Critters - Mostly Small and Smaller

I'll skip the ubiquitous ticks we pull off ourselves after every walk, and get right to the interesting stuff.

Tree Gnomes

When we returned from our recent road trip, one of our "tree gnomes" had sprouted a new look.

The "tear" falling from the gnome's left eye is a small hornet nest.

A side view showed it was far off the vertical. Fortunately, it appears that the hornets didn't like this location -- the nest was empty, and we removed it from the gnome's eye.

Opossum

It's relatively rare to see a 'possum during the day, but this one was out and about today.

The 'possum was strolling ('possums never move fast!) across a grassy area near our property gate. 'Possums are not particularly attractive animals! They look like they are a large rat, but they are marsupials (mammals with pouches to hold their young) and mostly live in trees.

On our return from the mailbox, the 'possum had moved about 50 feet to feast on garbage dragged by a bear onto our land from our neighbor's trash bins. Although this was the first sign of a bear this year, earlier today we thought we had heard a bear crashing through the woods.

Box Turtles

I think box turtles are much cuter than 'possums.

This female turtle was near our woodyard. I've documented her there twice before in 2013 and 2017.

This turtle was visiting our compost bins last June. As I mentioned in an older post, I've been documenting box turtles on our property since 2009. I'm almost up to 50 individuals.

It looks like the compost-bin turtle had also been eating blackberries!

And tooth marks on the carapace (shell) shows evidence that a predator (bear? coyote?) tried to eat it.

Snakes

It seems to me that we've seen more snakes this year than usual.

Last week, Dakota (our dog) stepped on this black rat snake laying across the trail, and the snake did not approve.

Today it was my turn to almost step on this copperhead. Fortunately, I saw it in time to prevent stepping on it, and the snake was watchful, but unperturbed.

A comparison of heads shows the difference between venomous and non-venomous snakes in our area. Venomous snakes (top photo) have triangular heads and vertical slits in their eyes, while non-venomous snakes (bottom photo) have very little, if any, constriction behind their jaws, and circular pupils in their eyes.

Around the Hollow

Observations of the past week-or-so.

Lon built a bridge across a small stream. We probably should have used 16-ft beams, but carrying 12-ft boards is about the limit for our 6 1/2 ft truck bed.

Pink azaleas are in bloom.

Indigo buntings (left) and eastern bluebirds (right) like to sing from the tops of the trees.

The blueberries are blooming, and this unusual lady beetle was checking out the flowers.

Our trail camera is mounted on this post. The sawdust at the bottom attracted our attention. It appears that carpenter bees have decided that this post will make a nice home.

Pileated woodpeckers, not carpenter bees, are responsible for attacking this stump. The stump has served as out gate post, but it may not be around much longer! The woodpeckers started hollowing it out in February and have pretty much demolished three sides. I moved the trail cam to see if we could get some pictures, but it didn't record any woodpeckers.

Dusty Jeans & Genes - Part 30 - Playing with 3D Images

I've been playing with trying to make "stereo vision" photos. Most people have depth perception because our eyes are a few inches apart and thus see things from slightly different angles. The brain merges these into a 3D image. If you take two photos from slightly different angles, you can use these photos to get a 3D image. I have to use a stereoscope to do this, but some people can do it without the aid of lenses. The "View-Master" toy operates on the same principle.

An inexpensive stereoscope.

Below are two examples. I took the left image of each pair, then stepped to the right about a foot and took a second photo. Because I didn't use a tripod, I aligned the two images in Photoshop Elements, and set the width at 5 inches (details of the method are given at the end of this post). The printed photos popped into 3D.

To see how this works, right-click (control-click on a Mac) on an image below, and save it to your computer. Print it, making sure the width is 5 inches. Then use a stereoscope to view the image.

Badlands National Park

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

More details on aligning the photos in Photoshop Elements:

1. Copy the second photo and paste it on top of the first photo. This creates a second layer.
2. Change the opacity of the top layer to about 50%.
3. Drag the top layer to align the middle of the horizon in both photos. The center of the photos should align well, but as you view to the left or right, you will notice that the two photos do not completely align. This is because the photos were taken at slightly different angles. The horizon will be largely unaffected, but the closer the object, the greater the discrepancy.
4. Change the opacity of the top layer back to 100%.
5. Crop the photo as desired. You at least want to make sure there is no "blank space" in either of the layers.
6. Use "Canvas Size" to make the canvas just a bit wider than twice the photo size. Also make sure that you click to align the image with the left edge of the enlarged canvas. This will create a large "white space" to the right of the photo.
7. Drag the top layer to the right side of the canvas. This should leave a small white bar between the two photos.
8. Use "Image Size" to make the width 5 inches with a resolution of your choosing, but at least 300 pixels/inch. (I had to play around with the size, and found the best results with a printed width of 5 inches. Your stereoscope - and eyes - may vary.)
9. Print the photos at actual size. (Sometimes you can just use the stereoscope on the computer screen. I've had success with this in the past, but not with these photos.)
10. View with stereoscope.

Dusty Jeans & Genes - Part 29 - Epilogue, While We Were Gone

The seasons changed while we were gone. (We missed spring!)

The day we left (April 17), winter was tenaciously trying to hang on. The temperature was around freezing, and there was an overnight dusting of snow on the ground. Only the serviceberries were blooming.

When we returned (May 8), the green was overpowering, and most of the days since then have had highs around 90°F (32°C), which is about 10°F over the normal mid-May highs. We missed the redbuds, and the dogwoods are just about done blooming.

