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The best pastels are natures. I take the photos and try and do mather nature justice. Sometimes I leave them natural and sometimes give them a little ‘boost’. Either way, I am so lucky to have this option of time and sight to take it all in and appreciate it and then pass it on to those who don’t get the time. There is beauty in everything, even chaos ask Ringo!
The fishing tonight was nothing, not even a nibble except for one turtle who came by looking for a hand out. You know what they say about elephants never forgetting? Well neither do the turtles. They look at you with disdain that says they will go after your bait UNLESS you throw them some bread. So, sucker that I am, they do get a treat.
How do you resist these angry stares? 
The sky tonight was interesting, had twists and twirls and weird, ziggy lines from con trails.
Here’s what it looked like over the lake around 5pm and then as it progressed. The temperature was in the upper 50’s – still needed all my layers of padding to stay warm, if I fell down I would bounce, (unless I fell in the lake and would surely drown, or more likely be totally humiliated as it is knee deep by the shore line.)
Ringo gave a nice profile shot for me, then sat down and watched the day undress.
Ringo came home last night with a bruise on his chin, I bet he was fighting with that black stray cat we see often. Ringo rather looks like he has a goatee on his chin, kind of a “beat” and hip, Kerouac cat. In fact at night, I have to read him from chapters of archy and mehitabel before he goes to bed, he snickers as only cats can, silently.
Tonight as I pet his soft head, I asked him why he always has to get into scraps, why he must lie in the street, why he had to kill birds and play with snakes? He told me to refer to page 107, Of archy and mehitabel,
the lesson of the moth
i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires
why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
things for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense
plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does it matter
it is better to be happy
for the moment
and be burned up with beauty
then to live a long time
and be bored all the while…
I hate to admit it, but Ringo is such a ‘cat’-e-gorically feline progressive thinker…
” 
I voided my own rule of only using straight photography on my site, but thought I would leave you with my Abb-Strax, and photos of things, some I hope to sell one day soon on a website.
Ringo “in dreams” 
Last night went over to our very quaint Lake Mary Historical Museum, it has a doll show. All dolls were on loan. They had wax dolls and others over 100 years old. When I grew up, we had dolls like ‘Pitiful Pearl’, Shirley Temple, then on to Barbies, which were the most fun because of all the accessories. I remember having handmade clothes for my Barbies, I don’t know where my Mom bought them, only wish I still had them, I kept all my Barbie dolls and clothes and my mother gave them away while I was in college – bummer, I had wanted to save them for my Andrea. Oh well, that’s so almost 40 years ago – Never mind that psychological trauma, haha.
Here’s some pics.
That last one kind of looked ‘corpsey’.
This shows the bulk of the one room museum, it holds all the documentation for incorporating Lake Mary, Florida. It was used as a social hall for many years.
Ever hear of Golliwogs? They were black, male dolls and it became acceptable around the 1930’2 for boys to have dolls, but now they are called Gollys because golliwog has become an unacceptable racial term. I never knew these things. All I know is, little boys have little killing machines like GI Joe and metro sexual Ken to balance GI Joe’s aggressive behavior. Though I don’t remember my brother having a Ken at all. I know my young boys liked Stretch Armstrong so they could pull his arms and legs and punch him. 
My boys were more into video games and outdoor sports.
They had a lot of Barbies, I didn’t even know they beamed Barbie up to be with Captain Kirk and Spock. 
The exhibit is fun, the museum interesting, so go have a look if you are near Country Club and Lake Mary Blvd. Call them for their hours, they have odd opening times. 
These are really old. 
Now to wildlife, lots this morning, maybe because the storms are coming in later today. So many blackbirds, crows, cardinals. It sounds beautiful out there with the doors open.
Here’s a view:
The crow up on the branch was all alone until another joined it up there, they kissed 
Then stood together looking south. 
Then went to separate branches
then parted, hopefully on friendly terms.
The male heron was busy getting branches again, I enjoy watching his ability of manuvering them around the big branches up in the tree. He brings them to his wife and she shapes them in the nest. 
