§ 2020 in Review...Part V

This is the last of the series. Most of these images is of the unreal, the odd, or the creepy. Of course, there's sometimes beauty in what I see too and I can't help but stop and admire what nature can dish out, taking my breath away and I ogle in silence. For instance, deer. But, I can very easily get the jitters with other subjects. Why? Just 'cause. When I'm out walking, I can come across something that freaks me out too, startles me to a stand-still. And then, of course picture time; if I am not running away that is. So, here are examples of beauty AND the beasts of 2020...

You can't escape the alligators of Texas swamp lands! The first image is of the alligator as it is gesturing a 'snout lift'! This is more typical of the female...males bellow deep from within and mostly submerged. Trust me, both critters are really not that close to me, I opt to use the high powered zoom lens at this time.

This next one in the series will probably be a tinge on the bizarre. Hey, I have a feet fetish when it comes to birds. Their talons, their shape, their use, their size, some...webbed while others are built for walking on swamp grass without sinking, etc. I tend to check out the feet. This also helps with IDing, color, shape, size, etc...

Curious? This is a Great Blue Heron

As I walked a trail on the Oso Bay Wetlands once, I stepped up on the platform to walk the edges for the Paraque ...didn't find it. But the creepy crunchy looking critter at my feet, jumping somewhat like a cricket gave me goose flesh at first sight!! It was about the size of a paper dollar from its antenna to its hind legs!! Dang. Heebie Jeebies! I then regained composure and before it leaped off the deck, I snapped a photo. Took a few days for me searching when time was free of anything else, and found out it was indeed related to the cricket...a huge Camel Cricket. All I can say it was a good thing it wasn't a centipede. I'd still be running for my life.

...two for one!

Lastly, beauty is not always a beast. Take a look at this intricate pattern on this tree fungus. I thought it was gorgeous.

That concludes my 2020 in Review. I coulda done more I guess. I have thousands of photos still to be shared. But, enough already. It's January 1st 2021!! Time to move on and leave 2020 behind. Happy New Year.

Part I [Lensball photography]
Part II [heart shapes in Nature]
Part III [Flowers around my World]
2020 Review - Part IV [Beach Life]

§ Nature Nearby...

So far this week, I've been staying closer to home during the day. On Tuesday, after Memorial Day weekend I drove to Port A and walked, and enjoyed the day 'til it got too hot for me. I took photos of birds, of course, and ships on the channel. Also I was able to capture some dolphins in the channel guiding the cargo ship out to sea.  Those photos are not off the camera card yet, so it'll be a few days before I get them posted. Wednesday, I cleaned house and did a long time coming job...dusting and waxing furniture and window sills.  Thursday, we stayed home throughout the day; I mowed and  Bud edged the yards.  So, for this post I just picked random photos from my monthly folders of the more general of nature's finest to share...

Sunrise at the Audubon Sanctuary [same day, different locale]


Water Lily at the Wetlands


Park Trail


Tree fungus...I thought it was beautiful!

Mexican Bird of Paradise in our back yard --with a wasp.  I hate wasps.  Got stung by one as a kid [when I was five and I can remember it like it was yesterday], and for two days vomited green slime---bet you really didn't wanna know that, did you?

White Tailed deer at the Seashore


Wildflower along Pollywog Pond Trail

Nature Friday

...and PS, Andrea, if you're here [and didn't read my response to your comment on my post of musicals Cats], I just wanted to tell you that your words 'sounded' like Bud so much.  Yet, he'd take his hatred of musicals one step further...I won't reiterate tho.  But it really made me laugh, out loud, literally!

§ 12 months of Nature in 2019...

Once again, from my monthly recordings...a review of the past year. And again, the frame used was before I revamped my blog look. I think this is the last of my images that have the old framing.

Early sun on the bay


Toadstools after a week of rain


Raw Copper from Tucson AZ mine  [in our  yard....we bought it while on a tour of a copper mine when living in Tucson, and moved it here with us!!]  After all, copper costs a pretty penny!!!!


Cypress Tree seed pods


White Tailed Dear [and white in the background bushes...egrets]


Turtle at Lakeview Park


Dolphins in front of the ship's bow


Coral


Wiley Coyote on the beach


Autumn Splendor on a Nature Trail


Passionflower seed pod with dew drop


Coral Beans

§ SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS...

1961 movie: Splendor in the Grass
Love Theme: Splendor in the Grass

§ Chit Chat....

For the last couple of days, a High Pressure area has stalled over the Coastal Bend of Texas...giving us some intermittent sunlight ....AND drier air!! Of this news, I am very thankful. Perhaps, before another front moves in the ground will be able to soak in the scattered stagnant rain water that has been exposed for weeks. I can think only ahead so far...Spring...mosquitoes galore, if standing water pools don't evaporate.  It's been a while since I've blogged any. Bud and I have been doing a little bit of yard work - trimming crepe myrtle bushes, bougainvillea, lantana, and mowing weeds lawn, and by the time we're done, I haven't felt like getting online to do much of anything. Besides, nothing much has been happening around here that is of earth shattering importance. I had to set up the linking tool for this Saturday's Bird Photo blog, so I thought I'd take a bit of time to share some bits o' news over here at Hootin' Anni's...

I can't believe it's been nearly a week since I last blogged!  For my birthday, we went out for lunch.  I received an Amazon gift card, a couple of jigsaw puzzles [one with tigers and the other Native American], $70 in cash [a dollar for each year lol], and a gigantic, folding for storage puzzle/art easel that converts to a table.  And many birthday emails from nieces and nephews, and graphics from online blogging friends...thanks everyone for making my day so special.  Bud took this picture of me at the restaurant near the North Shore in town...

