One year ago today this was the picture outside our window. We had just return from visiting relatives in Illinois, and literally as we closed the garage door upon returning home, the snow started to turn the brown landscape into white.
In going through the pictures from this past year, it was almost a shock to come across a set of Kitty’s.This is from January, eight months before she passed away at the age of 20.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/miss-kitty-june-1991-september-2011/
From one of our January weekend drives. This one to Cripple Creek; this water wagon is parked outside the visitor center.
Nearly every month I snap pictures of the Moon. Typically on my way to work, and typically hand held. You’ll see a few of these.
January had us visit the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver. We will likely do so again this month or next.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/the-butterfly-pavilion/
This time I will warm up my camera and lenses before heading there, and save the 20 minutes I had to wait before the photographic equipment I had with me stopped fogging up.
January went out with more snow coming our way . . . I liked the photo opportunities, and Melisa talked of moving.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/februarys-end-part-3-the-hawk-chronicles/
In late March I bought a D7000 to replace the D200 . . . in April I took this picture of a Western Meadowlark with the new camera. Yes, I am liking the camera a lot.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/nikon-d7000-a-user-review/
http://ejdalise.smugmug.com/Testing/Testing-the-Nikon-D7000/16756047_793Rkk#1264092079_64GT9V6
That same day I took a picture of a vulture . . . very rare for me, as I usually see them high above.
Yes, another hawk. Not sure what kind, but once again I was impressed with the camera. This guy was quite a distance away, and flying away from me.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/the-return-of-the-camels/
Late May we got our last snow for the 2010-2011 season. There was a lot of snow, but it melted reasonably quick.
In late May Tree Swallows occupied the Blue Bird House I had put up. I like Tree Swallows more than Blue Birds, so I was pleased. The swallows provided me with lots of pictures.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/tree-swallows/
In late may I took a day off to go shoot me some birds . . . Thunderbirds, that is, at the 2011 Air Force Academy graduation ceremony.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/thunderbirds-2011-usafa-graduation-air-show/
In June I witnessed a rare thing (for me) . . . a fox very irritated at a coyote that was passing time in the field next to where I work (and within a hundred yards of her den). I’m guessing the coyote was hurt, as it is unusual to see them out in the open like this.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/the-fox-and-the-coyote/
Also in June I went to the Pueblo’s Weisbrod Air Museum. Very neat place . . . I will go again.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/pueblos-weisbrod-air-museum/
Also in June, I experimented with photography using the light of a full moon. Different and interesting.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/sunlight-at-night/
And a few days later I had the pleasure of shooting a sequence of photos showing the full moon setting over Pikes Peak.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/moonset-over-pikes-peak/
Again, I should have used my tripod, but I shot the whole thing hand-held. It was shot from the I-25 scenic pullout opposite the Air Force Academy air field.
This is the “touch down” moment . . . at least as far as I can tell. I suppose it could have been one picture on either side as well.
Because of a family tragedy, in late June I found myself on Galveston Bay shooting pictures of Brown Pelicans and other sights on the bay.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/i-want-to-kill-myself/
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/the-bad-boys-of-san-leon/
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/08/28/san-leon-the-rest-of-the-story/
And by Mid July the swallow brood is near leaving the nest . . . er . . . box. More photo opportunities.
In addition to the flowers we have in our yard, there are plenty of wild flowers that catch my attention, and get captured in my digital archive.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/the-flowers-of-2011/
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/tree-and-cliff-swallows-update/
This adult Tree Swallow came to check me out while I was shooting the whole “bringing bugs to the fledglings” routine.
There are moments where all the world’s problems and all my problems go away as time stands still so I can enjoy what I see.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/tree-swallows-2011-final-update/
My least favorite shot of the tree swallow saga . . . although a good shot of the hawk. This hawk got one of the fledglings who left the nest, and was not quick enough in finding its wings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZKxmU1asjE
A first for me . . . in August, while playing racquetball, I happen to have a vary intimate encounter with an unmoving and unfeeling wall . . . I hit my head, and a few days later my first ever black eye began to make its appearance.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/the-wall-and-eye/
Part of the success can be attributed to a fairly wet summer (for Colorado). The flowers in the garden did very well this year.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/2011-flowers-part-ii/
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/2011-flowers-part-ii/
Not all the butterflies I captured on camera where from the pavilion. This West Coast Lady visited our garden in September.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/the-birds-the-bees-and-the-west-coast-lady/
And here it is . . . my favorite picture of the year. A young Bluebird taking a bath in our back yard. And me to capture it all.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/western-trip-september-2011-utah/
Bryce Canyon NP offered up some awesome sights, and my pictures capture only a small portion of the awesomeness.
November saw us heading back to Texas . . . and I saw my first ever cotton field. We were near harvest time, so cotton was all over the place.
There were many fields we saw before we figured out what it was we were looking at. I did not know they grew cotton in Texas.
This sandpiper gave me a show while walking the Galveston waterfront. These little suckers really hustle.
And here it is, the year ending as it began. A snow storm came in just before x-mas, and left us with over a foot of snow, most of which remains even as I write this, and we prepare to head on over into next year.
https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/22dec2011-snow-aplenty/
. . . 20 minutes to midnight, and the implied promise of a new year. Hope you enjoyed this brief (some will say lengthy) look back at 2011. Not the best of years, but we endure, and strive to make a better tomorrow for ourselves and our world.
Best wishes for a happy, prosperous, and healthy new year . . . 2012, a toast to you; may you treat us well.