Where did the weekend go?

The view from the back 40.
Some of Mom's flowers
More flowers.
The bees were all over the Rose of Sharon.

This weekend we ventured down to the promise land to visit with my family. It had been about 3 months since we had been down there so it was a little longer than I like. We arrived around 6pm Friday evening and was greeted with my Mom's home cooking. After we had our bellies full we sat in the living room and caught up on things. Before long it was time to go to bed. The next morning I awoke to the smell of breakfast and wandered sleepy eyed into the kitchen. I think I woke up about half way through the sausage and eggs with home made gravy and biscuit. Around 10 o'clock Needles and I went into town to my cousin "C's" shop and visited for a bit. Of course I had to purchase a few items that caught my eye. We went down to Uncle Lee's and picked up some ammo that a co worker was looking for and is in short supply. After that we stopped my Sonic of a beverage on our way back to my parent's home. Before long it was 1:30pm and time to go to Grandmas for dinner and we watched the sideshow of Needles and I recent trip to North Carolina and D.C. let me just say that we had them setting on the edge of their seat. I think I heard Dad snore twice through the showing. After that it was time for homemade ice cream in which I captured a photo on my previous post. It took right at an hour to get the concoction to finish and soon after we were all suffering from ice cream overload and brain freeze. Not a bad way to go if you as me. The sun was going down and it was time to go back. After we got home Needles and I took a trip trough the Jungle Trail on the golf cart. We drove back into the woods and was amazed at the trees damaged in the winter ice storm that was broken down. Several did bend over and lay across the cart path but have since been cut back to allow for passage. We drove up to several blackberry patches and Needles plucked some of the berries for immediate consumption. We did not dare venture off of the cart for fear of the horrible deer and dog tick infestation that has happened this year. Needles found one crawling on her neck and we didn't even get off the cart. We drove around and got close to several small bunnies and got a few pictures. Went I got back I started looking at the photos and zoomed into see that one rabbit looked funny. I looked closer only to see that he had 2 large dog ticks on his face. They were very swollen with their vampirish meal and were stuck through his fur. I felt sorry for the guy but of course he wasn't gonna let me remove them. We went back to the house and talked until time for bed. This morning I awoke early and we visited with my folks until time for them to go to church. We stayed at the house until they returned with my Grandma and in the blink of an eye it was time to go back North. We had a good time but it seems like when we go down there the weekend flys by. I hope everyone had a good weekend. It back to the work week tomorrow.

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Homemade ice cream at Grandmas house . Mmmmmm

Shot of a life time...

Here is a few picture from today. My friend "D" and I went to see the eagles and the day was progressing without much excitement until we stopped by one of the watering holes and took a few uneventful shots and was walking back to the truck when "D" stopped me to have me take a look at some of his pics. As I watched him flip through his shots we heard a commotion coming through the woods. Sounded like a herd of deer. As we wheeled around to look it was a baby deer crashing through the woods only to run up to the pond for a drink. We slowly tried to slip around for a nice picture and then SPLASH! The young fawn jumped into the water and started to swim. We instantly started taking pics. This is the best one I got with not so great focus.

Bambi taking a swim.

We stopped by the road and "D" let me chase some butterflies.

We also caught another Blue Heron when he had his guard down.

Ma & Pa was snuggled up together until...

This guys showed up. We watched this feller walk across the field for awhile and then decided to drive down the road. When we came back the skunk had moved down into the field. About this time "D" said wouldn't it be neat of one of the eagles swooped in and nailed the skunk. No sooner did he get these words out of his mouth when this happened....To my amazement I got the shot although I didn't have time to Zoom in. This shot was at 75mm not the 300mm I had at my disposal but my excuse was....I was in shock. This is truly a shot of a lifetime and I am glad "D" and I was there to experience it. Thanks "D" I will remember this for a long long time.

It was like they were serving free food or something.

PS. The skunk limped way for this encounter with the eagle. Momma set in the tree smelling of Eau de skunk.

Happy 4th of July!

We survived the 4th of July. This 4th wasn't as fun and memorable as the last few years because we didn't have family up to enjoy it with. We even missed the West Salem fireworks last weekend due to the heat and well... we just didn't feel like it. We did however see a few fireworks last night in the neighbors back yard. During the daylight they were just shooting roman candles at each other but as the sky got darker the fireworks got louder and better. Needles and I watched from the front porch peeking around the house as bright rockets shot up through the smoke and illuminated the night sky for a brief second. Today we went South to Needles Moms. The Uncles had bought 6 chickens and decided to smoke them in the smoker. They were very good and I quickly ate my fill and then some. Before long it was time to return home, to laundry and all the things needing to be done before work tomorrow. Hope everyone had a happy fourth of July.

You guessed it.....More pics.

Woody Woodpecker Blue Herron

Painted Turtle
Indigo Bunting for NeedlesMa & Pa
Ma & Pa Again

I see you.

Lilly Pad Flowers

This is at 70mm zoom300mm zoom

600mm zoom? zoom (Thanks D for the spotting scope shots)

Duck

Another Blue Heron Twins
Black Necked Stilt (Rare round these parts.)

Happy Birthday To Me.

Today is my birthday. My co workers had a feed for me and it was a nice day. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.

UPDATE...

My friend "D" went down to Mt. Carmel today and has sighted both adult eagles and both babies. The babies are both flying and are within days of getting run off the nest. I didn't go with him because I was having my Bday gathering with Needles family. We had home made sweet and sour meatballs and for dessert chocolate lush. MMMMmmmmmm. Hope everyone had a great weekend. If you like to see pics of today visit "D's" blog.

Todays Pics.

Baby is back and has made it off the nest. Fact is 40% of fledglings first flight ends in death below the nest. Looks like we are half way there. Turns out the younger eaglette is still on the nest.

Daddy is chillin and watching over the nest. A point of concern for my friend and I is that we haven't seen Mrs. Eagle the last 3 times we have been down there.

This is Daddy running off the oldest youngster. Don't worry, Baby was back at the nest in a few hours. Eventually Daddy won't be pulling punches and run him or her off for good.

Here is little one still on the nest. He or she will be making its first flight in a few days. Hopefully it will be as successful as its sibling.

Snowy Egrets.
Egret takes flight.
White faced wasps. They are related to yellow jackets and they have built a nest on my garage. The nest has doubled in size over the last week. I need to do something about this.....Soon.

Empty Nest Syndrome

As the title states the youngens have left the nest. The only action around the nest was Father Eagle setting on one of his favorite limbs. Hes was there for a few minutes and slipped away while no one was looking. I received my Tamron 2X teleconverter today so my friend "D" and I rolled down to Mt. Carmel for a few shots to try it out. I still need to figure out where I need to be with adjusting the shutter speed with loosing 2 F stops but I think I has some success with the next addition to the camera bag. I will say a 600mm lens is tough to hand hold. Enjoy the pics.

Happy Fathers Day!