Finally! A post from this blog. Mak was supposed to be keeping the place up, but I don’t think he has been here in a while. Cobwebs and dust bunnies all over the place…
I eventually got the boat I have mentioned in earlier posts and comments restored to the point it can be taken out. We have had a ball with it, It is truly a pleasure to go for a boat ride on Ky. Lake, especially in a boat you brought back from the dead. I took my digiscoping rig (An Orion ED 80 Apochromatic telescope and a lightweight digital camera) with me the last time we went out, hoping for some good wildlife shots, but I soon discovered the boat itself is a terrible platform for taking pics, no matter how solid and stable the boat is, if there is more than a ripple in the water the image in my magnified picture taking view looks like we are out to sea in 20 foot waves. One of those “it seemed like a good idea” moments. I also discovered that the annual migration of the pelicans had either already taken place, or I was early. Darn it.
It was hot, probably around 92 degrees and humid. So every time the boat came to rest the heat immediately slapped us in the face. The water was down too making it difficult to get around. There are hundreds of shallow bars and underwater obstacles to be wary of, it pays to know your way around.
Anyway I tried to get a pic from the boat, that wasn’t happening, so I just grabbed the tripod, scope and all, and set it down at waters edge to get a few pics. First up is a pair of gulls. Note the exposed bar they are standing on is usually under 3-4 feet of water in summer months.
This one I suspect is an Egret?
This one highlights the low water danger. It is obvious the stumps on the shallow bar, my trained eye sees that you do not want to get anywhere near it. The shallow water goes well beyond what you can see. I have seen guys lose their lower units from their boat motors from these kinds of places, or knock the entire back end of the boat out because they did not understand the lay of the land and go running around with wide open throttles. Dumbasses…
This one a Great Blue Heron standing on a point jutting out into the water. Note the ripples indicating shallow water well beyond the heron.
This one a lonely Cypress with some gulls for company. That’s all of my river shots for today, but can you imagine this scenery being the place you worked for 3 decades? I was the luckiest guy…
This next one, being an old pot smoker from days gone by, I got a whimsical chuckle from this sign.
Sun Dog!
Guess what? Another Sun Dog! Certainly less spectacular, but a sun dog nonetheless.
This one is a result of my strange eye. I saw the reflection of the “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear” thing reflected across the side of this red truck. You can see my forearm and legs there, and the front wheel of the car in the reflection too. Also I had no idea anyone was in the truck when I took the pic! You can see their fingers in the shot. They probably thought me a weirdo, they could be right…
This was a bright cloud that caught my attention.
A foggy sunrise. Almost looks like it is hovering over the field.
This one, we went to the Kroger, I parked next to this truck. Had to get the pic. If you can’t read the sticker in the window it says “Resist Democrats” “Resist Lying Media” The Trump sign speaks for itself, and the owner of the vehicle. You know, what you can’t see here, I got a good look, the guys truck was literally painted in places with a rattle can. This guy is not exactly living the Republican dream, but he is living the delusion for sure. (I assume it was guy. Probably a pussy grabber!)
A Tennessee sunset.
This is a new moon (just above the dark cloud) from a few days ago. The iphone did not care for the low light, it is a crappy pic, but here it is anyway!
This is the last one. A lonely bunch of Black Eyed Susans with the ready to harvest corn as a backdrop. I saw this and realized the corn would be gone soon, and the pic impossible afterward. Fall is upon us. This would be one tough puzzle!
That’s it for this one, hope you enjoyed. I’ll see you guys and gals soon.
Evidence Based Reality 
I love the look into your world. Thank you. Hugs
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Hey Scottie! Thank you 🙂
…even the Trumpiness?
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The Truck with stickers? Ya where I live they flourish also, barely able to make it and sure that the wealthy need a tax cut. Well they are going to be a wealthy one day you know and they want that power and respect so…..it is only one lotto ticket away I have heard. 😜😋😃😄 Hugs
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Heh 🙂 The lottery, poor mans pie in the sky. Reminds me to buy a ticket next time I’m in town. 🙂
Discouraging to know that a peek into my world is the same peek into yours. With the Trump-its.
