Do You Wanna See Some Buffalo?

I knew that I'd eventually get them. I've been driving past this buffalo farm so many times, but this is the first time I've been able to get a halfway clear view of the buffalo. Obviously there's not much room for them to roam so they don't ever really seem to be standing when I see them.

I have to say that these aren't the big prize I've been waiting for. I'm still watching for the wild buffalo that are free at Broken Kettle Grasslands. The buffalo here are more like cattle. They are being raised on this farm for reasons we don't need to think about too much.

The good thing right now is that I've finally gotten my first good buffalo pictures. So they're taken through a fence. So what? I'll still go back often hoping to find them at the front of the farm and walking around.

The times I've been here with them up and walking I couldn't get any pictures. I just couldn't see them well enough through the fence. I'm not that close when I get the pictures, so I have to rely on my zoom lens to help me with this stuff.

I'm getting ready to go out and do a bit more traveling again. Everything I've been doing for awhile has kept me kind of local and at off hours so I haven't been able to go on any good adventures, but that's about to change now. I hope to be able to see some new things and even revisit some things I've seen before.

That all means I think I'll have some good sources of pictures again. Getting pictures has been the tough part for the past month or so for me, so my posting has slowed down. That all should change now. These buffalo are only a beginning. I like it so much better when I can go out on a few good adventures here and there. I'll talk to you later.

Almost a Buffalo

What you are looking at in the picture above is a buffalo statue just outside the town north of mine. He appears to be all dressed up for Christmas. I took the picture a few days before then. He was a pretty easy target since he didn't move at all and even let me get right up close.

How do I know that he's a he? Take a very close look at him. It's interesting that they would put that little detail on a statue. I guess they have to do it right. I'd probably do the same if I made the statue. I'd leave off the Christmas decorations though so that random photographers could get better pictures.

I wanted to do this post a few days earlier but then Christmas got so close that I figured it might be better to take a few days off. I had a pretty good Christmas, so it was all worth it. I hope you did too. The next post won't take so long. I have some good stuff coming. I'll talk to you later.

I Can See Them In The Dark

Welcome to this rare weekend edition of The Everyday Adventurer! I don't know for sure, but I may post more often on the weekend again if this post feels good for me. I said before that my posting would be a little more unpredictable. This is where it starts.

I've been telling you that I have only been seeing deer when it gets dark around here. That hasn't changed. But I decided to do something about it. My new camera has all kinds of capabilities that I haven't tried out, so I thought I'd try a few night shots.

I saw these deer just after the Sun went down, so I wasn't sure what might happen when I took their pictures. I set the camera on the Night Scenery setting and the pictures came out looking as if they were there in the daytime. I was surprised I got anything at all. My last camera would have only gotten a bunch of dark blurs.

This is just a small herd of about four. It's actually kind of typical, but I also see them much larger. Much of the time there are several groups like this scattered around the same field. It was still a little early, so these four were alone. I wish I would have thought to take some closer shots, but the deer ran away too soon when they saw me.

I have a little more time on my hands so I hope to be able to post more often again. I've had a little trouble getting some pictures because the innards of my trucks side window broke because of the cold weather. Now the window is stuck shut. I have to take it in and get it fixed now. They're going to keep it for about a week.

I liked rolling down the window and taking some pictures right from the truck. Now I have to get out to do it. Animals that seem okay with a noisy automobile coming near them don't really like it when I get out to try to get pictures. These deer were no exception. Getting out of the truck can be good too though. I need the exercise. I'll talk to you later.

I've Been Seeing Deer

I keep finding myself away from this blog for too long. I haven't really been able to get any pictures for awhile because I've been away during all the daylight hours. So I haven't had anything to post. By the time I get home I've been too tired to get on here so I just had to put things on hold until I got time to do things.

Now I'm finally getting some time back to start doing this again but I don't have any pictures yet. My solution to that is I'll use some old pictures for this post. I'll have some more new pictures in a few days. It's good to have the time to do all of this again.

On my way home every night I've been seeing deer in the fields for miles and miles. It's not odd for me to see about fifty deer in one night. That's really fascinating, but that's where a little problem begins. The deer come out right at the time it gets dark and I'm only there when it's getting dark. That makes it impossible to get pictures.

