take a L E A P into nature.

my previous post was only two days ago...
but the 29th of february only comes once every four years...
i couldn't just let it pass by without doing something here!


today i feel like taking a leap into my heap of pictures

and picking out a few of my favorites!
well, maybe more than a few.
(these are not new pictures...i've posted them in the past.)


some may not be the BEST shots...
but they were very LUCKY shots.
be prepared for photo overload!!


just a lot of cool nature!!


~enjoy~

Bald Eagle. Lake Lochloosa, FL

Five-lined Skink

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. O'Leno State Park, FL

Alligator. La Chua trail, Paynes Prairie State Park, FL

backyard Barred Owl

this Cicada has just molted into an adult. its shell is underneath.

moon sliver & star sunset. North Beach, FL

2. 29.2012
(in numerology, add each number together in month, day, year...until you have the root number)

2+11+5=

2+2+5=

9


today should be a pretty good day because 9 is also my birth path number.
8.19.1953
8+10+18=
8+1+9=
18=
9



NINE MORE pic's...

Red-shouldered Hawk chasing away a Fox in our backyard

Anole

clouds reflecting in the Suwannee River, FL

wild horses along the Bolen Bluff trail, Paynes Prairie State Park, FL

Red-headed Woodpecker. seen for the first time in our yard last year.

Purple Passion flower

Neptune Beach, FL

Yellow Rat snake climbing tree in backyard

it's too hard to decide which pictures to post...
so here's ONE MORE set of NINE...

"It is a great art to saunter."   

~Henry David Thoreau 

Red-spotted Purple butterfly on a Fetterbush

(a surprised) Pileated Woodpecker, right outside our back door

Pileated Woodpecker on tree out back

White-tailed Deer not paying attention to the sign. she's speeding across the road. O'Leno State Park, FL.

Snowy Egret patiently waiting for a fish dinner. La Chua trail, Paynes Prairie State Pk, FL

Red-shouldered Hawk in the backyard

Gulf Fritillary butterfly

stink bug convention

(whew!  the end.)

"Little by little one travels far."

~J. R. R. Tolkien

stay cool & be safe.

laura

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

~Martin Luther King Jr.

bathroom grief & nature stuff.

milo. snoozing on the back porch.

"The problem with cats 

is that they get the same exact look 

whether they see a moth or an axe murderer." 

~Paula Poundstone

oOo

and here is the tale of

the little earring that ripped our bathtub out!

well, not really. but...sort of.

a few years ago, sam & i bought a pair of tiny gold celtic trinity knot stud earrings.

we each wore ONE.

always.

about 10 days ago, on the way to one of my appointments,

i realized that my earring was gone!

*shit*

after calling my previous clients from that day...

and searching in my car...all over the house...in bed...

we decided it was time to look in the elbow or trap...of the shower drain pipe.

we live in a mobile home, so sam would have to climb underneath.

he was sort of hoping i would find it some place else.

no such luck.

while under there, he noticed the tub had been leaking.

the wood flooring under the tub was wet. 

another *shit*.

but better to have realized it NOW, than to have fallen through the floor

while taking a shower.

so off come the walls...

out comes the tub.

yuck!

(the rectangular hole, back & center is where the tub was leaking

around the drain...the insulation soaked.

fortunately, the wood floor is just wet, not soft. it could've been much worse.)

OH, and my earring wasn't in the trap.

*shit* X3.

with a dehumidifier running 24/7...

a little bleach and scrubbing...

it won't be long before we can put it all back together.

(ps - i ordered another pair of the tiny celtic knots, from the same place...

Island Ireland Marketplace

so now we'll have an extra earring if this unfortunate loss should arise again!)

oOo

ok, time to move on...

how about if we get out of this musty bathroom and head outside.

i heard the Red-bellied woodpecker...and then spotted him!

one of the coolest looking ferns is starting to sprout up out back...

at the edge of the woods.

cinnamon fern

one week later...it's starting to uncurl...

it's been raining a lot the past couple of days.

i've been hoping for mushrooms.

