Game of the Week

Game played on FICS 12.26.2006.

This game is technically a miniature, lasting only 20 moves. This game also demonstrates why you should know a little opening theory. I have White.

1.d4 Nf6
2.c4 e6
3.a3


He or She is trying to play the Nimzo Indian and I wasn't really in the mood for having my knight pinned and just pushed a3 instead. This move is ok, but it gives up some time. I have taken this game out of book and he apparently doesn't know how to handle it.
3. ... c5

He is trying to challenge me for the center.

4.d5

My intention is to hold a pawn in the center.

4. ... exd5
5.cxd5 b6

He wants to develop his bishop to attack my pawn, I believe, I can protect this pawn with developing moves.
6.Nc3 Bb7
7.e4 Be7


I have a key position now. My pawns are safe. Whats more, now that I have 2 pieces protecting my d5 pawn (Queen and Knight,) I can safely push my e4 pawn that was protecting my d5 pawn and attack his knight. His knight only choice is to retreat back to its home position. He wanted to castle and now I have forced him to undevelop. Instead of Be7, he should have moved d6 preventing my over running him.
8.e5 Ng8
9.d6

Another sharp move, attacking his bishop.
9. ... Bf8

Another undeveloping move, Bishop to g5 was better. He is now very constricted.
10.Nf3 Nc6
11.Bf4 f6

He wants to trade and possible break up my repressive center. As long as I can maintain my center I can keep him from castling. I just have a temporary advantage. By moving his f7 pawn he is taking a huge risk, since f2/f7 is a key protection for the king cage (if he can ever get castled.)



I almost panicked with this move. I was so focused on attack, I wasn't paying attention to defense. But in truth I am perfectly fine. My Bd5 is ok, but I should really have considered Qe2.
(15. Qe2 threating a very ugly Bf6+ which looses the black queen and 1 minor piece to my ugly d6 pawn.)

15.Bd5 Bxd5
16.Qxd5 Rd8
17.0-0
Note castling is both a defensive and an offensive move. I want to put a rook on e1 to finish my oppoent off and the quickest way was to castle, and its such an unoffensive looking move.

17. ... Nf6

A final feeble attempt to get back in the game.
18.Bxf6 Qxf6
19.Rfe1+ Be7

Be7 is forced in order get out of check.
20.Rxe7+ Black resigns

Game of the Week

or Know Thy Opening

Game was played on FICS 12.18.2006. My opponent had a rating of 1401, and as usual I fear such a rating. So I went in somewhat anxious.

1.e4

Ok, this will be a tatical game. Against e4, I try to go into the dragon.

1. ... c5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 g6
5.Be3 Bg7
6.Nc3 Nf6

Everything is book so far or main line.




7. f3
Ok, this is what is refered to as the Weekend variation. I don't believe it is that good.

7. ... 0-0 8.Qd2

He is playing the sub variation where he connects his Queen to his dark bishop and then tries to exchange the dark bishops. Good for him if I allow it. The book response is d5.

8. ... d5

That is as far as I remember book in this line, so the rest I have to play using my own tactical and strategic skills. I do recall that White needs to exchange the Knight on d4 for mine on c6 or bad things start to happen.

9.exd5 Nxd5
10.Nxd5 Qxd5
11.c3 Nxd4
12.Bxd4 Rd8

Increases the pressure on the center making whites position somewhat uncomfortable.Notice if he exchanges dark squared Bishops now, I mate him.

13.0-0-0 Qxa2

Not a paticularly good move on his part, since it drops the a2 pawn. Now his King is looking helpless and my pieces are looking strong.

14.Qe3 Bf5
15.Bd3 Bxd3
16.Bxg7

He can't do that! At least he can't do that and live to tell about it.

16. ... Qb1+

The queen is protected by the light squared bishop which he didn't retake after I took his. Now his King has to flee into a discovered check.

17.Kd2 Bc2+
A discovered check with 3 pieces hitting his poor helpless rook (My Queen, Bishop and Rook!)

18.Ke2

After move 18 he saw his position as hopeless. I am going to win the Rook and then recapture his dark squared Bishop. He will be down a Rook, Bishop and several pawns when I am done.

Image of the week

OK, for several months - since I haven't been posting.

