My owl friends: A Long Story Short...Maybe

Well, I will try to make it short as possible and not bore you with the details.Here goes......

I have had my current camera, a canon 7D, for about 5 years. It's a great camera and has given me great pics over the years. Well canon recently put out the next version of the 7D known as the 7D mark ll. It looked like a great upgrade at a very decent price, so I bought one! I got it Tuesday afternoon and after getting it set up, I drove over to see my owl friends.

Here are some pics of the kids......

After enjoying the owl show I headed home to download my pics into the computer. Here's where the problems began. The computer would not download the pics, so after about an hour of searching on the internet, I realized I needed to update my computer. Well, no luck with that, so I made an appointment to go to the Apple store on Wednesday for some help. Now when I go to the apple store I expect a nice young kid that knows computers inside and out. Well I ended up with an old guy( my age) and he was not helpful at all.Turns out he was a wildlife photographer and just wanted to show me his website and brag about himself. WTH! Luckily it was time for him to go home and I got a nice young kid to replace him. The young guy figured out in about 5 minutes that I needed a new hard drive. It was pretty inexpensive but would take about 3-5 days to fix. Nothing I could do but leave it there to get fixed.

Here's some pics I got while I was computerless......

Sonny napping....

Cher with some rabbit....

A little snow in the foothills....

Cher taking flight.....

Finally got to pick up the computer Sunday morning and was so excited to download my pics. Well then the next issue pooped up. I still needed to upgrade my computer from snow leopard to yosemite. That took about 4 hours. Then I needed to update my photograph editing software. That took quite a few phone calls to Adobe( lightroom 5) and lots of frustration but finally I am up and running again! Yea!

Last evening( Monday) I stopped over to check on the owlets. Still all in the nest! I had been checking every morning as I love to get first morning pics. Here are the two big ones peeking out.....

I was getting tired of checking the nest each morning, so I hoped today was the day! I got over to the nest around 6:15am and within 10 seconds I spotted him perched on a low branch! Yea! He finally did it! He left the nest!

It was a perfect morning to get pics. The light was great and the barking dogs that live near the nest were not out.I had this cute guy all to myself.
After grabbing some pics I went back to check the nest. Lots more room for the two owlets now.....

Here's what the path looks like that I walk on everyday.....

Finally! I was so happy he was out and about. I headed home for some much needed coffee and breakfast.
Then Hazel and I went to the rez for some swimming time! I decided to bring my camera just in case.....
So glad I did! After our playtime, I went to check on my other owl friends. I call them the coot lake owls. I had not seen them for quite awhile and wondered if they had changed nests.
But today was my lucky day and I spotted the male. Still not sure if they are using the same nest but at least I know they are around.....