20 June, 2008 As Good As It Gets

Jan captured some scenes today of the sky, as good as it gets in the
Ozarks. The sun, the clouds, comfy temp, a little shower, a
rainbow... We will be wishing for a day like this come July and August.

A meadowlark took a shower in a puddle left over from last night's
rain. He splattered in that mudhole for about ten minutes, then
fluffled off into the grass.

Randy made a couple of fertilizer trips when the breeze died out late in the afternoon.

After a random shower, a rainbow appeared, disappeared, then reappeared in the clear sky. It was a half, then slowly spread to the south and became a whole rainbow, but it wasn't as bright as this part.

G'ma Airplane, flying tomorrow

19 June, 2008 Thursday's stuff

Another neighbor trying to beat the rain. Springfield got hit hard, we got a little bit Thursday afternoon, and again overnight. Can you hear grass grow?

The boys worked on Kent's 150 annual since the ag operation is on hold.

After returning home from a pilot's meeting and dinner in West Plains, the storm approached. Shot these through the window as it all slid south of us. The big bright burst was really fantastic, all different colors, many separate bolts of lightning. It was just too much for the camera to record. I could see it all because I had the 12mm wide angle lens pressed against the window and I wasn't looking through the camera.

G'ma Airplane

American Barnstormers

They were in Ames this past week, for a few extra days too, apparently they had to cancel at Iowa City, due to flooding. Imagine that! LAD was very fascinated with watching them take off and land and park. We saw the ones in formation when we were driving to Ames to see them. You could buy a ride, $50. There were some very nice airplanes there and Ma, I think we saw that black #4 at OshKosh. And maybe even some of the others!

Moon over Iowa

This was Wednesday night about midnight. First photo shot with the Sigma 18-200 mm on the Nikon D100. Next photo shot with the ancient Spiratone 500 mm. It may be ancient but it still works! Sigh, if only I had a telescope with a Nikon camera mount...sigh...

18 June, 2008 Moonwriting

Going to rain tomorrow, neighbor Bob's working hard to get his bales done.

Yucca in the shade finally made it to full bloom.

Trumpet vine's blooming, too, but I haven't seen any hummingbirds yet. Nice sunset again tonight. Cloudy stuff starting to roll in from Kansas.

I almost forgot the full moon! I call this "moon writing". Make each letter with a time exposure, tracing each letter in a separate photo. You have to use mind's eye to imagine each letter as the camera moves, because when the shutter's open you can't see through the viewfinder. Then all the letters are put together in Photoshop.

G'ma Airplane

17 June, 2008 Boyz are back in biz

The boys are back in business... Randy showed up and made a couple of spray runs after changing the oil and tinkering a bit.

'Twas a gorgeous day, and the moon is almost full. According to space.com, there really is never truly a full moon. It would be during an eclipse, so all other times, there's a slight dark side.
"Full moon" is Wednesday night. Oh, well, it's pretty anyhow.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/moon_fallacies_040227_A1.html

G'ma Airplane, short on pics today

16 June, 2008 War kitten mows 'em down

Well, Bitty held 'er down while Lloyd greased 'er up.

That's the only action at the airport today. I don't think Bitty can
reach the pedals. I can barely. Hey, it didn't rain today, and the
wind wasn't blowing, and I got all the grounds mowed.

G'ma Airplane,

15 June, 2008 Father's Day

Cessna 170 on its way to Boonville. Probably made it before the storm front moved in...

Roy moved his bales before it rained. Just a slow shower with some lights and noise.

War Kittens hassling over a water bug. Lazy, lost interest, bug escaped.

Jamie & Jared played on the lake today. No little plastic pool for them!

G'ma Airplane, & Jan

Iowa baby birds

Not sure exactly what these are, the momma is in the bottom picture. She's not very big, but they sure make a lot of noise. The nest is out front in our bushes. I think there are at least 3 babies, I feel sorry for the one on the bottom of the pile. I wonder which body that leg belongs to!

14 June, 2008 Fishin'

Yucca is struggling to bloom in the shade at the airport. All the other yuccas out in the sunshine are really loaded with white blooms.

Hey, bluebird babies are all gone. Probably this morning.

I replaced the webbing on one of Fonda's old (probably 1994?) lawn
chairs. Then along came Smudge furball and took possession.

Caught three bass, no bluegills. (It might have been 2 bass, one twice). Then I got distracted with prefocusing on an area of the pond, casting with one hand and snapping a photo when the plastic worm hit the water. Isn't as easy as it sounds. Aah, summertime. I let the fish go, so the bunch from Jeff City can have a chance at them this summer.

G'ma Airplane, bicycling today