We are in the dead of winter here in Iowa (and we don't even have any snow to show for it) and the scenes is all very dreary. Most of the pretty birds have gone elsewhere for the winter and the landscape is all very brown. I was out for one of my walks when I heard rustling in the bushes. Well I could see the tail of what looked like a ferret. I have been trying to get a picture of one of these guys for quite a while now. So I fired my camera up and got several pictures of this very industrious little feller. Further research indicates this little guy is a "Mink!" I think his coat looks better on him then it could ever look on a human.

Terry

The Electric Car, Why it makes sense.

Currently We are burning 150 Billion gallons of gasoline* per year in the United States. We are noticing a significant changes in our weather patterns, which most reputable scientists think is being caused by greenhouse gases (Carbon-Dioxide.)

In California and Europe, individuals and several small companies have been experimenting with electric cars for commuting. Some of the high end vehicles rival sports cars in performance and still have a range of 150 miles. Mostly these vehicles though have ranges of 40 – 65 miles with a top speed somewhere in the area of 50 – 65mph. The ones I have read about the most are former gas powered vehicles that have been converted to electric. Apparently the favorite vehicle to convert is the Ford Ranger Pickup (plenty of room for batteries and a heavy duty suspension system to take the weight of the batteries.)

Currently, most driving involves short drives to and from work, mostly under 50 miles per day. According to a recent Internet Story (Seen on MSN News, Yahoo News and CNN) the average commute in this country is 16 miles, unfortunately they didn’t provide a standard deviation which would have made the information more valuable.

Therefore, I suggest that the following strategy should be followed:

1. Pressure GM & Ford to manufacture a commuting vehicle powered by electricity. They should go for a design that would minimize it original cost, while maximizing the range and shoot for cruising speed somewhere in the range of 50 – 65 mph.
2. Upgrade the electric grid, so that it can handle the extra stress of recharging all of these cars on a nightly basis.
3. Start a long term project to downsize the current coal and oil generation of electricity and replace it with a combination of renewable and nuclear generating plants. It will do very little good to replace gasoline in our cars with coal or oil in our energy plants. Be aware that we will need considerably more electricity under these situations then we are using now.

Long Term benefits:

1. The Environment, even though it will probably take a long time to repair the current damage.
2. The trade deficit would be wiped clean and we would probably have a trade surplus.
3. The oil that we need for other uses will probably drop in price.
4. Al Qaida funding will drop. Most of their income is coming out of the oil we are buying from the Middle East and this could very likely put them out of business. It would also shut up both Iran and Venezuela, which are both causing us all kinds of foreign policy problems. I might add the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah was funded by Iran, which got all of those Petro Dollars from us the Industrialized World.

Negatives:

1. Convenience. Right now we can jump in our cars and drive anywhere we want within reason. I believe most consumers would settle on owning an Electric for most of their personal needs and then rent a gas powered vehicle for longer trips.
2. For certain consumers, the Electric will never be an economically feasible vehicle. Take for example the agriculture industry, who have a constant need to haul heavy loads. Also salesman, who are on the road for several hundred miles every work day.


*** Warning, Warning *** You are now entering the Rant Zone!

Probability of this happening: Nil!

Unfortunately, the Republican Party is in bed with the Oil Companies (Who will fight this Foot, tooth and nail,) and the Democrats are in bed with the Environmentalists. The Environmentalists will fight using Nuclear Energy Foot, tooth and nail. To the Environmentalists, let me point out a simple fact. If we keep going as we are today, our environment will implode. 100% guarantee! The risks of using nuclear energy are far less (10% at the worst.) And the American Public will not accept going back to 19th century as a life style.

Our current politicians are doing what is best for their party over what is best for the country (and YES, I mean BOTH parties.) We desperately need a third party, a pragmatic and centrist party with limited ties to big business, to make these tough decisions.

* Scientific American, 9/2006, page 60.

The Check is in the Mail

Or the Power of the Discovered Check

Played on FICS August 26th, I was white.

1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5
3.Nc3 dxc4
4.e4

Queens Gambit Accepted. I have a lot of fun with this line.

4. ... Bb4
5.Bxc4 Bxc3+
6.bxc3 Bd7
7.Nf3 Bc6

I decided to trade off pawns in the center. I felt I would still control the center and my opponent would have to do something with his Bishop. Otherwise I would gain at least a tempo.
8.d5 exd5
9.exd5 Bd7
10.0-0 Ne7
11.Re1

There are several reasons for this move:
1. Rooks want to control open files.
2. It is a central file and it really strengthens my center.
3. It is a pin. Pins are usually only temporary advantages, but ...

