Again on our last day we saw the cranes enjoying bed & breakfast. The sun was up and they didn't fly off right away. I added the ice fishermen, because the cranes planned to fly off to find wheat and barley in the fields. (But the temperature did finally get down close to freezing.)

I made a Jack of Spades for Halloween. So fun! Thanks for the challenge.

For my official standard-size playing card, I picked the Jack of Spades for Halloween.

We saw a couple hundred sandhill cranes and no other visitors besides us. We avoided masses of cranes that make it much harder to get a photo of just one or two, and also issues of crowding that starts with just six or seven vehicles. In a few weeks there would be many thousands of...

We liked seeing a smaller number of cranes as most had not yet arrivged at the refuge. Temperatures for the region were at and near record highs, but each morning the temperature inched closer to freezing, and we started to see fog on the waters. We were comfortable.

Yes. Each year I fill a 442-page book. I started in 2008, but made my own handmade books before that, after printing tech books starting in my early twenties.

Thanks for the challenge, Amy! Not crazy though, about way too many parts. Like a 10,000-piece puzzle when I love the 5,000 piece ones. :p I soldiered through, think it's OK, but not easy for me to create a strong design and flow, although I totally love fixing the templates, because I have to...

On Wednesday haze made it hard to focus on the cranes about 450 feet away, but after sunrise the golden light on birds in flight and loafing in the fields was beautiful. As well as cranes, Canada geese and ducks, we saw thousands of blackbirds in flight and one lone night heron.

No comments on this page, because I put it in my book at the end of the year where I always like a few reflections on change, and will write them in a couple of months. I used the Blendy on pretty much everything on the page.

My week is all about the cranes at the refuge, so I picked the stubble in the field, because farms all around the refuge get paid to grow barley and wheat to feed the birds. Over 23,000 of them and they are hungry from their flight. :p Thanks Vicky for the challenge, and especially for the...

On Tuesday there were cranes on the south pond, and quite a few had left the safety of the water and were loafing in the adjacent field instead of flying off to find the barley. We called it their version of a bed & breakfast. This was the first time we had seen the cranes in those fields.

Fun challenge, Zanthia! Thanks.

Just as we were putting away our gear for the drive back to town, the birds started leaving the water by the dozens. I felt so lucky to be ready with my phone, to at least get something, and was delighted that I caught them as the flew past the fall color on the mountain to the west.

Thanks for the challenge, Anke. Sifting through today's photos, I found an accidental selfie that showed my favorite hat, a bit of my new UV400 sunglasses, and completely blown out to solid white instead of my face. Since I'm never wild about selfies anyway, I took on the challenge of putting...

We were amazed that I was doing well so soon after the eye surgeries, when sources had indicated there probably would be complications. Well, it wasn't easy at first, and it looked like I would have to learn to take photos while wearing the mandatory UV glasses, but it was only getting better.

I like to try stuff. :p Thanks for the challenge, Susanne. It was fun.

On Monday there were almost no clouds and it seemed clear, but the haze made a soft and mostly forgettable sunrise. We were the only visitors at the refuge. We could hear lots of cranes in the distance, and were excited as we drove on to find about 150 of them at the big lake.

It was fun to remember those tag books we made for swaps back in the day. I still have a few of them. I added the bow and the butterfly to the one in Jen's bundle.

Inspired by Jen's Ethereal Woods Bundle.

Old crabapple trees, wild blueberries, mahonia, rabbitbrush