§ Bits and Pieces...

Not much going on here. It's a bit boring, so....

Saturday afternoon I was surfing for some new ideas for "hootin' headers". Of course with the blogger name of Hootin' Anni, I just figure the best way to convey the blog title is with an owl. In searching for something new, I found this awesome website with computer wallpapers. And many many owl wallpaper backgrounds. Free for personal use. What could be better? Well, with the super owl background, I then had to tweak the blog layout design since Blogger's layout is, by default, always centered.. I first made a matching header, then, I adjusted the main content to align to the right margin...resized the width of the blog/sidebar to fit my 1600x900 monitor and did some color coordination to 'match' the owl wallpaper. So, this is the finished design.  Of course you won't be able to see the new look if you're viewing with anything but a cpu. [the small image at the beginning is a full view of the new background]  My mobile only shows the white background with the new header.  That's okay.  It's a little bit 'new'.

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Being quite humid lately, I haven't walked far before stopping and heading back to the parking lot to get into an air-conditioned vehicle and head home. LOL So, in turn I've been reading, doing small projects around the house, and did another pencil sketch. My father, who loved to garden, had rows and rows of iris blooming each Spring. I've been thinking about him lately, and decided to draw one of his favorite flowers...back in my day, my parents [and Bud's mom said the same] called iris "flags"...I don't know where that comes from, but I do know I like the name iris much better!

Several commentors have asked me over and over if I draw from 'scratch'...no, I have to have a photo or a magazine clipping; a picture from somewhere in front of me to view and then draw what I see. I can't just sit down and draw from memory. Same when I do a painting...I usually take a photo of a bird or a landscape and then use that as a reference.
Here is my finished sketch:

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Squirrels always distract me when I'm on my walks...





...th-t-t-th-that's all folks! I told you it's boring here.

§ "Hot" town, summer in the city....

I'm happy to announce that my birding blog made it to several sites' listings as potential outstanding birding blogs on the 'net.   One was/is BIRDING TOP 1000 [at the beginning, my blog stats started out #1082, now as I type this, my photo blog stands at #648!! - all thanks to visitors like you!]  I appreciate it.

We've experienced a couple of heat advisories this past week....stay indoors if possible.

On my Wednesday Hodgepodge post I mentioned the extreme fire hazards that the state of Colorado is experiencing. I did call my sister, and they're doing okay, but on the Western Slope of Colorado, they are breathing the smoke from the fires in.......UTAH!! And she said they too are having 100+ in temps. That is unbelievable...high in the mountainous areas, that hot. Whoa. Anyway, Irene sent me a couple of images through the email of Bud's home town...Colorado Springs [I read also that Garden of the Gods was closed and the Air Force Academy is in danger of fires so close]. Anyway, here are the two images that Irene sent me [they're not mine...I know not where she got them; probably from some of her buddies back in Colorado] ---

The area of the fires above is of Waldo Canyon...just west and a bit north of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I'm still hot on the trail for some of my Brother in law's Norwegian relatives!! What an experience...this language has become a barrier in a way for me, but I prevail.

To PAWS a bit, and inform y'all...

Across the world....across the town....across the land of Blog....hear ye, hear ye, there is in the wings of Summer....an Olympic Event....



Check out the listing of events, click on logo...and see if you can participate. We're all winners!!! A couple of events Tahoe and Winston just may excel in :

Couch Potato Peeling
Crazy Sleeping Singles and Synchronized Sleepers

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§ Comments, Blond moment, and blinking

I learned how to make blinking text in ALL Browsers this week! I realize that for some it's annoying and distracting. But, I choose to use it for just a short time to 'catch your eye' on my Birding Photo Blog Link on my sidebar. What makes it exciting for me, I don't have to use javascript or use the <*blink> tag that works only in Firefox. I've tested it on Internet Explorer and FF so far, and it works.  It doesn't take much to make me happy. LOL

I read a comment left for me this past week. Once again, regarding my use of a watermark with my name. The comment was, and I'm quoting: "If you have to have your name on the photo, I would prefer to see it at the bottom of the picture, not running through the middle of the flower. It is so distracting! " I try very hard to be hospitable to those who pay me a visit. But after reading this comment, I thought of something I read long ago, and had to go to Google for a search: Hospitality is making your guests feel at home, even if you wish they were....that's how I felt for a fleeting moment, reading this comment. And all I can say in reply is: Having a name at the bottom, inconspicuously...they can all too easily be cropped off. I'm sorry, but I have found a way to discourage those who like to take advantage of others online by stealing photos and images from someone else's blog/websites, passing them off as theirs, or without credit to the owner.  Which has happened with mine in the past.  I'm not gonna stop using my watermark inside my image.

