Come tiptoe through the tulips with me…

Most of the early spring flowers, such as crocus and daffodils, are gone now. But the tulips are in full bloom with us although I fear that the storms that have been coming through lately might blow all of their petals away any day now.

While I am no big fan of winter, it is nice to live somewhere where there are the four seasons and all of the nature that goes along with that. After all of the spring flowers have had their moment on stage, then it will be time for roses – they are my favorites! In the meantime, we enjoy the tulips and all of the trees that are just beginning to bloom like Dogwood and Magnolia.

Unfortunately, this also means that allergy season will be upon us (if not already in some places) giving us the sniffles and sneezing. Oh well! Enjoy your weekend and whatever is blooming in your neck of the woods.

Teri 🌷

Lucy in the sky…

With diamond. In this case, I’m not sure where Lucy was at the time, but the diamond ring was definitely there. During an eclipse, the diamond ring phenomenon occurs just before the Sun is completely blocked and the very last rays signal the moment to see a magical Diamond Ring around the Moon.

This happens twice. Once when entering totality and again when coming out of totality and it is very very quick! Blink or look away for a second and you can miss it. I missed it entirely during the 2017 total solar eclipse but was able to capture this image when totality was over on April 8th.

Teri 💍

Just a sample…

I hope you got to see some if not all of the solar eclipse that happened this past Monday, April 8th. We lived in the path of totality which meant that unlike when we drove from Ohio to Kentucky in 2017, we did not have to deal with a dreadful traffic jam when leaving where we viewed the eclipse.

It was horrible!

But we chose to drive a bit over an hour north of our home to get to a wildlife reserve that was closer to the center line of totality. Why? Well, it meant that we had a bit less cloud cover and over three minutes of totality! Mentioning cloud cover, the photos from this eclipse were just a bit softer and the corona wasn’t as prominent as it was in 2017. I am not complaining! We were still able to see it and take photos.

We had very very minor traffic slowdowns heading north, and our GPS took us through some very scenic side roads (through parts of Ohio we had never seen) to get us back to the main highway to get back home. The only downside to where we picked to set up for photographing the eclipse was – as we later found out – ticks!

Yeah! We had to pick off a few when we got home. Mental note to self…next time you are out in a wilderness field, USE TICK SPRAY! I should’ve known better to check before we packed up the car considering I watched a man pick them off his dog before they left. I was so hyped from the eclipse I didn’t think. Won’t do that again!

One day I hope to learn how to make a composite image but until then, here are some images from right after first contact to totality. I was elated to capture sunspots, prominences, the corona and to witness nature doing amazing things like the birds all flying away to their resting spots (and then coming back) and the temperature dropping around 10 degrees. Things went from 70’s to low 60’s.

Loved every moment…except for those darn ticks!

Teri ☀️🌙

Practice Practice Practice

Two weeks from today is the event that many people are hyped up about and will not happen again in the contiguous United States for about another twenty years…a total solar eclipse! The last total eclipse viewable here in the US was August 2017.

On April 8, 2024, it occurs again and this time I won’t have to go any further than my backyard for this one. Unless, of course, the weather decides to be uncooperative, and we have to jump in the car and go either north or west. Needless to say, I am watching the weather report like a hawk!

In 2017, I did not have a solar filter (waited too long to get one before they were all sold out – don’t be like I was) so I was only able to photograph totality. This year, I have all the equipment I need to photograph the entire eclipse in all of its stages.

Many articles about how to photograph the eclipse tell you to practice before the event so that you have a better idea of what settings you will need to properly capture it. The last thing anyone would want to have happen is fumbling about with gear and settings and possibly miss photographing this potentially once in a lifetime moment.

We’ve been practicing taking photos of the sun and I’m glad we have. There’s still some tweaking to do but I think we may have a pretty good idea of how to work it. Here’s one image from our most recent practice session and I was amazed how this image had far more sunspots than the ones I took a week before.

Wonder if the sun is getting ready for the big show as well?

Teri ☀️

Yellowstone National Park – Wildlife Edition

On March 1, 1872, Yellowstone became the first national park – all 2.2 million acres of it! Many people, when you mention the parks name, immediately think of the geyser Old Faithful. But besides all of the geysers and other geological wonders, there is an abundance of wildlife.

There are, of course, the bison herds. If you visit the park and miss being in a bison jam, were you really even in the park?

Big Bison Jam

Little Bison Jam

The park has wolves…which we tried and tried to find but never got up and out early enough to the area where they are usually found. The park has mountain goats but the one we saw was waaaaayyyyy up the side of a mountain and impossible to get a photo of (I had to use my binoculars to even see the little white dot). There were hawks and eagles but again way in the distance. I’m not sure if any moose were in Yellowstone, I believe I read that they were all in Grand Teton to get away from the wolves and we did indeed see them in that park.

Of course, there were elk like this herd of cows hanging outside of Mammoth Springs right in the middle of town. They caused an elk jam once when we were attempting to get through.

