Prickly Post

I didn't make it out to Lincoln Log Cabin yesterday. I planned to go after the Belmont Stakes, but it was getting too late. I enjoyed seeing American Pharoah win. This would be the fourth Triple Crown Winner I've watched. I thought it was three, but forgot about Affirmed. They are as follows:

Secretariat 1973
Seattle Slew 1977
Affirmed 1978
American Pharoah 2015

I enjoy horses and like taking pictures of them, but I don't have any new pics. So I will post a picture of the cactus I keep on my windowsill at work. What does a cactus have to do with my horse post? Absolutely nothing! 

 Guess I need to get out and take some pictures today!

Great Egret

Yesterday was a day off for me, but Hubs had to work, so I decided to go to Charleston Lake to see if I could find something to take a picture of.

 The water wasn't high. We haven't had as much rain as Texas or this would have been a noisy place to stand. I enjoyed the nice, peaceful sound of the water flowing over the dam. But I didn't see any waterfowl. I was a bit disappointed until I drove down to make the u-turn necessary to head back home.

 Through a break in the trees I spotted a Great Egret way out in the middle of the lake.

Wish I could have gotten a better shot. He was a beauty!

I think I'll take Findley for a walk at Lincoln Log Cabin today. I got a huge back seat cover so I could take Fergus (who gets car sick sometimes) but his halter had to be removed because it was too tight.  So he has to stay home until we can get one that fits him. He is too large for a medium and too small for a large. 

Nearing Sunset

I used some of my comp time yesterday, so Hubs and I decided to go fill the pantry. We went to Dollar General, County Market, and Wal-mart. The pantry is now full. I didn't have time to take any pics until...

...I took a late evening walk at The Rez. Sadly, no wildlife out and about while I was there.

Garden Birds

So Hubs went down to get the garden planted yesterday afternoon while I worked. After work I let the pups out to play while I packed the cooler with water. Hubs didn't take any with him and it was a hot day at the garden.

 Hubs had all the plants and most of the seeds in the ground before I got there. They were even caged to keep the critters out. 

So, of course, I got the camera out and started looking for birds.

 Right away I spotted this Brown Thrasher with a worm in her, or possibly his, beak. The female looks the same as the male so who knows which this is.

I sneaked around trying to get a picture of a red bird that O and I thought might be a Scarlett Tanager, but when it finally did stop in the tippy top of an old tree, low and behold! it was a Cardinale. Color me disappointed.

The Thrasher came back and searched the ground until it came up with another juicy morsel. Must have a nest full of hungry babies somewhere near. 

And later, there she was again!

I'm always chasing Barn Swallows, but they never seem to stop. This one must have a nest in Bro O's equipment shed. He did stop momentarily. Long enough for my camera to focus on the wooden beam. Before he took off. The Swallow is a bit fuzzy, but the best I've been able to capture.

Brain Wash Antidote

My Rez walk was unproductive yesterday. Nary a goose or a duck!
So I don't have any new pics to post. Instead I will post a pic of my birthday present from The Judge.

In case you can't quite read it, it says Zombie Brain Juice. It's sodasgusting and totally gross soda. It says so on the bottle. The fact that it is strawberry orange flavored makes me a believer. Yuck!

I'm not quite sure when this tradition started, but the first was the Dang Root Beer, followed by SoDuh! Then Brain Wash which came after I had been sick last December. This year for my birthday I got the Zombie Brain Juice. Ostensibly to remove the effects of the Brain Wash. 

I keep them as desk decorations. Although that Dang! Root Beer did look pretty tasty at the time...

A Dog, A Duck, A Ball, and a Barrel

Last evening Findley and I took a walk over to The Rez. I planned to listen to an audio book and take a picture or two if I saw anything interesting.

This is Findley about to make a run for the water, but I reeled him in just in time! 

We started walking across the damn when Findley and I were both startled by a duck flapping its wings. The evening sun was reflecting off the water so I couldn't see to get a good shot. We walked on across the dam to a shady spot and I was able to capture a few pics. The ducks were clear across on the mucky side of the damn.

 Blue-winged Teal and babies.

I wish I could have gotten a few closer shots, but these turned out great for as far away as these critters were.

I saw something out in the middle, which I thought looked like a dead fish, so I zoomed in and took a picture. Turns out to be an old rusty barrel floating quietly along. Not sure how that happened, but I'm assuming it was originally a trash barrel some hooligan decided should be in the water.

There was a lost ball sitting in the edge of the water. 

Bet you thought you would escape....

...nope! The geese were out and about, too. 

I hope you know that if you click on the pictures they enlarge. This shot was taken from the opposite side of The Rez and you can see the water dribbling from this goose's mouth. Awesome camera!

Needless to say, not much audio book listening was done.

More Geese, Really?

Yesterday I went to Mattoon by the long route, i.e. by my parents property, and saw several cardinals, a blue bird, and a fox. The cardinals and the blue bird wouldn't stand still long enough for a photo shoot and neither would the fox. I enjoyed seeing all of them, though.

What I did see was...

 A Cow...

 A Horse—a very cool horse... 

Some honeysuckle on a fence, which always reminds me of Tennessee...

 I made a turn toward the east to see if I could remember where my Aunt Joann lived before they moved to Missouri way back in the day. The house they lived in was once an old schoolhouse. The road wound around and finally brought me out by the fence surrounding the southern perimeter of the airport. I didn't find their house, but I did find a very tiny windmill...

 A Chipping Sparrow...

And a female Red-winged Blackbird. Just after this is where I saw the fox. He was in the middle of a newly planted soybean field. Sadly the field had a hump in the middle and he was standing on the hump. By the time I got the car stopped and my camera aimed, all he had to do was take a few steps to the east and he was out of sight.

 And more geese! These are on the north side of the Wal-mart parking lot. Their babies are a little bigger than the ones at The Rez.

Ugly, but at the same time cute!