So Smokey, originally uploaded by ronWLS.

Here is my entry from July 8th the day I took this photo:

Today was the 3rd day in a row that the readings for Redding air were over 250 in the “Very Unhealthy” to “Dangerous” range. The fires have been burning over a month now and even though most are “contained” it is still very bad. Contained just means that there is a perimeter around the fire and that they should spread any further but there are still burning and filling the air with smoke. I just hope that we don’t have to wait till the winter rains before we see clear blue skies again.

It has been a nasty fire season so far. The past week alone it seemed there was one or two fires every day in the local area. We’ve been lucky so far that no fires have happened in our canyon. About 4 or 5 years ago there was a summer that saw about 4 fires down our ridge. The worst thing is that the fire season is really about to start and fires have been raging for over 2 months already.

Threatning, originally uploaded by ronWLS.

Who would thought that the first day of summer in such a dry year would be full of rain and clouds. Unfortunately it was also full of lightning which started about 800 fires in Northern California and now our skies are totally smoky.

Churn Creek near Lema Ranch, originally uploaded by ronWLS.

I’ve been here in Redding almost 20 years now and it never ceases to amaze me at the kind of thing I can find that I didn’t in L.A. County. I can be in the city and really be pretty close to homes and houses and see something like this. Streams and fish and birds and trails and all things like that. I guess that I could find this kind of scene in LA when I was young but maybe I couldn’t.

But, I still enjoy the fact that I can find it here. Glad to be here and don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

Table Mountain

Originally uploaded by ronWLS.

Here we go again. This is another one of those subconscious (almost) photos that I don’t really remember taking at the time but “found” it later when going through the images from this day. It seems to happen once in a while. I guess it comes from working on “seeing” things worth photographing and it’s always a pleasant surprise when it happens.

Caldwell Fall

Originally uploaded by ronWLS.

The hot summer finally seems to be at an end in Redding. The leaves are changing colors, the nights are getting cooler and wonder of wonders we have been getting rain. Not just a light sprinkle either. Last night we were in a storm path that left between 2.5 to 3.5 inches in a 6 hour period. Maybe this year will make up for the dry winter last year. I’m just glad to see the cooler weather. I really look forward to this fall and winter and all the cool photo ops that will be around and me having a dSLR and all. I expect to have lots of cool weather photos this year.

Happy Shooting!

Last of the Season

Originally uploaded by ronWLS.

Now that the rains have started and the weather is cooling down I would have thought that all the wild flowers were done. But that is not the case as is seen here. There are still more flowers out there.

Sometimes you don’t have to travel far for a good photo subject. I went to the coast a couple of weeks ago for some great shots but here is one from the backyard. This very large Swallowtail came in the yard and even hung around long enough for me to get the camera and get a few shots off.