Headed out to my back yard to find a bug and instead I found a whole village. These bugs had
unfortunately set up shop on one of my roses but it was so interesting to see the different stages
of life represented here. I assume the fat black bug and the lighter bug are aphids. The white
"shells" have been shed from other bugs. I think the larva may be feeding on the aphids. I'm sure
they're all related somehow since they were all on one rose..
AND I NEED TO SPRAY!



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Monkey Business - Camera Critters

This series is a combination of 4 posts I made on my Wildlife Safari blog 3 1/2 years ago. It tells a sweet story about a gibbon ape I have become quite fond of.

Feb 11 2006
You never see this gibbon ape without her stuffed companion. She drags it everywhere. If she needs her hands to climb, she uses her feet to hold her friend.

Sometimes she just sits and hugs it.

Amazingly, she always seems to hold it right side up

Do ya think it needs a good bath? :) Of course it would probably be too traumatic for her if they tried take it away to wash it.

**************************************************************************
Feb 25 2006
There was a strange happening at the Wildlife Safari today. On Feb 11 I introduced an ape that has a stuffed monkey she carries everywhere. Today she was pulling the stuffing out of him. I think the first bit was an accident.

After awhile she was purposely pulling the stuffing out. She tasted it but evidently didn't like it and then she rubbed it on her face. I'm sure she was confused about what was coming out of her best friend. It's sad because she is going to wonder what happened to it. I hope one of the park employees patches it up for her

I didn't see how it ended. She was just staring at it when I left.
*************************************************************************
March 4 2006
I am very pleased to bring you the next chapter in the monkey with a monkey saga. Today at the Safari I was delighted to find the stuffed monkey back all puffed and stuffed and in excellent repair. I was even more delighted to find the monkey was swinging her newly recovered friend :)

All is good in the primate world...
***********************************************************************
April 1 2006 - Exciting news!

Where before there was one ape who carried a stuffed monkey everywhere she went, there are now two apes and no sign of the stuffed monkey. I assume the new one is a male. He is larger than the original ape.

They're still getting to know one another. He spends a lot of time running around, moving close to her and then running around again.

She spends a lot of time putting him in his place :) I expect they will become great friends and mates.
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Elephant Car Wash - Camera Critters

The bottom part of this sign said "guaranteed not to get your car clean"

This is something new at the Wildlife Safari. It costs $20 to have the elephants wash your car and you get to get out and take photos.

I have mixed feelings about this. In a way it feels like exploitation of the animals but on the otherhand I know these elephants love getting out and doing things like this. And this is a non-profit organization and the animals have to be fed and cared for. Plus I know how well the Wildlife Safari takes care of the animals.

For the car wash the elephants squirt water on the cars and pick up sponges and wipe them over the vehicles.



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Fancy Snail - Camera Critters

My husband kills dozens of these little guys because they get in the garden and eat his plants. They are cute critters though, even if they are destructive. I fancied him up a bit in PhotoShop.



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King Of The Dock

Astoria Oregon has an abundance of sea lions. On a recent trip I watched a game of King Of The Dock.

This sea lion was enjoying a sunny spot on the dock....



When this guy decided he wanted the same sunny spot....



A noisy discussion ensued (without waking the sleeping neighbors) ....



with the new comer prevailing....



and becoming the new King Of The Dock....



.... and the rest of the gang slept on.



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I Was Framed!

Cute to the max. This is one of several kittens a friend’s mama cat birthed. We did a photo shoot of the babies so she could show photos when she starting finding them new homes.



I decided to play with the frames option in Paint Shop Pro so I did a web search and found a fantastic site that has literally thousands of beautiful frames to download free of charge. Patchesangel’s website is awesome and beautifully done. This is one of the frames I grabbed from her. Thanks Patchesangel.

Check out Patchesangel‘s website here

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Heron in Wetlands

This heron is wounded but I didn’t notice it until I downloaded the photos. Poor baby. I hope it heals quickly.



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Silly Old goat

I stopped alongside a road to take a photo of an old building when I noticed this goat standing by a fence with an apple in her mouth. She wasn't eating it while I was there…. She just stood still holding it in her mouth. Silly old goat.

There was no apple tree nearby so someone had evidently dumped a box of apples over the fence. A post-Thanksgiving feast.



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Sheep, Fog and the Valley

This is the second in a series of photos of this gorgeous fog filled valley. There was a field with sheep near the top of the valley. They were more interested in eating than posing for the photographer so none of them would cooperate by looking in my direction.

See yesterdays post for more information about the series of photos.