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Ron calls the lottery the new American retirement plan. Hugs
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Those “sun dogs” (never heard that term) remind me of the “vision” that Gary (“Escaping Christian Fundamentalism”) wrote about — the people were certain they were seeing an image of “Holy Mary” when, to the “untrained” eye, it looked like nothing more than your “sun dog.” 😀
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Atmospheric phenomena no doubt have been attributed to all sorts of biblical nonsense through the centuries. We know how and why they happen now. No gods needed 🙂
My avatar is a circumzenithal arc I caught many years ago. All kinds of neat stuff happens up in the sky, you got to be looking to see it.
I once saw a magnificent display of two sun dogs L and R of the sun, AND 3 circumzenithal arcs at 12, 3, and 9 o-clock, relative to the sun. Absoltely incredible. I was running down the interstate at 75 mph though and only had an old flip phone at the time, and no camera.
Growing up I had heard of sun dogs but never knew what they were till I got older.
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Excellent pics as usual my friend.
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Excellent taste, as usual, my friend 🙂
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I am so sorry, the person I tasked with the responsibility to keep this place clean and busy while I was busy politicking has neglected their work.
Great shots my shelldigger friend.
Good to know you are doing awesome
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Oh, that explains a lot, you delegated the responsibility to some slacker… 🙂
Thank you, concerning the pics.
Mak, it is my belief that the best place you could inspire change in politics would be from an elected position in politics. I could not think of a better person for the job. Politics can always use the thing it lacks most, intergrity.
All is well enough here except for the fate of our presidency. Despite all of the horse crap from our president, he still has supporters. The Orwellian nightmare continues. The Minutemen haven’t called me yet, but I have my musket on standby.
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I want to do the thinking and imagining of how things should be done better so that more people can learn. Political office may not be the best place for me.
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Love the shots, shell digger! We are supposed to be experiencing fall weather but it’s been so warm around here that our shorts have not been put away yet. The schools don’t have air conditioning so it’s been difficult to keep students’ attention in the heat and humidity of late. . but there’s no such thing as climate change, eh? 😉
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Well I’ve heard climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. So you know, it depends on where you get your news, or antinews from. 🙂
There is more bullshit out there than the facts can keep at bay. Such a shame society has devolved into such digital inanity.
I long for the days when encyclopedias were the goto resource for all things we did not know or understand. At least we knew we were getting reliable information…
Oh, thanks for digging the diggers pics! Glad to see you stop by miss Carmen. 🙂
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A good variety of shots! That first cloud dog picture also has what looks like a little patch of cloud iridescence in the wispy clouds, rather than being a rainbow fragment. There is an interesting distinction.
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Sun dogs run the gamut of plain jane, no color, to the rainbow effect you see there. Circumzenithal arcs (my avatar is one, they are referred to as upside rainbows, because they are just that, I happen to have my avatar turned so the the arc makes the A in the clouds. My personal atheist omen) are always rainbow like. Incidentally the same conditions, ice crystals, cause the sun dog and the circumzenithal arc, as well as other optical phenomenon. I have seen quite a few sun dogs, the circumzenithal arc has been more rare for me. In certain conditions you can see double sun dogs L&R, a parhelic circle, circumzenithal arcs and the 22 degree halo all at once. I saw this phenomenon once, less the parhelic circle. It was spectacular.
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I believe that when the rainbow effect is caused by frozen ice particles of uniform size in streaky cloud, as appears to be the case there, then it is the phenomenon known as cloud iridescence. I have a fairly spectacular sample of that taken over Romsey in UK.
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There is a 22 degree circle around the sun where sun dogs occur. I have seen enough of them to have a pretty good idea where that is. Iridescence is similar in that the same ice crystals cause the occurence, but I believe that if the phenomenon is observed within that 22 degree circle it is safe to call it a sun dog. (admittedly I am no expert)
I actually caught another sun dog yesterday, 2 actually, as we were fortunate to witness the pair. On the left was a rainbow effect very similar to what you see in the pic in this post, the one on the right less so. I’m not sure how the pics came out yet, but if they are decent I’ll get em up soon.
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