Sheep Herder's Carvings Part Two

Traditionally the main sheep herder's where Basque. There is still a very big Basque community in Boise, ID and the surrounding. Boise even has a Basque district downtown, which is very fun to visit. Currently most of the sheep herders (the actual people sleeping and herding the sheep around) are from Chile or Panama.

Sheep Herder's Carvings

Back in October when I was in Idaho, I took a little tour showing some of the tree carvings done by Sheep Herder's in the Sawtooth National Forest, just outside of Ketchum. It was great to here one of the old rancher's talk about the history and show us some of the more intricate carvings. Most of the sheep herder's doing these carvings actually come from South America, Chile or Panama.

In the next few posts I will have show photos of the various carvings.

KEXP bringing back memories with music

I was listening to KEXP this morning, when John in the Morning played some Johnny Cash. I don't know why but it brought up this memory of mine.

I was with my dad at the "Men's Fishing Trip", insert tool time man's laugh here, in the Fall of 2006 I believe. Both of us had just come out of the big wood river after fly fishing it pretty hard, drinking our soda and eating a bit of lunch. When a big SUV drove up filled with all guys that were in their late 70's early 80's. They all piled out and started gearing up to do some fly fishing. Getting their big waders out, lugging them on, putting on their socks and shoes. It was a big event. While all of this was happening the driver, also in his late 70's early 80's was blaring Johnny Cash. Completely and utterly rocking out to it. To the point of bragging about how he sold the most albums ever, etc etc. It was great to see.

I love how music can do this to people at any age.Here are a couple of pictures of KEXP when I got to do a little walk through back in October, 2009.

Orcas Island Weekend part 6

Our last morning on Orcas Island we went for a little canoe ride on the water just outside of the B&B. I tried to get some photos of the different birds on the water, but they were not feeling photogenic. Everywhere we rowed on the water they went the opposite way.

Luckily there were a couple of old wooden boats up on land. They weren't flying away from me so I decided to get few shots of them. It was quite fun doing this. I was even able to get a macro shot of some moss that was blooming on the boats.All in all we had a great time on Orcas Island.

Orcas Island Weekend part 5

While on Orcas Island we stayed at a B&B called The Inn on Orcas Island. Both my wife and I had a great time staying there. The breakfast's were phenomenal, the accommodation's comfortable, relaxing and warm, and the overall stay just perfect. We stayed in the carriage house, which had a kitchenette, where we were able to cook our dinners and enjoy the room that much more.
If you are going to be staying overnight on Orcas Island I would highly recommend The Inn at Orcas Island.

Orcas Island Weekend part 4

After taking photos in the fog, my wife and I, kept on driving around the Island. We were able to pretty much see everything there is to see, but we sure did not do everything that there is to do on the island.We were able to drive everywhere, even up to the observation tower, where you can view all of the islands around you, even Vancouver in British Columbia, pretty cool. The tower was built in the depression by the Conservation Corps in the 1930's. Here is a photo of it. If you get to Orcas Island I highly recommend going here.

After the tower we drove back down the hill to our B&B where I was able to capture a few more photos in one of the island's lakes.

Orcas Island weekend part 3

That same first morning after breakfast, the fog rolled in. Which created some great ambiance for photos. Luckily we were driving at this time and I was able to pull over and grab these photos. It happened quick, right after this last picture, the fog had disappeared.

Orcas Island weekend part 2

For the first morning I got out early and took a few photos of the plant life with the dew still on them. I wish I would of spent a little more time photographing the different plant life. I think I stopped a little to early without capture the best photo. Of course you don't notice this until you get home and start looking at your photos on the computer. But that is how it goes sometimes.

Weekend on Orcas Island

Last weekend my wife and I spent a couple of days on Orcas Island, one of the San Juan Islands between Vancouver Island and Washington. Even though it was January we had a great time and even got some sunshine. Here are a couple of photos from the ferry ride to Orcas Island from Anacortes.

Sunny winter day in Seattle

Here is something special, a sunny winter day in Seattle. Glad I have a picture of it so I can remember what it looks like.

Icy leafs on log

Some more leaves with ice. These leaves where on a log though. Photo from my walk through Discovery Park.

Icey Leaves

Here is another photo taken on my walk through Discovery Park. Just some frozen leaves with the sun shining upon them.

Waiting for the bus in the Cold

While drinking some tea at Peet's coffee in the Fremont area of Seattle I noticed this lady across the street waiting for the bus. The colors of her outfit with the colors behind her made for a great setting. I frantically got my telephoto lens on and took a few pictures of her before the bus came and took her away.

Ice crystals over some fungus

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I took a nice long walk from the apartment to Discovery Park in Seattle, WA. Along the way I was able to capture a few nice photographs on this sunny cold day. Since sun is in short supply here in Seattle, we were not the only one out for a walk.
These two photos are of some ice crystals forming on a piece of drift wood that has some fungus on it as well. With the macro lens I was able to get in close to actually see the crystal formations of the ice.

More ice on Newman Creek

It is amazing how a change in season can make a site that you have visited and photographed many times become new and exciting again. That is how I felt when I was up the cabin in Idaho this past October for the weekend. The freak snow storm created a new and exciting environment for me to walk through and photograph. I think the next time I am up in Idaho, even if it is summer time, I will see the site with new eyes again because of this trip.Here are a few more ice photos from Newman Creek. Next post will be some winter pictures from Seattle.

Icicles

It is amazing how these icicles formed in Newman Creek. The different forms are great to explore and photograph. Here are two shots from the same location, where the icicles formed on different tree limbs and logs.

Frozen mosquito

You can just see the frozen mosquito in this photo. He is right under the branch on the right. I thought it was fitting punishment. It was probably one of the suckers that got me the day before.

Ice Wave

A frozen ice wave, Newman Creek, Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho.

The rare ice twig fish

I was able to capture this rare ice twig fish, in mid leap non the less. These guys are cold and slippery :)Photograph was taken on Newman Creek in the Sawtooth National Forest of Idaho.