For Fun Monday, Janis has taken the reins, hosting!! She asks of us to tell a little about favorite TV shows [what we watch, what we plan to watch with the new season coming up in the Fall 2009]. Excellent idea!!!!!! I'm going to enjoy reading what others will tell me!!

I'm not much of a TV viewer unless it's professional sports. I have only access to the teams in Texas mostly, I faithfully watch the two baseball teams, Houston Astros and when Astros aren't playing, I try to find the Texas Rangers' games. Tho, personally I'm a National Leaguer...which means the Astros. I also watch, when I can, the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks [those two, I was privileged to see in person during the seasons AND follow them during Spring Training in Tucson ---Rockies at Reid Park ballpark, and the D'Backs at TEP ballpark when we lived there...and traveling to Tucson during the school's Spring Vacation for the Rockies before retiring and leaving Colorado. Not to mention witnessing both of the teams in their inaugural seasons!!!!]. I also never miss the playoff games. I'm there with my popcorn, snacks like nachos and soda...watching and rooting for the best team to win to go on to the World Series. Of course, I follow the World Series also...It's an American Pastime...and I love the game. When we lived in Colorado and both of us worked with two incomes we went to all the home games for the Denver Broncos also. Even before John Elway - he was something to watch...the Broncos, sadly, are just not the same without the star quarterback. But, when they are pitted against the Dallas Cowboys....I'm all for the Broncos stomping some cowboy butts!! Revenge from [Super Bowl XII]. Denver still holds a sacred place in my heart!!!!


Now what do I watch other than sports? I'm an avid fan of National Geographic and a Discovery Channel viewer. Tho, it's long past, if it's repeated, the Discovery's Planet Earth was amazing! And thrilling and oh so educational. Not to mention the wonderful, outstanding award-winning photography!! I never tire of it....I never tire of the continual learning. Nat Geo and Discovery always have pretty good learning programs...the last few weeks it's been on the Egyptian royalty like Cleopatra and finding a mummy of her sister...the only possible DNA of the Queen! Very interesting indeed.

There is also one particular drama program that I really like. I've been watching during the hot summer months USA's marathons of the last six seasons. It's very good. Never a dull moment usually. The cast of characters is good. The writing and scripts are close to excellent----And there is COMEDY thrown in if you've got quick wit and can catch it. The actors are a bit above the rest, comparing actors on TV [I don't think it's ever been nominated for an EMMY, I could be mistaken]. The team works, fictionally, in the Washington D.C. area ---but it's filmed in California. Over the years there have been special agents dying in the line of duty and new ones are in to replace the loss of others. ['probies' as they're called. Meaning they're still on probation tho they've worked for some time ---it's a term of endearment, really.] It's a fascinating story most every week. I've learned to really like four of the main characters...tho the other two are quite tolerable also. Abigail [goes by "Abby"], she's the best forensic expert to come across the tube! Not to mention her 'out of sync style'--i.e., dog collars for necklaces, etc. etc. etc., and her tattoos - she's a doll!....she's my kinda gal!!! Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo is not only 'hot!', but he's very funny! Tony is the comedy relief in the show!!! Then, there is the medical examiner...Ducky...played by the veteran actor, David McCallum from 'old' TV - like, 1960's Man from U.N.C.L.E. And not to forget another....Ziva David. SHE is the one that is making me count the days until this coming September 22nd 7PM!!! Last season they stopped with the season finale; a cliffhanger. I think, in fact we have a wager on who is going to save her...I think it will be Tony [DiNozzo...he has a love interest in Ziva that I don't think he realizes yet. Same with Ziva's feelings for Tony. ----------okay, so call me a romantic on this area of the program, it's fun to fantasize how it will turn out!!] Oh and I am trying to outguess who is behind the cliffhanger, and I think it's Ziva's father!! Only time will tell. The other two...not to leave them out, is Mark Harmon as the leader....Special Agent Gibbs, and McGee played by Sean Murray. McGee can have some funny moments also. This to me is what makes the program well done...there is crime yes, but there is also comedy...like life. Oh and the program I'll be glued to? Can you guess by now? LOL It's none other than....look up to the graphic.... N C I S!! Naval Criminal Investigative Service[s].


