Some Pics.. Some News!

My daylillies are up! YAY! Just in time for me to get one last photo before we move! (Hopefully). Our house is back under contract with a NEW set of buyers! So, again.. we have 30 days to find a new house and get out! We are trying desperately to get the house we had under contract back in May... but we are having to fight another buyer for it! UGH!!! Hopefully we'll know something soon. We've seen all the other homes in this area and they all pretty much SUCKED. So.. keep our fingers crossed!

This is a baby American Kestrel (Thanks HB!) There are three babes and a mommy (see a few posts below). They have made my yard home for the past few days and enjoy sitting on my back fence! I got my camera out, DOUBLE CHECKED MY ISO and popped off a few shots. This little angel who has only been out of the nest for about 1-2 weeks let me get to within 5 feet or so of him. I just loved this shot!



Here is a dragonfly that I found hanging out on my raspberry bushes while I was Kestrel hunting. I tried to get some great shots of it's face as I am convinced it was giving me some pretty strange looks, but every one of them came out blurry! Ah well, i'm trying my best to find those bugs Wen!

Fill 'er Up!

This week's challenge on the photo blog is to fill your frame, OR make your subject the focus. I'm reeeeeeeeeeeeally good at that one! So here are a couple from today!

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I FOUND A BUG!!!!

Here ya go Wen, not nearly as good as YOUR grasshopper shot, but at least I flippin FOUND one! I was tempted to give him a leaf to eat.. just to see if I could get the 'money shot' No such luck! LOL

Here is my attempt to fill the frame with the beautiful storm clouds that were hanging over the house today!

This little beauty is the center of an Orchid... Her name is Sally.

(It's an Ashli thing)

Here is "Sally" again, after a little misting (spoiling)

This is Sally, in all her beautiful glory. MAN! These plants are just stunning!

It's Mah POOCH!

There's mah boy! And his.. uhhmmm, errrr Tree? Gregg got so tired of Matani chewing on our bushes and trees that he just lopped a limb off and gave it to him! It's his new favorite toy!

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Oh yeah.. notice that pink blob in his right eye? Yeah, I rushed him to the vet Monday morning (Thanks Stacey!) because I thought he had poked his eye with a stick (I don't know WHAT would make me think that...) Turns out his third eyelid (yes.. dogs have 3 eyelids. How alienish eh?) prolapsed. He has a "cherry eye" Purely cosmetic, won't cause him any harm and will cost about $600.00 to tuck back in with no guarantee that it won't prolapse again.

ughhhh

I have finally accepted the fact that my dog has a lazy eye. I was in doubt (denial) until this photo series. Now I'm convinced.. poor thing. I can't tell if he's looking at me or the kids!

OR BOTH!

*stop laughing, it's not funny* Do you think he likes his tree? Good grief, I couldn't get him to let it go!

Here he is "hovering" over it. Like I'm going to take it from him and start chewing on it!

Finally! A photo with no stick in his mouth! It is however, right beside him....

Eh, at least he likes it!

Ohhhhh a new Raptor moves into the 'hood!

My yard is a varitable playground for all things wild. We've had raccoons, rabbits, snakes, birds, bugs, squirrels, mice, Matani, and I'm pretty sure a coyote even!

We have a Red Tailed Hawk who has frequented our yard on NUMEROUS occasions. He would sit on our fence and lay in wait for some hungry little bird to hit up the neighbors birdfeeder.

Stealthy killer my ass! They are AMBUSH predators! But hey, I guess it's a bird-eat-bird world out there and ya gotta do what ya gotta do right?

Anyway, we haven't seen our Red Tailed Hawk in probably six months or more. Today I was outside with the kids and heard a squawking unlike anything I'd ever heard before! I ran outside and saw THIS little momma on the fence and ran back to get my ZOOM lens! Gregg and I have seen the chicks (three of them) in a neighbor's driveway and we could NOT figure out what kind of bird it was.. all we knew was that they were baby raptors of some sort, we are kind of thinking she may be some breed of Falcon? Well, the babies are flying now (and screaming very loudly) for their momma! The babes were up on the neighbor's roof and mom was on the fence.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out why her babies were screaming, and why SHE wasn't moving... until.......

She pulled this tasty treasure off the fence picket. YUM!

Have I mentioned that these beautiful birds of prey (sabotage killers) like to catch, pluck and eat these things in my garden? It's pretty gross! But, she IS pretty! Anyone know what she is?

I think I'll call her SPIKE.

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An after-thought. I just realized when I blew these photos up and wondered WHY they were so grainy, that I had left my ISO at 800 after the firework show.

blah!

I hope she comes back!

I know it's not a great shot. I almost deleted it, but then I stopped... and started looking "into" the photo. You know? Matani is a little Crack Dog (See Matani's pool post below). He is hyper, only listens about half the time, is rambunctious and very VERY BIG! He's a true "puppy"... in a really big body. Somedays I want to send him back, others I love him to pieces. But one thing I've noticed about this 8 month old puppy is, he IS where his children ARE. If they are out back, He is out back with them. He is ever watchful over them while they play.

So, while he snores something awful and has reeeeeeeeeeeeally bad gas, I am grateful for him because he is doing exactly what we bought him to do.

Love and Protect our precious babies.

Okay, Okay Okay!!!!!! GUESS WHO'S IN A BIG-BOY BED!!?!?!??!

YESSSSSSS!!!! Mason!!!

After promptly bailing out of his crib in a rebelious leap inspired by insomnia (or it could have been a toy.. who knows), I decided it was time to turn Mason's crib into a toddler bed. Everyone had mixed feelings about this, citing that Mason wasn't "Mature" enough to handle being in a big boy bed. Well, "mature" or not, we didn't need a 2-year old with a broken leg...

Most little ones on the Autism Spectrum do NOT tolerate change very well. Mason, thankfully is NOT that kid! WAHOOOOO! He loved his new bed and hasn't had ONE single issue since we changed it around. That's "MY" boy!

Oh, and please disregard that big nasty bruise on his head. It's been a mainstay since Mason began to walk. I have no clue why it seems that "I" have got the CLUTZIEST kids on the PLANET!

I have this very same shot, of Ashli when she was about 14-15 months old. It was always one of my favorites! When I saw Mason looking out at the rain today, I bolted for my camera! There is something so pure and innocent about a baby gazing out into the storm....

oooooooh Feel That!

This week's challenge on the Photography Challenge Blog was TEXTURE. So, I thought... Trees have lotsa texture! Off I went. Here's what I got!

Happy "Pretendence" Day!!!

In the words of my darling 4 year old - "Happy Pretendence Day Everyone!"

Me, Ashli, Mason, Stacey, Brayden, Victoria and Calista all piled up and headed for the firework show at about 8 o'clock. On the way, I saw this great sunset and had to jump out for a quick pic!

Here are a few of the firework photos I shot. I still need some practice on firework shots, but all in all i'm pretty happy with how they came out!

The Grand Finale! And boy, did they do it up RIGHT!

Then, we pack it up.. clean up the spilled Razzle Juice all over the back of my Hummer (not a good thing), and promptly spend about 45 minutes trying to get home in firework traffic~

Ahhhh to be Free!!!!!!!