Sunidesus Sees

These palms (at least I think that's what they were) were right outside my hotel.

It sure seemed like we were out west today. We had these tumbleweed things all around the building at work. They started to collect right next to the door and we ended up with a pile at least 3 or 4 feet high of them just blowing around out there. And since I'm constantly taking pictures now... I took pictures of it!

There are a number of white squirrels in my city, I saw one of them while doing errands today and just had to stop and take a few pictures of him.

The leaves are just starting to turn here. I'm going to have to go leaf peeping this weekend I think. Yes... it really is called leaf peeping!

It's starting to get cold out and the ladybugs are trying to find warm places to stay. They've found my bedroom!

This is a close up of the two on top of my index finger.

One more...

I had a wonderful day today. It was nice and cool, beautiful bright blue sky, a few little puffy white clouds. I spent more than 2 hours outside just taking pictures of everything changing. Beautiful!

It snowed today, for the first time this year. It stuck a little bit... on my car and on the grass. It isn't sticking on the sidewalk or the street just yet.

This little guy was making noise on the top of my air conditioner. When I stuck my head above the window sill to try to take his picture, he flew off. But, he landed just a few feet away on a wire coming into my apartment.

I've not been feeling like taking pictures lately so I've been AWOL for the past week or so. But the meteor shower Monday night/Tuesday morning was an amazing opportunity. I didn't manage to capture any meteors, but I did get a couple of pictures that I think are pretty cool. The moon behind the clouds and a long exposure of the trees and the stars.

I took these the other night after work. It's amazing what you can do at night with a controllable shutter. For these I left my shutter open for 2 seconds and then bumped the levels just slightly in PhotoShop.

This is what's left of the crab-apple tree that has been in my parents' back yard since we moved in when I was 3 or 4. I remember picking up the mooshy berries for a quarter a bucket (big money!) and getting yelled at for climbing it. And the delicious crabapple jelly my mom made. It was a very cool tree and every time I pull into the driveway now I miss it.

I took this picture late Wednesday night, when it snowed an inch or so. Today it was 61 degrees and there was a pond in my back yard! Spring weather is just so strange.

I went grocery shopping last night after work and there was a big display of Easter Lillies. I've always loved these flowers. It's one of the few really strong scents that I actually enjoy. I always love walking into church on Easter Sunday and being met by a wall of smells wafting from the front of the sanctuary. They're up there with Pansies as one of my favorite flowers.

Well, two ducks really.

And I just noticed when I logged in that the previous entry, (the one with the door) was post number 100 to this little 'ol photoblog. Cool!

It's Photo Friday time!
This week's challenge is: Small

These are some lilac buds from a few weeks ago when they were just starting to open.

I visited my aunt & uncle after I dropped my parents off at the airport yesterday and she always has lots of flowers and these were just so amazingly cool! If I'm remembering correctly they're called Magenta. And yes that's their natural color.

Yes, I know they're Pansies. She always had them. Always. So they're very important flowers, and I love them (and my grandma!) dearly.

Just a pansy that I took a picture of and really liked the end result!

There's this little park downtown. I drive past it at least once a week. But I never noticed this fountain in the middle of it until tonight. Driving past, a flash of purple caught my eye and I slowed down to figure out what it was. It was lit and created this great cove kind of feeling in the middle of the park.

My Theme Thursday entry for this week...

The theme is: Yellow

Not the best flower picture I've ever taken :P but it works I suppose.

It's Thursday! And we all know what that means right? Yep, you got it. It's Theme Thursday time.

Theme: Ground Level

I'm not sure what it's called in still photography, but in television this would be the beginning of a rack focus. I've been having fun experimenting with this look lately.

It's getting a little stormy tonight and the clouds looked interesting.

I have this feeling that this place is slowly turning into a flower blog. Ah well. These are flowers in my parent's yard. Mom said these are called "Johnny Jump-Ups" but I think I'm just going to call them baby pansies!

I'm pretty sure Mom said this is a Hydrangea. I also have a second picture that shows them before they get their full color, but it needs to be messed with and I'm not on a computer with the right software for that at the moment so that'll have to wait.

I'm not exactly sure what this thing is. I'm guessing it's a muskrat, but I really have no idea. Maybe it's some huge mutant rat or something. I saw it on my way home from work tonight and of course I had to take a picture.

