“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” ― Eudora Welty
Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
I wish all those in the USA a Happy Thanksgiving and those living elsewhere a wonderful week and week-end.
more to come…
Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
The only sporting venue I’ve been to in the last few years is Greater Nevada Field in Reno, NV to see the Reno Aces play baseball. The Aces are a Minor League team in the Pacific Coast League and a Triple-A team affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He-Man and I enjoy the games and try to go a several times each season.
Here’s the entrance gate we use. I love the faux baseball overhang.
The team has two mascots Archie the Sasquatch of the Sierra Mountains, and Truckee. Who is a water droplet who originates from the Truckee River. They make the intervals so much fun! They dance, they race the kids, the kids always win, they throw t-shirts, and baseballs. We’ve caught a couple, and they get us up and dancing all. the. time! I get up and dance and do the 7th inning stretch. I will never be too old to sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame which they do every 7th inning. It never get old. The only sport I really, really like is baseball. I also like pool/billiards. Now you know. 😊
Here’s the view looking west after the sun goes down and the lights of the stadium and a few casinos come on.
Another view west with the crescent moon and stadium lights on.
Our favorite seats are on the 3rd base line facing east. I have images of that view too but, will save those for another post.
This post is part of the weekly challenge Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge hosted by Dan Antion over at https://nofacilities.com/cees-fun-foto-challenge-cffc/
The challenge runs Monday-Sunday. Click on the link above on to see more foto fun from around the world or join the craze and add a post of your own. 😊
iPhone 14 Pro
more to come…
Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
This year for the first time in Nevada’s history a tree from The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest will be traveling to Washington, D.C, and the United States Capitol Building to be The People’s Tree aka The National Christmas Tree.
The tree is named “Silver Belle”. She’s 53 feet tall (1.615.44 cm) and it’s a Red Fir tree.
After she was harvested she was taken to get ready for her journey across the country. There she was decorated, and placed in a special trailer that will be driven to Washington, D.C. She made her first stop in Carson City on November 1, 2025 in the Nevada Day Parade. There are windows so you can see just the top of the tree.
Since early summer Nevadans have been making ornaments for National Christmas Tree. I heard the call was made for 10,000 ornaments, and Nevada delivered and more! The extra ornaments will be used on companion trees that will be placed in other Federal Buildings.
While getting the National Christmas Tree ready they made a tree cookie and discovered the tree is 50 years old, has a 20 inch diameter, and 16 inch crown spread.
After the National Christmas Tree left the parade the truck and National Forest Park Rangers made their way down the street to the Toyota Dealership where the tree was on display for 3 hours. We were able to sign the banner, take photos, and see Smokey the Bear.
A tree skirt depicting all 17 Nevada counties was made. I have to show you in four parts as it’s so large and not laying flat.
I have several favorite panels on the tree skirt. Douglas, of course it’s my county, and it’s full of stars. I also like Eureka, Pershing, and Washoe’s panels a lot. I’m not sure if this will be on the lawn under the tree or in a building under one of the companion trees? Most likely indoors.
The truck and National Christmas Tree will be making its way across the country making 13 stops along the way. You can sign the banner, buy official U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree merch, take loads of photos, and learn more about Nevada’s National forest. Here’s the list of scheduled stops.
Saturday, Nov. 1- Nevada Day Parade, Carson City, Nevada
Sunday, Nov. 2- Lovelock, and Elko, Nevada
Monday, Nov. 3- Ely, Nevada
Tuesday, Nov. 4- Las Vegas, Nevada
Friday, Nov. 7- Flagstaff, Arizona
Saturday, Nov. 8- Albuquerque, New Mexico
Sunday, Nov. 9- Amarillo, Texas
Monday, Nov. 10- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Tuesday, Nov. 11- Lenexa, Kansas
Wednesday, Nov. 12- St. Louis, Missouri
Friday, Nov. 14- Paducah, Kentucky
Saturday, Nov. 15- Lexington, Kentucky
Thursday, Nov. 20- Joint Base Andrews, Maryland
The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree initiative began in 1964. One of the 154 national forests provide a tree to serve as the Nation’s Christmas Tree.
This is the first time in the program’s history that a tree has been selected from the Humboldt-Toyabe forest.
It’s pretty neat that Nevada was chosen this year and I was able to see it and be there for its first leg of the historic journey to Washington, D.C.
If you’re near or in one of the cities it will stop I hope you are able to see it too. All events are free and open to the public.
Notes- It’s really cool that the National Park Service worked so hard during the shutdown to make sure the National Christmas Tree got to the West Lawn.
I blurred the faces of a lot people in the background of several images because there were kids, and people who may not want to be included in my blog post. I hope you didn’t find it too distracting.
