THE THEME IS ‘CREAPY’….WHAT DO YOU THINK…DID I ACHIEVE IT?..N.B. NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH

Yesterday morning I had to go to town and do some errands and while I was gone my friend….Jack….my dog….brought me a pressie.

APPARENTLY my neighbour has been out hunting moose….it’s the season up here and he’s a hunter.

IF I had ANY doubt about his success Jack was kind enough to bring me the evidence of it.

I wish I could say that this came as a COMPLETE surprise but last year he did the same thing and 3 years ago it was a cow…..don’t even ask!

This first picture is as I saw it…at the edge of my woodshed.

For the squeamish I photographed it from an angle that ALMOST makes it look….well….’happy’….well you know what I mean….not ‘happy happy but not ‘unhappy’.

From the look I would guess it is DEFINITELY not a full grown adult and not a female so that leaves a juvenile male……what is USUALLY culled up here.

I later took it to the back of my property and it’ll be consumed by wolves or coyotes….we have plenty of both.

Here’s another picture….a little closer.

I’m not a hunter and I don’t want to get into any ‘morality’ conflict but I will say that they are plentiful AND true to the north…it will be consumed almost entirely.

Last fall, as is the case every year, there will be a Wild Game Evening sponsored by the Mennonite community featuring ALL varities of wild game…from smoked Bear to Beaver tails and everything in between.

Everyone will be there and you don’t have to be a Mennonite to come….and I’m not.

You haven’t lived ’till you’ve eaten smoked venison sausage.

 

THEME….NAUTICAL

This picture is my spin on Nautical.

These watercraft represent our ‘NAUTICAL fleet’……EXTREMLY unpretentious.

Lazer sailboat……..didn’t see much use this year.

12 foot aluminum….didn’t put the motor on it much but still used it a lot in  pothole lakes…..have an old ‘ARM-STRONG’   power source instead. My wife and I use it a lot to fish from as it fits neatly on the pickup and can be dumped into the lake by 2 people.

16 foot Kevlar canoe…..ex-rental so well used….even before I well use it!….out quite often and great to paddle small lakes and such…not great to fish from but lots of fun in rivers and ponds as well.

16 foot powerboat….my wife’s baby. 50 horse Merc and she would NOT go camping without it.

She LOVES to fish from it and just race around and ‘scare’ the fish…..don’t let on but I LOATHE it….noisy and takes a gas, a trailer and a willing helper to launch it.

You think we like fishing?

3 leaning against the shed and 1 at the edge of the ‘mowed’ area.

With the possible exception of the canoe they are all more or less put away for the season now.

3 for me……1 for her….HA HA!

I WIN!

 

THEME……SLOWLY

This bird moved SO SLOWLY it darned near stood still.

I guess it figured if it didn’t move….I wouldn’t see it.

Au contraire mon petit oiseau….all it did was to give me a chance to grab my ever-handy camera and get a snap…the noise of which frightened it away.

Reminder to self….turn off the shutter sound or change it to a bird twitter.

This, by the way is not a Partridge but it’s MUCH more colourful cousin the Ring Necked Pheasant.

I was hoping if I gave it enough time it MIGHT go into it’s display mode which is like a miniature Peacock…..VERY stunning!

That, however is not likely to happen this time of year….more likely in the springtime when he wants to SHOW OFF for a prospective mate.

Apparently females are WAY excited and attracted by a guy with bright tail feathers…….hmmm…must think about getting some before next spring.

This was taken on the way to the local dump….we don’t have pickup so I own a pickup.

 

Free Theme….PanoramaX3

I took these pictures the other evening after the rain had had done with me.

Each is almost EXACTLY the same shot using the same tripod position ( I think ) and each consists of a 6 shot sequence.

The only difference, as you can see, is the elevation of the camera.

More sky, balanced ( more or less ) and more lake.

I then stitched them together to make 3 panoramas.

What I would like is for anyone that chooses to do so to let me know which of the 3 camera positions you prefer and which you LEAST prefer.

I have processed them minimally and all EXACTLY the same so any differences hopefully are the choice of camera angle and possible the time of day as it changed slightly.

I AM NOT going to be offended by any critique you have to say so PLEASE….speak your mind….especially in regard to your preference.

 

Panning (motion) shot…………X 2.

I know a certain unnamed person in the group has been known to ‘s t r e t c h ‘ a theme almost to the breaking point so I decided to balance the situation by adhering to a theme DOUBLY!

