Odds and Ends

Thought for the day: If your odds 'n' ends drawer only has one item left in it, which is it... an odd or an end?

This blog always tends to be a bit on the eclectic side, but today, we're going all-out random by writing about four totally unrelated items. See, whenever I come across something that piques my interest, I write a note to self to remind me to dig a little deeper.

So... I dug... and this post is the result. (I hope you dig it!)

[wikipedia image, courtesy of David Iliff]

For the first item, we're going to visit a beautiful national park. Yosemite. This mountain formation is known as the Half Dome, because with its one sheer face and three smooth rounded sides, it kinda looks like a dome cut in half. Located 4737 feet (1444 meters) above the valley floor, it's quite the majestic sight, isn't it?

It's also a favorite target for intrepid mountaineers and rock climbers. In particular, there's a section known as the Thank God Ledge. Personally,  I'd be more inclined to call it the No Way in Hell Ledge, because there is NO WAY you'd ever find my butt up there.  I'm not even sure my fat feet would fit...

                                                           Care to take a peek?

Whew, huh? Although we wimps may consider the notion of putting one's life in danger by traversing a ledge that was clearly not designed for people to traverse, I'm sure those who do such a thing may consider us to be the odd ones.

[wikipedia]

Since some of you either live or have lived in parts of the country where these evil cacti grow, I'm sure you're familiar with them. (Hopefully, not too closely.) The proper name of this booger is cylindropuntia fulgida, but it's more commonly known as the teddy bear cholla. Awww! Sweet name, huh? I guess 'cause it looks so cute and cuddly...

[wikipedia]

Those thorns don't look all that cute and cuddly in this close-up shot, do they? This piece, detached from the cactus plant, demonstrates why it's also known as the jumping cholla. 

No, it doesn't actually jump... but I bet it's made plenty of people and animals jump. And holler.

And bleed.

These little pieces of the cacti are so loosely attached to the plant, lightly touching the plant makes them detach. Even the vibrations from someone foolish enough to walk too closely to it can set 'em free.

And they aren't nearly as easy to detach from human and animal flesh as they are from the plant.

[wikipedia]

The hymenopus coronatus, AKA the orchid mantis is much more friendly than that cactus. Unless you're an insect, that is.

Found in Southeast Asia, this mantis is pink and white with semi-opalescent flattened limbs that enable it to blend in beautifully with an orchid. It clings to the blossom with its rear legs and sways gently to attract flies and other insects. (AKA dinner)



                                      Even if you don't like bugs... isn't she a beauty?

[wikipedia]

We're going to end with a rather remarkable woman... Mary Ellis, who was the last surviving female pilot from WWII. She flew 76 different types of planes and delivered more than 1000 of them, but her favorite plane to fly was the Spitfire... which she flew solo. She passed away in July of this year... at the age of 101... and as you can see in the video, which was made just a few months before her death, she was still full of spit and vinegar.

No wonder the biography about her is titled A Spitfire Girl. (Author: Melody Foreman)

       Well, that's it for now. Odd enough collection for ya? (Never apologize for being different.)
Curiosity killed the cat, but where human beings are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance. [Harry Lorayne]

                                  Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

In Praise of Water

Thought for the day:  If there is magic on the planet, it is contained in water.  [Loren Eiseley]

[source]

Most of us are fascinated by water. Okay, so we might not go so far as to cast a fishing line into a pothole, but most other bodies of water are usually pretty high on our lists of favorite things.

Even drops of dew.

Everywhere water is a thing of beauty, gleaming in the dewdrop, singing in the summer rain.  [John Ballantine Gough]

The gentle patter of summer rain... the beauty of a glistening flower.

The beauty and serenity of a lake.

A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.  [Henry David Thoreau]

The lazy, mesmerizing current of a slow-moving river.


The trees reflected in the river... they are unconscious of a spiritual world so near to them. So are we.  [Nathaniel Hawthorne]

The heart-pounding excitement of whitewater rapids.

The sound of the water says what I think.  [Chuang Tzu]

The endless primal roll of ocean waves.

If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.  [Rachel Carson]

And who doesn't love a waterfall, no matter how large or small?

A cheery relaxation is man's natural state, just as nature itself is relaxed. A waterfall is concerned only with being itself, not with doing something it considers waterfall-like.  [Vernon Howard]


Yes, nature's beauty can be found in all kinds of water, but I never expected to find amazement in something man has done with water inside of...  an airport, of all things. Ben Gurian Airport in Israel, to be exact.

                                               
                                                                     Check it out!!!

       Pretty doggone amazing, huh? Have you ever seen anything like it?