He them moves upward again and again. 
He passes it off and she in true female genetic glue, makes the nest a home. 
Look how large it has become.
So that’s it for the am, gotta go before it gets stormy. Kids are coming for weekend.
Here’s a few more pics. 
And this ballsy little grackle who walked right in the porch despite the cat and ate cat food as if to laugh right in Frankie’s face.
What a sense of humor these birds have! That’s why I have to take their pictures…
Back from a nice visit to Tampa where it was officially announced, I will be a grandmother. This will be my first grandchild and it is exciting news, of course, Aaron wants me to move there, I am undecided as of yet. I didn’t get time to really take many photos except for Leila’s party, which I left on their computer. The pelicans are all gone, hardly any birds, only a few woodstorks. 
and smaller birds.
By now we all know about the earthquakes that rocked Haiti. And because of that, my little town of Sanford is on the map. The US Airforce transport planes are shuttling the sick, injured, orphaned and Haitian Americans over to Sanford International Airport 7 miles away. For a while those planes were coming in often during the day. 
These heavy green military planes rock the house as they flew over. While they were coming ever couple hours, 
I only heard two yesterday, in fact, they said they were going to stop because the state is having a hard time financially dealing with what to do with everyone. Some have family, many don’t, many more require hospital care. They also announced that Miami and south Florida would not accept anymore injured Haitians at the hospitals and even moved many patients up to North Florida because of the Super Bowl and the potential of needing those beds. 
This last pic is a transport heading back toward Haiti over a week ago. Poor Haitians, what is to become of them? I suppose more of the same.
Last night was a moon event, the moon was the closest to us for the year, unfortunately, the clouds were really thick too. But did get a few peeks in between. 
I am hoping that by the time the moon comes tonight, these rain clouds will be gone and I can get a really good photo. We are waiting and waiting for some front, it’s gloomy, but won’t hold my breath for rain. (Ah, as I write I hear the rain.)
Went over to see how Andrea’s cats look after being shaved. Musa was not happy
He looked like he had UGG’s on his feet. Lola was cleaning herself right away. 
And Cocobella gawked at them because she did not have to get shaved, so she gets to be dominant! The cat with the most hair wins for being the boss. 
My own Ringo was busy by the bird bath this morning just daring the birds to come near him, no one took him up on his offer.
Though there were a lot of birds earlier. 
And there is one black bird who has a broken foot I keep noticing, it’s curled up, but he is still feisty and gets around well.
Andrea always gives me the cutest things, she gave me a camera charm, and had this funny pot scrubber 
and adorable dessert plates 
And of course, Lee always sends her roses each week, this week’s were gorgeous as always, Lee is always so kind. 
After I left, I came home and noticed some vultures up the road eating a squirrel, I scared most of them off with the camera. 
When I looked up, there were about a dozen flying into the trees and could not get a good shot with all their movement.
Yesterday met Pam for lunch at Mimi’s and we got our art submissions off for potential exhibits, I am hoping we get at least one of the two. It was a crappy day yesterday too, but at least it was about 73 degrees. So I got to fish for the first time in a while and the fishing sucked, but my heron did come down to see if I hooked anything. 
Ringo watched the bobber – that’s his job.
And I looked all around,
I love fishing in this smooth, parallel world, where the ghost moon rests
it’s big head on soft, wide cloud shoulders
and birds sing with full hearts and
there is nothing to burden the mind
except for winking bobbers and a cat licking it’s lips…
How do they do it? Communication that is —
I went down to the lake to cast a line and not a thing was biting, but that does not mean a loss of activity. The cranes were here, they were looking for their last birdseed meal before leaving. Both looked like they have been busy in the iron rich mud. 
Earlier they had had a fun game of pine cone toss. The male is an amazing tosser. 
The sky has been dark all day and the birds quite busy. Saw an eagle over the lake this morning. 
the smaller birds were all over too, it must be due to a front going through with rain promised tonight. The rain gauge looked like this early in the day. 
