Two Rainbows, Twice the Money?

You can barely see the second rainbow forming above this bright one. I did not know it would be so hard to photograph a rainbow. This was a very bright one, but I had to take my "stops" down to get it to reflect what it looked like in real life. It was really much better than this.

Looking for a pot of gold to pay for a gallon of gas

I have never seen such an illuminated, bright rainbow as I saw last night! I took photo after photo on different settings to try and find just the right one that would render exactly what we were seeing with human eyes. This one came close.

Baby owl at night!! Hooooo! Spoooky!

I stuck around long enough to take this picture of one of the baby owls at night....I love this effect with his eyes!!

The Triplets all together!

I told my friend DeeDee I may name the mother owl after her....because they both had triplets!

(actually the mama owl had a fourth, I found it dead at the Town Square several weeks ago.)

Baby owl closeup, sibling close by

I cropped this one so we can see the baby better.

Mr. and Mrs. Owl are proud to announce...

...Triplets!!....well, only 2 of them posed for this picture. There are 3 owls in the tree, I think these 2 did not like the 3rd. They were sitting on different limbs! ANYWAY...turns out, in the photos below, when I was sitting beneath the mama owl, that was the tree her babies were in. See the owl photos taken earlier on this blog. The mama knew I was awfully close. BUT, I wondered if they were in the next tree over. I was right by them the whole time. I plan to go back to see if I can get a better picture. Thank you to my friend "Mayor Arnie" for letting me know. (Arnie is the Mayor of a small town nearby and he also oversees the upkeep of the Town Square in our town)

The newest little light in our lives

This pretty girl is almost 8 months old. She is the reason I am known as "Gramma'chelle" . I took this photo on our living room floor, and did a vignette in photoshop!

Broughton - The little town that is no more

For 97 years people lived, and worked and played in Broughton Kansas. The creation of the Milford Reservoir saw an end to the town. All that exists now are ghostly mounds where homes once stood, a grade indicating where a train once ran, a foundation where a silo stored grain, and beautiful trees that once lined the little community on the prairie.

In 1993 the area did flood, as the government predicted it might.

The people of Broughton, those that now live in neighboring communities, gathered with a group of historians recently who spent the last 4 years researching and documenting the history of the town. They celebrated the work and dedication of the Kansas State University students and professors who so lovingly re-created a long past piece of Americana.

Remembering two Mexican immigrant children

The year was 1919, and the Castardo Family was living in Broughton Kansas. Dad was a railway worker, and living amongst the American people on the prairie in Kansas. It offered a freedom not before known for this little family. But the community would not live on forever, and the lives of 2 of the boys would come to an end here as well.

Broughton enjoyed less than 100 years of history as a community, (1869-1966) before the Government decided the area was on a major flood plain, created the Milford Reservoir, and asked the people of the community for their property. The people moved and the little town no longer existed, although it's families assimilated into other towns in the area.

What became of the Castardo family I do not know, but their 2 young boys...one, named Felipe, died at the age of 11 years and Santitos died at the age of 9 months, both within 2 months of one another. I do not know what sickness overtook them, only that they are now gone, buried in the Broughton Cemetery, high on a hill in Clay County Kansas, overlooking rolling farms, with cattle grazing close by. Their graves are marked with twin crosses, their names, birth dates and death dates. To this day, someone decorates their crosses with a ribbon each year.

She's aiming for me!

I stood watching this owl for a good long time, and she sat on the top of the Courthouse watching me. My photos here are not in order, but regardless, she lifted up, soared toward me and then lighted in a tree above me. She is really something.

Right above me!

Here, Mrs. Owl got directly above me to see if I was a danger, I guess. From here, after I sat quiet a long time....she flew directly to her babies. Maybe I earned her trust.

Mama Owl watching me!

I sat near the Town Square waiting for this female owl to show me where her babies are. She sat above me on the top of the Courthouse and then from here flew to a tree directly above me! I am pretty sure which tree her nests are in. I was awfully close to it at this location.