047 - Birds in the Bay

OMG - I can't believe I haven't posted since Tuesday! Where did the week go??? It's been pretty busy here between packing and quarterly tax returns. I am soooo sleepy...

Anyway, amongst the stress and turmoil I wanted to post something soothing and calming today. These birds were just lounging about on some wreckage in Tampa Bay...seems like a good idea...only I'll take my bed over sharp scraggly concrete any day!

046 - Scottish Highland Cattle

Once upon a time in my early photography shooting days I was quite nervous about stepping out with my camera and intruding on private property. There was a farm in Wisconsin that had this herd of Scottish Highland cattle and I thought they were just adorable. However, we had to return to this farm quite a few times to actually get a good photo. I think the first time I wouldn't even get out of the car. I used a zoom lens from the passenger seat and the pictures sucked. I think it was probably the 3rd time approaching this farm that I actually got out of the car and walked all the way up to the fence.

This amuses me today since Elliott and I frequently "invite ourselves in" to numerous locations without blinking an eye. The only time I get a bit nervous is if we had been someplace already and there are signs that someone knew it when we go back. (ie: padlocks when there were none before.)

I'm glad I have for the most part gotten over this shyness...after all, what's the worst that can happen?

039 - Quincy by pool

Guess who wants to go swimming?

Whenever we go out to the pool and stick our toes in to see if it's warm yet, Quincy looks at us so expectantly hoping we give him the go ahead to jump in. Funny, once upon a time this dog couldn't swim. The girls would have to hold his rear end up so he wouldn't sink. It really wasn't until we got the house with the pool that he somehow figured it out. Now he LOVES to swim. Still too cold though...maybe in a couple of weeks.

038 -Art Cow

There is a big parcel of land near our home that seems to be used for an assortment of reasons. We have seen them sell Christmas trees, fireworks, pumpkins, palm trees, flowers and so on. It hosts everything from construction equipment auctions to what seemed to be dance lessons. There is always something going on, even if we can't quite figure out what it is. Not that long ago a cow showed up. Not a real cow, but a sculpture of one. We had no idea why it was there, and tonight I decided it was time to shoot it.

Melissa and I headed out and since it was dark I pulled the truck up and used my headlights to illuminate said cow. As I am shooting, I see bright lights and notice a very large tractor bearing down on me. Quickly, I abandon my photo shoot and run out of the way to move my truck so this tractor could get through. Turns out, it was the artist of the cow, Bryant Martinez coming to say hi. He is using the area to create and assemble different works of art for our upcoming 2nd Annual Festival of the Arts at Winthrop. http://winthropartfestival.com/ He was nice to chat with and told me of some other sculptures that would be finished soon and displayed. The festival is May 1st and 2nd, so if you are in the Tampa area be sure to stop by!

033 - Quincy's new doo

Quincy - before

I've been saying for a while now that Quincy needs a haircut...he could barely see where he was going. Just a big, furry, smelly hairball. Oh yeah, and naughty...

Quincy - after

Now he's clean, fresh and far more tolerable!

024 - Pool and lizard

We uncovered the pool today. *Sigh* In the past whenever someone would ask me about pool maintenance I had always said it's really not too bad. An hour or so on the weekend, that's about it. Well, this is the first year the pool has been covered and I think it made it worse. Mountains of leaves. Bummer.

In the process of scooping everything out we found a lizard floating amongst the leaves. So cute with a single water drop on it's head!

022 - Horses in the Trees

I love the weekends. It gives us the opportunity to go for a long drive and discover new things. What is really exciting is when something shows up completely unexpected. We were driving on a little back road and saw a brown horse grazing near the road with a forest of pine trees behind it. I got out and starting taking some pictures when Elliott noticed this white horse coming toward me through the trees.

He walked straight up to me and just looked at me, like maybe I had something for him. I think I should start keeping apples in the truck...

012 - Quincy

Mom, I can't see!

For those of you who didn't know who I was referring to in yesterday's post, this is Quincy. It's always good to have a face to go with a name, even if it's covered in fur. I think I'll be calling the groomer tomorrow... before he starts walking into walls.

008 - Lizard

Macro rocks! Last summer this little lizard unknowingly plunged to his death when he decided to crawl into an open bucket of bleach. Not one to miss a somewhat gruesome photo opportunity, he was fished out of the bucket and stored safetly away. Six months later...nothing more than skin and bones. Now the awesome macro part. His head is a mere 5 mm long and his entire body (not including tail) is just over 2 cm. Wicked cool.

004 - Faux Butterfly

Elliott brought me a leaf this morning thinking it would be a good subject for today's post. He thought it was all cool and vein-y. It was folded in half, just like a shell and when opened had a butterfly shape. After carefully splitting the stem in half, it now had antennae! A few hours left to dry, a bit of creative crafting and viola! 'Faux Butterfly on a Branch'

001 - Feral Hog

Feral hog seen on a back road in Ruskin, FL. I would have liked to get closer, but these guys are mean and I don't think a little bit of barbed wire would have stopped him if he decided to chase me!