The Cupboard Pantry Held A Secret

A Crow. Or is it a Raven? Or, a Magpie? 

Just popped a McDonald's bag of whole kernel popcorn that I found in my cupboard. One-third cup of bulk corn is 172 calories. It also meets the daily recommended consumption of grains. I salt lightly and do not use butter or oil. I like the corn dry and fluffy when popped.

The McDonald's bag is an old trick that I learned years ago. It's perfect and cost nothing. Use once and toss it out. When I get a cup of coffee at McDonald's ( I love their senior citizens price) I save the bags.. In the past, I might have run into Kroger's bakery and got a donut or two, then pull into the McDonald's that sits on the corner of my Kroger's parking lot and get my coffee.

So, this weather has been just perfect. I had forgotten my checkbook and ran out to get it from the car. I had gone to the bank after lunch and when I got the camera bag out of the trunk, I put the check book in the trunk. My thinking was that I would remember it when I got home and before I went into the house, I would get it out of the trunk. Well, that didn't work and when I went out to get it  just as the blue hour was setting in, the air had chilled and me in a T-shirt and cargo shorts got chilled in just that little time. So, much to my dislike, I turned on the heat just to take the added chill out of the house. I haven't had the heat on, even at night, for better than a week and I have slept as snug as a bug in a comforter.

The lake was rather sad today. Only a few of the aged pelicans remain and don't usually make the trip north any longer. A little larger population of cormorants hang on all year, too. Plus, the lake is full of sand bars with all the wind we have had and Sunset Bay is a mess. I talked to one of the Civil Engineers today and get ready---the trail is about to get ripped out and totally redone. from Lake Highland to Poppy and south. That will ruffle the feathers of a few bikers.

Red Winged Black Bird

Little Sparrow-like Songbird.

There is a Tree in the Parking Lot of the Big Thicket Cottage.

Had a bit of dental surgery yesterday. Couldn't get the bleeding stopped until late in the evening. By this morning, some degree of normalcy was on the horizon. I was slow getting out of the house on purpose. The coffee pot was holding me in the house. No coffee yesterday. Coffee is my thing. Plus, I didn't know how the surgery was going to react, although the dentist said that I could have coffee this morning. But, I did drink it much slower than normal and I haven't pushed it beyond that today. Tomorrow should be a back to normal type day.

The dentist did call me about 11 am this morning. She wanted to see how I was doing as she had never seen a situation that was presented her yesterday.Even the X-rays didn't tell the full picture until she go in there. The good news no pain during the procedure and no pain after words after the numbing began to retreat and my face returned to its normal shape.

Meanwhile, I didn't venture far from home. But was still able to find some interesting things to shoot. Ironically, after my cover image of the hawk and the snake , one of the local stations  ran an almost identical image of a snake and hawk that some though was dead, but the snake was larger and the hawk was being squeezed by the snake in a death grip. The good news is---they both were alive and went their separate ways after words. I did see a big snake on a log on Sunday sunning with a hand full of turtles as log mates. So, the snakes are once again crawling in North Texas for another season. Watch the grasses and please don't wear flip flops in the grass, even if it looks like it is just a little long ruff. Snake bites are upon us again. Be Aware.

Mockingbird with nest material in mouth. He would enter the nest and leave the nest  in a protective mode. From here, he would drop down onto a branch then dart into the vine covered underbrush at the base of the tree. On leaving, he could come out  even lower and fly under the wharf. He had the caution routine down pretty well.

The plaque on the tree was the eye catcher today. From time to time I check out the items on the tree that people have left. The plaque was pretty neat.

The tree with the plaque is to the right in about the middle of the roadway. Here, the cottage at the Big Thicket is surrounded with red bud trees and they are all in bloom. Quite a site.

The Things I Find On The Way To The Dentist

Most likely a Lamborghini URUS SUV. You can drive it away for about $259,995. If that's to much you can have it for about $4,730 per month. Oh! that's with miles on them.  There is another one with 1258 miles at $275,000 or $5,003 per month. Gently owned. It is more of a top-of-the-line model. Imagine that!

