Road Less Traveled

Some recent photos of a trail along the Missouri river after the summer flood.



Some of the trees had water marks almost 6 feet high.
At one point the trail just disappeared. Washed away as if it never existed.


How about a tune with that.
I like this song.
Road Less Traveled
By George Strait
Country genre, not something I usually go for.

wiki
George Harvey Strait (b. 18 May 1952)
American country music singer, actor, and music producer.
Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend.
George Strait holds the world record for more number-one hit singles than any other artist in the history of music on any chart or in any genre, having recorded 57 number-one hit singles as of 2010.
He eloped with his high school sweetheart, Norma in 1971.
In 1981, Strait and Norma welcomed son George Strait, Jr., known as "Bubba."
Their daughter Jenifer was killed in an automobile accident in San Marcos, Texas, on June 25, 1986, at the age of 13.

amazon
Album Nov 2001
georgestrait.com

At grooveshark:
Road Less Traveled
George Strait

There's a road, a winding road that never ends
Full of curves, lessons learned at every bend
Goin's rough, unlike the straight and narrow
It's for those, those who go against the grain
Have no fear, dare to dream of a change
Live to march, to the beat of a different drummer
And it all might come together
And it all might unraveled
On the road less traveled

For the road less traveled ain't for the faint of heart
For those who choose to play it safe and never stray too far
Me I want to live my life and one day leave my mark
And it all might come together
And it all might come unraveled
On the road less traveled

I've chosen a pathway I may not endure
One thing's for certain nothing for sure
And it all might come together
Or it all might come unraveled
On the road less traveled

For the road less traveled ain't for the faint of heart
For those who choose to play it safe and never stray too far
Me I want to live my life and some day leave my mark
And it all might come together
Or it all come unraveled
On the road less traveled

And it all might come together
Or it all come unraveled
On the road less traveled

There's a road, a winding road that never ends...

Cottonwood Road

"Cottonwood Road"


Another road/trail pic I like.
Big old cottonwood trees.

Photo Walk - New Trail

New trail, yippy skippy.


Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa):

bugguide
enature
wiki
butterfliesandmoths

Fox:

Small Mammals of ND

Toad:

Could barely see this little guy, very camouflaged.
Toad vs Frog
Reptiles and Amphibians of North Dakota
Woodhouse's Toad (Bufo woodhousii), maybe?
enature

My first pic of
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus):

npwrc
cornell
enature
"Voice: Rich warble similar to that of a robin but softer, sweeter, and faster."
(I thought it was a robin, before I saw it in my telephoto lens, because it sounded like a robin.)

Flowers:

ID by family
Mustard Family
Looks like a Sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis).
google images

Imagine - Dream

The Soft Focus Effect in Paint Shop Pro 9 seemed to fit this pic.
Font is P22ZanerOne.

Trails Out of The Archives

Digging around in my photo archives for trails, paths, roads theme.
I tried some post-processing effects on some of these to see if I could improve them.

Didn't do anything to this one.


With these next two, I know I took dozens of pics at different times trying to get a good exposure because of the very high contrast. These turned out well because it was a little later in the day so more sunlight, plus I zoomed in and eliminated the sky because that would have blown out.




Can't decide if I like this color boost or not. Plus the road is kinda ugly, but too hard to fix.


This color boost I like.


No color boost but I fixed the trails on these next three because they had lots of tar patches on them and looked ugly. I used the cloning feature in Paint Shop Pro 9.


Soft Light layering boosted color and contrast a little on these next two cloning trail jobs.



Soft light and sky gradient on this one:

All In a Days Walk

Different trail views of my walking path one day.
I love photos of trails, paths, roads, etc.

Start at the dirt trail


Thru the tunnel.
I added a little bit of zoom radial blur just for a fun effect.


Curvy:


Rest Stop:


Trees Overhead:

Winter Rec Trail

We have a lot of accumulated snow (snow depth) this year.
I stuffed my little S3 camera inside my coat to keep it warm and went for a walk along the rec trail.



You can't see this trail from the road like you usually can, cuz the snow is banked up too high. Yes, the trail is faithfully kept cleared of snow during the winter so we can use it year round. Isn't that nice.

There's lots of talk about flooding problems this spring.
Again.
It was pretty major last year.
That will probably be the main focus of the news in March and April.

Info Links from last year.
Previous Post

Sunflower Road

I tried different angles on the sunflower road view and I like these the best.

There was also this beauty further in the ditch:



And surprise, I had company.



He was the exact same color as the sunflowers.
Talk about blending in.



Then there was this sunflower which was very different and stood out from the rest along the road as we were driving by.



The petals (ray flowers) were fabulous:


Later, we saw this one lone sunflower in a field of wheat or grain of some sort. The result was a happy surprise with an unusual background effect to it. I like it.



Common sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

usda

efloras2

davesgarden
Family: Asteraceae (ass-ter-AY-see-ee)
Genus: Helianthus (hee-lee-AN-thus)
Species: annuus (AN-yoo-us)

(At first I didn't catch that double u in annuus.)

wiki
Sunflower varieties list

Try Google Images on Autumn Beauty sunflower.
Or how about Peach Passion sunflower.

Definitions:
phototropism
An orienting response to light.

heliotropism
An orienting response to the sun.

tropism
An involuntary orienting response; positive or negative reaction to a stimulus source.

Canola Field

S3 Canon:





XSi Canon:



The S3 seemed to do a better job with this canola field than the XSi for some reason.

Pretty scenery pic on the way to canola field:

Walk In The Field Part 11 - Grass2

This stuff was pretty. It was in a clump and stood out greener than the rest of the field grasses.

Closeup:


Crop:


No crop and still didn't get the whole clump:



The trail:


Possible Identity:
Crested Wheatgrass
Google Images

Fog On The Forty

Morning walk on our land, about 10 minutes after official sunrise.


The mowed trail makes a pretty picture.
Even with the trail, I was sopping wet afterward anyway cuz lots of moisture, but I didn't care, as long as I can see where I'm going.

Look at those ears peeking up over the hills/grass:





Fog, deer -- all fairly common.

Boy, was that deer surprised. Like he couldn't believe what he was seeing out there on HIS turf, usually no humans. It was funny.





Looks like houses in the background on last pic, but that is all just fog winding up thru the valley crevices.