How to Beat the Heat, Raccoon Style

A delightful photo from Some Old Programmer,

Our library has a culvert at the side entrance, where a family of raccoons were trying to beat the heat. Eastern Massachusetts, US.

Most Boring Game of “Find That Lizard”

In case you don’t already know, “Find that lizard” is a fun game Dr. Earyn McGee is hosting on Twitter, where you get a photo of a yard or something with a lizard hidden somewhere, often showing how well these creatures blend with their environment. Well, my own lizards are lazy, which is why I got to take this shot:

As you can see, the little fellow lost its tail and is currently regrowing it. You sure deserve a break, buddy!

Milan Royal – Magnifique!

Last week this magnificent bird sat on a dead branch of a nearby ash tree. It is their favorite spot and I have gotten some pictures of kites sitting there already, but this time It was later in the day, so the sun was at a much better angle. And the bird obliged staying in one place long enough for me to actually run with the camera outside.

It is a bit of pity that there seems to be some dirt stuck to the corner of its beak. Really, no sense of style whatsoever. One would expect a model to show to a photoshoot well groomed and clean and not with bits of food stuck to the corner of their mouths.

Still, what a magnificent bird. I shall definitively make a kite-themed knife. Soon.

Have some Flowers

While we took a look at the cultivated garden yesterday, today it’s time to look at the wilder side with some flowers.

These poppies are just amazing. Too bad the rain ruined them all.

Here’s some simpler ones.

Last year I threw some cheap flower seeds on one area. They turned put top be white mustard, which bloomed last year, and alfalfa, which is growing like mad this year. The bees love it, the degus love it, I’ll let it flower so it can seed next year’s crop as well.

And a colourful beetle. It was somewhat shy and I only had the mobile, so the pic isn’t great.

High as a Kite and Higher

There is a pair of kites flying around every day and I hear their typical cries from morning until evening, so they are probably nesting somewhere close-ish. I hope they do and I also hope they will help with local water vole population, i.e. massacre it.

Unfortunately, I did not manage to get both into good focus, so a blurry picture must do.

I did manage to get a few decent pictures of one of them though, from different angles.

The pictures are of suboptimal quality because they fly very, very high. Even finding them through the camera lens is a challenge, and to take focus and press the trigger button on a moving target that high is a bugger, that much I can tell ya.

But no matter how high a kite flies, there was something even higher that day around her. I could not find it in my bird atlas so the species is not determined. If you know it, let me know in the comments.

Close Encounters of the Graffiti Kind

When waiting for my father to come back from a doctor’s appointment, I wandered around a bit and went into an underground garage. I was around and about there several times, but I do not ever remember wandering inside. But the weather was extremely hot and I needed some shade and cold. So I went down the stairs…

…and there I saw beautiful graffiti that immediately caught my eye.

I had to take two photographs and make a composite, this thing is huge, ca 4 m tall and 10 m in length. Graffiti is usually just pieces of vandalism around here, just initials or a highly stylized signature lazily sprayed over some newly painted facade. Those deserve a ding around the ear and a duty to pay for the cleaning/repainting. But this is a work of art and it was probably done with the approval of the garage owner. This must have taken several days of work at least. And that was just the start.

There were some small insect pictures on some of the support columns, and that still was not all. The whole huge second wall was covered with art too. Possibly done by several different artists because it had several distinct styles.

The last two panels of the walls did contain beautiful pictures too, but also bear witness that the graffiti vandals seem incapable of not being vandals for a bit, even when the thing they are vandalizing is someone else’s graffiti.

Kestrel Maneuvre

Unfortunately, I was taking these pictures against the sun and I did not have too much time to get the exposition settings right. The little bugger hovered in one place exactly as long as it took me to take a focus and press the trigger button. So this is the “whoosh” sequence.

What do Jumping Spiders do?

Just ask Avalus, who captured the action and is sharing it with us.

I observed another tiny zebra jumping spider between some sandstone rocks and this time, I have not only photos but also a video showing off the tiny spiders jumping prowess!

I feel like the “spider pig” song, but voiced by David Attenborough, would be an apt background music xD

Photos and video are below the fold. (I couldn’t get Attenborough, but I’m hoping Homer Simpson will suffice.) [Read more…]

Eclipsed!

These incredible images come from the camera of quotetheunquote, who took the photos on June 10

… of the solar eclipse rising over the rural landscape of southern Ontario. I’ve seen a few partial eclipses before (never a full one, alas) but this was definitely a special occasion; it was like a rising crescent moon, except for some reason, this moon was burning red hot. I doubt that I will ever see anything like this again!… We also got a photo of some eclipse-lit heifers, who were thoroughly unimpressed with the whole thing.

In Which Avalus is a Spider’s Playground

Story and photos by Avalus,

While riding a bus to Work, I noticed this tiny little spider running over my hand. For the next ten minutes or so, I got strange looks from the other passengers for first intensely watching and then photographing my hand. Most of the photos were very blurry, as the autofocus had trouble focussing on the ever zig-zagging spider.

The spider started spinning a web between my knuckles and then ran between them and did this stilted pose.

We finally parted ways after leaving the bus where it jumped off and maybe floated way on a strand of silk.

Goodbye little spider, grow big and eat some mosquitos for me!

Bobbin Lace: Peacocks

My mother had a “peacocks” period now and has made several. This was our classical collaboration where she bounced a few ideas of me, I then suggested some improvements, she has drawn it again and so forth until she arrived at a design we both liked. Two of them she has even changed after she has already done them in lace because they did not come out right.

All except the last one are approx A4 size, that last one is about half of the others.

Wanna See my Pussy?

That’s right, pussy. Not the sort of pussy that ex-presidents like to grab, but instead, kittens, the fluffy, purring variety of pussy that is so crazy cute it will make you go Squeeee! If you think you can handle that much cute, then click on through to meet my new babies. [Read more…]

Kitchen Knives Set – Part 9: Bow-chicka-wow-wow

Content warning, this post contains a lot of naked kitchen blades, some relatively ordinary, but some downright kinky. Also discussion of knife safety and injuries. Viewer discretion is advised.

There are lots of pictures below the fold. Lots. [Read more…]

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How to Beat the Heat, Raccoon Style

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Most Boring Game of “Find That Lizard”

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Milan Royal – Magnifique!

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Have some Flowers

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High as a Kite and Higher

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Close Encounters of the Graffiti Kind

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Kestrel Maneuvre

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What do Jumping Spiders do?

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Eclipsed!

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In Which Avalus is a Spider’s Playground

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Bobbin Lace: Peacocks

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Wanna See my Pussy?

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Kitchen Knives Set – Part 9: Bow-chicka-wow-wow

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