The flowers are long gone and their remains buried in snow, but here's remembering brighter days with weather more conducive to 6 and 8 legged creatures.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Autumn
After an early fall with cold temperatures and snow, we've had a nice spell of weather recently. A friend has been reminding me I should take some photographs with my new iPhone 11 so I took advantage of a sunny morning. Regardless of the weather, the days are getting shorter and sunrise is getting closer to when I walk to work.
While some of the trees are bare, some are still full of color.
Not much wind and the river was calm and peaceful. (Except when the gaggles of geese went honking by.)
Such bright colors!
I'm afraid the pond is looking a bit stark. But I've still enjoyed a few last days warm enough to eat my lunch out here.
I've never really been into wide angle lenses. I'm more likely to shoot telephoto or macro. But I really should try it more because it gives a very different perspective. Most of the shots above were taken with the iPhone 11's new ultra wide camera/lens (14mm equivalent).
I still prefer my "real" cameras, but there's no question that cell phone cameras are getting better and better.
See all 9 photos in this album
While some of the trees are bare, some are still full of color.
Not much wind and the river was calm and peaceful. (Except when the gaggles of geese went honking by.)
Such bright colors!
I'm afraid the pond is looking a bit stark. But I've still enjoyed a few last days warm enough to eat my lunch out here.
I've never really been into wide angle lenses. I'm more likely to shoot telephoto or macro. But I really should try it more because it gives a very different perspective. Most of the shots above were taken with the iPhone 11's new ultra wide camera/lens (14mm equivalent).
I still prefer my "real" cameras, but there's no question that cell phone cameras are getting better and better.
See all 9 photos in this album
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
40 km
I headed out for my long run on Sunday thinking I'd probably do 30 km, but as usual, I would wait and see how it went. As it turned out, I felt pretty good and I ended up doing 40 km. While I would like to be able to do it faster, I maintained a steady sustainable pace the whole way, and finished spent but not wasted.
It's sure nice having a GPS watch. I covered a lot of new ground on my run, and without my watch I'd have a hard time knowing how far I went.
I deliberately didn't aim for a marathon distance (42 km). I'm not sure why. Partly it doesn't matter, since I'm only doing it for myself. Part of me wants to wait till I can manage a faster time. (Although that might be wishful thinking.) And part of me just likes round numbers :-)
It went really well, it was a beautiful day and I felt good. The last few kilometers were a bit of a struggle, but that seems true regardless of the distance. Some of it's definitely in your mind.
It's amazing what the human body (even an almost 60 year old one) can do. When you're sitting on the couch, the idea of running for a little over four hours straight seems inconceivable. But work your way up, and put in the practice, and given your body cooperates, and it's actually quite enjoyable. (Assuming you're not racing, then it's a whole other story.)
I could bore you with a lot of numbers, of heart rates and paces and times, but I'll restrain myself since it's all basically meaningless to anyone but me.
It's two days later, and aside from a little stiffness, I feel surprisingly good. So it's back to the cycle again - an easy week to recover and then juggle how much I can run while staying healthy and uninjured (and motivated).
It's sure nice having a GPS watch. I covered a lot of new ground on my run, and without my watch I'd have a hard time knowing how far I went.
I deliberately didn't aim for a marathon distance (42 km). I'm not sure why. Partly it doesn't matter, since I'm only doing it for myself. Part of me wants to wait till I can manage a faster time. (Although that might be wishful thinking.) And part of me just likes round numbers :-)
It went really well, it was a beautiful day and I felt good. The last few kilometers were a bit of a struggle, but that seems true regardless of the distance. Some of it's definitely in your mind.
It's amazing what the human body (even an almost 60 year old one) can do. When you're sitting on the couch, the idea of running for a little over four hours straight seems inconceivable. But work your way up, and put in the practice, and given your body cooperates, and it's actually quite enjoyable. (Assuming you're not racing, then it's a whole other story.)
