One thing that I remember from my grandparents is their wisdom on everything from health solutions to nutrition to signs from animals and what the sky will tell you in advance before something happens. Some of those things I still observe today and without fail, they have produced results right on time and on the money.
With the latest heat wave increasing our total days of triple figure heat from one through all of July to 12 as of today, this most likely will be our last triple digit day this season. At any rate, even if one more were to sneak in somewhere down the road, the summer has not been as hot as our run of 42 straight days a few years back. It must be stated that the humidity has been the biggest problem with this latest wave of heat. In fact, today was the hottest of the season with the official temp at DFW International Airport (the official reporting station for the National Weather Service) hit 102 degree F. and a heat index of 109---some places at 111-112 were measured.
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| Yellow Leaves Turn on this tree with a record of being the earliest and first to show that annual change. This is the 18th year running and it may be the last. |
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| A mark for the chain saws and wood chippers. |
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| Some blue marking mean the same thing as the red. Eitherway, it will be another loss for long-term park goers over the years that will miss this beauty! |
Shooting from the car is not always the best, yet, for hummingbirds and butterflies and other song birds, shooting from the car will get you closer than you would if you were on foot---even if you slow step your way closer. But, when the heat is as hot as it has been, I don't break the cycle of not shooting at all. Although, there are some blank days in my file logs which indicate I did not shoot that day. The other change is that during the summers, shooting very early in the day is another alternative, which I use. It gives practice with the light shifts and angles of the sun. It also gives one a whole different way that we/they perceive a subject. Some of my best feather shots on songbirds has come from that shift from time, angles and perceptions.
While using one of those days in the early morning hours to check on my old buddy that has not failed me for all those years, a sign stood out in the morning sun and I got out of the car and started to eye the tree for more signs. They were there and not all were positive. So, here are my limit of shots for this post. Mother nature has that perfect time on her alarm clock and it's ringing like crazy.
