Winter Guest

With the warming spring weather we haven't been using our wood stove very much to heat up the house. Yesterday however there was a brisk fog pouring in off the coast and it sure felt like we needed a fire. It was pretty cold by California standards. I grabbed the wheelbarrow and wheeled it out to the woodpile to get some firewood. While grabbing some logs I was startled by an odd shape under one of the logs as I picked it up. It was in the shadows so I couldn't see it very well. There were some short appendages sticking out from it. My first guess was a bat. Pulling away some of the logs around it I was finally able to ascertain that it was a lizard. Further inspection revealed it was a Northern Alligator Lizard. It was all rolled up in a ball overwintering in our woodpile. As chilly out as it was it could barely move. I carried it into the house and placed it into a jar. This morning I photographed it on a mossy piece of bark before releasing it into a sunny spot on top of the woodpile. When I checked on it a little bit ago it was warm enough to crawl away. God's love and blessings upon your day, chris All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Canon EF-S60mm F 2.8 USM Macro lens. #TeamCanon

Time for the Creepy Crawlies to Come Out

It has been such a gift to get all of this the rain. We have had rain off and on for the past week. Saturday when I went outside to grab some wood for the wood stove I noticed something moving down by the corner of the steps. I tossed the wood into the stove and quickly came back outside curious as to what I had seen. I bent down under the step and saw a Rough Skinned Newt slowly trying to crawl away. I carefully picked it up and put it temporarily in captivity before photographing it. Then I gently put it back under the step to let it go.With the rains we will be seeing a lot more newts and salamanders on the move. They need to stay moist and the rains give them plenty of that! All of these images were created with a Canon 7DmkII and a 100mm macro lens on a tripod. Camera settings were AV mode, ISO 800, F 5.0 at some slow shutter speeds of 1/8th and 1/10th of a sec.

Tight Fit

Since putting up the new knothole feeder the birds have been coming almost non stop. The squirrels have been coming by too, but the opening is far too small for them to fit. As a result of this they have been working on enlarging the opening size by chewing away on the bark that surrounds it. The tiny chipmunks on the other hand have had no such problems and have been squeezing there way in to get at the bird food with impunity. I will just keep watching and photographing as the drama unfolds. God's love and blessings to all, chris Images created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150- 600mm lens. Camera was supported on a ground pod on our bedroom window ledge.

The Rocks of Pudding Creek

Yesterday we drove out to Ft. Bragg on the coast for Annika's driver's license. While she was getting her final driving training and taking the test I went to Pudding Creek on the north end of town to photograph the rocks. The surf was really small and the water was a beautiful blue green. It made for some interesting photos. Annika only missed two points on her test and passed her test with flying colors.

What a beautiful day.

God bless,

chris

Oh Those Squirrels Again!

This morning I didn't have a lot of time for photography as I'm still working om some landscaping projects around the house. I limited my efforts to the squirrels near my photoblind in the front yard. Luckily I didn't have too long of a wait before a Douglas Tree Squirrel came up to the feeders. It was a feisty female and she guarded that feeder for a pretty good length of time before a Western Gray Squirrel challenged her for the spot. They had a pretty good battle before she relented and gave up her spot mightily protesting the whole time. It was a great way to start the day. May God bless your spirit today,

chris