Store in the Flint Hills

Interesting little store in the Flint Hills. The store was built shortly after World War II and continues to operate to this day by the same proprietor, actually the wife of the original builder. She lives across the street and walks across to open the store with her walker which is in the photo near the steps. Amazingly, she is legally blind or at least close to it. We stopped in to buy a soft drink and package of chips/pretzels. I try to stop every time I drive passed the store and it is open. My total was $1.65 and I handed her a $5. She held it up to her glasses and asked what it was. I told her a $5 and she said, "OK" and counted out change. I am told that local residents and people that she knows make their own change. Not telling exactly where this is because some idiot will want to go rob this poor woman who is on her own and spritely! Got to love that generation!

Fall Grass and Buffalo

From an earlier trip to Maxwell, when the grass was spectacular in color and texture. This morning found the buffalo along the roadway and close enough for some nice images. I must have shot 8 gigs worth of shots that morning. Several were just excellent and this one turned out OK as well. I read a post by Clark Crenshaw about a technique he used overlaying a B&W version with lowered opacity. I will try that with this image and post it soon.

Could not resist cropping this as a panorama. The bison that day were in a line across the prairie and moving my way. I shot several images like this one before they got too close to get many of them in one shot. The flowers were at their peak or near peak for fall.

Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge

I try to get through the refuge several times a year. the best time to be there is in November and December when the snow geese are in town, towing along their "friends" the bald eagles. The geese count has been very low this year, maybe 150,000 vs. the normal 300,000+ that usually show up by T'Day. The eagles were there, official count showed 18, but none were anywhere accessible for visitors except for one lone guy who was silhouetted against a very bald sky.

Squaw Creek is about 3 hours from home, maybe 4, but is on one of my normal routes to see customers. Stopped in for sunset on Monday night then I was back for sunrise the next morning. Shots below are from both days: