Some do play nice

While I was catching up in the blogs a few weeks back, I stumbled across an entry at Deanna's entitled b...bu...but we have squirrels! that made me think of a picture I'd snapped just a few days prior. I wasn't going to post it right away because I was in the middle of that meme and I didn't want to interrupt the flow I had going. We all know what happens when THAT happens!

Anyhow, she was discussing why we haven't seen anymore of those squirrelly stories coming from her neck of the woods. It seems that they've taken to bum-rushing the feeders meant for the pretty birdies and hogging down all the seed. The birds don't seem to enjoy this harassment and have stopped coming around.

I'm here to tell you that they can and do manage to share eating quarters very nicely, it all depends on where you're located. You see, for those who don't read Deanna's blog, she lives way out in the Boonie-docks with trees and all that lovely nature around her. The squirrels don't have as much selection in a free buffet there as they do in the middle of town, like where I live. Cul-de-sac after cul-de-sac after cul-de-sac filled with townhouses. It's much like living in a fish bowl. I hate it. Behind us is a strip mall then a busy street and on the other side of that is a big mall. Needless to say, the squirrels gotta get when and where they can and if it means being nice to the birds to get a share, then so be it. It might help that 80% of the birdies here are brown and kinda blend in with the ground... might also help that the Mourning Doves show up in a flock of  7-8 and each one is almost as large as the squirrel. Then again, it might be that one dove that I nicknamed "The Godfather" because of the way the others seem to defer to it. Just sayin'.

There's at least 6, if not 7, assorted birds on the right.

I've got other birdie pictures that I'll post at a later time..... more colorful ones :)

odd clouds, minigardens, trains, pollintation and tomorrow's weather

You know what's wonderful about birthdays these days? It's all the coupons for freebees and reduced priced items you can get if you just know where to register with. I'm one that doesn't like when the restaurants make a big deal over you at table-side, but I'm not above using the coupons for the free meals or desserts or whatever they're giving away.

This Thursday, we went to Logan's because I was so in the mood for one of those little desserts in a bucket that they sell. The fact I had a coupon so it didn't cost me that extra was a plus too. We won't go into the fact I ended up ditching hubby at the table because I thought the waiter was going to come back with the whole staff to sing to me once he saw the coupon we gave him. Nope, I so would NEVER do that. We also won't go into the fact that he was laughing at me when he exited the restaurant because I'd bolted for what amounted to as no reason at all.

On Friday, we decided to lunch at Red Robin. We don't normally go because they're kinda pricey for a burger and fries, and they're a ways out from the town house. However, when you have a coupon...you make the trip! Well that and the fact that I just LOVE their sauteed mushroom burgers and freckled lemonade. On the way to the restaurant, I was snapping away and then I see something unusual up in the sky. All I did to the picture below was use the auto correct option in the photo editing program. Even without it darkened, you could see the colors in the middle of the shot. You can see pink and yellow in the picture, but green was also visible to the naked eye. It was like a very faded rainbow. We'd had a smattering of rain very early in the morning but it was pretty dry out when we were out and about, and we weren't due for anymore rain until much later in the evening.

I simply adored the landscaping when we pulled into the shopping plaza's parking lot. Different flowers for a change, YAY! I told hubby that once we were done eating I wanted to go across the parking area and get some shots of the "gardens" outside the store fronts. The red of the blooms just has been popping the last couple weeks. So very vibrant.
On our way home, we got caught waiting at a train crossing. The husband became like a child and practically bounced in his seat... all excited that we'd be seeing a train. *sigh*

Ok, I can understand the first husband's idiotboy's infatuation because his father used to work for the railroad and they lived really close to some tracks. As a boy, he'd spend alot of time watching the trains go by. So I got it with him....I truly understood why.

However, with this husband, I just don't get it. He was never really exposed to them that I could tell, if anything he was around trucks for the most part. So I asked him...

"What the hell is it about trains that guys like so damned much? I mean I get the cars, boats, planes and even to a lesser extent motorcycles. But trains???"

His answer?
Power.

Plain and simple, they like the power. He also said it's possible that there's that wild west connection that the old steam engines have. Now that I think of it, anytime I've noticed a guy going nuts over some ol rusty train, it's always been the freight trains or the very old steam engines and never one of those slick, speedy passanger ones.

I promised myself that when I got home, I was not going to take yet ANOTHER picture of the roses out front. I even took and had turned off the camera and placed it in my purse so there'd be absolutely NO temptation to click them again.

And then I heard it.
Very distinctly a bug in the area of said roses.
Then I saw it, saw what it was doing and decided to chance taking a macro of the event in progress....