This picture, admittedly was taken a few years ago in BC while on a visit with my brother who lives out there.

My wife and I decided it would be fun to make the trip pay so we went panning for GOLD in a stream recommended by a local guide.

We never found gold but what we did fine was a rattlesnake….which we decided rightfully owned ALL& ANY gold in the stream so we skidaddled out of there……quickly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would be remiss ( and missing some things I dearly love ) if I failed to point out that my wife has lost 40 lbs since this picture was taken……WHEW…..dogged a bullet there.

In any case the ‘double pan’ should balance the themebooks and permit Ron ( the unnamed person ) and I to ‘wander’ from time to time.

I’ll be back with currant pictures tomorrow but for now….I just couldn’t resist it!

 

 

 

 

OVERCAST…..almost every night for a week :-(

This is the BEST it has looked recently….RAIN….RAIN…..and for a break…..MORE RAIN!

The evening skies are usually dreary and unhappy looking so this night was at least not as nasty and unfriendly as they have been.

We’re losing most of the fall colours and now it’ll be a little drab until the beautiful WHITE arrives…….I can hardly wait…..snowmen, snowballs, cars face to face with their hoods up getting a boost, me on the tractor blowing snow with clouds of it raining down my neck…..my wife stuck halfway up the driveway…..power outages…..wait a minute…..

Did I say I was HAPPILY anticipating it?….AM I MAD?

 

Itsy-Bitsy Teeny Weeny…..but LOTS of them.

I took this the other day in between the raindrops…..yes, it’s STILL raining here…although off and on….so it’s possible to get SOME work done outside but it’s not much fun.

I have NO idea what these berries are at all but there are literally hundreds on a single plant which is a sort of high-bush.

They are about 1/2 the size of a chokecherry  so they are very small.

I wasn’t brave enough to taste them but the fact they they are STILL there and plentiful makes me believe they are NOT…or the bears would have had them.

The plant seems to like to be close to wet areas….HA!…that would include MOST of northern Ontario now…but NOT right in them.

If anyone knows what they are …let me know.

 

SOFTNESS……….of a type.

I took this picture the other afternoon.

It’s my latest attempt at an HDR one consisting of 6 different ev’s combined to make this picture.

I’ve found that it’s a compromise using more shots.

It seems the more shots you use the ‘richer’ looking is the resulting image BUT the downside is that the combining of that many images seems to ‘soften’ the image quite a lot.

Fine if the image is of the type that might benefit from it but not so great with hard-edged ones.

Here I think it works as the overall impression I want to leave is peacefulness.

You might remember this pond from another shot I posted with a young beaver in it.

Same pond….calmer day.

 

MINIMALISM………RETRO-STYLE.

This HEAVY hardwood truck is quite old.

I purchased it about 10 years ago from a then soon-to-be-closed Separate School…the name for the Catholic Elementary schools in this province.

I’m not sure exactly how old it is but about 8 years ago when I did a short working stint at the local wood mill I met a couple of  30-40 aged men who BOTH remembered having played with it when they were school aged kids.

It has no manufacturer’s name but from the look, quality and history I am aware of I believe it is from the 1950′s.

Just for amusement I weighed it on my digital scale and it came in at an astounding 12.7 pounds!

Today if it were sold in North America I’m certain it would HAVE to come with a safety warning about possible injury if your brother whacked you with it.

Below that picture is my grandson who visited us with his sister 2 days ago, playing with it and STILL unable to do any damage to it……that doesn’t mean the house however.

Imagine the ‘future’ loss of sales this truck experienced lasting, as it did, an astounding 60+ years and STILL going strong.

 

ORBS…..JUST A FEW.

I took this picture yesterday during a lull in one of the almost continuous ‘drizzle days’ we now are being subjected to.

So far….7 out of the last 8 days have been….hmmm…well…let’s say …gray….or grey if you prefer.

They are flowers which my wife planted and she DOESN’T know the proper name of them

I believe they are ‘unofficially’ called Chinese Lantern plants but somehow that sounds neither Latin nor very scientific.

It does, however describe them to a tea…..sorry…had to slip in a Chinese reference if I could.

These last well into the fall weather and I think they will actually freeze and keep their shape until spring….theoretically as these will be long blown down by my tractor/snowblower combo.

Still and all they are definitely a standout flower in my mind.