Trees And Mist

I enhanced this photo by applying a gradual, grey tint from the top, giving it moodiness. I was trying to use my AEB, but didn't realize I had to press the trigger thrice, so I only got this one shot. 

Owl in Our Tree

Since this owl only comes out at dusk, it is hard to get a nice picture of him. I've done my best to pull detail out of darkness, and remove the inevitable speckles. 

Attempt at High Dynamic Range

I'm trying to figure out how to shoot and process for the utmost in high dynamic range. That is, take a picture that has as many tones between black and white as possible, without going completely white or black. Translation, the entire picture is full of detail.
To this end, I'm trying to adopt shooting in RAW format. Picasa supports RAW, but I was surprised to see that it is apparently correcting for brightness, which is disturbing for me.
At any rate, just attempting the objective is getting me better pictures than I used to get. 

Latin Party Music

Heidi heard this band on NPR yesterday and played it for me. It is really rich with flavor.
http://www.yerbabuenamusic.com/

This page at the end of this link plays their music too!!

Moon in Scattered Clouds

Moon in Scattered Clouds
Originally uploaded by King Cnut.

The clouds were so jagged, and there was some color to them, so I rattled off several shots. This one impressed me.

Breathing Earth

This interesting site shows in animated graphics, the cycles of birth, death and CO2 emissions over the planet.
http://www.breathingearth.net/
It's perhaps interesting to note that the US emits 1000 tonnes of CO2 more frequently than it does one human baby.

Cows In The Garden

As if constant raids by deer aren't enough, today we woke to find a herd of cows in our garden. Bye bye corn, nice knowin' ya.

Dirt Moved

Three generations of Lynch men helped us by moving considerable quantities of dirt from the west side of our house to the rest of the sides over this past Labor Day weekend. Grandpa Bill brought is 50's flatbed with hydraulic dumping to move replace the dirt. Son Craig, did a little of everything, but spent a lot of time scraping with his tractor and a blade, shaping the new road, er...yard. Grandson Bill, logged many, many hours aboard the Kubota backhoe, chewing up the mountain like a cookie.
I disassembled several cascara trees, which previously had limited the view from our south windows.
The result of the weekends efforts are extensive flat areas around the house, an expanded parking area and a widened driveway in the apex of our turn, which should help larger rigs make the loop. Furthermore we have a much improved view and light coming in the south and west.
By next summer we hope to spend some quality time picnicing in a lawn of soft clover anywhere around our house.

Pei Mei

 

The Destination aka HIghway 504 Spur

 

The Source

 

Moving Dirt

Today we're moving dirt in an attempt to create more flat area for a lawn around our house. Once it's done our plan is to plant white clover, in and attempt to have a lawn that doesn't require watering.
We'll probably also remove a couple of the cascara trees from in front of our south windows. We're hoping that we'll enjoy the view better, but are a little apprehensive because of how many nice creatures visit those trees. The consolation is that we still have a considerable quantity of the cascara, so I don't think these two or three will be missed.

Meet The Teacher

We all went to meet Jamey's Kindergarten Teacher
She told him he choose which table to sit at:
by either of two doors, near one wall or another
or, by the window.
I was this close to advising him to sit in the front,
(to start a habit that will serve him well in any school)
but I was interrupted just in time,
and he chose the window seat.