Picture of the Day for June 22, 2016

Big doesn’t always win over the small, at least not in my yard later. The chipmunks are definitely winning the garden battle, but they are winning against the cats. Last night and this morning, my cat Trouble found a chipmunk but the popping, twisting and jumping chipmunk frightened the big tom cat so that it got away again!

And last evening, the doe made its daily appearance and although it encounters the cats most evenings, the deer still snorts and stomps her feet as it tries to approach the cat. But she never has gotten closer than five feet, and when Trouble moved a little bit last night, she went racing through the woods, snorting all the way.

Panicky Deer

Panicky Deer

Picture of the Day for June 21, 2016

I had intended to photograph the full moon last night when it was over my pond, but I didn’t feel like donating blood to the mosquitoes to wait that long for the moon to rise high enough, even if it would have been a perfect picture in my mind for the first day of summer because spending time by lake or pond is an image of summer for me.

Summertime Fun by a Pond

Summertime Fun by a Pond

Picture of the Day for June 20, 2016

When one thinks of the first day of summer, usually a warm sunny day comes to mind and today was a nice sunny day. But this summer solstice, the full moon is taking some of the ‘light’.  This month’s full moon lands on the solstice, which most reports say that the last time this had happened was in 1948 and won’t happen again until 2062.

Since the sun is at its highest today, the moon is opposite the sun, so it is rather low on the horizon tonight which causes it to be in the thicker air causing the moon to take on an amber color and therefore is often called Honey Moon. And an amber color was picked up when I set the exposure for the moon but there was some pink clouds under it to be the Strawberry Moon.

The Native American tribes called June’s full moon the Strawberry Moon because it marked the time of year they should gather ripening fruit. I tried picking some wild strawberries while waiting for the moon to rise but the ones I saw a few days ago which weren’t quite ripe were missing so the critters apparently were gathering the berries ahead of me.  Other names for the June full moon is Rose Moon and Hot Moon.

Honey or Strawberry Moon Over Daisies

Honey or Strawberry Moon Over Daisies

Picture of the Day for June 19, 2016

Today is a day when children remember and celebrate the contributions their fathers have made in their lives. Gifts may be given to show their appreciation of their father’s support while growing up, including patience to all those ‘why’ and ‘how does this work’ questions. Fathers may have shown their young sons how to fix things so when they are older, the gift they can give their father on this day is to fix the broken tractor.

Father’s Day

Father's Day