11. ... 0-0

He or she castles out of check, breaking the pin.
I have decided to re-pin and I have 2 good choices:
1. Ba3 pin the Night against his Rook.
2. Bg5, pinning the Night against his queen.

I chose option 2, because it sets up either a very nice attack or a sneaky discovered check.

12.Bg5 f6

This was the move I had hoped for. It sets up a discovered check on his King and an attack on Knight simultaneously and it ends up winning a Knight and a rook for the price of a pawn. For black, Re8 would have been a much better move.


13.d6+ Kh8
14.dxe7 Qe8
15.exf8Q+ Qxf8

Black should have resigned at this point. He is down almost a whole Queen, but he played on for a while. The game after this point is uninteresting, but I am posting it anyway for your viewing pleasure.

16.Be3 Bc6
17.Nd4 a6
18.Nxc6 Nxc6
19.Be2 Rc8
20.Bg4 Rd8
21.Qb3 b5
22.Rad1 Rxd1
23.Rxd1 Ne5
24.Be6 c5
25.Bf4 c4
26.Qb4 Nd3
27.Qxf8# 1-0

Green Backed Heron (Juvenile)

I took this image on or about August 10th, 2006. It was in an area I normally check for wildlife. At first I missed seeing it, since it was standing perfectly still. But the scene looked odd to me, so I double checked it and thats when I saw it. I took two shots with my camera (one turned out blurry.)


I had no idea what this species was. I have a Birds of Iowa field guide, but the Green Backed Heron isn't in there. They apparently breed in Iowa, but are not year long residents. I am probably going to have to find a better bird book, I used to have a copy Roger Tory Petersons Guide to Eastern United States. That book was great and I may have to purchase another copy. Thanks to Dennis Hill for knowing who to ask in making the id.

Blue Herons

I had mentioned in a previous post that Blue Heron's are somewhat shy creatures and that last year it took me weeks to get an acceptable picture of one. Well in the last couple of weeks I have gotten numerous images of them. These are the best, some of the others are so so, and others are down right blurry.

The first image was on August 4th and it is on "Squirrel Island" which I now sneak up on with my camera armed and ready. These were all taken along the bike path behind my employer in Johnston, Iowa. All but the first image was taken last week, unfortunatly I don't have the exact times or dates since I forgot to set the time and date on my camera when I changed batteries.

Enjoy, Terry

Observing

Tuesday Night was very clear which is what I came here for. I had picked up at the sign in a "Nebraska Star Party Planetary Challenge Sheet" and started to work on it.

Object ra dec Time Date Desc

ic4593 16.11.45 12.04.17 23:40 2006/07/25 Small Planetary
ic4599 16.19.23 42.15.36- 23:00 2006/07/27 Small Planetary
ngc6153 16.31.30 40.15.13-
ngc6210 16.44.30 23.48.00 23:54 2006/07/25 Small Planetary
ngc6302 17.13.44 37.06.14- 00:00 2006/07/26 Mid sized Planetary
ngc6337 17.22.15 38.29.01- 23:40 2006/07/27 Small Planetary
ngc6309 17.14.04 12.54.38- 00:12 2006/07/26 Small, very near Moderatly bright star.
ngc6369 17.29.21 23.45.35- 02:40 2006/07/26 Small Planetary
ngc6445 17.49.15 20.00.34- 02:42 2006/07/26 Mid sized,dim planetary
ngc6543 17.58.33 66.37.59 02:48 2006/07/26 Bright blue Planetary, "The Cats Eye."
ngc6563 18.12.03 33.52.06- 23:30 2006/07/25 Small Planetary
ngc6572 18.12.06 06.51.13 00:20 2006/07/26 Midsized Planetary
ngc6567 18.13.45 19.04.34-
ic1297 19.17.23 39.36.47-
ngc6781 19.18.28 06.32.23 01:55 2006/07/26 Nice largePlanetary
ngc6804 19.31.36 09.13.30 02:05 2006/07/26 Midsized Planetary
ngc6818 19.43.58 14.09.11- 02:10 2006/07/26 Small Planetary
ngc6826 19.44.48 50.31.30 02:14 2006/07/26 Small Bright Planetary
ngc6853 19.59.36 22.43.16 02:16 2006/07/26 Big & Bright (also known as M27, The Dumbbell)
ngc6891 20.15.09 12.42.15 02:25 2006/07/26 Smallish Planetary, 2 in same field of view.
ngc6894 20.16.24 30.33.55 02:30 2006/07/26 Midsized Planetary