I could bore you with a lot of numbers, of heart rates and paces and times, but I'll restrain myself since it's all basically meaningless to anyone but me.
It's two days later, and aside from a little stiffness, I feel surprisingly good. So it's back to the cycle again - an easy week to recover and then juggle how much I can run while staying healthy and uninjured (and motivated).
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Close Encounter of the Fox Kind
Walking to work along the lower dirt trail by the river, I glanced up to find a fox staring at me intently from about 20 feet down the path.
I assume he was coming down the path from the opposite direction and stopped when he (or she, but I hate to use "it"). It seemed like a very intense stare. People are always distracted by one thing or another. This guy appeared very much to be living in the here and now.
I thought he would run away. I've encountered a few coyotes along here and they tend to be much more skittish, rapidly departing. After a few seconds of staring at each other he turned and walked away. I backed up slowly to get out of sight so I could get my camera out of my pack. It was a long shot that he'd stick around long enough for photos, but it's always worth a try. Sure enough, by the time I had my camera out and ready he had disappeared.
I started walking slowly down the trail. The leaves haven't all fallen, but enough that visibility is better than in the summer. I didn't know which direction he'd gone so I was looking all around. I had the telephoto zoomed all the way on my camera, assuming I'd see him in the distance if at all. Of course, he appeared right beside me and I got a couple of shots of a big blur before he sauntered away again, just doing his own thing.
Humorously, when he reached the open area he sat down and looked back at me, almost as if to say "are you coming?",
Then he headed into the bush on the river bank. I followed slowly. He seemed unconcerned about me, but I didn't want to push my luck. I found him sniffing around in the leaves.
He uncovered the remains of a magpie and lay down to chew on it. You can see a feather hanging from his mouth. I'm not sure if he just happened to find it, or if he'd left it there previously. Some magpies had been in the trees above him and he had looked up at them. I though maybe they were harassing him, but perhaps he's been catching them?
Then it was time for a good scratch. This was the only time that he stayed in one place long enough for me to take a little video.
Then time for a thoughtful look at the river.
I figured I'd pestered him enough for one day and I let him go his own way. Besides, it was -5c, my hands were frozen, and my camera battery was low.
I love the bushy tail and the black tips on the ears.
Sadly, none of these shots is as sharp as I'd like. They're not bad for the web, but not for big prints. I wish I'd had a better camera, but at least I had the little ZS100. And regardless of the photos, it was wonderful to spend a little time with such a beautiful creature.
I assume he was coming down the path from the opposite direction and stopped when he (or she, but I hate to use "it"). It seemed like a very intense stare. People are always distracted by one thing or another. This guy appeared very much to be living in the here and now.
I thought he would run away. I've encountered a few coyotes along here and they tend to be much more skittish, rapidly departing. After a few seconds of staring at each other he turned and walked away. I backed up slowly to get out of sight so I could get my camera out of my pack. It was a long shot that he'd stick around long enough for photos, but it's always worth a try. Sure enough, by the time I had my camera out and ready he had disappeared.
I started walking slowly down the trail. The leaves haven't all fallen, but enough that visibility is better than in the summer. I didn't know which direction he'd gone so I was looking all around. I had the telephoto zoomed all the way on my camera, assuming I'd see him in the distance if at all. Of course, he appeared right beside me and I got a couple of shots of a big blur before he sauntered away again, just doing his own thing.
Humorously, when he reached the open area he sat down and looked back at me, almost as if to say "are you coming?",
Then he headed into the bush on the river bank. I followed slowly. He seemed unconcerned about me, but I didn't want to push my luck. I found him sniffing around in the leaves.
He uncovered the remains of a magpie and lay down to chew on it. You can see a feather hanging from his mouth. I'm not sure if he just happened to find it, or if he'd left it there previously. Some magpies had been in the trees above him and he had looked up at them. I though maybe they were harassing him, but perhaps he's been catching them?
