More Snow Photos

These photos were just too nice to keep to myself. Maybe it's because I like snow so much.

Snowy Road

Monya took this photo through the windshield while I was driving. The All-Wheel-Drive handled that snow so well that I didn't even come close to putting on the tire chains. The last section of the road was solid snow, and the steepest grade, and I made it as difficult as possible by going slow and daring the slightest bump to catch us without traction. I was testing to see when the traction control would fail, but it never did.

Red Sweater

Here's the red sweater I knitted for BeeBoo. You may notice that BeeBoo fits nicely inside of it.

Holding Babies

On Christmas Day, I had a chance to practice holding babies. Five days later, we went on a walk through the forest, in falling snow. By the way, that's Lief (aka "the Daddy") carrying Miss Maple.

Hot Air Balloon Launch

Finally, the snow stopped falling and we were able to send the balloon up. It was surprisingly successful. We attached a fishing line as a tether, which limited the altitude to about 150-200 feet. When the balloon came down, it dropped like a limp handkerchief.

Toy Hot Air Balloon

This toy hot air balloon has been in progress for several weeks. I finally got the last of the "gores" glued together, and was able to inflate it. It took two or three minutes to fill, even with the powerful blast from a vacuum cleaner exhaust. We're planning to launch it from the hills of Amboy the weekend after Christmas. More pictures are almost certain to follow.

Hanging Nest

We discovered this nest in the Linden tree yesterday. Apparently the bushtit birds like our trees and bushes, because this is the sixth hanging nest we've found, and the third nest in the past three years.

Note the wine bottle shape. The opening is at the top, with a flap of moss and spider web covering it to keep out the rain or obscure the entrance. The entire structure is very resilient at this stage. The insides are lined with cobweb, feathers and down, so soft that I can't feel it when I touch it.

Natural Beauty

No credit can be given to the photographer. These models are just naturally beautiful.

Tomato Crop

Here is a sampling of the tomatoes we harvested this year. Apparently we eat our tomatoes with butter.

Goldenrod Spider

Monya and I found this Misumena vatia in our Escondita hedge this morning.

We saw one of these flower spiders before, but didn't have a camera. It's also out of place on a bush with red flowers. They usually crouch in a white or yellow flower and snatch a bug that is landing on the flower. She looked a lot cleaner before we got the zoomed in version from the camera, but it is late summer, and she's probably just looking for somewhere to lay her eggs.

Great Pumpkin Harvest 2007

Last weekend P'Nut and Miss Maple helped me harvest our pumpkins. We gathered up 45 of the Cucurbita pepo melons. Note that some of them were different colors, and some had warts on the surface, like gourds. All of the seeds came out of the same pumpkin from last fall, so maybe this is a result of cross-pollination. We were also shocked to discover tiny thorns on the skin, not just on the vines, but they were easily rubbed off with leather gloves.

A View 40 Years Old

Compare this photo with the one posted on the Letters From Amboy blog. They're quite similar. My intent here was to capture the seven horizons. Thanks to some help from two excellent photographers, I was also able to capture the texture of the clouds.

This was my second visit to this lake in 40 years. I can't tell if it was different this time or not. At least I knew it was there.

Giant Q Tips

Clouds rolled slowly over the mountain tops, partially obscurring this meadow of Western Anemone. Sometime soon, I intend to post a photo of some Anemone under water. They're just as tall, and a lot more colorful, but you can't see as many of them at one time.

Giant Mushroom

This mushroom was about the size of a loaf of bread. I especially like the color, and almost wanted to eat it.

Fishing at a Secret Lake

We watched the fisherman, on the left in this photo, while he brought in three Brook Trout. Many more fish were jumping clear out of the water, but they were out of his casting range.

Tiny Baby

This photo shows the tiniest baby I've ever seen. She weighed only 1# 6oz when she was born last month. Now she's up to more than two pounds and eating real food.

Phases of Venus

Here are five photos, merged into a single frame. Each of them is a picture of Venus, taken at the same magnification, about 50x, but on different days: May 29, June 18, June 25, July 6, July 10 and July 24. Notice how the planet appears to be getting larger, and the crescent shape is getting thinner. This may be the last photo I am able to take of Venus before it gets too close to the horizon. Notice how the apparent diameter has increased to more than double since I started.

These pictures are really poor quality compared to what it looks like with moving air currents and color refraction, but they capture the idea, and provide fascinating comparisons.

Clavius - Moon Photo

Thanks to my friend Jerry, I'm learning astrophotography (and I know one major landmark on the moon). The landmark is a crater called Clavius. It is the second largest crater on the moon. This morning (at 4:00 AM) the visibility was excellent for this area, and the lighting was perfect for viewing Clavius, the large crater in the center of the photo.

The image has been rotated so it is oriented as seen by observers in the northern hemisphere, and it features a close-up view of the bottom (south pole) of the moon. The moon is at the beginning of the 4th quarter, so this moon phase will only be seen in the morning, before sunrise (or with a blue, daylight sky). Most importantly, the angle of the sun exaggerates the features of Clavius and the other craters near the center of the moon.

Another Moon

On June 18 I tried something a bit different. I used the zoom on the camera lens to magnify the 50x image produced by the telescope. I'm not sure what the magnification is here, but it's a nice photo.

If you look carefully, you can see two tiny specs of light that appear disconnected from the moon in the upper right corner of the photo. They are moon mountains, just over the moon's horizon, but high enough to catch and reflect some sunlight.

Miss Maple: Standing

Monya insisted that I post this photo of Miss Maple, standing and holding the little pink doll.

