a visit to the duck swamp a short time ago showed off the early spring arrivals, along with the flooding in southern Iowa.
warm sun brought out turtles
ducks
and green buds and watergrass
flooding on the mississippi as the river crests several feet over flood stage, closing the port buildings,covering rail tracks and creeping into the municipal auditorium. I took the flooding with my cell phone. not bad for a 1.3 mp camera!
Took Lucca to see his Dog Dad and learn some field trial stuff but the weather was 5 degrees below and snowing so all he got to do was flush out a pheasant, a beautiful rooster! When I went to pick him up it was snowing again(!) but by late afternoon it cleared off. His Dog Dad and his people live in a swamp area filled with waterfowl and at this time of year...bald Eagles! It was just too late to get a good shot against the sky but I did try. took about 15 shots and hoped for the best but to no avail. On the way out to the Highway and on to 3 hour trip home I did see a nice shot through the trees. and the Elevator(grain) against the now only partly cloudy sky might be the best I can do for an E.
The next day I still wanted eagles and so went out to Saylorville dam/lake and saw a great pair circling, but once I got the camera out they went the other way. Guess the thermals just wouldnt cooperate. I chased them down the river but since I am nursing a knee with newly torn meniscus I have to stay on the dry stuff. Did get a couple of nice trees with shadows though.
We got melting today but supposed to get more snow for the next 2 days(I am off one of them for working this weekend) I will keep looking for that perfect Eagle shot but soon they will be heading back to Alaska. I will be so glad to see winter gone so I can start walking Lucca outside again but I am learning to enjoy the good days. Maybe I could take Alaska in winter. Fireplaces and Hot toddys would not be optional though!
Here is my D picture. Des Moines in the Deep Freeze. The high this day was 5 degrees. I don't even want to know what the wind chill was! You can see the steam/exhaust coming out of the chimneys(if that is what they call them on Modern buildings). The Raccoon river is almost frozen over but just to the right where it joins the Des Moines River there is a dam with lots of open water so the area is teaming with Bald Eagles! I hope to go back in the next week to try to get some of them. I was just too much of a weenie(plus I just got off crutches and am still gimpy) The round shiny sculpture is supposed to be a baseball. The Principal park (naming rights to one of the largest insurance companies here) is just to the right as well. 801 Grand is the large building with the pointy top and has 40 floors, our tallest. also owned by Principal. See the theme here?
here you can see part of Principal park. The weird shaped building to the far left is often referred to as the vodka bottle building due to the inset windows that apppear to be the shape of the Absolut bottle. Much more obvious straight on!
as you can see,Principal dominates the downtown, but of course they also built it on a rise!. I likes this one because of the gr**** and the windscape but I lost the vote. Guess that is what I get when I ask others, right? They didn't think it showed off the modest cosmopolitan atmosphere of Des Moines!
this doesn't fit in thealphabet stuff but I did want to share the latest winter in Iowa stuff. These are important to me because I really hate winter! I mean REALLY! But by getting out with the camera(I know I need an SLR but this will just have to do for now) I have been able to see more of the beauty and not just feel the numbing cold!
I even built a snow dog last week. He melted and lost his eyes and nose but provided a well needed release
These are from last weeks ice storm and this one is the fog shrouded state capitol. K
