thomascanty wrote in post #5832850
I'm too far behind, and I'm not even going to attempt to catch up. (Yet...)
I just wanted to mention that I've not only met a few more very important people on this trip (some I'd previously swapped email with, some I'd talked to on the phone, and a few who were complete strangers to me until now), not to mention just relaxing with some of the best o' friends I've acquired while working on this project (I'd
kill to have Cap's office!)...
But... The wildlife out here is amazing this time. The raccoons and skunks are really out in force. Sadly, most I've seen have been as roadkill. But, man... I just love that skunk scent as I pass them.
But, the live wildlife is out there, too. Early Monday evening, I found myself at a new cemetery I had never heard of before (directions to which were given to me by one of those complete strangers I just happened to meet and ended up talking to for a half hour). I drove the two-tenths of a mile into the pasture on private property, careful to close the gate behind me so the cattle wouldn't roam, and found Oak Knoll Cemetery. As I walked in, I startled a doe who bounded away toward the back of the cemetery, almost getting herself tangled in the wire fence that surrounds the cemetery in the middle of the countless acres-wide pasture. I chuckled to myself, turned slightly to my right, and noticed she had left little Bambi behind. I mean, this fawn was
TINY. No more than a foot and a half or two tall. He was just standing there, frozen. Staring at me. I didn't want to scare him off, so I kept my distance, but I fired off several shots with the 40D and 24-70. The shutter sound didn't faze him, but after I got my shots, I dropped the camera to my side and said, "Hi!" That broke the spell, and Bambi turned tail and ran after momma...
Tuesday morning, as I headed back north to El Dorado County, I stopped at the Yeomet Cemetery (also on private property) to set a waypoint on my GPS, part of a side project we're working on. As I arrived at the "Y" where the private road splits where the five graves are located between the ranches, I noticed there was a fox standing in front of three of the grave stones, watching me. I stopped the car and grabbed the S330 (PowerShot) out of my glove compartment to fire off a shot through the window. But, the freakin' camera wouldn't turn on. I got a "battery low" error (I charged that battery on Thursday -- two days before I headed up here!!!). So, I drove way up one of the ranch's driveways, farther than I'm supposed to, so I could turn around without spooking the fox, parked, popped the trunk, and again grabbed the 40D and 24-70. I tried sneaking back toward the tiny cemetery as slow as I could, but he spooked real easy. I did managed to get a few snaps, but those will probably take some serious cropping when I finally get to work on them.
Then, I headed north to Coloma. As I drove through El Dorado, a diamondback rattlesnake slithered across the road right in front of me at one point (too bad you weren't with me, Permie!
). Then, as I rounded a bend in the highway as I neared Coloma, I had to slam on the brakes because a wild turkey hen was in the middle of the road with three turkey chicks in tow. I've seen plenty of wild turkeys up here, but that was the first time I'd ever seen baby turkeys. Boy were they small! They really reminded me of ducklings, but, if possible, even smaller!
Unfortunately, I didn't get any shots of the rattlesnake or baby turkeys. I was driving and the damn PowerShot's battery wasn't cooperating anyway...
Well. That's the critter highlights for the trip so far. And, there's still one more day left. What will tomorrow bring?
He goes nuts without his watch on, but he knows he is rough on them so he buys cheap.
I have lots of subjects here to photograph as well 