Here's the photographic evidence as captured by our game camera:

Spring Green-Up

Here are a few more before-and-after from my "Pictureposts". The top photos were taken on April 15; the bottom photos were taken on May 12.

The road up to our house -- now barely visible through the trees. And the mountain views have disappeared.

Looking southeast in our back yard.

Looking south from our backyard. Note how the hill in the background has greened up.

Dusty Jeans & Genes - Part 28 - Travel the World

And finally, a bit of whimsy (or flakiness, if you prefer).

Travel the world without leaving the U.S. Along the way, a number of rock formations reminded us of other world landmarks.

The Acropolis (Athens, Greece), aka Wild Horse Butte in Goblin Valley State Park, Utah.

Hindu Temple (India), aka weathered rocks in Goblin Valley State Park, Utah.

The Great Pyramid (Egypt), aka butte in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.

Lotus petals painted on the Bodhnath Stupa in Kathmandu, aka Yellow Mounds in Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

Dusty Jeans & Genes - Part 27 - Flora

Again, we saw some interesting plants along the way, and it seemed better to group them rather than interrupt a blog post. Depending upon our latitude and altitude, spring was either just about over or barely starting, and the plant life reflected that.

Cottonwood flowers. April 20. Rock City near Minneapolis, Kansas.

Unidentified flowering shrub. April 20. Rock City near Minneapolis, Kansas.

Evening Primrose. April 22. Sound of Silence Trail in Dinosaur National Monument.

Desert Paintbrush. April 22. Sound of Silence Trail in Dinosaur National Monument.

Utah Serviceberry. April 25. Mesa Verde National Park.
Unlike our serviceberries back home, the leaves and flowers come out at the same time.

Ponderosa pines at Lake Tahoe. I love the bark, gnarly branches, and huge cones.

Dusty Jeans & Genes - Part 25 - Leo Petroglyphs

Wednesday, 9 May 2018

A few miles off US 35 in southeastern Ohio is a small park known named the Leo Petroglyphs. We've seen the sign every time we drive to or from Chicago, but we never stopped. Today we did.

Compared to the petroglyphs we saw out west, these are pretty disappointing. They are carved into sandstone and are protected by a small shelter. However, they are difficult to see and have been defaced by more recent carvings of initials, names, etc. (Very disappointing!)

Experts have identified about 40 different figures and symbols. This is clearly a face, but the rest is less clear!

A foot -- human or bear?

A bird?

Dusty Jeans & Genes - Part 24 - Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

Monday, 7 May 2018

Just up the road from Badlands National Park (actually, the same exit on I-90) is Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, a monument to the Cold War.

The Historic Site has three separate locations. The Visitor's Center is at Exit 131, a missile silo is at Exit 116, and the launch control center is at Exit 127. All are worth a visit.

The Delta-09 Missile Silo. Because we got here 30 minutes before the site opened, we could only look through the fence and listen to the self-guided tour on our cell phones.

What looks like a nondescript ranch house is actually the Delta-01 Launch Control Center. Except for the heavily secured fence and some unusual antennas, it really wouldn't attract much attention from the road.

Much of the upstairs is living quarters for the missile team, including a day room (above), bedrooms, and a commercial-style kitchen.

Below ground is an isolated capsule designed to withstand a near-miss from a nuclear bomb. The blast door is shown in the photo above.

The capsule where two missileers would stay for their 24 hour shifts.

Dusty Jeans & Genes - Part 23 - Badlands National Park

Sunday, 6 May 2018

We spent a day in the South Dakota Badlands on our return. The Badlands are better appreciated coming from the east. They are the first mountainous terrain between the Appalachians and the Rockies. Coming from the west, they are something of an anticlimax after the Rockies and the Utah canyonlands.

Spring is a great time to come here. Temperatures were moderate, as opposed to the summer, when they can easily exceed 100°F (38°C). We were able to take several short hikes and see some interesting wildlife.

The classic Badlands butte. The Badlands are really more of a single-sided east-west running canyon. To the north and south it's relatively flat, with an eroded "wall" in between.

We started with three short trails, each less than a mile roundtrip. The photo above shows the canyon complex at the end of the Door Trail boardwalk. The trail continues through this landscape for another half mile or so, and is marked only by numbered poles. It was an easy, but interesting hike.

The boardwalk is at the base of the peaks at the upper left. Lon is standing near the end of the marked trail.

We'd driven by the Badlands a couple of times before on cross-country trips. I had remembered them as having more color. As we got into the western part of the park, the red bands of rock I had remembered were there.

At Yellow Mounds Overlook, vivid yellows and pinks are seen in the buttes.

We drove to the prairie dog town on the dirt road in the western part of the park.

Burrowing owls hang out with the prairie dogs, using prairie dog burrows for nesting. Black-footed ferrets also use the prairie dog tunnels, but they are strictly nocturnal and seldom seen.

Burrowing owl.

The park also has a small herd of big horn sheep. This female is proudly displaying her tracking collar.

For our final hike in the park, we hiked the Notch Trail, which ends in the notch visible in the upper center above. The trail starts with a relatively level walk through the canyon bottom.

About half-way to the notch, the trail (and you!) climbs up about 80 feet (24 m) on a wooden ladder to a narrow ledge.

I made it! I counted about 55 rungs on the ladder, and some were spaced at least 2 feet apart. A challenge for short people!

After walking along the psychologically-challenging narrow ledge, the trail emerges into the upper canyon, which again is an easy walk.

The view of the White River valley from the notch.

A view of the ladder from the upper end of the ledge. Going down (as expected) was more challenging than going up.

A view of the lower canyon from the same spot. You can just barely make out a portion of the ladder at center left.