We saw many of the delicate looking but very speedy Pronghorn sheep.

Male Pronghorn

Female Pronghorn

And while we missed seeing any of the Grizzly bears, we did luck out and see one Black bear who was causing a bit of a bear jam on the road. It was up a hill and cars were all pulled over with people trying to get a photo of it as it was in a hurry to get some place else.

In a hurry…

Seriously, you could spend a couple of weeks in Yellowstone and still not see everything it has to offer. It’s amazing!

Teri 📷

Wordless Wednesday – Nevermore

Yellowstone National Park Raven.

Teri 📷

(Click on image to view larger)

Monochrome Monday – Elk in Montana or was it Wyoming?

When we visited Yellowstone National Park in September of last year, we stayed in Gardiner, Montana. A very small town which basically shuts down when tourist season is over, I think sometime around mid-October, maybe? I just remember them – a great restaurant we went to – saying they would be closing soon as I tried their jalapeno cornbread with elk and bison chili.

Loved the cornbread. Love bison. Elk is too gamey for me.

The town was right next door to the entrance to Yellowstone and I’m not sure where the park went from Montana to Wyoming, but the elk did not care! Walking around Gardiner often meant you had to watch where you were walking because of elk poo on the sidewalks. The elk walked into town all the time and one night we had to cross the street as there was an elk grazing in the front yard of a church.

I’m just glad none of the bison decided to come into town while we were there. They may have not looked kindly at some of the restaurant’s menu offerings!

Teri 📷

Love is in the air…

Happy Valentines Day to you all. May your day be filled with love or at least some chocolate! Here are a couple of examples of love in the wild from our trip to Yellowstone National Park last September. The bison rutting season was coming to an end but these two were busy cuddling up to each other…I wonder what he may have been whispering into her ear?

On the other hand – or is that antler – the elk rut was definitely going on. This was the first time I had ever witnessed a male elk bugling. It’s a “unique” sound when you hear it online or on a nature television channel but in real time right in front of you? Entirely different! 

Male elk can be feisty any time of year but when it’s during rut, do keep your distance! In the case of this big bull bugling, we had pulled over by the side of the road and I was taking his photo from a safe distance. That is until a group of cows decided to run right past me, which was when he decided to get closer to them which meant guess who headed right in my direction! 

I was very thankful for the car being right behind me as I slowly scooted my way around it to get back in. Nature can be both beautiful and a bit frightening at the same time. Always be aware of your surroundings… and don’t pet the fluffy cows!

Teri 💝

In Sixty Days

I haven’t posted anything in longer than 60 days (about that in a minute) because life has been lifing the heck out of me. Things broke in the house and needed replacement three expensive times. I damaged a tendon big time in my foot and was in a lot of pain for several weeks – have klutzy will travel!

Dealing with family issues and health issues not only last year but again (damn it) right now. Don’t know if I’m wobbly from what’s plaguing me or the medication to supposedly fix it. But I’ve discovered the joys of eating sunflower butter straight from the jar (allergic to peanut butter) and getting ready for what’s coming in sixty days…

The Total Solar Eclipse comes back to North America on April 8th of this year!!! 

And the crowd goes wild. What’s even better, is that this time I don’t have to travel from Ohio to Kentucky like I did in 2017, I can see it from a park that’s 15 minutes away from where I live. So, if you wish to see and/or photograph this event I suggest you get your gear ready (certified eclipse glasses and solar filter for your camera) and look at sites like eclipse2024.org and science.nasa.gov for where you will be able to see the entirety of this event.

As I was unable to get a solar filter for my camera in time, I was only able to photograph totality and the suns corona here in 2017. This year (weather permitting – fingers crossed) I have the filter and plan on photographing all of the stages. 

Are you planning on seeing and/or photographing the eclipse this year? I hope you can see it in person, it’s amazing. Will post again when I’m doing better.

Teri 👋🏽

Dogs and Sheep

These are not quite the dogs and sheep you were probably imagining from the title of this post. No, these are Prairie Dogs and Big Horn Sheep. We saw the sheep grazing by the side of the road in just one spot in Badlands National Park and never saw them again. I’d call that quite fortunate!

This guy looks like he’s had a few battles (or something) as you can see that the tips of his horns have been worn down.

This one looks to be a bit younger perhaps and still has his horns pretty much intact. Also, he has been collared by the park. Say hello to #37

As for the prairie dog… where there was prairie, there they were! This little one was in a part of the park that was a bit greener and was enjoying a morning snack.

The residents of Roberts Prairie Dog Town were much more animated and used to people. They didn’t run away from anyone but they were yipping away. The park asks that you do not touch any of the animals (the saying is don’t pet the fluffy cows) nor feed them but humans will human and try to feed and get too close.

Time to hit the road and drive down the highway to the next national park – Yellowstone!

Teri 🙂