§ Scavenger Hunt Mystery Item #10...

A young man at the age of 23 used over 50,000 lights to decorate his yard for Halloween. Bud and I did a short drive-by to see his work. We both think it's a bit "over-kill" [no pun intended], but since Halloween is so different this year for so many, it was a bit exciting to see his work. It was all animated and set to music on a local radio station to the tune of Thriller and others. I took two photos...

If you missed MY light show [indoors] around my witches yesterday, Click HERE.

Here I am in my costume....

And what you're here for...the mystery #10 from my Scavenger Hunt. Thanks to all who played along. Much appreciated, and a lot of fun.

 From Wikipedia...

The Witches ball is still today used extensively throughout Sussex, England and continues to hold great superstition with regard to warding off evil spirits in the English counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. Examples of the Witches ball in use can be seen in the windows of houses throughout the counties anywhere from small rural villages to coastal towns and cities. Examples can also be seen in shop windows as well but all too often you will find that they are not for sale as they are so highly prized. Examples in Sussex often include glass fishing buoys and mirrored clear glass as well as red, blue and gold mirrored glass.

So many guesses were nearly correct! I was amazed. Nance guessed correctly...My witch's ball has been hanging at this window for nearly 17 years after I bought it on a trip abroad, making a macremė hanger for it. I like to think it's serving its purpose!!

§ My Scavenger Hunt Entries...

I must admit that I did not come up with the 10 categories to hunt....Bud did. So, I can hunt along with the rest of you.

Here are mine:


1 - A sign [sign of anything, any material]

well, it's not up to date. He'd probably give me demerits for this:

2 - Think "Outside the Box" on this...something seasonal.

I really went outside the box and went with a whole 'nother meaning of "seasonal"...

3 - A yellow leaf

I went with artificial...

4 - Anything of miniature [trinket, jewelry, knick-knack...anything]

My miniature flying witch charm that I am wearing right now

5 - Pumpkin or gourd

This too is artificial...

6 - Something that is dated* [document, newspaper, screenshot, etc. *show date!]

...my cellphone home page. Right now, a witch of course. This is an archive photo from my computer file..

7 - Anything that is lighted [bulb, headlight, lantern, etc.]

Lantern sitting atop a 'Lighhouse shelf' Bud made for my glass dolpins. Ignore the dirty glass shade please!!

8 - Decorated door [entryway...doesn't have to be of the season]

...in the neighborhood, decorated for Fall

9 - A printed author's name [book cover, magazine article, TV credit, etc.]

My copy of the original Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol"

10- Mystery item. ANYTHING...macro, close-up that will be 'unknown' to us all. We guess what it is!! Here is mine...do you know what it is hanging from the ceiling?

If you'd like to try your skills at the hunt, click here for the list. You have until Halloween to find the items. [also link can be found at top just under the bird photo table]

§ Another Scavenger Hunt? Are You Ready?

Like the previous hunt a while ago, I listed ten things to find and photograph to meet the October Challenge. They can be from indoor or outdoor, as long as they are YOUR photos and not from the internet [unless it's a blog archive image]. Now, get out your spying glass and camera ready; search for each. And again, as the last game, the last one [the 10th] will be the mystery item of your choice. [take a photo of something ....preferably a close up with a bit of detail for a hint. A hint only!! Then, at the end of the game, you can reveal what your #10 is. Not until then to give everyone playing a chance to guess via your comment form before the last day of the hunt**.]
Here is your challenge:
Note: these in brackets are just hints...you don't need to follow them precisely. Use your own judgement, and will. The more unusual, the better and more fun.

1 - A sign [sign of anything, any material]
2 - Think "Outside the Box" on this...something seasonal.
3 - A yellow leaf
4 - Anything of miniature [trinket, jewelry, knick-knack...anything]
5 - Pumpkin or gourd
6 - Something that is dated* [document, newspaper, screenshot, etc. *show date!]
7 - Anything that is lighted [bulb, headlight, lantern, etc.]
8 - Decorated door [entryway...doesn't have to be of the season]
9 - A printed author's name [book cover, magazine article, TV credit, etc.]
10- Mystery item. ANYTHING...macro, close-up that will be 'unknown' to us all. We guess what it is!!

