Friday Night Photography

The Central Valley got sogged in by fog every winter and so I'd hook up my lil trailer and head to Bodega Bay with my dawgs for Xmas.

One year the winter storms were more fierce and the waves flooded half of the campground, but that was okay because there were only 3 other spots occupied. The sound of the waves that year was very loud.

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I scanned this picture and I like the graininess of it. This is why I still use film sometimes instead of using my digital camera.

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Pricknick's picture

Thanks for hosting snoop.

rsz_1pricknickbarn.jpg

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

snoopydawg's picture

@Pricknick

I love old barns. Very nice.

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Pricknick's picture

@snoopydawg
Unfortunately, many of them in southern Michigan are going into a state of neglect. They are very expensive to maintain without ongoing maintenance. I helped redo one side of the roof in metal on the one pictured with plans to do the other side this summer. Old shingles are the predominate reason so many of them fail. Even worse is the fact that the owners of those that do fail want exorbitantly high prices for the timbers in them and instead of letting them be recycled they let them rot in place.
sigh.

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@Pricknick was built with virgin white oak timbers (the framing was notched and pegged). The frame hasn't shifted a bit in 150 years, just the roofing and siding are failing. Looks like hell, but very sound skeleton. Wish I had a picture of it.

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Pricknick's picture

@QMS
I'm in the Irish Hills area. Would love to see it.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

@Pricknick to Moscow road, turn west. About 10 miles you come to Horton. Just over the little Kalamazoo river, turn right (north) on Hatch Road. About 4 miles you come to 3800, just over the hill from Thorne Road. The barns are on the right. Pull into the barnyard. Stone wall with old defunct Tri-bulb lights on the left. Lots of white maples in the yard, (check out the red granite spade in the center of the wall, real cool). The milk house (by the barns) was built by Unitarians, so if you look at the exterior chimney, you will see a star within a circle of stone, I think on the north side. I'm quite sure the residents (Howe) will let you photograph the timber frame and stonework. They have not maintained the structure, so may be amenable to a take down? Would make a great post and beam home. Please post any photos. Thanks

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Daenerys's picture

@Pricknick I'm not sure just how old it was, but it was originally a dairy barn; when we moved here my parents built horse stalls, with oak boards. The bottom half is cinder block walls. All our buildings have metal roofs now, including the barn and the house. I'll have to take a photo of the barn some time, when the stallion is out in the yard.

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Bollox Ref's picture

Lovely waves.

A shot when hunkering down during a snowfall:

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Fred sends his regards:

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Daenerys's picture

@Bollox Ref

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Bollox Ref's picture

@Daenerys

key to this particular shot

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

snoopydawg's picture

@Bollox Ref

reminds me of my grandfather's old fashioned pocket watch. He put a digital clock inside it. He was very funny and his humor was like Red Skeleton's. Clem Cladidalhopper, remember him?

There's Fred.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@snoopydawg

Been a long time since I heard that name! You're showing your age Smile My Mom used to love watching the Red Skelton show and that was her favorite character. Thanks for the stroll down TV memory lane.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Anja Geitz's picture

@Bollox Ref

And adorable Smile

Here in Southern California, Ziggy has been trying to keep warm during a recent cold snap. I'd say he's doing a good job.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Bollox Ref's picture

@Anja Geitz

Here's Purfleet on the the job:
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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Anja Geitz's picture

@Bollox Ref

Was that basket the cats, or yours? Lol.

Miss Pierre loves baskets too but in the absence of one, she can become very creative.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Daenerys's picture

I love your second photo. Very raw and dramatic.

I did manage to get some photos of the redpolls that visited last week:


The other day we went back to the park they're tearing down and found the great horned owl again:

It was near what we thought might be a nest, but upon further inspection I guess it was probably a large squirrel nest; to leafy to be an owl nest. It obviously lives there though; I did email the local conservation officer about it as GHOs are protected under the migratory bird act, but of course got no response. I heard that they were going to start tearing down the rest of the trees today. Well at least I learned something from this: it's probably better to actually call people, as emails are too easy to ignore.

Today we went looking for a barred owl at a place south of here. There were two other people there snow-shoeing; the woman kept babbling incessantly at the top of her voice about nonsense, and it was stupid because there wasn't even enough snow to merit snow-shoeing in the first place but whatever. My husband got a glimpse of the owl as it flew into a thicker part of the woods, and I didn't turn around in time to see it. Then we couldn't find it again. We could hear the loud snow-shoers nearby (or maybe far). That's the second time now I've had a lifer sighting and photo fucked up by loud obnoxious people. I mean, if you're going outdoors why not STFU for five goddamn minutes and listen to the sounds of nature! I think more people need to get outside in the woods, sit quietly and look and listen to nature; maybe the world would be less fucked up if they did. Too bad most people have no idea how to sit quietly, and start panicking if they aren't within arm's length of another human for five minutes. Humans ruin everything. Diablo

Anyway. Sorry for the rant. Here's our resident male downy woodpecker:

Yesterday was my mom's birthday; here's the cake I made for her:

I carved and sculpted it freehand. Fondant is very interesting stuff to play with (it also leaves you smelling like sugar!).

