Larry at Larry's Images.com: 4/3/11

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Pond Life

Dragonfly Larva

I love to photograph Dragonflies, Butterflies and the like! I have become aware of a little of their life cycle by this process. The dragonflies are born in a vernal pool, not really a pond. The difference is that the vernal pool has no fish because it dries up during certain times of year. The dragonfly eggs hatch into a creature looking like this. It has six legs and a water jet in its tail for propulsion. It does not look a lot like a dragonfly. I have recently received permission to study these creatures at Gorman Nature Center. I am told that these don't always emerge as dragonflies in one year. Some may spend 2 - 3 years on the pool before molting. I have pictures of the process and will share those later.

Unknown worm like

This creature was photographed on the glass of my study aquarium. It did not seem to move much. I am searching for its ID.

flatworm like

This one trekked rapidly across the glass. I had to be on my toes to keep up. I used a near microscopic view lens set up for this shot as I did for the one above it. The shot at the top was with a 1x macro lens and a close-up filter. I also shot video of some of the creatures. It included the dragonfly larva and the fairy shrimp. It is hosted at my website. Let it down load and by start itself. If you don't it may stop and start if the buffering can not stay ahead of the player. It is called gorman_nature_center_pond_life_2.wmv.

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Friday, April 8, 2011

Common Flicker

I had one other shot of the Common Flicker in the top of a tree. I was pleased to get this close. I think that the cold weather might have been a factor. It looks like the bird is puffing out its feathers to stay warm. It is a large woodpecker. The Audubon Field Guide says that they feed on the ground, eating ants and beetle larvae. It says that they hammer on dead limbs and even tin roofs as a part of mating.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Stream stones series

Stream Stones Found

We had heavy rains at Gorman Nature Center recently. Our little stream became a raging torrent, washing out more than half of the foot bridges. It also washed up much before unseen by me gravel and rocks. I enjoy walk and looking. Once in a while, I see some to photograph. This is my newest.

Stones

This one I shot in April of 2009. It has been well received. Which do you like better? I like having comments!

What was a raging torrent!

I have thought that I would like to see the stream when it is doing things like this. I may try going over during a heavy rain. I have seen the signs of it but never the torrent.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

My first car!

I wanted to buy an old (at that time) 1953 Chevy for $100.00. Dad did not take kindly to that idea. He found this red corvair and bought it. Mom signed me up for a car loan at home. I believe she charged me 6% interest and I made monthly payments to her until I paid it off. It was a 1963 Corvair Spyder. Of course, at my age, I thought the whole idea wonderful. It had a turbo charged engine, not common today, engine rated at 150 HP. I never knew the top speed of it. I shudder today thinking about those high speeds. Let's don't talk about what Ralph Nader thought of the Corvair!

Some of the people who read this, high school friends, might remember the stupid things I did with a car. I suppose I am fortunate that I lived. We probably talked about cars too much when at school.

Instrument Panel

I really don't think many of my high school friends actually saw this car as I got it before my sophomore year at OSU. I was pretty much gone from home by this time.

Today, I am most uncomfortable about what it said about my values. It seemed that I thought that I had attained my goals when I obtained it. I only drove it about 60k miles before I traded it. Did I mention that it was a factory executive's car and not new?

These shots were taken in 1965. At the time I had a Voigtländer view finder camera with a range finder. (I wish I still had it.) I used Ektachrome slide film, probably because it was fast enough to hand hold the camera. I was not much for using a tripod in those days. I came across these slides some time ago and made scans of them. I used the camera until the range finder stopped working. I bought a Mamiya SLR to replace it. That was in the late 1970's.