Get Huntin'!!!

 

**last day of the hunt will be  October 31st.
If you'd like others to visit your hunt items, there is a linking tool below. I hope it works!!! If not, you can always leave a link to your hunt in the comment form.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

§ Staying Inside Scavenger Hunt

For Rules and List of Scavenger Hunt Items to find, click here. Play along? You have two weeks to find the items.


Here are my ten for the scavenger hunt:


A piece of jewelry with RED on it [necklace]


An animal [live or stuffed] -stuffed donkey from Shrek


A printed item [book, magazine,letter, package, etc.] with the letter "L" on the cover/front [books]


A yellow flower [artificial or real] -artificial sunflower


Framed art with a human image [Indian Maiden]


Anything made of glass [except for a drinking glass!] -glass barometer


Something with a buckle [belt]


Something square or rectangle that is blue [bookmark]


Anything that is unopened [can, jar, carton] with the word "nutrition" printed on it [mayo]


Macro Mystery [close-up]
Something that is uncommon ; that we do not see every day.
Guesses?  Do you know?  [I will reveal this when hunt is over]

§ Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Staying Inside Staying Inside - Scavenger Hunt

Since we're all staying in our homes these days, not being able to go out much other than grocery shopping, I thought it would be fun for us all...

...if we had an online/blog scavenger hunt! I've set up a linking tool. I have placed here 10 things you must find and take a photo of those ten items once you find them. And, once you find ALL [publishing a blog post with photos of all ten finds], stop back and add your link to your scavenger hunt post [not your blog url, but your scavenger hunt entry url only.] If you don't know how to do a hyperlink to ONE post instead of your blog url, it's simple:

Open your blog.

Click on the post title

The url that comes up in the browser address bar is the link url

Copy it

then, come back and paste it to the linking tool.

Click to enter.

The only rules are: You can't use something you find on the internet. It MUST be something in your house/apartment or yard.

You have two weeks to find all ten items. After two weeks [April 15th], the linking tool will be disabled.

Most of all, have fun!!

Now the ten items you must find around your house and photograph for your blog post are:

1- A piece of jewelry with RED on it.

2- An animal [live or stuffed]

3- A printed item [book, magazine, letter, package, etc.] with the letter "L" on the cover/front

4- A YELLOW flower [artificial or real]

5- Framed art with a human image

6- Anything made of glass [except for a drinking glass!]

7- Something with a buckle

8- Something square or rectangle that is BLUE

9- Anything that is unopened [can, jar, carton] with the word "Nutrition" printed on it

10- This is #10. It is an odd one. Find something and make it a "Macro Mystery". It has to be an item that is uncommon. Something we do not see every day. :for instance, a paint can opener:...and a macro image [close up]. Make the image a mystery for us to guess what the item is; not the 'whole thing'. Then, after you link your hunt items, we can guess what it is in your comments!

Ready? Set? Go!!!

If you'd like, you can link back to this blog post and share with this image by using the image, linking to

https://hootin--anni.blogspot.com/2020/04/ah-ah-ah-ah-staying-inside-staying.html

§ In the NEWS

Political vs. neighorhood contention has been rampant for a few days, and Bud and I wanted to go inspect the situation! LOL Actually, we only read about it online, and forgot about it until we drove to Port Arnasas to check for migratory birds that are beginning to show up for Fall. And this object of the disruption of the skyline and colossal size on the channel banks would be something I'd not fancy if I were living there in a special, expensive, vacation home. But I don't, and since I don't live there, I thought it just may be okay. Nighttime lights on the object would be kinda pretty...but still:

PORT ARANSAS -An oil rig arrived earlier this week in Port Aransas, to the displeasure and excitement of those who live in the small island community. The sight of a rig heading out to the Gulf or back towards land for work is a normal, but not one that's parked so close to town. The West Sirius isn't needed for production right now, so the rig owned by Seadrill Partners will remain in storage on Harbor Island, just down the way from the Port Aransas ferries. Port Aransas Mayor Keith McMullin says the rig is within zoning parameters for that area of town. However, a member of the neighborhood association is concerned about how long it will be on place. Douglas Daniel told KRIS 6 News he's heard the rig could be in place for two years as the owner waits for a new place to drill in the Gulf of Mexico. He's also concerned more rigs could be moved to the storage site. Residents we spoke with were not so concerned. They commented how all the lights are a new sight for visitors and how unusual it is to get an up-close look at the production vessel. Doug Wessels summed his view up pretty well, "If you don't like looking at it, just turn your head." The reality is the crews working to deactivate the rig bit-by-bit, plus the possibility of more coming, is a bad sign. Lower oil prices continue driving production and exploration companies to lay off employees. 

source

As we approached the fishing village, the horizon was filled with a giant object! As shown in the very first panoramic view from a bird refuge near town [above]. It can be seen from miles away!! Bud and I had it pictured in our minds to be farther away from town...but not so. When we read 'down' from the ferries, it actually it isn't DOWN, it's up from the ferries. Right smack dab in front of some beautiful homes that line the other side of the bank. I think I can understand the home owners' objection. Still, if the oil company is in compliance with laws, there is nothing they can do. I walked out on the fishing pier once near the channel and snapped some scenes, making use of the zoom lens for detail. The first in order of the photos is not from the pier, but from the hiking trail some way away from the channel itself, as we turn to look behind us from our walking...



How big are these platforms?
They’re enormous. The BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that exploded April 20 was 400 feet by 250 feet—roughly the size of two football fields—with a crew of 130. Some rigs are even larger. In fact, many of today’s oil platforms are essentially floating cities that employ and house hundreds of people. Massive production facilities sit atop undersea towers that descend more than a mile to the seabed, and they can drill up to 30,000 feet, or about six miles, into the earth’s crust. Rigs are equipped with cafeterias, lounges with pool tables, and even mini movie theaters. Crew members stay on the rigs for two weeks at a time, working 12-hour shifts. These roughnecks and roustabouts, as oil workers are known, earn at least $50,000 a year, in return for a grueling existence in a world of heaving waves, hot metal, reeking chemicals, cramped sleeping quarters, and a blazing-hot sun. Fires and accidents are a constant danger.

OH, AND THE COST? The largest in the Gulf of Mexico is worth $3 BILLION!!! Just imagine the insurance premiums for transporting these that will be idle until needed again. Whoa.

As Paul Harvey once said: "Now you have the rest of the story!"

- - -

The Annual Bazemore Hawkwatch is now underway for the Fall Migratory Season! I was there Sunday morning. I'm sure I was too early for anything special, but it is AND will be a special time for the year. A few years back, the Watch started on August 15th through November 15th. Now they got more funding, so the beginning coincides more with the beginning of the migration; August 1st! This year the total of ALL hawks and kites [and other migratory birds] will be counted by three expert counters, daily, plus record keeping of all birds that pass through the thermals and perhaps, during bad weather, drop down to feed and take shelter. The key speaker for 2015 will be a falconer. Held in September. Hopefully, we will join them on those two days. I'd love to see a kite. Either Mississippi or Swallowtailed. Or BOTH! They're on my list to photograph. lol

Historically, the largest flights of hawks arrive at Corpus Christi, Texas between September 18 to September 30, although large flights regularly occur from mid-August to mid-October. Generally, the peak of the Mississippi kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) migration is in late August, followed by broadwinged hawks during the last two weeks in September and smaller numbers of Swainson's hawks (Buteo swainsoni) in early October. Flocks of Mississippi kites, anhingas (Anhinga anhinga), and wood storks (Mycteria americana) are often seen in the midst of the broadwinged hawk kettles. Weather in the northern and eastern United States is a big factor in determining the actual dates of the flights. 

source

While I was there for a couple of hours, after talking with Dane [expert hawk watcher] as he answered a number of my questions, I walked the park road in search of some winged creatures....seeing one yellow throated warbler [no photo], stilts, kingbirds, grackles, mockingbirds, one green jay, black crested titmouse [which I had seen a whole family just a few days previously in the same area and will post photos of the fledglings and parents on my bird blog...follow the link from the top of my blog], cardinals, turkey vultures, caracaras, scissor-tailed flycatcher, green heron, great blue heron, snowy egrets, royal terns and more. The last time Bud and I saw an anhinga in this area was a couple of years ago...I'd like to see more of them this year. Dane's wife was busy setting out several hummingbird feeders amongst the trees nearby and on special lines set up for the season.

