Our 45th Wedding Anniversary trip to Dodge City, Kansas

Welcome back to our Smith Ranch blog! I am happy to post the first blog since I have been unable to since February 2021. That may be another post.

Click here to view our 45th wedding anniversary trip in Dodge City.  Most of these images were taken with my iPhone on the very back seat of a bumpy tour bus!  I regret not getting a picture of us that day... never even thought of it. 🙃  This is my first slideshow done on my MacBook Pro, so it's nothing fancy.  Enjoy!

Our daily visitors....

Since my hubby built a post to hang a bird feeder, we have been enjoying our daily visitors.  Our first visitors were red birds called the House Finch.  Next came the American Goldfinch birds.  The male is bright yellow while the female is a dull yellow.  Then we decided to change out the bird feeder since the birds made such a mess on the ground.  We changed to an older feeder we had in storage that had a tray on the bottom to catch some of the seeds. 

It was exciting to see the different color birds and when the Red-winged Blackbirds arrived, I was privileged to get three of them on the feeder at the same time!  I had a camera set up on a tripod in our master bedroom to get most of the images.  Below are my favorite images taken since we had our bird feeder installed in May.  Enjoy!

 

I shot a buck and a doe...

...and I shot them within seconds of each other!  Maybe not with a gun but with my camera. 😆

When I looked out my kitchen window a couple days ago, I saw something different in the pasture.  After I saw it move, I realized it was a deer.  I readied our Canon 5D Mark II camera with our 400mm lens and was hoping I could capture the deer on my way out of our driveway.  To my surprise, I discovered she wasn't alone; there was a buck too.  From the warmth of my car😁, I shot my first buck since we have been living in the country since 2009.  Here are the best shots of the buck and doe!  Enjoy!

Sunflowers and a Monarch Butterfly

Ever since I watched the IMAX show, Flight of the Butterflies, I have had an appreciation for the Monarch butterfly.  Did you know hundreds of millions of Monarch butterflies migrate from the mountains in Mexico through the United States to Canada?  It was exciting to discover a Monarch flying among the sunflowers I photographed in our yard.  Included below are a few images captured during my sunflower photo session.  Enjoy!

A visit from a Great Blue Heron

A Great Blue Heron made a visit to the Smith Ranch today and I was fortunate to capture this beautiful bird from our studio window.  Here are some interesting facts about this bird.  It is the largest heron in North America.  In flight, it looks enormous, with a six-foot wingspan.  Thanks to specifically shaped neck vertebrae, Great Blue Herons can quickly strike prey at a distance.  Despite their impressive size, they weigh only 5 to 6 pounds thanks in part to their hollow bones--a feature all birds share. The oldest recorded Great Blue Heron was found in Texas when it was at least 24 years, 6 months old.

Pictured below is the Great Blue Heron that paid us a visit today.  It appears that he is looking directly at me while taking his picture.  Ain't he purty?

Ace at sunset

I couldn't resist capturing Ace at sunset on this beautiful and unusually warm day in February.  I grabbed the camera using our 100-400mm Canon lens and called Ace who was across the pasture. The images below show him responding to my call and ends up with a closeup of his face.  I like how the sunset is backlighting Ace and puts a pretty rim of light around him. I've included seven images of Ace for your viewing pleasure!

Beautiful view of Junction City from atop J-Hill

What a beautiful day it was to capture Junction City after sunset atop of J-Hill!  This photo is four images merged/stitched together to create this panoramic view of my beautiful town of Junction City, Kansas!  Yes, I love this small town where God sent me at the age of 18!  I hope you do too.  God bless ya'll!

A Patriotic Sunset

I couldn't help but notice the colors of the flag in the beautiful sunset that I captured last night from our front porch, so I named it, "A Patriotic Sunset."  Thank you to all who have served the military in any capacity and fought for the freedom that we enjoy!

Fields of Colorful Tulips

While in Topeka, Kansas, taking portraits during photo sessions, I slipped in some personal shots of the beautiful tulips in bloom at the Ted Ensley Garden and the Doran Rock Garden in Gage Park.  I've included my favorite images of the colorful tulips for you to enjoy!

Spectacular Waterfall in Junction City, Kansas!!!

Last Wednesday, a photography friend and I trekked to Geary Lake Falls (located south of Junction City) hoping to find water flowing over the dam.  We were not disappointed!  The weather was perfect for photography!  I was glad that I wore my boots as I had to walk through water to take the first five images below.

The waterfall is only active in the spring or after a heavy rain and we were blessed to have a recent rain in the area.

The waterfall spans about 35 feet.

A panoramic of a smaller waterfall a short distance down from the main waterfall.

The image below shows the stream flowing down from the waterfall.

The image below shows the top of the waterfall taken after we climbed back up the hill to the top of the dam.  Talk about getting some exercise!  It was difficult trekking down the woods to the water below as the hill was very steep!

The below image was taken from the northeast area of the lake on top of the dam.  The sky was even more beautiful to the east side of this image.  The redbud trees were past their peak but still added some color to this beautiful scene.  You could hear the waterfall from this location.

We drove to the Geary County State Park and hurried to photograph these geese and ducklings before they swam too far away.  

Below are some cattails that survived the winter at the lake.

The sun was beginning to set as we left the Geary County State Park.

Tulips, etc. by Marjorie

My friend Marjorie accompanied me to photograph tulips in downtown Wamego, Kansas, then we drove to Ted Ensley Garden in Topeka to photograph more tulips.  I was so impressed with the quality of Marjorie images!  They have not been altered except to darken them and enhance the color to match the original scene.  I had no idea what Marjorie was photographing as I was so focused on getting images for myself.  This first image is my favorite that Marjorie took.  She did an awesome job and I have included my favorites for your viewing pleasure.  To view all of her images, they are available on vimeo here.