March 05, 2012, midday
Out about 40 minutes. 62 images.
The day is dark and blustery but though there was a lot of wind, the wind had the soft feel of spring.
I thought the buttercup buds I found February 22, almost two weeks ago, would be open or dead from the cold. But they were neither. They were advanced very little.
Both plants had some damage from the deep cold. The snow cover probably saved them.
I see that I did not photograph my locator rock on February 28th. It was still covered with snow.
South pond has considerably more water in it but it’s still only a big puddle, nothing like last year’s small lake.
Rose found lots of buttercup buds and two more plants with yellow showing in their buds while I was dinking with the February 22 buds. One of the plants she found has three buds well advanced. You can see green pistils.
Rose found what I suppose to be feathers from a quail. I suppose a cat got it. I had too much fun manipulating the images. I can’t throw enough of them away. I’m sure they look better as I see them on ‘a slideshow’ than they will on the blog. I can delete some when I see them on the blog.
I photographed the two rocks I thought might be my locator rock on February 22. I manipulated them partly as experiments in seeing rocks. The second rock is clearly basalt but the first shows textures that make me wonder.
It was good to be out in the weather.
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| My locator rock was under the snow till a couple of days ago. It didn't show on February 28. The closed bud from February 22 is above and to the left of the more open bud. |
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| The bud showing yellow on February 22 is little changed |
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| The bud slightly open on February 22 is slightly more open |
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| Rose marked her first find with a ring of rocks. It's maybe a hundred feet north of the early buds |
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| Rose' second find was far advance over the buds I found February 22. We didn't mark these. They are a short distance east and north of the early buds. |
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| These look to be in better condition than the buds I found February 22. Were they better protected or did they come on, quickly, since that time? |
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| Lots of buttercup foliage everywhere, lots of green buds |
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| Lots of Lomatium gormanii everywhere. I hadn't noticed this association before |
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| South Pond from the south swollen by the runoff from the recent snowcover |
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| South Pond from the north. Rose is barely visible in the distance. |
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| Another willow. I thought I could bring up the texture in the sky but the light was too weak |
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| These two rocks were visible in the snow February 28. I thought the one, above might be my locator rock, it wasn't. I manipulated the color of the rock above to bring out it's texture. Looks a little strange for basalt. |
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| Quail fethers, I suppose. hard to find a place out of the wind to photograph them |
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| The manipulation was just darkening the mid-tones and heightening the high tones |
