Post-processing¹ #9

Navajo Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, October 7, 2015

1. Image editing to enhance the photo closer to what the eye “saw.” Images in this series are selected within a day or so of being edited and are either posted at the time or scheduled for posting at a later date.

Exit78 Photo of the Day #5

Split-rail Fence, Mountain Farm Museum, Great Smokey Mountains National Park, near Cherokee, North Carolina, June 15, 2012 (Pentax K-r)

Split-Rail Fence¹

A split-rail fence or log fence (also known as a zigzag fence, worm fence or snake fence historically due to its meandering layout) is a type of fence constructed in the United States and Canada, and is made out of timber logs, usually split lengthwise into rails and typically used for agricultural or decorative fencing. Such fences require much more timber than other types of fences, and so are generally only common in areas where wood is abundant. However, they are very simple in their construction, and can be assembled with few tools even on hard or rocky ground. They also can be built without using any nails or other hardware; such hardware was often scarce in frontier areas. They are particularly popular in very rocky areas where post hole digging is almost impossible. They can even be partially or wholly disassembled if the fence needs to be moved or the wood becomes more useful for other purposes. During the American Civil War, these split rail fences were a major source of firewood for both the Union and Confederate armies.

1. Split-rail fence – Wikipedia

Exit78 Photo of the Day #4

Sunrise Point area, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, October 8, 2015 (Pentax K-3 II) shot from 37°37’41″N 112°09’47″W

Sunrise Point Trails¹

Sunrise Point serves as the trailhead for the easy to moderate Queen’s Garden Trail that descends into a section of hoodoos ruled by the Queen Victoria hoodoo. This viewpoint also represents the end point for the Navajo Loop/Queen Victoria combination, one of the most popular hikes in the Park. Just to the north of this overlook, the Fairyland Loop climbs back up to the rim continuing north to where it completes its 8-mile journey at Fairyland Canyon overlook. For those who prefer shorter hikes, descending this section of the Fairyland Loop as far as the Tower Bridge and returning back up to Sunrise point, offers a 3-mile “out & back.” The Tower Bridge Hike has a difficulty rating of moderate.

1. Sunrise Point – Bryce Canyon National Park, National Park Service

Exit78 Photo of the Day #3

Bronze Sculpture of Desert Bighorn Sheep Ram, Visitor Center, Arches National Park, Utah, September 21, 2011 (Pentax K-r)

Desert Bighorn Sheep¹

Desert bighorn sheep are some of the most intriguing mammals of canyon country. They are wary of human contact, and blend so well into the terrain they inhabit, that sightings are a special event. Once feared of becoming extinct, the desert bighorn are making a tentative comeback in southeast Utah due to a comprehensive reintroduction effort by the National Park Service.
Desert or Nelson’s bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) are considered by most biologists to be a unique subspecies. Desert bighorns have adapted to hot, dry climates, unlike their Rocky Mountain cousins, and have longer legs, lighter coats and smaller bodies. Bighorn sheep are common in ancestral Puebloan and Fremont pictographs, an indication of their presence and prominence in indigenous cultures. Explorers in the late 1600s estimated that more than two million desert bighorn once roamed the southwest.

1. Bighorn Sheep – National Park Service, Arches National Park

Exit78 Photo of the Day #2

Cirrus clouds over Mossy Cave trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, October 8, 2015 (Pentax K-3 II)

Cirrus clouds are a type of cloud characterized by thin, wispy strands.  The name is from the Latin word cirrus, meaning a ringlet or curling lock of hair. Cirrus clouds form anywhere from 16,500 ft (5.0 km) and 45,000 ft (14 km) above sea level.¹

Composed of ice crystals that originate from the freezing of supercooled water droplets and generally occurring in fair weather, cirrus clouds point in the direction of air movement at their elevation.²

1. Cirrus cloud – Wikipedia
2. Cirrus Clouds – University of Illinois

Exit78 Photo of the Day #1

Cabin Cruiser on Lake Dardanelle in Winter, viewed from Lake Dardanelle State Park, Arkansas, February 12, 2011 (Pentax K-r)

At first glance, this photo looks like it might be from a more northern lake, instead of Arkansas.  Snow does  fall here, but only a couple of times a year, usually, and, some years, not at all.  The cabin cruiser is unusual, as well.  Most vessels on the lake are open boats, usually some sort of bass boat, jon boat or pontoon boat, or, on occasion,  tugboats pushing barges through the lake, which is part of the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System.

Post-processing¹ #8

Navajo Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, October 7, 2015

1. Image editing to enhance the photo closer to what the eye “saw.” Images in this series are selected within a day or so of being edited and are either posted at the time or scheduled for posting at a later date.

Post-processing¹ #7

Navajo Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, October 7, 2015

1. Image editing to enhance the photo closer to what the eye “saw.” Images in this series are selected within a day or so of being edited and are either posted at the time or scheduled for posting at a later date.d.

We use ads on our blogs over on the side, out of the way.  The ads don’t make us much money, certainly not enough to notice if that little bit of income went away.  It makes us enough to pay for the fees from our internet service provider – the place where our blogs reside, including this one – and a little bit more.

I don’t usually notice ads.  When they have motion and sound, it gets my attention, usually not in a good way.  The ads on our blogs are usually static – no sound, no motion, which is what I prefer.

But the other day, there was this trivago ad… a video ad! Geeeezz…

I turned the sound off immediately. 

I don’t like online audio and video that I’m not in control of.  Even on a news page, I’ll often turn off the video if there is text and read the article rather than watch the video.

I didn’t try to turn the video in the ad off because we’re not supposed to click on the Google ads on our own pages.  That could lead to loss of our Google affiliate account.

Fortunately, this is really rare, so far, for the ads on our blogs.  If it were to happen very often, I would have to change the ad setting, which is something I haven’t done in a while.