's-not Google Translater, but it'll help y'all

With all the wonderful rainfall we've been getting, the dragonfly population has exploded!! Early in the morning, our front yard is quite literally a massive invasion of them, and they're consuming all those nasty Texas-sized mosquitoes!! But, I must admit, if I see one from the corner of my eye, those dragonflies seem the size of hummingbirds; they're so huge...

...oh, and by the way, quite a while ago, I mentioned to Ginny that in our yard we have two hybrid hibiscus bushes [they're going bananas this year!] that have much smaller blossoms AND they have variegated leaves...from white and green dappled pigments to light pink, green, white and rose colored leaves. Ginny asked me to share them in photos. I finally remembered to get some pictures to give a show n tell ---

[linking up to TODAY'S FLOWERS]

SCIENCE TIDBIT: Did you know there are only TWO days in a year that the sun rises DUE EAST?!!! That is the on Sunday this year...the Autumnal Equinox and then next year on The First Day of Spring!!! - the Vernal Equinox

from EARTH-Sky this is quoted: "No matter where you are on Earth, you have a due east and due west point on your horizon. That point marks the intersection of your horizon with the celestial equator – the imaginary line above the true equator of the Earth. At the equinoxes, the sun appears overhead at noon as seen from Earth’s equator. That’s the definition of an equinox: it’s when the sun crosses the celestial equator, as seen in Earth’s sky. That’s why the sun rises due east and sets due west for all of us on the day of an equinox. The sun is on the celestial equator, and the celestial equator intersects all of our horizons at points due east and due west. This fact makes the day of an equinox a good day for finding due east and due west from your yard or other favorite site for watching the sky..."

...and speaking of Texas:

Due to the large number of jobs moving from California to Texas, the Lone Star State has compiled a "Californian to Texan" translation guide...

CALIFORNIA	TEXAS
Delicate Wetlands	Swamp
Arsenal of Weapons	Gun Collection
Cruelty-Free Materials	Synthetic Fiber
Assault and Battery	Attitude Adjustment
Heavily Armed	Well-protected
Narrow-minded	Righteous
Taxes or Your Fair Share	Coerced Theft
Commonsense Gun Control	Gun Confiscation Plot
Illegal Hazardous Explosives	Fireworks for Stump Removal
Nonviable Tissue Mass	Unborn Baby
Equal Access to Opportunity	Socialism
Multicultural Community	High Crime Area
Fairness or Social Progress	Marxism
Upper Class or "The Rich "	Self-Employed
Progressive, Change	Big Government Scheme
Homeless or Disadvantaged	Bums or Welfare Leeches
Sniper Rifle	Scoped Deer Rifle
Investment For the Future	Higher Taxes
Healthcare Reform	Socialized Medicine
Extremist, Judgmental, or Hater	Conservative
Truants	Homeschoolers
Victim or Oppressed	Criminal or Lazy Good-For-Nothing
High Capacity Magazine	Standard Capacity Magazine
Religious Zealot	Church-going
Reintroduced Wolves	Sheep and Deer Killers
Fair Trade Coffee	Overpriced Yuppie Coffee
Exploiters or "The Rich "	Employed or Land Owner
The Gun Lobby	NRA Members
Assault Weapon	Semi-Auto (Grandpa's M1 Carbine)
Fiscal Stimulus	New Taxes and Higher Taxes
Same Sex Marriage	Legalized Perversion
Mandated Eco-Friendly Lighting	Chinese Mercury-Laden Light Bulbs