My solution to this is to use these old pictures for this post. I think this was the biggest herd of deer I saw about four or five years ago. There were about six deer. The herds I've been seeing now can reach about a dozen sometimes. It's really amazing. I only wish they'd come out in the daytime. I guess that'd make all the hunters happy too.

It's not only deer that I've been seeing when it's too dark. Just yesterday I went past a place where I saw several trees that were just full of turkey vultures. The light was a little better at the time but I only had my phone camera with me. That would have never worked out well. I thought the turkey vultures were elsewhere this time of year. It's possible I was seeing something else.

I'm going to spend the next couple of days catching up on my blog reading. I usually do that before I write a post, but I wanted to finally get this one out. I'll hopefully see some of you here in the comments section or I'll be reading your blogs. Until then, I'll talk to you later.

I Found Llamas!

I took a little time off for Thanksgiving, and now I'm having trouble getting going on here again. That always happens when I take any time off. I wish I knew why.  I wanted to write this post for yesterday but I simply forgot to do it. I keep forgetting how good it feels to write my posts until I begin writing again.

Anyway, I was out exploring the countryside when I found a farm that had these llamas there. I think this is every bit as good as a buffalo sighting. Don't you think? I've heard of people keeping llamas here in the United States, but this is the first time I've seen any. I wonder why they do it.

I couldn't take very many pictures because I was stopped in the middle of the road when I got these. I ended up having to move along when another car came up behind me. I actually took many more than these two but the others were just variations on these. That's usually how I do it.

I'm so far behind with everything I don't know what to do. Even though there are plenty of good things around here, I don't get many pictures each time I go out. This last time it was only these. My problem is that I usually get started kind of late in the day and it gets dark too soon. One of these days I'll get started at a proper time.

Okay, I'll talk to you later.

A Giant Turkey

I almost didn't get this post up today. I took too long messing around with other stuff. Can you see the subject of my picture? It's a giant turkey made from a bale of hay. I thought it was a pretty fun idea. I've been driving past this thing for a while and I finally decided to take out my camera phone and get a picture.

The phone takes pictures okay, but they're not always the best. I'm going to have to get out there with my good camera and get some pictures. This time of year I start falling behind with these things. There's actually a lot of stuff around here to get pictures of. Maybe I'll swing back by this turkey with my good camera and see how the picture comes out.

I have to say I felt a little creepy while I took this picture because there was a guy watching me from the garage in the background. I decided that only one picture was good enough this time. I'll go back and take ten. I don't think he really minded though. After all, he obviously made the turkey so it would be looked at. I'll talk to you later.

Not Quite Captured

I like these pictures of the hills in the background here, but the pictures just couldn't really capture what I actually saw. That's a problem with most pictures I take. I don't know how it is for anyone else. Sometimes I get it like I see it, but most of the time the pictures are different than what I saw.

These hills are a few miles from where I live. They actually extend through the whole state, including inside the town I live. This particular place is very beautiful when you go there and look at the hills. I just can't capture that beauty with my pictures for some reason. Maybe I should experiment with that idea.
 

The road going through here is the same road where you can supposedly see the buffalo from. Of course I've never seen those buffalo yet, but I get to see the "Bison Enclosure, Keep Out" signs on the fences warning about the wild buffalo. I sometimes think I'll see a Bigfoot before I see one of these wild bison.

Whenever I see any of these hills, I feel like I'm home. I've felt like that my whole life, even before I ever lived here. My grandparents' farm was in these hills not far from where I live now. I drive past it often, but it has changed now with a new owner. Such a shame, but seeing it always brings back good memories.

I think that's enough until next time. I'll talk to you later.

Driving Through The Hills

There's not much of a story behind my pictures today. They were a couple of pictures I took while driving through the hills. On the left of the road is where the wild buffalo live. I still haven't seen them though. One of these days...

On my time away from here I had some time to think about the way to do things here. Before that I was struggling a little bit with my writing. Trying to say something interesting about every single picture had just gotten so difficult. That's when a slightly new thought dawned on me.

I can write about anything I want here. I don't even have to mention my pictures if I don't want to. I love the pictures, and I love talking about them, but they're just not always easy to write about. They are really only there to enhance my writing anyway.