Oh, and I'm an avid, AVID movie fan. So the channels AMC, TCM, and TNT/TBS is on when there is a good movie. I especially like TCM ---that one has NO commercials. One kind of genre that I DON'T and WILL NOT watch is the so called 'reality' shows, like Amazing Race, American Idol, The Bachelor, Big Brother....and more and more and more....the television is saturated, OVER saturated with this category. They're all so crazy, insane, and NON-reality, which makes me just wonder how they can call them 'reality' when they are just as much fiction as NCIS?!!! They're fixed. And I may add, the TV is over saturated with crime drama also. So, I'm not browbeating.


[NCIS image courtesy of Photobucket]




POSTED: Monday, August 31st, 2009
4:00 A.M.

[For My Unconscious Mutterings...scroll down a bit!]




what are your most common nicknames?

Mom, Gramma and Sweet Cheeks [not necessarily in that order]

what is today's weather?

	Today Mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 90s inland... in the mid 90s coast. Southwest winds around 10 mph shifting to the east in the afternoon. »
	Tonight Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening...then partly cloudy after midnight. Lows in the lower 70s inland...in the mid 70s coast. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph in the evening becoming light.

where did go on vacation this year?

...permanent vacation at home.

what did you do there?

where did you stay?

what job do you do?

describe where you live.

Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County. From Latin, the city's name is Body of Christ, given to the settlement by the Spanish, in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. The city has been nicknamed The Sparkling City by the Sea, particularly in literature promoting tourism. [which as a resident, in some areas...I agree...other areas, it can be a ghetto and I'm an avid supporter of getting out and cleaning up the city!!!] The city is home to the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi near Padre Island. Corpus Christi was founded in 1839 by Colonel Henry Lawrence Kinney as Kinney's Trading Post. Corpus Christi has a marine climate, enjoying similar temperatures to those of other Gulf Coast regions, but lower precipitation as it is located in a semiarid region. Average high temperatures in the summer months exceed 90 °F (32 °C) while average nighttime winter lows in January, the coldest month, are a little less than 50 °F (10 °C). The city's largest recorded snowstorm was 4.4 inches (11 cm) on Dec. 24, 2004. The city's record high temperature is 109 °F (43 °C), on September 5, 2000, while its record low is 11 °F (−12 °C). In December 2004, the city experienced snowfall on Christmas Eve [PHOTO]. The snow stayed until Christmas Day and melted the day after.

what do you usually do on weekends?

Go out for breakfast, walk the beaches. On TV [if it's summer] watch a baseball game. And read.

what food hits your 'bliss spot'?

what drink really does it for you?

ice water

describe the first friend that comes to your head.

Dark, curly hair [with graying], short, chunky, brown eyes, and a smile that makes ME smile....Teri. A best friend from High School!!

what was the last restaurant you went to?

Just yesterday for lunch...Cracker Barrel...I had the Saturday's Special...Chicken tenderloin with rice and mushroom gravy...the sweet baby carrots and their AWESOME green beans!!

where would you like to live if you had unlimited moneys and nothing stopping your dreams?

These days, a private island sounds great where I'd declare war on the USA and then...file for War Aid, and then live happily ever after!! Honestly, that's where a lot of our deficit spending is going...to foreigners for financial aid ---why not ME? LOL [kidding!] I'm happy where I am, actually.

what is the likeliness of you achieving this dream home?

Ummmm, it's a dreamscape...so the likelihood of it coming true is NIL!!

what do you like to do in your spare time?

crochet, read, crafts, shop, walk, garden, bake, DVD/VHS movies, paint, sketch, computer.

what's your favorite genre for TV programs?

Other than sports, crime drama or most anything on the Discovery Channel having to do with Science, Nature, History

what's your favorite genre for music?

Oldies from the 1940s-1970s

what's your favorite song that's sad?

I can think of TWO actually, Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" and Michael Bolton's "How am I Supposed to Live Without You".

what's your favorite soppy film?

I really don't like 'soppy' films. For that matter, I can't think of one now...I don't go to movies that make me cry if I know it will. Titanic was close...I've watched it several times...but now-a-days when I do watch it, I find myself looking for the flubs on the historical value. For instance: The lake that Jack told Rose he went ice fishing on when she was threatening to jump is Lake Wissota, a man-made lake in Wisconsin near Chippewa Falls (where Jack grew up). The lake was only filled with water in 1918 when a power company built a dam on the Chippewa River, six years after the Titanic sank. Also, I bawled the first time Jack died saving Rose and Rose said "Come back, come back"...now I say to myself "How many times must you say that?"

how about your favorite chick flick?

