Friday photos -- snow critter edition

Welcome the the photographic Friday exhibition.

Had fun with the snow critters today.

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Darn thing kept changing, Was supposed to be a snow seal.

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and had to pay credit to the snow critters

Cheers..

Show us your pixtures too!

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CB's picture

a snowman and a snowwoman?

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@CB

tried to make a sexless seal, but ran out of light
before the sculpture was complete

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CB's picture

@QMS

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Raggedy Ann's picture

had tree limb arms! WOW - that's eye opening!

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

@Raggedy Ann

forearms, only had a set for the feets
of magic

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Lookout's picture

We didn't get enough to create creatures. Mind you , I'm not complaining.

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There have been years where we had ample amounts, but we've never built another critter...
Guess we figured we have enough critters without us interfering.
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the blizzard of '93 with 4' drifts was our big event.

Hope all our TX friends are hunkered down, warm, and content...like Ted Cruz in Cancun.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

janis b's picture

@Lookout

Funny, sort of ; ).

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dystopian's picture

Greetings from the banana Republic of Texastan. The energy state, the free-market de-regulated energy state. Where people die when it gets cold. Somehow it was the Dem leadership that caused summer brownouts in CA, but not the Repub leadership when that happens here. We have had this week a couple days without power, a couple without running water, a couple without much heat, and a couple without internet. But there are still a couple days left... We also had 5F one morning, 10 another, and 14F this morning. About 4" of snow on Monday, which no one under 35 had seen here, and another 4" yesterday, but all of which is melted now, power and internet seem to be stabilizing. In my small rural town there has been no mail truck this week, the gas station has been just a station all week, and the general store is out of most staples because those deliveries could not make it here either. We are having to change a hummingbird feeder every hour or two to keep a thawed one out there for the one dummy that showed up a couple weeks ago. I hope all are doing better!

This was the yard Monday morning.
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This was during yesterday's event
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There were some 2' icicles, this was a little one...
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A male Yellow-headed Blackbird showed up with the Red-winged eating seed on the patio in the snow. They are accidental on the Edwards Plateau of central Texas in winter, strictly a passage migrant in spring and fall, it is a very rare record.
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Nice snow seal QMS!

Be well all, play it safe!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

changing the feeder every hour or two for the one dummy. I love you guys for that.

It looks like you found the bright side of the darker side.

Stay well and bright

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janis b's picture

Thank you QMS for posting and hosting and keeping the lights on.

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snoopydawg's picture

@janis b

I can’t remember what it’s called.

Here’s a few photos of our day trip to Nevada.

You can see the texture of the sand. No tire tracks seen that day.

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I love riding in the car.

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Cars out on the sand. There used to be water there in the old days depending on the storms, but not for years now. The lake is huge, but it’s drying up close to where people live.

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The Bonneville salt flats are back there by the mountains. Grade down the sand and it’s like concrete. Smooth.

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The freeway coming from SLC.

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Sam in ditch.

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Looking out at the mess she made.

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Love the snow seal QMS.

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snoopydawg's picture

I bet the patterns make interesting photos in the wee hours of the morning and as the sun sets.

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From way out west by the lake looking east.

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janis b's picture

@snoopydawg

That last one looking East, and the two very different cloud formations in the post before were especially captivating to me.

Enjoying the company of Sam in such beautiful places (even if unnaturally dry) must be a treat. What is Sam sniffing for in the ditch, and are the ditches redundant in this climate?

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snoopydawg's picture

@janis b

They were taken with my phone. I’m thinking of getting a Sony camera like yours. I take it you’re still happy with it? My canon dsl is just to bulky anymore to lug around. I have my mom’s Minolta dsl for print photos because it takes incredible pictures. It’s weird because we both used the same tamron 35-300 lense, but hers were much more sharp and clearer than my on canon one. One day I’m going to have a darkroom for black and white photos. I just need to decide whether I’m staying here or moving somewhere else. Decisions...

It was a cold and windy day out there. I got lost just taking one road then another, but I ended up back at the bird refuge. Just too cold and I wasn’t prepared for it. Next week will be warmer.

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janis b's picture

@snoopydawg

It's Panasonic, not Sony. I haven't checked recently but not long ago I read that Panasonic might be getting out of the camera business. I imagine it has lots to do with the quality of phone cameras.

I can appreciate the complexity and challenges of decision making at this time in life.

All the best, snoopy.

