§ One Exam after Another....

I really don't have much to 'talk' about today. This past two weeks it's been one eye exam and fitting for new lenses and choosing frames. I opted for silver frames. Plus ordered a 2nd pair with tinted lens for sunglasses which takes two weeks [they did come in early tho] for the tinted ones. I got the regular non-glare glasses the same day after about two hours' waiting period. Then, the following week Bud had his exam. I went with him 'cause he is technically challenged so I had to help him with filling out and updating the questionaire before the eye exam. He then opted for the nearly identical frame he's been wearing for decades and also ordered tinted lenses for a 2nd pair. His aren't in yet...it's another day or two for his regular glasses to be processed and then a fitting. And, then...another week or two and a return trip to pick up HIS sunglasses.

We are staying close to home for the next two weeks because of Spring Break and I think there is a marathon going on during this time.Traffic conjestion is not my cup of tea. We are keeping busy with yard work. Almost caught up. Oh ya, I haven't found any hidden ambition to continue painting the interior either. I must get crackin'!!!!!

PS...thanks for the comments on my nostalgic look back from the previous post.  I enjoyed your company.

§ ...By the Beautiful Sea, You and Me....

I took a short walk along the bay's coastline in search of a surf scoter [which was reported on the bird site I frequent]. I never found it, and I couldn't stand idle for too long because of the bitter wind blowing! I kept walking. I ventured off the road and down the bank to get closer to the water. I ended up walking along the edge of the bridge that crosses the bay to the Navy base, as far as where I could go before trekking UNDER the bridge to the other side. This, other than bird photos of course, is what I saw. Corpus Christi is called the Sparkling City by the Bay.  The 3rd pic in the series below there are two white pelicans.  Look closely...

...looking back where I parked, the city skyline in the far distance:

The next day I ventured out in the car to the ranch lands in search of other birds reported. I saw many, and the weather was much warmer...hawks, whimbrels, meadowlarks, starlings, caracara, kestrels, falcons...but the one I was hoping to see I didn't, a diurnal owl [daytime]. When I go birding and armed with my zoom lens, I rarely see what I had in mind to hunt...It's mostly a given to get back home without a particular bird. That's okay tho, it keeps me out moving day after day!!  I don't give up that easily.

Today my birth certificate tells me I'm 73!!

I don't feel that old, as you can see...

Law says I must age to a certain degree...

But 73?  Wow, goodness gracious...gee!!

§ Busy...Kinda Sorta

I've been keeping busy. Birding, finishing up the Halloween packing, putting out the little bits of Autumn/Thanksgiving, weeding the back yard, taking short trips in search of shatterproof BROWN tree ornaments [I saw them last year, but couldn't remember where. I found 'em! At Hobby Lobby], a small amount of birding and even smaller amount of walking. I also ordered a Halloween themed metal sign that had MY NAME on it so to speak. You see, I saw it on The Cranky Crow's blog and went out on Amazon. Found it. Ordered it. According to the seller's tracker, it will be arriving on Friday. I also received a book [I ordered it from Barnes and Noble...cheaper by about $10. Amazon charges an arm and a leg for shipping and handling these days plus tax as Barnes and Noble doesn't charge but tax.] It was delivered, and I read a few chapters already. Can't wait to get deep into the first of the promised trilogy. It's by the author who wrote the best seller WICKED which is now a Broadway musical. Wicked series of his books, I have them all. This one, "The Brides of Maracoor" is about the girl with green skin...Elphaba's granddaughter. Elphaba, for those who don't know, is the wicked witch of the west in Wicked [wizard of oz]. Also, I was glued to FOX Sports this past week for the World Series. Of course, I was rootin' for Houston for the pennant, but wasn't all that disappointed that the Braves won. At least it was a Southern team instead of the east and west coast this year. Let's see, what else? Oh ya, Bud and I set up our jig saw puzzle table for a few weeks. We will tear it down again just before the company comes for Christmas. Cold weather has set in for a while...cold for US. Today as I type this up the wind is strong, had a few raindrops fall and the temp is not supposed to get above 50°. That's downright bone chilling cold for here. If you don't live here, I could compare our temp to the northern side of USA to about 30-35°. Seriously. I know, I grew up in Colorado where the winters are below freezing for days/weeks. This cold is a whole lot different. Anyway, since I'm typing this up on Thursday afternoon to publish tomorrow morning, I best get back to doing chores. I think I'll make some hot steamy potato soup with crusty bread, salad, and for dessert warm apple crisp sounds good.

One more thing, I'll share what little I have for Thanksgiving decor in my next post.

 

Gregory Maguire Wizard of Oz books for adults:
The Wicked Years
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995)

This is the book that started it all! The basis for the smash hit Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Gregory Maguire's breathtaking New York Times bestseller Wicked views the land of Oz, its inhabitants, its Wizard, and the Emerald City, through a darker and greener (not rosier) lens. Brilliantly inventive, Wicked offers us a radical new evaluation of one of the most feared and hated characters in all of literature: the much maligned Wicked Witch of the West who, as Maguire tells us, wasn’t nearly as Wicked as we imagined.

