Does it get any better than this?

Lately it's too hot to be outside during most of the day. We've been at 100 degrees F or more every day for at least a week and not much hope of anything less anytime soon. But once the sun starts down, it becomes a little more bearable. And when we get to see a sunset like this one, it's worth the wait!

ABC Wednesday -- B is for Bird Watching

Am I watching the birds? Are they watching me? Are we both watching the sunrise? YES!
Click the link above to see MrsNesbitt's ABC Wednesday post and links to MANY others! Be sure to thank her for hosting and check out the shiny NEW ABC Wednesday blogspot!

Odd Shots Monday -- Time for upgrade?

I think my froggy friend has outgrown his quarters, don't you? He looks a little befuddled by it.
Head on over to Katney's Kaboodle for more Odd Shots this Monday!

Saturday Photo Hunt: What IS that??

Gross as it sounds....it's a mealy worm farm! We raise them through 2 or 3 stages until they become worms to feed to the blue-birds!

TnChick hosts the Photo Hunt....go see more strange things today!

Sky Watch Friday -- Black Wing Tipped Pelican

I got caught unprepared for this Friday's post....I have plenty of new shots but they're at home and I'm stuck in Austin tonight! So I pulled out all the CompactFlash cards in my camera bag and started searching. Here's one I took on Jan 16, 2004.

Click the SkyWatchFriday logo to see hundreds of posts from around the world!

Wishing a Sunny Happy Birthday to Dana!

Today's the birthday of one of the sunniest, happiest, friendliest, most giving people I know. She is the daughter I would have chosen if that were the way it works!!

Stopped yesterday near Waxahachie to shoot a green field with the wonderful sky you get a glimpse of here (maybe you'll see that on Friday!) and there was this ONE sunflower there. Since Dana stands out in her field, too, I thought this would be appropriate! Don't read anything into the BUG, tho....unless it's the committment!

ABC Wednesday---A for Aley UMC

From the Texas Handbook Online:
ALEY, TEXAS. Aley is on Farm Road 85 twenty-seven miles northwest of Athens in far northwestern Henderson County. The settlement was evidently founded soon after the Civil War. A post office operated there from 1894 to 1907. In the early 1900s J. O. Hall and W. C. Higgins operated a local general store, and by 1910 the settlement had a combination church and school, a store operated by James Burns, and a population of twenty-five. In the mid-1930s it had a population of sixty-five, two churches, a store, and a school. After World War II the population dropped to fifty and the school closed. In the early 1990s a cemetery and two stores remained. In 2000 the population was twenty.

Today the area seems to have been incorporated into the city of Seven Points. But there are still a couple of churches with the name Aley....this one is Aley Methodist Church and I know a few really fine folks there!

P.S. I've discovered that there's been a big change to the ABC Wednesday process and I haven't figured it out yet. So I won't be linked there .... but I'm still going to count this one and will be ready next Wednesday!

Mystery Man in the Shadows

A select few of our fellow bloggers may have caught on to our cat and mouse play over the last several days. Who can identify the Mystery Man seen on the shores of Cedar Creek Lake this past weekend?

Fun for All Ages....

I don't believe fun and toys are meant to be limited to children of certain ages....... When we stop having fun, we may as well just STOP! So that's not the ODD of this SHOT. What might be ODD is my little secret!

Head on over to Katney's Kaboodle to see more ideas of what's Odd and what's Not!

Camera Critter on Cedar Creek

This is a late post but it's the debut photo of this newly created raccoon! Some friends of mine had to cut down a tree and decided to make creative use of the stump. So this little fellow now graces their yard and shares their wonderful view! The chain saw artist worked on it Saturday and Sunday and we rushed over right at sunset to see it for the first time.

Head on over to Camera Critters, hosted by Misty Dawn for more critters of all shapes and sizes!

Moon Over Cedar Creek Lake.....

I was enjoying the evening on the deck with my VIKF (see Thursday's post) and decided to once again attempt to capture the full moon with my CanonG5. This time I used a tripod and the 10sec timer and hid it behind a post to block some of the light from the neighborhood. The first one is at full 16x zoom. It came out with some pretty wild colors so I decided to share it! The second is a bit more natural-looking and I cropped it to enlarge it enough to show you the star. It's been a fantastic day with wonderful people, wonderful food, wonderful weather, a nice boat ride and just enough wine. Tomorrow should be more of the same and we have plans for some sunrise and sunset shots over the water. But now it's time for some shut-eye, so I bid you all a Good Night!

