Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: cycle of life

Please forgive me if this offends you...it's part of the Cycle of Life and a very rare and special sight! Please note: Tomorrow (Monday), Steve and I will be travelling with our RV to our campsite on Upper Klamath Lake. It's about 1.5 hours away and the plan is to arrive early so we can set up and have the rest of the day to relax and enjoy the amazing environment. We don't know what internet reception will be like, or if there will be a cell tower anywhere nearby. Therefore, I may or may not be able to post any pictures while we are gone. The hope is that we'll have enough signal to upload at least one picture each day. No promises though! Cross your fingers! In the afternoon two days ago, I looked out the kitchen window and nearly fell over. In the 12 years we've lived at our property, we've never seen turkeys "getting down to business" before but there they were!! I yelled to Steve and he ran over to see. We couldn't believe it! Steve told me, "Janet, I can't believe you're not out there with your camera already!" Staring at the spectacle out in our meadow, I answered, "Oh, by the time I get my camera they'll be done, and besides, I don't want to disturb them." "You should try!" was his response. I grabbed my new camera and took some pictures through our kitchen window. Steve continued, "They probably won't notice and you should go outside! Come on! I'll open the back door!" With that, I peeked out with my camera once the door was open. They didn't notice!! At full 25x zoom, I was able to get pictures that cropped to full-frame and still had plenty of wiggle room if I'd needed it!! The light was great and so was the angle…what were the odds??! I took lots of pictures at different apertures and then Steve said, "Why don't you try sneaking around the side of the house for an even better angle?" I thought that was a good idea, since I got all the pictures I wanted and if I didn’t get any more, it would be fine. And, as it happened, by the time I rounded the corner, the hen was gone and the tom was looking very satisfied and going back to his full-fluff display. No worries, I couldn't be happier!! Steve took a peek at my pictures before I went up to copy them over and he was like, "JANET!! THESE PICTURES!! THEY ARE AMAZING!!" :D And once I looked at them on my computer I was just so happy…all but a couple were perfect. I am posting the most "PG" version because I got some others that had my extremely liberal husband screaming, "EWWWWWW!!" ROFLMAO, that's just so funny! I would never have gotten this picture if I didn't have my new Sony camera. Again...what are the odds? I'm so happy...and I'm thanking my lucky stars!! HOORAY!!! Not going to post any other pictures today…the main picture is too distracting! :D Pam, I looked up "turkey" and found a marvelous tom with such beautiful coloring! What a delight to see these modern-day dinosaurs walking around so close to us! :) I hope that this day is treating you well! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 4/22/19, highest placement, #1.

MANY, MANY pictures above to show Roscoe from when I first met her until today... I checked on Roscoe last night and this morning, and she was near her egg sac each time. This afternoon, she was further out, legs held closely to her body, sitting quietly (see the inset image above). Then, at about 4pm, I let the dogs out and Roscoe was gone. I looked everywhere on the walls but she wasn't there. Just before I went back into the house, I thought about what she would do if she needed to crawl to a dark place to die. I looked down and checked the cement...and there she was. I could barely see her because she was so perfectly camouflaged with the colors of the stone, but I noticed something moving, which gave her away. Making her way slowly over the ground, she was just about to the edge of the porch. It was amazing that I spotted her before she was gone forever. I dashed into the house and back out, and she'd gone to the edge and crawled off the side, so I went around to the front in the garden and I saw her making her way to the edge of the cement and wanting to crawl down. She hung there for a moment, and that's when I took this picture. She wanted to go down but she had no more silk to lower herself, so after a few seconds she dropped into the leaves below and sat for a moment. I reached over and gently petted her soft, velvety abdomen, the only time I've ever touched her, and I said goodbye to my friend. After I left, I checked once more, and she had crawled out of sight. Rest in peace, dear Roscoe.

NOTE: Please forgive the tragic nature of these images. It is not my intention to offend, alarm or disgust my visitors, but only to educate and enlighten. About a month ago I was out taking pictures of Larkspur flowers when I heard rustling about 20 feet away. I stood and slowly moved in that direction, looking very carefully as I went. At first I saw nothing, but then I gasped quietly in surprise when I located the source of the noise. It was a garter snake that had just caught a blue-belly lizard, something I'd never witnessed in my life! The two were completely still as I creeped towards them, and I began taking pictures and tried not to disturb the event unfolding before me. Some may wonder why I didn't try to save the lizard, but it's not right to meddle with this cycle of life. This garter snake must eat. The lizard wasn't wary enough, and its genes will not pass to the next generation, but a more wary lizard's genes will. For me, this was a chance of a lifetime!! I've been out in the woods for countless hours from when I was a child and I've seen so many things, but this is the first time I've witnessed a snake's successful hunt. I am so happy that I could take these pictures, and I was quiet and slow enough that I was able to take all the pictures I wanted. When I was done, I backed away slowly and left the area, thrilled at what I got to see. A few days later another astonishing thing happened. I was walking down our road, very close to this spot, when I noticed something sticking out of the grass. To my amazement, a garter snake--and I believe it was the same one--had raised itself up about a foot off the ground and was staring into my eyes, I kid you not! We stared at one another for about two seconds when one of my dogs broke the trance by coming over, and quick as a flash, the snake turned and zipped away into the grass!! Never in my life have I seen this happen. Truly remarkable! And finally, if you can believe it, this happened AGAIN several days ago, but for just a few seconds this time...the snake seemed to recognize me and sank back into the grass to go on his way before we could lock eyes. So interesting! This image was taken in April, 2012.