May Showers

We're having a lot of them lately. Typical weather for this time of year in the deep south. The rain didn't stop us from hosting our PDMPMDP* yesterday. It was a lot of fun. You don't have to take my word for it - just ask Dave.

I also had a birthday during the day-before-the-party cooking and cleaning blitz. We took time out to have mimosas in the afternoon, and PDM took me out for a very nice dinner late that evening. He also gave me a new toy for the DSLR. It is lens extension tube that allows you to take macro (close-up) photos using your standard lenses. Pretty cool (the photo above was shot with it). The cats gave me a "I aim to misbehave" t-shirt. They're big fans of Captain Malcolm Reynolds.

*Party Down Marty's Pre-Memorial Day Party!

Long Weekend CatBlogging

Moxy can't wait to party.

Flunky

My stupid car flunked its emissions test. Because the on-board computer was "not ready" to report on its pollution whatsits, or whatever. Even though I haven't had any work done recently and have not recently disconnected the battery. Well happy birthday to me. I am so thrilled to have to take my car to the shop tomorrow to discuss resetting the computer, or whateverthehell.

Den of Danger

Every day or so I walk over to the mailbox to check on Pythagoras. I hate to report that I haven't seen him in over a week, although I did find a snake skin while tidying up the flower bed there.

Today I saw something far more ominous in the snake den -- a female black widow spider. She's big. Real big. And apparently has been there for a while. Some disorganized spider web stands started appearing in and around the rock pile a few weeks back. I ignored it. Spider webs are a penny a dozen around here. This one has gradually grown larger, until this afternoon when I saw the really big black widow sitting right smack in the center of the chaos. I went for my camera, but PDM spooked her into hiding before I could get a photo.

It makes me wonder what is lurking just below the visible when I am out blissfully elbow deep in plants, taking care of my gardens. I've already been stung by a wasp that I didn't see hiding in my daffodils. I've also literally had ants in my pants. Wonder what trouble I'll get into next? Hopefully something easily identifiable with a readily available anti-venom.

The real reason LL doesn't have cats?!?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Well... he does live in Bat Country.

Motion Blur

This is what happens when your subject moves. I kind of like the effect.

A Weekend Unplugged

Spent a three-day weekend up in the mountains. No internet, no TV. Never missed the tube at all, and the only time I missed the internet is when we decided to go hiking on a different mountain and I didn't have a Georgia map with me. We ended up finding a rudimentary map of the area on the back of the park brochure that was good enough and didn't have any trouble getting to the trailhead (other than dealing with some dickwad yokel tailgating me the last several miles).

We had some (mostly) quiet R&R, along with a few nice hikes. The cooler weather worked out just fine. Much more pleasant for hiking, and was just chilly enough to make it worth building a fire at night. Saw a few critters, including a rat snake in the middle of the trail, and a couple of lizards. The night sky was amazing. I'm thinking I should unplug more often.

Photo: Gold Mine Creek cascades down the mountainside along the Big Rock Nature Trail at Fort Mountain State Park.

Friday CritterBlogging

Here is a big critter we saw on the trail between Takakkaw Falls and Yoho Lake in Canada last summer. He was so quiet we almost missed him.

Bugs

Can't have Critter Week without bugs.



Katydids sing to us on summer nights. And they're kind of cute.



Mantids look scary, but they eat other bugs. Cool by me.



This one's looking at me.



Cicadas make a huge racket on hot summer days. This one just molted and is drying its wings. They are large bugs, which is really fun when one gets in the house. Fun for the cats. Not the humans.



Bees are always welcome in the garden.

Accipiter Striatus

The resident hawk in my neighborhood, photographed this winter in my back yard. I hope he doesn't eat Pythagoras. Or my cats.

I still hear the barred owls calling to each other, but I haven't seen them lately. They must be nesting farther away this year. The only raptor I ever see is this hawk.

First Annual CritterBlogging Week!!

After posting the snake photos, I've decided to make this whole week a CritterBlogging Extravaganza. No cats, just critters. Today's installment: "Hang In There"



No doubt the cats had something to do with this chipmunk's predicament. It was clinging to my house for over an hour. No worries... we rescued it. And promptly found another one in the back yard treed by the feline tag team of Zima and Silvio. Zima was fully prepared to wait it out, but I called off the dogs... erm, I mean, cats.

Happy Snake

Pythagoras is a happy snake. This is his rock den. I like the little guy.