One foggy morning this week, I drove to the islands in hopes of the weather clearing and I'd be able to get some good sunrise photos. No such luck. So, as the chilly, damp, winds blew over the water, I walked the jetty and watched the ships come in. I stopped at a couple of small parks and walked. With the wet, the fungus growth is going full speed ahead. When I spied this one group, I pictured a monkey on another monkey's back [1st-top photo in the following]....Of course, I'm always trying to find the 'subliminal' in nature's gifts. Do you see what I see?




Okay, I best get going for the day. My oatmeal is calling my name for breakfast.
Talk later...

Anni.

§ Air Dried... & Warning Label

Tree fungus drying up in the hot sun

Paradise Pond Port Aransas Texas

CONNECTING TO:

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MONDAY MORSELS

Before I post a joke that is of adult content, for laughs, I want to point you in a direction that is a 'must read'....Yesterday, while visiting others online with their blog posts, I came across one of the most heart warming Camera Critter entries!!! With pictures and a story that'll bring you to tears...happy tears. It's a must read in my opinion!! You WON'T be disappointed. A dog lost during the Tropical Storm, Debby, last week in Florida...a beautiful dog named Lady Bug!! It's all about devotion, loss, fate, miracles...whatever and however you want to see it through your eyes!! You just gotta go over and read it.  

All about LADY BUG [link].   

Don't forget to leave a note for Sandy, the blog owner, to let her know you've read this wonderful story and appreciate her heart for saving Lady Bug, lost in the storm.

Now, on with the joke---

WARNING: For mature audiences only...

Erik, our son, sent this to me, and I about spewed out my o j all over the keyboard...tho a bit on the 'nasty' side if you look at it the way I do, it still made me giggle....

The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra. After careful consideration by a team of government experts, it recently announced that it has settled on the generic name of Mycoxafloppin. Also considered were Mycoxafailin, Mydixadrupin, Mydixarizin, Dixafix, and of course, Ibepokin.

You were warned beforehand. Don't blame me!! Box and labeling done by me; for the humor of it all.

§ seek and you shall find....

click HERE to join


MACRO MONDAY

'seek and you shall find'...find what the name of this species of fungus is, that means. For a couple of weeks now I've been online searching for this 'puppy'...trying to identify it and it's scientific name. All along, I thought this couldn't be Red-belted Polypore 'cause they're supposed to grow on conifer trees. And where I photographed this was NOT anywhere NEAR conifer trees. In fact, I'm sure this is a live oak [tho the name of the tree is live oak, it's dead, and rotting in a swamp]. The more I searched, the more I read, then a certain site had the very same quandary about the fact this fungus is stated to grow on conifer trees only.... and the site's author stated "And it wasn't found on a conifer"!! Well, then, by golly...this too is the Red-belted Polypore. Just viewing it gives me the willies!! Lethal looking, I know. But come to find out after researching all these past days with my 'free' time online, I find they're NOT poisonous; in fact they're medicinal. Well, blow me down!! Okay, I must confess here...I would not - I repeat - I would NOT even think of ingesting this booger!!!





I have a few more photos of the very same and another kind of fungus from the same area...on my photo blog "Colors of the Wind" if you'd like to click on this LINK.



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MONDAY MORSELS


If y'all were here visiting with me Friday, you know that we went to see the movie, Rango, late in the morning. Bah!! Was I kinda disappointed? You betcha!! Oh the animation was great, the computer generated art work, the characters...that was all well and good. But the story itself was so lacking in many places that it became boring in parts. The music was super. There are several places in the show that had me literally laughing out loud, but to me it was way political! Narrated by owls [some of the better characters for me] telling the story of DURango and his quest to find and save DIRT [an old crumbling town in the West]. Thing is, to me anyway, it mixed the modernized version of a town in the West...with the OLD West. It was like --"Whoa, once again Hollywood writers are trying to give us all a subliminal message here instead of all-out fun entertainment." There was even one section, tho 'westernized', that was quite reminiscent of Luke Skywalker's [Star Wars] version of a shootout... I was bummed because of the story line...but still enjoyed it for the character animation and art work. This really wasn't "family entertainment" because of the harsh language in it in certain places...and a child of younger age could really be frightened beyond nightmares of the 'scary' and shady characters. Tho, I think it was intended to be completely comical...it wasn't!!! A good half hour of the movie at the beginning was trying to get us 'in the mood'...and it seemed to take forever for the movie to actually 'take off'!! There is a bit of local trivia associated with this movie. One of the voice-overs of the four owls that narrate the movie....a local voice! A man that is native to our area [San Diego Texas - just a few miles from Corpus Christi] was one of the four. An article interview from him can be read at this LINK. He, along with others, co-wrote some of the songs sung during Rango's adventure. Garcia stated: "Co-writing three feature songs for the feathered foursome was easy". The songs he helped write and sing are: "Welcome Amigo," "The Bank's Been Robbed," and "La Muerte a Llegado"

But, if you go to see the movie, I hope you won't be as disappointed as I. Let me say this....I'm glad we decided to go to the matinee feature that is much less costly for the ticket. I don't feel we wasted too much that way. Oh, and our next movie that is a 'must see' is Matthew McConaughey in Lincoln Lawyer. March 18th opening date.







graphics used for movie review courtesy of online searches, no infringement intended