I used 2 32mm eye pieces, one with a O3 Filter (good for detecting Planeary nebulas,) and one without. I would switch the eye pieces back and forth trying to detect the planetarys. This works because of what planetaries are, which is old dieing stars. They have burn't all of their hydrogen in their cores and have then started burning the helium into heavier elements. One of the heavier atoms is oxygen and the O3 filter can detect excited oxygen.
With a O3 filter in, stars should be diminished in brightness and planetarys should remain as bright. For higher magnifications I switched to a 15mm. 32 mm eye pieces should give 63x, while the 15mm should give 135x.

Terry

Sight Seeing

Allen Beers and I did some sight seeing on Tuesday (7/25.)

Valentine had a grass fire recently, burning in excess of 3000 acres. It apparently started up near the towns communication equipment and was caused by an electrical short. The fire took out some of the communications equipment making the response to the fire slow. A number of homes were lost and unfortunatly it appeared to effect mostly the less well to do neiborhoods.

Allen and I then went on and did a hike at Smith State Park to the North East of Valentine. Smith Falls in Smith State Park has Nebraska's highest falls(about 65 feet, or just shy of 20 meters.)





We were then ready for lunch, Allen wanted to go to McDonnalds. But I talked him into going to a "Local" Resturant. Cheryl and I hae previously checked out most of them and I talked Allen into "The Bunk House" a local "Diner" type resturant. The food and service are pretty good and the price is reasonable. I had chicken fried steak.

Terry

Nebraska Star Party Time

I like the Nebraska Star Party, very clear dark skies. It is advertised as having the darkest skies in all of Continental USA, and I believe it. The party is held 30 miles outh of Valentine, NE at Merritt Resovoir.

I had planned to leave town as early as possible Sunday 7/23. I actually cleared Des Moines at 9:00 am after having breakfast with Cheryl at our local Perkins (she didn't want to come on this trip.)

I am pulling a camper behind my little Ranger Pickup and I am not supposed to use overdrive while towing, so that imits me to about 65mph. Therefore, my inentions are to take the secondary highways and avoid the interstate where possible.

So the route I selected was,

I-80 West from Des Moines to I-680
I-680 (North around Omaha) to I-29
I-29 North to Hwy 30
Hwy 30 West to Hwy 77
Hwy 77 North Hwy 275
Hwy 275 North to Hwy 20
Hwy 20 West to Valentine
And then its just a short 30 mile jaunt south to Merritt Resovoir.

It actually was a rather pleasant drive, no problems, but it took about 10 hours. Total distance driven, about 430 miles.

I crossed into Nebraska at about 11:30 and stopped in Blair, NE at 12:05 and had lunch in a Runza resturant. I had what they call a Swiss Cheese Runza:



Well it was a cheap meal, costing only about $5.00. I understand Runza is a chain that is in Nebraska only. The only other thing worth mentioning is that I passed through Norfolk, NE the home town of Johnny Carson (for those of you old enough to remember him.)

I set up camp at about 19:00 visited a little with some of the other DMAS members and then made a couple of hamburgers. Ate both of them and had a can of pears.

Went out to the observing site and set up. The sky was excellent, giving twice the contrast that I normally see at DMAS, but there was a pesky wind of around 20 mph making observing difficult. I was tired anyway, so around midnight I gave up and went back to the campground.

Game of the Week

These were both Queens Gambit Accepted and I had white in both games.

Game 1:

1.d4 d5
2.c4 dxc4
3.e4

3. ... e5

He would like me to take his pawn, which would allow him to exchange Queens and remove my castling capabilities.
4.Nf3 exd4
5.Bxc4 a6
6.Qb3
Not exactly the line I know, but it creates a nice attack on his King side.

6. ... Qe7
7.0-0 Nc6
8.Bg5

That's it with the QGA, white gets very fast development and black can become very constricted. Note black can not take e4, since Rook to e1 pins the Queen to her King.

8. ... f6
9.Bxg8 fxg5

I decide to exchange my bishop for his knight, wrecking his king side pawn structure. Its always nice when your opponent helps you with your plans.

