All My Blogs

Time to paint the fascia, windows, and even the basketball backboard. I don't mind heights, but my 24 foot ladder was feeling a little shaky when I climbed to the top of the roofline.  So, if I was going to paint the fascia, I was going to do it safely, which meant renting scaffolding. I have used scaffolding before, but always with someone's help.  I was on my own.  Yesterday I went to the equipment rental place and grabbed enough of it to do the job.  Putting it together was a little hard, but nothing I couldn't manage.  I can also climb it, although I find that my body can't move around scaffolding the way it used to. I am slower, have tender spots where weight-bearing is a bad idea, and don't have the range of motion or strength of a guy in his 30s.  And yet I seem to be making progress. The good news is that I should be done in a few days.  My goal is to get one section done each day; there are 5 sections in all.  I use a wire brush and sande...

  Our dog, Murphy, dressed to kill, in a tux. Admit it, you've probably done it, or wished you had.  Dressing your dog up.  There's an entire industry geared to this exact purpose.  Halloween, of course, is standard, but then there are special events (weddings), important holidays (Christmas), and just because.   A lot of dogs wear bandanas.  You know, kerchiefs - those triangular fabric pieces that are wrapped around a dog's neck.  Then there is the clothing with a purpose - rain gear, cold weather gear, and even little booties to keep our precious pets' feet dry and safe.  You can even get cooling vests and anxiety jackets for dogs that need them. Of course, there is bling too.  Yes, bling.  Why wear an ordinary collar when a special, sparkly stud-infused harness could be flaunted?  Attached to these showy pieces may be fancy name tags, lights, or even location devices.  The collar has become a canine charm bracelet. Not...

American robin photographed with my iPhone - cropped and sharpened. I wish I had my camera and long lens with me.  I knew something was going on with the robin right away.  It was at least 30 feet away, could fly, and seemed to be foraging in the usual way.  But when it turned its head, there was a pinkish mass surrounding the eye.  I had never seen anything like it. The lack of detail hasn't helped, but it has at least provided evidence that something was wrong.  I looked up what it could be.  The most prominent theory was avian pox, although other possibilities included mites, finch eye disease, and cancer.  Of the four, avian pox was most likely the culprit, although most of the images from the search I did were different.  Below, I have included similar images I have found. An image search turned up these birds with avian pox. Avian pox is a viral disease that affects only birds.  There seem to be two types: a wet variety and a dry variet...

A yellow-legged flower fly on a sunflower in my garden here in Kelowna. Syrphus rectus , more commonly known as the yellow-legged flower fly, was seen visiting one of my sunflowers a couple of days ago.  I photographed this with my iPhone 15 Pro, and instead of using the macro function, I shot it as a 48 mp raw image, which produces better images when enlarged.  I wrote a blog on this technique here . This is an unusual flower fly in that it is active later on in the year rather than in the spring or early summer as many other flower flies are.  Its location here is also unusual in that it is more common in eastern North America.  The information I looked at says that its western limit is the Rocky Mountains.  The fact it is here seems strangely odd. The larvae (maggots) eat aphids; the fly not only is harmless (it looks like a wasp), it is beneficial.  The adults are apparently attracted to sunflowers, which is where I photographed this individual. ...

The view from Dilworth Mountain Park in Kelowna on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. My last few trips to Dilworth Mountain Park have been nothing exceptional, as the smoke-filled skies have rendered an otherwise awesome view mundane.  Yesterday, however, the clear skies yielded the views that I have come to expect, with the added bonus of half a dozen pygmy nuthatches flitting about in the pine trees.  I didn't have my wildlife camera with me, so you can see a photo I took earlier of a pygmy nuthatch below. Pygmy nuthatch I photographed two years ago. The rain has been welcome on so many fronts.  Aside from the air being cleansed of so many suspended solids, the fires in the Okanagan have been contained, lake levels are on the rise, and the drought conditions have eased.  I turned off my garden sprinkler systems as there is plenty of moisture in the ground at the moment. As I look up this morning, I see blue skies and the coming of warm weather, but not too warm.  It's ...

