July 2020

Looking Down the Quill
Bozeman, Montana
2020

Not the Scariest Part
Bozeman, Montana
2020

Unknown to me until I found this skull, skunks have some impressively mean looking teeth. However, their sharp teeth aren’t the thing I’d worry about most in an encounter with one!

Found Things
Bozeman, Montana
2020

I could do a whole portfolio of images of the various things we’ve found on our property that are slowly taking over all the space on our windowsills. I found these two items on a short walk just the other day. I know for sure the skull is from a skunk. I assume the feather is from a hawk, or possibly an owl I suppose as we have both in the area.

Fleabane #2
Bozeman, Montana
2020

There are 170 different varieties of fleabane that grow in the United States. I have no idea which particular variety this one is, but I do believe we have more than one variety that grows on our land. (A conclusion based on observing a variety of stem lengths, flower shapes and when during the growing season they bloom.) The name fleabane comes from the plant’s supposed ability to repeal fleas–a claim whose effectiveness I fortunately have no first-hand knowledge of.

Fleabane #1
Bozeman, Montana
2020

Dualities #13–Road Reflectors
Bozeman, Montana
2020

We have several different kinds of road markers along the road to our house.

Everyone Else Is Doing It So Why Shouldn’t I?
Bozeman, Montana
2020

There are many, many photographs out there on the internet featuring the comet NEOWISE in some very stunning settings, so I felt no need to add anything to that collection. But the other night I succumbed to the temptation and took a few shots from our west porch. It was an true stellar evening (pun intended) as in addition to the comet I saw the International Space Station pass overhead, three moons around the planet Jupiter (through my binoculars), a few of the other four planets also visible that evening, and two meteorites, one of which I swore passed in front of the camera when I was taking this 10 second exposure (but alas it did not show up in the image). I don’t plan on doing anything with my comet photos, except it’s possible that NEOWISE will end up in one of my composite photos one of these days.

Harebell #2
Bozeman, Montana
2020

Blanket Flower #3
Bozeman, Montana
2020

Blanket Flower #2
Bozeman, Montana
2020

I’m used to seeing blanket flowers on our land that have a lot of red on the petals, like this one. But this year I have not seen any that had more than a smidgen of red.