Field Notes: Yellow 2

Yellow swallowtail and purple coneflower at Donald & Virginia’s:

Are you praying?

My boss showed up next door (her ex lives there; she was dropping her son by to pick up his bike and some clothes) this evening whilst I was over at Donald — or, as Kameron calls him, McDonald — and Virginia’s, staking out the hummingbird feeder. At that particular moment, I was staring straight up into a tall tree, where the hummingbird was perched on a branch — waiting to see if the male hummingbird was nearby so she’d know whether it was “safe” to visit the feeder.

“Are you praying?” my boss asked.

I told her I wasn’t. (I didn’t mention that, a few minutes earlier, a bird had pooped on my back!)

I ended up with a few hummingbird shots, nothing noteworthy. I experimented a little: using flash, bumping up the shutter speed, shooting from different angles. Still can’t get as close as I’d like … and I’d still prefer getting shots in which the birds are dipping their beaks into actual flowers instead of the humdrum, artificial-looking feeder.

Patience, Grasshopper …

What did you do this weekend?

I pretty much did absolutely nothing — which, admittedly, is one of my favorite ways to spend a weekend. Limited human contact, a great pseudo-Mexican lunch, a couple of naps, some unexpected photo opportunities. I spent the first 36 hours or so feeling rather lethargic, which only further enhanced my desire NOT to do anything; I started to perk up today around 2 p.m., just in time to start lamenting the fact that Sunday was more than halfway over.

Not long after that, I found out that Diane had had a flat tire and Karl’s Jeep had broken down. Both were more than an hour from their respective homes when their car troubles had struck (stricken?). Diane, driving on the spare, had to backtrack to help Karl transport the kidlets to his house. Meanwhile, I was relegated to the role of dispatcher but ended up not having to make any emergency runs. Fortunately, everyone made it to their destination safely and soundly.

I’ve been in a bit of a sports mode here lately, what with the Cubs leading the National League Central … and here it is, late August. What a rarity! Oh, I know it won’t last, but wouldn’t it be cool if it did? (I, too, am a dreamer, at times!) Plus, tomorrow the U.S. Open starts, which means 12 hours of tennis a day over the next two weeks. Yay!

I’m also kind of excited because there’s supposed to be a full lunar eclipse tomorrow night/early Tuesday morning. Of course, knowing how much of the meteor shower I managed to see a couple of weeks ago (none!), I can only predict that I will sleep through this event, too.

Yesterday evening, I found some horses. (I probably should’ve made a separate post, but I’m feeling really really lazy right now. Plus, it’s past my bedtime as it is!)

Not long after that, I stumbled upon some flowers. And monarchs.

The only drawback about shooting the flowers and flutterbies was that, later, I found two tiny ticks on my left foot! (Neither of them had attached themselves to my skin, though. Thankfully.)

I shot this deer before leaving the late. I was in my car, and I was hoping to have time to fire off three or four shots (or more!) and get something in focus, but this young buck wasn’t in the mood to stand around waiting for me … darn it!