Pretty Woman...where the handsome prince comes up to the girl on his white steed and carries her away to dreamland.

what are you looking forward to at the moment?

Getting this meme done so I can get on with my day

what are you dreading at the moment?

Paying Bills...that's one of the worst jobs I have.

how would you describe your personality?

Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful & practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a longer time to get over if that trust is ever broken.

Personality Quiz
Take More Quizzes

if you had a personality eraser, what part of yours might you erase?

The urge to ERASE this question!?!!!

you are given $5000 to spend in 1 day, what do you do with it? remember, no limitations!

Well, you ask two questions here...my first response was spend it!!...then, you ask 'what do you do with it?'...Ummmmmmm, spend it!!!

what is your biggest fear?

I almost listed a biggest CONCERN...but fear would be HYDROPHOBIA

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1. Spinning :: Wheel
2. Impasse :: Stalemate
3. Gravy :: Boat
4. You are :: Here! [X marks the spot]
5. September :: 11th [911]
6. Divulge :: Blabbermouth!!!!
7. Training :: Camp
8. Crap! :: Dice [without the !]
9. Results :: Winning
10. Shutting down :: Abort



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I finally got my new camera out of the box yesterday and looked it over! As I stated a few days ago, this thing has more gadgets and settings and options that it's gonna take some doing and real concentration on operating it! Well, I did a little testing [but deleted the images - on purpose] just to try and get 'the hang of it'. It, I think in time, will be an amazing little toy. I think I have the first two functions down pat by now!!! And that is [after Bud added the lens cover for me and the carrying strap]....I figured out how to take the lens off and turn it on quite efficiently!! I did notice that it has a built in camcorder-------with sound!!! Ho boy. Fun, fun, fun. But now, let me be honest with you...I'm lacking the ability of comprehending what I read when it comes to the digital thingies/expressions listed in an owner's manual---I need hands on training. And that feature of sound and videos will be a long way down the list of learning. Trust me. Oh ya...and I did put the memory chip in while loading the batteries...I'm on a roll!!! While testing it out last night, the chip tells me I have 835 possible images stored. That's a whole lotta photos! My other camera I've used the last four years; its memory chip could only hold 34 images. Wooooohoo! What I like about it as apposed to my camera I've BEEN using...it's Made in the USA! I think now that the economy is so much in a down turn these days, it's important as a consumer that we citizens of USA should BUY USA products. If you'd like to check it out, and thinking about buying a new camera...here are the stats with this LINK


Added at 8:25 A.M.:



Just experimenting more....I just now tried the memory card reader and used the USB port. Woohoo, it worked. Now, I gotta go back to the books and figure out just how to set the photo size on the camera!! Lordy, the image above, after I imported it to the computer was something like 2000x1500 in pixels. I don't think so!! That'll use up tons of memory for sure. But anyway, this is a humming bird [duh!] that was near the feeder I have hanging off the patio house eave. I was sitting way back yonder and zoomed in [about 30 feet away or more]!! Awesome.

POSTED: Sunday, August 30th, 2009
6:45 A.M.

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Photo Hunt: SURPRISE

Just outside of Phoenix Arizona's city limits, to the north and west by approximately 10-15 minutes, is a place called Sun City...where retirees live. We, at one time, had thoughts of retiring there. Instead we chose Tucson since it wasn't as large as Phoenix. Within this area is a city [suburb of Phoenix] called Surprise! Yes, Surprise, Arizona. Surprise is also home to a few pro baseball Spring Training facilities [another plus for me since I love baseball]. Now, I think the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers train here. This 'sign' is at the city's boundaries if I remember correctly. The category again is very vague....a blogger could come up with so much for the word "Surprise". Don't you think?


And to my surprise this morning....it rained!! Yesterday about 4 PM...it started thundering!!! Yippee. Tho it rained about 30 minutes, very lightly, it rained!!! And last night while sleeping sometime...it rained a bit more. Keep it comin'!!!!!



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Camera Critters: TAHOE, again!





Now the other day, in a weekly meme, there was a question directed to us players about dog licks on the face. I don't mind that. Not one bit...but the cat's tongue is a whole 'nother perspective. As much as I prefer cats at my age, I'm not too keen on cats licking my face. Not only scratchy as rough sandpaper, but their tongues are not as clean as a dogs. Oh ---trust me. Read this. Dog tongues are proven to be even cleaner than ours!!

