Phil's Rambling Rants
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Below are the 25 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Phil Parker" journal:[<< Previous 25 entries]
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07:44 pm
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Kickapoo Tuesday
I wanted to spend time outdoors today, so I headed over to Kickapoo (with a stop to vote on the way). I was late getting started, but I was walking along the Emerald Pond trail by 2. I was getting pretty hungry by the time I got to my favorite lunch spot, the pond at the end of the haul road. After I ate, I settled down with my pad and tried to work on my outline/notes for my NaNoWriMo novel. I was less prepared before November started than I'd had in mind, and I don't want to write beyond my outline. I was working comfortably when I looked up and realized the sun was really low. I looked at my watch and it was just after 4. It was only then that I realized that I'd had a brain fart about time; between daylight wasting time and the turning year, the sun sets a bit before *5*, not 6. So instead of getting to decide whether I would take a longer route back for variety, I had to hustle to get back to my car before sunset.
I took some pictures for you on the way out and a couple while I was at the pond.
I'd call this view iconic for the season.
( 11 more in here )
Tags: kickapoo, nature, photography, pictures, walks
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09:15 pm
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EFRC pix: pumpkins, et al
I didn't realize that the JPEG quality setting had been set too high until I'd already uploaded these pix, but the files are twice the size they were supposed to be. I wouldn't want one of them on my friends page since I'm on dialup; ergo, they all go behind the cut.
Yesterday was the annual Pumpkin Party at EFRC, so there are some funny pumpkin pictures in here.
( click for cat pictures )
Tags: cats, efrc, photography, pictures
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08:44 pm
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Crisp day at Kickapoo
We had our coldest night yet this season Monday, well into the 20s. It was a lovely, though chilly, day today, but more than a little bittersweet. A few hardy flowers were left -- about the same as last week -- but the only representative of order Lepidoptera was an unassuming little brown moth. No butterflies at all. A fair number of crickety things were singing. On the plus side, though, no mosquitoes.
The fall colors are still going strong; the rain this weekend doesn't seem to have stripped the trees. I'm not sure if this is an unusually good year for fall colors or if I'm just noticing more than usual thanks to having the free time to get outside.
My plan for the day was to follow the Out and Back trail around and see if I could get my mental map straightened out. I fairly definitely worked out that even though it seems familiar, the horse trail south of the haul road (which connects to the trail I found last week over Emerald Pond) is not actually part of the loop I've walked before. I can't figure out why I'm so sure that I remember coming up that section of trail to return to the road; the trails just don't go that way.
Striking colors against a beautiful sky near the start of the Out and Back trail.
( click here for the rest of the day )
Tags: kickapoo, nature, photography, pictures, walks
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07:52 pm
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OVFF part 1
We (that is, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) birder2 and myself) drove to Ohio on Friday. It was a wet but otherwise uneventful drive, and I only mention it because my car passed a geeky milestone on the way over. ( explanation and photographic evidence cut )
We arrived at the con and, got badges, and went to dinner with robin_june at Aladdin's, where I started a trend that would continue through the weekend by eating way too much because it was so good. We got back about halfway through the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.
I got this picture of the lovely vixyish (with tfabris on the right) while she wasn't looking.
( Friday continues behind this cut )
Tags: conrep, cons, filk, friends, pictures
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09:54 pm
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EFRC pix
I did manage to take a few pictures at EFRC today. I got a few shots of cats I don't usually photograph.
Here is the required picture of India. She wasn't posing well today, so you get a closeup of her eye.
( 8 more pictures inside )
Tags: cats, efrc, photography, pictures
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08:48 pm
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The Kickapoo Zone
I felt pretty tired and sore, so I planned on a short hike today at Kickapoo. I started on the Riverview trail that I've been on dozens of times, and after the first half mile I was sure I didn't want to go much farther. But when I got up to Emerald Pond, I decided to do a little exploring, and I discovered that the peninsula that sticks out into the pond, that I thought was just a little fishing spot, is the start of a path that goes all the way across the pond (over a culvert that I thought was discarded junk) and then follows the river for a surprisingly long way. I think it passes through the Twilight Zone, too. I found myself in an almost familiar area, but a mowed trail that should have formed a loop just ended at a small trail into the woods, which went along a very steep hillside (it would have been impassible if the trail were even slightly wet) and came out at the spur of the Out and Back trail that joins the river. The way it lined up, the almost-familiar area had to be new territory. I backtracked along the mowed path that just ended and ended up coming out on the haul road. Like some alternate universe, one end of the trail was well-known territory but the other end was just wrong. I followed the Out and Back trail back out, and then completed the Clear Lake loop to return to my car, feeling better than I had half a mile into the day. I suspect my legs are not going to be on speaking terms with me for a couple of days, but I seem to have come back to the universe I started in. I've got to find a map and see if I can make it make sense.
