Sunday, December 31, 2006

OPBP 2006, Part 7

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Category: Misc Narrow escapes


JKirlin narrowly escaped being run over by a train.


Stephen narrowly escaped being eaten alive by these aliens.


Gnumoon narrowly escaped being trapped there after dark.

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That's it for OPBP 2006. Hope you liked them and visited the blogs!

I'm sure I missed a lot of great photos. Periodically throughout the year I'd remember the OPBP idea and make notes. But often I had no time for blog reading, and sometimes I just plain forgot about keeping notes.

OPBP 2006, Part 6

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Category: Art


Allison knows art and chickens.


Tom's art really knocks me out.


Thomas explained Valentine's Day in prehistoric times.


Hick won a major award with this picture.

OPBP 2006, Part 5

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Category: People


The Indian Photographer captured some travellers.


Jean's subjects seemed a bit more relaxed.


And Kelli's daughter suggests that photographic talent may be genetic.

OPBP 2006, Part 4

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Category: Nature


Fred got the vapors


Dave got dumped on. (I'd have guessed mimosa on car hood, but it's not.)


Anne got all misty...


...and so did Dean.

OPBP 2006, Part 3

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Then there were the farm animals...


Kelli had a very sleepy chick.


Marie caught the interest of some piglets.


Jim taught Beanie to play the piano.
(Technically not from 2006, but I can't put the videos here so I'm cheating. A little birdie told me that Beanie's blog will return soon.)


Kristin had a little lamb... or two or twenty-four...


Walter has a way with pigs.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

OPBP 2006, Part 2

Some of my favorite pictures from other people's blogs, continued. See Part 1 for disclaimers.

The abundant wildlife in this area, while interesting, has so far proven to be neither humorous nor wacky. These bloggers were more lucky.


Susan met a funny little stinker.


Florida Cracker made some turtle soup.


Jerry spied a bird who wondered about halitosis.


I'm not sure if Robin and Roger were watching the bobcat, or it was watching them.


Vicki made her own animal wackiness. (I think I laughed harder at this picture than at anything all year.)

2006 OPBP, Part 1

It's all Deb's fault. Over at Sand Creek Almanac last February she posted this.



That's when the idea hit me. For 2005 I'd done a list of favorite OPBP (other people's blog posts). For 2006 OPBP would stand for other people's blog pictures.

I've made the previews here rather small, but if you click them you'll be taken to the original blog post. Since it's a review, I didn't for permission -- but if your photo appears here you'd rather it didn't, just let me know and I'll remove it.

Some of these people are my blog buddies, and some of them don't know me from Adam. In either case, I hope you'll enjoy their photos as much as I did.

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I have a fascination with words in pictures. Here are a few that made me smile during the year.


Doctor HP Flowers is asked a ponderous question.


Lorianne has been sean.


Liz D has been seen and known. Or rather, her Mom has.


I wonder which one MountainMelody ate.


Knowing Pablo, he didn't.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Game Cam rides again

The game cam supposedly makes videos as well as photos. But when we tried it, things didn't turn out so well. Then when my husband tried setting it back to just photos, it wouldn't work at all. But I think it may finally be fixed.


This bobcat is from late November, just before the camera started misbehaving.


Finally, after nearly a month, it's working again! This is the largest antlered deer we've caught on the camera, although we did see a few larger ones when we first moved here. Doesn't he look healthy?


The flash scares the deer I think -- we never see the same one (in the same area) twice. Too bad that doesn't work on catfish-stealing otters too.

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The Limited edition ark will board more animals over the weekend.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Hooded Mergansers



We've been treated with visits from Hooded Mergansers nearly every day for the past month. I think that letting the pond edges go untrimmed in fall and winter has helped in that regard. (Brings in lots more sparrows too.)

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Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus).
A.K.A. Mergansters, in silly bird names lingo.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Meeting Elvis

Cute little stuffed dog?



No, he's real!



My sister's family got a Bichon Frise puppy for Christmas. A white powder puff of a dog.



Vicious puppy attacks shoelaces.



My sister and her new baby.

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For you garden enthusiasts, that's my Mom's really nice St. Augustine grass in the background of the outdoor pics.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

"Find me something...

...that looks like a nose!"

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I made a happy little man of seeds and leaves.



He said to tell you Merry Christmas.


I had fun rearranging his features, especially his nose...



But I don't think he liked it very much.

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Our nephew is in Afghanistan. My mother-in-law is in the hospital, and so is Pablo's wife. Not where they'd prefer to be on Christmas, and I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't mind being in your prayers.

Friday, December 22, 2006

In the woods



Tiny white mushrooms or alien pod people invasion?

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I have to use the computer in short spurts these days. I must need new glasses, because the screen gives me headaches and eyestrain after more than just a few minutes. But that'll have to wait til January. (50 million things to do, plus the new year's deductible starts soon...)

Over the holidays I'm going think about updating my links and maybe rearranging them. I'd appreciate some input/ideas. Do people use them? Would it be better to just link within posts now and then? Should they be categorized, and if so can I handle 50 million blogroll accounts? (Or is there another way to do that?)

Also, Blogger Beta/New Blogger. I like the idea of categories but I'm still seeing problems. Your thoughts...?

Monday, December 18, 2006

Treehuggers


I'll never let you go


I'm taking you down with me


He's rubbing her the wrong way


She's a little clingy

Sunday, December 17, 2006

secret powers

last night I dreamed a cranefly orchid
in winter the only green



between 40 shades of brown
and lucky as a clover
I found it

Friday, December 15, 2006

Priceless poetry

One, two, three, four,
Kick bad drugs out the door!
Five, six, seven, eight,
Just do that and you'll feel great!

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My cutie-pie niece's award-winning anti-drug slogan.

Auntie is very proud, since the 8-year-old brilliant cutie pie niece's slogan was voted the best in her whole school.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Stings



When I was a kid, we called the wasps that make these nests Dirt Daubers. Or rather, Dirt Dobbers. Outside the south they are apparently known as Mud Daubers. (1, 2)



It took me a minute to realize what seemed so strange about finding one of their nests in the woods. I think it's the first time I'd ever seen one that was not attached to something manmade. We normally see them on buildings, under eaves or elsewhere out of reach of the rain.

Apparently, the Daubers aren't aggressive and don't sting often. Plus, they lay eggs on Black Widow spiders that they stuff into those pipes as food for their offspring. So, Daubers = on my good side.

Paper Wasps = on my bad side. The previous "just shoo them out the door" policy is history. The last one that got that treatment repaid me with a sting on the proximal interphalangeal joint of my index finger.



I looked up the medical name so that I could be specific about how painful it was.

According to Dr. Justin O. Schmidt and his insect Pain Index, the sensation is rated at
3.0: Caustic & burning. Like spilling a beaker of Hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.
Schmidt is an stinging-insect expert -- if you run across an article on African giant stink ants, it's likely to have his name on it somewhere.

But his index is limited to bites and stings from insects. Nobody has done the important cross-indexing with spiders, snakes, platypus, jellyfish, and so on. Because you might just think pepsis wasps or bullet ants were bad, until you came across the Australian jellyfish that can cause Irukandji syndrome.