Cogs on the prowl

At the risk of becoming one of 'those' people, I've posted these photos of our cat, Cogs, bravely exploring the front porch.

Cogs is an inside cat -- we've done this on purpose as we live on a busy street -- but we're starting to let him out every once in a while.

As shown in the bottom photo, he was very nervous at first. But by the middle and top photo he had carefully walked out to the edge of the porch.

This particular evening, sometime last week, had a brilliant sunset. The yellow, orange an pink light turned everything a nice summer color.

Jumpin' Jack

Here are two of my more off-kilter shots of the Hacky Sack guy in Seattle. Of course, these could have been some of the best shots, if I had aimed right. But I still like how they turned out.

Hacky Sack

I know it's been a while since my last post. I have been on vacation for part of this month, then in a manic rush to catch up at work after being on vacation. Apologies, apologies.

I spent last weekend in Seattle. At a park near Pike Place Market a guy was feverishly playing Hackey Sack in the afternoon sun. He was great to watch, especially because he kept flinging out his arms every time he did a difficult move.

My challenge was in aiming the camera just right to get his silhouette while holding the camera low to the ground. This meant I couldn't look in the viewfinder, so I was shooting blind. I do this pretty often, but it is still a haphazard technique. My post tomorrow will show a few of my less on-target shots.

Smoke screen

There has been a lot of field burning going on around Hermiston and Pendleton this past week. I spent some time on Saturday chasing smoke, until I realized it had to be a controlled burn because there were no sirens or lights.

This smoke stack is from Monday, when a field burned just of Interstate 84. This picture doesn't seem to give the sight justice. It seemed much larger when I drove by it.

Learning lessons

OK, these are my last camp photos.

Though the above photo isn't the best shot, I like the look on the girls' faces as they laughed. As teacher Trisha Shell, the one holding up the thermometer in the lower photo, put it: the kids really got into the science when they split into their small groups. However goofy they may act as a pack, those who came to camp were focused, inquisitive and very interested in the world around them.

In the details

Sorry my posts haven't been up to date, but I still have camp photos I want to post!

These more photos of kids counting rings, with the help of Katy Gray, with the Umatilla National Forest.

Counting the years

I learned about an increment borer at science camp. This T-shaped tool drills into a tree and takes out a pencil-width cylinder. The kids can count the rings on that sample to find the tree's age.

This girl had great expressions. Above she works hard to drill into a dense Tamarck tree. Below, I like the look of intense concentration as this girl carefully counts the rings on the sample. The wooden piece was also delicate, and often fell apart as soon as she took it out of the device.