Information gleaned from the Official 2025 Nevada Day Program| NevadaDay.com
Have a great week-end!
more to come…
Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
This is a rare 2nd post for me this week and even rarer there will be another post tomorrow. Don’t worry I won’t do this very often.
I don’t participate in too many challenges but, Cee’s was one of the few I have done. Today would have been her birthday. Her challenges were always on point, varied, and were interesting subjects. Thankfully, Dan is continuing to keep the Monday challenges going in Remembrance of Cee.
To see other posts Remembering Cee or to link a post of your own visit Dan Antion’s blog here, or Marsha’s blog here.
more to come…
Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
October 31, 2025 was Nevada’s 161st year of Statehood. The celebrations started early in October with many events scheduled throughout the month leading up to the big Birthday Bash on November 1st.
November 1st started really early with Hot Air Balloonist rolling in at 6am to get their balloons ready for an 8AM lift-off. I was there.
I usually pick one balloon and stick with them until they lift off. This year I watched the crew that owns this balloon laying flat on the ground.
The crew pulled up to their spot on the street then they laid out a huge tarp, next they roll out the balloon. The crew is named Cloud Couture Crew. The Balloon’s name is Cloud Couture. It’s piloted by Eric Diamond.
Next they hook up the basket, and gas, check all the lines, then they turn on a huge fan. See it next to the basket on the left? They use the fan to fill the balloon with air. The best part is when they have enough air in the balloon to start heating it up and lifting the balloon! Whoosh! It was warm standing here once they had the flame going.
By the way the balloon is piloted by his boss.
Now the balloon is just about ready to fly!
Officer Lorentzen is invited on board as well as one more passenger, the owner- Delores Martinez. It’s almost Go Time!
I turn my back on the crew a minute to see what’s happening behind me, and find Lift Off has begun!
Let’s look back and see what’s happening behind the Cloud Couture Crew.
Did Officer Lorentzen and crew get off the ground?
I waved good-bye and quietly wished them a great flight, and soft landing.
All in all I counted 18 balloons in the air, but I may have missed a couple.
My girlfriend and I went to breakfast and shed some layers before the parade started at 10AM as it was getting warm out.
Cloud Couture Crew-
Pilot-Eric Diamond
Owner-Delores Martinez
Crew Chief- Stephen Moore
Crew- Anthony, J-Bird, Alex, and Emma.
You can find them on Instagram at CloudCoutureNV
Cloud Couture, thank you for letting me and my camera hang out with you to see all it takes to get your beautiful hot air balloon off the ground!
Happy Wednesday!
more to come…
Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
This is a bird I don’t think I’ve shared often as they’re very elusive and shy.
Last month while birding up in Washoe County we were thrilled to see this one come out of the reeds to forage in the shallow end of the lake. This one is a juvenile which is why it was foraging in the open for sometime. There was another one behind in the reeds tut-tutting…probably an adult.
Fun Facts:
A secretive bird of freshwater marshes, the Virginia Rail often remains hidden in dense vegetation, but its loud grunting may give away its presence. As it slowly pokes its way through the marsh, you might get a glimpse of its reddish bill, black-and-white barred sides, and its twitching tail, showing off white tail feathers beneath. It possesses many adaptations for moving through its nearly impenetrable habitat, including a laterally compressed body, long toes, and flexible vertebrae.
Fun Facts gleaned from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Virginia_Rail/overview
I’m birding this morning so will be late to your blogs and comments. I hope you all have a Happy Halloween, and great week-end.
more to come…
Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
I went out with a friend to try to see if I could find and photograph C/2025 A6 Comet (Lemmon) on October 19th. I didn’t go too far from home just up into the Pinenut Mountains a little bit. l took my 50mm lens so I would be able to see a wide space of the sky and hopefully see it. I never saw it with my eyes or binoculars, but when I got home and uploaded my images I was happy to see my camera had seen it. It’s the tiny green dot upper center of the image.
It’s tiny at 50mm but, I cropped this in a bit for a better look.
The next night I went back to the same spot with my old 80-200mm lens but, I wasn’t able to see it at all. I believe it was too low and behind the hills opposite.
So last night a friend and I went north to a spot I know that had more open sky. It took us a while to find it but, we did. My old lens had a bit of trouble focusing on my newish bigger sensor D810 but, once I uploaded my images I found I had several decent shots of the comet with a hint of its tail too.
It’s always exciting to see a comet and this one is pretty cool. It was 55 million miles from Earth last night and it won’t be back again until the year 3175! Do you think my images will survive for my future family members to see my images made with probably antiquated photography methods and gear? Somewhere between 33 and 46 generations will pass before C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) comes our way again. It boggles my mind.
Did you see it?
more to come…
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