Night Moves

The title comes from a song that I remember from my youth. "Night moves. Trying to make some front page drive in news." Well this post doesn't have anything to do with that.

First some housekeeping news. The plan is to work on getting caught up a bit with posts. I have been absent a few days. Please stop by later for more. Staining the house has taken up my time and when I get done I feel pretty funky. The stain is about the consistency of diesel fuel so it gets all over you. It smells pretty bad since it is oil based and is impossible to get out of your clothes and the smell sticks on your skin. Today the high is expected to be about 93 so me and my helper Carl are taking the day off. High tomorrow expected to be 78 so why sweat today?

I have had the opportunity recently to take some nighttime pictures and the results are somewhat less than stunning. I spent a little time today attempting to work with a photo editing program to fix them up a bit. It seemed to make them worse so you get the original unedited versions. The first attempt was for the recent so called "super moon". Were you as disappointed as I was? It seemed no more stunning to me than the full moon at harvest time. You know the one that rises like a huge orange ball.

 Not so impressive. May be time to upgrade cameras.

A few nights ago Carol pointed out there was an owl on the fence back where Lily and Teddi like to dig. He was sitting on a fence post. Owls are extremely shy and any time my camera is out an near a door or window Teddi and Lily start barking. We knew this would scare the owl off and no pictures would be taken. I managed to sneak the camera into our bedroom and shut the door without the dogs realizing what was happening. I managed to snap a couple of quick pictures before the owl took off in search of an evening meal or a mate. The results make the moon pictures look pretty darn good.

No tripod and no way to hold the camera steady enough to capture a clear picture. It didn't help that the photographer was very nervous and excited to have an opportunity to take a picture of this beautiful bird. Yes, life is like that out here in BFE. You get excited over birds or other critters that wander through your area.

It looks like some evening and late night photography practice is in order.