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Camera Critters, Free Rides and Awards

Ben and Meg from Nelson Daily Photo gave me a nice award. THANKS BEN AND MEG!
According to the rules I must now give this award to five other bloggers following these rules.
1. Award five blogs.
2. Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog.
3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award.

Kate from Visual St Paul has been a faithful visitor and commenter on my blog since October 2006 (Yes I looked it up). Kate gives us a glimpse of her beautiful city of St Paul Minnesota and also takes us with her when she travels to Mexico. Thanks Kate.

Salty is one of my favorite bloggers. I love his photography and his stories of rural Pennsylvania on his Country Captures blog. I’ve loved getting to know him and his family through his past family stories and more recently learning about Pennsylvania wildlife from his beautiful photos and educational information. Thanks Salty.

Sue, from photowannabe blog got the same award I did from Ben and Meg, but I’m including her anyway because she has been a long time blogger friend and faithful visitor to my blog over the past two years. Thanks Sue.

Darlene from Dar’s Foto Faze is not only a blogger friend but also a personal friend. When she lived in Roseburg we would take off on photo trips with no destination in mind and get back home a day or two later with cards full of photos and hearts full of good times and adventure memories. She moved off to the big city of Portland but we still get together when we can. Its been fun watching her blogging skills grow. Thanks for being a good friend, Dar. Love you.

According to the rules of this award, I also get to recognize someone who is recently new to my blog and who lives in a different part of the world. Firefly from The Firefly Photo Files fits this description perfectly. He lives in Port Elizabeth in South Africa and not only has great photos of this area, he also has a fun sense of humor. Firefly isn’t toooo new. He stopped by my Wildlife Safari blog in August and has been a faithful visitor and commenter to both my blogs since then. He was my first “follower” before I knew what a follower was. Thanks Firefly.

And on to my Camera Critter

Who says theres no such thing as a free ride?



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Full Speed Ahead

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The Sneeze

AH....AH....AH......



...CHOOOO!!!



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Funny Face - Black Tail Deer

This little sweetheart and his mother were eating near the road. He looked up at me with this startled expression but wasn't in too a big hurry to run away so I got a few more fun shots.



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George

This is George. He was born in Africa. This encounter was one of the reasons I first fell in love with the animals at Wildlife Safari. It was an emotional few minutes, at least from my perspective. I had stopped to look at him and was struck by the fact that he was not only looking at me too, but looking straight into my eyes. I can't explain the feeling. I got the impression of a wise, but sad, old man who had something to tell me.. who needed me to understand.

I get goosebumps again just writing about it.

I was so touched by this encounter that I went home and attempted to write down what I felt.

George…

Look at me
he whispered silently
not with words
but with his eyes

see me…
please…
he drew me in
I couldn’t pass him by

What might he have to say?

he looked at me with eyes
that could see into my soul
listen to me, he pleaded
let me show you what I know

he held me captive with wizened eyes
chains as strong as the iron bars between us

he spoke to me of freedom
he showed me carefree days
spent on dusty plains…
watering holes…torrid rain

I felt the elation
of running with the herd

as he spoke to me of yearning
I began to understand
that he was home…
yet his spirit longed
for things that might have been

hear me, he spoke silently
please…. just know who I am.

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A Funny Cow Story

I just got my new computer set up and haven't even got all the photos I took on my trip downloaded yet. I didn't want to miss out on Camera Critters so I'm doing a repeat from a post from a year or so ago.

Its a fun post and I think its worth repeating though.

Sunday I was driving near Camas Valley, Oregon and stopped to take a shot

of an old falling down house and barn.

As I was clicking away, a cow at the other end of the field looked up to see what I was doing

and came to stare at me from the other side of the fence.

Soon other cows came to see what the first cow and I were doing

and they stared at me too... and started mooing.

By this time I was laughing and clicking..

The more cows came.. the more cows stared.. the more cows mooed...the more I laughed

When I finally drove away there was a whole herd of cows standing by the fence

staring at me and mooing.

And I'm sure people in Camas Valley are still wondering who that strange lady was standing by the road laughing like a mad woman and taking photos of ordinary cows.

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Butterfly...finally!

I have been trying to get a good photo of a butterfly for years! Last weekend I went out to the Butterfly Pavilian in Elkton Oregon and found this beautiful Monarch flitting around in the garden. I followed her around snapping shot after shot while trying to stay out of view of a wedding that was taking place a few rows of flowers over.

Isn't she beautiful? I was amazed that her body has the exact same markings as the row of dots on the outside of her wings. Ralph Lauren couldn't have dressed her any better.

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