The only thing I've done to the photo is use the auto correct option in the editor to lighten it up so you could see what was going on better.

We have a heat advisory for tomorrow. *ugh* High temps are supposed to be around 95 degrees PLUS the heat index. Not that I really mind it that hot, but knowing the weather here we'll end up with the humidity on top of it all. Man, I wish we lived someplace drier... like Texas! I guess it means I won't be taking a walk anywhere for my "Unplugged" day this week. pooh! Looks like a great day for painting stuff though. Got the next set of figurines on the table, all I gotta do is get them primered and ready for color tomorrow.

I think I'll let this do for now. I have at least 2 more entries all scheduled for this week (Wednesday and Thursday). There might actually be one more added (possible Friday)...haven't decided yet. Then there'll be the usual Saturday one as well. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

timing, Avon calling, ACK and a Partridge Family sighting

About a month ago or so, I'd bought myself a new purse. The one I had was simply a skoosh too small for my needs and falling apart at the strap. I bought a great one on clearance for less than $10. It's a gorgeous black and animal print totally me type bag. The bag's a bit bigger than I really absolutely need , but I love it nonetheless. Unfortunately, with extra space means I tend to say "oh I got room for this too!" and the bag gets heavier which isn't good for your back or shoulders. It isn't so good for the strap on the purse either. Last week that stud there, holding the strap together, decided to pop and my purse fell. Thank GOODNESS my camera wasn't in there. The strap chose to break just after I'd removed the camera to get shots of the clouds. I was really pissed because I'd had it just long enough that I'd thrown away the receipt for it. Hubby suggested using superglue to fix it. I told him that if superglue was involved, then maybe he should fix the purse for me for, you see, superglue and I have this love/hate thingy going. It hates to stick anywhere I want it, but it LOVES to stick on me. Anyhow... hubby fixed the one strap and reinforced the other just in case. Now if I could get him to find my leopard print sunglasses that I wanted him to repair.
Is it me, or are other people beginning to feel like they're at the DMV or deli when they're at the dr's offices or labs these days? The old clinic had the "Now serving" sign for their lab too but it wasn't until we got to the new clinic that I began to feel like I was at a McDonald's. Maybe it's their choice of a doorbell to signal that the numbers have changed that make me feel like that? I sure know it's the reason why everytime I hear it I say "Avon calling". Anyhow, who are they kidding? This sign just doesn't make sense at a lab for they certainly aren't serving us anything. If anything they're TAKING something so shouldn't the sign reflect this fact? I'm just sayin. Please excuse the above photo. The lighting simply was NOT cooperating at all. It was kinda like trying to take a picture of a screen shot with your digital camera. The picture rolls somewhat and of course it doesn't turn out half as good as you'd hope.
So a couple weeks back or so, hubby comes in and wants to use one of the cameras and I ask him what was up. He said we had a possum in the backyard so I sent him off with the Samsung to get some shots. When he was done grabbing the shots (the above is one of several), he came up and handed me the camera. He told me that the possum looked sleepy at first until he moved closer at which point it looked up at him but didn't make a move. So I flicked on the camera and the above shot is one of many that he'd just clicked. I absolutely freaked and told him to haul his ass down the stairs , grab a shovel and give it a happy dispatch and Like.Right.Fkn.NOW! That ~thing~ has NO damned business in my yard...period. I kept fussing until he went down and flipped the critter over the fence. He came back upstairs and asked why he just did that and I told him...it's a RAT hunny...we don't need something like that out there. The ciggie butt in the picture was set down to give an idea of the scale. The butt's about a half inch long. Yeah. That's what I said too because I don't believe nutria wander quite this far north!


These last 2 pix are actually off two different vehicles. When I saw the stickers on the windows in each...all I could think is "God help 'em". Oh don't tell me that you wouldn't have had the same reaction! The last one was the best of the two though. Not only did they have the requisite stickperson family stretching across the back window (and most of them were people and not pets), but they'd painted their 15 passanger van ala Partridge Family style! Great to know they don't mind pokin fun at themselves... and to be hangin at a Chuck E Cheese to boot.

thisnthat

As I'd been telling everyone, there has been expansion as well as loss in our area. Some businesses close while some open. We've had a few that simply changed into bigger locations. One of the the ones expanding into bigger digs is the clinic where I go for my weekly allergy shot. This shot to the left is the old clinic location and was snapped less than a week after they moved. Amazing how deserted it looks in about a week's time. It's a great location. I'm wondering who is going to move in next. It may take a while though, as that section to the left used to belong to a gym and it's been sitting empty for nearly a year now.

