Willie Howe c.1995-2010

Maggie's 15-ish-year old Siamese cat, Willard (Willie to his friends), passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday evening. He will be sorely missed, but his spirit and memories will live on.

Technicolor yarns

Some of Maggie's handspun and handdyed yarns hanging out to dry. You'll see them soon in her Etsy store.

"...and the rockets' red glare..."

I had never photographed fireworks before, and was really excited to have this opportunity. These fireworks were so big that I had to hike a quarter of a mile away to be sure I'd be able to get enough coverage, even with my 17mm (24mm full-frame equivalent) lens.

The First Part of the Party

We were invited to a Fourth of July fireworks party last night. Fireworks are illegal in Iowa, but this was put on by a licensed pyrotechnician. This private show rivalled many of the displays put on by local authorities.

Here is a battery of three inch mortars being loaded and primed.

The six inch mortar tubes have to be set several feet into the ground.

Here is a six incher being loaded into the tube.

The fireworks setup.

We got to shoot some really cool guns. While waiting for dark, there was shooting, hula hooping, music, fun, food, and, I believe, some drink.

Ranines and Pteropines

We had some interesting wildlife in our garden yesterday. I was mowing the grass and found this very handsome guy, we believe he's a Northern Leopard Frog.

And I saw this little chap on our driveway. Certainly not handsome in the classical sense of the word, but he's ever so cute.

When we found him, he was still clinging to his dead mom. We don't know what happened to her.

We call him "Bram". He's not much more than about an inch and a half long.

We have been feeding him kitten formula (You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find bat milk!) with an eyedropper.

Pteropine is to "bat" as feline is to "cat";

Ranine is to "frog" as canine is to "dog".

Nancee Photoshoot

I had a most enjoyable shoot today with model Nancee. I'm still working on photo-editing, but here's a few of my favourites so far -

Day 133

The Cognisys Stop Shot controller, which makes possible the balloon shots, and others (even better) that are yet to come :)