WELCOMED RAIN

There must be something wrong with me because it was pouring rain at 4AM this morning when I woke up.  I immediately became overjoyed with the prospect of slowly cruising on the river in the coolness and breeze of a rainy morning.  I really love to be on the water in the rain.  It's nuts, I know.

That's not a doctored up picture above.  That's what it looked like at Rogersville near the river.  Lightning and thunder were very prevalent and the rain came down harder by the minute.  The bright flashes of lightning appeared as long, slender jagged lines that ran vertical to the earth from the sky.  This is the bad kind of lightning.  Mom didn't raise a total fool so I would wait at the boat ramp until things settled down a bit.  I launched the boat as soon as possible.  I'm not one who can sit around in a truck for long.

The rain would turn on hard and then shut off as fast as it started.  Then it would start again.  The most gentle breeze was blowing continually, hardly disturbing the surface of the river.  Perfect!

The overcast morning would ruin photography efforts but, I doubted if anything would be out in this weather anyhow.  The sun did finally poke through the haze and would temporarily light things up before succumbing to the will of the stormy looking, gray sky s. 
It's funny how something can catch my eye as I pass by it.  I noticed a little patch of grass and flowers with wood that stood out starkly against the shoreline.  I did a turn around to have a second look.  The result is a photograph that moves into the archives as one of my favorites.  

I know most all of the critters on the shores of this river and the little imp below is one I hadn't met before.  I've photographed his cousins and probably his brothers and sisters but, not him.

Even the simple shots above were difficult to accomplish do to the overcast morning.  I turned up the tone control on the camera to try and brighten the color.  Big mistake!  A quick check in the LCD window on the back of the camera indicated a bland picture.  I'll have to study up on tone control.  Needless to say I put the adjustment back where it was.  I need to learn more about histograms on this camera.  

.

The shot above lacks the brightness that usually accompanies shots of scenic views on this river.  The sun's trying to show but, is failing miserably.  
A small group of turkeys are pecking their way across a field near the river.  Turkeys never seem to care if it's raining or not.  They just peck away as if everything is normal.  I guess for them everything is normal.

 Note their almost white heads.

The holiday brought out the fishermen this morning.  They have braved the rain and lightning to get a day in on the water before domestic commitments drag them away to social interactions.  Glad I don't have any of that stuff to deal with.  The rain started again in earnest combined with thunder and lightning and the five fishing boats in view fired up their engines and blasted toward the boat ramp.  I guess they were turning in for the morning.  Well, that leaves the entire river to me.  A pass by the eagle's mountain found him perched on the limb of his favorite tree plucking feathers from under his wing and tossing them to the side to float slowly down to the ground.  He is undergoing the molting process.

These shots were almost impossible due to terrible lighting conditions.  I almost didn't even take the shots.  Excuses, excuses.

That's about it for today.  The rain was nice and the morning uneventful.  I could have used the company of an otter or a beaver or two but, can't have everything.  Not sure what I'll do tomorrow.  We'll see what happens.