Son of a Witch (2005)
A Lion Among Men (2008)
Out of Oz (2011)

Bestselling author Gregory Maguire’s remarkable series, The Wicked Years, comes full circle with this, his fourth and final excursion across a darker, richer, more complex landscape of “the magical land of Oz.” Out of Oz brilliantly reimagines L. Frank Baum’s world over the rainbow as wracked with social unrest—placing Glinda the good witch under house arrest and having the cowardly Lion on the lam from the law as the Emerald City prepares to make war on Munchkinland. Even Dorothy makes a triumphant return in Maguire’s magnificent Oz finale—tying up every loose green end of the series he began with his classic Wicked

§ Down By the SEA -wall....

Early, before I did anything around the house, I left for a short walk along the seawall! The temp reading on our atomic thermometer showed 75 degrees outdoors. Even tho, the humidity was present, and the dust from the Saharan Desert prevailed, I was stir crazy [cabin fever], and anxious to get outdoors. Armed with my cellphone camera only - I headed on the Expressway toward downtown and parked across from the Federal Courthouse on the shore of C C Bay. I had intentions of getting a photo or two of the fountain as I walked along the wall toward the WWII Aircraft Carrier, USS Lexington. Of course, you should know me by now, "a couple of photos" turned into a couple of dozen. Why not?

As you can see in the following, the early morning sky was YELLOW...not from the sun, but mostly showing the dust storm in the air. One particular image I captured [of the shrimp boat] you can see, if you look closely, the blue sky at the top of the photo and the haze of the dust between the blue and the boat. It's been nasty this year. But, I will take the dust any ol' day instead of those HORRORcanes coming ashore. [someone called them "horror"canes and it stuck with me. I like the reference to its similarities to HORROR - a Cat 1 - 5 storm!]

Okay, I will put this into two posts since I took several photos to stay away from overloading. Next post will be part II.

§ Define Apathy...

It's not depression, but I may have a 'case of apathy' these days. What with the evacuation news on TV and the internet, the Covid numbers [mostly the Delta variant] rising drastically in my county, the inferno [yesterday heat index was 115°], the west coast fires, the hurricanes [one front we're watching here along the coast of Texas is predicted to go into the Bay of Campeche in a day or two] ...and flooding up north, the Saharan dust storms blanketing my city and it's predicted to stick around until after Labor Day. The days drag on, I feel trapped indoors and easily become bored with it all. It's like a trigger is there, but no one is pulling it to get anything done...so routine. Yep, apathy. Here, but not here. Y'know the feeling? I am definitely happiest when I'm outdoors; not cooped up inside. Sure, I go shopping for a few hours to pass time, but even shopping has become boring. I should get to the blood lab for a lipid test, but I can't get myself motivated for that either...I think about being in the lab with dozens of unmasked people just spreading their germs -coughing, sneezing, without a care in the world...a petrie dish! I choose to wait for the virus to slow down in spreading. I just can't afford to catch anything with my heart condition. Speaking of my heart...I haven't even registered for the 5K heart walk yet. And, it's next month! Last year it was cancelled, and I haven't heard if it will 'run' this year or not. Should check on it. At least THAT is outdoors!! Today I think I'll give myself a manicure and pedicure to break up the monotony.

We had Mexican for dinner last night cheese and chicken enchiladas, refried beans and Spanish rice. I wanted a beer to go with it. Icy cold beer!! So, I opted for the non-alcoholic kind. We have "Texas Select" in the fridge. [Coors for regular; good beer!] I just assumed it was brewed in the state of Texas. WRONG!! What was I thinking? That's not the 'case'. Check out the back 'label' on the can...

Texans can't even get THAT right?!!! Misleading...but, no where on the can does it say brewed in Texas by Texans. Shoulda mixed up a margarita instead! lol

Oh, and this was a bit on the lacking common sense issues I've mentioned a lot here of late! I decided to work a bit on decorating for Halloween, and brought in the stored box that holds the black tree for the holiday to assemble it and get it readied for decorating. Now mind you, it's been sealed with the shipping tape since the day I brought it home from At Home last year. Never opened until a few days ago. Once I got the tape cut, and opened the box to take out the pieces-parts, guess what was in the BOTTOM of the box? UNDER all the branches?!! The instructions for assembly. Note Step ONE!!

I swear, the whole 'dam' human race is doomed!!

Okay, enough of trying to bring everyone down with me, to lighten the mood a bit, I will share this. I do love practical jokes...playing them and having them played on me. This one, I think tops it for ingenuity. I'd give it a 'brilliant' rating. Ready?

§ In Search of a Vagrant...