Then it was time for a good scratch. This was the only time that he stayed in one place long enough for me to take a little video.
Then time for a thoughtful look at the river.
I figured I'd pestered him enough for one day and I let him go his own way. Besides, it was -5c, my hands were frozen, and my camera battery was low.
I love the bushy tail and the black tips on the ears.
Sadly, none of these shots is as sharp as I'd like. They're not bad for the web, but not for big prints. I wish I'd had a better camera, but at least I had the little ZS100. And regardless of the photos, it was wonderful to spend a little time with such a beautiful creature.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Dogs!
Warning: rant approaching
I'm 5k into an easy 10k run on the trails along the river. I see a woman and a dog off the trail by the river. I don't pay much attention, people (and dogs) are common. The dog comes running after me. I still don't pay much attention, dogs often do that. But in a rush it chases me down and bites me just below my waist. And as quick as it came, it was gone.
It hurt, but it didn't feel like there was much damage. It was more the unexpectedness and the shock.
I stopped and yelled at the lady: "Your f***ing dog just bit me!" (I apologize for swearing, but I was angry and full of adrenaline.)
She replied "I don't think so." What a bizarre response. She wasn't far away but she was behind trees and bushes so she couldn't have seen what happened. Either it was denial or wishful thinking. Of course, what she probably meant was that she didn't believe her dog would do that.
I replied that it had indeed bit me. She didn't say anything. No apology, no "are you ok". And worse, absolutely no reprimand or discipline to the dog. I could imagine her comforting it after the nasty man yelled at them.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming it "attacked" me. This was a big full grown German Shepherd. If it had seriously wanted to attack me I have no doubt it would have done a lot more damage. I'm not sure if it saw me as play or prey or just interloper. I can't imagine how it could have felt threatened or defensive since I hadn't gone near them - it had to chase me down.
To add insult to injury, it messed up my run stats since my heart rate went through the roof and took quite a while to settle down. A good example of fight or flight response.
In case any other dog lovers are in denial that one of their beloved babies would do such a thing, here's some evidence. (The waist band of my pants protected me from the other half of the bite.) And yes, I'm pretty sure I'll live :-)
I'm 5k into an easy 10k run on the trails along the river. I see a woman and a dog off the trail by the river. I don't pay much attention, people (and dogs) are common. The dog comes running after me. I still don't pay much attention, dogs often do that. But in a rush it chases me down and bites me just below my waist. And as quick as it came, it was gone.
It hurt, but it didn't feel like there was much damage. It was more the unexpectedness and the shock.
I stopped and yelled at the lady: "Your f***ing dog just bit me!" (I apologize for swearing, but I was angry and full of adrenaline.)
She replied "I don't think so." What a bizarre response. She wasn't far away but she was behind trees and bushes so she couldn't have seen what happened. Either it was denial or wishful thinking. Of course, what she probably meant was that she didn't believe her dog would do that.
I replied that it had indeed bit me. She didn't say anything. No apology, no "are you ok". And worse, absolutely no reprimand or discipline to the dog. I could imagine her comforting it after the nasty man yelled at them.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming it "attacked" me. This was a big full grown German Shepherd. If it had seriously wanted to attack me I have no doubt it would have done a lot more damage. I'm not sure if it saw me as play or prey or just interloper. I can't imagine how it could have felt threatened or defensive since I hadn't gone near them - it had to chase me down.
People tend to say things like "it was just excited". Honestly, I don't give a crap about your dog's state of mind. If I was playing with it and got it too excited and it nipped me, fair enough. But if I'm just passing by, your dog shouldn't bite me regardless of whether it's "excited" or "playful" or whatever euphemism you come up with. And the fact that it's "just a scratch" doesn't justify it either. What if it had been a child? What if it did decide to bite more seriously?
This was not a puppy, this was a large full grown German Shepherd. I'm sure having a big strong dog made the woman feel safe. It doesn't make me feel safe.