I write best when I just type the first thing that comes to my mind. That's really the way I've always done it. If I have to think about what I'm going to write, then I begin to stumble a bit. That's when whatever I put down here never seems to be good enough.

I'm also thinking about posting a little more randomly. Sticking to a strict schedule is a little confining. I may post two or three days in a row now, but then skip three or four days. I don't know. I'm just thinking about doing it that way. Anything to feel a bit more free.

I took a bunch of pictures with my cellphone camera, but when I got home and looked at them the quality was just too poor. I'm going to have to go back out with my good camera and get some of them again. I guess that's the breaks. I'm learning how to use each camera properly all the time.

I think that's enough for today. I'll talk to you later.

I Finally Got Some Pictures

So I'm finally back. Like I said in my brief note, my absence was because of pure laziness. I got comfortable in the house on my computer because of the time of year and simply kept forgetting to leave. I've said many times before that I can't bring myself to feel very positive about fall, so staying inside has felt comfortable. And that meant no pictures.

The odd part of the whole thing is that I really went out and found several positive things about fall this year, but this time of year still depresses me deep down for some reason. I really have enjoyed my time out in nature though. I think I'll feel better when winter gets here. That's kind of strange, huh?

I also find it hard to get back to writing the blog after I've been gone for too long, like this time. Maybe you can identify with this. In a way I feel kind of embarrassed that I've been gone for so long. I always feel like the reason for my absence isn't quite good enough. But sometimes a break from even something you love is a good thing.

I do have to say that I feel quite refreshed. I still haven't gotten many good pictures since I said I needed them, but I got some. I just don't know what to look for this deep into fall. Our trees here never turned any pretty colors. The leaves just turned a very much duller green, and then fell off.

I also can't really go out to the nature parks as much because it's hunting season around here, and I don't really want to get shot while wearing my very brown coat. I see people out hunting wherever I go around here. That will die down as winter comes in.

I do feel like writing a bit more again. My Halloween posts were short partly because I had lost the right thoughts I needed to write. This break gives me some of those thoughts back.I did kind of like those short posts though. I may throw in some like that here and there as time goes on. Most posts will be more long winded like this one though because this is what I do it for.

Even though I never mentioned this beautiful barren tree even once in this post, I'll talk to you later.

A Little Lazy

I'll be back soon. I'm just being lazy. I need to go out and get some more pictures to write about.

Happy Halloween!

My last Halloween post features this creepy graveyard. It looks kinda creepy, doesn't it? Well, maybe not. But it was still fun to look at while I was there. I keep wondering if that's a real cow skull in the front of the picture. It's very possible since there are so many cows around here. A graveyard with real skulls.

Halloween is almost here. Do kids still Trick or Treat where you live? Wherever I go they don't seem to do it as much as they did when I was a kid. We seem to be losing one of the best times of the year. I hope I'm wrong about that. Anyway, I wish you all a Happy Halloween!

Talk to you later.

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

These two have obviously been waiting here for a long time. I don't know why, but when the one on the left saw me she jumped up and ran towards me. I didn't want a skeleton chasing me so I jumped in my truck and hightailed it out of there. I wish I would have taken some pictures of that!

I took all of the Halloween pictures from the last several posts at Ponca State Park in Nebraska. I didn't reveal that little bit of information before because I didn't think it was needed, but they deserve some credit for putting up their cool Halloween display. I have one more post of these to go.

Talk to you later.

A Scary Guillotine

I'm not really sure what to say about this one. I don't have anything humorous to say. It's just a good Halloween scene to scare you when you see it at night. A guillotine with a couple of victims. I wondered where the heads might be, but I guess they're lying there in the bucket.

I look at the guillotine in the picture now and think of how long it must have taken to build it. There used to be a machine where I used to work that looked very similar. It even had an up and down moving part like that blade. So I know with a few small modifications that this prop guillotine could actually work. Interesting.

I'll talk to you later.

Swinging In The Breeze

I think I have a theme for the week. I don't know what these people did to get hanged, but I'm glad I wasn't one of them. For all of you who live outside of America, they do this kind of thing all the time here. It's fun for everyone, except for those who are on the end of the ropes.

