RANDOM PHOTOS

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Buddies!

There has not been a lot happening lately... so I don't have anything to "tell" you... but I always have my phone camera and there are some photos I have taken this spring/summer I will share with you now.

By mid-May, the tire garden was doing well with tomatoes on the way!

At the same time, there were some beautiful daylilies blooming in another area of the yard.

Mid-May was also a good time to hit the "all-you-can-eat" crawfish buffet at a nearby casino!!  This is the "bucket" you get to start your feast.  The gals I went with went back for second buckets to share!  YUM!

You may be a little tired of my morning walk photos but bear with me.  :)  I enjoy them so very much!

This little one was crossing one of the airport streets.  I almost didn't see it!  It blends so well... and the front of my shoe gives you the scale of the "tiny turtle."

On another morning, I glanced down just in time to see this little critter making its way across another road.  When I asked it to "please stay still so I can get your picture!", it stopped, raised its head a bit, looked toward me, and waited!  LOL!

During late June through July and into August, I am lucky enough to see HUGE groups of wading birds, primarily white herons with a few Great Blue herons occasionally mixed in.  I don't know for certain but I believe there must be a rookery fairly close by.  On some mornings, I see literally hundreds of these birds fly over... ranging from small groups of 2 or 3 birds to the huge groups I mentioned that contain more than I can count as they fly over!  My best estimate is about 300 birds that I have seen in one morning.  My guess is there are more I do not see... so I would bet totals in the 500-600 range.  At any rate, they are beautiful to see in the early morning light as they head out for wading and dining all day.

This morning, I was a little late returning from my walk... and spotted a rather interesting "sand trap" on the golf course.  :)  I'm not sure if you have to "play through the puppy dogs" or what?!?  They certainly seemed comfortable in the cool, damp sand.

Finally, I know I have posted "sky" pictures before but sometimes nature provides some pretty cool stuff.  :)

Ending on a humorous note, I pass this driveway every morning on my walk.  The newspaper that is delivered there is typically on the grass to either side of the driveway although it has hit the edges of the pavement, too.  Never see it dead-centered on the driveway.  So... Blogging Buddies... what day do you think was the day the newspaper was placed DEAD-CENTER on the driveway?  Why, the day after the driveway had been PAVED, of course!  Couldn't walk on it... thus the tape.  LOL!!  Never fails, does it?

As always, thank you for dropping by.

Until next post...

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!?!?

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Buddies!!

As has been credited to the ever-so-dry Samuel Clemons (Mark Twain), "The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."  (Note he never said exactly that phrase... but it doesn't matter here.)

So... I am still around.  The beginning of 2016 has been a little challenging.  The "grawdoo" or "creeping crud" that apparently hit every household during the first part of this year attacked me mightily the third week in January and lasted nearly two weeks.  I thought I was out of the woods by February 1st... but I was wrong.  :(  A quick relapse followed which knocked me down another two weeks.  Sigh.  I am very fortunate and am rarely hit by any of the things "going around" so it was quite a surprise... and an unpleasant one at that.  By mid-February, I was back up and running.  There was a lot to catch up on after that much time away from my normal duties.  Factor in working on taxes for two households plus getting a real estate deal closed in early March... well, I have just slacked off tremendously on posting.

While I can't provide you with anything truly fascinating, I did want to check in.  I have encountered a few things I considered blog-worthy so will share them with you.

Someone decided the single word on the marquee as one entered the local airport property was too boring.  He (or she) decided to change it.  See what was put on the marquee.  For bonus points, comment with the single word that is formed from these letters.  :)  And no... I don't believe "Cow Meel" is actually a thing.

This past Sunday morning was quite foggy.  During my morning walk, I saw the sun surrounded by the fog making it look more like the moon.  I took a couple of shots to see if they turned out.

Finally, I had some paperwork I needed to copy right away for a transaction taking place that day.  I was happy there was a FedEx store very close by where I could get multiple copies done quickly and relatively inexpensively... until I got there and found...

Now then... there was NO time put on this... there was no clock on the door with the big hand and little hand pointing to numbers that would give me a clue... you are seeing exactly what I saw.  I sat in my vehicle for ten minutes (yes, I did time it) before deciding that "right back" apparently had no real meaning to the party at the store.  This was not close to lunchtime or any other thing one would expect to cause a need to close... but I understand the occasional need to leave during normal working hours.  I just would truly appreciate you giving me ENOUGH INFORMATION to know whether I should wait for you to return!!!!  AARRRGGGGHHHHH!

There has been some fun recently, thank goodness!  One of my friends here and a friend of hers, who I have met and know, decided to go to the nearby Casino for all-you-can-eat crawfish!  Yes.  That is a big deal here in south Louisiana.  When crawfish season begins, there are mad dashes to places that sell them (bring your own cooler to contain the little critters until you are ready to boil them!) and to places that cook them up for you to enjoy without the work.  I was invited to go along for the fun.  I was more than happy to oblige!!  Yes... I do love me some mudbugs.  So... we headed off for the festivities.  Arriving about an hour before serving began, we found a bank of penny slots to occupy our time.  Lots of fun but not a lot of winning.  That was okay.  Just before it was time to eat, however, my little pennies got benevolent and hit a lovely bonus round that ended up putting me $80 up at that point.  Made dinner taste even better!

I won't go into great detail but I will tell you that the crawfish buffet was quite a spectacle.  We were joined by a fourth friend at this point.  The system was as follows: get a round tray with high sides and wander down the line while the server behind the counter scoops a huge bunch of mudbugs into a giant bucket and sets it on the tray.  Then one carries the whole mess back to the table where the mudbugs are poured out of the bucket into the tray to begin the chowdown.  Let the peeling and tail-popping begin!!  We sat there for nearly 90 minutes, eating and eating and eating.  Two of the four of us at the table returned for a second full bucket!!  The other two (I was one of these) split a second full bucket.  Yummmmmmmmm!  So, so good.  So, so messy.  And worth it all.

After dining and a trip to scrub down like a surgeon before entering the operating theatre, our fourth headed elsewhere while the three of us looked for more slots to enjoy.  We found two side-by-side that were the same and were such fun to play!  We had no idea how long we were there until we had finally let the house take our limit and were ready to leave.  So worth it!  Most fun I've had here in a VERY long time!

Alrighty.  While this isn't a lot to report, I hope you at least know I am still here... and I will try to be better about posting!

Until next post...