Scavenger Hunt Sunday

 Well I am finally getting around to participating in SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY again.  Don't forget to stop by Ashley's blog and check out the other participants.  You'll need to click on the "linky" button to find out who joined in on the fun.

This week's prompts were:  Together, Black and White,
Flowers, Grass and Abstract.


TOGETHER:

We recently went on a picnic for Memorial Day and I captured this photo of my two nieces (Krissy and Shelby together with my great-nephew Izak).  It was fun to get together with them and a few other family members for a nice outing.

BLACK & WHITE:

Our cat, Spooky-boo who is actually "gray and white" - I was trying to get a photo that showcased his amazing whiskers.  My hubby was holding his hand up in the air so Spooky-boo would look up.  He's got quite the whiskers.

FLOWERS:

The flowers on this flowering tree were especially lovely.  You can see that the roof on this house is damaged.  This is a vacant home that had a tree fall on the roof several years ago in a wind storm.  It's never been sold nor has the roof been repaired. 

GRASS:

Took this shot of some decorative grass at the home of the people who host the Piano recital that Coleen had this past week.

ABSTRACT:

These metal wind sculptures have been featured here before on the blog but I think they are worth sharing again.  I took this one at the Ducky Derby.  I think they look pretty abstract.

Next weeks prompts should you want to participate:

1. Season

2. What I’m Looking At

3. In Motion

4. It Means A Lot to Me

5. Photographer’s Choice

Willy Nilly Time

If you are here looking for my GOOD FENCES post click on the link.




Time now to join Tanya (Around Roanoke) for WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE.




1. I spotted a new "Art Sculpture" (?) while out at the Ducky Derby Race.  I snapped a photo of it.  The piece is titled:  Untitled No. 2  - It's a pretty odd piece of art work.  Not particularly my favorite.  What are your opinions.

 

 

2.  Coleen spotted another find out on one of our walks.  She found this pod thing on the ground and asked me what it was.  I had no clue but it came from a tree and when we looked up we discovered this:

 



 

I took some photos then went home and Googled..."trees with yellow and orange blooms that look like tulips."  That's when I learned this is called an American Tulip Tree.  Yesterday another blogger Miyako (Orchid's Daily Voice) posted some photos of this type of tree.  You might want to check her post out too.  It will be towards the end of the post.

 

 

3.  I've mentioned how every year we have a woodpecker come and peck on a nearby telephone pole for hours (it seems).  Well recently the woodpecker was back but this time he brought a friend.  Sorry but this is the best quality photo I could get.  I'm not sure what type of a woodpecker this is either.

 

 

4. On the way home from the store one night Coleen and I spotted this in someone's parking strip area (that's a patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street for those not familiar with the term.)  Actually the hive was apparently in a tree on the property but they had placed a hive on a ladder on the sidewalk.  I drove home quickly and got the camera to take some pictures.  This is one of the photos I took.

 

 

5.  Last night was Coleen's spring Piano Recital.  She played quite well this time and didn't seem to nervous. 

 



Her piece was called, The Little Waltz.  She's going to take the summer off from lessons and begin again in the fall.  Thought you would enjoy seeing another shot of her taken after the recital.

We sure think she's growing up fast and we're proud of her for being such a sweet and loving child.

Are you ready for cuteness...beside's Coleen?

Bandit enjoying his first taste of Whipped Cream.  He loved it!

The winning caption from last weeks CAPTION THIS:

Thanks Marie.  Marie blogs at A Colorful World.

On Monday I will have a Poll up with all the Caption This photos for last month for you to vote on.  -  There won't be a photo this week.  Check back on Monday for further details.

Have a great weekend. 

Good Fences #62 - A Sun Dog Fence

Welcome! - It's time to join Theresa (The Run-a-round Ranch Report) for GOOD FENCES.

It's such a fun meme.  You just post any photo that includes a fence in the shot.  You'd be surprised and delighted at the different fence shots everyone posts so be sure to stop by and check it out.
CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS:

Does anyone remember this fence post in October of 2014?

 

Well I recently revisited that area and happened to spot something that I thought was pretty cool looking.

This Sun figure was mounted to a back fence against a storage shed.  You can see the Wrought Iron fence (blurred) in the foreground of the photo.
I took this photo in March and then decided I wanted some better photos so I went back in April and captured the following:

While there I was greeted by a friendly (?) dog.

Here he is checking me out.

He's getting closer and he looks a little "peeved" that I'm standing in the alley taking pictures.

Finally he seems to be mellowing out and is looking in the direction of the sun that is mounted on the fence.  - I like this shot because is shows the wrought iron fencing up close and also in the background of the shot.

Mr. Dog was happy when I moved on down the alley and left him to enjoy a nice spring day in peace.

Have a great day & be sure to go check out all the other fabulous fence posts.

Ducky Derby Disappointment

Welcome. - As promised I'm sharing photos from this years annual Ducky Derby Race. 

We arrived shortly after the event started only to learn that they would not be launching the ducks down Mill Creek for the race as normal.  Apparently the sponsors of the race felt there was not enough current in the creek where the ducks are normally released for them to float down stream in a "timely" manner.  Instead they decided to just dump them in a field and have someone fish through the ducks to draw out the winners.  Needless to say we weren't to thrilled about that news but decided to stick around anyway.

