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9-20-09
Random randomness. I figured since 2009 was a major letdown for storm chasing, I might as well scramble some odds and ends to try and create more entries.
The first set is from Niabi Zoo. Meghan and I took my nephew Caden on a Sunday. We took him since he absolutely LOVES animals and the zoo, but we also did it so we could have an excuse to back. I used to love going too, but going by myself would be a bit weird. It also gave me a chance to break out the 400mm again.
Just a white duck.
Orangatang. I'm not sure if I even spelled that right. These little monkeys were pretty dirty. I think I saw the same one go #2 three times in the 5-6 minutes we sat there and watched them.
In the bird cage. I can't remember what kind of birds these were, but they were very colorful and pretty agressive.
You can get these little cups of nectar from the girl at the door. Caden was terrified to feed them at first, but after seeing the other kids feeding them, he became a little more brave.
UGLY. Those are also mites all over his face. Disgusting birds. I decided I don't like ostriches.
Just a random bird picking up a piece of dropped popcorn.
HUGE tortoise. There were two more too, but they were huddled by the wall that housed them and they were pretty boring to watch.
Jeffy.
Trying to catch rain drops.
Leo. How would you like to fall down there?
He just looks hungry.
These red wolves were extremely skittish. I would think they would be more aggressive, but that isn't the case at all. There was a guy in the cage with them (I think there were 5 total) mowing the grass and they were all just standing in the far back corner watching him. I don't think they realize they could do a lot of damage.
Baaaaa. Grown up and baby billy goat.
Another bird foraging. Must be making a nest.
This guy was big, fat, and lazy. But he was fun to watch too.
This next set was a squall line that moved through on June 27th. I remember posting a few pics on the home page but it was hardly worth its own account. It was fairly pictureesque though, so I'm glad I went after it. Seeing how bad '09 was, I was desperate to get the camera on ANYTHING.
Meghan was also with me. This was her first storm "chase", so she thought it was pretty cool. It came in extraordinarily fast.
Little dust spin-up to the right here. I'm sure it was just from the cornfields in the distance.
More zoomed in. Obviously nothing, but it was the first airborn "debris" I saw all year, so I suppose it was something noteworthy. Yep, it's been that kind of year.
This was on July 15th. The chance for noctilucent clouds (NLC's) were unusually high this far south so I went out to see what I could get. Unfortunately they were EXTREMELY weak, but they were NLC's nonetheless. My first ones.
This little girl is Layla, my fiancee's dog. She's a GREAT pup, and a hilarious one. I'm going to try this again sometime since this one didn't come out too clean. It's pretty blurry, but trying to shoot something like this as she is bolting toward me turned out to be quite the difficult task.
The next set were taken on August 11th. Meg and I went out to try and catch the Perseid meteor shower. It ended up being a complete and utter bust. The only real impressive things I saw were a few Earthgrazers, but that was about it.
I told Meghan to step in front of the camera halfway through the exposure to get this ghost appearance. We were just bored. Nothing real special here.
This was the main attraction of the night. This moon was blood red as it first came up far on the horizon. I noticed it as it was just coming up, but I didn't think it was the moon. I noticed it was different looking, but I thought it was lights from a plant far away. As time went by I finally realized it was the moon. Pretty cool.
That is the Tyson plant there in the middle of the shot.
And finally the cicada shots. This is the first time I have ever witnessed this. I have seen hundreds upon hundreds of cicada sheds, but never in progress. You could touch this guy and he wouldn't even move. I think it may have been their defense mechanism.
I went inside for about 5 minutes after taking a series of shots. I went back out to check on him and he was gone. I'm thinking this process is pretty quick considering I have never seen it before and how fast he was here and gone. Afterward I noticed at the base of the tree about 30 other shells. That's crazy.
One last shot. Meghan, Josh, Amanda and I all went out to the canal to do a little fishing. As Meghan was trying for bass with this topwater, this frog came in from the bank and attacked it, unfortunately hooking it. I just thought it was kind of funny that a frog would try and eat an imaginary frog. Would that be cannibalism?
