Most Remarkable Matilda

         Matilda, a young dog rescued by Lila, has no sense of hearing. Special training comes into play -- and I don't employ the expression lightly -- with Matilda for her impairment. 

        Lila has encouraged Matilda through training classes, including jumping and going through the tube.

       Matilda, in addition to her intelligence and character, can make funny faces. Here I show some images of her in black and white.

Jumping.

Going through the tube.

Matilda looks up as if interrupted by something, perhaps my camera. 

Long tongue.

Matilda playing wyvern.

Matilda adores her owner. 

Bugs Uncropped II

         I dabbled with Gentle Giant's old Nikon D2h for some macro. Since it has only four megapixels, I thought of it as an important exercise in approaching closely my subjects, in the spirit of non cropping. Today my subjects, grasshoppers, mayflies, and a praying mantis, seemed cooperative, seemingly feeling unthreatened by my 105mm lens close to their noses.

I saw, too, a turkey feather on the grass, and my first Monarch butterfly.

Love Bugs II

I took these images with the Nikon Coolpix S8000. The grasshoppers and crickets seemed baffled, or stunned, rather, petrified, by the Coolpix, for they allowed me to place it on the ground close to them.

Post Migration Activity at the Purple Martin House

I wonder if the Purple Martins know about all the partying at their house while they migrate to the south.

A Turkey Vulture stands on the Purple Martin house.

Later the same evening, a Great Horned Owl stopped by.

T-6 on the Ramp with Us

Navy planes, the T-6 sit at the Midland airport.

One of the Navy planes parked next to ours. 

The pilots may have popped in for a moment in the FBO for a cup of coffee.

Buckling up.

Putting more oil in the Bonanza.

Navy pilots are ready to taxi. Good luck, pilots!

Meat Eaters, Go. Just Go.

Love food? Meat? Go to the Hog Pit in Midland. Just go. I need not say anything else. Just go. Enjoy.

Wind Turbines and Oil Rigs Living in Sin

From my airplane seat I glimpsed a wind turbine through the clouds.

I think that here I show the enormity of each wind turbine. Those are roads leading up to each turbine. Can you imagine how large are the concrete foundations that support the massive towers? 

This petroleum drilling rig spews black smoke as it drills for fuel that powers the trucks bringing wind turbines to their locations, the trucks that maintain them, and my gas-guzzling Ol' Jalopy.

A truck carries a piece of an oil rig to another location for more drilling.

Love Bugs

Hermine Drenched Us a Bit

Please take a look at Ben's amazing photographs of storms. 

Click here: Ben Jacobi

Bursting Meteor

           The Milky Way impressed us last night, and to embellish our star-gazing, a large meteor burst overhead and left a long, wide, white trail. 

           Earlier, I caught sight of a Great Horned Owl perched on a lamp underneath a Purple Martin house. By the way, the Purple Martins have migrated.

One can almost see the "horns" on the owl perching on the post underneath the bird house.

As the owl took flight, I noticed thousands of dragonflies in the area.

This morning I found one summer flower standing tall and beautiful in the grass. 

On our way home, I couldn't help but feel "someone" was watching me. 

A windshield sprayer on the hood of this car seems easy to personify. 

Two little "eyes" "watched" me as we drove home. 

Cooper's Hawk

         Yum, thought the Cooper's Hawk, peering intently into one of the aviaries at Wild Bird Rescue. Songbirds! What a great breakfast!

          He is still there, not intimidated by Terry, or Steve, or Alicia as they wave their arms in the air, trying to shoo him away.

Ol' Red in Dallas

         The old county courthouse in Dallas, built in 1892 and saved from demolition recently, is now known as Ol' Red. The building, heavily restored, now hosts exhibits about the history of Dallas.

Thank you beautiful clouds enhancing my picture!

Inside, the Flying Philly seems to fly across the floor. 

Squint hard to see the wyvern atop the roof, behind the fourth floor turret. Beyond the wyvern, note the top of the mirrored skyscraper demonstrating the juxtaposition of the old and the new. The wyverns on the east side of Ol' Red are the originals from 1892; the two on the west are fairly recent.

The glass in the windows of the turrets show some distortion 

in the Dallas County Records Building across the street. 

Inside one of the renovated court rooms, my friend Ellen serves as judge.

Massive iron stair structures climb from the first to the fourth floor. 

Details of the stairs show rays emanating from a star that reflect light from each step. At the end of this flight we can glimpse a lunette protected from rustling feet by a brass bar. 

I found one of the original lunettes on display.

The exhibit, spanning a couple hundred years of history in Dallas, 

included a diary written by Martin Gauldin during the 1840s. 

Clouds, though, competed all day to steal the show.