A lonely house, on the way to Austin

A lonely house, on the way to Austin.  That's all.  It just caught my eye.  You get to add your own caption.

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Archeologists: dirt holds Beaumont's past

We were out helping a team of archeologists examine one of the many sites on the Spindletop Dome a couple weeks ago.  The historical digging comes because of construction of a plant site on the dome -- clearing up and preserving the past before marching into the future.  In the picture, Dr. Richard Bothel of Lamar University searches for artifacts in a screen.

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Sunset captures church outlines

Saint Anthony's Basilica Cathedral stands dark against the last rays of the Beaumont sun.

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Squirrels in training for wrestling fame

My squirrel friends at the library were in a playful mood yesterday.  I think they were practicing their wrestling moves.

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Pelican goes ferry fishing

A pelican was following low over the water as we crossed from Galveston to the Bolivar Peninsula by ferry.  I suppose he was willing to either take a tossed treat or to see what fish the ferry might stir up  -- whichever came first.

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The fine art of Grackle bathing

This lady didn't mind bathing in public.  And, as long as I was inside my car, she didn't mind bathing right next to me in the puddle, while I waited for my wife to run into the store.  When I took this picture, this Grackle had already ducked her head in for a good shampoo and shaken her tail feathers in the water quite a bit.  She was settling for a little undercarriage rinse.

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The Nut Eater

This nut eater is one of the friendly, if very shy guys who wonders around the Beaumont Main Library where I work.  They play as much as they work scavenging acorns and other delectables.   He won't let me close enough to get a good shot of him, unless I am in my car.  I can even roll down the window to snap a photo, but I can't open the door -- that sends him scurrying.

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I missed the prize under my eyes

Here's the scene.  I pull up to a gas station to fill up with gas.  I spy a group of grackles making a racket in the grass.  I grab my camera just for some diversion until the pump stops.  One of them catches my eye.  It's windy, so I don't get a good view, but I snap the shot.  Back at my computer I notice that the grackle was not a grackle at all, but a Europan Starling.  I had known they were in this part of the world, but I had never noticed one.  Makes me want to go back through my grackle shots and see what else I may have missed.

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Hoping this icicles are not cyclic.

One last winter picture -- who knows when I will ever see icicles hanging from the fascia of my garage.  Sure am glad I live in the warm South.

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Winter's rare true colors

One last post, today on the winter palette.  Tarnished, dark, rust, deep yellows. Stained, mottled.  I'm just commenting about it, because this is the coldest I can ever remember for a whole winter down in the South.  We don't get to see winters true colors this upclose and personal down here.

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Ice -- the thick of it.

This was a fountain in Giddings (I believe) -- on the road back from Austin a little while back.  I never thought I would see ice that thick this far down in Texas.

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Winters colors awash in pale.

One of the things I like about shooting winter shots (not that in Southeast Texas we ever have much of a winter) is the pallet  -- nearly bleached grasses, crisp blue skies, dark shadows.   Seem the colder it gets, the truer the pallet.  This year was about as cold as it ever got.   Plenty of time to prove my thoughts true about what the winter colors are -- sans snow, that is, this is of course, the deep South.

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Tales of summer won

It was just a simple flower on the side of the road.  But the more I looked at it, it appeared to have a summer's worth of tales written on it.  Close encounters with bees, wasps, butterflies and who know what.  Maybe even some swashbuckling over who would get the first sip of nectar.  Not that it was ever part of the brawl.  It just provided the ring so that it could have a front row seat to a summer of feasting.  On the side, it was a ancient mating ritual for the flower -- one it never revealed to its nectar-toting stinger-swingers.  They flew away with the nectar of the gods. The flower's dream had just begun.

flower

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A step down

Stepping down the steps at Riverfront Park in Beaumont, TX, into the Neches River.

Neches River, Beaumont, Texas

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Birds of different feather

The girls were just out shopping, a lady Cardinal and White Winged Dove.

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Fossil friend daubed in creative coats of color

This was at the Dinosaur Day at the Energy Museum in Downtown Beaumont this weekend.  Kids were having fun giving their ideas on what they days of yore looked like. In this case, you might just say it turned out to be a Dino of a different color.

