I could have been the hero, but now I'm just the goat (Charlie Brown, Peanuts)

Or, perhaps Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront: "I coulda been a contendah! I coulda been somebody! Instead of a bum, which is what I am."

All right. Perhaps that's over the top. After getting up at 2:00 A.M. to be out in position for the third Blood Moon, I can be forgiven for being slightly unraveled.

Last year at this time I had a great Blood Moon--it began at 10:00 P.M. giving me a clear sky and very high angle (minimal atmosphere to soften the details in the pictures). I also had the entire sequence with an unobstructed view.  http://www.divexprt.com/TravelWndrsWorld/6MorningSkiesInVegas/MornSkiesVagas.html

This year the sequence didn't begin until 3:15 A.M., the angle had me shooting through thick atmosphere and halfway through the sequence the  !#!$!%!^! Moon disappeared behind the mountains.

So, let me just put up a few images and steer you to last year's video. It is much better.

 

The next Blood Moon, last in the series of four, will be on Sept. 28. I'll be in Grand Junction, Colorado on a photo trip. See how that one goes...

 

Yours sincerely,

Grumpy

Two weeks later, it's like a Spring day!

Sometimes persistence is rewarded. Two weeks after my last trip to snowy Utah, I returned to a fine, calm day which set the enterprise Lakes like gems in a tiara.

This wonderful day is also captured in a YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDVMOGKP0qU

On my first trip to Enterprise, Upper Enterprise was snowy and windy. What a change!

 

 

On the earlier visit, I flew from the southern end of Lower Enterprise Lake. I took this opportunity to fly the drone from near the dam at the North end.

 

 

After enjoying the lakes in such perfect conditions, I drove South to Snow Canyon State Park, a large recreation area outside St. George. This large valley has many miles of hiking trails, and a paved bicycle track around its entire perimeter.

 

 

In such a colorful place, I had to fly the Phantom!

 

 

This was a day worth waiting for! There is more on it at the drone page of my web site http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/Drones.html

 

Main web page is www.divexprt.com

 

 

 

Didn't get the memo--it's still Winter in Utah..

Spent a day in the hills North of St. George, Utah. There are some pleasant lakes there which I hadn't visited before.

Unfortunately, wearing shorts was a bad choice. There was a lot of snow left at Enterprise Lake:

 

I did put the drone up over the smaller portion of the lake:

 

 

 

After Enterprise, I visited Baker Lake, where a social gathering of ducks was under way in the northern end of the lake.

 

So, up went the Phantom:

 

 

There is much more which I will put on my Phanfare site http://divexprt.phanfare.com/2015/ and on my web site's national park and drone galleries.

 

After Baker and Enterprise, I went home by way of Gunlock Lake, which I droned on an earlier trip. http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/Drones/UtahDrones.html

 

On the earlier visit, I flew the drone up from the dam at the South:

 

  

 

This time, the wind was up when I arrived, so I just took some shots from the Eastern side of the lake:

 

 

 

Still, the human-interest moment of the day was the flock of social ducks at Baker Lake:

 

 

A small group of ducks were by themselves in the shallow water along the East shore, so I visited them. They didn't like my company:

 

 

This is a neat area. I'll go up there again soon--when it's a bit warmer!

 

Getting to know Little Finland better...

This is one of those places which takes several, perhaps many, visits to understand and fully digest. A local hiking-club president told me that 'Little Finland isn't secretive about its treasures,' and he was certainly right about that. Still, it doesn't show them all on a first visit or to the unobservant, either.

The sculptures are everywhere, but you have to find the smaller parts which 'have personality.' Like, for example, The Dragon:

 

Or the Far-seeing Man. What is it that he sees in the distance? Is that an anxious look on his face?

 

 

Little Finland is a big place, with many crevices and ledges among which to wander:

 

 

At the very beginning and end of the next clip we can see tiny hikers dwarfed by the immensity of the plateau:

 

 

While the drone is superb for understanding the larger context, to see the unique personalities among the sandstone sculptures, you have to be down among them. Only the largest, free-standing figures reveal themselves to the airborne. The best are shy; one needs to search them out. For example, here are two of the Three Bears:

 

 

Of course, there are the occasional parades of Creepy Critters right out in the open:

 

 

I know, I know. They've reserved the rubber room for my overheated imagination...