Ya know, some years ago, I saw an episode of The Honeymooners (Hush! I SAID it was some years ago, didn't I?) in which Ralph and Ed were having one of their famous intellectual discussions, in which they agreed that the chemical formula for water was H2O.  But they also pontificated that whenever one expressed a chemical formula verbally, one should never ever say the number, so throughout the rest of the program, they kept calling water ... HO. In deference to that show, I considered calling this post In Praise of HOs, but was afraid it might attract the wrong kind of audience...

      So tell me. What's your favorite kind of HO... I mean water? Ocean, lake, river, hot tub?

For this week's Tiny Harmonies haiku challenge, the lovely Suze  has provided us with another single-word thematic prompt. That word is adaptability. Once again, I'm gonna try to tie the haiku in with my post. Here goes my tiny offering:

Relentless water
Carves paths through mighty mountains,
One drip at a time.










                        Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

I never drink water, because I know what fish do in there.  [W.C. Fields]

[Most images come to us courtesy of morguefile. Thanks to Suze for the kitty pic.]

Where the Wild Things Hide

Thought for the day:  You can't experience the mountaintop unless you're willing to climb the mountain.

It's still a little too hot around here to do any mountain climbing, but we did go to the Blue Heron Nature Preserve this past Sunday. The newspaper article described it as a very quiet, reflective, and peaceful place. Plus it touted the area as a habitat for deer, beavers, otters, minks, wild turkeys, quail, woodpeckers, and of course, blue herons. (Oh, my!)

I mean, wouldn't you have wanted to visit such a place?

So I grabbed some bottles of water and insect repellent, (AKA finishing sauce) and off we went.





We were greeted by this cute little guy, who stood right at the first trail we took into the woods. Let's just call him Recycle Man.

Other than ol' Recycle Man, we didn't run into anybody else. Ours was the only vehicle in the parking lot, too, which pretty much assured us from the get-go of finding that peace and quiet mentioned in the newspaper article. We meandered all through the area, followed every trail, and looked around here, there, and everywhere for some signs of wildlife. We came across a community garden and an apiary, but not a single critter. Not one. Didn't even see any tracks. I reckon it was too bloody hot for them. They probably went to the mountains for the weekend.

Alas, the only blue heron we saw was on this weather vane atop a pavilion.

We had a grand time, even though it was a little hot around the edges, but my better half was the closest thing to wild life I encountered at the preserve. Let's just call him Smarticus.

We heard lots of birds. We gazed at Nancy Creek for a while, but didn't even see any signs of life there. No fish, no snakes, no beavers, no turtles. If there were any wild things at that preserve, they were all in hiding. (Except for us, of course.)

Talking about the absence of turtles made us think about Chattahoochee Nature Center, and how the last time we were there, we saw so many turtles, they were literally stacked four and five high all along a log. Really! Darnedest thing we ever saw.

So we decided to go to there to continue our walk.


We no sooner got inside the Nature Center and paid our entrance fee than the skies opened for about a five-minute downpour. You know, just enough to turn that little hot around the edges into an

                                                           absolute SAUNA.
                              Really. I'm talking steamy, people. (Didn't do a thing for our dos...)

Until the rain stopped, we wandered around inside and checked out the exhibits. HEY! Finally saw my heron!

How'd you like to encounter a snapping turtle this big in the wild? (He was about two feet long.) Impressive critter, but I was just as happy that the taxidermist found him before I did. And yes, of course, I touched him. After all, the sign does say please.






 When we went out into the sauna to hit the trails, we did see a couple of impressive bald eagles, and several kinds of hawks and owls. But they were in humongous cages. The pictures I took of them were pretty lousy, so you'll just have to take my word for it that they were there. We looked all over the beaver habitat, but nuttin, honey. Oh, well. Either they were hiding, or they were away for the weekend, too.

                                                                But what we did see is

                                                                  BUTTERFLIES!!!

Beautiful, beautiful butterflies.

All kinds of butterflies. Big ones, little ones, brightly colored ones, dark ones, and even ones with stripes. But for the most part, they were very busy flitting around, and didn't want to sit still long enough for me to grab many pictures.








                                    But, I could've shot a full-length movie of the bumblebees.

     

       
       Recognize these plants?

Here's a closer shot. Does that help? It's a pitcher plant. They're carnivorous. That lid snaps shut once an insect is lured inside. Pretty cool, huh?










After a while, it seemed as though the trees were trying to tell us something. Like maybe it was time to go?

And so, we danced on outta there, and headed for the air-conditioned hacienda and something cold to drink.

                                      How about you? Enjoy any wild life over the weekend?

                                    Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.