Cheers!

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Pricknick's picture

@Daenerys
I feel the same way about people who can't survive without their cell phones.
The Great Horned is among my favorite birds. I've been relatively successful building nest sites for them where I live. You may be able to help them stay in what's left of your park by building a couple.
Wonderful pics as always.

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Daenerys's picture

@Pricknick @Pricknick I was going to put up a nest box in our backyard, but it's too late for this year by now. Maybe this fall.

We have something like twelve owl species here in Minnesota: Great horned, snowy, barred, screech, saw-whet, great gray, boreal, short-eared, long-eared, northern hawk and (rarely) barn owl, and maybe pygmy. Aside from the one snowy all I ever see is the great horned. And plastic ones. Sigh.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Daenerys

Nicely done. The matching color scheme helps make the picture.
Sorry to hear about that lifer miss. I agree. If you can't shut up then tone it down when others are out enjoying nature. Rant away. Sounds like the park is going to be history. I've forgotten what is going to be built.

I only see crows on my walks. Lots and lots of of loud crows. They love to follow us from tree to tree and yell at us or dive bomb Abby. I rarely see woodpeckers or other birds there.

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Daenerys's picture

@snoopydawg It's just the woods part that they're tearing down, but we'll see how much is actually left when all is said and done. I think they said 19 acres, but that woods doesn't seem big enough for the area that a Costco building and parking lot requires. Sad

We have lots of crows everywhere here too, and boy do they like to yell, at each other and everything else! Crows like to mob owls and other birds of prey, but every time I hear them yelling at something it's just at each other.

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@Daenerys We had a Nor'easter puffing 70 plus knot storm to hurricane force winds the other day> All our buddies nestled in the naked hydrangea: junckos, bluebirds, cardinals, sparrows, chickadees, flickers and peckers, nuthatches and titmouse. They were in the lee of the deck, emptied all the feeders: suet, wild seed, thistle and black sunflower. Love those little guys! So fun to watch.

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MarilynW's picture

@Daenerys @Daenerys
I have been teaching my grandson, 9, that his talking scares away the creatures he wants to see. I hope he will be one less person who disturbs the natural environment when he grows up.

In the meantime, I brought him to an orchid exhibition. He brought his little Fuji Filmpix. He knows that camera better than I did when I was using it.
These are his photographs.
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I filled in the background on this one. Tried to teach him a little Lightroom but it seems to bore him no end.

A man came up to me saying it was great to see a kid so young interested in photography and orchids. He asked if I taught him. I said no, I just gave him the camera and let him follow me around.

I also agree with the charm of film compared with digital. Film is so smooth, not pixelated. But of course the chemicals are a problem in today's world.

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To thine own self be true.

Daenerys's picture

@MarilynW Thank you for teaching him to have respect for nature.

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Anja Geitz's picture

To your photos. The ocean is such a great subject. Always changing. I love looking at people photos here. It makes me feel like digging my camera out of moth balls and taking some pictures again.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

snoopydawg's picture

Glad you stopped by. The ocean is a magical place and you're right, it's always changing. I feel my BP going down when I get close to it and the wind seems to blow the stress right out of my mind. Watching as the waves hit those rocks was hypnotic. I could have stood there forever and watched them. And boy was it loud.

Here's the campground I stayed at as often as I could. Parked in the parking lot on the right for $5 night. I usually camped in the ones right by the beach on Xmas because no one else went during Xmas.

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Do get your camera out and post some photos. Spring is just around the corner and it's such a fun time of the year.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@snoopydawg

I listen to the sounds of the ocean on an app I have. It isn't the same as the real thing, of course, but I can certainly appreciate the relaxation that listening to the ocean can bring.

Your Xmas trip sounds lovely and affordable. Where do you go?

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

snoopydawg's picture

@Anja Geitz

Which is about 90 miles north of San Francisco. I would take the back roads through the wine country from Modesto, CA. Sadly, this is the area where the California wildfires burned. Such gorgeous country and it took about 2 hours to get there.

I dragged my little trailer all over Northern California from Pismo beach up to Eureka close to the Oregon border. If I got lost, and I did often, I could flip a U-ey because of the size and get back on track.

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It's not much, but it was paid for and mine. This is a clearing off of a fire road in the Sierra. I don't like to camp in paved campgrounds with a ton of people.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@snoopydawg

And how freeing to get into your car and just go! I live much farther south. Close to the San Gabriel mountains. It's very pretty here and a big change from Manhattan where I lived for 25 years.

This is the view from my front door. I live in a guest house on a beautiful piece of property. I have a garden, citrus trees, hiking trails all around me, and very nice neighbors. I consider myself extraordinarily lucky.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

it's what we grow the best around here

edit: can not upload picture

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janis b's picture

Thank you for posting and hosting, and keeping the place warm.

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janis b's picture

@janis b

thank you.

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orlbucfan's picture

Smile

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.