Camera Critters #34

When we visited the Living Desert Wildlife & Botanical Park last month, we saw a number of goats in a petting zoo area. This guy was my favorite. He's a Nubian goat and he was nice enough to pose for several pictures.

I think he was as curious about me as I was about him.

He actually looks like he's grinning in this photo. If you enlarge the picture you can see his teeth!

I could have spent the entire afternoon taking pictures of this guy. I loved his long ears and goofy facial expressions.

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Camera Critters #33

Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, Trooper decided to make a list of all of the things that he was thankful for. Trooper is thankful that his human mom and dad adopted him from the Rancho Coastal Humane Society and gave him a forever home in the mountains. Here's a picture of Trooper on the day we adopted him... yup, it was pretty much love at first sight!

Trooper is also thankful for his big "brother" Ollie. Ollie is 13 years old so he's more of a grandpa figure to Trooper. Ollie watches over Trooper and does his best to keep him out of mischief.

Wilbur is Trooper's best buddy. They love to play together as often as they can.

Einstein (Wilbur's new little brother) loves to torment play with Trooper too.

Bob and Blackie are Trooper's online friends. Trooper says, "my mom and Bob and Blackie's mom have been friends since dinosaurs roamed the earth!" You can click here to visit Bob and Blackie's blog.

Last but certainly not least, Trooper is thankful for all of the new friends he's made on Camera Critters! We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

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Camera Critters #32

Hi everybody... Trooper here! My dad took me hiking a couple of weeks ago along the Siberia Creek trail. No, we didn't hike all the way to Siberia... the trail is right here in the San Bernardino Mountains close to where we live! Here's a description from one of my dad's guidebooks. Siberia Creek Trail: 7 miles; very difficult. Altitude drop of 3,000 ft. This trail begins at the end of the Lodgepole Trail. It can be reached by using the Lodgepole Pine Trail or the Bluff Mesa Trail and terminates at Bear Creek near the Siberia Group Camp.

Here I am waiting for my dad to bring up the rear (as usual). He sure is a slowpoke but I cut him some slack because he's carrying a big backpack with all of our gear and the most important thing... my food and water! If you enlarge the photo you can see how wet I am. We had to hike through a rain storm but that's okay. I'm not made out of sugar... I won't melt! A little bit of rain never hurt anybody!

Can you see me in this photo? (You can click on the picture to make it bigger.) I'm the black blob in the lower left hand corner standing on the trail with my back to the camera.

I found this nice shady spot along the trail to take a little rest.

It sure is fun bringing all of you along on these hikes with me! My dad continues to buy camping equipment... (a tent, a sleeping bag, a stove and pots & pans). I think that means we're going to go on an overnight trip soon! I'll keep you posted... Love, Trooper

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Camera Critters #31

My husband gave me a new camera recently and one of the really nice features is the 20x zoom lens. The zoom came in handy while I was photographing the Cheetahs at the Living Desert Wildlife and Botanical Park. (You can click on the photos to enlarge the images.)

Accordng to the cheetahspot website ... The name "cheetah" comes from a Hindi word meaning "spotted one" or from the Sanskrit word "chitraka". An adult has yellow or tan fur with solid black round or oval spots measuring .75 to 1.5 inches (1.9 to 3.8 centimeters) in diameter. The spots cover nearly the entire body; only the white throat and abdomen are unmarked.

The cheetah is aerodynamically built for speed and can accelerate from zero to 40 mph in three strides and to full speed of 70 mph in seconds. As the cheetah runs, only one foot at a time touches the ground. There are two points, in its 20 to 25 foot (7-8 metres) stride when no feet touch the ground, as they are fully extended and then totally doubled up. Nearing full speed, the cheetah is running at about 3 strides per second.

From the fastest to one of the slowest. This Desert Tortoise actually moved fairly quickly! According to DesertUSA... The Desert Tortoise is an herbivore that may attain a length of 9 to 15 inches in upper shell (carapace) length. The tortoise is able to live where ground temperatures may exceed 140 degrees F, because of its ability to dig underground burrows and escape the heat. At least 95% of its life is spent in burrows. There, it is also protected from freezing while dormant, November through February or March.



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Yes we can? Yes we did!

My friend Becky (Wilbur and Einstein's mom) proudly displayed this sign in her yard during the campaign. We live in a small, very conservative town... believe me, this was an act of courage! Do you think we were doing the happy dance last night as the election results were coming in? Oh, you betcha! *wink wink* What a great day in America!

America Votes For Change

Photo: ABC News

Election '08

Camera Critters #30

I celebrated my birthday last Sunday with a visit to the Living Desert Wildlife and Botanical Park in Palm Desert - it's about a 2 hour drive from where we live. Even though I was born and raised in So. California, I never knew this place existed! I had a wonderful time exploring the "Butterflies Alive" exhibit. These two Painted Lady butterflies were nice enough to pose for me. (You can click on the photos to view a larger image.)

I've never had any luck taking pictures of hummingbirds (they were always blurry) so you can imagine how happy I was with this photo. This little Anna's Hummingbird perched on the feeder just long enough for me to take her picture.

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