boolie

Terror of the Saguaro

A green lynx spider sets to devouring the insides of a leaf-footed cactus bug. It never left a small region high in one of our saguaros, it would spin a thread and attach it to a spine, giving it freedom to leap after prey without fear of falling. I watched its reign of terror over the course of several months, it had no qualms about going after insects larger than itself, until one day I found its lifeless body swaying in the breeze, hanging from a large spine.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 105mm macro
🗓️: March 18, 2022

Half Covered

Half covered by the blanket, Boo snuggles against my legs as we relaxed on the couch.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 16-50mm DX
🗓️: January 13, 2024

The Old Man and the C’s

I’m a big fan of public art, even if it’s very much with a lowercase ‘a’, even if it’s just a bit of whimsy. This photograph is me feeling playful at the end of a wonderful walk with Bear at Granite Mountain, I love how they lined the parking area for horse trailers with old horseshoes. Perhaps they’ll regret it down the road if it makes it more expensive to resurface the lot, but I like the reminder that not everything – and everyone – needs to be some flavor of beige.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-200mm
🗓️: January 9, 2024

Trail Rescue

This is the fire department’s ATV that passed Bear and I yesterday, if we had one of these our hikes would go a lot faster! I promise we’d only use it for good, like running over people who don’t pick up their dog’s poop or handing out Dr. Pepper and donuts to hikers who’ve overextended themselves. My thanks to the pros and volunteers who help out with trail rescues.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 16-50mm DX
🗓️: January 14, 2024

Air Evacuation

As Bear and I hiked to Balanced Rock via the easier wide path (to be kinder to his paws) we were passed by the Scottsdale Fire Department on their way to a trail rescue. On the way back we took the narrower rocky paths to stay out of their way if they needed to evacuate someone, but they must have called for air support as when we were far along this helicopter came past and hovered near the rescue site. Hope they’re OK.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 16-50mm DX
🗓️: January 14, 2024

The Four Corners of the Earth

The Life-Changer

Templeton in our backyard in Portland, I was playing around with the macro lens. I have a number of pictures of him but I wish I had an order of magnitude more, the charming little fellow changed my life.

📷: Canon 20D | Canon 100mm macro
🗓️: July 30, 2006

Precious Cargo

Bear towering over Four Peaks after our hike to Balanced Rock. I’ve been trying to take a variety of shots to help me remember my leave of absence as I gird up to get through one last year of work, I’ll never step far away from him but by now I trust him enough to move a few feet away for a picture, as long as there’s nothing of interest nearby.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-200mm
🗓️: January 9, 2024

You Can Tell By The Way I Use My Walk

An elk calf struts its stuff while walking behind mom, just out of frame to the left.

📷: Canon 7D II | Canon 100-400mm II
🗓️: June 5, 2016

Flooded

A wet image for today as we’re getting much-needed rain in the desert, a look back while looking down from the overlook on the Horsetail Falls Trail in the Columbia River Gorge. This location certainly triggered my fear of heights so it was a crawl out, quick picture, crawl back, start breathing again. I was never in any danger, just my brain thought I was.

📷: Sony A6500 | Sony-Zeiss 55mm f/1.8
🗓️: May 7, 2017