Eastern Promises

Homeward bound this morning as the sun rises over the high plains landscape.

Gale Force Sand Storm

Had a bit of a blow the other day. As the temperature climbs, storm fronts are starting to move through the valley and kick up the dust. The wind is usually over with in a few minutes and everything turns back to normal but it is defintely something to watch.

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Full Moon Rising Over the Valley

The moon finally decided to peek up over the clouds from the day on its way up into the night sky. We're about halfway through the warm (non-freezing) part of the year and the nights lend themself to some excellent stargazing--especially when the man-in-the-moon is not watching so brightly.

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Desert Flower

I have absolutely no idea what variety this flower is but it grows when watered, thrives in full sun, needs minimal care and can survive sub-zero temperatures. Great combination of traits for surviving here in the high plains.

Grand view through a dirty window

Last trip took us over the Grand Canyon and, as usual, I snapped a few photos. Some comments from fellow passengers as we flew over one of the seven natural wonders of the world included the usual "It doesn't look that big" to the new classic for me, "I didn't know that they had mountains in Las Vegas"--obvious depth perception issues here and I'm not entirely sure who the "they" were, but I assume aliens from Area 51 were not directly involved. Geography classes are not what they use to be :)

Crow's Nest

Once the home of a pair of small hawks, some local ravens have set up a maternity ward on a small cell tower behind the post office this year.

Somewhere off the Dry Tortugas

Many years ago I somehow convinced the beauty in the photo to get married to yours truly. The recorded event shown was a snorkeling excursion out of Key West and was our first sailing adventure together. Here's hoping to many more such adventures!!

Shell Display

A plethora of assorted shells retrieved from the beach of Sanibel Island by the littlest princess. They've of course been thoroughly checked out for indigenous inhabitants though in subsequent collection excursions I believe one shell was missed :)

Independence Day Plunder

One of the big deals at the 4th of July picnic here in Smoky Valley is the gold panning. The local mine provides 2 barrels of fodder for anyone who'd like to pan gold---2 cups at a time....The little woman made out with the dirt she got this year!

F3 Dust Devil

Tooling back from the hardware store I spotted a fairly large dust devil moving across the valley. While by no means the largest I've seen, it is still very impressive with the dust being thrown well over a thousand feet into the air. And yes, those are rain storms moving up and over the northern end of Mt. Jefferson.

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Great Smoky Valley Fireworks

Round Mountain celebrates the birth of our country like most communities in the United States---picnics, parades and fireworks. This panorama from south of the town shows "...bombs bursting in air...", a few street lights and the final glow of the recent day. Also, in the far upper left, Venus looks on enjoying the fireworks as well :)

And a couple of viewers

Miss "I see a bat!"

Mr. "I won the Bingo game"

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