Hot to Hotter

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Once again I found little fodder for my blog post...it's smoking hot right now and I'm not motivated to go out and sweat.  Heat index is 104 -109 range.  And I have a new head cold who knows maybe I do have Covid again!  Our state jumped back up to 17.4% positive rate of those tested...and hospitalizations have risen by 400%.  

I took a walk around Goodale lake last week and so I will share some of what I saw there...

Had a Great Blue Heron poking around I snuck up on him  he thought he heard something....Hello there!  We actually had bad air quality as the westerly winds had brought us some smoke for the fires out west...could barely make out this Great Egret over in the reeds...not far from the heron

Can't swim in this lake it has gators... 

There was quite a few dragonflies out but I got no stills of them I did a snippet of video...

Life by the lake is moving slowly except for those guys.

So still all you can hear are the cicadas singing...

The Cyprus tree reminds me of an Elephant Foot with some extra toes..

And more swift movement in the water...

Back at home this bug has less toes, 

I guess he can get by with 5 legs....I tried to find  out what this is, and the closest thing I found was a Conifer Seed Bug, 

So now there's 3 very small and fragile baby birds in the hanging plant...hope the parents are ready for this!

I think some of that Grey hair in there is mine...

In the dearly departed dogwood, the hummers rest

...lastly the Green Anole hunting inside the screen porch..

Very slow and sultry week for me...

There was a mountain so I climbed it, 

A river and I swam it, 

A desert and I crossed it, 

A cliff and I scaled it, 

A rock and I  tossed it, 

A seed and I planted it, 

A falling star and I witnessed it, 

A thought and I shared it. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Flora and Fauna of Goodale Park

I worry about those pitcher plants and so I check them regularly...I was a bit early on my last walk around to see the blossoms so I went back today.  Caught them just right this time..

And I thought the count was down to only 2 clumps but I found a third it has moved itself closer to the water so now its more protected.  Im really happy about that...no mower is going to get it there..now if only they don't bulldoze, they recently had a ditch witch in there to drain a new bog WHY I don't know its supposed to be a natural area so a bog is perfect but anywho they are trying to drain the bog so I hope they don't run over these pitchers. 

The water lilies look great.....Last time I saw that immature male Orchard Oriole and this time I saw a mature one..he wanted to show me his backside...fine by me, awesome color!!

I made this video of a gray catbird singing....I had no idea they could sing this beautifully...

                                        

later on the other side of the lake another one was following me on the path...I was busy trying to get a shot of a Yellow Billed Cuckoo but the Gray Catbird was just sitting pretty while the cuckoo was way up in the nose bleed section of the trees so I aimed at the catbird instead!

I always spook the Great Blue Heron and he makes a quick escape to the backside of the lake...

there is a large patch of this small yellow flower I can't find the ID on it yet...it sure is pretty

 Found at least one water Iris in bloom, 

as well as  honey suckle 

and some Virginia Sweetspire is growing by the lakes edge...

this Red Winged Black Bird tried really hard to hide from me...but he did show off his shoulder patches!

and the Northern Cardinal was enjoying a good rain puddle bath! 

I guess this wolf spider is hoping to get some gnats and mosquitoes from his watery perch...check those fangs...."shudders"

LOOK at the amount of rain we had in a hour long downpour yesterday!!!  This is our front yard!

It did soak in pretty fast and left behind some serious erosion in the yard...

Time...well spent!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Photog Day!

Well my last post was a bit of a downer, I wish life could be hunky dory all the time but ANK...it's not so anyways as I had hoped I got out with my sister when she visited and it was a beautiful day! Cool and breezy, fall is on the way.  We visited the state park that is less than 5 minutes from my house so I guess I should be making my top 10 list of things that help me defeat  the grumpies? eh? I will save that one for another time.



The water lilies were really showing off today! The lake was full of flora! Ran into some other "amateur photogs" and we compared notes on what was interesting at the lake today..They got a good shot of the Blue Heron my sister and I flushed out of the back cove of the lake.  We didn't get a shot of him but sure enjoyed hearing him ONK at us as he flew away with long legs dangling..I like the wavy movement and  reflections of the trees in this photo and the highlight on the fern!

                   

Once again I enjoyed the cattails by the water they are starting to bristle out with seed...