There are very few flowers left and I only saw a couple of butterflies all day. We haven't had an official freeze, but the frosty mornings have pretty much ended the season.
That's most of the story, now here are the pictures.
Fall colors from the parking lot at the start of the Riverview Trail.
( more inside )
Tags: kickapoo, nature, pictures, walks
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04:34 pm
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EFRC photos
Some pictures from EFRC yesterday.
Tahoe and Rajah Girl are tigers I don't photograph so often. They were posing nicely.
( more tigers inside, and lionesses, leopards, and a bobcat, oh my )
Tags: cats, efrc, photography, pictures
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09:25 pm
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High Pond
I headed to Kickapoo today, and I wanted to get to an area I haven't been to lately, around High Pond, or High Lake, depending on which sign you ask. It's a nice area, a little out of the way, but (I thought) didn't have a whole lot of trails. I discovered that there are more trails than I realized, allowing a circuit around the whole lake for a decent walk.
The view from the bridge over the Middlefork at the main entrance.
( click to join me on my expedition )
Tags: kickapoo, nature, photography, pictures, walks
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08:05 pm
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We sneer at your pathetic DEET!
I went to Homer Lake today, armed with my trusty 75-300 lens and a plan to hike around the lake. If I had stopped to listen before I left the house, I probably would have been able to hear the whine of the mosquito hordes from 10 miles away. Luckily for you, dear viewers, I neglected that step, and more surprisingly, I was able to drag my shriveled blood drained carcass out of the Salt Fork bottomlands to bring you these pictures.
We may have our first frost this weekend. Even if we don't, it will freeze soon, and the butterflies will be gone until next year, so today's post is dedicated to the insects I love. Not so much to those that love me. (Mmm, tastes like chicken!)
Some sort of fritillary.
( more pictures inside )
Tags: camera, homer lake, nature, photography, pictures, walks
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10:12 pm
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EFRC pix
A few pictures from today.
Rocky the bobcat gets a drink the hard way.
( more inside )
Tags: cats, efrc, pictures
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08:10 pm
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Fall colors at Lake Mingo
I wasn't sure I would be up to a 7 mile hike today, but I was determined to try. To make it more difficult, I was determined to carry my 200-500 lens. I wanted to capture fall colors in smaller fields, rather than the wider angle shots from the 17-85 lens I've been using for my last couple of photo walks. I also hoped I'd have some chances for some real long range closeups. I only ended up actually using the high end of the zoom for a few shots. Perhaps it would have made more sense to carry the much lighter 75-300 lens. I got the big gun for bird photos and I wasn't expecting to have many opportunities to shoot birds in the middle of the day. I did get full use of the high zoom for a few shots, and if I'd been able to zoom out to 75, I might not have been as disciplined about taking the smaller field pictures I wanted to concentrate on. Most photographers don't think a 200mm lens (on a 1.6x digital body) is the right choice for fall colors; this is how I hope to get pictures that most photographers wouldn't take.
I made it all the way around the lake feeling pretty good, though my legs are a bit sore.
The Lake Mingo trail isn't actually that good for seeing the lake; in most places there are enough trees between the path and the lake that you can only partly see the lake. But there are some places where it opens up and the colors on the other shore are visible. This picture is representative of what the trees look like today.
( many more pix inside )
Tags: kennekuk, nature, photography, pictures, walks
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09:40 pm
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The rest of the day in pictures
It might be considered rude to have two back-to-back posts with an uncut picture in each one. ( so I'll cut the whole thing )
Tags: kickapoo, nature, photography, pictures, walks
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07:32 pm
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A Walk on the Beach (!)
I went to the beach today!
See, I'm wiggling my toes in the sand!
Now let me 'splain.
( the story and more pix )
Tags: kickapoo, nature, photography, pictures, walks
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09:30 pm
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EFRC pix: Tecumseh et al.
Today's picture post is dedicated to Tecumseh, one of the Tell City cats. He's not well; it appears to be a neurological problem. I'm worried about him.
Because he's not being his usual active self, I didn't have much room to get pictures without fence, but I thought this was a nice shot.
