Uploads from River Wanderer, with geodata

Old Flickr, Please

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:15:44 -0700

I spent hours on here yesterday. I think I've figured out how to navigate through things...but I shouldn't have to work this hard to get to what I want! If you agree, please add your comments to the "feedback" section of the Flickr blog.

Personally, I'm OK with the Photostream layout...but that opening page is so "in your face" that I can't take it in or find what I'm looking for.

And as much as I appreciate my Flickr friends, I don't really care that much to know who's been commenting on everybody else's photos.

Thousands of people are ready to bail, and that would be a great loss.

Follow the Sun, Then Turn Right...

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:39:28 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

and there's the take-out.

It was great to be out on the water again! But when the sun goes down, it's time to head in.

Wow! Bigger and Better on Black like this!...the new Flickr holds some promise! Gonna take some getting used to, though.

West End Swan Nest

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Wed, 15 May 2013 22:07:33 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

I took this a couple of weeks ago and am looking forward to getting out to see what's happening. Once again this year, there are nests on both the east end and the west side of the lake. I will be out on the water again this weekend!

I posted this to also ask a question...how in the world can one picture get over 4,000 views in two days? My "Flickr 1999" breaching whale pic (below) has been dormant for two months, and now all of a sudden, it's getting unheard of activity. I altered my description asking where people are seeing it...but I'm still waiting for a reply to that. It gets viewed and favorited, but no comments about it.

House Finch Again

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:03:46 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

While I wait for my bow paddler to get well enough to be back in the canoe (maybe later this week!), I've been looking at some of my previous photos.

This one is a cropped-to-square and vignetted version of one I posted a couple of weeks ago. The original post was straight from the camera, and seemed good in its own right, but I think I like this one better. I usually try to do as little editing as possible; I guess it stems from those 35mm Kodachrome days when "what you see is what you get." I have no clue about Photoshop and no idea what "layers" are, although I'm willing to learn when life give me some time to do that.

What do you think?

Still Safe...

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:37:57 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

...after last night's frost.

Everything in the wildflower garden came through fine. The dogwoods, azaleas, flowering crabs, trilliums (both red and white), and the Jack-in-the pulpits...all made it through a cold night.

Motor City Horse Force

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:56:00 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

We have "Mounties," too.

The Motor City Horse Force is made up of the combined horses and officers of two local law enforcement agencies: the Wayne County Sheriff's Mounted Unit (formed in 1978) and the Detroit Mounted Police (formed in 1893, the first Mounted Patrol Unit in the United States).

The stables of the Wayne County Sheriff's Mounted Unit are about two blocks from my house, so I see these guys nearly every time I go out, and today, walked over to take some pictures of the horses there.

Last of the Daffodils

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Sat, 04 May 2013 11:38:01 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

Squirrel on Deck

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Fri, 03 May 2013 21:12:11 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

All winter long, this one has been sitting at the window watching me hold the cats, and apparently wanting a friend himself. Through the glass and screen, he played with Isabella and with me, and sometimes even stood there just outside the window shivering...he knows how to play it up. He comes up every morning to watch us eat breakfast and just observe through the window as we go about our household chores.
I don't want to domesticate wild things, but I do recognize that we've built houses on what was once their forest home. It bothers me to see endless new construction, taking down habitat when half a mile away, empty buildings are for lease.
So, the least we can do is learn to live together, and this one in particular seems to enjoy human companionship. When I was on the deck this morning watching birds, he came up to me and reached out to touch my foot. I haven't (intentionally) fed him before, but he knows where the birdseed is kept!

Another Squirrel Picture

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Thu, 02 May 2013 10:33:48 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

Just when I had myself convinced that I wasn't going to take any more squirrel pictures, I was having lunch on the deck and looked over to see this.

Sigh. What can you do?

Trillium

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Thu, 02 May 2013 10:33:49 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

The White Trillium is one of the great wildflowers of this part of the continent, and a sure sign that spring is in full bloom. This was the first one to appear in our garden this year...and it showed up in a place that none had grown before.

Leif was with us from 1981-1995. A good Minnesota Norwegian long-haired feline friend, he is still missed.

Daffodil Morning

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:20:13 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

Yesterday and today are perfect spring days!

It's Easier Getting In Than Getting OUT

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:01:12 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

Partly because of panic, partly because he was skinnier going in!

BUSTED!

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:01:12 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

The cage does a good job of keeping out the grackles and the gray squirrels...but the red squirrel, eh, not so much!

Daffodil

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:31:43 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

Song Sparrow

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:31:43 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

Downy Woodpecker

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:52:34 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

This one is from last year's hatching. She's been around all winter, and it's been fun to watch her grow to this point.

Better on Black.

House Finch

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:52:34 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

I saw this one sitting on the chain for the bird feeder with the light on him and the dark background, and thought, "That would be a nice shot." I stepped in the house to get the camera, and fortunately, he was still there when I came back out on the deck.

Daffodils are Up

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:13:16 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

Daffodils and Hyacinths

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:13:15 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

Backyard Ducks Are Back

nobody@flickr.com (River Wanderer) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:26:37 -0700

River Wanderer posted a photo:

OK, it's official: spring is here.

Despite the strange weather this week (80 degrees in the afternoon and snow the next morning), the daffodils are up and the mallards are in the pond in the back yard again.