Flowers on the way to this cache.

I came around the corner on the way back to my car from this cache when I saw a duck.

Took this while I was geocaching on Sunday.

Cis was talking about bleeding heart flowers. I looked at the photo she linked and hey I've taken a picture of that before! I hadn't posted it at the time, but figured I would now just because I was thinking about it. And hey blogs are all stream-of-consciousnessy so why not?

This is the first shot I've ever taken of a butterfly that I didn't completely hate, so I'm posting it! He took off just as I snapped, so it's Monarch in Motion.

This little thing is sprouting out of the top of a huge pile of dirt at a big contruction area near the main mall here. It's the only tree around and it just looked so pitiful! I wonder if it somehow was missed, or if someone put it there on purpose. And why? It's obviously going to need to be ripped out as it is right in the middle of the area that is under construction.

The snow started last night. Today there's already at least 6 inches on the ground. It's gorgeous!

It's been insanely foggy here the last couple days.

It does interesting things to the colors.

One of the various ways I get to work takes me over and past some water. It's kind of a big lake/slow river kind of thing. I've noticed a bunch of ducks, geese, and swans there every single time I take that route to work. The other day I actually had time to stop and take pictures. There's signs up saying it's illegal to feed them, but they're all VERY tame so I'm thinking that sign gets ignored quite a bit.

There's more in the extended entry (as if you couldn't figure that out yourselves)

I snapped this on the way home tonight. I had a couple with a sharper focus, but I like the softness of this one better.

A little Phototime today. The theme is: It's a Spring Thing!

I left work for my dinner break and this big pink flowering bush was outside. I just had to stop and play for a few minutes. The bees were enjoying it too!

These are from a tree that had tons of these tiny white blossoms on it.

Our friend the Chinese Goose stopped some traffic today.

It rained today, these are on the tree outside my living room window. The screen in that window has never really fit right, and now I'm glad since it makes it a lot easier to get it out so I can take a decent picture.

I had a hard time finding an appropriate picture for this one, (which is why I'm posting on Wednesday instead of Tuesday!) I finally went with a couple shots I already had in my "arsenal."

The Phototime theme this week is: Cargo

Inspecting the cargo before takeoff and...

Unloading the cargo!

Having fun with Photo Friday today. The challenge this week is: Play

These girls just wanted to play with the "ducks." I'm not sure if the parents were just playing along and not wanting to correct the kids or what, but apparently giant black, grey, and white birds are "ducks."

Despite signs to the contrary everyone, including the security guys feed the geese. So when the kids went off with their parents (and a few suspiciously food like bags!) these guys followed right behind.

The sun tonight. There was just the right amount of clouds so that you could actually look at the sun. Very cool.

There's a little farm/zoo thing in the park near my house. This gal was a most cooperative photo subject!

Driving in to work today I passed this guy just sitting in the middle of the road not moving at all. I had a sparrow hit my car once that acted the same way and the wildlife rehab people said to just put it in a box in a quiet place and let it recover for a couple hours and it'd be fine. So I quickly stopped my car, got out, and gathered up this little feather bundle. He didn't move at all when I went to grab him. So I found a box with some help from Slightly Surly Tape Guy and let him be for a few hours. I went to check on him and he was standing up and acting normally. I tried to get him out of the box, but he flew out! Definately feeling better ;) Once I caught him I took a couple pictures of him sitting on my desk and then took him outside, where he hopped across the parking lot and then took off.

Photo Friday's challenge this week is: Macro

Waaaaay too much fun with this theme!

And because I couldn't resist, a slightly more standard macro shot:

So I'm incredibly late with this week's Theme Thursday. I was having major Photoshop issues and finally got them fixed. This week (or last week's) theme is: Frame

A chain-link framed chicken!

For PhotoTime.

It's just wrong that I let this thing bite me just so I could take it's picture.

For Photo Friday.

The landscape of an ant!

The sun setting while I was above the clouds in the plane on the way back to RI. Very cool!

I started putting birdseed out on the ledge outside my living room window a couple weeks ago. I now have a pair of sparrows that are regulars as well as at least one squirrel. This guy is the bravest and so far has been the only one that I've gotten a good picture of. Hopefully his wife will calm down soon so I can snap her picture too. :)

Some flowers out back at work.