The blue jay came down to grab as much bread as it could hold in one beekful. 
There were crows all over. 
as were the cardinals and other smaller birds.
Ringo and I headed to the lake. 
and watched many birds overhead, Ringo was ever so alert and hoping one might crash down for him. But no such luck. No fox sightings today.
The female heron was in her nest when the male came to greet her, and as soon as their beaks touched and they made their prehistoric chatter, the male was off.
He headed right for my cedar tree which always means he is looking for branches. He landed, 
and plucked a tiny branch and then ran it back to the female.
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He handed it to her and watched her take it and shape it into the nest and then he
took off again. 
Back to the tree 
and got another and went back again. 
They touch beaks and squawk and then he left and flew to the ground. 
He looked to the left and right and even up. When I saw him next, he had a huge branch. 
click on the numbers/letter below for video, you might have to also give a click when the preview box comes on, (click on the preview box and it should show the video, sorry for a bit of grainy-ness – there are two videos of herons, one further below)
That branch was longer than he was. It’s amazing how these birds know each other’s needs. The male has hardly even paid much attention to her lately, this is the most time I have seen him spend tending to her nesting needs.
He was gone a third time and brought one more branch and then it began to drizzle a bit and I had both cameras and decided I would like to be able to keep having two working cameras so I headed in while Ringo stayed at the shore watching more birds overhead dreamin for one to fall within range. 
The
herons communicate their needs well, and even the other ‘lessor’ birds seem to know Ringo’s thoughts and aren’t going to fall for his innocuous pussycat act. Maybe birds are better communicators than I thought, maybe they’re psychic…
Frankie spent as much time watching birds from my desk as I spent watching the Haiti drama on tv. Finally Frankie decided to go out and I did too. I took the camera and headed to my mailbox to see my mailbox mocking bird, that bird always gives me great face, “Strike a pose” and the little face turns profile and straight on looking at me. I so love it’s adorable bulk and wish I could cup it in my hands. See if you agree. 
The ‘mbm’ tolerates me spending many minutes looking it over deciding when to snap. I don’t take just bird shots, I must find something that expresses it’s personality, and yes, some birds have more personality than others.
The female heron is alone most of the day, ( about 23 hours and 40 minutes. The heron male comes in the morning for about ten minutes, 
at night, it might be even shorter. 
the airplanes fly right over our heads. 
ANd the late afternoon clouds had very nice hints of pastels. 
A palette in the sky, thank you mother nature. The grass is dead, as is much of the shrubbery, but it comes back. 
the passion flower is without passion. 
The bird of paradise drained of it’s white bloom. The banana looks like it’s over ripe. Seeds are coming off the oleander. 
The weather warmed up to about 70 which was wonderful, but I need 80 degrees to feel truly warm.
The fox came by after days of not seeing it. I am trying to figure if it is really old, or young and inexperienced. 
He was passing close by the house trying to avoid the disdain of the cranes who constantly harass it when they see the fox. The fox darted on my porch and said “yum, she feeds her cats out here!” 
The fox enjoyed the food and ate like it was a starved cat, 
Will have to put their food in bowl and take in and out. The fox ran out when he saw me taking pics. Ringo was just on a chair about 3 feet away, I bet Ringo outweighs that svelte animal. I just don’t want Ringo to tangle with him, though, I think Ringo would win.
The woodpecker was overlooking the stump, I have at least 3 of them around here, they chat to each other all the time. I hear the cardinals first in the morning, but the woodpeckers come for the birdseed first.
I tried fishing, but it didn’t take much brain power to see that I was not getting even a nibble in five minutes.
Today is Friday and my writing group comes in 12 hours, I have been very bad and have been taking too many photos and doing too many blogs and facebook entries to write something to give out for critiquing – I am in total writers block, so I better stop and try and will myself into a state of authorship.
I am back to where I begin except Frankie is now in her bed, the desk drawer,
and Ringo is in my bed, and I am here staring, looking at white space and trying to figure out how to devour it and spit out words…
It is agony watching the earthquake victims of Haiti. They had so little and now have nothing. I feel guilty for complaining about cold and weather when I have a home and heat and water and food.