Well, I carry in a velvet draw string bag two rocks. One painted silver. One painted gold.The silver one has also painted on it in black ink--IMAGINE.The gold one has also a painted word in black. It says DREAM. I've had those rock for a very long time . There are times when I will put one out on the desk. Sometimes, even put it on the nightstand by the clock to remind me that I am asking the Lord to carry a heavy load that I don't think that I can do alone. While other times, it may be something that is material. I don't pray for material things, in general, but sometimes, I do. It's like the guy that ask the Lord for a case of Budweiser, night after night. One day, a case of Budweiser was sitting in his driveway. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. My prayers were finally answered, he proclaimed. He walked out to the drive way and started to pick it up. There was something wrong, he thought. When he finally reached his picnic table on his patio, he sat it down and opened the case. There were beer bottles inside each of it's little cardboard pigeon holes but none of the bottles had a cap on. Scratching his head trying to figure out the situation. Just then, on the closed half of the split-top lid to the case, he found a note on top of the bottles on the other half of the case.. It said:" my friends and I were sitting at the end of your street last night drinking. We didn't want to litter up the street and we know that you recycle. So, we left these bottles on your drive knowing that you would do the right thing."

The guy scratched his head one more time and looked up toward heaven and let out a big burst of laughter telling the Lord that he had a warped sense of humor. That following Christmas, on his front stoop, he found a case of Budweiser. Thinking that the boys had pranked him again, he grabbed hold of the cutout handle and started to yank the case up in discuss. This time, however, the case was full like the last, but the bottles all had caps in place. Each of the bottles were full of beer. The man turned toward his heavenly gaze stance once again and chuckled once more and said," Lord, I will never doubt you again. I sometimes forget that your time line is a bit different than mine." Years later, the kid that was his backyard neighbor had invited the man to his wedding. At the reception, the boy that had been the best man toasted the  newly married couple and his neighbor where they had left the empty beer bottles several years ago.. It seems that the boys all those years ago had been the neighborhood boy that lived behind him, his best man that was now proposing a toast, also one of the boys in the car that night and two of the ushers that had also been in the car that night. A standing ovation came from those attending the wedding. The man, who had prayed for the beer that night to test the Lord  had been their high school  principal.

This bad boy most likely is a 2015 Huracan at $177,000 or $3,220 per month with21,533 miles.

These guys know how to ship cars. How to deliver them and most of all, I love to watch them unload this truck!! I can dream! I do imagine that!

These cars were matched up to the Lamborghini lines under the covers Keeping in mind that there are so many things that customize these cars, but  I grew up during a period of time when this is the way Detroit would ship the new model cars to their dealers in the 1950-60s. You get good at reading model deign lines under covers.

Congratulations On Beginning Year Nine

Before the New Colorful Wraps. Now through Memorial Day Wednesday through Sunday. After Memorial Day, open 7 days a week.

Past Adventure Seekers

The Dock here is so much better than the old dug out in the dirt bank.

The White Rock Paddle Board Company that rents kayaks, SUPs and some canoes returned to the Marina today ready to begin their 9th season. It sure doesn't seem like it's been nine years already, but it has and Amy and crew have come a long way since I took her picture the first year with her pony tail and pink baseball cap.

Another sign that they are growing, besides moving to their current location from the end of Boy Scout Hill and the parking lot at Mockingbird bridge is that they have two of their trailers with new wraps and it is my understanding that they have a third on on order and underway for this season. The wraps really look good and brings a bit of flare to that section of the lake where they set up shop.

From here on out until Memorial Day, they will be open for business Wednesday through Sunday. From Memorial Day to the end of the season, they will be open daily.

Welcome back guys! It's so good to see you helping people enjoy the lake in a way that benefits the lake, the renters and the crew that have a job as a result of their following that rent the equipment. Evey one have a safe year on the lake this year.

Wild PeaFowl Were All Displaying Today

A white peafowl displays

Several Blues Also Did The Same

A unique neighborhood between here and there has a population of over 40 peafowl running wild, sitting on porch railings and rooftops in the same neighborhood where they have done this for over 40 years. The neighbors are good neighbors and it might be a factor that keeps them in that same four or five driveways for those 4 decades. The show was awesome.

The Luck of the Irish Comes Through Again

When I got up this morning, I was still debating whether I would cover the St. Patrick's Day Parade down Greenville Avenue or not. After breakfast, it just didn't feel right and I need a certain amount of feel right to undertake those kinds of projects. The basic question was then: Do I feel like I have enough strength to do a parade? The answer was: No!

I have learned over the years that it is okay to present those kind of questions to yourself and not feel guilty about it later. Sure, I would have enjoyed  seeing people interact in those kinds of situations. But, the truth of the matter was, I didn't feel good enough to undertake a parade like that this year. So, I took the foot off the accelerator and got another cup of coffee and packed another lunch for the road. Regardless of what I ended up doing, I still had to eat lunch.

