Thursday, April 14, 2011

2010 LUNAR ECLIPSE.

I am a lover of the heavens and when I heard a total lunar eclipse was coinciding with the winter solstice, I decided it was simply worth staying up for! December 21st is one of my favorite days of the year! In fact, it is a day of celebration for me! You see, it is on the 21st of this dark and frigid month that the days begin to get LONGER again!!! I adore the long daylight hours of summer and think the return of them is worth celebrating (even if it is literally freezing outside when I begin to do so)! Not only was this my first attempt to photograph an eclipse, it is actually the first time I even attempted to photograph the moon! I learned a couple of things on this lunar adventure. First, eclipses take a really long time, particularly when it is FREEZING outside! Second, when I get wound up about photography, I lose sight of the fact that it is FREEZING outside. Although I stayed up past midnight for the actual event, I was up even longer trying to warm up enough to go to sleep -- that is, once I actually realized I was COLD! Staying up for and photographing the eclipse was an adventure (and adventures are mighty hard to come by in December)! I hear the next total lunar eclipse is in June . . . thankfully!

FIRST ANNUAL LADYBUG HUNT.

Years ago my family and I stumbled upon my first pack of hibernating ladybugs. Late one fall, we were visiting a very remote lookout. While sitting on the rocky crag, enjoying the magnificent views, we began noticing ladybugs EVERYWHERE! We started turning over rocks and soon discovered THOUSANDS of them! Mom and Dad remembered hearing that ladybugs in this area migrate to certain elevations and then hibernate for the winter. By visiting that high elevation, late in the fall, it is possible to reliably find swarms of ladybugs! Several years ago I did a solo adventure to Thorne Creek Butte Lookout in search of ladybugs -- and definitely found them! So now, hunting ladybugs has officially become an annual event for me! One of my favorite parts of hunting ladybugs is that I combine it with a trip to a lookout! Lookouts are the BEST place to find ladybugs because: 1) lookouts are perched on the highest peaks and 2) they provide a good road to the top of the mountain! Ladybugs and lookouts -- two of my favorite things!!! This year when "ladybug season" rolled around, I asked Jessie if she wanted to join me. Like ANY good adventurer, she said YES! We picked a BEAUTIFUL fall day and headed for the hills for what we titled the First Annual Ladybug Hunt.

WITH JESSIE AND I TOGETHER IN THE TRUCK, IT WAS INEVITABLE WE ADDED AN ANIMAL DIMENSION TO OUR ADVENTURE! AS WE HEADED TO IDAHO CITY, THIS DOG RAN ACROSS THE BUSY HIGHWAY IN FRONT OF US! OF COURSE, I SLAMMED ON THE BRAKES AND JESSIE QUICKLY SNAGGED HIM BEFORE HE BECAME ROAD PIZZA! ALTHOUGH WE WEREN'T ABLE TO FIND HIS OWNERS, A NEARBY HOMEOWNER OFFERED TO TAKE HIM DOOR-TO-DOOR AND PROMISED TO HELP HIM FIND HIS WAY HOME. RELUCTANTLY WE SAID GOODBYE TO OUR NEW FRIEND AND CONTINUED ON OUR LADYBUG WAY.

AND, AS I TRADITION, WE STOPPED AT THE GOLD MINE IN IDAHO CITY FOR A BITE TO EACH AND SOME MANDATORY DOLLAR BILL DECORATING!

KIPPER AND HER FIRST GOLD MINE DOLLAR.

MY 2010 DOLLAR


JESSIE TACKING HER BILL TO THE CEILING OF THE BAR.

WE FOUND MY FIRST BILL FROM BACK 2008 AND HUNG OUR BILLS NEXT TO IT!

LADYBUG ROW.

MY INTENTION WAS TO TRY FOR THE LOOKOUT ON PILOT'S PEAK HOWEVER, THE ROAD GOT PRETTY UGLY! THE WORST PART OF AN UGLY MOUNTAIN ROAD, IS THAT YOU HAVE TO KEEP GOING UP THE UGLY UNTIL YOU CAN FIND A PLACE TO TURN AROUND! WE DEFINITELY HAS SOME MOMENTS WHERE I SAID TO JESSIE, " DON'T TELL MY MOM WE DROVE UP THIS ROAD!" JUST BEFORE I LEFT ON THE ADVENTURE, I SENT MY MOM A TEXT TO LET HER KNOW WHERE WE WERE HEADED. SHE TEXTED BACK SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF, IT MIGHT BE SNOWY, BE CAREFUL AND DON'T TAKE RISKS. THE ROAD TO PILOT'S PEAK DEFINITELY WASN'T MAMA APPROVED!

FORTUNATELY WE GOT TO A WIDE ENOUGH SPOT THAT I COULD GET THE TRUCK POINTED BACK DOWN THE HILL!

JESSIE ENJOYING A NICE PRETTY FALL DAY IN THE MOUNTAINS
(and probably thankful to be alive after the harrowing trip up the mountain)!

I SIMPLY REFUSED TO BE DEFEATED ON OUR FIRST ANNUAL LADYBUG HUNT SO, AFTER CRAWLING BACK DOWN THE ROAD TO PILOT'S PEAK, I DROVE UP TO THORNE CREEK BUTTE LOOKOUT. THERE WAS SURPRISINGLY LITTLE SNOW ON THIS MOUNTAIN WE EASILY MADE IT TO THE LOOKOUT . . . AND THE LADYBUGS!

I LET JESSIE TURN OVER THE FIRST ROCK . . .

LET THERE BE LADYBUGS!


AND THEN I TOLD HER TO TURN OVER A BIG ROCK . . .
I LOVE THIS PART!!!


LADY BUG HUNT: SUCCESSFUL!

TWO-CAMERA KIPPER

PHOTOG TESS.

THE OCCUPATION HAZARD OF PHOTOGRAPHING LADYBUG HIBERNATIONS!

AND NOW, MY LADIES . . .

2010.

THANKS FOR THE ADVENTURE KIPPER!

ADVENTURE ON!

THE END!