A cats ability to groom itself is the result of numerous knobs called papillae on the surface of a cats tongue. Located at the tongues center, the papillae form backward-facing hooks containing large amounts of keratin, the same material found in human fingernails. These hooks provide the abrasiveness a cat needs for self-grooming. The strength of these hooks also helps a cat hold food or struggle with prey.

From "About Cats' Tongues"



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POSTED: Saturday, August 29th, 2009
12:04 A.M.
[4 years ago today, the costliest hurricane, Katrina, pounded into New Orleans - parts of Louisiana and Texas. 1,836 confirmed deaths, 705 missing. 2009 cost [rate hikes over 4 years] estimated: $90.9 billion. Other states, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama were also affected ---still some that were misplaced and homeless are still in trailer homes!]

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First, Friday's Show n Tell.
Below that is my Flash 55
and added below that is
a little scientific hypotheses indulgence of mine today.....


These three clay receptacles we purchased one day we drove from Tucson, Arizona USA to Nogales, Old Mexico and shopped. For me it was always a lot of fun to walk through the old towns and peruse the shops. Most of them are outdoors, where they sell their wares. And the best part of my shopping for fun is how you can bargain with the hawkers. They'll sometimes come up to you when they see you looking through their inventory...and they'll tell you in broken English [sometimes speaking fluently!] their price. Sometimes I would shake my head 'no' and continue to walk around...they'll follow and say "How much?" Then, I would always knock off about 30% of what they originally told me...then, again give a negative motion and say "I'll take it for....then, tell them 50% of what their aksing price." I would get such great Southwestern stuff this way. I really can't remember the EXACT price of these three...but it was something like $12 or less!! For all three.

Kokopelli is one of my favorite Native American symbols. Two of the three have the same. They are supposedly associated with fertility in lore. The one on the left and the on the right is the Kokopelli. The one in the middle is a marriage urn...here the bride and groom would drink on the 'wedding' day from the same vessel. They've never been used for any other purpose other than decor. If you'd like to read more on the symbol, click here.



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A haunting reverie; a song
Resounding through my mind.
Eternal, a place, for which I long
...ageless, constant; tender & kind!
Yet, still, those words outlast.
Lyrics carry me; a distance far away
of time lingering; past...
as if, only yesterday.
Words within, will remain.
The haunting reverie of a song...
Love's harmony, forever; once again.





Love's Refrain © August, 2009
by....Hootin' Anni
Do Not Copy!



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Could Earth be a suicidal planted also?

I love trivia...my favorite board game is trivial pursuit...we have three editions now in our house. Still, my best is the Genus I version. And therein, playing that game, my favorite category? Yes...Science and Nature...the green tab!!! [I rarely miss on that one---oh, and Bud's best of the best of the best is....history!] I love to read articles on such scientific findings and hypotheses also. While logging out of my Yah** email, there pops up this one:----

WASHINGTON – Astronomers have found what appears to be a gigantic suicidal planet. The odd, fiery planet is so close to its star and so large that it is triggering tremendous plasma tides on the star. Those powerful tides are in turn warping the planet's zippy less-than-a-day orbit around its star. The result: an ever-closer tango of death, with the planet eventually spiraling into the star. It's a slow death. The planet WASP-18b has maybe a million years to live, said planet discoverer Coel Hellier, a professor of astrophysics at the Keele University in England. Hellier's report on the suicidal planet is in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. "It's causing its own destruction by creating these tides," Hellier said. The star is called WASP-18 and the planet is WASP-18b because of the Wide Angle Search for Planets team that found them. The planet circles a star that is in the constellation Phoenix and is about 325 light-years away from Earth, which means it is in our galactic neighborhood. A light-year is about 5.8 trillion miles. The planet is 1.9 million miles from its star, 1/50th of the distance between Earth and the sun, our star. And because of that the temperature is about 3,800 degrees. Its size — 10 times bigger than Jupiter — and its proximity to its star make it likely to die, Hellier said.

