A sucker for sunsets

What a way to end the day. 

This evening the thunderstorms dissipated early and left only a few high clouds floating past.  The temperature was very comfortable at around 78 degrees and the humidity was hanging at around 80%.   Our walk took us down to a cleared field situated behind where the yellow jacket nest I mentioned in another post is located.  I took several photos of the sunset.  As the title says I am a sucker for the sunsets.   Each one is unique and the photo you take one minute you cannot repeat a minute later.  I usually take around 10 shots and then keep a couple of the best ones.  The IPhone is a different kind of camera than I am used to and I am slowly learning how to force it to pick up subtle shading in low light situations.  The photo I have posted may be a prediction of the future.  They say "Red sky at night sailors delight".  I hope that means I can get some yard work done tomorrow.  I will let you know.  Thanks for coming by tonight.  Have a good evening.

Green and mean

The dog knows to maintain a safe distance from this one. 

This morning the dog and I walked down to the west end of the dirt road.  The morning was pleasant and walking was easy.  When we arrived at the end of the road I went to one side where I was looking at some Brazilian Pepper growing there.  The dog was behind me on the other side of the road.  I heard him give out a little yelp which usually indicated he had found something.  When I turned around I could see he was looking at something on the ground but whatever it was it was not apparent to me until I crossed the road and nearly stepped on it.  It was a small snapping turtle.  It was about a foot long and was covered with green algae which camouflaged it on the ground. Every thing here has some kind of algae on it now so the turtle was hard to see.  When I spotted it and came over to take a look the dog settled down and would not get any closer than a couple of feet.  He has had it in with a much larger version before and came out on the losing end so he was not about to get in to it with this one.  Don't get me wrong, the dog loves turtles just not the kind that can bite your tongue off.   He often finds box turtles in the brush which he scoops up in his mouth and immediately heads home with.  I have to chase him down and take them away from him because he will eventually bite a hole in the turtle's shell which will kill it.  The only time the dog ever bit me was when he was trying to get a box turtle back that I had taken away.  I have to trick him by picking up a pine cone or stick and rubbing it on the turtle.  I throw the stick on one side of the road and when he chases it I throw the box turtle on the other.   I have probably had to do this with about 30 turtles since I have had the dog so I have gotten pretty good at the turtle trick.   Thanks for coming by.  Have a great day.

The sky is His canvas

THE ARTIST is at work. 

This evening I walked down to the soybean fields.  As I walked the weather began to lower.  There was a large thunder storm forming to the north of the field which was affecting cloud formation to the south.  I was going to take a photo of the soybean field but the clouds were very interesting so I made them the subject of the photo. This evening was filled with clouds lit by the sunset. The colors of orange, yellow and blue really did look like a painting.  I actually took quite a few photos of the sun lit clouds but this was the best one.  The thunderstorm brought cool temperatures and breezes that were very welcome after the heat of the day.  Eventually it began to ran and the storm died out.  At some point later in the year we will look back on these days and wish for a rain storm so I am going to enjoy them while they are here.  Thanks for coming by.  Have a restful night.