( more pix under the cut )
Tags: cats, efrc, pictures
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10:15 pm
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Kickapoo walk, lotsa pictures
I got up late today and didn't get out of the house until 1, but I went to Kickapoo with my camera. Today I only took the 17-85 lens; my back is bothering me a little and I didn't want to burden myself with extra lenses and I wanted to get some scenery pictures. It was about as close to a perfect day as you could ask for: not a cloud in the sky, comfortably warm in the sun, a touch of autumn crispness in the air. Insects were fairly active; some birds but not very many. I went to the Out and Back area, but I went up the haul road to the overlook where I like to have lunch. Between starting late and taking so many pictures, it was after 4 by the time I got there, and after I'd eaten and read for a bit, it was 5 by the time I left, so I only got into the woods north of the haul road very briefly. I do hope to get in there when I have more time and with the sun higher in the sky, but for today almost all the shots are from the more open areas.
I hope this set will give you some appreciation for what we'll be losing if the governor is successful in his plan to close it down.
This opener is the only shot that's out of chronological order. It's from the first, biggest prairie/meadow area. I hope the view of the path will invite you to view the rest.
( many more pictures in here )
Tags: kickapoo, nature, photography, pictures, walks
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12:49 pm
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Recent rescues pix
Tigers Tony and Otay at the pet fair at Prairieland on Saturday. They seem quite unconcerned about the strange surroundings.
( click for more pictures )
Tags: cats, efrc, pictures
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10:46 pm
[Link] | A few pictures from today.
We'll start with a picture that doesn't look like much, but has a lot of significance.
The pair of whiskers at the top are from Otis Lee. He died months ago, but it still hurts to see Baby alone in his cage. The group of 3 whiskers are from Elly. The one closest to the ruler is really long. The whisker under the ruler is from Tony II. And finally, the thing looped around the whole image is the snake skin I found in Maggie's cage.
( Actual cat pictures here )
Tags: cats, efrc, pictures
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07:34 pm
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Turkey Run pictures
For your viewing pleasure, a pile of pictures from yesterday.
( Click for pictures )
Note: I hit post by mistake so you might have seen an incomplete version of this post a few minutes ago.
Tags: nature, photography, pictures
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11:03 pm
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Turkey Run
I went to Turkey Run State Park in Indiana today. This park's main feature is a network of canyons eroded by small tributaries of Sugar Creek in the local sandstone. Not very much next to the Colorado River I guess, but it's very impressive scenery for corn country. Also, very challenging hiking, at least by corn country standards. I took a lot of pictures. Many of them suck; I was having considerable trouble handling exposures for scenes that included heavy shade and also bright sky. But some turned out well. Sometimes I was able to use the flash to fill in the dark background effectively.
The most common vertebrate species in the park, at least by my observation, was the chipmunk. Even counting humans. A lot of them let me get quite close, but none stayed put long enough to take a picture.
It's past my bedtime already, so I'm just going to post one image for now. I will try to do some more tomorrow.
Tags: nature, photography, pictures, walks
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09:14 pm
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EFRC pix from today
I have some pictures from EFRC today!
Tony and Otay are two tigers rescued (along with a lioness, a cougar, and a black leopard) just 10 days ago from a place where they weren't being cared for. Tony is 3 and Otay is 2, and they are much happier now, even in their very small temporary quarters, because they have all the food and water they want.
Your teaser:
This is Tony, showing us he's a pretty boy, with Otay lying in the foreground.
( more of the new tigers, plus some bonus shots )
Tags: cats, efrc, pictures
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09:32 pm
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More pictures
Uploading the previous batch was fairly painless, so I decided that I'd do a few more. I was going to add them to the previous post as an edit, but while my LJ client will let me edit a previous post it won't let me do it with the full edit window which has the magic button to add an image. And it's too much of a pain to enter the images without the magic button, so you get spammed with a second post instead.
( more pictures! )
Tags: pictures
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08:54 pm
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Lake Mingo walk
My plan for today was to walk the Lake Mingo trail with the flowers-n-bugs lens and the tripod, and to make sure I actually stopped and used the darn tripod. I actually got to Kennekuk about 10:45. I spent so much time stopped (between shooting pictures and stops to eat and read) that I was only about halfway around by about 3:30, at which point I picked up the pace quite a bit, making better exercise. We finally had rain a couple of days ago, so I was slightly worried about mud, but only the muddiest places were even slightly squishy and it was never hazardous.
