Waiting, waiting, waiting…

Until it happens, I think the kids and I will go to the beach!

Later gators!

The Scene:  Ben, Cooper and I, sitting on the living room couch.

Ben:  “It’s time for bed.”

Cooper:  “I want to sleep on the couch!”

Me:  “Nope, come on, let’s go to bed.”

Cooper: “ I WANT TO SLEEP ON THE COUCH.”

Ben:  “NO. “

Cooper: “PLEASE! Please is the magic word.”

Ben: “TO BED!”

Cooper disappears around the corner, there is a pause and then Cooper comes back into the room.

Cooper little hands on hips:  “Please is the magic word.   Let’s try this again… I want to sleep on the couch PLEASE… ”

Sometimes even MAGIC words won’t get you what you want…

Every year we go to a pond at least once.

The kids and I went alone today, we will go again when Ben can go,  he is THE master frog catcher.

The mighty hunters waded into the  water once I assured them that the snakes in the area only ate frogs and minnows and were more scared of them yadda, yadda, yadda…

The prey were slim pickings compared to what they usually are.
I think it is because Ben attracts them… he is MY prince after all. *sigh*

Once they had one in their sites they were relentless chasing them through the reeds and mud…

until…

They caught them.

(We believe firmly in catch and release, no frogs were harmed in the making of this post!) 

While the kids were catching frogs,

I was watching dragonflies mate.

Yes, I am a voyeur!

I tried to get some pictures but those suckers are fast.

Finally I just set my camera in one place and then hit the button when it looked like something crossed in front of the lens .

This is what I got… what you don’t see is the first one… there were always two chasing each other.

The first would cross and I would click I guess in time to get the second…

This was a different pair in another part of the pond. Boy those suckers are fast.

Wait, I said that already…

It wasn’t ALL dragonfly sex!

Here’s some other STUFF I saw today…

Do you know what it is?

The dandelions are so fun I thought I would try some other stuff from underneath…

I like it.

Not as impressive,  but still fun.

Unfortunately, there was water on my lens thanks to my dear children…

Fortunately, I kind of like the blurred effect…

What do you think?

Kind of gives it a surreal, fuzzy feeling.

It was a good day.

Hope yours was as well.

Tell me, what did you see today?

 Well, it’s more then half way through the year and I am still trying to take a perfect door shot.

I thought now would be a good time to review what I have…

1 

2

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5

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10 

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Well that’s what I have so far.  

Getting a perfect door shot is hard!

I think part of the problem is I don’t have a clear idea of what I’m looking for in my head.

I mean WHAT is a perfect door?

If you have any ideas I’d love to hear them.

What do you think of what I have so far?

Do you have a favorite? 

Ntebrd has a DOOR UP!

I am being “mined for business intelligence” !

My illusions are all shattered!

The Xanga Team came out with a fun (or is it?) new feature today!

If you look at your foot prints page you will see it. On the left side, what used to be only a xanga name or a destination, is now labeled!

Occasionally I see a blog from someone excited about their foot prints.

“Someone from Cote D’Ivoire is looking at me!They stopped by twenty times!” or “Oh no… the District of Columbia is recording everything I do!”

Yes, there is a touch of conspiracy theorist in all of us.

I would patiently explain to them what most of us who have been around awhile know… that they are web crawlers searching for information and not to be concerned, simple computer programs.

I get prints from all over the world. One inparticular from Belgium, fascinated me. Because of its timing, random and always an individual track, not fifteen or twenty of them at once, what I would expect a web crawler to do. I thought for sure this was someone who maybe liked my blog and would check up on me when it was convenient for them… I do this with a few blogs that I enjoy  (they use other blog services that shall remain unnamed)   Curtis McGuire, Loonachic, Suzi Blu, just to link a few.

Anyway I would see Belgium and think… Hey! Someone there must like me… they are coming to see MY stuff!

But now… *sigh* I find that it is just another computer… like all of the others…

I am being ”mined for business intelligance”  

My romantic notion of some person on the other side of the world being entertained by my quirky stories or random photos is shattered. Ah well… I will survive and adapt.

It is time to get excited about the fact that… I AM BEING MINED FOR BUISNESS INTELLIGENCE!

What do you think about the footprint feature?

Do you like knowing if it is a person or a bot looking at your page?

Does it make a difference to you?

Mercyless has a DOOR up!

Tvtfln has Doors up too… Here and here.

Don’t forget if you have a DOOR up and want it linked, send me a message!

It seems that most of our days in the summer are good days.

Sometimes I worry that we have too many good days.

Every day we go to the beach for about an hour.

The kids swim, dig and build castles while  I take random pictures of this and that.

Today we went to an event with face painting.

Cooper asked them to give him a mustache and green beard.

I guess he likes mine so he wanted some facial hair of his own. ;-b

I have been taking a lot of gull shots lately.

I listened to two women complaining, their leathery brown skin shiny with oil, they sat hunched on their towels,smoking their cigarettes.
“Rats with wings, that’s all they are.” One said to the other and then  she took another drag on her cigarette,while children played  around them.

There is just something about birds in flight that is fun to me.

Maybe it’s just that they are there…

or maybe I am collecting wings so that I can take an image like this…

And cut it up and make some more flying frogs!

Like this…

I think I will… One can never have too many flying frogs.  

Well and of course then I will force you all to look at them… Don’t I always?!

Oh… you know you like it!

I remember sitting on the curb when I was little and loving the way the big bass drums made my heart vibrate.

Do you remember that feeling?

When the whistles blow
And the cymbals crash
And the sparklers light the sky
I’m gonna raise the roof
I’m gonna carry on
Give me an old trombone
Give me an old baton
Before the parade passes by

Flags and Firemen for the Green Panther

When tweetle beetles fight,
it’s called a tweetle beetle battle.

And when they battle in a puddle,
it’s a tweetle beetle puddle battle.

AND when tweetle beetles battle with paddles in a puddle,
they call it a tweetle beetle puddle paddle battle.

AND…

When beetles battle beetles in a puddle paddle battle
and the beetle battle puddle is a puddle in a bottle…
…they call this a tweetle beetle bottle puddle paddle battle muddle.

AND…

When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles
and the bottle’s on a poodle and the poodle’s eating noodles…
…they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle
bottle paddle battle.

A dandelion forest

I am having too much fun with the dandelions this year.

*sigh*

That’s some of what I have seen in the last week.

Have you seen anything good?

It seemed somehow fitting after yesterday’s post. In more ways then one. *sigh*