Now, this brings on a question of those infamous "what if's" that I always daydream about after reading such words as quoted from the site above. Hmmmmmm, instead of the greenhouse effect that we humans are supposedly creating ourselves [which to some extent I can't agree on for one specific item throughout history ---storm, temps, mother nature...there HAVE been worse scenarios in our past weather patterns that have been lethal before ---yet, the 'green' of saving the planet without wasting and tons of refuse, I DO agree] --is it all possible for our own planet Earth making a billion or more year jaunt in our solar system....traveling closer and closer to OUR NEAREST star? The sun? Of course...I say, ANYTHING's possible!!!! Maybe, just maybe that explains the long trek of millenniums to the hotter, longer days that we have experienced. Are the Aztec's prediction of the world ending in 2012 feasible? I keep thinking to myself secretly on this statement...."Of course the world AS WE KNOW it will end....even from day to day it ends...only logic tells me this." But really, will Earth burn? How will it all end?


[italicized contents of quoted article is not intended to infringe copyright - photo of burning planet from fotosearch]







POSTED: Friday, August 28th, 2009
5:45 A.M.

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CAUTIONARY NOTE I left in my comments

Thursday Thunks 1st...

1. Have you ever played Bullsh!t? Ho boy....no, but it sounds kinda crappy?!! Where does this take place? In a bull's domain? [that's as clean as I can make it!!] Maybe a bull pen? I call dibs on Derek Jeter!!! [and since there is really a game of that name....I'll go for the Egyptian version....they're very mysterious and exotic, don't you think?]

2. A dog licks you on your face. Are you disgusted or thinking it was sweet? Definitely sweet!! I've always been a slobbery kinda lover. [oh get your mind outta the gutter!] Addendum for those that are turned green by the thought: "Dogs mouths tend to be open a great deal of the time. More air circulates through the mouth and tounge it kills most microbes and bacteria that like darker, damper conditions. They also dont eat the crap we do, they dont get as much stuff stuck in there teeth. If they only eat hard kibble they will have a cleaner mouth than yours. Actually on discovery channel Myth Busters show they did a test on dogs mouth compared to humans and the dog was something like 65% cleaner than the humans Addition Info: Dogs Saliva have anti bacterial make up that clean the teeth and tounge when ever they begin to salivate. Its not a wivestale actually, its a documented treatment of the poor and homeless (street beggars) in biblical times. Those people too poor to get medical treatment would let the street dogs lick there wounds in order for them to heal." GOOGLE

3. Tell us about a fun/special memory you have of a grandparent. My maternal grandparent [grandmother] was the best---her meals were the BEST. My paternal grandmother died when I was six. Can't remember much of her. My maternal grandfather also died when I was young. But, my paternal grandfather lived to the age of 98! He was always fun, and funny. The special memory I have of him was spending summers with us...he always traveled by train, and we'd pick him up at the station. In his suitcases, there was always a box of chocolate covered cherries for me. Thing I really disliked was his chewing tobacco [the spittoon!]-----and his cane he used when he walked; he could turn that into a lethal weapon.

4. Have you ever pet a rat? No, but if I did, I'd probably have named it Willard since I'd been so intimate with him....pettin' him and all.

5. If I walked into your kitchen, where are the cups? In the cup CUPboard, where else? But, don't look in the fridge....there just may be a cup of something from months back that is green and fuzzy....or, do you need some more culture?

6. Since you already let me in your home, I found the cup and had water, now where's the bathroom from the kitchen? Say Mother May I first!!!! From the kitchen sink, turn to your left...take 3 baby steps and one giant step straight forward. You're in the dining room now--------take a small turn to your left and with three baby steps, you're in the hallway....keep walking.....oops too far...back up...make a sharp right and you're in the 1st room, the 'common room', of the combined bathroom...this is where you find the sink, mirror etc...keep going tho...to your left of the sink....four giant steps and you're in the 2nd room...this is the LOO!!! Turn to your right, or you'll fall in the tub!

7. Have you ever pet a turtle or tortoise? Ha!! With three older brothers? Are you kiddin'? They had every creature known this side of the Continental Divide and then some!!!


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then, Thursday Thirteen...


So, Wednesday, all day....it was clean house! We scrubbed, vacuumed, shined mirrors, changed bed linens, dusted, cleaned and scoured both bathrooms, washed a few things in the washing machine, and even rearranged the living room furniture. A huge day long cleaning like that only happens around here but once a month. The rest of the time, we only vacuum and sweep. Ta da....done for August...come the end of September sometime, it'll be done all over. déjà vu - all over again. So, this brings me to thinking [I didn't get to 'thunk' very much above, for Thursday Thunks, so I want to continue a bit...with MORE thinking. I am thinking of 12 lines to a story...and the 13th is the 'kick in the pants' punchline.......


