Picture Thread 2017

HA! Yeah that guy does look like he's checking Forbin out! Forbin is above his peers in that arena I will admit - maybe it's not so shocking that he has a really attractive wife.
BTW that guy holding the raffle box has a really great "chub & tuck" going on. BTW the percentage of middle aged government workers sporting a chub & tuck is off-the-scale. In my opinion if your job requires you to tuck in your shirt, you should get a waiver if you look like you're nine months pregnant - seriously, that look does more harm than good in representing a professional appearance. And if you are in top leadership (like president of the US) you should at least look healthy, especially if you are relatively young like Obama. Just sayin'

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Chub n' tuck

USCGC Duane two weeks ago. Son, Paul the friendly but bald guide from Quiescence Key Largo, and me (behind camera). Usually extreme currents and so-so vis, we had no current and over 100' of visibility. Another boat had a large group of divers, many with rebreathers (see if you can spot them). The deep wrecks off Largo are technically challenging with more than a few deaths associated with them. We had it easy that day.

GoPro Hero 4 Black with rose filter. Post processing using free gopro studio software.

So happy to get to walk along with that gorgeous cloud cover hanging over me.

Let's see, to whence shall I scamper next?

I'll just stand here eating your bush, k?

Front porch sights this evening:

Screechy the hawk is still around.


The dandelions are in full fluff.


Got it JUST before the plane went behind our electrical wires.
Lufthansa 747.

Saw this when I was driving around earlier:



I think it's a red tailed hawk. I watched it kill a squirrel, which is under its talons there. After it killed the squirrel it just stood there in some dude's front yard while I and some others took pictures, because, city and hawks aren't usually found in cities. I think it did it for the attention.

I thought briefly about attempting to befriend the hawk, who I have named Jacob Manley, but he gave me a look that clearly said "This is my squirrel, asshole. Find your own," so I decided not to approach and moved on. I cannot build friendships with those who immediately eye me with mistrust. I did not want the squirrel, but I didn't think I'd be able to adequately explain that to the bird.

Mrs. Goldfinch comin' at ya.

Forbin's hawk pic reminded me - yesterday when I pulled into my neighborhood there was a huge turkey vulture in the middle of the road eating a dead squirrel. I had to honk at it to get it to move, and it moved just enough for me to get past it. Man those things are aptly named - it is just aboput the same size & color as a wild turkey! I wouldn't want to hit one moving very fast that's for sure.

The cop across the street from me was getting his power boat ready for a weekend trip a couple of weeks ago. My wife happened to glance over, and pointed out to me that a giant turkey vulture was in the process of dragging a dead squirrel under the boat trailer so he could eat in the shade. Officer Mike was in the garage at the time. If he came out later, I missed the inevitable encounter (and I didn't hear shots).

BTW, while he was loading up the boat, there were two huge red beach balls on the after deck (the boat is named "Smokey", btw). I was hoping to run ninto him later and mention that I always knew you had to have big red ball to be a cop.

maybe it's good I didn't see him.

So my buddy from Kansas (and my old unit) that lived with me for a bit when he moved out here had a birthday and some more 9C dudes came in. First time all of us have been together since 2011.

wow that looks like a fun get together!

Yeah, it was a good time. Witterman (birthday dude) hustled us pretty good. Got us all to come by telling us each all the others would be there. We didn't figure it out until night of!

Rub, baby, run!

I just noticed his tongue is sticking out in the 2nd pic. Must be concentrating.

The woods are full of green, but she just needed to jump the fence and check out my weeds.




Totally surrounded by food!



Like Carlin said - If I could reach, I'd never leave the house.

Unlimbering the 10-20mm wide angle. First one is at 10mm, the second at 20.

Flowuzz.

nice deer pics Forbin! Anywho, deer are eating the soft nutricious weeds AKA "forbes" because they taste better and are easier to digest - when you see deer out in a big grassy field that's what they are after, not the grass itself.
As for the "surrounded by food" pic not necessarily - those waxy shiny leaves might not be what they prefer. Deer eat the foods that give them the most energy without using energy to actually digest the food. Deer prefer foods with more "bang for your buck" (no pun intended) but when the food starts getting scarce they eat anything, to the point where they starve to death with a full belly, because some foods take more energy to digest than what their bodies can actually extract from the food.

(Vibrance up all the way, Saturation up a tad, spike the magenta and yellow, add a tetch brightness and a lot of contrast... )

Meanwhile, in the middle of my neighbor's back yard...

Cute yard critters, and the evil neighborhood beast determined to devour them.







He was very confused and surprised when a hail of white airsoft pellets started zipping around him from my full auto P90. Cou8ldn't figger out where the fuck it was coming from or where the fuck to run.

Suburban deer, the week in review.

Anybody know what kind of bird this is? I don't think I've seen one before!

Found it - it's a juvenile robin. The spots go away and the red breast comes in later.