Trip Day Nine

I am slowly wading through editing all of the images from my trip to Colorado and Wyoming. Day nine found me sleeping in after two days of photographing up in Rocky Mountain National Park. When I did finally arise I wandered out to give the Blue Jays another try in the backyard blind at Eric's mother in law's house in Loveland, Colorado. I managed to create one good image of both a Jay and of a tattered Grackle. I have a great story about Grackles. When I was about five or six my Dad convinced me that if I put salt on a Grackles tail they wouldn't be able to fly and I would be able to easily catch one. The very next morning found me hiding behind a section of wooden fence. I had a salt shaker in hand watching a pile of crumbs I had placed on the other side. I'm not sure how long I waited but a Grackle finally arrived and I dashed out wildly flinging salt only to watch the Grackle fly off. You had to really watch my Dad he came up with some whoppers. After a late breakfast I helped Eric put up the storm windows around the house. We then went up and location scouted for an image he wants to make of Devil's Backbone in the future. On the trip back we stopped for a nice hike along the Big Thompson River above Taft Road. I spent many, many hours here as a kid swimming, fishing and hunting this stretch of river. I was hoping to see a moose or some elk but none appeared for us. All I managed to photograph was a bumblebee and a Red Fox Squirrel. Afterwards we went up to North Park and photographed the Canadian Geese swimming in the reflected light of the golden yellow Cottonwood Trees. It was a pretty nice relaxing day. Thank you Lord for the good memories. chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400L IS lens.

Visiting Home

Day 6: Leaving the Denver area I traveled north on I-25 along the Front Range to my boyhood town of Loveland, Colorado. It's funny how things feel so familiar and yet are entirely different. When I left here back in the dark ages Loveland was home to about 17,000 people. Now the population has swelled to over 72,000. Visiting here brought back a lot of pleasant memories. Everywhere I turned something came to my mind. I love to visit but I know that I no longer belong here. It is similar to the German feeling of Sehnsucht. Longing for a place that can never be yet it still home.I stayed with my brother Eric and his wonderful wife Sue at her Mom's house. They are temporarily displaced while their new house is being built up in the Rockies. What a beautiful place it's going to be. It has a great view and it is easy to get to Rocky Mountain National Park from where the house is being built. Eric was awesome because he set up a blind and a bird feeder for me to use in the backyard. I really wanted to photograph a Blue Jay because I've never photographed one before. There weren't any Blue Jays in Loveland when I grew up there as a kid. But they are there now and I really wanted an image of one. Luckily for me the Jays obliged. After I finished photographing photographing Jays Eric took me out to photograph some of the local Prairie Dogs and then we headed up to North Park next to Loveland High School to photograph Canadian Geese and Fox Squirrels. I watched one squirrel insulating its nest with bark in preparation for the upcoming winter. We got home just in time to BBQ some chicken for dinner. Early Fall evenings in Colorado are spectacular. What a wonderful and fantastic day I had. Thank you Lord for the experience. God's love to all, chris