If you can't control your dog, maybe you shouldn't have one. At the very least, if your dog is so poorly trained it bites people passing by, I suggest you keep it on a leash. This wasn't even an off leash area. I gave up running in those areas because I got bitten several times.
I realize someone running seems to excite dogs, but that's not my fault. I try to stay away from them and I don't do anything to antagonize them. I guess I should get my exercise indoors in a gym while watching TV like a normal person. Maybe they'll allocate us oddballs a few small designated non-dog parks.
I got rabies vaccinations in case of dog bites in third world countries. I guess dogs are now a first world problem too.
I don't hate dogs. And I don't mean to be offensive to dog owners. I know lots of people with dogs. My family had dogs when I was growing up and I loved them. Back then dogs were mostly for families with kids. Now everyone has to have a dog, if not two or three, and often the bigger the better. Dog ownership is up roughly 30% in just the last 10 years, with multiple dog ownership growing even faster. There are about 100 million dogs in the US. It's almost become the exception not to have a dog. I'm not sure how much of it is fad or fashion, or whether there's some gap in our current psyche that dogs fill. Maybe people need a simple physical friend because they interact with their other 1000 friends through their phones, mediated by giant evil corporations.
To add insult to injury, it messed up my run stats since my heart rate went through the roof and took quite a while to settle down. A good example of fight or flight response.
In case any other dog lovers are in denial that one of their beloved babies would do such a thing, here's some evidence. (The waist band of my pants protected me from the other half of the bite.) And yes, I'm pretty sure I'll live :-)
Wednesday, October 09, 2019
Walking to Work
I'm catching up on photos. These are from a few weeks ago, before winter arrived :-(
This pigeon had some competition in the color department.
This is the path leading from the river up to Innovation Place. I love how it's turning into a green tunnel. I remember when they planted all the trees along here. They've really grown.
And the orchard walk (apple trees) leading to the pond:
The bees and the flowers are all gone now, till next year.
The house sparrows are still around though. No migration to somewhere warm for them.
Nice reflections of the fall colors in the Innovation Place pond.
One of the last flowers of the season.
See all 25 photos in this album
This pigeon had some competition in the color department.
This is the path leading from the river up to Innovation Place. I love how it's turning into a green tunnel. I remember when they planted all the trees along here. They've really grown.
And the orchard walk (apple trees) leading to the pond:
The bees and the flowers are all gone now, till next year.
The house sparrows are still around though. No migration to somewhere warm for them.
Nice reflections of the fall colors in the Innovation Place pond.
One of the last flowers of the season.
See all 25 photos in this album
Tuesday, October 01, 2019
Five Springs Again
In the first part of September I made another road trip through Montana and just into Wyoming to Five Springs in the Big Horn mountains. It's an obscure spot, but it's become one of my favorite spots for paragliding and hiking (although I wish it was a little closer!). This is another long one since I'm doing the whole trip in one post.
When I arrived in Havre I took a break in a park. I took a few shots of the fountain, mostly practicing with the new camera.
There were hollyhocks along the fence of a house backing onto the park.
The color attracted me, but I found the insects were also attracted.
The owner of the house came out to see what I was doing and was quite suspicious and almost hostile until I explained I was just taking photographs of the flowers.
As usual I camped in the Bear Paw mountains (more hills) near Havre, and got in a couple of brief warmup paragliding flights off Otis peak. This Woodland Skipper butterfly seemed to like the color of my paraglider.
I saw quite a few pronghorn on the drive. (I also saw lots of hawks, but didn't manage any decent photos of them.)
Of course, I took lots of photographs. For some reason a lot of them were insects this trip. Partly that was because I had my new camera and macro lens.
