Time with my favorite lens...

the 100mm Canon Macro...I love it!

Fred working on our project. I should say it's his project, cause with my bum foot/ankle I'm not much help. I either sit on my stool and watch him or lay in the pool and listen to him. But I get annoyed and then I go help and then I regret it later, lol...I'm off to the podiatrist this week so maybe, just maybe we'll figure out what the problem is...

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Michael was busy in the pool! It's a bit chilly but we're getting used to it and the water temp. got up to 82 degrees F. today, yeah!! It actually wasn't too bad after the first dive!
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The butterflies were flying fast today. I sat and waited for one to come to me but I just couldn't get them to stop and pose for me!
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Fly away home...or maybe just on to the next bloom!
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Green Lynx Spider and one of my favorite photos of the day! If you click on the photo it will bring it up even larger and you can actually count his 8 eyes. I love the polka dots on his legs, just too sweet!
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Dragon fly who would not cooperate either!!
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A wildflower, cool, not too many of them out there!
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Lets not forget the grasshoppers, there are plenty of them. I even captured a few and took them home to the chickens...Oh how the chickens love them but they've pretty much wiped them out at the house!
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It's got an itty bitty flower on it but I'm not sure what the plant is. I took a photo so I could look it up but I have yet to find it? Fred said it's a darn weed!! Oh he's such a smarty pants!!
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an itty bitty butterfly...perhaps a blue or a hairstreak! Took me a while and a few shots to get a decent photo!
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Then we went home for lunch and came back later in the afternoon and this is what I found....

I love the simplicity of this photo!
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Then I decided to go in closer for a shot of the ants! I didn't see the aphids until I pulled the photo up on the computer, too cool! Another one of my favorites from the day! (Again click on the photo for a closer view)
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Beetle on a Sage palm...
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and yet another grasshopper!
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My Sage bush with a bud on it, woohoo!! I am told the Sage bushes are gorgeous when they bloom out but I have yet to see mine bloom. Every time it is budded out and ready to bloom either the neighbor's cow break out and eat it or the deer attack it! I'm hoping this year they will leave it alone as the bush is looking really nice!
I really enjoyed getting out with the Macro lens. It always takes me a few minutes to get into Macro mode and find subjects to photograph. This drought makes it even tougher but I always manage to find something!

And then I had too...

snap a few photos while I was video taping...

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I just think they are so cool...From what I could see most of them are Ruby-throat Hummingbirds...

Sometimes Videos are better than Photos...

The hummingbirds this morning were thick around the feeders this morning!

I love sitting outside and watching them!

Finally!!

I finally got the pool cleaned up this evening. I was down there this morning but sicker than a dog so I didn't do it then. But I did sit there and take photos of the deer and hawks this morning but not one of the photos was good enough to post. This evening both Michael and I went down to the pool. I didn't feel good but had to get the pool cleaned and Michael was a big help. I had to scrub the sides of the pool to get the ash off it and Michael patiently sat on the ladder and talked to me while I worked. He also put feed out for the birds and deer for me, love it when he helps me out. I finished cleaning just before sunset and we swam for a little bit. The Temp was 90 degrees F. down there and the pool was 80 degrees F. I was told by the pool company that the pool temp should stay comfortable enough to swim until January/February and I honestly don't see that happening. It was a bit chilly when we climbed in tonight and we soon got use to it, but I can not imagine swimming when the temps are in the 60's, no sir I can NOT!!

The Bastrop fire (the last I heard this afternoon) was 30% contained. I am so glad they are getting it under control. I really feel for all the firefighters, they've been working hard!

Photos from today...

Smoke and sun this evening....

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Doe I ran into down at the property tonight.

I went down to check the pool and go swimming. I couldn't figure out what all the black stuff was floating on the surface of the water at first and then it dawned on me...soot and ash, duh! I am praying they get the Bastrop fire contained soon, last time I checked it was still at 0% containment. I feel for all the people effected by the Texas wildfires and all the Men and Women fighting them. We are getting the smoke plume from the Bastrop wildfire.


I haven't been down to the creek in a couple of weeks and was shocked when I walked down there. The water is no longer flowing, sheesh we need rain.
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There is water in the deeper parts but no water flowing at all, poor fish!
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Sunset...those aren't clouds but smoke!
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Eerie sunset!
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I took a photo at 12:40pm today and it was smokey, but at 4:48pm it was really bad and the fire is 2 hours from us, ekk.

Information on fires in our area...

I was just reading about all the fires in our area in the closest local big newspaper in our area and wow there were quiet a few...

Click here to read the stories...

Wildfires and the sun...

Michael came in from outside and said the sky was dark and there was a storm coming in...hmmm we weren't suppose to get any storms today? So we went outside to look and it took us a few minutes to figure out it was smoke in the evening sky. I went and started searching the internet and found there were several large wildfires in Central Texas, yikes! Far enough from us not to cause any problems here but the wind was coming out of the North and blowing it down to us...

Very eerie...

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Sunset

I've recently heard there are or were fires in Goliad, Wesatche, Victoria and Yorktown, now those are a bit too close for comfort but we haven't seen or heard anything and that was second hand so still not sure! The wind was terrible today and with 21% humidity the fire hazard is high. I just hope people are very careful. Too much dry brush for comfort around here.