This past Sunday, we planned to go for a long hike and I woke up knowing there weren't no hike in my immediate future. I felt like I had pudding and rocks in my belly. BLAH. This caused some drama in the wee hours, but if there is anything that is a really bad idea, it's walking in the heat with a stomach that feels icky in any way, so I stuck to my guns.
I went to pick up Chan from a sleepover and when we finally made it back home, Matt was actually over the missed hike and suggested we take Jessie swimming at the Cold Hole. We harnessed and loaded both dogs onto the shop blanket in the back of my van and headed out. The water was SO freaking cold, I thought I would forget to how breathe in again-this was me with one foot in the drink. Soon I went numb and could go as deep as my ankles.
The Cold Hole is a local swimming hole fed by clear COLD water right out of the mouth of a cave. The swimming area is immediately in front of the cave mouth and is totally shaded. I bet that water is 60 degrees. Ben proposed an experiment I want to follow through on-going back in the winter when it's colder than 60 out to see if the water feels warm then. For the record, I think we are the only ones that call it the Cold Hole, growing up, everyone called it 'Cole Hole', which I thought referred to the owners, who must have been the Cole's. Sometimes, I wonder how I got born in Alabama. I don't jive with the dialect.
The dogs prissed around in the water, Kuma doing his dead-level best to avoid wetness while wading and Jessie who wanted to swim, but who also enjoys breathing and let me just say-6 nipples in THAT water-I can hardly blame her for skipping the swim and just running back and forth in the shallows.
We left after some local color showed up. The man stomped around looking at the ground and smoking. I think he was making sure they did not poop on the sand. As if. Jessie would have a heart attack if she left poop where it could be seen.
Anyway, back home, we lounged during the hot of the day and then walked around the pasture with the dogs, taking pictures of the stuff growing out there.
Oh, it's bright! What IS that thing in the sky? Ack, ack
I was standing in the tunnel that goes under the road.
Aaaaa! We didn't come swimming to get wet!
See how he is just looking out and not shoving his head out the window? Yeah, that's because I rolled his head up in the window once.
This is NOT on the way to our house, the county has sprayed poison all over the roadside, killing all the 'weeds' in a 5-foot wide section going all the way down our driveway. It looks like the Apocalypse.
I call this one 'Stalked'. Kat has given up trying to get us to stop walking in the pasture, so Cleo has taken over following and meowing. She, too, will only walk around the very edge-I think it's an instinct thing-and so we had to wait for her to catch up every now and then.
Not sure WHAT is going on in this one. I thought the obvious, but it seems the smaller one was practicing some ballet moves and the bigger one never stopped eating the blackberry leaves.
Fritillary caterpillar. Of some kind. I think.
Those branched spikes are called...branched spikes. I would have thought they would be called something official-sounding like...I dunno, something with 'stipe' in it. Which is Latin for branched.
Those branched spikes are called...branched spikes. I would have thought they would be called something official-sounding like...I dunno, something with 'stipe' in it. Which is Latin for branched.
The world of butterflies is really straightforward. Wings have an underside, antennae are called that, spots are spots and not macula. They don't even go crazy on color variations. 'Reddish' covers all the shades of red, it's amazing then how difficult identifying the larvae is. They DO go there, that's not a caterpillar, it's a larvae. Which is already Latin.
Boy howdy, I had to fiddle with THIS shot. After trying various darkening and lightening on the 2 contrasting areas, I finally just slapped a Lomo filter on it and that did the trick enough. I wanted to get the dogs and the open pasture, but the light was against me. I think it works, even if it's a little overprocessed for my liking.
I wanted to get a shot up through the hay, but it had been baled in the last couple of weeks, so I was stuck with this patch of tall grass. Still, I liked it enough.
