Western fence lizard.

The western fence lizard is an interesting little lizard, and recently I had a few babys playing and scampering around the garden.

Interestingly, Studies have shown Lyme disease is lower in areas where the lizards occur. When ticks carrying Lyme disease feed on these lizards' blood (which they commonly do, especially around their ears), a protein in their blood kills the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. The blood inside the ticks' gut is therefore cleansed and no longer carries Lyme disease.

  Below is a older one (not a baby)

Cold winter, wet spring.

This winter was a cold one for central Idaho!(2013-14)

People in town said it was the coldest and snowiest one for years.

I've only been here a year and it was my first winter here, so I don't know, but it WAS cold. 

When winter comes to the Rocky Mountains a nasty cycle happens to the creeks, and some rivers.

The water begins to freeze around the edges ,and than ice dams slowly form causing the water level to rise, then the dams slowly grow bigger and the water level goes up again.  The viscous cycle goes on and on for months.
Below I photograph what happens.

Above you can see the layers of ice building.
The next eight are some ice falls!
    

Below you can see how high the water was.
The water is still not down to its normal level in the picture below.
























As you can see the water goes up and down a large amount!
This log is another example.

I sadly didn't photograph any thing in or of the rainy days, tho I should have.

BUT! I do have photos of what happens after!

Above,Yes I know it is a weed, but even a weed can be pretty.Here in Idaho we do not get much rain in the summer, but this has been a rainy spring so the flowers are doing very well!
One side of our house is full of hollyhocks and they are exploding.




























Can you find the ant in the picture above?























Above is a hollyhock leaf.
Below are two yarrow, and a bee on each, the one on the purple flower was NOT happy about me being there, after a few pictures he went and hid behind a leaf. lol

I just love all the beauty in all the seasons.

None of this would be possible without God and Mr. Embree.

Warbird Weekend

It was a wonderful partly sunny day on July 13 when I went to Warbird weekend in grangeville.

I had a blast seeing all the planes, in total there was 15 planes.
The pilots were even kind enough to do flyovers before they left.

Above is a Vultee BT13A.
Below is a IAR-823.

 below is a 1950 Vance AFB T-28 (one of my favorites).

Below is a Calidus Autogyro.

Below is a Harpoon PV-2 "Atto Warrior".

The names of the fallowing are unknown to me.

Below is a picture of a engine model they had in the hanger.

Other planes not pictured:
1944 North American SNJ-5 T-6 Texan
Boeing 40
PT Military Stearman
Nanchang CJ6
North American AT-28D"Lumpy"
T-6 Trainer
1943 Fairchild PT26

For more info go to:
www.facebook.com/warbirdweekend.idaho
And again none of this would be possible without Mr. Embree.

A starting photographer

In 2010, was when I was living in South Carolina, I found I love photography, especially landscape.

Back then I was using an iPod camera but my life was about to change.

I moved to Idaho and I met Mr. Embree, a professional photographer who has traveled the world taking photos of the places, and animals he encounters.

He let me borrow his Canon 20D, and taught me how to use and clean it. He also taught me how to use a complex photo editor.

After a few months of using it, and sharing my photos he liked my photos so much that he said he would give me the camera if I sent him photos every month.  I gladly agreed.

It didn't set in until later in the day when I was sitting on the sofa, and I was like, "WOW! I can't believe it, now I have a sweet camera!"

Since then, he has been teaching me a photography class. So cool!

I am so thankful to Mr. Embree, if not for him I'd still be using a grainy old iPod camera.

This is what he gave me:

Canon 20D with manual and sling

Canon 17-85mm lens with hood

Canon 70-200mm lens with hood and manual 

Backpack

UV lens protecter 

Tripod with ball head

Canon battery grip

3 8gb CF cards

Cleaning kit

6 batterys with charger

Canon speedlight

4 lens caps and camera cap

500gb external harddrive

6 slot hi speed 51-in-1 card reader

Way more than a "getting started kit" you would ever find on Amazon.

Below is a picture of the sweet setup he gave me (taken with a lesser quality iPad camera).