On Wednesday of last week, when there was a break in the rainfall, I jumped in the car and took off in search of a special bird. I never found the bird I was looking for [that day...I did find it later in the week upon a return trip], but the drive, over wet highways, I watched the clouds as I made my way to the private property and then, later, on the way to Wright's Pond to check the egret rookery nearing the beginning of Texas Hill Country! This is what I encountered in part:

 

This is the private property where the vagrant bird was reported seen. The owner was gracious enough to let me go through the gate and into the back side of the house to scope out the landscape for the bird! He was a birder too, obviously, since he had at least a dozen hummingbird feeders and seed feeders throughout the open spaces! By the way, I was kinda skeptical to enter, they had a pit bull. All it did was slobber all over me in friendship. I'm sure it would've been different if the owner wasn't there. Then, it started to drizzle again, so I took off to the rookery. Along the highway you can see the beginning of the hill country which is quite a big deal to Texas Natives...

I arrived at the junction taking me toward San Patricio Texas and Wright's Pond. There, I pulled off on the shoulder of the busy highway and watched for baby egrets in the nest. Found 'em!! Photos taken before the rain began again and I headed back home about 40 miles away and lots of potential of more  highway flooding!

I will have better photos and close ups of the baby egrets in the nest on my Bird Photo Blog, opening publication on Saturday.

...and to continue showcasing my Trolls...

↓ My 22nd Troll Share ↓

TROLL DOLL COLLECTION Holiday Themed Pilgrim circa: 80s?

§ Troll in a Table...

Sunday I spent a bit of time cooking and cleaning. Erik mentioned he may come this weekend, so I want to have the house half way decent and cleaned. It's been over a year since we've seen each other, and now that we're all vaccinated, we feel safe enough to take 'the chance' to visit other than texting or talking on the phone. Anyway, I have everything dusted and will clean bathrooms when he lets us know he's on his way. It's about a 3 hour drive from Houston to here, so that will give me plenty of time. I'll prepare some meals and freeze them. And, I'm pretty sure we'll go out to our favorite restaurant while he's here. He likes the steak and quail dinner at this 'posh' establishment. Since this week, it's his birthday, why not take him to his special place. There'll be games played and a lot of personal catching up to do.

I made homemade, crust from scratch, pepperoni and black olive pizzas for Bud and me to eat for a couple of days. I'll probably round the week off with salmon loaf and maybe fajitas. That'll get us through until Erik arrives. Then, we'll go from there.  I'm sure I'll bake his favorite dessert too...which is pumpkin pie.

Sunday afternoon around midday, while I was dusting the entertainment center and moving stuff around on top, the TV was on. There was a 'breaking news' so I stopped to listen. This area just north of us by a few miles and farther up to the north from here was under tornado watch/warning. We here in town were under heavy flooding. Why not? We've had hurricanes, flooding, hail, freezing...a tornado threat would top it all off like a cherry on the fudge sundae!!

In the meantime, after I called it quits for the day, I started reading my book I got for Mother's Day, and skimmed through a new TIGER magazine by TIME [shown above]. I topped my quiet time with working on a table [html coding] for my blog to place a troll doll each time I make a new blog post. You'll see the tables and photo of the dolls at the end of each post 'til they're all shown. It's been a LONG time since I've done the coding for a table and borders, so it was hit and miss for a while 'til I got it all figured out once again. The old saying goes, if you don't use it, you lose it.  I lost it. I hope it works properly.

TROLL DOLL COLLECTION My very first 1959

§ 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]

§ Too Lazy to Blog...

It's been a while since I've done a blog post. Either busy or not home, or even just plain lazy and not wanting to be online for any longer than it takes me to visit other bloggers over the phone and not even booting up the laptop. I thought I'd catch up a bit on the here and now. Actually, there isn't that much going on around Hootin' Anni's. Walking has been shortened to one or two days a week the past couple of weeks. One afternoon I had an appointment to get the oil changed in the car; much needed. When the car was done, I got in to drive home, and the odor of disinfectant was near lethal inside. They shoulda warned me. I've been reading a bit, made a full batch of white chocolate almond bark. I whipped out a large batch of veggie lasagna to eat and have an evening of leftovers, then froze the rest for the future. I've also been doing some menial chores that have been long ignored; fixing some clothes [a much hated job of work], cleaning closets for the season [I do it twice a year, Spring and Fall], updating and cleaning out OLD, outdated paper work in the filing cabinet, a bit of yard work like trimming bushes and sweeping patio of leaves, etc. And, now that the numbers of covid cases are rising in rapid 'doses' each day, I feel a bit down and out. I would like to see normal again, but that is a far, far, away happening...if we EVER get rid of this world wide. I'm beginning to have doubts. I think it could possibly be like HIV/Sars, it will always exist, or a new strain will come about. The other day I drove to the island before sunrise in hopes of seeing the reported return of the Whooping Cranes. Didn't see them while I was there, but enjoyed my outing in the cool morning temps and clear sky.

I'll just share some photos. They really aren't related to what I've been up to doing mostly, some are...but even so, I know I LIKE viewing photos when I visit y'all, so I hope you enjoy what I think I'll upload to this post. Eclectic, I know. Here goes: