The Bee and the Rat Snake
It’s been very hot and very dry here. Nothing is terribly photogenic right now and it is difficult to get motivated to go out somewhere in all this heat. But I have tried to take a few photos while walking around in the mornings and evenings. Some of the photos have been ‘OK’ but nothing spectacular.
First I have a bee on a sunflower and a little rat snake.
It is quite difficult to focus on a bee as it seldom sits still and the dark parts of it don’t show up that well, but they are pretty with the sunflower.
The little rat snake was quite scared of me and I had to kind of follow it along in the grass to try to get good photos of it. When these things get bigger, they can really scare people who think they are dangerous, but rat snakes are quite harmless to people. I also saw a much larger Blotched Watersnake but I could not get a good photo of it as it was very quickly getting away from me.
Sunset at the Train Station
On a couple of nights I also tried to get a nice sunset at the train station. The clouds conspired against me though. In the first photo, I was hoping that this large cloud bank behind the train would light up orange, and it tried to but the sun was soon blocked by other clouds. In the second picture, the train went away and I was left with the ugly background across the road.
I watch the skies and will try again some time. We just haven’t had nice sunsets lately. Also, the sunset moves earlier each day, so I have to try to line that up with the train schedule to get the train in the shot.
The Cottontail and the Foot Bridge
I found a rabbit eating some plants in the evening sunlight. It sat still for a few seconds as I tried to get around him to where the light was better but then scurried off into the brush. Below was the best that I got.
Not far from this, I scoped out a foot bridge for a possible sunset photo. The path (which leads to where the above rabbit was) almost points to the sunset and the color of the bridge might show up well with the sunset. If I shoot wide enough you won’t really notice all the distant houses. So, another place to keep in mind.
We did get a nice storm on Saturday morning and we may get rain from one of the tropical storms heading into the Gulf this week, so maybe things will green up a little bit.
Other Thoughts
I have my father’s old Nikormat camera. I think that it is about 50 years old. I have had it for a while and I decided to take it to a camera shop and see what could be done with it. Hopefully they can repair the shutter and get it working and I can shoot some roles of film and have fun with that.
The new WordPress editor is quite aweful. I don’t know why they are forcing it on us. I find that I have to work twice as hard just to put an image in my post and have it show up like I want it. I may have to resort to HTML. So, I am disappointed with that.
Hopefully I can get something better to post next week. The worst of the summer heat is upon us until late September, so it is hard for me to find motivation to go hiking with +100F temperatures. But I may force myself to go out.
Jason Frels 
One thing’s for sure, you’re diligent. When I read the title, I thought you had taken a trip to Oklahoma, and shot some photos. They look better than OK, to me.
I’ve never liked any of WP’s editors, except the Classic editor. Occasionally you can do things with the new editors that you can’t with the Classic, but overall, the Classic editor seems to be the most flexible. I can still find the Classic Editor by clicking on WP Admin, which takes me to the classic Dashboard. Then I click on Posts, which shows me a list of my recent and scheduled posts. At the top of the page, where the title “Posts” appears, there’s an Add New button. Beside that is a small, drop-down box in the form of a downward pointing arrow. By clicking on that drop-down box, I get the choice of Block editor, or Classic editor.
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They make formatting the way images are displayed very difficult. I have tried to use their block editor several times. It just often doesn’t display correctly. It just isn’t good yet.
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The main thing I’ve found the block editor good for, is that when you click on “Copy,” below a post in the Dashboard, it will copy the formatting of that post and open a new post in the Block Editor. From there, I save the new post as a draft, then return to the dashboard and use the Classic Editor. This comes in handy when I’m posting a series, and want each post to have similar formatting.
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Well, I am sure that I can make it work. It just seems more difficult than it needs to be and kind of clunky.
I am excited about the old film camera. I hope I can get it working as it was just to photograph me when I was a little rugrat.
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That would be cool if you could. Film has a different look to it, than digital.
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Wonderful photos! The sunset looks really phenomenal.
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Your Ok shots look great to me! I zoomed in on that bee. Cool details!
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Thanks.
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The word “OK” doesn’t describe any of your photos. They are all great, yes, even the snake. Though it does look scary! At least you warned me that it was coming.
The rabbit I absolutely love! The sunset at the bridge is my 2nd favorite.
Thank you for venturing out in the heat for us! Glad you got some rain, hope more comes your way to cool things off!
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It was such a little snake.
I’m glad you liked the rabbit. I kind of thought that it was an unremarkable shot. I did like catching him with salad in his mount.
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It may have been little but it still has beady eyes. And its head was raised as if to strike which was a cool shot but I still would rather just see it in pictures and not for real. There are no snakes in fairyland. 🙂
I just really liked how the rabbit was looking right at you and its ears were straight up. Plus eating the salad did add to the photo.
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Yeah, the nice thing about the rabbit photo is that there is not one hare out of place.
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Oh you just couldn’t help yourself could you! 🙂
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I’ve done all I could to stay with the classic editor. The block editor is buggy as hell. It is designed for folks that know little of HTML/CSS and just want to blog. I was a web programmer with the state of Texas (General Land Office/Veterans Land Board…I may have already said that) for a decade. I am constantly tweaking my stuff on the “text” side.
The rail line was just being completed when I left. I always went to the bus depot close to Round Rock to ride in with the Longhorn students. IIRC, it’s on 183? Around Lakeline? I’ve been gone since 2011. My memory is weak. I just heard about the guy in Cedar Park…
Excellent captures.
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There is a train station where you describe. I have ridden the train in and walked to work several times. It is quite a walk, but good exercise I suppose.
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My house in Brushy Creek was 22 miles from my office in the Stephen F. Austin building. I could never walk that.
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From the Kramer station to where I work is a 25 minute walk.
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That’s cool. You with Dell?
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No, NI
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Ah! Cool.
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I like the train station. That certainly has possibilities fro a great sunset shot, keep persevering!
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I have to line it up with when a train will be in the station. Right now they get there about 10 minutes after sunset unless they park one there for longer. I will keep trying as it is close to home.
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I am not looking forward to when I am forced to switch to the Block Editor. Hopefully, Tippy’s suggestion will do the trick.
I’m with Carolyn on the snake, harmless or not, I want nothing to do with them…
I thought the photos were better than OK; especially like the bunny and the bridge…
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Hi, great website.
The photo of the Cottontail Rabbit is a cracker. So much depth in the moment.
Appreciate all your work though.
Cheers
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[…] September 6, 2020 / joyroses13 Thanks to Jason and to the rabbit that posed so well for him. https://jasonfrels.com/2020/08/23/a-week-of-ok-photos/ […]
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