It's getting close to Halloween so I'll be torturing you with scenes like this one at least a few more times. There are some good ones and some bad ones. I'll let you decide which is which. I liked them all. I decided to keep these posts short so I'll talk to you later.

Motorcycle Parking

I came across this guy as I was driving around looking for something to photograph. I asked him if he needed any help, but he didn't answer me, so I figured he was fine. I wanted to tell him that there was a no parking sign there, but I saw that he was kind of busy.

He sure must have liked it there because he didn't move the whole time I was there. I see bales of hay like that all over the place around here, but I never knew they were good to rest in like that. I finally figured he didn't want to talk to me so I moved on about my business. It was a pretty good day.

I'll talk to you later.

Horses And Stuff

 I drive by these horses several times a week so I thought one day that I should share them with you. They're actually not the only horses I drive past, but these are the privileged ones I've chosen. Maybe one day I'll pick some other horses to show you.

I'm kind of distracted today. There's been a lot of good geeky stuff going on for me in the past few days. The day before yesterday I got a new robotic vacuum cleaner. It vacuums the floor by itself while I sleep. I always wanted something like that for purely nerdy reasons. It's doing a marvelous job so far.

There's also a big update to Windows 8 that came out yesterday. My internet connection is too slow for me to have downloaded it all the way already, so I'm right in the middle of that. The computer geek part of me can't wait for this. I'm excited.

It's getting cold outside around here now. I sometimes wonder how animals like these horses handle the colder weather. I don't think they mind it as much as I do. I see cows, horses, and sheep out there doing just fine in colder weather than this.

I don't make it a big secret that I'm one of the few people who don't really like fall. This season kind of depresses me. I see everything from the warm weather months going away. I try to be more positive about it every year, but it doesn't seem to work.

I'm going to try to look for good things about fall once again this year. The color changing leaves. The big flocks of birds. Oh, I don't know, other stuff. I'm trying. I wish something would work to make me as happy about it as everyone else is. If you have any ideas, let me know. Talk to you later.

Getting Closer To The Buffalo

I've been driving by the buffalo farm as much as I can for the past little while. The other day I went past and actually found a buffalo out in the open this time! Unfortunately all I had with me was my phone camera. You can see the buffalo in the picture above if you look closely.

I've been back there a few times now, even a few times with my good camera, but so far there have been no other buffalo out there where I could see them. I've been told that they let them out there a lot, but I have yet to see that.

Just in case you couldn't see the buffalo in the first picture, I circled it here above so you could see it a little better. There it is taking a nap in front of the back fence. The first time I went by here the buffalo were all just on the other side of that fence.

I couldn't get any good pictures of them on that first trip because the fence was in the way. As for what they do with the buffaloes at this farm, I'd imagine they do the same thing other farms do with cows. Maybe buffalo burgers and buffalo steaks. I don't know. I don't try to think about that part too much.

This last picture is what it looked like from where I was in my truck. The phone camera can only zoom in so much while keeping the picture clear. I think it did pretty good considering the distance and the fact that I was looking into the Sun.

Like I said before, I've still been going past there as  much as I can with my good camera. So I should have some better pictures one of these times. I've also been going past the place where they roam free and wild. One of these days I'll show you some buffaloes in their natural habitat.

I keep thinking that I should get some more pictures of wild turkeys. I see them several times a week right now. I wonder how they'd turn out with my phone camera. I guess I'll find out. Talk to you later.

Finally, A New Post!

It's been a long couple of weeks for me. It started out with a little extra tiredness. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I was so tired that I thought it was a good idea to skip a few days of posting.

Then just about the time I thought maybe I should get moving again, I woke up the next morning and the old dizziness from the car accident came back in full force. So I've been battling with that and some nausea the whole time.

I decided to rest until it was gone all the way. I've done absolutely nothing for the past two weeks. But now I'm glad to say that I feel better and I'm finally back. I'm heading to the doctor in a few days just to make sure everything's fine now.

 

So I decided to bring you some pictures of flowers on my first post back. I couldn't help but add Isabella into a couple pictures as well. She just didn't want to get out of the way. Something in the weeds interested her a lot, but I never found out what it was.

These pictures are really about that very top one anyway. I just like the way it looks. I took these pictures a little before all of the weirdness happened to me. I'll have some new stuff as soon as I start getting back out again. That should start today.

