Jefferson Tower Apartments

 This posting isn't so much about photography as it is about nostalgia. I lived in the Jefferson Tower apartments in Wheat Ridge Colorado for six years. They were affordable, clean, and cheap at the time. My first apartment was a studio that I paid $230 a month, and I eventually upgraded to a one bedroom that cost me $300. 

I haven't really thought much about these apartments until recently. We were doing a writing task in one of my writer's group, and I ended up writing a poem about living there.  So here is that poem from that class along with a picture of this fantastic apartment complex.

The old red brick building stood where it did.
While the cover has changed the memories still stood.
I could still see Mary, my grandmotherly friend, watch me trip out of the car and into the cold white snow while drunk.
My apartment is still there but I don't hold a key and it is nice now.
I think of friends past and present who came to drink and play.
Though the building looks new, the memories and I are not

Flowers at Colorado State University

 There is a flower garden at CSU in Fort Collins, CO and we drove by in early October and the flowers looked awesome. So we stopped and took some pictures. I wish I would have had one of my Canon DSLRs, but my iPhone SE still took some great shots. 

Aurora Borealis

In Colorado we don't get to see the Aurora Borealis very often because we are so far South. In Early November there was a large solar storm and we got some great colors. I have seen brighter solar storm in northern Wisconsin. These pictures were taken with 3 second exposures with my Canon DSLR. I don't think I would have to do that in that northern Wisconsin event. I hope you enjoy these photos.

 

Funky Clouds

Being next to the foothills in Colorado we get interesting weather which includes a lot of wind and our rain and snow fall are influenced by Longs Peak which is over 14,000 feet tool and directly west of my house by 25 miles. Some times the combination of cold, wind, and the rising sun lead to interesting shapes in the clouds.

In the following photo, I haven't see a shape like this before. I believe the round area is just above longs peak which probably right where the top of longs peak is. The wind is using it like a ramp causing this odd shape.

This picture is interesting because it looks like some sort of monster running to the West(right) and is causing some sort of streak behind him. 
 

December 2025 Sunsets

In December in Colorado we get some really awesome sunsets. The sun, like everywhere else in the Northern Hemisphere, is very far South and the angle light goes through a lot of atmosphere and the particles in the sky give it an intense orange, red, and even pink color. On this page are some recent examples of these sunsets. 

 

Sandhill Cranes Migrating Over My Home in Berthoud Colorado

 Being next to the foothills has it perks. One aspect is seeing the Bald and the Golden Eagles sitting at the top of the hill near my home. Every couple of years the Sandhill Cranes will fly over my house during their fall migration. The slideshow below show three different years and you can see the differences in the weather and cloud cover. The pictures that are silhouettes are from a cloud day with the crane flying by at some distance to the west. Then one year they flew directly over my house and what was interesting is then when I was going through the photos I found a p.icture of a bald eagle that had been stalking them. Back in the fall of 2023, I heard the Cranes coming so I ran out with my tripod and got some good close up pictures as the flew by.

Latest Pictures From My Adventures

The first quarter of 2025 I have been busy taking pictures which shouldn't surprise anyone. I have recently been very interested in taking pictures of the moon especially as it sets. This one was just taken today (March 15, 2025) and I rushed out with bare feet and still being in may PJs, but I still got the shot even though my feet were really cold.

As usual I have some new Eagle photos. This next photo is a young bald eagle, and you can tell by the mix of whit and black feathers on his head. They don't get their full white head until they are about 5 years old. 

These two Bald Eagles were sitting on these posts on a very windy day. The kept their faces directed into the wind and moved around a lot. I wondered if the movement or fidgeting was them trying to stay warm.

This Eagle I have named freckles. In a higher resolution photo I have on my camera, you can see he has black freckles mixed in with his bald head. I've seen him a few times. 

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The next moon photos were taken at different times of day. The first was taken during a sunrise I happened to catch with a wide angle lens. This allowed me to get some better details from the moon since the wide angle kept the tone of the moon down a bit allowing you to see some additional detail. The second is a moon set when the moon was just a sliver. You can see the entire moon easily though because of the remaining light from the sun and the ISO setting on the camera.

This last photo is a close up of a Golden Eagle. I've been trying to get a shot of a Golden Eagle sitting still for a long time. Unlike the Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles are much more aloof and tend to not tolerate my presence very well. Even thought I have a giant zoom lens on my camera, I still need to approach a little bit in order to get a high res picture that give some detail. On this day I think he was too busy looking for his next email and allowed me to approach a bit closer. The colors on the Golden Eagles are hard for the camera to focus on so I had to adjust the camera manually and very slowly as to not scare it away.