1] A husband is at home watching a football game when his Wife interrupts, "Honey, could you fix the light in the hallway? It's been flickering for weeks now."

2] He looks at her and says angrily, "Fix the light? Now? Does it look like I have a G.E. logo printed on my forehead? I don't think so."

3] "Well then, could you fix the fridge door? It won't close properly."

4] To which he replies, "Fix the fridge door? Does it look like I have a Westinghouse logo printed on my forehead? I don't think so."

5] "Fine," she says, "Then, would you at least fix the steps to the front door? They're a mess and a real hazard."

6] "I'm not a dam* carpenter and I don't want to fix the steps," he says. "Does it look like I have a Black and Decker logo printed on my forehead? I don't think so."

7] He continued, "In fact, I've had enough of all your nagging. I'm going to the bar!"

8] So, the husband goes to the bar and drinks for a couple hours. Sometime later, he starts to feel guilty about his treatment of his wife, so he decides to return home and help out with the chores.

9] As he walks into the house, he notices the steps have been repaired. Then, as he enters the house, he notices the hall light is working again. And, to top it off, when he goes to get a beer from the fridge, he notices the fridge door has been fixed.

10] "Honey, how'd this all get fixed?"

11] His wife replies, "Well, when you left, I sat outside and cried. Just then, a nice young man asked me what was wrong, and I told him. He offered to do all the repairs, and all I had to do was either have sex with him or bake him a cake."

12] "So, what kind of cake did you bake him?" asks the husband.

13] "Hellooooooo!" she replies emphatically, "Do you see a Betty Crocker logo printed on my forehead? I don't think so!"

POSTED: Thursday, August 27th, 2009

12:01 A.M.

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I did not find enough time Tuesday to complete my trilogy of Botanic Garden photos...the 3rd You Tube. It was a quiet day and not a busy one...not until Bud bought me a new digital camera that is. It's a 24x zoom lens...he also bought the reader and a memory chip for me. When I emailed my friend in Denmark, and told her in order to operate this camera, I'm going to need to take a college course in "Camera", I was kidding of course, but...lordy there are so many buttons, and gadgets on this. I was bloggled out of my mind by late afternoon and didn't get a chance to make the last of my week-long [3 day] videos. I'll post them as photos only; instead of a slide show for Outdoor Wednesday, here...also it'll be my Wordful Wednesday....it's just as well, I guess.

As I've said so many times....the lakes and ponds around the city are drying up to a drastic low level OR completely dry. And the Gardens, once you get away from the flowers and plants, is one area that has the DRY!! These last entries are more or less "Miscellaneous" ----

Starting with: Alligator Lake [dry now! :sigh:]
below--





Part of Observation deck for watching alligators











Bird Observation Tower and another dried up pond for water fowl...






These two photos are the large koi and lily pond as you walk toward the pathway to begin the tour. There is also running water in the background.






This photo shows the huge windmill...at the base is a trough that would normally hold water...tho now, there is none. Along with the trough, there are two bronze statues [below]...






















Two fountains....












Heron Bronze Sculpture
[Again, notice the parched grounds!]










An Aztec [or maybe Mayan?] Sculpture from stone & Fig Tree
















POSTED: Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
5:20 A.M.

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[there are several shots here with Ruby Reds]

This is the 2nd slide show You Tube movie [link] I have made for this tour...
Steam...as in Steam Heat!! Steam bath!! I looked up in Google to try and find a photo of this to depict it....to get me a little 'header' graphic. Nada, zilch. But I did find the little ditty on "Handbook for Heating and Ventilating Engineers by James David Hoffman, Benedict Frederick Raber (1913)
"Suggestions for Exhist steam heat, Apr. 7, 1904, p. 332. An Improved steam heat. ... A Unique Low Pressure steam heat. Apparatus, Feb. 1909, p. 38. ..." Then, just below this it read OTHER SOURCES OF STEAM HEAT....well, I got one for ya. It's called Corpus Christi!! Yep, definitely a source of steam heat these days. Tho historically the area is in the deepest drought since records have been kept...it's still STEAMY!! The Gulf gives us that. The temps climb to near 100 degrees by midday and the humidity is so high...we have STEAM. LOLOLOLOL But really, you think subtropical...I'm in the steamy, heated, subtropics....you read the words steam heat, and think "Flamingos"....right? You don't? Well you should!!! 'Cause I'm gonna show you some. They love to be near water...surrounding themselves with steam heat!!! Okay, okay...just go with the flow here, I gotta work in 'steam' somehow for the post. Above, the slide show is from a morning tour at the Botanical Gardens in Corpus Christi that Bud and I attended last week! From this month through Labor Day, they're having a 'Flamingo Fandango" Contest...decorating those plastic ones as you see from my You Tube!