These are probably the last flowers of the year around here, so you won't be seeing any more from me for awhile. Maybe I'll share some of my flower pictures from this summer that I didn't have a chance to bring you though. I have some good ones left over.

And now that I know where to find the buffalo I'll be lurking around there for a few pictures if I can catch them while they're out. I've seen one now, but I didn't have a camera with me. it's not too far away so I'll maybe drive by there any time I'm out. Okay, that's enough for now. I'll talk to you later.

I'll be back soon

I'll be back soon. I just got a little sick. I'm feeling better now.

Fake Buffaloes

I really thought I had them this time. I was at the place where the buffaloes(bison) live. You can see down into their huge home from a few places on the road and a nice viewing area inside the fence. I saw the large animals down there milling around. I thought I had them.

The only problem was that the supposed buffaloes were very far away. They almost looked like dots on the faraway grass. I couold just make out that they were big four-legged creatures. What else could they be?

I had to zoom all the way in with my camera to get these pictures. I couldn't see with my own eyes exactly what kind of creatures I was looking at. They were in the bison enclosure so they must be buffaloes, right?

Nope! They were plain old everyday cows. Moo! I wasn't able to find out until I got home and looked at the pictures on my computer. I have no idea why they were down there, but I feel as if I've been tricked. These evil cows pretended to be buffaloes, and I want answers! I'll probably never get them.

So my buffalo hunt continues. I'll still occasionally go back to this same place to look for them because I've been told they are there. So one of these days those cows will really be buffaloes. But this isn't the only place I'll be looking.

I have actually already found buffaloes at another place. I didn't get pictures because there was a big fence in the way. It was pointless to get pictures of the fence. But they don't always keep them behind that fence. I'll keep going back there until I can get some clear shots. So, good news! I'll talk to you later.

Barnyard Birds

These chickens may not be as fun as wild turkeys or rainbows, but I like them because they were running around loose. Sure that's kind of common, but they were also kind of little. There are some ducks in there too, but it's kind of hard to see in these pictures.

I don't often see little chickens like these. Maybe they are a particular kind of chicken. I don't know, I don't know that much about chickens. I just saw them and decided I had to stop and take a couple of pictures.

I took these pictures with my smartphone camera so I couldn't really zoom in too much. It was the whole scene I wanted to get anyway. The birds saw me and decided to try to run and hide in the cornfield off to the left. The ducks made it there first. The chickens weren't so fast.

I didn't even bother to get out of my truck to get these pictures. That may seem kind of lazy, but I think it makes me kind of versatile. I can get my pictures quick and then zoom on to the next mini adventure. I won't always do it like this, but it's a good option. Okay, I'll talk to you later.

I Got Pictures Of A Rainbow

Something I've been telling myself for a long time is to keep a camera with me at all times. The only problem with that is my camera isn't exactly small. It's kind of hard to lug it around unless I specifically intend to use it.

On this particular trip where I got these pictures of a rainbow I didn't have my main camera with me. I was lucky enough to have my new smartphone with me though. I just bought a new Nokia Lumia 521 Windows Phone. I got it because it was very cheap and it syncs up very nicely with Windows 8.

I don't use a phone much but I wanted this thing for the computer. The phone was a nice bonus. It's not the best smartphone camera because this one is Nokia's lower end model. But Nokia is known for its cameras so this one works pretty well anyway.

The whole point is that I'm extremely happy with my new toy and now I'll have a camera with me wherever I go. Now I shouldn't miss a golden opportunity that presents itself, such as this rainbow.

As far as thew rainbow goes, I couldn't believe I had the chance to get it. I never thought I'd get any rainbow pictures. They are so rare and surprising. This one was so strong in the sky though that nobody could have missed it.

The rainbow actually showed up in three different places. There were two ends and what looked like maybe a reflection. And it lasted for maybe fifteen minutes. This last picture was taken several miles away from the first two.

I got to watch the rainbow finally fading away into nothing. It's just amazing that the conditions were just right enough for it to appear. I always think that when I see one. I never saw one until I was an adult. By that time I never thought I would. I'm glad I was wrong. I'll talk to you later.

