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February Snow

Posted on February 6, 2016February 6, 2016 by kritterspaw

We got a nice snowfall last week. It came down heavy most of the day. Not a good day to be on the road…. but we had business in Phx, so we made the trek. We took the big truck and trudged through the blizzardy snow coming down side ways.

It took us 3-1/2 hours to take a trip that should have taken us 2 hours, as we drove slow through the heavy snowfall… stopping along the way to pull out a couple desperate cars stuck in snow drifts.

Despite being a little harrowing, it was a beautiful drive… very scenic with the new fallen snow… a great opportunity to get some nice new snow pix.

Check out my Ice Whiskers post: kritterspaw.com

Dreams DO come true

Posted on February 4, 2016 by kritterspaw

When I was getting ready to graduate from high school, oh so many years ago, like so many other young adults I was faced with that all important decision, ‘what’s next?’. What do I do with my life? At the time, as a teenager, I was really into photography. I used to go out every night and photograph the sunset and mess around with time lapsed photography. I actually thought I was good. I wanted to be a Photographer when I grew up.

Well… my dad, in all his wisdom, steered me in another direction. “Why don’t you go do something that actually makes money? You can be a Photographer when you retire.”, he told me. Wise words indeed. I don’t know what the percentage of Photographers made a successful living at it, particularly back then – before the age of photo workshops and online presence, but it wasn’t very high. And you had to be VERY good – David Muench good.

So I followed my dad’s sage advice and became an Engineer. Now that I’m retired I have picked up my camera and tried to get serious about taking real photos. Moreover, I set a goal for myself… I wanted to be published. Not just published, but published in Arizona Highways. A girl can dream, right?!

To my total aghast and surprise, I got a call from Arizona Highways yesterday. Crazy, right?! They had selected one of my deer photos for the 2017 AZ Highways calendar… not for a large month photo- but as a little inset photo. Baby steps, though. I’m going to have one of MY photos on AZ Highways 2017 classic calendars. Be still my heart. OMG! My dad would be proud.

Turkey Day Cometh

Posted on November 20, 2015 by kritterspaw

Almost as if a sign of Thanksgiving next week… we saw this group of turkey enjoying the snow. Do you know what a group of turkey is called? I didn’t. I thought flock.. or gaggle. But upon further research, it’s a ‘rafter’. Who knew?

Did you know that Ben Franklin wanted the turkey as the newly found United States official bird? In a quote from a letter to his daughter he wrote:

“For my own part I wish the Eagle had not been chosen representative of our country. His is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead tree near the river, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the Fishing Hawk; and when the diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

With all this injustice, he is never in good case but like those among men who live by sharping and robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank coward….

I am on this account not displeased that the figure is not known as an Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the truth, the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America… He is besides, though a little vain and silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.”

turkey fivePSi.JPG

Snow Trees

Posted on November 13, 2015 by kritterspaw

The Forest Service seems to close the roads the minute we get snow… and keep them closed until Spring. So we jumped into action immediately after our first snow storm, and went directly to the Mogollon Rim to see if we could capture the Rim in snow. Unfortunately, the fog rolled in, and the view over the rim was a complete whiteout. Check out my First Snow pix on kritterspaw.com.

What do they say… one closed door leads to another open door. In my case fog lead to some very cool Snow Trees with the last remnants of fall color on pristine snow in an eery fog. It reminded my of an enchanted forest.

Antelope Canyon

Posted on October 22, 2015 by kritterspaw

Horseshoe Bend

We have been to Antelope Canyon Slot canyons maybe half a dozen times over the years. The first time we saw the beams of light and had the place virtually to ourselves… that was quite some time ago (decades). We have seen the crowds increase, but never such as we saw this past weekend.

Yikes! What a ZOOOOOOO. I would never go back. They pack so many people into the canyons that it’s just not fun. It’s bumper to bumper people, and you can hardly get a photo in. It’s a money factory… they pump through 400 people an hour in the short distance in Upper Antelope Canyon. We found it absolutely disgusting. It was on and off raining all weekend. We were fortunate enough to go during a reprieve from the rain. The next day it was driving rain… and they were loading up the buses come rain or shine… no matter that there would be no sunshine, decent photo opportunities, and miserable muddy conditions. How unfortunate that nature has become such a tourist attraction that they can hold your credit card hostage with no consideration for the personal experience.

Having said that, our friends from the U.K. had never seen it and had made the special request to see this marvel… so we went. We shot up, and got shots devoid of people, which really doesn’t tell the story.

Fall Colors

Posted on October 22, 2015 by kritterspaw

We were quite anxious to go out and get Fall Color photos this year… but we have been so consumed by our projects that it nearly passed us by. We had friends come up from U.K., and they gave us the excuse and opportunity to make the journey to the rim to enjoy Fall and it’s gorgeous bounty.

Actually, the leaves were nearly gone. I think they snapped into color just as we got that big cold front and wind that moved through… then brushed them right off the trees onto the ground and against trees making for interesting juxtaposition.

Every year brings something new. Now that we live somewhere with 4 seasons we can take full advantage of it and enjoy all it has to offer.

Mogollon Rim stars and sunset

Posted on October 3, 2015October 3, 2015 by kritterspaw

We were at the rim the other day… doing some leaf peeping. No major color changes just yet… so we’ll just have to wait, and go back.

We did see this cool little horny toad, have a nice dinner and watch the sun set and stars come out though.

Jousting

Posted on September 15, 2015 by kritterspaw

We haven’t seen a lot of elk this year. I’m not sure where they have been. We’ve had enough rain perhaps that they have found their food and water elsewhere.

Even more rare, are seeing elk bulls together, particularly as we go into rut season. But we were thrilled to get these two young bulls strutting their stuff, and learning how to ‘do the dance’.

These two boys were sparring with their single spikes, horsing around, and checking out their gear.

They never got too serious about it… but it was fun to watch.

Turkey Strut

Posted on August 1, 2015 by kritterspaw

We get a little bit of everything here. Yesterday, we saw this little family of turkey’s strutting their stuff. They were pretty elusive and spooky birds. These were Merriam turkey’s, popular in northern AZ ponderosa pines. We don’t see many, so it was pretty cool to see them fluffing their feathers and teaching their little ones.

It’s an Osprey

Posted on July 14, 2015 by kritterspaw

I thought it was an eagle… but apparently, after closer inspection it’s an osprey. We did manage to capture this large bird sitting on it’s nest. Unfortunately I never saw any little head bobs. This large bird of prey is a hawk with a diet of primarily fish.