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White Winged-Dove, studying her options

This White-winged Dove looked to be pregnant.  She worked her way out on the hanger for the bird feeder, trying to see if there was a better way to get to the birds seed.  She didn't find that better way. The ledge on the feeder was made for smaller birds.  To eat, she had to keep flapping her wings, holding on with one leg.  It seemed awkward, but the bird seed must have taster better than creepy crawly things.

White-winged dove, Beaumont, Texas, bird

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Glass-hugging tree frog

This fellow had chosen one of our windows for a day of relaxation. He was clinging there when I spotted him and stayed put while I ran and got my camera. I wasn't very comfortable with what I shot. There wasn't enough room to get above him, and the lighting was surprisingly dim for outside.  So I ran in to check my shots on the computer a couple times before I decided this was about as good as I was going to get.   Next time, I will ask the tree frog to move out into the light.

tree frog, nature

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Reminiscing the past summer's pastimes

Pardon my passing musings on the passing of summer's pastimes.
Were that it were crawfish season year round.

Crawfish, Beaumont, Texas

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The moon unveiled, slightly

Under the inspection of a camera lens, the moon reveals a glimpse of her hidden secret.

moon, Beaumont, Texas

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Freez-frame, in frozen light

Emerging after a massive cannonball in the backyard pool, the diver shakes the water from his hair with the pool light as a backdrop.
(I took this shot from a video shot on my Kodak PlaySport hand-held video camera)

Pool, Splash, Beaumont, Texas

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Thunderous march

Marching toward us, belching, moaning, rumbling, this crowd front brought its light show and showers last night.

Beaumont, Texas Weather

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Night fall

Night fell slowly over Lamar University as I was leaving for home.

Sundown, Beaumont, Texas

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Catching the early morning plane

Yawn.   That's all.  Yawn.

flying, Texas, sunrise

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Pollen Party!!!

Okay, somebody had a pollen party in this flower and didn't clean up after themselves.
This was on the way back from Austin this summer.

flowers, Texas

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Life's cruel

We have quite a few lizards hanging around outside the house.   I mean literally hanging.  This reptilian villain was up in the cover of a solar light waiting until the moth came along.  Despite the fact that the moth was bigger than the lizard, the scaly one seemed to have the upper hand  (maybe that should be "the upper teeth") .  All of the flapping and shaking that the prey could muster was doing him no good. He did get away for a few seconds though.  My dog came by to see what I was shooting pictures of and the lizard decided he liked his skin better -- he dropped down into the garden to hide.

Lizard, moth, survival

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Houston Aquarium -- the Wow Factor

Sophie and Sullivan at the Aquarium in Houston. 
The wonderment of youth.  Wow.

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Lamar University - football is back!

Football is back!  
The Lamar Cardinals took the first home opener in the retrofitted Provost-Umphrey stadium last night. 
The Cards defeated the Weber International team in the first football at Lamar Stadium in 20 years.
The fans were ready for the moment and poured onto the field a in a display of pure enjoyment.
Notice the guy on the Southland Conference sign near the center of the picture.  He is getting ready to do a cartwheel  -- one of about four people I saw doing one as they poured onto the field.

Football, Lamar University

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Is Summer Gone?

Is summer gone?  
The days of summer, in quick succession, rise up in sparkling flight,
glisten momentarily in the sun
and then sparkle only in our memory.
Next summer I will swim more, laugh more, hug more,
and find pleasure in the soaking warmth of every day.
--steve buser

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Ibis finds perfect nesting spot.

Just a few changes and this will be a great place to raise baby ibises.   This white Ibis mom had the perfect site picked out for a nest when I visiting the Trinity River Waterfowl Sanctuary on the I-10 just east of Houston this Spring.
--steve buser

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Hang in there, babe, bee

A bee hangs from a flower as it gets it's first sip of morning nectar. Notice the water drop of dew hanging just over his head.
--steve buser

Rocking Mocking Bird

I remember that I still have a tell to tale about the junior Mourning Dove. In the meanwhile, though, this young Mocking Bird has started chirping -- more like squeaking,  really-- every time that mom slows down on the steady stream of worms she's been ferrying in.   He needs to get big quick because the nest is sitting on the leaf of a palm tree.  The windy weather we've been having has probably given him a queasy feeling quite often.
--steve buser

I hope I can fly

The grandkids were in town this weekend.  Need I say more? Sullivan gets a little wobbly on the slide after his shoe sticks and flies off.
--steve buser

Couriers careen through concrete canyon

This was the scene a few weeks back at the Houston Marathon.  The runners, whom normally look larger than life as they slap past, seem dwarfed here.  This concrete canyon was near the finish line.
--steve buser

Morning (Mourning) dove goes roque

A

A morning full of drama at our house.  This junior morning dove was wandering slowly around the day lilies.  I am pretty sure she came from a nest in the bush at the corner of the house in the backyard.  A pair of pretty amorous mourning doves always fly out of that bush when I come round the house. 


