Friday Night Photos

Submitted by dystopian on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 8:40pm

Hi all,

Since I don't see anything here yet, looks like some of my photog friends are trying to volunteer me, so I'll throw something up quick here... I'll be in and out...

Saharan Dust Sunset at 99W on Saturday the 27th.

A Reakirt's Blue - about 3/4" long, if that, in real life.

Maybe grab a few more in a bit... got to do some sh....

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OT - Friday Night Photos

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Submitted by edg on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 9:36pm

Baby Quail

A Gambel's Quail chick hunting seeds and bugs by my back porch. Also known as a Desert Quail, the intensity of this little guy or gal's concentration on the task at hand is amazing.

Quail 1.jpg

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 9:53pm

What a beautiful moment and image captured, edg

@edg

"the intensity of this little guy or gal's concentration on the task at hand is amazing." If only we humans had more of that power.

I look forward to your contributions, and thank you for them.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 10:16pm

Sweet

@edg

Do you get them often in your yard? Any sign of mama?

—

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

Submitted by edg on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 10:20am

Often, yes.

@snoopydawg

There are 3 different coveys that hunt in my yard. One lives in a pile of branches and the others come and go. Quail usually live their entire lives within a 40-acre radius of where they were born. Momma and Poppa were both there with this little one and a dozen or so brothers and sisters. Here's a photo of Mama with 3 of the chicks.

Quail 2.jpg

Submitted by dystopian on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 10:25pm

very cool edg!

@edg Great pic EDG! Quail are a neat group. I think birders (field guides) just know them as Gambel's Quail. As I kid I was taught they said "Where are you all, where all you all?" Then some reply "Here" "Here". Nowadays many say it is "Chi -ca - go - go. My grandma said that dark spot on the male's belly was a poker chip and that was how she remembered to tell them from California Quail.

—

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 9:41pm

Thank you dystopian,

Your dedicated observation and insight into natures of all kinds, along with your wonderful humour* and music, is greatly appreciated.

*Since I don't see anything here yet, looks like some of my photog friends are trying to volunteer me, so I'll throw something up quick here… Wink

Good that you could still see little patches of blue in the sky, as well as on the butterfly.

The usual ...

A sweat lodge in Big Pine, Ca. sounds just about right, right now.

Submitted by dystopian on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 10:27pm

omg those are beautiful Janis!

@janis b Holy cow, you outdid yourself again! Amazing pics! I'd love to be in that! You have the best greens...

—

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 10:46pm

I am still laughing, dystopian

@dystopian

"You have the best greens" ; ))))

I'll try, but it's hard to find another colour at this time.

Submitted by Pricknick on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 9:58pm

Carolina Wren

A new arrival to our area. The nest is unique.

—

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 10:10pm

The experience sounds quite unique, all around.

@Pricknick

I hope it's a good sign. At least the wren found something psychedelically tasty.

Submitted by dystopian on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 10:29pm

awesome pricknick!

@Pricknick Too cool pricknick! They are great to have around the house. Leave a boot outside too long and they will have a nest in it. They have an unbelievable vocal repertoire too, not to mention incredibly loud for something so small. Our pair just fledged its second set of the year, they will do another, at least.

—

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Submitted by Pricknick on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 11:32pm

I wondered

@dystopian
what this new bird song belonged to. I left the garden shed door open for just two days and they moved in.
This is the first I or my neighbor have seen of this bird in our southeast Michigan area.
And oh boy can they sing.

—

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Submitted by vtcc73 on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 10:14am

"Leave a boot outside too long

@dystopian @dystopian and they will have a nest in it." No fooling. Every summer our greenhouse, only 12' x 10, had one or more nests among the few pots left in it or one of the shoebox size plastic boxes used for tools or supplies. One wren put a nest among the many tillandsias tucked on a narrow shelf in the top of the greenhouse just under the roof. It was almost always wrens. The Carolina wren was easy to remember because of the "racing stripe" above the eyes. Song sparrows were also known to nest in the greenhouse.