Very few birds were in evidence. Insects for looking at and photographing were reasonably abundant. Insects going for my blood were, happily, not. I got quite close to a deer.
I uploaded the memory card, covering from the end of my South Carolina trip through today, and just to surprise everyone, I actually have a couple of pictures. These are resized to post but not cropped or enhanced, just the first 3 shots I thought were worth sharing.
( more pictures )
The flowers, in order of appearance, are goldenrod, ironweed, and bull thistle. The butterfly is a yellow sulfur. If you want to know what the other insects are, find an entomologist.
Tags: nature, pictures, walks
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10:40 pm
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RIP Mr. Awesome
Otis Lee, the big tiger at EFRC who lived with Baby the lioness in the enclosure with the pond, died on Tuesday.
I think this image, originally taken on April 22, 2004 (and later cropped and lightly enhanced) is the best photo I've ever taken.
( more pictures and details )
Tags: cats, efrc, pictures
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09:42 pm
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Amazing sunset
When we hear the word 'sunset', we tend to think of a static thing, but the last half hour of daylight today was an amazing ongoing show. As I drove east toward home, I was seeing very cool clouds with a pink tinge, but the real excitement was behind me. When I got off the Interstate and turned south, the view out the passenger side window almost literally took my breath away. It was not pink; it was golden, and the angle of the sun on the clouds created amazing highlights of shadow. It was changing rapidly; by the time I actually got home, the sun was hitting the horizon; it was much pinker. By the time I got the camera and got really clear of the trees, I'd missed most of the show, but it was still so beautiful it was a spiritual experience; it really made me feel lucky to be alive.
The pictures I took aren't all I'd hoped, but at least they're something. If I took more time I might be able to adjust the color to be a little better. The reds come through well but the blue patch on the left side should be much bluer. And a number of the ones I'm not posting, the camera did a lousy job of light metering and the clear sky patches are blown out. Someday maybe I'll learn to be enough of a photographer to remember to stop just looking at the image I see in the viewfinder and also consider the settings and the review and histogram.
( click for pictures )
Tags: camera, nature, pictures
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05:00 pm
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Kennekuk day, with otters!
There was this lecture by Phil & Kaja that I thought I'd like to get to, so I made a plan to get up early and I made a sandwich to take with me last night so I wouldn't need to stop and eat. Unfortunately, while I got up on time and wasn't too late leaving, I managed to space out, get on I-74, and drive through Danville rather than heading to Kennekuk (apparently my subconscious thought I should go to EFRC instead), and it as a bit after 9 AM when I got there. Between that and a minor bit of bad driving judgment, I was in a bad mood when I arrived, and I felt tired and sore and thought I might not make it around the lake, but I made myself get started, and I started feeling better as I walked.
I was carrying a lunch and more camera equipment than usual (I had the 500mm lens on the camera, but I wasn't sure I'd want to carry it around my neck the whole day, so I had the case and the 17-85 lens), so I had my big backpack. I'd stopped at a little bridge over an arm of the lake to take off my heavy shirt, rest a bit, and take a few pictures of birds when I heard a jogger approaching. Just to make my day extra-surreal, it was my boss!
There were lots of birds around. Either the warblers and the white-throated sparrows were shadowing me all day, or there are many hundreds of both species in the park. I also encountered something I didn't know existed: a flock of towhees. Well, a group, at least, about 6 of them. Do towhees migrate?
The real high point of the day, though, was about halfway around the lake. There's a short detour off the path that goes to a little arm of the lake where there are a couple of plastic chairs, and I went there to eat my lunch. Other people using this area are jerks, leaving litter around, so I was picking some of it up and putting it in my lunch bag, when some critters swam up. At first I thought they were muskrats, but when I looked closer I realized that they were otters! Being otters, they were insanely cute, and they made funny noises too. If I believed in such things, I would take it as a clear sign that I was doing the right thing to clean up the trash. After a moment, I recovered from the shock and picked up the camera, and I actually got off my duff and pulled the memory card from my camera, so here behind the cut is a picture.
( click for otters )
ETA: oops, I hit post before I mentioned that by the time I got back to the car, it was too late for me to actually get to the beginning of the lecture, plus my back was really sweaty from wearing the backpack and I figured it would be pretty rude for me to come in late and smelly. So I hope ya'll enjoyed it. (If I hadn't wasted 20 minutes driving to the other side of Danville and back, I could've made it. Argh.)
Tags: life, nature, pictures
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