Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

One of my favorite places to visit has always been the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. It's a 90 minute drive down from OKC, located just outside of Lawton. The middle of October and it was 90 degrees. There are tons of trails and you can always see some buffalo or wild longhorns. It's burned up pretty bad from the wildfires, it'll take a while for it to recover.

Trying to hide 

iconColorado?

Took a short trip to Colorado, first chance I have had in a while to break out the old Canon. I promise to start taking photos in Oklahoma again soon.

I call this one "The Creep"

I forgot to bring the tripod, so this one was taken resting on a rock

What can I say...

I love taking pictures of dogs

This is one of my favorite pictures of Pikes Peak

Weather turned a little cold

But it was a lovely day.

Dog Days

Ghouls Gone Wild

Also added some on my facebook page also, please visit: iconOklahoma on facebook

Garden of the Gods

I was able to garner a couple of hours after working to visit the Garden of the Gods outside of Colorado Springs, CO. As many people know, I am one of the worst "nature" photographers on the planet. Seriously, I don't take nature photos very well at all. But I tried a different mindset when photographing these oversized rocks. I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

This rock formation is known as the "Three Graces"

I made the trip up to this vantage point. For someone with a severe case of acrophobia, it is a rather difficult assignment.

People absolutely get a kick when I photograph their dog. I almost always get a laugh out of the owners. These are always my favorite subjects.

I'm thinking about entering this one in Photofest. What do you think?

I'll add a few photos to the facebook page. Head over there and take a look will you? And while you are there, how about you become a fan?

Thanks for looking.

Going to the Dogs

You will see lots of people walking their dogs everywhere you go. Most places allow dogs as long as they're on a leash and you clean up after them. When taking pics of the dogs, 80% of the time the owners get a kick out of it and occasionally I'll get a puzzled look. Only once did I get a semi-negative reaction. It happens quick and hopefully I have my camera set right. I'm really happy with the results.

I added some more to my Facebook photo album "Critters". You can see those here: iconOklahoma on Facebook

This horse walks into a bar...

and orders a drink. The the barkeep says " Why the long face?"

Going to the Dogs

I've had cats. Their okay I guess. I don't really have anything against them. I'm a dog person. Most definitely. I guess my personality has a lot of dog-like qualities. Sometimes I like to lounge around and do absolutely nothing. I'm friendly when I want to be, bark when I need to, sometimes for no reason. I have a short attention span. Playful one minute, protective the next. It takes a while for people to gain my trust, then I'm pretty loyal. Every time the wife thinks she has has me trained, I pee on the floor.

Just kidding.

I currently have four dogs. A lhasa apso that gets called a handful of different names, a pair of Australian shepherds named Duff and Sophie, and my old girl Sable, a lab shepherd mix.

Duff is the puppy of the bunch, he's a year and a half old. One of the smartest dogs I've ever had. No he wasn't named after the beer, he was named after the bass player Duff McKagen of Guns N Roses. Duff likes the snow so much he'll bury himself in it.

Sophie here is Duff's sister from a different litter. She is Paetyn's dog and she's about three years old now. Her main function is to mess with Duff. She doesn't like to have her photo taken. The only way we can tell her and Duff apart is to look at their feet. She has white socks, Duff doesn't. Her face is a little narrower but it's hard to tell when they are moving so fast.

Australian Shepherds are diggers. They love to hunt moles. Duff here is doing his ostrich impersonation. One day I found him carrying a wool sock around in the backyard. Turns out it was a mole. Ewwwwwww.

This is my old girl Sable. She is such a regal dog. I got her and her twin brother Coale about nine years ago from the pound. Unfortunately Coale got poisoned from a snake bite. Sable is the grand dame of the backyard. Her favorite thing to do is get food, set it in front of her, and dare the other dogs to touch it. Sophie will tuck tail and run. Duff hasn't figured it out yet and will go for the food. For such a smart dog, he aint too bright. Sable will tear him a new one. She got out one day and got hit by a car. She ran off and hid for two days. I finally found her in the bushes. Her leg healed all right but she doesn't run too often. Most days she just sits back and watches the other two play.

Duff is a lot of fun. He can sit and shake most of the time. He'll come when you yell. Doesn't bark too much. Paetyn taught him how to fetch. I love to take snowballs and throw them. Duff will run after the snowball and gets utterly confused when he can't find the snowball in the snow. Maybe he isn't one of the smartest dog I ever had after all.