Boolie

Once More Into the Hatch

A few years ago I traded my beloved Crosstrek for a Lexus hatchback as I wanted something better suited to my commute and it’s worked a treat, I’m almost embarrassed by how much I love the little UX. I didn’t know then we’d be adopting this giant goof years later, the hatch is a little small and with a high entrance but thankfully it didn’t take Bear long to figure out how to jump in and get comfy. To watch him sprint to the back of the car when we’re getting ready to go for a hike is to see joy made manifest, pure and unbridled. Here we’re getting ready to leave my favorite trailhead, Brown’s Ranch, after one of our many hikes there. A few weeks back one of the stewards called us over and gave him a couple of treats and ever since he’s on the lookout when we pass through.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-70 f/4
Date: October 22, 2023

The Living & The Dead

I was walking Bear when I was struck by this beautiful but dead saguaro and took a few shots, I prefer this composition that includes a lot of the other living and dead plants around it with Granite Mountain anchoring the background. I haven’t taken Bear on the full loop around the mountain, now that he’s getting back into shape and the weather is cool enough, I’ll give him a chance soon. The uphill part is at the start so I’ll get a quick gauge of how he’s doing and can double back if he struggles, but I suspect he’ll be just fine.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-200
Date: November 1, 2023

Five Years in the Making

It took me 5 years to make this picture, not that there is anything complicated in the setup, rather it took me 5 years of hiking in the desert to see my first chuckwalla. Back on a spring Saturday I finally got up for a sunrise hike, mostly motivated by the hope of photographing saguaro buds and flowers. Flush with success I headed home and picked up Bear and brought him back for us to hike together, and thankfully so as it was on this hike I first spotted the chuckwalla.

I came back the next morning for some more saguaro photography but as I passed by where I had seen her the previous day, I stopped because the pattern recognition part of my brain told me something was interesting but couldn’t tell me what or where. I stared for the longest time before finally realizing the thin rock in a crevice between granite boulders was in fact a tail. It’s obvious in the picture since it’s highly zoomed in courtesy of the telephoto lens, and I’m down at a lower level and different angle where the gap is more pronounced. She’s sleeping back in the darkness and protection of the crevice.

As before I went home and brought Bear back and she was more visible though still deep in shadow. I didn’t have the telephoto with me and besides Bear was eager for our time together, and so was I, so I snapped a quick picture and we continued into the desert.

📷: Sony A6600 | Sony 100-400 | Sony 1.4X
Date: May 28, 2023

Testing the Ice

The water at Ridgefield didn’t freeze very often but I loved being there when it did, this raccoon was using its newfound capability of walking on water to move about Bower Slough. When it reached the edge where the water hadn’t frozen, after testing the ice it backed up and scrambled up the embankment and continued its hunt on dry land.

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 500mm f/4
Date: January 2, 2011

On My Feet

Boo in January curled up on my feet. Which is where he is now, though in a less photogenic pose.

Back on the Trails

One of the best parts of my leave of absence is I get to take Bear hiking on weekdays as well as weekends. He’s had a few health issues that have kept me from taking him every day but I’ve enjoyed getting him back into hiking shape after the summer layoff. I started him on shorter trails since he was tiring quickly when it was warmer, and then choosing trails that let me easily extend the hike by half a mile or so based on how he was doing. Pretty quickly he was back to hiking our regular trails, even if he still tires a bit by the end, here he’s enjoying the view at The Amphitheater (real name, not one I made up) with saguaros and Cholla Mountain as the backdrop.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-70 f/4
Date: October 22, 2023

Ol’ Three Eyes

Another one for the “I Take It You Trust Me” collection, three eyes in the back of the head of a male kestrel. Taken on the auto tour at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, I loved how close you could watch the animals without disturbing them, this little falcon was cleaning his feathers. I see kestrels more often in the desert surprisingly enough but I’ll never see them this close again. Leastwise not until I’m 50 feet tall, I’m doing my stretches but no progress to report.

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 500mm | Canon 1.4X
Date: January 2, 2011

Charm & Challenge

Ellie in 2013 in the dining room of our house in Portland. Old homes are equal parts charm and challenge, it was built in the 1920’s so would be almost a century old now. We were there for 16 years, a pretty special time in our lives, one of the many families it sheltered over the years.

📷: Canon M | Canon 22mm
Date: September 8, 2013

Not Angry

Trixie seems a little angry in this picture but she wasn’t. It’s normal for her to be stretched down the length of my legs but usually her head is pointed towards my toes so I was thankful I had a camera at hand in January she was turned the other way round.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon DX 16-50
Date: January 26, 2023

The Rise of Boo

Since it’s Halloween how can I not post pictures of a cat named Boo? This was about six weeks after we adopted him in 2013, playing in my office atop the cat tree. The slow introduction paid off, the terrified kitten transformed when he knew he was safe, knew he was loved, knew he was home.

📷: Canon M | Canon 18-55mm
Date: August 18, 2013