Ruby Meadowhawk 2

 
I think this is another example of the Ruby Meadowhawk, genus Sympetrum. The book says that the identification of red dragonflies is pretty nearly impossible, so I'm not going out on any limbs with the ID. It perches like a meadowhawk though, and is medium in size.



Although all the pictures are taken while it was sitting on the same stalk, it moved a little bit, and so did I to get a different angle.



If you look closely where the wings meet the body there is a little amber patch. If that were bigger, it might be an amber-banded meadowhawk.



It does have a beautiful pattern of diamonds down the side of it's abdomen. I think this one might be female, but I didn't get a good enough picture of the end of the abdomen to be sure.

Compare to the one I pictured in 2010. That one had redder spots, less prominent diamonds, and it was male.




About all I'm willing to say is that they both perch like meadowhawks, and they are pretty!

if you like this blog, click the +1   or

The Flamingo and His Pet Pig

 
One of a kind metal yard art! I want you to know I ran across five lanes of traffic and got yelled at just to prove to you that all the best flamingos have pet pigs this season. Unless of course they have purple and blue wings, in which case they have no need of the prestige which a pig brings.

If you don't fancy a pet pig, how about an owl or a peacock? No pussycats gone to sea, but there was a frog sipping a cocktail. Plenty of wildlife for all.

Everyone is trotting through the trees, but the bright flamingos sure lead the pack.

You know, when I started this silly series, I thought I'd find one or two examples of flamingos a year. It's turning out to be more like once a month. Who knew there were so many?

	See Flamingos
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

An Afternoon Obsession

 
I don't know how hot it got here, but it reached the threshold at which I declare it too hot to work. So I played.

You know I love jigsaw puzzles. This demonstrates that it's way past that, more like an obsession. I had brought the box for this puzzle up to the house from a storage shed. The box was smashed, and I was quite sure some of the pieces were lost.

We have to back up 23 years to start this story. I used to have an extensive collection of jigsaw puzzles. Several hundred of them. People knew they could always make me happy with a challenging puzzle for a gift. I had puzzles from my childhood that I would put together in an hour, just for the comfort of them. Several of them were cut in the same pattern, and I liked to compare whether the different pictures consistently affected how long it took me to assemble them. I had round ones, shaped ones, ones with pictures, ones with geometric designs, solid color ones, double-sided ones... OK, I think you get the picture.

Buying jigsaw puzzles (and socks, but that's another story) are to me what buying new shoes is stereotypically supposed to be for women.

However. Yes, with a period after it. However, 23 years ago, my collection was destroyed in a freak accident. Only about five puzzles survived. We lost a lot of other things, too. I got the chance to verify that I really do believe stuff is just stuff. But I do miss many of those puzzles that had become old friends. And interestingly enough, I've never tried to build a new collection, not seriously. I've worked three or four in the past five years. (Ahem... reality check, Joan. This is your conscience speaking. You have discovered online puzzles. Not quite the same as hands-on cardboard, but don't imply you haven't wasted mucho hours doing puzzles)

But I found this smashed box the other day. I decided I'd put it together just to be sure there were pieces missing. If there were quite a few, I'd throw it away. Today it called to me. Here it is:



It's a 252-piece puzzle, from which 17 pieces turned out to be missing. Two of the ones that are there were mangled so badly I had to really work to flatten them. Some of the pieces had gotten damp and swollen. And yet...

It's supposed to be a picture of "rock bound shores." It's not even a very pretty picture. The colors are muddy. And yet...

There it was, a puzzle I don't remember doing before. The cut isn't a standard one, so there was some challenge in that. Having missing pieces is a little tease. Two hours later, I have the proof that I can throw it away. I think I can even do so without a sense of loss. Maybe.

	See The Puzzles- Jigsaw and Otherwise
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Wheels, Worship, and...

 
Today was our annual church picnic. Om and I rode our bikes to town for it.



It's always held at one of the city parks in the open air. The weather was clear. It was a bit too hot for me, but everyone else was pretty happy.



and... the third W is Wet. Things ended with a water balloon fight, which of course escalated to super-shooters, and dumping coolers over people's heads. I escaped by virtue of having a camera around my neck.

if you like this blog, click the +1   or

My Kingdom

 
Thanks to a post from our friend Vanilla, where he showed his kingdom, I went looking on Mapquest for mine. I've never been happy with the Google satellite picture, but this one is better.

Makes me want to take you on a big tour! I will probably use this map to orient you from time to time. The highway is at the top (north) and the railroad tracks at the very bottom (south). The cemetery is in the woods on the left (west). One thing that amazes me is you can see my mowed trails! All those places I walk and take pictures to show you! Well, for tonight I'll just point out that the house is in the yellow circle. You can click to enlarge.



And the yellow arrow? That's where I pointed the camera to take the farewell shot for today. The roundish clump of pines in the map shows up in the photo.



There have been some changes. I think this image was made about two years ago. Now I'll have to tell you why in a future post.

	See Smoke and Fire
if you like this blog, click the +1   or