I suspect they were not aware of this little gal getting her walking shoes on and venturing out on her own.

Stay tune for more of the Mourning Dove drama.


--steve buser

Spring brandishes fuschias, citrons

You can change the addage -- this year, it's April showers bring April flowers.  After a long, cold winter, the flowers seem even more eager than ever to volcano into an exclamation of color.


--steve buser

Tiger Swallowtail butterfly survivor

This Tiger Swallowtail looks to have had a close call fending off a hungry predator, perhaps a bird.  His beautiful tail is tatters.  Nonetheless lives on in his flower-hopping life. It's a cruel world out there, and it's a beautiful, happy world.  Juxtaposed.
--steve buser

Bee busy

When your job is to drink nectar all day, how bad can life bee?
Bees do this to me a lot.  I was taking a picture of the flower, but the bee decided that he couldn't wait. These azaleas are a tough task for the bee.  He has to climb down inside the flower to get his meal -- it makes all that pollen shake all over him.
--steve buser

Spinning wheel, spinning round

If this gives you a sense of vertigo, it was meant to. You slide around the track going totaly topsy-turvy and the top and multiple G's at the bottom.  If that wasn't fun enough, you stop at the very top and do the whole fun things backwards.   You get to pay for this privilege.  I think I am still spinning from watching it long enough to get a in-focus shot.
The South Texas State Fair.   But then, you probably have an event with that spins this much fun in your neighborhood, too.
--steve buser

South Texas State Fair, Texas, Beaumont

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Fair days, fun days

Linda and I were at the South Texas State Fair this weekend in Beaumont.  I observed that a lot of the fun seemed to be the spinning, twisting, grinding, yelling, 10+ G's, that I used to enjoy when it would not put my body into a week of intense pain.  Those were the days.  Or, I guess I should say THESE are the days, just not for me.
--steve buser

State Fair, Beaumont, Texas

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Green Heron practices hunting skills

It a small lake at the Aboretum in Austin.  I suppose that the competition makes  a bird like this green heron have to travel some days to find food. Nonetheless, he was patient, practicing all of his hunting skills -- the bank-side waiting, the shallow water-wading, the stealthy, slumped low warrior, the tree branch sniper and more.
--steve buser

Green Heron, Austin, Texas

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Roseate Spoonbill -- grooming time

In a crowded neighborhood like the one this Roseate Spoonbill lives in (Shangra La, Orange, TX) once you have the kids down for a nap, it's time to stay quiet.  Many like to do self grooming during the kids's name time.  If your a Spoonbill, that's a little harder than it sounds.
--steve buser

Roseate Spoonbill, Texas

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Pines busy preparing for the summer

More evidence of Spring.   The pine trees are budding -- getting ready for mating and this year's crop of pine cones.
-- Steve Buser

Pine tree, pine cone

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Flower springs out

Digging in God's rich soil this weekend.  Linda looked over and pointed it out.  The first flower after what has been a brutal winter.  It came suddenly springing out this week.


Other signs -- waves of ducks flying high over head -- yesterday they were spaced out about 15 minutes apart.


Robins -- a pack of them flitting through the woods scavenging -- on the road out of our subdivision.


Sprigs, starting to appear.  Shoots, shooting up.


Spring.
--steve buser

Spring, flowers

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Ring billed gull -- whispering wind

I fly, held up by the wind.  Feeling it's gentleness. Sensitive to the minute differences above and below my wings. It whispers to me.  The sky is my domain.
A ring-bill gull at the river front in Port Neches
--steve buser

Ring Billed Gull, Port Neches, Texas

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Egret: instant fish dinner

Splash.  It was sudden and explosive.  In less that the blink of the eye, the egret sliced the dark soupy waters with his beak and neck to grab some unsuspecting fish.  

Hunting time, was suddenly meal time.
--steve buser

Egret, Birds

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