Zoo Part V - More Birds

Moving outside, where the light is better, I found some Cranes that posed quite nicely.

Zoo Part IV

There were other pretty birds besides the Cock-of-the-Rock. Too bad I don't know who they are.

Zoo Park III - Cock-of-the-Rock

Inside a quite humid and warm aviary is a collection of birds from warmer climes. Included among them is the Andean Cock of the Rock. He's a real showboat.

Zoo Shots Part II

One of the aviaries contains tropical birds and I found several that were worth an image or two. This one above is some sort of Cockatiel. Note that there is no blue sky behind the bird. This is Seattle, after all. What you see is the wall and ceiling painted blue.

Testing Me with the Fuji 100-400mm

I decided that I'd venture out while E is in Puerto Rico and do some developmental work with the Fuji X-H1 and my new 100-400mm lens. I've not really had a chance to work with this combination and I've got a couple trips coming up where I plan to use them. It seemed like a good time to learn my way around the equipment and my process for using them.

This, of course, requires that I have something to photograph. I solved this problem by visiting the Woodland Park Zoo. The first critter I spied was a local rabbit out munching a brunch.

A Visit to Ponce

Another outing to report on from Puerto Rico where E and Jeanne are house sitting this week. The house where they are staying on the northern (Atlantic) shore and today, they took a trip across the island to the south coast (caribbean shore) to the town of Ponce. Heading into the mountains brings lush vegetation.

Playa de Chiquita, Puerto Rico

So, Elizabeth and Jeanne has gone off to Puerto Rico  for a week long house sit while I stay behind and keep the fires burning. Judging from the pictures she has sent to me, she got the better end of this deal.

She and Jeanne went out to Playa de Chiquita at sunset the other day to have a look about and take their little charge, Buddy, out for some exercise.

Spider Season!

With Halloween fast approaching, it seems only appropriate to show some of the decorations. Actually, it started being spider season here in the PNW in June and it hasn't let up since. I thought I'd show you a few of the spider webs in our yard since we had a good morning for photographing them. We've had increasingly foggy mornings for the last week and this bring the condensation on the silk lines that make the geometrically arranged strings of pearls we love to see.

Boise ID to Home

Eager to get home, we arose early and headed out before sunrise. The drive to Boise was a long one and today's was a little shorter but still over 7 hours.

Rawlins WY to Boise ID

We awoke to a cold morning. Snow still on the ground but none now coming from above. Progress.

So cold in fact, the de-icer we bought at Walmart the night before was doing us no good. Since it hadn't been pumped through the system enough to clear out the plain water, it was all frozen. Moreover, so was the lock on the back of the truck. This meant we could not get our suitcases back in the truck. So I went back inside and got a couple cups of hot water from the coffee bar and immersed the lock for a while. Once thawed and removed, I immersed it in the de-icer for a spell to replace the water which would freeze again with something that might not.

Colorado and Wyoming

In Colorado, things began to change. The temperature dropped and there was snow on the ground. It wasn't snowing on us, but it clearly had done so recently.

Tontitown Through Oklahoma to Kansas

As we left our friends in Tontitown behind, we headed west toward Tulsa and the land slowly, but surely began to flatten.

Prairie Grove

A trip to the nearby town of Prairie Grove, AR took us to a couple of memorable antique and up-cycle stores. I found a few items here worth photographing. The theme for today is color and texture. Notice also that the photo above is a near self-portrait. There is something deep in here about me being just at the edge of the frame where you know I'm there but still not quite seen. Rest assured it was unintentional.

Sunrise in Tontitown Before the Storm

Sunrises are difficult to shoot in one image so I made a couple HDR images to give a better feel for what Dawn and Michael see out their back door.

Day Two

An early rise for the second day as we reload our suitcases in the back of the truck for another fun-filled day of driving.

Google+ is Shutting Down

Perhaps you've seen the news about the data breach at Google+. I have been automatically posting blog and instagram posts there just in case some of you are Google+ users. But since it is now going to shut down, apparently the few users never found it very interesting. Since the end is coming, I'm going to go ahead and disconnect my feeds and move on with life.

The Journey Begins

The evening before we loaded up, I caught the truck resting up for the hard work in the lot in front of the hotel.

Fetching the Truck Day Begins

Before we ditched the rental car and moved into the Penske truck, we stopped by Thornrose Cemetery to say goodby to the former residents of our home on Coalter Street. The marker above is unrelated. I just thought it made a nice photo. Fultons below the fold.

Fall Street Faire in Staunton

The city of Staunton decided to have a downtown event themes on Harry Potter. Only, calling ti that would violate copyrights so it was called Mischief and Magic. Whatever.