I still haven't found a photo of the pottery acorn a good friend made for an Eastern Bluebird nest box. We had half a dozen cedar boxes around the property but that acorn was the favorite. We always had two clutches, and three a couple of times, fledge from the acorn. The cedar boxes were prone to ants and mites plus tree snakes could get to them. The acorn was mounted on a chest high 1" copper pipe set in concrete in a hellebore bed surrounding the big black walnut tree on one end of the house. We set the acorn in the meadow in front of the house of the friend who made it when we moved south. (There are no bluebirds in Cuenca. We have to make do with hummingbirds.) I'm told it is a favorite there too. It is the perfect bluebird house.

—

"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

Submitted by dystopian on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 4:26pm

neat stuff vtcc

@vtcc73 interesting stuff vtcc. Interesting Song Sparrow nested in a shed. A friend that was big on his Martin houses near me in central Texas said productivity was higher in gourds than the typical apartment style houses. He had over a hundred gourds on one giant pole setup, the Martin society banded them there and found they wintered in Guatemala. We have bluebirds and use cedar boxes here. I mostly install them on a 3' dowel on a fenceline T-post. If a good rainy year with lots of flowers which means bugs, they raise 3 broods. Ants and snakes can be a problem in places, we haven't had it though. Feral pigs ate all our snakes.

I think your hummers and tanagers make up for the lack of bluebirds.

—

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 10:14pm

Cool moth

Luv the colors in it. I can’t imagine what it’d be like to have experienced that mega dust storm. I don’t even have asthma and i have trouble breathing just looking at the pictures of it.

Cool tree Janis. Nice sun rays (?) around the trees?

Where is the nest Pricknic? Somewhere easy to photograph?

I saw this in one of the guardian weekly photo groups. Love it’s play with shadows and lines.

Charlie decided that this needed to be buried for some reason.

And so she did.

—

Submitted by dystopian on Fri, 07/03/2020 - 10:32pm

nice pics SD

@snoopydawg great pix SD! Love Charlie with the flower! That black and white is great too.

—

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 1:55am

I cracked up when I turned around and saw that

@dystopian

Wish I knew why beagles feel the need to bury stuff, but every one of mine did. A few months ago I sat on a bench and noticed that she was missing. Looked around for her and saw that Charlie went to visit Abby’s grave. Did she know that she was buried there or was she just following my scent to the area? Either way I teared up big time.

—

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 12:35am

Something that rhymes with 'Bucket'

L'Otteresistance.jpg

—

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by travelerxxx on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 1:42am

Courage

@The Liberal Moonbat

L'Otters are the fiercest resistance. The bumpkins stand no chance.

Their battle cry: "**** it."

Submitted by eyo on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 5:13am

L'Otter power rising

@travelerxxx no justice, no peace.
Shut it down.

Otter bite closes portion of Manzanita Lake at Lassen park

river otter

"The last month we were closed pretty much because of the coronavirus," Richardson said. "Perhaps the otter got used to no people and now the people are invading. It's the protective momma (doing her job) and the attack came as a surprise."

Despite the attack, Richardson said the otter isn't in danger of being tranquilized or moved because it was exhibiting normal behavior.

"That is a common thing with all wildlife," Richardson said. "As long as the behavior it shows is natural like this one is, where it was protecting its babies then we would not remove the animal."

go l'otters
for great justice

Submitted by yellopig on Sun, 07/05/2020 - 9:53pm

Thank you!

@The Liberal Moonbat
I've laughed all weekend about that otter!

—

“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett

Submitted by eyo on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 4:58am

Katydid or ?

Hello!
I think this is a katydid seen on a leaf in the dirt patch yesterday, what say ye?

