Photo Album – Scrapbook

Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category

Spring… a photographer’s paradise!

I just love when all of the trees in my yard are blooming and the world around me waking up from it’s long Indiana winter’s sleep! I have so many, but thought I would share a few today… I will try to get more posted soon!

I am still trying to figure out what this little critter was! He fuzzy, looked like a bee, but very fragile looking like a mosquito!

Born & raised in central Alabama, I had NEVER heard of Morel Mushrooms or “Mushroom Hunting” as it is kindly referred to up here in Indiana! But, like many other things in life, I found it quite intriguing. I have never had much luck finding that secret little Morel patch because it seems most Hoosiers are pretty tight lipped when it comes to sharing their treasured spots! However, this year my husband stumbled upon his own little Morel treasure patch! Thanks to a dear old friend who taught him the tricks of the trade!

He went out several times this season and we have enjoyed many servings of fried mushrooms! They really are very good! They taste a lot like a fried tenderloin… If you’ve never given them a try, I encourage you to try it… you might like it!

Here’s a few snapshots of our Morel Mushrooms:

Bird watching is an all time favorite in our house… but something that has taken a back burner for the past year or two. However, my interest was peaked again this morning as I walked out the back door to take the dogs out! My guess is that my appearance distracted our precious kitty, Jasper, just long enough for his captive friend to make a quick escape… The commotion got my attention and I turned around just in time to notice that this wasn’t one of the typical birds we would see around here! It was rather large, with an extremely long, thin beak… it flew a bit off kilter (probably due to the games Jasper had been playing with him!) straight into the chain link fence and plummeted back to the ground.

We go through this quite often out here in the country… tender hearted Gina trying to rescue Jasper’s “friends”! Though I have to admit my success rate is not as high as I would like… I sure wish he would stick to the mice that he is here to catch!

Larry got the cat in the house so that we could take a few pictures of this unique little bird… we really wanted to find out what kind it was because we had never seen one before!

Here are a few of the snapshots:

American Woodcock

According to the information I found about him, they only fly at night… I surely hope he wasn’t offered the privilege of camping out with Jasper all night! I know he spent a little time in Jasper’s house as there were quite a few feathers in it!

I am glad to say that after a couple of hours of recuperating, he flew off to safety to wait for dusk to safely fly off on a new adventure!

The snow in Terre Haute, IN seems endless this winter! We never get this much snow… living on the top of a hill leaves me feeling stranded and well let’s just say “cabin feverish”! Not good for a photographer!

The snow is beautiful though… the meltdown…. YUCK! But, I won’t have to deal with that for a few days now that we have this beautiful new 6 inches covering the ground AGAIN!

I went out to try to get some pictures this morning… but it was still coming down too hard to get many. Hopefully I will be able to get some of the kids sledding later on… I can’t believe that I still don’t have sledding pictures for this season! Until then, here’s a couple of pictures to share…

Though winter offers so much beauty, the cold tends to keep most of us indoors for longer amounts of time… this is the case for me lately! I am really getting antsy wanting to get out and take some pictures! Particularly of the beautiful snowy landscapes~ but with sub zero temps, I choose to stay in!

However, I did find myself snapping pictures through my bay window today! I did get some pretty nice shots of a few of the little visitors at our bird feeders this afternoon. I do love taking pictures of birds… though it takes patience and persistence as those little critters are always on the move! Here are a few of the better shots I got today.