A Fine Fowl

This owl looks cold.

It's a barred owl sitting atop a tree at the Warm Springs Mountain overlook not far from the airport. Bethany saw it and I crept up to it until I was standing about 15 feet away. I had a few moments of some amazing shooting before the owl swiveled its head, looked at me and decided I was interrupting it's peaceful nap and flew off to a quieter place to snooze.

And it was as cold as this picture makes it look.

There's nothing really artistic about this photo. I had opportunity and a camera, so I snapped everything I could in the all too-brief time that I had this beautiful bird for a subject. I think I wound up with about fifteen photos total, including this one:

I wish I could have somehow done something more artistic that just these portraits, but you do the best you can with the experience you have under your belt and the time you have to work with.

On a completely unrelated note, I think I've finally pinned down the software I need to convert the manuscript for The Crownless King into pdf form so that I can get it sent off. Now I just need to get off my tail and get it taken care of. There's some minor processing left to put things together before shipping. Bethany's taken on a tremendous load of processing photos, thankfully (because I really hate that aspect of the wedding business) so I hope to find some time to get this done. It will definitely be out before Christmas, though the question of when, exactly, is up for some debate.

I apologize to all you dear readers out there looking for a little philosophical meandering along life's road. It's been a long couple of days. Bethany's surgery went perfectly yesterday and she's now going through life without a gall bladder. I didn't get much sleep last night as I tried not to bump into her (after all, she'd just had surgery 12 hours before and was hurting) and tried to wake up during the night to make sure she was still doing OK. Fortunately, she's doing pretty good other than the pain and soreness that I'm sure accompanies any surgery.

It's time for me to lay my weary head down and get a little sleep. Perhaps tomorrow I'll meander philosophically down life's road with you, dear reader. Until then...good night...