Totality … A Mixed Bag

By Jim | Published August 24, 2017




(Today’s post is a bit unusual. Because of the overwhelming activities and emotions surrounding experience my first total solar eclipse, the content is rather long.  So if you’d rather not read the “rest of the story”, please feel free to just scroll down to the photos)  :o) Monday was a very mixed bag for me. […]

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Sunspot, Baby

By Jim | Published August 21, 2017




Ah, yeh … a familiar old tune from Bob Seger and his Silver Bullet Band. That’s what I was reminded of as I cleaned and checked out my camera equipment on Saturday afternoon, preparing for the big total eclipse today. A while back, I purchased some solar filter sheets and fabricated my own filter holders […]

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Bald Eagle Skills – Revisited

By Jim | Published August 18, 2017




(Note: This post originally published in January 2010). I just returned home from my 2017 Perseids meteor shoot (posts on my trip to follow) and am now busy unloading the truck and preparing my photo equipment for the upcoming total solar eclipse (Monday, August 21), which I’ll shoot just a few miles from my home. […]

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Artichoke, Anyone?

By Jim | Published August 7, 2017




I always look forward to seeing this tall, yellow border growing around the perimeter of all the wooded areas on my rural Missouri land … the Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus). This wildflower becomes a prominent feature of my rural landscape every summer. So refreshing to look out and see the “sea of yellow”. Here are […]

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Fun Friday: A Rare Bird Flyover

By Jim | Published August 4, 2017




Imagine the surprise of hearing a sound like someone mowing in the woods behind my rural Missouri home, then looking out and seeing this rare “bird” flying over! Living in the country, I shouldn’t be surprised. I have gone outside many times and seen some rather “unusual” birds flying over, including the Stealth bomber (a […]

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Common Visitors

By Jim | Published July 31, 2017




Today’s post features one of the most common butterflies that visit my rural Missouri butterfly garden, the Fritillary butterfly. Most of the time, when it’s sunny and warm outside, I can walk outside and see at least a couple of Fritillary butterflies busy soaking up the sun and seeking nectar from the plants in my […]

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Fun Friday: NIMBY

By Jim | Published July 28, 2017




NIMBY … an acronym for “Not In My Back Yard”, a phrase often used to show the displeasure of something, typically environmentally, about to occur near a residential area. In this case, it relates to finding some Tomato Horn Worms beginning to devour my tomato plants! I planted 8 tomato plants this year, the first […]

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It’s a Zoo Out There, Part 2

By Jim | Published July 26, 2017




In the previous post, I highlighted one of the wonderful “zoo butterflies” visiting the purple coneflowers in my rural Missouri butterfly garden over the past week (if you missed that post, you can find it at this link: “It’s a Zoo Out There, Part 1”). Today’s post features another “zoo creature”, the beautiful Zebra Swallowtail […]

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It’s a Zoo Out There, Part 1

By Jim | Published July 24, 2017




I was hoping to have some new images of dragonflies to post today, but I’ve not seen any around my rural Missouri butterfly garden over the past few days. I don’t know if the extremely hot temperatures are causing them to lay low, or I’ve just not been in the garden at the right time. […]

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Fun Friday: Pollinator at Work

By Jim | Published July 21, 2017




With our extremely hot temperatures, I have not been out much for photography lately. But I do manage to make an occasional walk-through of my butterfly garden, right outside my front door and in beautiful bloom right now! During my walk-through yesterday, I did find some pollinators busy at work: I’ve also seen a couple […]

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