JUST ANOTHER SUNSET

OTHER INTERESTING SPECIMENS AT THE BIRD SANCTUARY

This spider was as big as my hand. I was told it was a banana spider by my son. (2007)

In the sun, they are much, much prettier! (2007)

This is as close as I have come to an aligator in Texas. Close enough! (2011)

Lying in wait for an egg to fall or a turtle to get too close. (2011)

I couldn't tell head from tail here. (2011)

(2007) I called this guy a "mud spider" but I don't know its real name. He was just down in this mud hole, begging me to take his picture.

And you thought that tree fungus was only on old trees in the Alaskan forest.... (2007)

Mine is not to question why.....            (2011)

This looks like curly tree fungus. (2007)

This beautiful Tanenger was taken in 2007 with my old camera. This year we saw no small birds.      

All photos taken at the Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary in High Island, Texas by Jean E. Straatmeyer

MORE SMITH OAKS BIRD SANCTUARY

Clicking on a picture will allow you to see it a bit larger.........
The picture at the top - left shows a Great Egret checking on the eggs in her nest. The young should be hatching in April sometime.

BIRD SANCTUARY

There were literally thousands of these beautiful spoonbills at the Rookery in High Island today. Stay tuned for others to come...

And there were about as many of these Great Egrets. This one is preening in preparation for his lady love...

There were some Aligators there as well, lying in wait for unsuspecting prey...

It was a beautiful day in High Island - shared with good friends. I highly recommend it!

2003 ALASKAN FLOWERS

Maybe we all need a little cheering up!

OUR BEACH IS UGLY THIS WEEK

Every year about this time, the Sargasso Grass (seaweed)
comes to our beach. It starts from the mid Atlantic Ocean and pushes its way
west to make our beach and others dirty and stinky. Another phenomenon is the Portuguese
Man o’ War jelly fish that come ashore with the sea weed. This year it wasn't
just a few here and there, it was hundreds and millions. They lie there on the
beach seeming to wait for folks with shoes or golf carts to come along to pop
them. They make a very satisfying noise not too far afield of popping balloons
or the bubbles in bubble wrap. But the trouble is - they stink. They stink up
your shoes and their gooey guts stick to the treads on either shoe or tire
thereby coming along to porch or garage to remind us where we'd been. Oh yes, one
last wonderful thing: if in your excitement of popping bubbles, some of the
gooey guts comes in contact with your skin, you are in for a session of
unpleasant stinging that will last for a while - and for some, even hurt to the
point of having to resort to serious first aid treatment. What fun!

POLAR BEARS

POLAR BEARS AT THE ZOO Better take a good look at these guys. They may be extinct soon.

This is where they really want to be - not in a zoo! But, the ice is thin and who knows how long it will last?

THE BEAUTY IN OLD AGE

THE "AMUSEMENT" PARK

 The Roller Coaster - (Wasn't even working!!!!! - if you look carefully right at the top, you may see the guys inspecting it.)

The Inverter - (It was the scariest.)

The Ferris Wheel (Grandma & Grandpa liked this one.)

Pharoh's Swing - It swung high!

The Drop Zone (It dropped   s-l-o-w-l-y, very s-l-o-w-l-y)

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

Woodburn Presbyterian Church

Alton, Illinois



GETTING THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE

Meijer Gardens

Grand Rapids

Michigan

2003













                                     http://www.meijergardens.org/