Have You Hugged Your Cat Lately?

A very familiar sight in Corpus Christi Bay by the Harbor Bridge, this museum is part of naval history: "The USS Lexington [a WWII aircraft carrier] was commissioned in February 1943 and saw extensive service through the Pacific War. For much of her service, she acted as the flagship for Admiral Marc Mitscher, and led the Fast Carrier Task Force through their battles across the Pacific. She was the recipient of 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation. Following the war, Lexington was decommissioned, but was modernized and reactivated in the early 1950s, being reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA). Later, she was reclassified as an anti-submarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she operated both in the Atlantic/Mediterranean and the Pacific, but spent most of her time, nearly 30 years, on the east coast as a training carrier (CVT). Lexington was decommissioned in 1991, with an active service life longer than any other Essex-class ship. Following her decommissioning, she was donated for use as a museum ship in Corpus Christi, Texas. In 2003, Lexington was designated a National Historic Landmark."

...1] looking through one of Shoreline Blvd.'s many gazebos, the conning tower shows. 2] Aboard the deck, I look up toward the conning tower and the ship's Number "16". 3] From the Marina, looking toward the bridge, the Lexington's deck regales the history of its part in WWII, with the era's planes readied for take-off.

Linking to: Rubbish Tuesday

...also 'round the bay and Gulf waters--
It's a special 'season'!!  During the peak of the season, birds of many kinds often change color with their plumage or other body parts. Bold, bright, 'attractive to the opposite sex' is prevalent...seen by us birders also. Sometimes a very subtle difference, like a color change around the eyes [the egret]...or the duck's bill color changes [ruddy duck], etc.
These following six images show us the coming of the season ---breeding season:


The blue billed duck is a Male Ruddy Duck...non-breeding season the bill is dark, charcoal gray.  In the 2nd photo, the foreground is a Black Bellied Whistling Duck...but the color change I wanted to point out is the bird in the background ---the White Faced Ibis...see the white ring around the eye?  Non breeders, the eye ring is more flesh tone.


This is a White Ibis...in the non-breeding season,  the legs and long bill are much paler in tone.  During breeding season, the bill and legs become a bright, rich, vivid red.  The black tip is also quite prominent in the breeding season.

Altho white birds are oftentimes a difficult subject to photograph in bright sunlight, these egrets [great egrets] are a bit shaded with the reed grasses.  In 'normal everyday life' the eyes are a typical pale yellow/orange blending in very well with the beak ---during breeding season, the male has a very bright yellow green coloration around the eyes...almost a chartreuse color.  Very striking.

linking to: Nature Notes, Wild Bird Wednesday, Our World Tuesday

HODGEPODGE

linking to: Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Several posts and status updates recently describing end of year school field trips. Do you remember taking school field trips as a kid? Where did you go and do you recall a favorite? For any parents responding today, have you ever chaperoned a school field trip, and if so where? Yes we did take field trips. My favorites were always the last day of school and a bus trip to city parks [or other years, a trip to the rocky mountain campgrounds] for an all day picnic! Oh, and another favorite was going into the big city [Denver] to a Shakespeare Festival...it was English Lit Class and we attended an all day festival with wearing garb of the era, and seeing plays. I can still see, and oftentimes talk about it to this day!! Julius Caesar was my favorite on stage play that day. What a thrilling one. That got me really liking Shakespeare!! "Beware of the Ides of March" -- "Et tu Brute?" Gotta love it.

2. What's something you're tired of seeing online? Entertainment news. Notably the kim kardashian phase! OMG!!! [it's not only online either...magazines on the stores' shelves are plastered with her.] Everywhere I look. OMG.

3. June is the month for roses. Which of the following expressions would you say has most recently applied to your life-'everything's coming up roses', 'there's no rose without a thorn', 'came out smelling like a rose', or 'wearing rose-colored glasses'? All of the above....EXCEPT --wearing rose-colored glasses. I don't. LOL

4. When grilling outdoors do you prefer gas or charcoal? Who does the grilling at your house? What's the last thing you ate that was cooked on a grill? Gas!! Bud. Rib steaks.

5. Are you afraid of the dark? Not at all. In fact, darkness and my eyes work like a wild animal. Bud runs into walls, furniture...I on the other hand, can 'feel my way around in the dark' --I can even see shadows once my pupils adjust...quite well.

6. Share a favorite song with a number in it's title? When I was working I used to LOVE humming and singing along with this song -AND often requested it on my favorite radio show while driving home from work!!...It's a 5 o'clock world by the Vogues. [favorite line in the song --"But it's a five o'clock world when the whistle blows, no one owns a piece of my time!".] Another one from long ago, which by the way,  made me drool over Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner...from the movie Magnificent 7....and the theme song...of course! Magnificent 7.

I also enjoy classical music...very much! For instance, Frederic Chopin's Opus 64 #1 ---best known as Minute Waltz or Beethoven's 5th Symphony.  Heck, you may as well say, I enjoy music, period!

7. "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."(C.G. Jung). Do you agree? Why or why not?  Well, in my opinion, it could lead to both sides of the coin. You could see something in someone that annoys you and work on rectifying that in yourself to avoid. Or toss the coin and it could also be that you are irritated by others because something badgers your psyche - secretly you'd do the very same. Once again, it depends on mood; lifestyle.

8. Insert your own random thought here. So, speaking of color changes...I'm laying down on the couch and just daydreaming. A thought comes to mind about blogging and text decoration styles. I don't use the strike html often, but once in a while I do. And then, I got to wondering if there is a way to change the line through the 'striked' word[s] at all in the text area of the blog post. A few days later, I remembered to to some doodling to see if I could come up with the correct coding for this idea. I'm sure it's not a new idea and others have come up with something similar, but it's new to me and I kinda like the concept...

testing text with a strike through

then...

it's working - at least in Firefox

...AND June 4th is "Hug Your Cat Day"

Our kitty cats, Tahoe and Winston!!