When I arrived at Five Springs I stopped at the landing zone to put up my wind sock. I found this Mormon cricket beside the road. It was rapidly running away and I didn't have my camera out. I tried to herd it back towards the van, but it wouldn't cooperate. I was pretty sure if I left it to get my camera I'd never find it again. I ended up picking it up and holding it one hand while I got my camera and switched to the macro lens one handed. The long "tail" is its ovipositor (for laying eggs) so it's a female. We have them in Saskatchewan but I'd never seen one till last year.
A few days later I was sitting in the shade of the one tree near the LZ and this male came wandering by. I only had my iPhone but it managed a decent shot. Their color can vary quite a lot from green to black. I've only seen individuals, but at certain times they can swarm like locusts.
My first two days in Five Springs I had a couple of good one hour paragliding flights. I thought those were the warmup for bigger flights, but it turned out they were my best flights of the trip. I had more flights but conditions weren't good enough for me to stay up. But I'm still happy to be here even if the flights are short.
I took two days off from flying to hike from the Five Springs campground up and over Medicine Mountain (10,000 ft) and down to the Wyoming High Country Lodge where I've stayed before. I carried my paraglider hoping to fly off Medicine Mountain either on the way there or the way back. Unfortunately, that didn't work out - the wind was the wrong direction on the way there, and too strong on the way back. It was still a great hike, and staying overnight at the lodge meant I didn't have to carry any camping gear or much food. I basically just took my toothbrush and a spare t-shirt. And my paragliding gear is pretty light.
Unlike last time when it poured with rain at the lodge, this time the weather was great. Normally they would have had frost by now at 9000 ft, but this year they were having a late fall and there were still flowers in the meadow, and lots of different butterflies. I had a good time trying to stalk them from flower to flower.
A small stream runs through the meadow.
People were talking about fishing, but the only trout I saw were less than 6 inches long. Can you spot it?
There were a few butterflies around the campground as well. There was only one kind of bush flowering so they were congregating. I thought these were Aphrodite Fritillaries, but on iNaturalist they were identified as Coronis Fritillaries. I looked them both up and I have a hard time telling them apart.
These wasps took a break from feeding on the flowers to mate:
I had another wasp visit me at the campsite:
And this spider was overlooking my picnic table:
I found this one inside the van. Luckily there's no wood in the van since it's a wood boring beetle.
I think this one is a burying (or sexton) beetle, another interesting critter. It uses its large antenna to locate dead mice or birds. When multiple beetles find the same carcass they fight over it (males against males and females against females). The winning couple lays its eggs on the carcass and buries it, after removing the fur or feathers. They bury it so it isn't found by other scavengers.
When I got back from my hike I threw my sweaty socks on the picnic table and they attracted this colorful fly:
The usual chipmunks and squirrels were also around. The squirrels were busily snipping pine cones off the trees and dropping them all over my campsite. The pinecones had a lot of sap oozing out of them, which the squirrels got all over their faces when they were eating them. And then the dirt stuck to the sap, giving them black faces.
I didn't see any marmots around the campground like other times, but I did come across this one on my hike:
There were lots of grasshoppers around. The most interesting were these Carolina grasshoppers. The males would fly up into the air and hover making loud clicking sounds to attract females. They were hard to photograph because they were so well camouflaged for the dry dusty ground. You'd see them land, but if you took your eyes off them for a second, they'd be almost impossible to locate again. Although there was a lot of clicking going on, sadly I didn't actually see any of them actually attract a female.
A more colorful variety of grasshopper:
The campground is in a great spot to watch the sunsets.
See all 116 photos in this album
When I arrived in Havre I took a break in a park. I took a few shots of the fountain, mostly practicing with the new camera.
There were hollyhocks along the fence of a house backing onto the park.
The color attracted me, but I found the insects were also attracted.
The owner of the house came out to see what I was doing and was quite suspicious and almost hostile until I explained I was just taking photographs of the flowers.
As usual I camped in the Bear Paw mountains (more hills) near Havre, and got in a couple of brief warmup paragliding flights off Otis peak. This Woodland Skipper butterfly seemed to like the color of my paraglider.