By the way, speaking of mockingbirds [the Texas State Bird]...the hawk watch platform in the park is sitting atop "Mockingbird Hill".  --Tra la la, twiddly dee dee, it gives me a thrill...to wake up in the morning to the mockingbird's trill---

Green Jay

Turkey Vulture
Vultures & Great Tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird & Green Heron
Crested Caracara in flight & Tropical [Couch's] Kingbird


THE AUTUMN-SEASONAL SCAVENGER HUNT WILL BE PLAYED HERE. I will set up the list of 10-15 themed items to photograph and post it by the middle of August. The official hunt will not begin until September and there will be 30 days to hunt/link up. THERE WILL BE A DOOR PRIZE FOR one...all who participate will be in the drawing! STAY TUNED.


* * *This post was barely published and then the 1st comment showed within seconds of me clicking publish....and it was a bit nasty!! So...it was deleted. I can't understand why people/bloggers just don't stay away if they don't like the style of bloggers/blogging!!!  So....she* is now on my SPAM listing so I don't have to read those kind of comments. 

*

§ Duck, Duck...Goose - And Rooster AND Gulls

I'm gonna resort to a few fun photos. And probably some more chit chat. People from all around stop by with their children to make use of the park, playground and most families bring along some snacking foods for the gulls, ducks and geese. Eventually, out of nowhere a few pigeons arrive to dine.

Nearby, a family residence has chickens and peacocks, the hens and roosters sometimes surmise the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, so they venture out of their yard and head for the morsels in the park's lawn so very near the resident Muscovy ducks!! Did you know Muscovy ducks are mostly 'silent' ducks. They don't quack but usually hiss or make a more inner-grunting.

In the following photo, this instance reminded me of the Adam Sandler song..."Lunch Lady Land"....

The ducks are all lined up in the lunch line where kids on the bank of the pond had finished feeding them some bread...a favorite meal!! Sorry, we're out of meatloaf...come again soon. Next time we'll be serving sloppy joes.

LUNCH LADY LAND Lyrics

It's now August!! Autumn is fast approaching. But of course, we still have to get through more Summer heat. And, each year, on the first day of August, Bud and I go on a witch hunt!! That is, the store Tuesday Morning always begins selling their witches!!! We bought three. I'll show them in another post when it gets closer to my favorite holiday...Halloween. Speaking of Halloween...I have a question for anyone that would like to give me some input. When you were a youngster or teen...did you ever go on a scavenger hunt when attending a party? I thought that maybe I'd make a list for an Autumn/Halloween themed PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT. And there would be a prize for one lucky participant....

WOULD YOU BE UP FOR PLAYING?

Let me know. I'd be more than happy to make a list for you to 'hunt' for the items on the list for a 'door prize'!!!

And lastly today, we saw Mission Impossible this weekend. As much as I dislike Tom Cruze [spelling intentional], the movie wasn't half bad. In fact, I was a bit impressed. Loved the car/motorcycle chase...those chases really get my adrenaline pumping...always!! And the star wasn't all that egotistical this time around...shocking!!  The very last line in the movie:  "Welcome to IMF Mr. Secretary"....loved it.  And then of course the sweet theme song plays!!  It's been a favorite soundtrack of mine for decades!!   If you're liking a good action flick, it's worth seeing. At least when it comes out in DVD. Oh, and speaking of DVD, NCIS New Orleans [and the last season of NCIS] comes to store shelves on August 18th. Can't wait! At least for the New Orleans 1st season.