2 Things Challenge: Sneak/Bent

I'm late, I'm late for a very (well maybe not too very) important date.  And since I'm the one I'm late for, I forgive myself and will accept this late interpretation into the challenge.

The 2 Things Challenge this week is Sneak/Bent.

Have you ever  tried to sneak up on a bird to get a nice closeup?  Well there was no sneaking required for this little fellow.  He smacked himself hard on one of our windows and was sitting on the deck, not quite unconscious, but very stunned.  An adult female was sort of pecking at his face when I first spotted him, but she saw me through the window and flew off.  He just sat there and let me take several photos through the glass door, but would never leave, even when we waved and moved about only a few feet away.  Fearing Niko the ferocious hunter cat might wander by, we finally opened the door and he went scampering off and finally flew into the woods.

 And for bent, I have a dead tree from the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.  It was just off one of the MANY pulloffs.

Early Fall?

It's been so dry here that our River Birch began to think it is October, and started dumping leaves.  One good rainy day seems to have slowed this down, but it is now getting dry again.

Unwelcome Guest

These guys or their cousins invaded my brother-in-law's farm last summer (see here) and did a lot of damage.  So  they are not welcome guests there this summer, but thankfully they are far fewer in number and they aren't doing so much damage.

2 Things Challenge: Flower/Fringe

The 2 Things Challenge this week is Flower/Fringe.  This lends itself to some obvious interpretations, and certainly a Bearded Iris is among them.

This particular one is called Tequila Sunrise.

Milkweed Flower

Monarch Butterflies depend on the milkweed for their larval stage food, yet milkweed doesn't grow in the parts of Mexico and California where they hibernate in the same trees every year, so they can't begin reproducing until they head north in the spring.  This milkweed flower looks like it's providing food for some of the ants in Shenandoah National Park, as well as possibly hosting some Monarch caterpillars (no I didn't see one.)

It's interesting that they hibernate in the same exact trees every year, yet this winter's crop will be three or four generations removed from last year's crop.

2 Things Challenge: Exterior/Round

The 2 Things Challenge this week is Exterior/Round.

This is a shot of Bass Harbor Lighthouse on Mt. Desert Island, Maine.  It is almost directly across the island from Bar Harbor.  It was raining pretty good, and even thought I had an umbrella, I didn't want to haul my good camera out there, so this was taken with a little point n shoot, and the quality is not great, but it is round on the exterior.  No matter how I twist and rotate my head or the photo, something seems to be leaning, and I think it is because something is really leaning about this old place.

Whew! What a Day!

They Made Us Pick All These Strawberries

Nary a One to Eat

I Don't Even Like Strawberries, Not Anymore

It Was Sooo Hot in the Fields

I'm Soaking Wet

I Prefer Mine Already Picked

What's your caption?

Wail!

This guy normally wanders around the Birmingham Zoo, not really making a nuisance of himself, but scarfing up any of the available food pellets the come within reach.

Occasionally, though, he'll just settle down, maybe on a new bed of straw, and watch all the people go by.

In the right light, his feathers can be so blue it hurts my eyes.

Shenandoah Deer

This deer, even though she is wild, just stood by the road eating, and let several cars drive within feet of her and let me stop and take several photos.  In the game of chicken, she won; we left first.

2 Things Challenge: Home/Image

The 2 Things Challenge this week is Home/Image.

This is an image of my childhood home, with my brother, two sisters, a neighbor kid, and some goofy kid by that little tree (possibly me, but then I don't know who took the photo).

This image is a couple of years old and is of our current home.

And this is an image of a wren's home, built it under the balcony of our home.

Fern Field

I've seen photos of fern fields like this, but this was the first time I've been near one this big.  It was adjacent to the parking area of one of the lodges in Shenandoah National Park.

(The mid-day sun peaking through made blowout difficult to control.)

Nature's Fireworks

Pennsylvania dandelion, compared to the blasts below.

Happy Fourth!

Happy July 4th!

Fireworks from "Liberty Day Celebration"

Columbiana, Alabama

Saturday, June 30, 2012