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snoopydawg's picture

@janis b

Weird because I remember discussing it with you. Oh well see below. Smile

Yes it makes sense that phone cameras are catching up with DSL ones but I don’t think they are quite there yet because of digital zooming. If I zoom too much on my phone it blurs out of focus because of the pixels I presume. I should study on it more.but the iPhone 12 camera looks incredible. Soon. My Samsung takes decent ones but still lacking.

Why does Sam play in the ditch? Because it is there? lol the one she’s in cuts through a field for drainage I believe. But the first time she came across it she had to jump it. Over and over...as I’ve said people walking there cracked up at her. The things she brings in from outside. I cleaned up the yard a few times since the picture of her looking at it. So much fun with her. Have I mentioned how smart she is? Smile

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janis b's picture

@snoopydawg

the discussion around which cameras to consider while I was thinking of upgrading from my little pocket camera. If I recall correctly Bollox has a Sony which he considers quite good. I am happy with the Lumix.

Sam, smart, no kidding ; ). Your fun and pleasure with her is palpable. Thanks for sharing it.

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snoopydawg's picture

@janis b

for wanting to share in 'Life with Sam' and our adventures.

So after 5 months I can finally cry and deal with the grief from Charlie's sudden passing now that I know I will not get buried by it. When I do Sam snuggles up under my chin and lets me know she is there and I am not alone.

.

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dystopian's picture

great pics SD! Beautiful, I love the scenics. One thing I was taught in photography was in scenic work, to always try to mentally double check and NOT split the sky and land in half of the frame each. One third one, two thirds the other, or closer to that, than to half and half always turns out better for some reason. We naturally tend to split it if you just hand a camera to folks that never used one, they split the horizon right at the middle of the frame most of the time. You have to learn to overcome that and always think in thirds relative to the horizon. Make the sky a third or two thirds of the image in other words. Always makes a better image.

Your shots are great!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

snoopydawg's picture

@dystopian

and I’m too lazy to fix it. But thanks for reminding me of the rules. I’m usually good at doing it without thinking about it, but it’s the edit. My bad though. I should take the time to photograph the area more at low light. I bet the groves in the sand makes incredible patterns. The area might look desolate and lonely, but there is so much to see if you look for it. I think the same the whole way through Nevada and Utah’s desert.

I used to know the name of circle clouds, but it’s slipped my mind.

Heh...

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dystopian's picture

@snoopydawg I love that high desert sagebrush country, alkaline or salt lakes, spent a lot of time in it, more down Mono and Mammoth way though. The other side of the Great Basin. It looks great in your pics!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

snoopydawg's picture

@dystopian

That’s what I meant by saying all of Nevada. I’ve driven that road to Mammoth and Mono county many times or through the area above and to Elko starting at 3 am when I lived in California and came home to visit. By the time I woke up it seemed like I was halfway home. But in winter it never mattered what time I left if Donnor pass was closed. Big bummer.

Have you spent much time in Mono basin? I’ve been to Mammoth lakes numerous times, but never past it to Bishop or Lone Pine. The lakes are absolutely gorgeous and stunning. The last time I was there I was using film and had hiked up to get better views of the mountains and I ran out of it after my first photo from up the cliff. Always meant to get back there to complete the job. Maybe next year when things are better for all of us. You going back there any time soon? We can meet up.

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dystopian's picture

@snoopydawg I graduated from Big Pine High School. Grew up in Huntington Bch. mostly, but finished high at Big Pine. 15 miles south of Bishop. Camped and birded all over the eastern Sierra, Inyo and Mono counties. Lot of time there. Beautiful as it gets.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

snoopydawg's picture

@dystopian

I’d love to see your photo collection of the area. I’m very jealous and wish I’d spent time to go there. Lone Pine is in Wyoming a two horse town that you blink and you missed it. Population 5 a few decades ago.

I have fond memories of Huntington Beach and the jail there. A story for another time perhaps?

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dystopian's picture

@snoopydawg Hey SD, I sure hope I get to hear that H.B. story sometime SD! Wink

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

snoopydawg's picture

@dystopian

But only you, mkay?

I’ve been looking into the area and wowzer I’m going there ASAP and taking lots of batteries!

Haven’t seen this yet but the little I did is gorgeous.

One thing that stands out for the water in the basin is that it doesn’t empty into an ocean, but it’s distributed inside the area. The Great Salt lake used to cover a much wider area and that’s an understatement for the records. Ha ha

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janis b's picture

@snoopydawg

The Bristlecone and Piñon Pines are amazing. Their weathering wood is absolutely beautiful. Talk about ancient looking! The caves look amazing too, therefore the flashlight …

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv9kL6iAYco]

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mimi's picture

@snoopydawg shitwork I am supposed to do, I should try that. Forgetting myself would be a great idea too.

