Turtles at Starcke Park

We spotted plenty of turtles sunning themselves when we took a cruise along the drive along the Guadalupe River on the golf course side of Starcke Park. Lately there is nothing but hot, dry weather for us so there's no lack of warmth for the turtles. I spotted the one on the log and we weren't sure if what was in the water were turtles or debris. It looks like it was actually a parent turtle and a little baby turtle! I love turtles so I am thrilled to have seen so many. Makes me want to go back down there soon to see how many we can spot. Maybe I can get a better shot if we get to stop at a good spot.

So the answer to the question about yesterday's post is that the bloom came from a mesquite tree! The source of many people's allergy woes but not as bad as the dreaded cedar. :)

Who can tell me what this is?

Anybody know what this is and which tree it came from (there's a hint for you)?

Thank you for all the comments on Sky Watch. I always enjoy seeing who stopped by and left a message and I try to return the visit as well. I liked how Erica described the clouds as looking like God pulling a blanket over us. That was a pretty cool idea, Erica. Thanks!

Sky Watch Friday

Hello everyone, I made it back from Arkansas today and after a quenching dinner at Big K in SA, I am ready to post. Here's my contribution for Sky Watch today. As usual, there are many other wonderful sky watchers to check out at Tom Wigley's Wigger's World. It's very cool!

One more shot of the same sky just a couple of minutes later. I found it quite mesmerizing.

Mexican Hats

Hi everyone. Here's a pretty shot of some Mexican Hats we saw a couple of weeks ago. I have to go finish packing for a trip to Arkansas. I probably won't get to post for a few days so see you when I get back!

Migas at Las Palmas

Back in February, I posted a photo of a breakfast taco from Las Palmas restaurant. Now, here's my other favorite dish, the migas plate. Oh my goodness, it's good. I am always on the hunt for great migas and LP fluctuates between having too much cheese and being pretty perfect. The other great place in town is Las Mananitas near the Guadalupe River. Can't eat this very often but once in a while couldn't hurt too much. ;)

Here's a shot of the restaurant itself.

Birds & the Garden

Besides the squirrels, birds sure do love the pecan trees in the backyard. I've posted about the woodpeckers before but I never get tired of seeing them in the trees.

Sad news on the mockingbird front. I posted a shot of the nest in the front yard tree earlier this spring but never posted about it again because the nest was destroyed by a wind storm we had. BUT the birds came back a few weeks ago and rebuilt the nest and we were so excited to see them. Today after church, I even saw the tail feather of the mama sitting on the nest but my hands were too full to snap a shot. This evening when I went out to water, I saw a dead baby on the ground. It had feathers and was maybe 5 inches long, good long legs. I was sad to see it and haven't seen the mama flying around. I wonder if there are any other babies up there.

Garden update: no new pictures to share since I'm sure you don't need to see more tomato shots. Those are the best plants we have going, next to the lemongrass. Everything else is pretty much done for the season I think. The cucumbers are really suffering but I don't know from what. Too much sun and heat? There are only two cucs on the vines and they don't seem to be producing more. Not sure what the deal is on that. Disappointing. Next year, we'll try a different variety and maybe in a partly sunny spot.

KWED of Seguin

A month or so ago, I had an opportunity to have some fun with the local radio station in town, KWED. I once saw a sign that said this stood for Keep Working Every Day. :)

KWED also has a print daily that they produce and there is a feature called Seguin Citizen. I was interviewed by a very nice lady and got my mug in the paper. Mark got in there several years ago when he came to work here in Seguin for the City before going back to San Antonio to work.

Anyway, as I stood in the hallway waiting, I saw that the show was running on the air so of course I pulled out the digicam and snapped some shots. I didn't really want to interfere with her work so I didn't ask to go in the room. Maybe next time.

Sky Watch Friday

Here's a shot of some clouds I still think about, isn't that funny? It's just that I was so mesmerized by them when I saw them but how do you photograph something that is enormous and takes up the entire sky. They were the biggest, puffiest, most beautifully white clouds I have ever seen I think. Anyway, I just wanted to share it with you. None of the shots I snapped did them justice in my opinion. As usual, you can see other magnificent skies at Wiggers World.