Super Deluxe Turkey Post

I promised you something that I've never had before. I promised you something that I've been searching for and hunting and trying so hard to get. What it turned out to be was just a turkey!

But wait! That's not quite as bad as it might sound. I really have been trying to get some pictures of turkeys. I only rarely saw them back near where I lived in Michigan, but they're common around here where I live in Iowa.

I've been seeing turkeys around here all the time, except when I had my camera with me. I kept telling myself that one day I'd get them, and that day has finally arrived. I got a nice little flock of them for you too, and I even have a short video.

And now I have a new episode of Rat TV. You get to see these wild turkeys in action, walking around doing those kinds of things that turkeys do. Sure you'll never get these 49 seconds back again, but you'll get to see turkeys!

This picture above was what I first saw when I found the turkeys. They were just milling around minding their own business until I came along. I'm glad they didn't seem to mind that I was there taking pictures of them.

I was able to move around and get a little bit closer to them because they seemed oblivious to my presence. I'm not really sure how smart turkeys are, but they sure do taste good. I didn't really get the chance to find out with these particular birds though. At least I got some pictures.

I really can't describe how happy I really was to get these pictures. I have wanted some pictures of turkeys for a long time now. I've been hunting them a lot longer than I've been hunting the buffaloes. I can't tell you how many times I've had to stop my car to let some turkeys cross the street, and I didn't have my camera.

Now I have in my next post another thing I've been watching for but never have gotten until now. I've only seen these things a few times in my life so I'm glad I'll be able to bring you some pictures. This is something you really have to get lucky to get a picture of it. And you have to just happen to have a camera with you. Watch for my next post to see what it is. Talk to you later.

Broken Kettle Grasslands

I decided to bring you some scenes of the Broken Kettle Grasslands in the Loess Hills near where I live. There is some beautiful scenery around here. I've been wanting to share some of this with you since I moved here, but every time I try something goes wrong.

Sometimes it gets overcast on the days I choose to go out. Sometimes it's the wrong time of the year to show you what I want. And sometimes I just take bad pictures. This time I think they came out pretty good, and the pictures represent what I see pretty well.

I took these pictures while I was out looking for buffaloes. They are supposed to live on the land that these pictures show. This time I thought I had them, but the animals I saw turned out to be cows. I don't know what they were doing down there where the buffaloes live, but there they were.

Even though I missed what I was really after, I was still able to get these pictures for you. I took them in between the times I was looking down there for buffaloes. Most of the time I wasn't thinking about getting any scenery pictures so I forgot to take more from other places.

Even though I didn't find any buffaloes, I was able to find some other animals that I've been looking for. I'll reveal just what those were in my very next post. I even have a video! I've never had pictures of this kind of animal before. I can't wait to share them! I'll talk to you later.

Black And White Birds

I tried and I tried, but I never could find out the identity of these birds. They're just simple little black and white birds, but I can't even find anything even similar. I feel like I should know what they are though. I could swear I've seen them before. But I still really have no clue.

I took these pictures at Five Ridge Prairie nature preserve, the subject of my last post. These birds were flying back and forth and perching on these bare branches, making it easy to get a few pictures. I actually got fifty five pictures of them all together. These are my favorites.

With the camera I have now I can get pictures like the one above, where I capture a bird landing on a branch. My last camera wasn't fast enough to do anything like that. I'd try to take a picture and the camera would hesitate until the moment was lost.

Now I can take multiple pictures with the blink of an eye. Birds like these don't stand a chance against me and my camera. I can get several pictures before they know I'm even there. Sure I've gotten a few bad pictures, but there are far more good ones than bad.

The only real problem now is identifying the birds I catch on camera. I thought this one was going to be easy. I guess that idea was wrong. Oh well, I still got the pictures. And I got to go outside and enjoy nature quite a bit.

You wouldn't believe how much you can see by just one or two little trips out to nature. These birds weren't the only things I got to see while I was out there. There were all sorts of other animals there too. I'll share some of them in other posts. There are flowers and other plants. So many things.

I've seen bigger animals than these birds. They'll be coming in future posts. I've also missed a few animals that I was looking for. I thought I was so close a few times, but I just couldn't catch up to any buffaloes. My hunt goes on. I'll talk to you later.