On the 23rd of June, hubby and I decided to head on over to Logan's for lunch. It was a beautiful day and as usual. I couldn't help but to take some pix of the water fountains (not shown but are in the Flickr photostream). The retention pond was loaded with geese and ducks that day, so I let (how does Di put it? Oh yeah...) "Ms Snappy Finger" do her thing and just click away. After several shots, I decided I'd had enough until I saw....

this guy (or is is a gal?). It was a pleasant surprise as we generally don't see anything other than geese and ducks in the pond. It was nice to see that the waterfowl had a bit of company for a change. I wonder how many other critters are in there with them.

When we got home that day, I saw this pretty robin sitting in the neighbor's tree. I can't believe it sat so long for me to get this shot. We have some cardinals nesting in the trees out behind our backyard fence. Hubby has suggested keeping the old camera downstairs so we can hopefully get a shot of them or at least of the Charlie that keeps running along or fence. I really need to get myself to a zoo (NO! We didn't go while in TN...*pouts*) and run this new camera through its paces. I'd love to see what it gets in the aviary. I'd also like to get to one of those flower or butterfly gardens.

I'm not certain why I clicked this one. I think it might simply be because I loved how the yellow hydrant contrasted against the green of the grass. It turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.
This shot actually inspired one that I took while we were walking through town in TN. It'll get posted in the next week or so. There'll be a whole post on just shots from hubby's hometown. Some really neat buildings and a couple site markers that may interest the historian buffs here.

I couldn't resist this shot. Katy's taken to the habit of putting her paw on hubby's foot as if to say "My Daddy". If he pulls his foot away, she just places her paw over his foot, hooks her toes over the opposite side and drags it back towards her. *laffz* Silly dog. The little blur behind her toosh is her tail wagging furiously. It was going so fast, the shutter couldn't catch it.


I think that'll do for now. Lots more to cover and I don't want to get to the point where this feels like a chore. We all know what happens when THAT occurs.

Thanks for the comments on the new blog name. I think it fits and is something I can live with for a while.

omigoodness...a sighting!

So after my shot and the errand running on Thursday, we pulled into our parking space at the TH and what do we see? This cute little bugger. It might have been our good friend Sugar Bush. I'm kinda hoping so because I've been worried she hasn't written in her blog since Christmas. My dear friend Deanna aka punkn had commented once that Sugar had been spending alot of time raiding the bird feeders in the area. Evidently,as you can well see, that isn't the case.



You see her there? She's sitting at the top of the picture, peeking down from out of frame. But oh! What was that hunny? Look farther down the trunk? Ok....
Hey! It looks like she's traveling with Charlie! No wonder we hadn't seen him in a while either.

As you can see, both of them are doing very well. They squeaked that I could take all the shots I wanted, so long as I passed along to their dear friends that they said hi. They were very adamant about the conditions. So, here it is from Sugar and Charlie:

"Squeak squeak squeak, squeak, squeaker... Squeakin"

a new toy

Now that it's gotten warmer out, the neighborhood Charlie has been making his rounds and visiting all the yards. This one was shot from across the neigbor's yard. He perched himself up there and I swear he was posing for me (make sure you get my good side!). The yard, I would guess, is about 15-20' across from where I was standing and this little sweetie was sitting. I had my camera zoomed as far as I could to get this shot and still had to crop out alot of the extra junk. I came around the corner of the yard, to close the distance... I even said please... for a nice tight close up and the cheeky little bugger decided to moon me instead (hey iggy, does that tail look familiar? LOL). Distance...about 10'.

I've finally decided and bought the camera I liked best. She's a Canon Power Shot A590 and a real beauty. I took her picture with the old Samsung...sorry that it's blurry. My Samsung is a 4MP and the Canon is an 8MP. Hot day-yum. My Samsung was beginning to take several seconds to warm up and I found it frustrating because I'd have alot of those Itshouldabeenakodakmoments (complete with swearing in frustration at the camera). Plus the lag she had between the shutter clicking, the preview to come up and then prep for the next picture was unreal. My new Canon fires right up and is ready in less than a fraction of a second and the lag-time between pix is ~maybe~ a second or less. I'm totally in LOVE with my new toy.

While I was out on the 16th of this month, I played with my new toy. I was standing at the end of my walk and on the public sidewalk when I saw this red blur go flashing by so I turned, zoomed, aimed and clicked in one smooth movement. That cardinal wasn't sitting still for much of anything. He needs to take some lessons from the squirrel. Ok, so I can't move ~quite~ as fast as I want to, but it was still a decent shot. The Samsung would NEVER have gotten a shot even THIS good.

Then there was this beautiful robin in the tree on their property. Its pic? Im not even zoomed all the way in. That bird is a good 20' or more away from me. All I did with this picture was crop it down some...that's it.

And Charlie? Well look what I got of him! He was maybe 1-2' lower on the tree than the robin. All I did was crop a bit of extra out of the picture. That's it. First he tried playing hide-and-go-seek with me.

And then he decided it was suppertime.

Oh I am SO going to be having fun with this camera! I've had it a bit over a week and already racked up nearly 200 pix on it. Seems this baby has another little battery in it so I dont have to re-do the date and time on it everytime I change the batteries. And speaking of the batteries? I've only changed them ONCE since I got this camera. With the Samsung I need to change them in less than 15 minutes. I'm lucky if I get 10 shots off before I have to change them out.

just some pictures

I took these a few weeks back, just after our last cold snap. I'd meant to post them but by the looks of my edit section, I got sidetracked several times over. They were all taken while we were headed in to Logan's Restaurant for lunch. The retention pond was all frozen over yet they still had the fountains running. The geese were all up on the ice near the main road while the gulls were walking where ever they felt like being. The first shot below was actually the last shot I took. As I was snapping shots of the birds, I heard hubby say "That would make a neat shot". When I looked down I saw these awesome tracks...

A little bit of nothing aka just sharing pix

So not much has been going on here. Well...if I go into the last couple dr appointments, you'd think I was really busy that's for sure. I'll save those for another day.

As you all know, I *generally* have my camera with me while Im out and about. I must have taken a good hundred or more over this last month or so and for the first time since we've moved here, I've actually managed to capture images other than the iggy-type pix.


There are several of these small trees (pictured left) outside the IHOP entrance to Manassas Mall. A few weeks back it went into bloom. Although flowers in general aggravate my allergies, I thought the flowers on this tree were very pretty. I got this shot just before the tree was in total bloom. If Blogger will let you click and increase the size on this, you can see some of the tightly closed buds behind the ones that are bloomed out.



The picture to the right has a tree with what looks like dead leaves on it. The bank that I go to has about 8 of them bordering its property. Upon a closer inspection on our last trip there, this Wednesday, I noticed that they werent leaves at all but a 3 sided bloom. The bloom itself looks alot like those three sided nuts. For the life of me, I cant remember what they're called.


This picture on the left was one I took a few days ago. The plant is in my neighbors yard next to his front door and hangs over the wood fence between our two yards. I had taken to ignoring it because as far as I'm concerned, it's a weed. However, a couple days ago I saw some movement near it. My first reaction, after seeing what was flying around the blossom, was to run away as Im afraid of certain insects...particularly ones that fly and can do me harm. In this case, the first thing I thought of was this awesome picture I had seen online of a bee hovering near a flower. The desire to attempt to get a similar picture overrode my usual fear of the insect and I clicked this shot. I more than likely wont get a great shot like this again because I doubt that the need for the picture will overcome the ingrained fear...but you never know.


The last picture Im going to show for tonight is one that I got on the same day as the bumblebee picture. I had just gotten into the truck and fastened in when I looked back over towards the townhouse (you can just see the bay window in the background of this picture) when a little bit of movement caught my eye. There....on the fence was a squirrel. My reaction (slowly grabbing the camera and firing it up) caught my hubby's attention and he looked over. When he realized what my target was, he slowly climbed in the truck and waited until I was done. I brought the camera up and very quietly asked the squirrel for permission for a picture and snapped the shutter. The cheeky little bugger just sat there so I asked for one more (with a please) and zoomed in for a really nice shot. The second shot was cropped down and the result is sitting up in my banner right now.

a local Charley

As I was getting out of the truck a week or two back, a bit of movement grabbed my eye. Instinctively, I grabbed my camera and got a few shots. You can see our townhome behind him in one of the pix. He's sitting in the tree located in the corner of the lot that the townhouse across the sidewalk from us sits on.

IT'S TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok ok. I'll try and tone it down some. You'd think I'd been going on and on about this cd...sheesh. My hubby, the cheeky little monkey that he is decided to play the "dumb game" on me last night. I said " is it Tuesday yet?" So what does he say? "What's Tuesday?" Just as though I havent been overly hopped up all week for this. Then he goes to say... "Oh yeah it's Bones/ House night". *shakes head* He does this just to mess around with me. So I told him basically what I said in my blog....that I'd been listening to it all day and it'd be nice if it walked through the door in his hands Tuesday night. I got the "what you cant wait" look from him. Well, in this case no. I am usually really really good about waiting until Thursday or Friday to get my cds but nope, not this week. I've been reading that some of the stores have been selling out of the cd already. Im hoping since this seems to be Carrie country that maybe just maybe it'll still be on the racks when he goes to get it. I even went as far as to put all my cash in a pile (all $17 of it and I KNOW it doesnt cost that much cuz Wally World's got it listed at $9.72 or so) on TOP of his filthy weeds with a note attached "Is it Tuesday yet???? It's coming home today right??" I woke up to find my pile of money on my desk...with the note still attached to it. Now either it's his way of saying that he'll buy it or that he aint bringin it home. Might be the former because he's always saying that he wants me to have cash on hand in case I need something and he's not home. Well hell if I had enough on hand I woulda cabbed out this afternoon, bought it and cabbed back. Yeah I want it that bad.

I wrote a nice long letter to that "friend" that I mentioned. Pretty much it puts the ball in her court and if she wants to write back, fine....if not, oh well I tried. Seems like every year about this time some crap happens and feelings are hurt. Im thinking of taking a vacation from the 'net starting the end of September to the end of November from now on, maybe that'll help matters. I dont know what it is, am I more testy at this time of year or is everyone just more sensitive? I dunno. Part of me wants to say that I dont want/need the extra drama on my plate anyhow so just bugger off.....but then the other part of me wants to be there incase Im needed for support. Ah well.

Not much else is going on. I got 2 apps done yesterday and I really need to get the other two finished tonight. I dont feel like it though.


It's a nicer day today, we got into the 60's *whoot*. Im still in my slippers but the heater hasnt kicked in yet today (we turned it on last night as it dipped into the 40's over night). Im going to post a few pictures below that I took a couple weeks ago. Ive been meaning to get them posted.




Reminds me how the "lovebugs" in Louisiana would fly around butt to butt....doing just what their name says. I sure hope the butterflies aint the same because with the lovebugs the males would shrivel and die in the act and then fall off. I hope the butterfly was luckier.

Never saw one of these at rest before. There are several that fly around our house. Im less afraid of these than most biological flying objects. We've had several butterflies in the yard as well up until a couple days ago. Never could get close enough to get a good shot of them.

This is the yucca in our front yard. This year the plant sprouted 4 of the branches with the flowers on it. Until we moved here, I'd never seen a plant like this. The leaves are very sharp and when the flowers die off it's a bitch trying to get that branch cut down out of the middle (it looks plum-aweful unless you do).

I'd forgotten how pretty blue skies were....

Yes that's right, we had a nice sunny day for the first part of the day. It's a real shame you cant see how pretty it really is as the simply does NOT do it justice. The pic was snapped aiming along the back corner of the property. Looking the other way you could see that it's trying to get bleah on us again but since I've been bitchin soooo much about the rain, I figured ya'll would rather hear about the sun. WHOOT! Free Vitamin D. I wish hubby would get me a nice rocker to put on the porch on days like this so I have someplace to sit and enjoy the day. All we got are those cheap-ass plastic ones that I wouldnt DARE put my fat butt in for the fear of it breaking.

It was so nice out today that while I was out to get the mail (which is something I've taken to doing just to say I got ~some~ exercise in), I saw a little butterfly out catching some of that free Vitamin D too. We dont get too many butterflies in our area and fewer still sit around long enough for me to haul my butt into the house, grab the camera anad come back out to get its picture. Now if I could get that pretty black and yellow that I saw a week or so ago to come back....

I also noticed a not so savory development on my property due to all the damn rain. In the 3 years or so we've been in this house, not once have we had mushrooms. They were rather extensive too. *Bleah* Im gonna have to have my hubby go to Loews and see if there's something we can do to get rid of them (while he's there maybe he'll buy me that rocker too...yeah right).

While I was out I figured I'd get a picture of that stupid tree that's been giving my allergies the fits. Everyone knows I complain when the magnolias bloom (gardenias do the same...even burning a gardenia scented candle is enough to clog the sinuses). However, this year this tree went in bloom right on the heels of the magnolias so there was no real break. As much as I'd love to just chop it down and be rid of it, it wouldnt help any. Why?

Because this is what is right across the street on no fewer than 3 properties. So basically cutting mine down wont fix the problem. The only thing that helps is the rain because it washes the pollen out of the air...but then you get the mold spores that trigger allergies too and those beautiful lawn fungi...