Sorry for the late post but we drove to San Antonio to meet some library friends for a Knit Nite event at Big K. It's always nice to see our old friends.

Hanging out in the heat

We've had lots of little guys like this hanging around trying to catch some dinner around the porch, deck and near the water faucets. I love the green of this little one.

Yes, that was a hamburger cake in the last post. We loved it! We had picked out a chocolate cake that looked like a watermelon but they didn't have it so we got a hamburger instead. The unusual cake was a fun way to celebrate with the family. That's one of the ways we celebrate being together in our families (even with other friends and their families) -- we eat! My parents had us over one night for dinner and then mom even had a special bowl of soup for us on our way back to Texas (we pass their house from my sister's). It was a great week.

I'm back!

See? I'm not the only one who loves to take pictures of food. :) This is my sister snapping a shot of the burger birthday cake we got for a triple birthday celebration -- mine and my two nieces. Our birthdays fall in May and June and this year, we decided to wait and celebrate together in FL. We had a blast and that cake was yummy!

And here's another photo of another photographer. That's my niece, trading photo snaps with me. We had a blast and though I missed blogging and checking out friends online, I have to admit something. Being without a cell tower and fast Internet was actually nice after the first day or two of withdrawal. We played and talked and read and just relaxed. And I only thought about work the first day or two. And only had 103 emails waiting for me today. Much better than I had expected so I consider it a great day for me. Back to the mill tomorrow and back to blogging.

Tuesday night activities

Well, it's a busy night as we prepare for our trip to visit family in Florida later this week. My current activities:

1. Blogging (Really, I'm thinking of how to blog about my camera since two people asked me to post something about it.)
2. Baking cookies for the trip
3. Packing other snacks and a picnic basket for the 18.5 hour drive
4. Chatting with an old library buddy
5. Listening to jazz on Sirius
6. Feeling really good about life in general

Okay, so after about 20 shots, I settled on the picture above. It's hard to take a picture of my digicam when I want to use it. Here it is. Mark gave it to me as a Christmas gift two years ago and I have really, really enjoyed it. It's a Kodak Z612 (EasyShare). I love it for it's simplicity. Has all the settings I need as well as the manual settings if I have time to try and figure it all out. If you want more info, all you have to do is Google "Kodak z612" and you'll get tons of info. The camera bag I found at Target when we were in Columbia, SC. It has taken me two years to find the perfect protective cover for my z612 and I love it b/c it fits perfectly for my cam and for my purposes. I don't really like carrying around accessories and that's what other bags offer but then they are way too big. This bag was about ten dollars I believe.

Okay, cookies are done and so am I for the night. I'm off to clean up and get in my jammies for some good reading before bed. Goodnight everyone.

Second Baptist Youth Celebration

Yesterday at Second Baptist, we celebrated the youth and they did us proud with a singing, dancing and their big hearts and smiles. We have some really great kids at church. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed some delicious brisket and sausage with potato salad, beans and this great cake. One of my coworker's sister made it and most of it was gone by the time we left. It was a really great day.

Garden Update - Week 11

This week the garden highlight is on our cucumber plants, which are finally showing lots of progress! There are several nearly ready and many more that are beginning to develop so we just have to provide plenty of water.

I recall helping my mom put in cucumber plants in her garden. She always had the most amazing gardens -- everything was always so green and produced plenty for her. She always had me put in the cucumber seeds for her. I think it was due partly to superstition -- she thought for some reason, I would be the good cucumber grower. I was always proud to do it and we had pretty good crops, so hopefully my luck will hold out for us now. I don't know what type she grew but hers grew very tall onto the trellis my dad built for her. Mine, however, grows low to the ground (as many do in other Seguin gardens we noticed).