A SERIOUS BLOND MOMENT here!!! This past week, I was trying to adjust my bird photo blog for width of only the main column --the part where the blog post goes [not the sidebar]. I worked and worked at it for at least a couple of hours, exhausting all my know-how. And nothing worked!!! Neither in customizing, OR editing html!!! Then, it dawned on me....I had the template set at three columns and was trying to adjust for two columns. DUH!!! After taking out the 3rd column tag, a miracle on Anni's street!!! ---the main column is now wider without moving the sidebar out of the template margins!!!

ADDED after Ginny asked a question: -- Ginny asked me how I know my images and art [paintings and sketches] have been stolen. Well, for some time now I've been using a similar device on my computer, but if anyone wants to check to see if their work is being copied...here is a LINK to assist you in finding out ---ART THEFT And, here is a Firefox Add-on that will search for images and where they're being used throughout the internet....Add-On

For instance - doing a search for one of my pieces of art from my blog menu: Get any image on your blog [or from any image folder on your computer with use of the ART THEFT only], right click on it ---and use this add-on...it will search for any and ALL of the same image and tell you WHERE the image is located online/site:

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§ Shadows and Summaries

Made me think of the song...Elanor Rigby...I don't know why.
Nuecestown Historical Cemetery







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SUNDAY'S SUMMARY

A few weeks back, I got this [in Dr. Seuss mode] "this wonderful, awful idea".  Wonderful 'cause it's a way of posting and saving all my bird photos online...awful, 'cause it entailed more computer time than I expected.  Still, all in all, it has been a fun, at times frustrating, challenge.  You see, I have so many bird photos on my computer, and copied on disks, that I thought it's more or less a waste to have them and not use them somehow.  I've even been wanting to find a duplicate wall frame with the eight collage sections to put my 'all time' favorite hard copy photos of birds [like the sunset/beach photos of mine] - but have yet to find the very same frame.  I kick myself for not buying two, but the inspiration for doing one of birds didn't come about soon enough.  Oh well...that's life.  In the meantime, I've been slowly working on framing my digital images and then will add them to a new blog I'm going to try and keep up with as time allows....I'D RATHER B BIRDIN'.  I am hoping to add five or more framed images to each post, and do a post, hopefully, once a month.  If you'd like to view my newly designed blog, the link I provided in this post will take you to my first ten photo edition.   And I will use my 'bumper sticker' on my sidebar as a permanent fixture to direct to the birdin' blog of mine. One thing that gave us a bit of anticipation this week was a potted plant outdoors. We've had it for nearly ten years now...and all it's done is 'sit there'. We've babied and coddled it...taking it in during the winter when the nights would drop below 50 degrees [it suffers badly with chilly nights]. Then, this past month I noticed a flower bud!!! TWO in fact [and more small ones coming on as I type]. I have been keeping a vigil on those two buds and recording their progress. Friday night I had to set the alarm clock for 2a.m.!!!! You see the plant blooms only at night!! The plant is an epiphyllum!!  [mine is epiphyllum-guatamalense] I figured by the buds' formation around dinner time Friday, that they'd be open Saturday morning. I got up....loaded the camera....went outdoors....and I was just BLOWN AWAY BY THE BEAUTY OF IT ALL!!! Amazing. Also, this week landscape redesigning along the south side of the house near the foundation...where I put the red bark intermixed with the climbing rose and hibiscus and fairy figurines...we had a nasty, long lasting, rainstorm a week ago at the beginning of the week, and that area flooded...washing out a lot of the bark. So, waiting 'til after it dried out some, we both worked at edging the sides of the air conditioning unit to hold back the bark more. Only time will tell if the idea works. I cleaned out all of the hummingbird feeders. And as soon as I rehung them, they came flocking in like dive-bombers!!! They're so cute. And unafraid it seems. Another day this week, after driving home from the island and beach walk, we stopped at our usual bookstore to see what was on sale....I found the newest George W. Bush's autobiography [Decision Points] that I've been wanting and waiting for it to go for a cheaper price. I bought two...regularly $35 a piece...I got two for $10. Plan on giving one edition to our son next time he comes to town since he teaches government at a university in Houston. Oh, and I gotta share with you my flub of the week!!! I bought some wrought iron poles with the fleur de lis on top - for my climbing passion vines. When I went out to get them steadied in the ground near the vines, I noticed within the hour that the purple one was wilting fast and furious....  I cut the root!! If I'm lucky, I will be able to find another just like it and start over...but, I'm thinking the passion vine season is over at the plant nurseries!!! Maybe, I'll hafta wait 'til next year to replace it. After that fiasco, we edged and mowed lawn. When it rains a lot, the grass'll grow. LOL I'm gonna add the photo recording of the progress of the epiphylum buds to blossom :






















above: certain days recorded in the month of May
below...May 19th...Saturday Morning @ 2 a.m.!!! ...they're HUGE - about the size of a large pie serving saucer

§ Mexican Bird of Paradise

            macro Mexican Bird of Paradise started from SEED!