I was in the middle of posting this when I realized it worked for today's Photo Friday! I thought it was really cool when I stumbled across these guys in the midst of enjoying themselves. ;) Although, I wonder if something with a brain as primative as a moth's would really have a concept of "enjoying" anything... Well, it was certainly cool to see at any rate! At least I thought so.

Another pretty flower. This one reminds me of those ultraviolet pictures of flowers in science books. The ones that are supposedley what the insects see (or something like it anyway!)

Just some tracks I was walking along while hunting for a cache on Thursday morning. It was all warm and misty and the tracks looked like they went on forever until disappearing into mist.

Found this little guy while geocaching today. Little bitty toads are cool!

One of the morning guys has a huge flower garden at home and over the past week he's been bringing in some of them. This one's mine! Absolutely beautiful flowers all over the station.

For Phototime. It takes some action to get back in the pond.

This was taken while I was back home on vacation at the beginning of the summer. Syn and I were geocaching and there was one hidden in this tree. The shot ended up looking really goofy though!

Absolutely beautiful sunset last night at the last cache I hunted. I didn't find it, but that's ok. All part of the game!

These were waiting for me on my desk at work on Monday. Wonderful surprise! The vase was originally a juice bottle of some sort, and now it's in the middle of being decoupaged. It still needs another coat or two, but I needed a vase so that's going to have to wait!

One of the flowers I got at work a week ago has looked so interesting as it's started to die that I just had to take a picture of it. Something about the change in the colors from the outside to the inside as it drys out really interests me.

I was going to post this one anyway, but it also works for the Photo Friday this week! I love it when I'm flipping through a bunch of new pictures on my computer and find one that's unexpectedly turned out well!

This thing was hanging out in my apartment last night when I got home from work. It's at least 3 inches across. All leg though, the body is really tiny. Very weird bug!

For wordPhoto: The picture taking opportunities seem endless in autumn. And I love it!

Caught on the windowsill of my apartment. Gotta love somewhat tame animals that've been bribed with food!

It snowed last night! First snow of the year! It was so beautiful driving home last night. I love snow!! I think I'm going to have to put up my Christmas stuff pretty soon.

It rained yesterday and I just couldn't resist all the water droplets lined up on all the branches.

I just had to contribute something to the invertebrates of the Friday Ark this week. This one might even count as "Didn't Make It" since it's a dead one that's a decoration in my bathroom!

Because how can you resist taking pictures of something that cute perched right outside your window?

Plus, it's Friday and time for the Ark!

Tuesday was an absolutely gorgeous day around here and I managed to get myself out of the house to take some pictures. And of course I had to stop to take some shots of my favorite subjects...

The birds of course!

A leaf from my outing on Tuesday...

More from Tuesday.

OK, I'm assuming this guy isn't native to Rhode Island, and I can't find him in my bird guide. So, I'm hoping someone out there (visitors from the Ark maybe?) can help me out. He looks kinda like a duck. But is bigger, more the size of a Canadian Goose. But with a shorter neck. Any ideas?

For the Thursday Challenge: something found up in the sky that I'm very happy to have finally figured out how to photograph decently!

This wasn't what I originally had in mind, but when I was browsing through all my flower pictures to find something to post for my mom today I came across these, and they just seemed too perfect to not use! So Happy Mother's Day to a very wonderful Mommy!

I'm a day late for this one, but oh well. For the Thursday Challenge we have some yellow flowers, with red ones in the background. I'm not really sure what they are. They sort of look like tulips, but the petals aren't quite right I don't think. But then again I'm not very good with flowers so I don't really know what they are. But they're pretty so I like 'em!

Oh, and the post title is 'cuz these were outside the place where my doctor's office is and the last time I went it was such a nice day that I wandered around taking pictures after my appointment.

I found this little guy on the trunk of my car the other day. And of course I had to take his picture. How could I not? I did a little caterpillar identification sleuthing and it would seem that he is a tent caterpillar. The nests of which I find very icky! But he's sure cute when he's not inside of one!

For a rather late Photo Tuesday I have some very young urban wildlife. This little guy was hanging out with Mom (behind him) and Dad and two siblings at this little lake I pass over every day on my way to and from work. The adults are all very used to people and will stop traffic if they want to cross the road! I'm very curious as to what these three will look like when they grow up, Mom is a domestic white goose while Dad is a Canadian goose. Should be interesting!

And hey, it's Friday now so this'll work for the Friday Ark too!

It would seem I really need to post something on this here re-designed photoblog. So for a rather belated MacroDay we have a moth perched on a yellow flower. I'm almost positive it's a daisy, white petals around a yellow middle.

Another for the Friday Ark. I ran into this guy while I was home on vacation at the end of June. He was living, quite happily, in a pond at a garden center/greenhouse. I tried to get a video of him croaking, but of course whenever I hit record he stopped. So you'll just have to imagine while you look at the still shot of him!

For Lensday, I love the constant chatter and sounds of these guys. There's something about that soft muttering quack that they always keep up; I just love it.

I passed the inter-racial goose family the other day and figured it was about time for an update on the little guys. There were originally three goslings, but something must have happened to one of them because the last few times I've seen them there's been just two babies. They sure do grow fast!

A couple more, because they're so hard to resist!

Don't forget to visit the Ark for more animal goodness. And don't forget the Blogathon either! There's lots of good animal related charities that need your support.

This little guy hitched a ride on my windshield last night. He was such a pretty green that I just had to take his picture. (I used the headlight for my light source)

Don't forget the Ark, or the Blogathon!

On Monday the 'rents and I went down to the ocean, and low tide makes for lots of fun for Suni! Lots of tide pools in which to play and find interesting things! Like this starfish. I'm assuming the little red dot is some kind of sense organ, both of the starfish I found had one. Here's the close up!

Watching it work on turning itself over was amazing. All those little feet flailing around!
Feet in action (right click, save target as please!)

Update: The little dot isn't a sense organ, it's part of the vascular/water system that starfish use to move! Thanks to my dad for hunting down the answer.

On Tuesday we went to Roger Williams Zoo, I hadn't been yet and it was a nice day for doing something outside. It surprised me and was actually a fairly decent zoo. This sandhill crane was quite interested in something up above our heads. Couldn't find whatever it was he was looking at though!

So do birds seen in a zoo count on a person's life list?

Don't forget to check out the Friday Ark for all your critter viewing pleasure.

I took this Sunday on my way to work in the midst of the "blizzard".

It's not a very good picture, but it's only the second Coot I've ever seen and it's Friday and that's as good an excuse for posting a critter photo as any!

I love fog! It takes a lot of experimenting, but it looks really cool when it turns out right!

I know it isn't a typical Easter photo, but it works for me. It's re-birth.

And since I haven't been able to spend Easter with my family for a number of years, it seemed appropriate to spend it outdoors enjoying His wonderful creation.

I haven't the faintest idea what this is, Keva and I found it while out caching. I'm hoping someone at the Ark can help me out! There were a coupld of them that we saw. It was maybe an inch across. I'm assuming something was inside, but I wasn't about to break it open!

Any ideas?

Update: Thanks to the extremely helpfull bug-dude at What's That Bug I now know it is a praying mantis egg case! How cool!

Believe it or not, those are Monk Parakeets. In Warwick, Rhode Island! All of my Ark entries this week are from geocaching trips. Heh. We were coming back towards the car after finding one and heard something scolding us from a tree. Keva saw them first and did the "What the...?" There aren't supposed to be green birds in Rhode Island! Somehow these little guys are able to survive the winters here and it totally made my day to see them!

Another geocaching discovery. It's an itty bitty jellyfish! There was a second one nearby that was bigger, but my pictures of it turned out like orange blobs so baby jellyfish pictures it is!

Here's the top view too:

And a bonus... jellyfish in action! (right click, save-target-as, please!)

Someone found this guy crawling around at work last night. No idea what it is. But it's a bug and it's nifty!

Don't forget to check the Friday Ark for all kinds of animal goodness.

This thing was buzzing around at work last night and I think it must have been sick or something because it didn't fly away while I was harrassing it.

This little guys are hanging out at work. I haven't seen Mom & Dad, but other people at work have. One of them flapped his little wing while I was taking pictures, they're so scrawny and adorable!