SkyWatch Friday #16

I love watching the infinitely different cloud formations you can see, just by glancing skyward on a breezy day.

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These photos were all taken from our backyard on a single windy day last month, just a couple of days after Hurricane Ike passed through our area.


The first two were obviously taken within minutes of each other, early in the morning. The third was less than an hour later, after we finished our breakfast.


The last image was taken later in the afternoon. The clouds had rolled in and covered the sky again shortly after lunch, but a few hours later I glanced outside and saw the sun trying to peek through some patchy breaks in the clouds.



For more intriguing images of the skies above our world, check out the SkyWatch Friday home page.

Watery Wednesday: Bath Time

My first entry to the popular Watery Wednesday weekly meme is a group of starlings I happened upon recently who were taking advantage of a nearby stream for an quick, energetic bath.

European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)


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For more great water-themed images, visit Watery Wednesday #7.

Weekend Update

We made our somewhat annual trip to the local Christmas Tree Farm last weekend.



Yeah, I know... Ghosts and jack-o-lanterns and Christmas trees don't quite seem to match up. But this place also run a big "pumpkin patch" every fall, and we've tried to visit a decent pumpkin patch every year or so ever since Cat was little.


There's just something about kids and big orange pumpkins that makes for really fun photos. Here is a taste of our most recent visit:


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Cat and Cowboy spent their time picking just the right specimens to decorate our front porch. Here they are, proudly displaying their choices.


Cowboy, of course, had to show off his Herculean strength by carrying the biggest gourd all by himself. (Until just after the picture was taken, at which time Dad got to take over.)

Unfortunately, we may have to find a new pumpkin patch to haunt next year. This one has gotten so popular with the locals and their kids that the owners have started charging entry fees (in addition to the numerous train rides, hayrides, inflatables, food and beverages and other moneymaking ventures they have always had). We have always tried to spend some money while there in appreciation of their letting us take pictures every year. This year, it cost us almost $30 just to enter and purchase two medium-sized pumpkins.

Next year, we may just photograph the kids sitting in the fresh produce department at Krogers.


Severe Weather Warning:


Extreme Weather Alert: Meteorologists Predict Intensely Brisk Autumn

Remember, safety is most important! Things are going to be dangerously crunchy out there.


Mom Update:

I spent a good bit of Saturday afternoon and evening with Mom. As always, she has good days when she seems pretty lucid, and bad days when everything either runs together or just doesn't come at all. The last couple of weeks, I've noticed more extreme ups and downs than usual. We have had another change in her regular caregiver since the hurricane, and in the process a couple of temporary changes in schedules as well. This certainly isn't any big problem in the overall scheme of things, but changes in the routine do seem to scramble things even more than usual in Mom's head, at least for the short term.

I called her last Friday night after we got the kids to bed, just to check on things and to let her know what time I would be coming on Saturday. When she answered, the first thing she said was, "Oh, that was good timing. I just got home!" What? It was two hours after dark, her caregiver should have been gone for five hours or more. Where had she been?!?

It took a while to get the whole story put together, but it turns out there had been a dinner and program honoring former faculty members at the university. Apparently two of the ladies she used to be friends with were on the committee that organized the event, and they had made arrangements with Mom to come pick her up and take her to the school. They all sat together and evidently took very good care of Mom through the evening, and she had a wonderful time.

Luckily (I suppose), I was an hour and a half later than usual calling her that evening, or I would have been frantic that she wasn't answering her phone. Mom had never put anything on her calendar about the event or remembered to mention it to me, so it was a total surprise. It wasn't the only surprise or unexpected discovery of the weekend (we always find a few of those when I visit), but it was definitely the biggest.

Bird Photography Weekly #9

This week my contribution is a pair of shots of the largest of our indigenous species of egrets, the Great Egret (also known as the American Egret or the Common Egret).

Great Egret (Ardea alba)

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For some much more professional bird photos, check out Bird Photography Weekly #9.

Autumn Has Fallen

We had our second cool front of the season move through Wednesday night, and by this morning our temperatures were down in the mid-40s. I realize that's nothing for most readers of my blog but down here on the Texas Gulf Coast, weather like that coming before January is almost enough to start a panic. There were people walking into the office building this morning wearing heavy (faux) fur coats.

Okay, okay, so it's not really that bad, but it is definitely cool enough to officially pronounce that Autumn has come to Texas. And looking back over the pictures from my recent trip to Mercer Arboretum, I realized I actually have photographic proof of the event!


No, no, you've gotta look closer!


See? Autumn!


C'mon, give me a little leeway here. That's about all the fall colors we get around here. And it will probably stay that way until about a week after we are all wearing shorts on Christmas morning. Then we'll get a blast of Canadian air blowing through, all the leaves will suddenly drop from the trees overnight, and we'll pretend to be suffering through the miseries of winter for a couple of months until the heat and mosquitoes kick back in again.

Early Morning Party Line

SkyWatch Friday #15

I stopped to take these pictures Tuesday morning on my way to work. These four images were taken within about a twenty minute span of time.




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Hundreds of grackles spend the early morning hours roosting on the patchwork of power lines and in the various trees that surround this intersection. From first light until shortly after sunrise, the noise filling the area is almost overwhelming as the birds call and scream, constantly launching and alighting and performing what I would have to describe as an almost hypnotic aerial ballet. By an hour later the assembly will have dispersed to prey on the garbage-strewn parking lots of the city, and the only remaining noise comes from the commuters running late to work.

Ten Minute Treasure Hunt

Look what I found at lunch today:

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia)

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Get outside whenever you get a chance, even if it's just for ten minutes during your lunch break at work. You just never know what treasures may lie waiting right outside the back door or just around the corner!

