Stop & Shoot

...pictures, that is. How amazing of a place do I live where I can stop on the side of the road on the way to work and take pictures like this:

It was a solitary dolphin. Because of previous sighting there I suspect it may have been a female scouting out the area for a place to have her baby.

 

You may not get to see dolphins on your drive, but I bet there's something amazing if you take the time to look.

Osprey!

I love ospreys. They're amazing birds. This past weekend I was helping walk part of the Neusiok Trail as part of a Backcountry Horsemen of the Croatan work day and was able to see a nesting pair. Here's the nest from a distance. It's in a fabulous tree and is quite the impressive nest!

Both "mom" and "dad" were wheeling around and fussing at us for walking too closely to their tree.

 While it's blocked by the tree, you can still get a sense of that impressive wing span:

For some cool facts (to include: they mate for life and both raise their young) see wikipedia's page:
on the Osprey

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

Hard to believe it...Solana is TEN!

Love that girl :D

Greyhound Silliness...

...or, "Beware the Beachball."

I know. I haven't been around in a bit. Once again I've allowed time to slip by with no posts. I could give you all the 'standard' reasons. I could tell you I've got a new project up my sleeve that I'm not quite ready to share yet. Or, I could just pick up and go on.

You really have to watch out for these:

So, Gwyn and I were walking this morning. She's recently been a bit restricted on account of she seemed to have pulled a muscle or something. She seems fine now but wasn't sure I was going to let her go on a full walk. She was intent on making it around to see if Sammy was home (sadly, he was not) and was even ignoring squirrels...ignoring almost everything...until [insert dramatic 'dunh dunh dunh'] the beach ball.

At least, that's how Gwyn saw herself. She was protecting me. I mean, really--what the heck is a beach ball doing in a yard? Up against some bushes??? It was clearly up to no good! She huffed. She growled. She raised hackles. Then she barked at it. For good measure.
I felt much safer.

I leave you with this thought for the day ('borrowed' from a facebook post):

Mommy Doggy in Action

The other day I was feeling a bit under the weather. I stayed in and had some kitteh therapy...with mommy doggeh supervision: