Friendship Award

I recieved an award from Marie of Heimdal form Norway for making friendly comments on her sight. I feel comments are the life blood of blogging. The unique feature of this award is that he is not tied to performance, but for friendship.
I made a list below my new blogging friends, they give me joy in my life everyday. They also have great sites. Is there someone who has visited frequently and writes a comment on your work, if so you can give them an award. Take a look through each one and enjoy their sites. I have made a link to all so click on the name to make a visit.

Tipper

Jack & Joann

Fish Wisperer

Lawstude

Mac

Luiz

Lisa

Carolyn

I hope each of you pass it on to your friends.

A Potpourri of Shots 2

What happens when two bees are working the same area, sometimes they land on the same flower. They continue to work and do their job. This bee was very co-operative.
There was honey bee also gathering nectar.
The garden is producing really well, this is August 12. The tomatoes are starting to get to the larger size.

This was yesterday and the Cherry Tomatoes are as sweet as can be. It's just like popping a piece of candy in your mouth.
This was a snake at work that was on the gravel in the morning and a car tire smashed it. It was a mummy when I found it. One of my neighborhood rabbits was being co-operative one night. This one was a real cutie pie. The final shot is a cloud formation that I thought looked like past President Clinton. What do you think? Do you see someone else.
Hope you enjoyed the fun of a diverse group of photos.

A Crappie Weekend

It's Saturday morning and I'm headed for Lake Hodgson. I haven't fished much in the dog days of August. The weather has changed recently and it feels more like September. Since the fish don't have a calendar this could be really good. The Fall bite is usually excellent as the fish bulk up for the Winter. Look how calm the lake looks, that changed to a North wind later in the morning. I worked my boat to a deep underwater structure and started casting. An 11" Crappie on the first cast. Talk about a good omen. The fish continued to bite and I kept feeding them minnows. This is my biggest Crappie of the day a 13" Fish Ohio Crappie. I also caught a 12" Crappie to add onto the catch. Most of the Crappie were 9" to 11", a nice haul for sure.
Here is a 15" Large Mouth Bass I caught a released. Here is a lineup of several of my nice catches. These are 13" through 11" Crappie, what a treat.
The cooler was still filled with fish when I took the photo. 50 Crappie and one Bluegill was the catch.
Bright and early Sunday I was on the lake again. The bite wasn't quite as strong or big but it was a sporty day. There were two doe and three fawns on the shore. I wish I had my good camera at that point. Two Bald Eagles flew by at the same distance as I fought a fish to the boat. There where three Great Blue Herons doing a circle flight at the far end of the lake. I love it when you see wildlife in action. Sorry I didn't have my good camera on hand but this camera does a fair job.

Rob and Eric were anchored near me and Rob from Van Wert, OH caught two Crappie and this nice Large Mouth Bass. I had given them some fishing advice and Rob thanked me for my help. They were using plastic verses minnows and the minnows far exceeded the catch ratio. Eric was from Ravenna, Ohio said he just wanted to see me put another minnow on after each catch because I had a section were I caught one on every cast. I work hard to convince the Crappie they are hungry. The catch for Sunday was 35 Crappie. There were a lot of 9" to 11" Crappie in the cooler. They were mostly Black Crappie with a few White Crappie interspersed. Beside the color variance the Black Crappie are football shaped while the White Crappie are torpedo shaped. What a fun packed weekend, one to be forgotten quickly. You can see the other birds I photographed on Saturday on the Camera Critters post.

Today's Flowers #2

My friend Luiz Santilli Jr. has started a Today's Flowers Meme, check it out. Come and join with your flower photos. You can get in on the ground floor.

This is the Stag-horn Sumac Tree - Rhus typhina. It is outside my work place. I thought this unusual flower deserved recognition.

This is a beautiful flower and the leaves on the tree turn a bright red in the fall to match the flower.
You can click on the photos to get a better look.

Camera Critters #19

Camera Critters by Misty Dawn, go here to see who's participating.

I was fishing today on Lake Hodgson. It was a little windy but a great day for a sweatshirt. It got warmer as the day proceeded. The birds were active on the lake. Click on the pictures to get a better view.
The Canadian Geese flew bye honking.
The cormorant was showing off on the buoy.
The water pup was a busy place, the Great blue Heron was fishing and the gull and cormorants were resting.
I was able to get fairly close to the Great Blue Heron. I saw him snag several fish from his perch.

The sea gull was not doing much.
Dillon was a little guy fishing the shore. He caught this Yellow Perch, a Bluegill and a War-mouth.
The Fishing Guy caught some also but that's for another day.

Sky Watch Friday 8-16

Sky Watch Friday has a new home and a life of it's own. Please check out the new sight and link in if you wish to participate. There were 330 people last week with beautiful Sky photos. You can link in from my side bar or above

This is not my most interesting Sky but certainly an interesting capture. A hot air balloon was in the sky and heading for me. I reached out to capture it but ended up that I didn't have to because it was coming at me. I was at a park on island in a stream near a dam.
It continued to get closer and I kept shooting.
I got a real treat as it continued toward me.

It went directly overhead and I was able to get the burns.
I was even able to get a reflection shot in the stream.
It went about 100 yards and on the other side of the stream it landed.
That wasn't what I came to the park to capture but was very happy with what I did capture.