 

A final view of the sculptures along the North end of the cliff where the entry road allows us up onto the plateau. Visitors are drifting back to their ATVs and Little Finland will soon be deserted.

 

 

Little Finland has indeed generously shared many of its treasures with us, but I hope to return with some local hikers who know the place far better than I do.

 

Meanwhile, our recent spell of superb weather (as global 'warming' blizzards covered the northeast) will soon end.

 

Ah, but my out-of-state trips begin in May.  Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming will offer new adventures for the Phantom drone and its pilot. Woo-woo!

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the adventure!!...

After contracting a nasty flu bug on the flight back from Florida, I spent a horrid week sniffling and wheezing. Meanwhile, the weather was fabulous for drone flying--except that I couldn't do anything about it.

 

Yesterday I felt better, so I went to Little Finland to see more of its formations;

 

 

Coming to this deserted place on Sundays has advantages, as I discovered when I had a flat tire recently. I was to find that a life-saver again today.

 

 

There were occasional gusts of wind, but I picked locations which gave me some shelter. Meanwhile, you could see in that first video the ATV drivers racing around below.

 

Between drone flights, I explored for more stone figures among the hundreds up here.  While large areas of the plateau are barren, there are huge clusters of figures such as The Gargoyle:

 

 

And The Kissing Snails:

 

 

If the Cayman Islands Pirate Week folks will forgive me, here is a thoughtful cow in a pirate costume:

 

 

This one is a stretch, but how about Mother Moray Eel with offspring?

 

 

Won't buy that one, eh? Oh, well. I thought it might be a step too far...

 

 

I shot several satisfying videos up on the plateau, but retreated when the wind started to become more persistent.

 

I went back to the car, and made the fatal decision to take just one more short flight to shoot some interesting figures. Surely that couldn't be a problem, right?

 

Wrong.

 

 

I climbed up on the plateau, confident that I knew about where it landed. After all, how could you lose a big drone in an area like this?

 

 

 

It's easy.

 

I searched and searched but couldn't find it until a couple of kindly families on their ATVs joined me in the search. Soon, one of the moms called out, "I've got it! I saw the flashing lights down in a crevice!"

 

These nice people gave of their time to help. I'm very grateful. As a souvenir and life lesson, I now have a 55-minute video of that drone staring at that wall while the search went on.

 

 

Fifty-five minutes of that.

 

But I got the Phantom back and tested it in the air this morning. A-OK

 

Bonita Springs is a riot of color...

Another enjoyable morning walk yielded some beautiful colors:

 

An eagle grew curious, but I couldn't hold my hands steady enough to get a sharp shot:

 

 

Each corner was an explosion of brilliant hues:

 

 

And this was a gem of Nature's creation:

 

 

Finally, yesterday's highlight. Wandering through  a gift shop, I happened to spy some nice mugs with a shark theme:

 

 

 

Isn't it great? How creative!  My agent Phil was, um, intrigued. Who knows what tomorrow may bring? Meanwhile, the search for the source is on...

Roughing it in Bonita Springs...

I do go to all the really rough places. This time, it was Florida for my brother's 75th birthday.

This is the neighborhood:

 

Oh, did I mention that it is a golfing community and he's the only resident who doesn't play?

 

There are some pleasant walks for bird-watching:

 

 

Here's a blue heron:

 

 

And young nephew Max stalking it because he has no telephoto on his phone:

 

 

Some birds seem friendlier than others. Here's a bittern with attitude:

 

 

After a while, we find a fountain:

 

 

Very near the fountain, a local resident is sunbathing:

 

 

Not wishing to disturb it, we stay far enough away that it doesn't feel threatened.

 

 

Did you notice that he never takes his eyes off anyone who is nearby?

 

A very restful place, though there is a constant danger of Death By Golf Cart, as the locals race too and from the tees.

 

Be careful out there...