POSTED: Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
4:20 A.M.

I forgot all about playing along with Fun Monday last week. I apologize to our previous hostess...L'il Mouse. Today tho, Faye, at Summit Musings is our friend who came up with our prompt this week, for Fun Monday. I really wasn't sure this would suffice, but I thought I'd give it a go. Today, her subject suggested about learning...since school around our nation is beginning in a lot of areas. I loved school...well, most of it. From the learning [except for history back then, now I love it], to having a new relationship with friends that I lost contact with over the summer...applying myself to the extra curriculum sports and all. After I graduated, that's when I really started striving to learn all I can in a lifetime...I learned to take control more. I consider myself a self-learner. I taught myself to read music, and then moved on and taught myself to play the guitar and piano. I have always loved to draw....even when I was working outside the home in various offices, when it was a quiet day, I'd have my sketch pad in a drawer and take it out to pass the quiet hours....I even worked with a woman who had a professional artist for a husband ....he saw my work and thought it was fabulous...I even kept through the years a little note he had on my desk the next morning...when I got there to the office to open up....his note said "Anni, great work". "Keep it up." and...."Remember your light source." I've used those words in the back of my mind when I paint and sketch even to this day." Ten years ago, I bought my first computer knowing nothing about them...I learned quickly....I am a 'hands-on' learner....within weeks I was designing web pages, and never stopped. I've taught myself CSS [cascading style sheet] and html and xthml [extensible hypertext markup language]. I have an art program and learned to make my own graphics for my pages. When I was a stay at home mom full time, I taught myself how to crochet!! I also love to learn about the area I live....especially what will grow well in the soil....And I continue to love to learn. I want to learn about the flora and fauna of our South Texas surroundings....

I learned all this last week. And perhaps you'll enjoy learning about the flora of our area!! Along with me.

As I posted a couple of days ago, Bud and I took a self guided tour throughout the Corpus Christi - South Texas Botanical Gardens. And I took photos...boy howdy did I ever. I got my memory reader out and set up the camera to import the photos from the camera chip to get them over to my computer........I took over 100 photos!!! There was so much to see this time around. [We had gone to the Gardens when we moved here a few years back...but when we did go on the tour it was in November. Not much happenin' then.] I recall the roses were still in full bloom and the ponds and lakes were full of water [this summer all the ponds and the Gator Lake is dry as a bone...nothing there but dirt and dried up cat tails...the water fowl wasn't to be seen either. Anywhere!]

Since I took such a numerous amount of photos, I thought I'd break them up into categories. This 3 minute video is of the flowers and plant life...okay, ALL flowers!! I added music to keep the flow. And, someone in blogland had posted a photo of a flower/plant on THEIR blog...stating they didn't know what it was...well, that very plant-flower was at the botanical gardens! And there was a name for it. At the gardens, the plaque with the name: "Firecracker Plant". Which I read, it is native to Old Mexico. I was pleased to know the name also, since I consider myself a bit of a gardener. LOL. I didn't know the name either 'til I went to the Gardens!!! I'm still learning!!! The area this time was great. They had so many blossoms...the garden facility is under a controlled reconstruction, and they're adding a lot more. One I would've loved to go in and view was the Butterfly Garden...it wasn't finished tho, but there were many many beautiful flowers in bloom. There is also a birding/wetland area that has board walks and built-up paths...it's a nice area. I've also learned to make videos and then upload them to youtube to share with others. In order, I'll stop yapping and allow anyone to view my slide show video, 'saying' no more....





MY YOU TUBE VIDEO OF PLANTS/FLOWERS
FROM THE C C BOTANICAL GARDENS
CLICK HERE



In all essence LIFE is LEARNING!!! I'll be working on the Botanical Gardens Flamingo Contest...with several I liked. And, of course, took a few photos I did. Hopefully tomorrow I can have it ready for viewing. Stay tuned....




POSTED: Monday, August 24th, 2009
12:15 A.M.