I don't know all the plants I encounter

I didn't plan this shot but it sure looks planned! I love when good things JUST happen don't you?

this was a PLANNED Depth of Field shot..I don't know the person in this kayak but I think the kayak in the bokeh really helps support the "witness" of the reed stalks in the foreground! Whatta you think?

We've had a fair amount of rain lately and mushrooms are all over the place, my dogs (the girls) LOVE to go "shrooming" they know which ones to eat, I DON'T so I watch...but apparently butterflies know which ones to eat too!

The eastern tiger swallowtail male and female

A lady strolling a very cute boy of about a yr old pointed out this lovely writing spider...

                  

IT looks like all the turtle nests have been raided and only the wrinkled and dried up shell casings remain...Raccoons maybe? I'm only guessing these are turtle nests..you can see the hole where the eggs were dug up..

Around the backside of the lake my sister who has a great eye for spotting, found 2 Woodstocks resting in the high limbs of the Cyprus trees..

                
and here is the other one...they were a bit far away so some grain here...

                                  It was a fun day out!!! I was hugged by nature!!

PEACE

Images of Summer!

Not much going on in DixxeLand these days just hot sultry weather! Im looking forward to Labor Day.  I stopped by the river bridge to see how the cliff swallows are doing...BY the numbers of the mud nests the colony is growing!!

                                                             the Wateree River

Most of the nests are nearly empty already, I found a few birds sitting out in the shade of the bridge supports resting..

                         On the far side of the river snowy egrets fished the shallows...

                    

Back on the bank these little butterflies in the sand...

I left the river and on my way home I stopped at Goodale Park, to see what's going on around the lake there...

and every time Im at Goodale I check on  the pitcher plants, there's two large clumps growing in the front edge of the lake... these are some of my favorite plants..

    

                   

... at the back of the lake some egrets fished far off, and  this one redheaded woodpecker flew around checking out the snags in the water...

                       

and not too far from shore this  anhinga made the perfect garnish for this flat topped cyprus...

Summer 2012 will soon be a fading memory,before you know it we will know if the Myans had a clue about beginnings and endings!!

PEACE

Kind Of a Blustery Day ~~~~

...a friend and I were to go birding today in a neighboring county, then on Friday the weather man said Cold and 20 mph winds for Saturday and being old birds sun loving chickadees ourselves we figured sitting on a cold bench trying to scarf down picnic food in the wind and attempting to focus binos on a bird hanging onto a swaying branch is NOT exactly fun---SO we postponed to next weekend...and HOPE for the better clymes then.

...so I went about my day...DANG that weather man  I ought to string him up ....it got cold and windy but not till late in the afternoon...Im pretty sure we would have gotten in a good day before the front hit....anyways I did a little birding around the house before errands.  The Junco's are still hanging around here..

dark-eyed junco

I love the matching pink beak and legs of these guys this is a male..the females are a lighter color not such a dark grey...and waiting his turn at the feeder is the White Throated Sparrow...


white throated sparrow

One of my favorite singers...he has about every shade of brown in his feathers and the yellow lores are a nice complement to his coloration.  They usually scratch around on the ground, but I notice more and more they are taking a turn up on the feeders.  They normally leave us when its time to breed.

The Brown Headed Cowbird is not a well like bird due to the parasitic behavior, but they are pretty birds..

A northern cardinal really stood out amongst the woods....we have had a good bunch of Cardinals..males and females, they do not migrate.

Then had to spend money run errands so on the way back stopped at my local lake there was NOT ONE water bird around...maybe some canada geese way back in the reeds I didnt hike over to the far side...but the water was pretty, with the Cyprus all lined up in the background...

 Goodale State Park

Then the weather changed up-- you can see the ripples in the water and it did get quite unpleasant with that cold wind so I didnt hang around..

I found a few items to add to the Dixxeland Express today....a wrap around screen for the 10x10 canopy, a folding "tailgate party" table, and some solar party lights---one more thing I need now is some "grass Carpet" a 10 x 10 foot piece I am looking for a really cheap one that I can fold up IM getting so excited---i did find a multi colored cheap rug and I'm pondering that one...
ITS almost time for a road trip. I am noticing gas prices are on the rise again.  ;0/

OH and a red shouldered hawk is attempting to build a nest in a tall pine near my yard...IF she continues I hope to be able to record some of her comings n goings...she may be faking it tho so we'll see...last weekend she was sqwaking and making a ruckus and found a good spot in a tree...

PEACE