Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: female

(+3 insets!) Exciting News! But First, a Brief Summary of the Past 9 Months… Steve and I have been sequestered away on our property for what seems like forever... When we got back from Canada last September, we were both shell-shocked from the ordeal of our broken-down trailer. Then we bought a new trailer and got rid of the old one. Steve spent a long time working on upgrading and changing this and that to make it a real home on the road. However, before we could even begin planning our trip, an enormous wrench was tossed in the works…the corona virus descended upon China and eventually, the whole planet. At first I couldn't stop studying the statistics. When reality hit--this was really a pandemic--I dove into a hole, stopped reading the news, escaped into a series of video games to keep me distracted, and month by month, time passed. My sensitive and empathic nature, combined with the inability to block my mental chess games about what everything meant, kept me very distant from everything because the truth that rolled out was a totally overwhelming pill to swallow. Some of my worries didn't come to pass--most importantly, friends and family both online and off--have all survived without issue instead of dropping like flies. Others have--horrendous casualties due to countless stupid, selfish people, for instance. Recently we've watched as the United States has begun to open up again and wondered if we might ever get to take our trailer out. Steve's sister called a few weeks ago to say that she'd gone on a camping trip in her trailer, and that it worked out fine. We did a bit of nosing about. It looked like things might be easing up for RV camping…up to this point, Oregon State Parks were shut down for overnight stays, but as of June, parks were slowly starting up again. We Reserved a Campsite!!!! Yesterday Steve's sister called again…she'd just returned from a weekend at another campground and wondered how we were doing. She got Steve excited and he looked around at various nearby campgrounds. To our surprise, a place we'd found a year ago, which we'd hoped to some day stay at, had exactly one space available in two weeks…for a whole week! Over Fourth of July Weekend, no less! Excited does not express our feelings about this latest development! The very idea of camping…getting off this property…staying somewhere else for a while…WHAT AN AMAZING CONCEPT!!! We are going to try stringing on reservations as we can with hopes to stay out for a few weeks at the least. The way the reservations are set up right now makes it a bit interesting because you can't reserve a month out, only as far out as two weeks. We are curious to see how it all works out. Oregon Coast, Here We Come! We're going to stay at a lovely little campground along the Oregon coast, and from there, we'll see about reserving other campsites here and there. It will be a fantastic opportunity to revisit some of the places from last year's Coastal Trip but this time we're hoping to spend more time in each spot! If all goes well, we'll get to stay in campgrounds that were booked up last year, but we'll be delighted to repeat visits to places we stayed at before. It's interesting how our plans have changed. Last year we'd hoped to be heading to some national parks this season, or off to other states…but what with all that's gone down, we want to stay nearby in case we need to get back home in a reasonably short amount of time. Things are in such flux and *shakes head* there are upticks of virus outbreaks all over the place…who knows what that will mean? But we're going to head out and cross our fingers that we can camp and enjoy ourselves. Today's Pictures I'm posting a few more birdy pictures from last fall. Aren't they the cutest?! How wonderful it's been to have this marvelous super-zoom camera with its better capabilities! The bird in the main picture and first inset is a female Western Bluebird. At first I didn't think so because she isn't displaying any blue feathers whatsoever. But looking at various pictures online and reading more, I've learned that though they usually show a bit of blue, some females do not. I am also sharing a picture of a Lesser Goldfinch and a Pewee with a spider snack! I hope you enjoy the show! Explored on 6/15/20; highest placement #2.

I had a few images showing this butterfly's open wings that were a little more crisp, but this one shows both the butterfly and one of the tiny Aetole Moths I found on the flowers right next to it. I wanted to show the scale, and just so you know, the Acmon Blue was about the size of a dime, or about 3/4" in diameter.

3 more pictures in notes above! :) You know, I think the insect population on our property is conspiring against me featuring Milkweed blossoms as my Picture of the Day! Granted, I have a "top down" view that I featured the other day, but these flowers are amazing when seen from the side too, and deserve top billing!! When I arrived at our now-dry pond, where the largest concentration of Milkweed flowers bloom, I saw a tiny white butterfly flitting about from blossom to blossom...and all thoughts of flowers flew out of my head. BUTTERFLY!!!!!! *hyperventilating begins* You know, someone really ought to get a video of me taking pictures of a butterfly. It would be totally hilarious. Creeeeeeep.... *click*... creeeeeeeeep.... *click*... *butterfly giggles and gives me a raspberry before flitting off to a flower a hundred feet away* *Janet comes up with a dozen new good-natured expletives...after all, butterflies are skittish! :D* Creeeeeep ... *click*.... creeeeep... *click* ... *butterfly cackles evilly and flies to the next state* *more good-natured expletives, big sigh, fingers crossed that maybe one will turn out* I used to try frantically aiming all over the place as a butterfly zoomed everywhere...FORGET IT! :D I won't bother anymore unless they are being at least a little consistent in their travels! (um, fat chance!) :D Anyway, I had a wonderful time with this butterfly. It actually hung out long enough for a wonderful series of images! Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre in his time. He set a standard for scientific and engineering plausibility, and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. Wikipedia: Robert A. Heinlein Explored on July 25, 2013. Highest placement, page 1 (#20).

This female Evening Grosbeak is all about fashionable shiek! This image was taken by Steve Brien