10.Bd5 Qd7

I threaten to exchange my Bishop or his knight, messing up his queen side pawns. He defends the knight with his Queen, leaving his g5 pawn undefended. After my knight takes his g5 pawn, there is a very nice 3 piece attack on his f7 square.

11.Nxg5 Na5
12.Bf7+ Ke7
13.Qb4+

Wins the knight because his King must retreat.

13. ... Kd8
14.Qxa5 h6
15.Be6 Qe7

Black realizes his position is hopeless and resigns.


Game 2

1.d4 d5
2.c4 dxc4
3.e4 c5

My opponent plays the c pawn up instead of the e pawn. Same idea though, if I take he exchanges queens and removes my castling capabilities.

4.Nf3 b5
5.a4 cxd4

6.axb5 d3

As in the image above, it looks like my position is very constricted. But I don't believe he can hold onto his central pawns. They are over extended and therefore my strategy is to colapse his center.

7.Qa4 Qc7!



A good move, which allows him to hold onto those central pawns (at least temporarily.)

8.b6+ Qc6
9.Qxc6+

I didn't want to exchange queens, but it looked like my best alternative. It leaves my nasty pawn on b6 and he can't take it with his pawn, because my rook would then capture his.

9. ... Nxc6
10.Nc3 Bg4

11.Nd5

Threatening Nc7+, forking the King and Rook.
11. ... Kd7


At this point I came up with a plan. Move the Knight e5 and allow his knight to capture (as if he has any choice since its check,) then Rook takes a7+ and after his rook recaptures the pawn goes in unhindered. And thats how it worked! I love it when a plan comes together.

12.Ne5+! Nxe5
13.Rxa7+ Rxa7
14.bxa7 e6!

Another cute move, trying to get as much of my material as possible. But after looking it over, I decided to let him take it. Since my queen will take back and be on a good central square and recapture his knight (or Bishop depending on how he plays it.)

15.a8Q Bc5
16.Ne3 Bxe3
17.Bxe3 Ne7

I probably should have taken the Rook and been done with it. But I wanted to attack the King, not go on a piece eating lark and the game was in the center.

18.Qa7+ Kc6
19.Qc5+ Kd7
20.Qxe5 Ra8
21.Qb5+ Kd8
22.Bb6+ Kc8
23.Qxc4+ Kd7

Black Resigns!!!

What should be learned from these games.

1. I personally don't recomend playing the QGA as black, but our local master says it is very sound. As black only play the Queens Gambit Accepted with caution (and book knowlege.) White in my opinion has a decided advantage and for black to win against a prepared player takes some depth of knowlege. To know how to play this with white, I recomend reading "Attacking with 1.d4, by Dunnington." Both of my opponents here were moderately strong, the first had a 1448 FICS rating and second had a 1417, while mine was 1379 (it goes up and down.) I think they pick up a lot of games from players who don't know how to defend in the QGA.

The game of the week was number 2, he was a little more booked up and therefore was more challenging. And its always more fun when you can force a pawn promotion!


Terry

Image of the week

The contenders are:



A Lesser Yellowlegs, taken from a fairly inconspicous position. I got off several shots without him or her noticing me. I am above the creek by about 8 feet and about 20 feet horizontally away. I am behind some trees "a sort of natural blind."



This deer is a considerble distance away, maybe 100 feet or so. I got lucky and saw her out in the clear. The creek is in a gully and she is down in it, probably getting some water.



And in my humble opinion the deer picture is much better. It gives a glimpse of the beauty of this park.
Now the bad news from this week. I saw a pair of Blue Herons this week, but the camera action was to slow to get them.


Terry

Image of the week

The contenders:

1. Image was taken last Wednesday. He or she was one very agitated Catbird. I don't think I was causing her to be upset, since I could hear her before I got there and well after I left. Anyway, when I usually walk by them, they totally ignore me.

2. A female Cardinal, taken Saturday. Not the best photo in the world, but the best I could get, She kept moving around making taking the photo difficult. This photo looks a little grainy, but most were just a blur.
3. A young rabbit, taken Saturday. She was just sitting by the trail, munching on some grass.


And the winner is:












The scwewy wittle wabbit!!!

Game of the Week

Game was played on FICS at 18:06 Saturday Jun 24th. I have black.

1.d4 d5
2.c4 e6
3.cxd5 exd5
4.Nc3 c5
5.dxc5 d4

In the Tarrasch, by black pushing to d4 gives him all the attacking possibilities. I must add though, that Tim our local master roasts me with this line every time.