I saw quite a few pronghorn on the drive. (I also saw lots of hawks, but didn't manage any decent photos of them.)
Of course, I took lots of photographs. For some reason a lot of them were insects this trip. Partly that was because I had my new camera and macro lens.
When I arrived at Five Springs I stopped at the landing zone to put up my wind sock. I found this Mormon cricket beside the road. It was rapidly running away and I didn't have my camera out. I tried to herd it back towards the van, but it wouldn't cooperate. I was pretty sure if I left it to get my camera I'd never find it again. I ended up picking it up and holding it one hand while I got my camera and switched to the macro lens one handed. The long "tail" is its ovipositor (for laying eggs) so it's a female. We have them in Saskatchewan but I'd never seen one till last year.
A few days later I was sitting in the shade of the one tree near the LZ and this male came wandering by. I only had my iPhone but it managed a decent shot. Their color can vary quite a lot from green to black. I've only seen individuals, but at certain times they can swarm like locusts.
My first two days in Five Springs I had a couple of good one hour paragliding flights. I thought those were the warmup for bigger flights, but it turned out they were my best flights of the trip. I had more flights but conditions weren't good enough for me to stay up. But I'm still happy to be here even if the flights are short.
I took two days off from flying to hike from the Five Springs campground up and over Medicine Mountain (10,000 ft) and down to the Wyoming High Country Lodge where I've stayed before. I carried my paraglider hoping to fly off Medicine Mountain either on the way there or the way back. Unfortunately, that didn't work out - the wind was the wrong direction on the way there, and too strong on the way back. It was still a great hike, and staying overnight at the lodge meant I didn't have to carry any camping gear or much food. I basically just took my toothbrush and a spare t-shirt. And my paragliding gear is pretty light.
Unlike last time when it poured with rain at the lodge, this time the weather was great. Normally they would have had frost by now at 9000 ft, but this year they were having a late fall and there were still flowers in the meadow, and lots of different butterflies. I had a good time trying to stalk them from flower to flower.
A small stream runs through the meadow.
People were talking about fishing, but the only trout I saw were less than 6 inches long. Can you spot it?
There were a few butterflies around the campground as well. There was only one kind of bush flowering so they were congregating. I thought these were Aphrodite Fritillaries, but on iNaturalist they were identified as Coronis Fritillaries. I looked them both up and I have a hard time telling them apart.
These wasps took a break from feeding on the flowers to mate:
I had another wasp visit me at the campsite:
And this spider was overlooking my picnic table:
I found this one inside the van. Luckily there's no wood in the van since it's a wood boring beetle.
I think this one is a burying (or sexton) beetle, another interesting critter. It uses its large antenna to locate dead mice or birds. When multiple beetles find the same carcass they fight over it (males against males and females against females). The winning couple lays its eggs on the carcass and buries it, after removing the fur or feathers. They bury it so it isn't found by other scavengers.
When I got back from my hike I threw my sweaty socks on the picnic table and they attracted this colorful fly:
The usual chipmunks and squirrels were also around. The squirrels were busily snipping pine cones off the trees and dropping them all over my campsite. The pinecones had a lot of sap oozing out of them, which the squirrels got all over their faces when they were eating them. And then the dirt stuck to the sap, giving them black faces.
I didn't see any marmots around the campground like other times, but I did come across this one on my hike:
There were lots of grasshoppers around. The most interesting were these Carolina grasshoppers. The males would fly up into the air and hover making loud clicking sounds to attract females. They were hard to photograph because they were so well camouflaged for the dry dusty ground. You'd see them land, but if you took your eyes off them for a second, they'd be almost impossible to locate again. Although there was a lot of clicking going on, sadly I didn't actually see any of them actually attract a female.
A more colorful variety of grasshopper:
The campground is in a great spot to watch the sunsets.
See all 116 photos in this album
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