Camera Club Winners

Here are my latest winning photos in the Advanced Digital St. Mary's County Camera Club Competition for February.  

     Bald Eagle Pair 2 1st place taken12/15

    Skyline Trail 3rd place taken 10/21/15

Pretty in Pink

Our new 10 year old rescue toy poodle, Sarita, looks really cute in pink.  She's apricot colored and we are training her.  We had to house train her first and she is doing fairly well.  She can be fairly good at a loose leash and doesn't care for snow.  It is a little tricky to get her to behave in the snow.  After all, the snow is pretty high if you are only 10 inches tall!  I taught her to sit.  Easy!  Then I tried to teach down. Not easy.  We are still working on it.  I know this is more of a photo blog, but please share any ideas for teaching her to lie down. I use a treat, say down, and let her lick the treat as I drag it toward the floor.

Update:  I think she finally understands Down!  😀😄😃  That's cause I just posted this.  Next we learn Come.  

The Food Fight, Bird Style

When we expected snow, Jim filled up our bird feeder, but didn't set the weight limit to a squirrel's weight.  It's a beat up old bird feeder, but it still works.  By January 30th, the snow had melted, but the birds were still enjoying the seeds.  I think the big bird with a brown head and dark body is a cowbird and the small bird with the yellow beak and black stripe across the eye is a male house sparrow.  Best guess.  Any experts out there?  Watch what happened!  

Winning photos from January competition

I won two honors in this month's competition:

Third prize for my eagle pair photo in the advanced competition.

And honorable mention for the Theme competition called Sleep, for a photo of Santa sleeping.  Photographing animals and people sleeping is not a favorite subject for me because I usually like to see the eyes open, like the old saying, "the eyes are the windows to the soul."  I usually toss the photos with closed eyes.  

Sorry Santa, but I preferred this owl photo I entered.  It didn't win anything.  Owls have 3 eyelids, so it is not surprising to catch them with their eyes closed.

Our New Rescue Dog in a Cute Pet Photo Contest

I posted a picture of our new rescue toy poodle in a local cute dog contest by Well Pet clinic and Pepper's Pet Pantry.  If you think she is cute, vote for her at http://bit.ly/somdcpc (hint:  you have to register first, she is number 64 easily found using the gallery)

Unique chicken pets

A new church friend invited me to photograph her unique collection of pet chickens.  These were my favorite photos.  See my Calm Reflections Photography Facebook page for more.  I am guessing at their names.

      Hala, soft and fluffy

      Fifi, a curly girl

      Bochun, with hidden eyes

      Squeak on one foot

      Squeak

Signs of Life in Winter

I took a look around our church property for signs of the coming spring.  Here is what I saw when I looked closely.

        Pink Heather Flowers

      Buds

    Red Berries

Life goes in, even in cold weather!