The road blocks for the parade would not have been a problem because I know enough back ways in to get to where I needed to be if my car just took control and headed for the parade step off point. But, it didn't and I knew then that my trip would end at the lake again and that I would feel good about it.

The reason why I had that feeling was that the moment that I stepped out of the house, a red shoulder and a red tail hawk were in an aerial chase right over my head, Every time my day starts out with raptors in flight or sitting on a pole or fence, I know that the rest of the day will be the making of excitement of unseen or unusual sightings. Then, without hardly a moments chance to flee away, I see these two reflective things over head at an altitude that I would guess to be about 15-thousand feet in formation and traveling at a pretty good clip, speed wise. It was my guess that I had just seen a pair of the latest version of military fighters and they were headed cross country or were in training  or would end up back at the Joint Naval Reserve Station just west of Ft. Worth.

When I got to the lake, it was almost instantly that I saw a big 600 mm pointed into a grove of trees. I continued on my regular route that would circle back to where I was. The guy and his wife were returning to their car and I pulled in and ask if he had been shooing hawks or owls. As it turned out, I learned that not only do we still have the Bards owl population but we also have a momma, pap pa and a branching chick of a pair of Great Horned Owls. I saw all three. Later in the day, I returned  and was able to locate the female but the chick that was branching and the male were no where to be seen.

Still, to have two species of owls at the lake is a bonus to birders and photographer,but also a bonus for the park systems management of the wildlife at the lake.

The Great Horned Owl Chick. It was a bit out of range for my lens, but the moment was captured non-the-less.

My grandfather always said that when, "clouds are high and thin, a weather system is moving in."

An Absolutely Amazing Day To Witness A Battle In Nature Play Out First Hand

Beautiful sunshine with a strong gusty wind from the north got me out of the house with a packed lunch in my tote bag today. Little did I know that when I stopped to have that lunch, I was less than a mile from one of the most amazing battles that I have every seen play out between a hawk and a snake. Talk about being in the right place at the right time is an understatement.

The plan was to take the lunch at a picnic table alone the lake. The gusty wind of 24 MPH was just a bit to strong to manage containers and the like at a picnic table. The elected choice then  was to just eat the lunch in the car. After having my lunch of 314 calories, and packing the containers away, I sat out to shoot the flowering cherry blossoms that I had been waiting to do with a blue sky background and today was perfect for that. I pulled into the parking lot that was just at a mile beyond my lunch stop, got my camera and headed down the trail a shot way beyond the foot bridge. There, I got that shot of cherry blossoms against a blue sky.  After shooting there for a little more than a third of an hour, I walked out onto the T-dock to see if I could spot the big old water snake that suns on a pile of downed reeds in the "L" of the dock or to see if any big turtles were on the logs to the far left of the dock You can't see the turtles from the trail, but from the dock, you get the turtles with a good reed background. But, no luck. There were spring breakers on either end of the dock with a fisherman that I have talked with in the past. He had just gotten there and was just putting his several poles into the water. So, I walked back toward the car. Just as I got to the trail, this red shoulder hawk flew past me at a bit more than eye level with this snake in its claws.

Landing in the big tree on the draining ditch that caused the footbridge to be created on the trail, I trained my camera on the hawk. Several people were stopping to look at the hawk and asking about what was going on. Just then, the hawk drops head down with open wings and was holding on to the snake in its claw. The other claw was free and the hawk was keeping it away from the snake as well.  At first, I thought that the hawk had gotten tangled in some fishing line or something when I saw the snake curl with it's tail wrapped around a smaller branch in the tree.  The hawk was hanging from the snake stretched out a bit more than about a foot and a half. Finally, the hawk was able to raise up and grab the snakes head. At which time, the snake released its hold on the tree and the hawk was able to fly into a second tree. There it could manage the snake better by standing on its head pressed against the tree branch and finally have his lunch. Even the hawk knows that if  you control the head of the snake, you control the snake.

The Hawk goes for the snake's head

Here, it's all over but eating dinner!

There was a bit of blood on both the snakes head and the hawks beak before it was all over, but "all over" was the phrase of the day and I had the shots!!!

NB---
Don't forget to click on any of the images to enlarge the shot. I will publish more of the hawk's battle with the snake with the agencies where I list. It appears that there are those that try to download the image and call it their own. So, it is getting harder to publish images on the blog. I'm retired and I supplement my income with my images and curios of those images.