Services In A TUFF SHED®

White Oaks, New Mexico doesn’t need no stinking cathedral or post-bank-style building for worship services. A TUFF SHED® with a steeple does just fine.

A colorful cacti in the churchyard, and a second TUFF SHED® used for fellowship hall.

The Harvest Moon rising last night with Saturn peeking through the clouds on the right. Saturn in the center photo. The Harvest Moon shining through the clouds.

There was lightning to the north last night. Saturn and its moons in plaid. The Harvest moon finally rose above the clouds.

Stone House On The Prairie

Here’s a close-up of the stone house in the landscape on Friday’s post.

Night sky at 2:00 am. The Pleiades is in the lower center and Mars is below the Pleiades. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Jupiter and four of its moons. The sky was clear last night, but I could not get Jupiter’s stripes, and the photos of Saturn were blobs. There must have been an atmospheric disturbance obscuring clear shots of the planets.

Explosion

Thunderheads explode
Under clear blue skies
Taunting sunset’s
Cast of colors
Streaming light
Reds, yellows
Blur to orange
Turquoise dances
In the wings
Reflections rippled
Flowing waters
Stilled
Violent thunder
Silenced
Tranquil scene
Exploding beauty
Falling darkness
Soon to cover
All that once had light

Spring Walk

After spending five hours dismantling desks, tables, and chairs and moving them to our new office building, I went on a walk to check on Nora Owl. On the way, I saw sparrows, a muskrat, an echelon of cranes, a cinnamon duck. No owlets popped their heads, up and Nora Owl gave me “mad dogs” when I called to see if any owlets were around. One good sign that the owlets might have hatched is Osric Owl was watching over Nora Owl from a nearby cottonwood. On the way back I saw a Flicker, a squadron of crazy Cormorants, a bluebird of some type, and another sparrow feeding on buds in Marina’s pear tree. The clouds were beautiful in the low sunlight about 30 minutes before sunset.

Muskrat nibbling on grass near its den.

Muskrat swimming with its mouth full of grass.

Nora Owl giving me “mad dogs”.

Osric Owl on his lookout branch.

Cinnamon Duck.

Sandhill Cranes still hanging around.

Intermission: My desk we moved from the office downtown to the new office. I build the desk in 1990. That is a light table on the left-hand side I used for sorting slides and transparencies before digital cameras. The desk on the floor is Dede’s desk that she designed and I built for her in 2007, I believe. it will go in the corner to the right of my desk. I will build Bruce’s desk in the corner to the left of my desk.

Flicker

A squadron of crazy Cormorants.

A hover dove.

Barney Bluebird

Jack Sparrow

Clouds over the Sandias.

Surround Clouds

North

South

Southeast

West

East

Daddy Owl has been working hard watching over and feeding Mama Owl while she sits on her eggs.

He was nodding off this afternoon.

ZZZZZZZ

“I was not nodding off! I had an itch I needed to scratch. Stupid Paparazzo!”

Daddy Owl was up a little higher on a new perch tonight that has a really good view of Mama Owl on the nest.

Alpaca la Mañana Tuya

Dawn this morning

The morning started off mostly cloudy, and clouds blew around overhead all day long producing some interesting skies. In the late afternoon, we had dramatic pre-storm light. It’s overcast and raining this evening, so no moonshot tonight.

“¡Hola! Buenos Días. Me llamo Cara de Calavera (Skull Face).”

Blanca: “¿Qúe pasa? Cara de Calavera.” Cara de Calavera: “Hay un paparazzo en el dique.”

Blanca: “Oye paparazzo, ¿qué pasa?”  Me: “¡Disparándote con mi Bazooka!”

Wild morning sky

Susan Hunter identified this bird as a Song Sparrow. It was foraging on the river’s edge.

Pre-storm dramatic light on the cottonwoods.

Robin

Another Robin

And yet another Robin.

How many robins can you find in this tree?

Pre-storming

The many faces of Tommee Towhee.

The Lonesome Dove

Mama Owl and Daddy Owl trying to get some rest after a night of really hooting it up.