{"id":1257,"date":"2019-04-06T11:24:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/gazette\/2019\/04\/06\/20190406-bluebonnetvideo\/"},"modified":"2024-09-11T13:50:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T18:50:43","slug":"20190406-bluebonnetvideo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2019\/04\/06\/20190406-bluebonnetvideo\/","title":{"rendered":"Flower Flyover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The bluebonnet crop around our little town of Horseshoe Bay is absolutely phenomenal this year. Most of the long-timers here say it’s the best showing in at least a decade. It’s probably due to the record-breaking rainfall we experienced last fall, plus a relatively warm winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve now learned that the “warm winter” is actually a non-factor. Bluebonnets contain a sort of natural anti-freeze and thus aren’t affected much by cold and frosty weather. Check out this bluebonnet FAQ<\/a> over at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for more interesting tidbits about the state flower of Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the cause, we’re seeing bluebonnets in places we’ve never before spotted them, and in quantities large enough to make a description of a “sea of flowers” not much of an exaggeration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos don’t really do them justice, but I took a shot at seeing if a video might come close. I launched my little DJI Spark drone a couple of weeks ago near the entrance to our neighborhood and took about fifteen minutes of hi-def movies of the flowers we see every day around here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided to do something a little different, however. Instead of a lot of “bird’s eye” perspective, I kept the drone as low to the ground as the obstacle avoidance firmware would allow, thereby capturing more of a “flower’s eye” view (Ed: Flowers don’t have eyes.<\/i> Me: Oh, yeah. Then how do you explain black-eyed susans<\/a>?<\/i>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you find the following video relaxing to watch. Note that it was a rather breezy day and the drone experienced a little buffeting, hence some<\/i> of the occasional jerkiness of the images. The rest of the jerkiness is due to pilot incompetence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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