6.Ne4 Bf5
7.Ng3 Bg6
8.b4 Nc6
9.Nf3 Nxb4
10.Nxd4
I don't know about you, but I love a good Queen Sack, especially when it is sound. Here my opponent has given me a perfect opportunity. Apparently, I saw it nearly immediatly. Since according to my game report from FICS, I only thought about the move for 4 seconds. It must have surprised my opponent, because he thought about his next move for 54 seconds (a long time in speed chess.)

10. ... Qxd4
11.Qxd4 Nc2+


Now I have won the Queen back and profited a whole Knight. I also have removed his castling privileges.

12.Kd1 Nxd4
13.e3


I totally missed the move here. Fritz pointed out that
13. ... Nc2
14. Rb1 Nxe3+
exchanges a knight for a rook and a pawn. That would probably have ended the game right there.

13. ... Nc6
14.Bb5 0-0-0+
15.Ke2 Bxc5
16.Bxc6 bxc6
17.Bb2 Bd3+
18.Kf3 Ne7
19.Rhd1 Bb5


Bb3 was better, but at least I am still winning.

20.Rdc1 Bb4
21.a3 Bd2
22.Rc2 Ba4
23.Rc4 Bb5
24.Rc2 Ba5
25.Bxg7 Rhg8
26.Bf6 Rd7
27.Ne4 Ng6
28.g3 Re8
29.Nc5 Rd6
30.Bd4 Ne5+
31.Bxe5 Rxe5
32.Ne4



I now have a plan as to how to finish my opponent off. I am going to move the Rook to h6, so that he will think that I am attacking his h2 pawn. Then after he defends that pawn, my bishop will drop to d3 forking his Rook and knight. Of course Fritz pointed out that all I had to do was:
32. ... Rxe4
33. Kxe4 Bd3+
Winning another knight.

32. ... Rh6
33.h4 Bd3




34.Rc5?

He thought he could save himself by exchanging the rooks. But the problem was when my bishop takes the knight, white is put in check while un-defending his rook at the same time. White loses a whole rook!

34. ... Bxe4+
White Resigns.

Image of the week

Its a tie.

What can I say, both images are good.

An Embarrassment of Riches

I am sorry I haven't gotten much posted for the last couple of weeks. There has been an illmess in the family and priorities had to be shifted.

So lets start with last week, I noticed this little flower growing in the prarie part of my walk. I don't know what it is, but I thought it was pretty.



The same walk, I noticed this duck, don't be fooled at how small it appears here. He was a good 50 meters away when I took this image. I would say that he was the size of a goose, they can get large. Unfortunatly I have lost contact with the mating pair of ducks I saw this spring.


Last week I was noticing a lot of these little dragon flies all along the bike trail (especially near the creek.)
I assume they are feeding on something that is on the trail.

A few minutes after the above image was taken, I noticed this baby. He is a considerbly larger species. Take note, his wings are barely noticable.
This little feller isn't much to look at, but he sure sings a pretty song. That is all he seems to do. He is a very small little bird, maybe 5 cm long (2 inches.)

This is a Redwinged Blackbird doing what they like to do. Which is clinging to tiny branches. The branch was blowing quite a bit in the wind and I was afraid they would all turn out blurry.

And this cute little guy is a Killdeer, I found him at the end of my walk in my employer's front lawn.

I found this big old frog in a muddy rise in the creek. Yes I am shooting straight down at him. I am on a bridge about 20 feet above him.



And all around him were these tiny little fish.

Thats it for last week, now for this week.


Monday, I saw this cute little squirrel poking his head around the tree at me. Now there are squirrels all over the bike trail and I usually don't mess with them, but in this guy was cute.


Shortly thereafter I started seeing deer. Now I haven't seen deer on the trail in weeks, occasionally I hear them though. And when I do see them it is often very hard to get a clear sharp picture because they are in the trees and the camera focuses on the trees. The manual overide usually takes too long and then the deer are gone. The following four pictures were all taken Tuesday (in about a 5 minute time frame.)







This is the last image from Tuesday, it just a cardinal. But I usually will take what I can get.



Wednesday I saw more deer, the images arn't quite as nice. But I enjoyed taking them. They were from a diffrent section of the park. And to finish everything off, I saw a Great Blue Heron. Unfortunatly, He saw me before I saw him and he was gone. Last year it took me weeks to get a picture of one, they are shy.