 

The event is sponsored by a local bank and all the proceeds go towards prevention of Child Abuse.

 



The Grand Prize was this car or $10,000 in cash.  - There were other prize packages available as well.

A couple of the large inflatable ducks.  These ducks are placed on building around town prior to the race to advertise the race and encourage people to purchase ducks.

Coleen and "Izzy the Camel" - A kid was feeding him carrots and right after I took this shot Izzy swung his head and bopped Coleen in the head.  Thankfully she wasn't hurt, just startled.

We wandered around for awhile and then decided to get some of the .25 cent hotdogs and free drinks to enjoy while we waited for them to dump the ducks. (Coleen and her mom, Greta).

I managed to get Coleen to pose with "Splash" the mascot for the new Haggens store (they took over our local Alberston's last month).  Would you believe some lady was walking by with her kid and said,  "Look at that Bear!"  -  Splash is actually supposed to be an otter.  We laughed at her comment because seriously have you ever seen a bear look anything like this?

The ducks being dumped into the field.

The guy fishing through the pile to pull out winning ducks.  - I know just not much of a race if you ask me. 

Some of the pile up close.

Splash jumped into the pile and started throwing ducks in the air.  That was about the most exciting thing about the race this year.

A shot of part of the crowd taking in the event.

This is about the only duck (I think this is a duck) that we saw floating down Mill Creek at the race this year. -  Sadly none of the 5 ducks I purchased for $20 won the race or should I say the "non-race" this year.

Oh well....there is always next year!

Willy Nilly Randoms, Cats & More.

Lot's of Memes here today.  Done in Alphabetical Order

Feline Art:  The cat from yesterdays post (not the fake one)  Editied as a watercolor image and framed.

Feline Friday: 

Our own little, Bandit playing a game on Coleen's kindle.

Six Word Fridays:

I tell you it is hard to only use (6) words sometimes.


This weeks word:  Face

 
 
 

     That face, that funny face - Sure brought a smile to my face!

Spotted this guy last week at the Ducky Derby Race.  He looks bored and well he should.   More on that next.

Willy-Nilly Friday Five.

1.  The Ducky Derby Race this year was quite a disappointment.  Yes they held the event but the ducks weren't allowed to float down the creek like normal.  Instead they just dumped them in an open field and some guy pulled out random ducks as the winners.  Pretty boring if you ask me.  - I'll post other photo's of the race in another post but for today you get this photo of the ducks waiting to be dumped out onto the grass.

2.  I went to the bank the other day and saw the neatest flowering shrub there.  I asked the ladies what it was and was told it was a Rhodendron.  Well not having ever seen a Rhodendron that looked like that I had to go look it up.  After much research I discovered it was actually a Pink Mountain Laurel.  I went back to the bank to take pictures and to let them know what I found out.  I would love to have one of these bushes.  Apparently they grow back in the eastern part of the United States. 

3.  Spotted this classic car in someone's driveway.  I thought it was cool looking so I took a photo.  Don't you just love those "fins."

4.

Coleen and I took Pixie (my mom's dog) for a short walk yesterday.  Coleen picked this up and showed it to me.  I told her it's the seed pod off a Cottonwood Tree.  They make such a mess in the spring with all that white fluff floating through the air.  I found a really cool story though about the "Fluff"  here:  http://rosyfinch.com/fluff.html   I think you'll enjoy it.  I know I did.

 

5.  It's Crazy Hair Day at Coleen's school today.  Her mom did up her hair last night and here are the results.  Note I could not get that girl to smile naturally for me so what you see is what you get.

 

Oops I almost forgot CAPTION THIS:  The Winner This Week Is.......
Once again Theresa (The Run-a-round Ranch Report) made me laugh with her caption:

Thanks to all who participated.

So here is this weeks CAPTION THIS photo. 

After next week I'll be posting all the Caption This photos to have you vote on the best one for the month and then choose a winner to receive a prize from me. 

Well that's it for me today.  I've got to get busy and get stuff for the picnic we are going on tomorrow.  -  Have a great weekend everyone.





Good Fences#61 - Scaredy Cat

It's been a bit of a "frustrating" week Internet wise here.  We didn't have any all weekend long so that meant trying to catch up on hundreds of e-mails on Monday.  -  Then today I accidentally deleted all the incoming e-mails from yesterday and the new e-mail program we have doesn't save them like it use to so I've probably missed a bunch of stuff.  If I haven't been by your blog or commented on something you've said on mine please accept my apology.

Let's move on to something much more fun by joining Theresa (The Run-a-round Ranch Report) for GOOD FENCES.

I was out and about with Coleen one afternoon and she spotted something on a fence that she thought was funny.  I didn't have time to get a photo that day and it was a cloudy day anyway so I waited for better conditions and went back to take a couple of photos.

Sometimes it's not the fence but what is on the fence that catches your eye.  In this case a scary "fake" cat.  These people seem a bit (odd) if you ask me.

Here's a close-up of the cat....

Pretty creepy huh?

On the way up to photograph this though I happened upon this sight and quite frankly I like it so much better.

So pretty and so friendly.  It came right up to me and let me pet it too. 

So which cat by a fence do you prefer?

Join in the fun by checking out all the other great fences when you visit Theresa's blog.

Have a great day.