Pretty Maids All in a Row

I listened to an Eagles CD on the drive in this morning, and I've had that song running through my head ever since I pulled into the parking lot. It reminded me of an ibis encounter I had a couple of weeks back, so I figured: What better to write about this morning?


On my way in to work one morning I spotted an egret flying low over a nearby field, so I turned in to see where he was heading. I parked and quietly walked up the rise. But instead of the anticipated egret, I was surprised to find a wholly different set of waders playing "follow the leader" through the marshy grass.

White Ibis (Eudocimus albus)
The ibises (should that be "ibisi"?) would trudge single-file across one way, then stop and wander around looking for some breakfast. Then one would start heading back the other way — and the other three would fall in right behind, looking for a better hunting spot.


They almost seemed to be crisscrossing the area, and were very methodical in their search.


A few minutes later, the egret swooped in to check on the proceedings.

White Ibis and Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
After what appeared to be a brief conference between the two species, the ibises returned to their work.


The egret stayed for a bit to oversee their work then took wing once again, flashing those "golden slipper" feet as he left almost as suddenly as he had arrived.


Almost as if on cue, the ibises fell into line once more. Pretty maids, all in a row.


For more great bird photos, check out Bird Photography Weekly #8.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

(Okay, so the song doesn't match the sport, but it's the first thing that came to mind.)

We had a great "father-son" outing Sunday afternoon. Cowboy was given tickets to the Houston Texans vs Detroit Lions football game, and he generously allowed me to go with him. (Sometimes being the family chauffeur has its benefits.)

We headed out shortly after church, arriving a couple of hours before kickoff time. We had also been given tickets to a pregame party sponsored by Churrascos Restaurant, and we were both ready to eat!


The party was like a massive tailgate party jacked up on mega-steroids, and with air conditioning thrown in for good measure. Catered Latin American cuisine, Texas barbecue, a whole row of make-it-while-you-wait omelet stands, and almost more food than you can imagine. I sampled a little of just about everything available, but Cowboy focused in on two key spots: the fruit stand and the dessert table!


Besides the food, it was definitely a happening party. There was a DJ filling the place with plenty of great tunes, numerous big screen TVs positioned strategically to enable everyone present to watch the Cowboys' painful outing in St. Louis, a raucous and romping visit by the "pep band," and places to get autographs of and pictures with both former players and several Texans cheerleaders. (I tried to get Cowboy to pose for a picture with the cheerleaders, but he wasn't having anything to do with that. Ah, well, I'm not ready for those raging hormones to kick in just yet. I'm rather glad he's still in that innocent "girls are gross" stage for now.)


After we had sufficiently stuffed our gullets, Cowboy and I trekked on over to the stadium to find our seats. The weather was good, sunny but plenty cool, so the roof was open. The Texas kicked it into gear from the very first drive, and by half time we were ahead 21-3. We had a blast!


Of course, the Lions came roaring back in the second half, but the hometown heroes managed to hang on and win the game. And as usual, we celebrated the win with the best part about going to Reliant Stadium: rolling down the giant hill on the way to the parking lot!


All in all, a wonderful time. Thanks for the tickets, Scott!

[You can click here to see a few more pictures from our football outing.]

SkyWatch Friday #14

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A vulture soars high overhead during last weekend's excursion to Mercer Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.

The Birds of Mercer

It was later than I had planned when I arrived at Mercer Arboretum last weekend. The sun was well on its way toward its zenith, and the heat and humidity were already setting in. The parking lots were all empty, as were the skies above.


Heading into the piney woods growth, it had the feel of the Big Thicket area of East Texas where we had visited my grandparents so often as kids. The look, the smells, even the bugs were the same. The only things missing were the sounds of the thicket — the beautiful, ever-present backdrop of birdsongs and insect noises that caress your ears in that wonderland of forest life.


The trails at Mercer wind through the forest floor, offering a beautiful respite from the neighboring airport and the nearby metropolis. There are a couple of pond / swamp areas, complete with knobby-kneed cypress trees rising out of the murky waters.

After about an hour of walking, I finally began noticing the missing sounds of the piney woods. Cicadas buzzed from the trees and undergrowth around me. Mockingbirds sang high overhead. But still no birds within sight.


Then I arrived at Hickory Bog, and the "bridge to nowhere."


Suddenly there were plenty of birds overhead, diving, flitting from branch to branch, and singing their magnificent choruses.

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I spotted a tired-looking robin who perched on a nearby branch, seemingly as interested in me as I was in him.

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)


Unfortunately, most of the birds I saw and heard stayed in the limbs above, where I could only catch glimpses of them from time to time. One of these days, I've got to start learning to identify birds by their butts ... er, I mean, "undersides and outlines," as that's all I was able to see of most of them.

But even I could identify this one:

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

There were three or four male cardinals playing chase through the swampy terrain, dodging in and out of branches and tangles of roots and limbs.



There was a pretty little female cardinal as well, with her glowing red beak offsetting the rusty brown of her feathers, but she stayed well-concealed from my camera lens as she kept the boys hopping around her.


After a time, the cardinals took off, and I turned to find another treasure in the trees just behind me.

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A female Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) was slowly working her way up a limb, looking for lunch.


She reached the broken end of the limb and rummaged around, looking from every angle for any juicy little tidbit that might be hiding within.



I sat there for several minutes, quietly watching her work, until she finally gave up and flew off to find food somewhere else. Realizing it was past time for my own lunch (and for getting home to help with the weekend chores), I took her cue and headed back out of the park.

No swarming hordes of migrating Monarch butterflies in sight, but all-in-all a very nice adventure.