I picked one off the ground since it looked like ants are beginning to enjoy it. We had our first cucumber/tomato salad and it was pretty awesome. Mark and I have really been enjoying our garden. And we're really glad to have tomatoes given the removal of tomatoes by the grocery stores.

On the way home from work

One day last week, after another good day at the office, I was driving home on Kingsbury Street near the Tyson's plant, when I saw something out of the ordinary. You know what that means...camera out, just in case it was something worth documenting. And it was! I went around the block and doubled back so I could try and get a good shot but through my windshield was the best I could manage without getting in the street.

What first drew my attention was the man on TOP of the thing being hauled. He was making sure that the cargo they were hauling would not touch the line. Needless to say, it moved at a snail's pace. While this one was clearning the lines, another truck waited back down the road.

I had no idea what this was so I Googled Suzlon to see what it's about and now I am so thrilled to know that this was part of a wind turbine going through our town. Suzlon is actually the name of a company and I looked a one of their brochures and I believe this is a "nacelle" with a cover on it. I won't go into all the technical details here (b/c really, it's too much) but I am so glad I learned more about it! Who says blogging is a waste of time?!?

I have been wanting to see a wind farm for some time and maybe this is a sign for me to take a trip out to west Texas since we have at least one farm there. I think we have another one somewhere in the state.

Sky Watch Friday

You can check out other Sky Watchers at Wiggers World. As usual, there are some really cool looking skies to check out! I took this a while ago but Mark and I still think it's a cool shot so he thought I should share it.

Ladybug in hiding

I spotted this little ladybug tucked away in the folds of the drooping sunflower. Ladybugs have been everywhere this season. Especially about 2 months ago...they were flying everywhere. When I was cleaning out my bamboo flower bed, there were tons of them everywhere among the leaves that had fallen. And then I noticed lots of ladybug bodies in the window sill in the bathroom. And occassionally, I see a ladybug body when I pull out dishes or a frying pan or the honey. :) Funny.

I spent some time in our new store in Rosenberg, TX. This location is a part of our Construction Services division and it's only my second store to visit. The first was a small store in Vegas. The people at each location are so, so wonderful! It's been such fun! And tomorrow, I will post about something awesome that I found while visiting our new store. Good night!

Squirrely

Quicky post for the evening since I not only have to pack for a short trip but I also said I would limit my online time tonight. Here's a little fella that spent half his time digging into his pecan and the other half of this time twitching his tail at my poor little Smokey, who happened to be snoozing on the grass under this squirrel. Smokey took no notice of all the squirrel yelling. Have you heard them chattering away? They can be sort of loud about it. We have tons of squirrels in the neighborhood.

This is Smokey enjoying the upper 90s temperatures in the shade and with a breeze blowing. At least the grass is cool. He loves it outside. Not to worry, it looks like he might be dead, plastered to the ground, but I assure you he is fine.

Sunflower & Pollen

The sunflowers that have survived whatever animal chewing on our plants (perhaps for liquids?) are beginning to turn downwards due the the weight of the bloom. What is different about this one is the amount of pollen that fell upon the leaf right below it. Maybe I've just never noticed before that this happens and only now, when I am making an effort to notice my environment, did I see this beautiful shot. I really liked it. I had a friend in mind when I snapped this and she knows who she is so this one's for you J!

Along the same line with pollen, here is a look at what the bees have been bringing in lately.



When I looked at it, I noticed that the color has changed significantly than a couple of months ago. Notice there is more white colored pollen in the current collection and overall, it is a more subdued color. I wish I knew where these samples came from, that'd be pretty neat.

Garden Update - Week 10

Here are some of our tomatoes from the garden. So far, Mark estimates that we've had about 4 pounds worth and we've really enjoyed them. Tonight I made crispy baked chicken with rice and sauteed squash and green beans from the garden. I also made a tomato and cucumber salad though the cucumbers were not yet from our garden. As you can see below, we have a little while to wait. Can you spot the cucumber? It has been a long time since I've grown cucumbers with my mom so I forgot they grow like the squash -- from the flower!