Here is the dirt patch with some Trump stimulus applied (topsoil, chicken shit, seeds, fertilizer, bean tower):

Compared to last August, after much digging:

Bees bees beautiful bees, inside a squash blossom:

I have been eating Bennings Green Tint Summer Squash almost every day for a couple of weeks now, they are delicious. Highly recommended. Yesterday for breakfast I had an egg scramble with fresh squash and basil, and buttered toast. Buttered toast! I am the richest bitch on earth eating fresh veggies from the dirt patch. And buttered toast! lol

Have a great weekend.
Peace, eyo

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 6:27am

Great to see you again eyo

@eyo

sauteed squash blossoms in butter with a soft scrambled egg
yum! an old favorite

glad to see you living the life of riley

—

question everything

Submitted by eyo on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 10:33am

The Flotsam Family sounds about right

@QMS @QMS lol you are great for enticing me to look up stuff like the Life of Riley. Of course there is a connection to Groucho Marx, of course! I am a Marxist at heart. And this:

The reworked script cast Bendix as blundering Chester A. Riley, a wing riveter at the fictional Cunningham Aircraft plant in California. His frequent exclamation of indignation—"What a revoltin' development this is!"—became one of the most famous catchphrases of the 1940s.

OMG nothing has changed! LOL I love you man, is your going postal mail still the same?

mary mary quite contrary
gave three starts
to the backyard parts
blackberry kush
now an unlicensed bush
woo hoo PU

"Herbs are good for everything"
Edit: 'cause I forgot how to embed the video thing.
Bob Marley - Easy Skankin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQIoypuPQgs
peace and love
eyo

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 10:47am

Good to see you eyo!

@eyo

Hope all is well with you in your neck of the woods. Crazy times, eh?

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by eyo on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 12:27pm

Same. Good to see you Anja!

@Anja Geitz Thanks. Crazy times indeed. Ceiling cat worthy.

sunflower summer sky

Peace and Love

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 11:14am

Yes dear one

@eyo

still here burning herbs
ignoring the perturbs
looking for sanity
in this calamity

—

question everything

Submitted by Lookout on Sun, 07/05/2020 - 8:30am

I've missed you...

@eyo

and wondered how you are doing. Love your humor. Hope you're doing well!

So nice to "see" you!

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by eyo on Sun, 07/05/2020 - 12:42pm

Nothing has changed, except everything

@Lookout Hi! One hour* just evaporated down there in the dirt patch, I forgot to log out here before carrying water to it, it is a real garden now for sure. The Katydid is still there, looks bigger :). The bean tower is populated with yardlong beans that are growing two inches a day, it is too much. Toppling Tower of Fall is how it's going to end up if I don't do... ? Something. lol Hopefully it won't be an inferno when the northern winds start blowing.

Thanks for your info-packed essays and comments, always a pleasure to read.

* Add two more hours dealing with phone calls and landlord after an apparent viral youth party in the empty house downstairs. I slept right through some yutes getting inside and partying until the neighbor called the cops, who left after speaking with someone at the front door... not me and not my landlord. Ha ha! I wonder what they said? They didn't leave until later. It could be worse. Stinks like beer, the living room floor is burned and sticky, wood fire in the gas fireplace, and the A/C cranked all night with the lights on. They rode their bikes and boards on the wood floor, you can see the scrapes and rubber marks. Crazy yutes. lol

Peace and Love
make dirt, not war

Submitted by dystopian on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 4:20pm

yes, katydid

@eyo Hi Eyo! Yes that is a Katydid. Where I am in central Texas they can become quite a roar. Growing up in socal beach cities, never heard one. Birds love them. I saw a Cardinal take one the other day and fly off towards nest tangle with it.

—

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Submitted by eyo on Sun, 07/05/2020 - 7:21am

"Birds love them"

@dystopian hah! thanks for the confirmation. I guess you mean birds love to eat them? No wonder they are so well camouflaged in that bush. The local Scrub Jays are the most voracious I have seen this year. I watched one clean the exterior walls of every Tussock Moth cocoon on the house this spring, kinda horrifying the way it scraped off all the toxic furry parts on the cement driveway, very efficient. Good balance.

Your photos are always fantastic and beautiful, thanks for sharing. Nature magnified is a trip. Right on.

Peace and Love

Submitted by janis b on Sun, 07/05/2020 - 5:05pm

What a nice surprise to see you again eyo

@eyo

I’m glad you’re well and enjoying the simple pleasures of life, like growing things and eating tasty delicacies like the little green scallop squash. I hope you visit more often.

[video:https://youtu.be/fUREgj4i684]

Submitted by orlbucfan on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 6:26am

Thanks and....

Rec'd!!

—

Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.