I need to say this, Snoopy, I think you are a hero first class of this site. It is at times hard to read all you are offering, because who has enough empathy with all the misery that is hitting wide parts of the continental US. I feel so emptied out and just don't know how express my empathy with the conditions you are all in.

Wishing you all the best, hope you have all you need regarding power, food and more. Give the little black puppy Sam a little stroke (?) behind his ears. I miss my Sasha. She was the greatest dog. I am not allowed to have a dog here in my FUBAR family compound. The dog could get on the nerves of the tenants. Did you know that here in Germany, tenant can be life-long occupiers of your property?

FUBAR things everywhere around here in my woods. Let's have a FUBAR party.

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snoopydawg's picture

@mimi

As you can see I do make fun of my memory problems, because what else can I do. I know why I am having them the last 3 months, I know what is causing it and I am not worried. I have gone thru this many times since my TBI, I know what is causing it and I know it will pass on its own. It is more annoying then anything. You know how many times I have gotten up to get something, woke the pup after she finally calmed down and had to get her something while I was in the kitchen looking for whatever I came in there for? Only to sit down, pup goes back to sleep and then I remembered.

I feel so emptied out and just don't know how express my empathy with the conditions you are all in.

You are not alone. Things are really bad everywhere in the Great United Failed States of America and thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, perhaps many millions have died because the US government does not represent its people and puts the donor class' interests over theirs. And yet every year for the last 40 we have been voting the same people in office giving them more time and power to kill us and hollow out the country.

And I am pissed. And I know that I am not alone in what is happening to my fellow Americans, because yes people in Texas and even in the BumFuq hollows across the country have been living in squalid poverty for generations and they are our fellow Americans and congress/Biden/every one who has power to fix our country for them, but they are watching as millions of American suffer horridly and die heinously because of their neglect and antipathy towards our lives.

Mimi, if you forget, laugh and forget some more. Why not? Life is meant to be fun and I refuse to let people take that away from me. Next time you're out walking jump over every crack in the sidewalk till someone asks you why? Keep doing till then and then tell you because. Or something just as silly. Hey people watch me making funny gestures at a ditch in the middle of the field and they don't know there is something precious in the ditch. Come look I say.

Sorry its SO late. Heh I previewed went for my walk and forgtboutit.

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snoopydawg's picture

@dystopian

post upright on the site. Still... I do know better.

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snoopydawg's picture

It’s too her photo page on Yosemite and the firelight on the mountain.

https://m.facebook.com/100050240330364/posts/pcb.252547116429964/?photo_...

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enhydra lutris's picture

No tengo nada de nieve, so I got some daffs from the 16th and a windfall redbud twig from a few days earlier.

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be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

janis b's picture

@enhydra lutris

It looks windblown standing between the thesaurus and dictionary. The redbuds are the first sight of Spring here.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@janis b @janis b

I immediately liked the form so I grabbed it and tried to find a good backdrop. I'm thinking of cleaning up a small scrap of redwood and making into a free standing decoration.

Spring sin't technically til late March here, I can't recall if the redbuds are doing their thing then or not, they're fantastic when the do get around to it. The daffs are always early, for us, and the rosemary. It might be the ceanothus, I'll try to keep an eye out just before we head south.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

janis b's picture

@enhydra lutris

Do the ceanothus have a lilac-like fragrance?

Daffodils and Lilacs were the early treats of Springtime in the NE as well. Do you also have this plant?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euonymus_alatus

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dystopian's picture

@janis b Same here Janis. Redbud is the first flowering tree in central Texas to bloom. They will be going in a week or two. Mild winters they have started already, but not this year.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

https://www.wairere.nz/Trees_Deciduous/Cercis

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snoopydawg's picture

@enhydra lutris

what a great idea to fancy up a spot like you did. I remember looking for manzinita twigs to do that, but they don't really fall off conveniently for me and I didn't want to hurt the bush.

Hey, pssttt if you find any let me know, mkay?

Have you ever been to Yosemite in Feb to see the way the sun lights up the falls if the light falls just right? I didn't know about the event till I was long tucked up in Utah. Big Bummer!

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enhydra lutris's picture

@snoopydawg

have seen very similar effect more than once. Can't completely rule out Feb, but I recall Dec/Jan as deepest winter visit and maybe May as earliest spring. I'm not fond of snow, especially driving in same.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --