Incongruous.

Considering the fact that only rain was forecast for our area, this was a bit of a fun surprise this morning.  Always seems just a bit odd to see snow on a palm :)

Vertical Hiking

Meant to post this a couple weeks ago when it actually happened. Good intentions and all...

I'd been waiting for the daytime temperatures to cool sufficiently so I could do another scrabble up the North Florida Mountains behind the house.  Wanted snakes and all to be gone underground for the winter.  As it happened, I didn't see any snakes, but it certainly ended up warmer than I anticipated.  And I did see a couple of lizards out sunning.

If  you recall, the last hike (I have a hard time selling it as a "climb", because it's mostly steep hiking) took me to the radio towers to the East of the house.  This time, I decided to go North.  To here:

My original plan was to get up there, then come down through Rock Hound State Park, which is further to the left, out of the frame.  Once I got up to the top, I changed my mind, which was probably a mistake.  I decided to hike to the East, then follow the road South, past the radio towers, and down to the ravine I'd used for my return in the Spring.  So I ended up approaching the house almost 180 degrees from where I left.  It also took 4 hours, and I ended up 8 pounds lighter than when I began the day!  I was a tired, broken hiker.

But I did reach my target...

Last time I climbed, I had no one to record my progress.  This time, Margaret was home, and was able to man the telephoto I left on the tripod on the back porch.  With 2-way radio communication, we were able to get the above photos of me at the peak.

(New) Mexican Stand Off.

Buffy barks at a lot of things she sees out the window; cottontails, quail, jackrabbits. Sometimes they're in the yard, most often the things she sees are outside the fence.

She started barking this morning. We looked out the window. Coyotes. Four of them, just crossing the road right in front of the gate. Buffy hates coyotes. She was bred in Iowa to be a coyote hound. She's loudly voiced her hatred for coyotes since she heard her first pack of yodelers as a 15 week old pup back in Franklin, Wisconsin.

So, what the hell.... we opened the door and let everybody out for a mad dash to the gate.

Coyote wasn't intimidated, and probably would have continued the stare down if I hadn't come

out on the front porch with the camera. He trotted off immediately after this picture was taken.

Buffy will never outgrow her hatred of coyotes.

Wedding Album

As promised..



It was a beautiful day in the Gap. You couldn't imagine a better setting. To review, the day was 09/09/2009. We began promptly at 9:09 in the morning. Unplanned, but pretty cool, was the fact we had 9 guests including ourselves. Getting in the spirit of the day, Dutch and Cherie Salmon brought 9 red roses, and 9 assorted bottles of wine. Also in attendance are our neighbors, Marilyn and Jim Woods.. (the unofficial "Mayor" of the neighborhood; better neighbors one couldn't have). Margaret's daughter, Stephanie, and sister, Tori attended. And to tie it all together, figuratively and literally, was Margaret's son, Tony. He assures us the ordination he obtained on the internet was legal! We were his second wedding, in fact. The county accepted the license, so I guess we're good to go! Best image of the day is when the Tarantula Hawk landed on Tony's back towards the end of the proceedings. I had been telling him how big they were, and he got first hand experience with one.

Having the dogs out added to the fun, and casual atmosphere. And believe me, we like casual.

Camo.

I was merely trying out the used Nikon macro lens I'd recently purchased. Taking close ups of things around the yard, like the Oleander flowers. It wasn't until I was taking the second shot of this particular bloom that I noticed this Green Lynx Spider patiently waiting for me to move on so it could get back to doing whatever it was it was doing.

Things got a little dicier last night when, while walking around the porch to retrieve a dropped burger bun, I nearly stepped on this young Diamondback.

As he showed no inclination to leave the yard, I was forced to end his (young) life with one of the garden implements we have strategically placed around the yard for just this purpose. Dogs and poisonous snakes don't mix.

When we moved in we fully expected snakes all Summer long. In fact, this is the first rattler we've seen (emphasis on "seen") in the yard, and with the Gopher snake cruising up the eaves for dove eggs a couple of months ago, only the second snake of any kind inside the fence. OK with us!

Rolllll Out.. the Barrel!!

Fish hook barrel cactus. How on earth did they come up with that name? Ahhh.