MONDAY MORSELS

I failed to mention yesterday on my Sunday's Summary that on Monday of last week [or was it Tuesday?] Our area of town got another 2" of rain! It came on suddenly and down-poured; filling the street's gutters and making the rainfall creep up our driveway. Hey, even tho it was a torrential storm system and it came down furiously and left the area quickly...every little bit helps!! We need about a dozen more of those in a hurry. Still, the water table is about 14 inches below normal. It's forecasted to bring into our area this week, a massive Canadian Cold Front...the low will be in the low 50s for a couple of days and highs only in the mid 70s. Now THAT'S more like it. Over the weekend, after another craving [when you try to watch your calorie intake, you CRAVE!] for something sweet and fattening. I wanted to make a blackberry no-bake cheesecake....instead, I used my 'traditional' cheesecake recipe and baked it in the oven. Tho, I kinda cheated. I went and BOUGHT a pre-made graham cracker crust. Of course, low fat cream cheese. But still...mega calories I'm sure. Bud loves it when I say "I'm hungry for this and that......." He is a good man, he sticks by my less calorie meals and doesn't complain a bit! We only live once in this life, sometimes I just gotta splurge. All too often these days, but oh well. One more thing. I thought I'd answer some questions that were left in my comments the past week since I took no time to be online while working with you know what ---


On my lightening video Ginny commented:
Wow, what a good catch! It is beautiful, how long were you videoing till you got this? Glad you got rain!!! Ginny? I timed the lightening for a while before I aimed the phone to the sky...and then, clicked the cam-corder button. It's all in the timing.

On my lightening video Kathy commented:
So did you decide to self-publish the Kinko's way? I'd really like to know how you are doing your book ... do you copy and paste each blog post on to a separate page? Kathy? I haven't decided on where I'm going to have the work done, except for the fact that I WILL have it done! The book opens with a dedication to my mother and her lost sister [the one that burned to death and I'm named after]...then, after the dedication page begins the photos and scanned images of records/documents. There entails most of the book - probably about 3/4 total of all the pages. After that, then the ancestral records ---pedigree charts in a way...but, I'm not doing the graph type charts that you'd normally see. EACH COUPLE [a few from the late 1600s] from the early 1700s up to my daughter and her sons. With birthdates, marriage, death, spouse, children [and where buried if known]. I have a section of miscellaneous where I wrote a sizable account of the Declaration of Independence relation and another record I found just recently of a very elusive woman who's parents no one knew 'til now. Things like that. I also made five 'blank' pages with just "NOTES" at the top margin...so, I can write in any notes to come my way in later times ahead. At the end, before the back cover, I added a page "about the author" and a 'thank you' to all who have helped me by volunteering their time and efforts to make this book a reality. Oh, and yes....it was all copied from the blog admin pages then pasted to a PDF file with the margins adjusted to make sure nothing would be 'lost' with a book's binding; I have in mind having it printed/published to an 8 1/2 by 11 size ---normal notebook paper size with spiral binding and laminated book covers. I will show more on how I 'set up' the pages in a few days...in my Friday Fragment post.

On my Cooler Days...Finally, EmptyNester commented about the reason I find no new Halloween goodies
Maybe there aren't many new things for Halloween because you've bought them all? LOL EmptyNester? You don't even begin to know just how many times I've heard this...and there is probably more truth to this than you know. rofl

On my Cooler Days...Finally, Ginny commented [about my chiming/cackling witch clock
Oh that clock would scare me to death, does it do that all night, too? Ginny? No, once you put the batteries in, there are directions that you follow to set the clock up so it will chime between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. ---at night, during sleeping hours, it doesn't chime at all. And, by the way...the Ratatouille Camera Critter only screeches if I squeeze the body.



PS...the most recent 'Halloween Treat' is now on my sidebar ---For the week of Oct. 17th. :o)

§ A Big o' Texas Howdy to y'all...