Larva, pupa, and adult forms of 7- spotted ladybird beetle. The scene is a familiar one that we have either seen in movies or read about in books as children.  The Tyrannosaur, a large, predatory dinosaur wading through a herd of gentle hadrosaurs, picking them off at will.  The carnage and chaos are unprecedented.    Now, take that scene and shrink it in size about a million times, and you have a ladybug meandering through a colony of aphids.  The predator may seem like a villain, dismembering the helpless herbivores, but really it is a benevolent carnivore, removing harmful insects before they can cause too much damage to the plants they have invaded. The seven-spotted ladybird beetle is now a common find in much of North America, although 28 years ago its presence was unknown on this continent.  It was first seen in New Jersey in 1973; since then it has spread far and wide.   They are considered invasive, meaning harmful to native populations....

Jen Myhre posing with one of her amazing works of art.  Kelowna, Canada Day. While exploring the waterfront of Kelowna during the Canada Day celebration, we came across some of the work done by a local artist.  My wife and I were struck by the quality and veracity of what we saw.  Beautiful.  Stunning.  Even those words do not do justice to what our eyes were drinking in.   Jen is a self-taught artist who produces "hyper-realistic" art.  Hyperrealism is defined as " paintings or sculptures that match or beat the detail of a high-resolution photograph. Artists use this style to show tiny elements like skin pores, water drops, or individual hair strands." ( Wikipedia).  The term perfectly matches her work - intense detail on a scale no photographer could capture. Jen's career came about through hard work and determination.  Her story is worth a read; I hope that you will be as impressed as I was.  Forged through fire as though shaped ...

Left:  A single egg laid by a female Polyphemus moth.  Right:  Female Polyphemus moth. Insects represent about 75% of all known creatures of the Kingdom Animalia.  They have incredibly diverse life histories, and all of them lay eggs.  The number, manner of laying, and size of those eggs vary as much as the species do.  Whenever I come across insect eggs, I am always in awe of this. I found a single egg this spring while camping in Clearwater, BC.  While some insects lay their eggs in groups, this one was clearly laid by itself.  It was also quite large, easily seen by the eye, and not terribly well hidden.  It was glued to a leaf that would be the food for the hatched larva. It was, I think, the egg of a large silkworm moth, likely Polyphemus.  The females emerge from their cocoons gravid, ready to mate.  She will mate as soon as possible, male moths detecting her pheromones and flying to her.  After mating, she will live only...

A male hooded merganser at rest but aware of my presence. Our brains are wired to look at eyes.  We tend to look at mouths when someone is speaking, but our first glance at someone always goes to the eyes.  That is not accidental.  If a dog doesn't know you, looking into its eyes may make it feel threatened.  Eyes give away intent.  They say, "If you are looking at me, I might be in danger." In photography, the eyes help define a person's face, show emotion and intent, and help to center our gaze.  In the above photo, it's the eye that you first notice, even though there are bold white lines present to direct your vision elsewhere.  Below, I have other similar images I have taken, each using the eye of a bird to draw your attention. Wood duck, Eclectus parrot, Blue-and-gold macaw I am always paying attention to eyes when shooting.  I often place them in a thirds position, use them to gauge if my presence is disturbing my subjects, and often taking...

Top:  White-faced heron, Little blue heron, Green heron Bottom:  Reddish egret, Black-crowned night heron, Yellow-crowned night heron, Great blue heron The three species of heron I have seen in Canada are the green heron, black-crowned night heron, and great blue heron.  The white-faced heron I photographed in New Zealand, and the other three were taken in southern Texas near the Gulf of (Ahem) Mexico.  And, if you didn't notice, there is an egret in the group. The body shape of herons and egrets appears to be the same, which isn't a coincidence.  Egrets are really just a type of heron.  They both belong to the Ardeidea.  The term egret typically applies to white heron-like birds or heron-like birds with a glossy coat.  Below are photos of some egrets. Snowy egret, Great egret, Cattle egret The only North-American member of the Ardeidea that I haven't seen or photographed is the tri-coloured heron.  Cattle egrets are an old-world species foun...