BUT with the temps jumping from highs to lows...

from one day to the next...

the mushroom spores are lying in wait i guess.

i  didn't give up though...and finally spotted a little cluster.

i haven't seen any of the BIG swallowtail butterflies yet.

 but there are quite a few Orange-barred Sulphurs and Carolina Satyrs  braving the weird weather.

Orange-barred Sulphur/Phoebis philea

Carolina Satyr/ Hermeuptychia sosybius

and Robins.

the yard is filled with American Robins.

and there's a lot of these little guys too.

the only reason i was lucky enough to get this shot is because he was thirsty...

and stood still for longer than a couple of seconds!

what is he? a wren?  i'm not sure.

*thanks to Run*A*Round Ranch Report  &  A Quiet Corner

for IDing this bird as most probably a Warbler! Run*A*Round thinks possibly

it's a Pine Warbler...and the latest ID confirms this, from Viewing Nature with Eileen, who thinks

this little bird is probably a female Pine Warbler or a First Year, due to her coloring.*

oOo

well, it's time to get started on our TAX stuff.

i've been procrastinating long enough.

i have a whole year of business receipts...

just tossed in a file folder.

i'm bad.

"It's income tax time again, Americans:  

time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, 

and stab yourself in the aorta."  

~Dave Barry

i'll leave now, with a cool night shot of our front porch Orb Weaver!

stay cool & be safe.

laura

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. 

Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. 

Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

lizards. bones. and a parting moon shot.

after last weekend's FREEZE,

some critters (especially the cold-blooded ones) are thinking really hard
before they step out of their warm & safe hidey-holes.

the days have been steadily warming to the low to mid 70's (F)...

and i have spotted a few lizards lingering...soaking up the warmth...

just in case we get hit with another sudden cold spell.

they are all i've seen.  well other than a few birds and a couple of butterflies...

but this post is for the lizards.

on the front porch hand rail

on fence by the back porch

Florida's Museum of Natural History's Herpetology Dep't lists SIXTY-THREE
species of lizard in Florida.
of that 63...only TWENTY are native to florida.

a juvenile anole on the north side of the house (broom leaning)

this guy must have just changed from green to brown...

note the green around his eyes.

front porch roof

these next few shots are of a lizard on the south side of the house...

stepping out of his skin!

shedding.

he's giving me the eye.

"damn woman! can't i undress in private?!"

now he's starting to get a bit annoyed.

he would prefer to shed in peace.

solitude.

"go away. will ya'"

he tries to scare me away by displaying his dewlap

(a brightly colored flap of skin under the neck).

ok.  i go.

about this next lizard...

does anyone know how to play taps?

the lizard lament.

discovered inside an old grill

oOo

that dead lizard is my cue to move on to BoNES.

owl pellet bones.

courtesy of the Barred Owl who frequents our yard.

taken  31 Jan 2011 at 4:30pm

remember

the owl pellets i found recently?

does that jog your memory?

here are the bones after i dissected them with an x-acto knife & tweezers.

and here they are after soaking...rinsing...straining.

then repeating.

the TINIEST bOnes. 

long leg bones, scapulae, rib bones, teeth...mostly from the little mole that lives underground.

so small...the bones are coughed up in an UNDER 1.5 inch pellet...mixed with fur!

~i love bones~

oOo

""Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " 

and then he had to stop and think. 

Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, 

there was a moment just before you began to eat it 

which was better than when you were, 

but he didn't know what it was called." 

~Winnie the Pooh

oOo

moon shots from the morning of Feb 16th, 2012.

a little grainy...but still pretty cool i think...CRATERS!
(for inquiring minds: my camera is nothing fancy. a Canon Powershot SX120)

oOo

"Let nature take you on its journey."

~Jamake Highwater 

stay cool & be safe.
laura

NOTE ON WORD VERIFICATION
maybe you've noticed the DOUBLE words...
all scrambled...with shading and lines running through them.
yikes!
it makes commenting really difficult.
if you use them...maybe try doing without.
i haven't had word verification for over a year and only ONCE or twice
have i had to delete a 'spammy' comment.
with this new double word format, it's very frustrating.
annoying.
time consuming.
you might even notice less comments on your blog.

anyway...please consider it.  :)