Sky Watch Friday

This was my greeting from the sun as I left for work early one morning this week. Click the logo below to join other Sky Watchers this Friday. We are now graced with not one, but a team of fabulous hosts/hostesses! Let's take a moment to thank Tom and Jane for their work in the past, give thanks that Tom is feeling better, and thank Tom, Imac, Sandy and Klaus for the hard work preparing the new site and for the future hosting!

Blogging interrupted....

I'm under strict orders to use these tools today instead of my camera and computer! Blogging is temporarily interrupted as Houseworking takes center stage today. Preparing for VIKF visits. What are VIKF, you ask? VERY IMPORTANT KIN FOLK! And maybe a special surprise for all of you CDPB'ers. Tune in Saturday/Sunday to find out!

ABC Wednesday --- Zion in Zephyr

From thefreedictionary.com:
Zi·on (zn)

n.

1.

a. The historic land of Israel as a symbol of the Jewish people.

b. The Jewish people; Israel.

2. A place or religious community regarded as sacredly devoted to God.

3. An idealized, harmonious community; utopia.

For the last entry of Round 3, I had to resort to photos from one of my trips to West Texas. This very small town (Zephyr) had some wonderful photo ops. See another on my Corsicana Daily Photo blog.

Thanks to Mrs Nesbitt for hosting through Round 3! Check out her site for links to "Z" around the world!

Two fer Tuesday --- reflections in the water

Jonna over at ShelbyCountyMuses hosts a meme called "Two Fer Tuesday". The first shot here needed the 2nd shot just to show you what you are seeing! These are reeds of some sort that I spotted one evening near one of the bridges on the north end of the lake. I loved the mirror image in the water.

Odd Shots Monday

How many places do you go and find a chili pepper playing the piano? Well, it's not as uncommon in Texas as in some other places, I'm sure, but I still thought it would rate as an ODD SHOT this Monday! My sister and brother-in-law both hit their 50th birthdays recently, so they had a combined 100th Birthday Party this weekend at the Jalapeno Tree in Longview. This is a small chain of restaurants and we have one here in Gun Barrel City, too.

Head on over to Katney's Kaboodle for more Odd Shots! But you can leave your birthday greetings for J&D here! Have a great Monday!

Camera Critters Sunday -- Are You Looking at ME?

This was supposed to have been part of a short series....I was chasing a Hot Air Balloon down a dirt road the other day and came to a quick halt when I saw this fellow watching the balloon! But when I stopped, he/she suddenly turned to keep an eye on ME. Llamas (and donkeys) are used around here to help protect lifestock. Apparently, they are quite good at keeping 4-legged intruders (and perhaps 2-legged!) out of the pastures!

The series won't be happening. It was early morning and I could only shoot into the rising sun, so I didn't get decent shots of the balloon!

Graze on over to Camera-Critters, hosted by Misty Dawn, to see more critters from around the globe!

One of my favorite lake activities ....

Not one I've had the chance to enjoy as much as I'd like to lately. So this serves as a reminder to me and to all of us....SLOW DOWN! Enjoy your world wherever you are. Have a great weekend!

Sky Watch Friday -- The love of flying!

I took this during the 4th of July Air Show over the lake. It was taken from a rolling boat, so it's not as sharp as I'd like!

Fly on over to WiggersWorld where Tom lovingly hosts Sky Watch Friday and see the sky through the eyes of photographers around the world!

Different Lake Today

If you'll indulge me, I'll post another photo from my West Texas trip. So that you non-Texans in the world don't get the idea that West Texas is all cactus and tumbleweed, here's a photo of a small piece of Lake Nasworthy, on the out-skirts of San Angelo. I needed my water fix, so I went out there to watch the sun set. (OK, you'll probably have to indulge me again on Friday for SWF!). There's another photo below the history lesson.

From "The Handbook of Texas Online":
Lake Nasworthy, an artificial lake on the South Concho River six miles southwest of San Angelo in central Tom Green County (at 31°23' N, 100°29' W), was constructed by the West Texas Utilities Company in 1929-30 to supply municipal and industrial water and water for irrigation to San Angelo. The project was named for John R. Nasworthy, who raised race horses on the land before it was inundated to form the lake. He sold the land to the city of San Angelo in May 1950. Nasworthy Dam is an earthfill dam, designed by Floyd and Lockridge of Dallas, with a crest length of 5,480 feet (including spillways) at an elevation of 1,879 feet above mean sea level. Surface area of the lake is 1,596 acres at the top of the collapsible floodgates, and normal capacity is 13,990 acre-feet. The lake drains an area of 3,833 square miles. Twin Buttes Reservoir,^qv completed in February 1963, regulates the flow into Lake Nasworthy. Farm Road 584 crosses the lake at its approximate midpoint, near the site of a state fish hatchery.

The photo below is a close-up of the greenery seen in the first shot.

ABC Wednesday -- Y

I'm still out in West Texas and thought this photo of one of the hundreds of wind turbines out here would be an appropriate post for ABC Wednesday. See more at Mrs Nesbitts Place.

I won't tell you how many times I had to shoot to catch the blades in just the right position...but I probably have an image of every position possible!

On the road again.....

Since I'm way out in West Texas, I thought I'd post something from my trip out here. These two "shots" were taken in Brownwood, Texas. This beautiful old building in Brownwood, Texas was once the Brown County Jail. It is now the Brown County Museum of History. The second "shot" shows the rather tenuous link to my CDP blog!

Posting late today because the motel I'm staying in was having trouble with their internet service. BUMMER! But if it holds up, I'll be posting my ABC Wednesday posts on time!

Odd Shots Monday

You may think the oddest thing is the mood I'm in today! LOL. Or the mood I was in the day that I shot the last photo below. Why would one do that? Go to Katney's Kaboodle to see far better examples of today's Theme!

Turns out I was digging pretty hard for an excuse to give Rogers Wildlife Rehab Center another plug, I guess! Have a great Monday, my friends. I'm off to San Angelo, Texas for a couple of days and will try to find something interesting to share with you from there.

My 100th post and Camera Critters Sunday

It took me more than 100 days to do it, but I'm finally making my 100th Post on CDP! I've met many, many wonderful people through CDP who have been a constant source of encouragement and inspiration. There are certain ones who stick with me day after day and are so generous with their comments and helpful with their tips that I'd like to thank them publicly:

Our favorite islander, Babooshka. Our famous Ohioan, Abe Lincoln. Our Friendly Parisian, Eric. Two NW wonders, Kim and Raf. My "neighbor" in Texas, Jim.

You are all the BEST!! Thanks for sharing your world and your knowledge! And because today is Camera Critters Sunday, Nate would like to join me in thanking the hosts/hostesses of some of the Theme Sites on which we've participated and also found new friends: Katney at Katney's Kaboodle: Odd Shots Monday
Jonna at Jonna's Life: Two fer Tuesday
Mrs. Nesbitt at Mrs. Nesbitt's Place: ABC Wednesday
Tom and Jane at Wigger's World: SkyWatch Friday
TN Chick: Photo Hunt Saturday
Misty Dawn: Camera Critters Sunday
Anna Carson: Color Project

Theme hosts and hostesses do this as a labor of love and they've helped create wonderful communities and forums for photography! THANKS! They've all been very supportive of my efforts along the way, as have many of their frequent participants. There are too many of you to name, but you know who you are! Thanks to you, too! I don't get around to as many sites as I'd like, and rarely leave comments when I do, but I'm going to work on that!

My family and friends have also been very supportive and I'd especially like to thank my nephew, Zach. I've been encouraging him to start his own blog. He took the photo of Nate above and I've posted a few more of his shots of Nate and our lake sunsets lately. Don't you think he should get started??

What else to post on July 5th?

This was my first attempt at taking pictures of fireworks. The first one was shot across the cove from our friends' house where the church had held our first annual 4th of July Flotilla and Fireworks party. The flotilla was small....only 3 boats...but they looked good and we had fun! The fireworks display afterwards, sampled by the second shot here, was truly awesome! I'll put some more of the shots on my home blog, Bird's Eye View.

Sky Watch Friday - Happy 4th to USA Bloggers

For Sky Watch Friday, my nephew Zach gave me permission to use one of the sunset shots he took from our boat when we was here 2 weeks ago. It was a wonderful evening. We took the boat out just before the sun set and watched it "go down". The colors in the sky and reflected on the water were amazing. This is just one shot of many great ones he took! Go to WiggersWorld where Tom hosts Sky Watch Friday to see the sky around the world!
And, last but not least, our boy Nate wanted to wish all of you USA bloggers wherever you are A VERY HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! This is from the archives...Nate got a new haircut yesterday, but alas...no new bandanna. Will post more 4th of July photos tomorrow after our church's First Annual Boat Parade today!

Future winery?

What started as a method of covering up a chain-link fence between our house and our neighbor actually produced "fruit of the vine" last week! They are very small but very tasty! I'm just amazed that we found them before the birds did. Or maybe our birds are too spoiled by the other plants and feeders we have out there for them!