3 Quarters Today

My Life, my photography, my passions

country

Day 212/365: Nebraska Big Sky Country

by

Took me three times as long to get to my sons baseball game the other night because I kept pulling over and taking sunset pictures. The clouds had that “silver lining” effect and the beams of sunlight were just to magnificent to pass up. The barn is one I pass every day between Elmwood and Murdock Nebraska. Just about every time it looks different. How can people say it’s boring scenery in Nebraska?

Nebraksa Big Sky Country
Nebraksa Big Sky Country

I grew up in Connecticut, and the trees line every roadside and curve into the clouds. Only sections of sky peak through. Although I miss the trees and hills the openness of the sky and heavens take my breath away. It’s awe inspiring to watch storms roll in, uninterrupted rainbows and a horizon that stretches thirty miles or more into the distance.

Enjoy our little bit of  “Big Sky” country in Nebraska.

Day 211/365: Nebraska Sunsets, Country Skyscrapers

by

Montana might be called “Big Sky” country but Nebraska has a little bit of sky too. We also have skyscrapers. They are grain elevators and water towers. See, they touch the sky. From this vantage point they almost touch the clouds.

Sunset Over the Country High Rises
Sunset Over the Country High Rises

I am very blessed to have scenery like this every day when I commute to work. The town of Murdock (part of the Elmwood-Murdock metropolitan) has a population of approximately 280 people and yet it has home town pride. A lot of people around here are farmers, as you can tell by the grain elevator on the left. However, it is located only thirty minutes from Omaha and more and more people drive to the city to work.

The number of hogs and cattle raised in the area has drastically declined in the past twenty years. The second “skyscraper” you see it the feed mill, which is no longer in operation. I used to work there in the early 1990’s. It was then called Greenwood Farmers Co-op and due to the competitiveness of the agriculture industry more cooperatives in the state merged together to form Midwest Farmers Co-op. I believe the feed mill is further south now in Syracuse.

So do you still think skyscrapers are only in the big city?

 

 

Day 207/365: Sunset Over the Ballfield

by

Sunset Over the Ballfield
Sunset Over the Ballfield

Just another view of a legion baseball night. Too dark to get pictures of the players, senior legion baseball starts too late and sometimes, ends too late for me. Last night was a marathon game it seemed like ages before the game finished. Didn’t leave the ballpark until 11:30. Players still had to stay and rake the infield, so it was later for them and the coaches.

Just a simple picture, enjoy the Nebraska sunset.

Day 193/365: Texas Longhorns in Nebraska

by

Texas Longhorn Cows in Nebraska
Texas Longhorn Cows in Nebraska

The grass is as high as an elephants eye….oh sorry that’s from the musical Oklahoma, wrong state, on both accounts. Spring grass in Nebraska is like candy to these cows, I love seeing them belly deep with calves by their side hidden. Can you see him to the left of her?

This was taken north of Syracuse Nebraska which is located about 30 minutes east of Lincoln and 45 minutes south of Omaha.

Photoshop Notes: The background was a little blurrier than I liked so I accentuated the edges in the artistic filters and set opacity to 30%. Seemed to make the tops of the trees a little crisper.  It was an overcast evening with no sun what so ever.

Day 184/365: Why Did the Turtle Cross The Road?

by

So why did the snapping turtle cross the road? Why does any turtle cross the road for that matter?  I don’t know, but he obviously didn’t do it so I could carry him across to the other side. If he did he wouldn’t have been so ungrateful to hiss and snap at me while I saved his shell from tires of a car. He was heavy guy, about 25 lbs and a good 18 inches in length. Didn’t want a car to hit him, so I carried him in the direction he was going, north across Holdredge Street east of Lincoln Nebraska.

Snapping Turtle why did the turtle cross the road
Snapping Turtle, so ungrateful…

There is an old wives tale that if you see turtles crossing the road it’s going to rain. (Within 12 hours of this picture it did rain by the way. ) This theory is true, or is at least true from my standpoint. In 1988 I was working a summer internship job for SafeGuard cattle dewormer in Oklahoma. We were in the middle of a heatwave and drought.  Ranchers were asking me if I was bringing rain with me when I came to visit. I always had bad news for them.

Then one morning I started noticing the turtles crossing the highway, being familiar with the old wives tale I started counting them. I stopped at 73. When I stopped at the Farmers Co-op they asked the question, “Did you bring any rain?” I jokingly told them “Turtles were all over the road it’s going to pour buckets.”

That afternoon as I drove past the co-op again it WAS pouring buckets and I honked my horn as they waved from the doorway.

The next week when I stopped by they asked the same question. I could only shake my head and say, “Sorry, this morning I saw a tarantula cross the road, it’s going to be dry for a while”

So why do turtles cross the road? Probably for many reasons, it’s breeding season, it just rained and their homes got flooded and they have moved to higher ground. Or, like another blogger thought, it’s going to rain.

What Gets Hit More? Turtles or Snakes?