...and still I am getting more work done on the family tree. Progress has been slow, but fruitful. This morning, early, as I am cropping scanned photos of ancestors' headstones and getting them ready to add to my growing 'stack of pages' to be published, I had an assistant. Of course, he quickly got bored with it all - the mouse wasn't moving across the screen - so, Winston decided to lay down. Notice the grumpy look on his face? That's 'cause I had to slide him off the keyboard!! He loves to prop his furry noggin' up on the head...keyboard. Then, I have to stop and readjust and realign all the tools and taskbars since they are either messed up with his weight or they totally disappear.

Once again, I must add my thanks and appreciation for all those who visited with me over the last few days....I appreciate your leaving me comments and encouragement. But, I must confess...I truly feel guilty to not return your visit-------I'll get around to personal blogging, I hope, very soon. After this last group of photos you see on the monitor in this photo, I think I'm done with cropping and posting photos. Then, it's the last step. And this'll take the longest time ever. The last step before setting up the pages and proof-reading all the text will be Pedigree charts. From 1996 [the family's youngest] to the late 1600s. Each generation!! Lots of text and compiled research to this part.

Have a great day.

§ Bog Shadows

[CLICK HERE TO JOIN]



SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY
[today, all shadow images are mouseover captioned]












[photos taken at Leonabelle Birding Area - Coastal Texas]



SUNDAY'S SUMMARY

Mostly this week, I've been enjoying the more 'stay at home' kinda days. I did go out in the midday heat to drop off some garments at the thrift store drop-box, and decided to go in and peruse the knick-knacks. I found a small ceramic cardinal for 99 cents...that is already sitting on the masterbed headboard along with the rest of my beauties!!... and a cute little resin 'seaworthy chap' of a teddy bear. Also for 99 cents. He's lounging alongside some glass dolphins, the crystal mermaid and my Chinese blue and white tea carafe and matching cups. He was just too adorable to leave on the shelf.


Then, for our weekly dessert [I make a large recipe usually to last through the week] I drummed up a batch of date-oatmeal crunch. This recipe is microwavable, so no heat in the kitchen with running the hot oven. That I liked. Very much. At the trek to the grocers, I love this time of year!! Summer fruits are in abundance, and always a good price. I bought a huge bag of Mexican Key Limes...not for baking or anything, it's just that I really love adding the juice to ice water for a meal...and then swipe the rind around the rim of the glass for extra tartness. Peaches!! Mmmmmm. Tho a lot smaller than the Western Slope Colorado peaches of the season, six already ripened peaches...they are so sweet and juicy. Texas watermelon. Sweet and chin-drizzling juicy too!! Yesterday, we did get out and about, we drove to Mustang Island...on a Saturday no less when it's 500% more people. LOL But all we did was take a walk around the little burg and enjoyed a few minutes walking time before we headed back home to the inferno of the daytime temps again. We decided to not go to the Shrimporee because of the summertime humidity. Earlier, I added two photos to my photo blog...Light as a Feather

§ Fa la la, la la, la, la, la, la!!

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Flash Fiction 55 below my....



SHOW N TELL

For my Show n Tell this week, I am taking the liberty of directing you to my photo blog 'COLORS OF THE WIND'. As a lot of followers know, I have collected Santa Claus figurines, soft sculpture Santas, wooden Santas...every Santa under the sun so to speak. It all began when we lived in Colorado. Bud bought me my first one...a Fabrique Old World Santa...some 40 years ago. And it has gotten out of hand blossomed to nearly 200 Santas. Today, I will direct you to some of my bone china "Foreign" Santas.

THUMBNAIL IMAGES:



PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK HERE. [it will open in a new window]





FLASH FICTION 55

TODAY:
Dream of a White Christmas.
Listen to the sleigh bells ring!!
Believe in what your heart is saying...
...when Christmas comes to your town.
YESTERDAY:
I saw Mommy kissin' Santa Claus
I've walked in a Winter Wonderland...
...listening to Carols o'the Bells.
Hark! It's like herald angels singing!!!
THIS EVENING:
I'll enjoy the most Silent Night!!




HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SWEET HOST - g-man!!!!!!

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List of 2009 Photo Hunt themes by the week



Since I'm having a very difficult time staying connected to my cable service this morning, I'm borrowing one of my photo album, Colors of the Wind, photos to cover both Saturday memes, Photo Hunt, and Camera Critters. I probably won't be able to visit many participants 'cause I continue to be 'disconnected' from my modem. The theme for Photo Hunt this week is music....
What better way to wake up in the morning than to the music in my ears...from a Mockingbird!!! Their repertoire of vocalizations and mimicking other birds is nearly unfathomable. And such pretty music....





The mockingbird photo is to
be worked in for Photo Hunt's
"Music" and used for the Camera Critter meme.

[My photo blog HERE]



















POSTED: Saturday, November 14th, 2009
8:07 A.M.