Brian sent this cell phone video to Gavin of some seagulls on his truck. The caption he sent along with it is what's funny. It said, "I got birds too.", in reference to my new birds. Silly Brian! What's also funny is that Gavin took him serious at first, thinking his daddy had some new birds! Silly Gavin!
My java finches came today! They are so pretty! I absolutely adore their beaks, it has got to be the main factor on why I like them (other than their birdsong of course!). I have a male and female couple. Only the male of the species actually sings a tune though the female does make a noise. My male was already singing a bit after he got use to being in his new surroundings, which I was extremely happy about. I have new and more natural branch perches coming soon to replace the ugly bulky perches that came with the cage. That'll really add a more natural look to the cage and better suit the birds.
Female on left, male on right.
Female.
Male.Next door to my son's school lives this horse. I now realize that I really need to start bringing my camera with me wherever I go - you never know what you could run into! This photo was taken by cell phone. I really wanted to get a great zoomed in high quality photo. Maybe next time!
Trying out my new tripod outside. I love seeing the craters on the moon, but then it makes me ponder about huge asteroids hitting Earth.
It's underbelly is kind of interesting. Take a closer look.
Yep, it's web is monstrous. It must go! I guess it got tired of that spot on the side of the garage. My front yard is a little bit too in my face though!While talking to my son earlier today, I was distracted by a bright yellow and black color in the backyard. I hurried and ran to get my camera, warning my son not to scare it away before I could get some snaps of it. It was a beautiful American Goldfinch! And yes, I had to look up the name! It was tearing up a clump of dandelion weeds like no one's business. Here's the best shot that I took. I had to take the photos through 2 glass doors, so don't expect much!
Largely ignored until today, I finally took the time to take a few snaps of this red flower bush in front of the house.
Tiny spiders that live in flowers are the only type that don't freak me the hell out!An ethical vegan I am not, though the phrase of it kind of stings in that I think I am very ethical! But my beliefs restrict me from being called one of the ethical kind.
Let us go through the reasons why I cannot be called an "ethical vegan".
We saw a hummingbird moth today! It took me awhile to research exactly what this bug was but now I know. But while outside snapping shots and wondering what the heck type of bug this was, I had to double check my eyes to make sure it WASN'T a hummingbird. The nickname for these moths suit them extremely well.
I am exposing my amateur ways as a photographer with this one: It took me a few aggravating and desperate snaps of my camera before a light bulb went on in my head to switch to sports mode for a faster shutter speed. Though I think next time I'll see if I can also manually adjust the speed to get clearer shots of wings. This moth here had beautiful translucent wings, hence the "Clearwing".
My wheatgrass is growing beautifully! I think it may soon be time to start another tray up so I will have a continuous supply without having to wait. Check out the lovely Green Sunshine below:
This is growing in the backyard (we have a tree of it in our front yard). This is called "Pink Velour" Crape Myrtle. The petals are known for looking like tissue paper. If you enlarge the photo by clicking on it, you will see the center better. It's not opened all the way yet but this stage made a neat photo opportunity. Weird but cool huh?
I don't know the name of this but they are growing up from the green and white grass bunches that are all around the house. I didn't even know they made this purple thing until Gavin pointed it out to me. I thought they were just little boring grass bunches and nothing else, so I was surprised to see they made interesting pretty purple clusters. I have no idea if each purple thing is going to open up and bloom or if they are stamens. *Edited: This is Variegated Lily Turf Grass.
This is the Lantana plant we bought from Lowe's. We have 3 hanging baskets of these, though 2 are currently on the ground on the side of the house so they can get better sunlight. I think the stamens of these are so very interesting! And I didn't really notice until today what exactly it looked like so close up. They look like little bowtie or butterfly pillows! I am starting to wonder if I like the sexual organs of flowers more than I like the petals!!!
I believe this is ragwort. That bug was cool, I was a little nervous getting close to take a photo and I think he was too at first. He flew to me to check me out as if to say, "And you are?!" and then he flew back to the flower! I am proud of myself for not freaking out.
