Please see The Texas State Historical Association's online handbook about Texhoma City.
       

The concrete of one of its four businesses remains, a gas station.

A concrete sign reads "Gose District." 

Walkway, no doubt lining the front of one of the businesses, perhaps a general store.

Peering into a cistern.

Storage and shelter, caved in after eighty years.

A fireplace, perhaps.

My source: 

Brian Hart, "TEXHOMA CITY, TX," Handbook of Texas Online(http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvt23), accessed February 24, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

Rain: Squirrel in a Box

She climbs into a nest box every time it rains. 

Hand-held Moon

I amaze myself for this image's sharpness, hand-held, no tripod.

D7000 with a Mamiya 210mm lens, tweaked and cropped in Photoshop.

Big Sky over his Shoulder

       Hauled out the Mamiya and 45mm lens to capture this image of MyMrMallory standing on a ridge overlooking Lake Kickapoo. Part of the joy of film is waiting for the development of the images we make.

        Here is another image I took that same day of the big sky over North Texas.

Wind-blown Infrared Tree Under the Moon

Foggy Morning and a Rose-colored Filter

Foggy morning with Mamiya camera; two hounds sniffing in the grass.

Sunset seen through rose-colored filter from Ben's camera shop.

     

Ostrich, Front and Back Views

Blue Ostrich Winery and Vineyard.

Birds to Count

      Today's bird count at Lake Wichita included several hundred Ring-billed seagulls, a few Canada geese, mallards, Northern shovelers, gadwalls, Green-winged teals, Killdeers, dowagers, yellow-legs, Red-winged blackbirds, Starlings, a Cardinal, a Great-blue heron, sandpipers, Carolina wrens, Song sparrow, and two other sparrows. 

     At home, White-breasted nuthatches, Goldfinches, House finches, Robins, and a woodpecker, added to my count. 

         Pictured at top, Lake Wichita at low water level (30%) and Ring-billed gulls. Bottom photo, taken with a new wine-colored filter I bought from Ben, shows several hundred gulls standing along the opposite shore.

Portrait of Hank, Hunting Dog

During our visit to the countryside, we came upon Hank this afternoon, 

and found him with a studied look, patiently waiting to sniff for game.

He wears a GPS tracking device on his collar. His muddy

legs show that he has already trekked through the mud.

Sandhills and Cows

A fairly common scene in North Texas at this time of year.

Varied Archer

       Archer County presents varied geology and flora.

Here I show some unusual sights.

Looks like volcanic rock.

Broom-weed and prickly pear during winter.

Clay soil on a ridge.

Agave in the foreground will soon flower.

I just recently discovered this succulent with elongated cladodes, 

yet looks similar to the proliferous prickly pear. 

Soon spring will bring me out again with my camera to record its color. 

A Country for Big Owls

      Driving along the country, MyMrMallory and I came upon an owl's nest in a gnarly tree. 

She decorates her nest with mistletoe.

One can barely discern her large owl "ears."

Upon spotting our truck, she lept -- and what a magnificent leap -- out of her nest and away from us.

We explored her country. She lives on a ridge overlooking North Texas, 

where the agave and prickly pear cacti prepare to bloom. (I can hardly wait.)

Deer jostle at a pond near her nest, as shown by our wild-cams. 

I stopped to make a photo of the sedimentary rock common in her neighborhood.

Nearby, too, stand pumps, busily extracting oil, where abandoned pipes oxidize, 

around which the hardy and sweet deer step.

White Eyelashes Near Hunter's Chair

     As I positioned my tripod and camera to make a photo of a hunter's chair in the woods, I heard a huff behind me. Turning around, I saw a cow and her little one watching me from only a few yards away. The cow and the calf appeared to feel curious. She raised her muzzle in my direction and gave me the loudest moo I have ever heard, then both walked away.

      And the photo of the chair? Not much to look at, for my first study of hunters' chairs, but a good beginning to the project I have in mind. Infrared photo post-processed in Nik's SilverEfex.

Fire in the Field

       In the field, a fire began right in front of us. As MyMrMallory phoned the sheriff, it spread with vigor.

       We hoped it would not hop over the road.

Of course, with its vigor, it jumped over the road and into the field.

The fire stopped someone's pump from working.

Firefighters doused the flames. He looks a tad bored by the small fire, but at least he got good practice.

The sky looked highly unusual above the firefighters.

                 When I leave my home with camera hanging from my shoulder, I don't know for sure what kind of pictures I will make.

Purples and Pinks Sunrise

        Shuffling out the door along with doggies, all of us sleepy, still, not quite awake from a calm night, I looked up to see the marvel of color behind the old pecan and bradford pear trees. 

Nikon Coopix7700, ISO400, f/2.5, 1/13sec, aperture priority, auto WB.

1920s - 1960s, Still Standing

      Built in the 20s; left in the 60s. Hardwood floors, green tiled roofing. How very much we wish to renovate this house where we saw a barn owl hiding in one of its closets. Clay caught it gently and released it out the door.
      "I used to have lunch on this balcony," he said. "You can see for miles from here, before the trees grew."
      Time passes, and I wondered what it felt like for someone to see his folks' place abandoned, in such disrepair . . . a mammoth skeleton in the midst of the prairie that reminds contemporary people of past wealth and perhaps, of the tender grasp of happiness and hope, both fleeting. Yet, forty years marks a long life span, and I want to think they were a good forty years in this home.

Metal In the Broom Weed.

        Heading out to the countryside wishing to spot wildlife, we came upon a couple of old cars.
They appear to be from the 50s. Post-processing with Silver Efex makes making photos like these even more fun and challenging.
         And did we spot wildlife? Yes, buffleheads, gadwalls, northern harriers, and red-tailed hawks.