Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Great Day on the High Desert

What a great day it was on the high desert. It was an almost cloudless sky and the temps rose to the low 90s. My kind of weather. 8v)

I decided I would hop on the old bicycle and head out to some of my favorite shooting spots and see what was there to shoot. I went to an area of Fireman's Pond which I call Dragonfly Corner and wasn't disappointed with my decision.

I obtained images of a male and female bluet doin-et. 8v) At one point, the female can be seen depositing eggs. I tried to get a shot of the special moment, but not sure I did. There was a lot of wind making keeping focus difficult. But I also came across what I thought was a female Blue-eyed Darner also laying eggs. I did get some good shots of that. There were also some other decent bugs in the area.

One of them -- actually two of them -- were what I am thinking now might be Blue Dashers, gave me a few good views which were good enough to knock off a few images. I originally thought the bugs were Western Pondhawks. After transferring the images to my computer and giving them a quick look-see, I'm not sure of the identification and figure it could be a Blue Dasher. And that in and of itself is interesting.

It's interesting because earlier today I was discussing the Blue Dasher with someone in, I believe, Florida. I had not seen one before today, and really didn't know they were in this area. However, the picture doesn't lie and if it is what I think it is, it is something new for me.

All that leads me to one conclusion...the right place at the right time. I never would have gotten the images of the bluets doing their thing if I had gone earlier, or decided to walk to the pond instead of riding the bicycle. Nor would I have gotten the possible darner female laying eggs. I might have gotten the dasher, or whatever it is. But then, I might not have.

Life is filled with moments which come once in a lifetime. I know mine is. I'll never circumnavigate the North Pole with RAF College at Cromwell, like I did in 1982. I'll never search for a lost person in an Arctic blizzard like I did 1983. I'll probably never experience another volcanic eruption like I did in 1980 and 1991, even though I live in an area where I am surrounded by volcanoes.

Although 99.9999 percent of the people would think my life is the most boring P.O.S. life any active person could have, I don't care. Sure, my computer knows me better than anyone else does, but I get occasional calls from family, and even a few calls from friends, but I don't care. And yes, my life would be a lot better if there was a good woman keeping me on my toes (interested Jessica?), but I don't care.

After all, it's my life and love it...especially when a great day like today comes along.

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