Green Sweater

Some of my enthusiasm for knitting is gone, so this green sweater took six months to complete. P'Nut liked it so much that she insisted on wearing it immediately. Fortunately, she promised to stop growing, so the sweater fits her.


In an attempt to give something to Miss Maple at the same time, I knitted this little doll. Miss Maple liked it, but P'Nut really liked it. You can see her holding the doll in the sweater photo.

More Rare Than a Blue Moon

Tonight, if your skies are clear, you will be able to see a rare event. It is the second full moon in a single calendar month. Even more rare than that is a good photograph of the Moon taken by me through my 1200mm telephoto lens. This photo was taken two days ago, before the Moon "turned blue."

Pretty P'Nut

The other day, on a sudden whim, I put P'Nut's necklace on top of her head rather than around her neck. The result was so amazing that I asked her to pose for this picture. Am I just a biased grandfather? Or is she really stunning and beautiful?

Giant Willow Tree Gone

Here are two photos of what used to be a landmark for me. This giant Weeping Willow tree was visible from all the way across the lake, and its branches hung over the spot where I sat in my kayak to take these photos. I tried to blend them into a single photo, but there was too much distance between the two, causing too much paralax to handle with photo editing. You can see the damage to the house in the form of broken shingles, bent gutters and downspout, and a broken eave. Also the fence has been damaged and is only braced into position.

Paddling Down the Cedar River

Click Here to See the Movie
Here's a low-resolution version of the movies I recorded while paddling down the Cedar River last Sunday. In the full resolution version you can see the fish clearly, hear the bird calls, and see two of the three Blue Herons flying away. The biplane landing at the end is a bit more obvious too.

Monya and Miss Maple

Here is Monya holding Miss Maple at her first birthday party.

Tiny Miss Maple

This photo was taken by holding the camera at arm's length, then watching Miss Maple to decide when to press the shutter button. I chose this photo because it shows how tiny she is compared to me.

Asian Pear Blossoms

The Asian Pear tree is covered with these large white flowers. The Comice Pear tree has just one cluster of flowers, but the trees are blooming at the same time.

Walls and Gables Complete

This is where we quit for the day. The doors and roof are all that remain to be assembled.

Wall Corners Secure

The foundation has been leveled, and wall plates fastened to each other. The corner sections of the wall have been assembled on top of the wall plates.

Assemble a Garden Shed

Here is the location for the garden shed. The water tank is under the blue tarp. The sacks of hardened stucco make nice (but heavy) bricks to form a foundation.

BeeBoo and Arthur

BeeBoo and Arthur were playing a video game. They were so intent on the game that they didn't notice me holding the camera in front of the video screen. Notice Arthur's favorite resting position with his new pink cast.

Camelia Stump

Here's the Camelia stump I took out to make room for a blueberry bush. I dug all around the stump, cutting off roots as I found them. Two roots remained hidden, and the stump refused to move, so I forced it out of there with two hydraulic jacks. This photo was taken just after the last root snapped.

Miss Maple's New Yellow Sweater

Miss Maple was happy to try on her new yellow sweater. She started crawling the other day, and this photo shows how she is spreading flowers from her socks to the carpet.

Aunt Bonnie's Sled Ride

Aunt Bonnie had to travel all the way from Laurens to Renton to find suitable conditions for a sled ride. Colette helped pull the sled.

Snow Mermaid

This snow mermaid was inspired by the character Ariel from the movie The Little Mermaid. The customer requirements included the seashell amulet hanging from her neck. Note that the sculpture has an anatomically correct tail.

Yellow Sweater "M"

The name of this sweater is "M"
It belongs to Emma, whose name is 'Melia, also known as Miss Maple.
Note that this photo was taken at 1/5 second with the camera set to adjust for flourescent light, with an incandescent bulb providing the light. It has the best representation of the true color I could manage. You have to feel the sweater to experience how soft it is.

Tree Moss

For years I have enjoyed the healthy crop of moss in this tree. I suppose this will be the last photo of it. I like how the angle of the ladder matches the angle of the power pole.

Windfall Cleanup

All of the branches have been cleaned off the roof and cut back away from the house. Large branches will become firewood or lumber, but smaller branches were chipped and shredded into mulch. The orange chipper/shredder is resting after a hard day of work.

Arthur's Red and White Sweater

Arthur tried on his new red and white sweater Dec 23, 2006.

Flee Plus Flee Equals Six

During the Christmas holidays we had several meals with the Amboy branch of the family. There were three of us on each side of the table, when Arthur noted:
"one, two, flee," pointing at each of us on the opposite side, and "one, two, flee," people on his near side of the table. Then he pronounced, "flee plus flee equals six!"

Boxelder Tree Blown Down

Notice how the branches broke in multiple places, and only smaller limbs actually hit the house. The kayaks were right next to it. The trunk didn't break, because the roots pulled up instead. One branch got caught in the telephone lines, and now that pole is leaning as far to the right as it was leaning to the left.

Kayaks are Safe

It looks like the tree was shaped perfectly for arching over the boats. The boat rack leg is broken, so it may have actually hit them.

Red and White Sweater

The finished sweater for Arthur. It needs to be blocked.

Light Snowfall in Renton

This photo was taken through the kitchen door window, after dark, while it was snowing. There was only about one inch of snow on the ground, and it only accumulated three inches during that hour. I braced the camera against the door and turned off the flash, so it was a slow exposure.

Paper Rocket and Launcher

 
This is the paper rocket I put together, along with the launcher made from PVC pipe, bicycle inner tube, duct tape, and a 2 liter plastic bottle. I hope the children have fun with it. The PVC tube laying on the floor has a larger diameter, so that's the pipe I used for assembling the rocket. The spring clamp allows variable launch angles.