Last night watching Anderson Cooper, he had his camera man focus on a park below where he stood. It was dark, but the sound was of people panicked and screaming, glass shattering, he called on someone to explain while we observed people dropping their things and running. The interpreter said it was all a ruse, someone would shout “flood is coming” and people would leave what little possessions they had and run, while the hoodlums ran and grabbed the possessions. I also saw them free a 13 year old girl after 12 hours of digging. She had a broken foot, but it was not somethings she was getting treatment for. Survival of the fittest is a bitch. I almost feel guilty showing photos of happy, carefree wildlife. The reality of life in Haiti is hard, and hard for animals too. I’d hate to be a loose dog or cat over there, at this point, it might be a food source! The Haitians have de-forested all but 3% of their nation, burning wood for heat and cooking. One Haitian man was telling a reporter that people are used to suffering, they expect little and get nothing. What a horrible fate to have to endure. Hug your family today and be thankful for what you have, it might not be much, but it’s more than a Haitian has!
While Frankie watches from her point a reality today, 
it is only right that I post photos I have taken off NY Times and CBS and CNN streaming video –
look and appreciate the life you have and donate even just $10 to some worthy organization to help someone who has lost everything, as Americans, we are good at being generous…
After I saw the birds this morning trying desperately to get water from the bird bath, I took a hammer and broke up the ice and poured really warm water in the bird bath. It is still freezing, it was 26degrees earlier, now it is about 30. The birds liked that better and gave me some good poses. I had fun colorizing and making poster pics out of them, thought you’s enjoy seeing the bevy of beauties that I get to look at off and on all day. My “blind” is right here behind the window so I don’t have to go outside except to keep the feeders filled.
I hope my friend Pat forgives me for not holding to my own words of doing all cardinals, but the poses these birds take just demand a photo. Have fun bird and art watching-
one last picture of a sleeping Frankie who won’t be bothering any birds, but Ringo, 
now that’s another matter…
Went to my camera group tonight in Debary at the Gateway and we keep gaining members and knowledge, benefiting from those who are more experienced and will share their smarts. Also they give links for different support of the photography craft and for storage.
We talked about monthly photography competitions and using simple guidelines for knowing what to do about things like taking photos of “correct” horizons, sunsets and basic rules of dividing photos into thirds for good composition. I can listen, but then “Abbe-brain” kicks in and it is all about making pictures that satisfy my own taste. Larry, a member, said he is finding it hard to stop when working on a photo, there are so many options it’s over stimulating. All I can say, Larry is right, how do you know when to stop? And I only know limited photo manipulation – I don’t even work with layers. So let me take one wilting red passion flower photo that I took this afternoon and show you what I have done:
there are many more.
And then ‘one’ moves on to next subject: 
and soon life has drifted to the exosphere and time melts into the essence of ossuary color and sits mesmerized and blank as the fingers jab the tool buttons, then quick fix, then un-do and re-do, black and white, polar, this filter, then another and another – then you wonder, what the hell is all this waste for? Would someone buy any of these? Is any one of the pictures a winner? And what is the definition of a winner? And how do you pick it? Then the next dilemma, the thoughts about setting up a website and testing oneself to see if any of my “manipulations” could make me some extra cash, say enough to pay for some paper to print them on and some Symphony candy bars or even cat food — or is it all worth the time to even play with photos? That’s the stage you look at the clock and realize you were in the “Dada” zone and apterous for 3 hours and the house could have burned down around you and you would have never noticed until the cat with mule looking ears cleaning herself in the desk drawer next to you went up in flames but never burned as Emily Dickinson’s ghost keeps repeating, “much madness is divinest sense” while John Lennon sings about “the holes being rather small, they had to count them all and now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall”,
and the computer was melting as you try to save the hard drive and keep all your photos in the ‘save-as’ file and then the computer freezes and you have not saved a thing and it is all in vain so you get up and look in the bathroom mirror and realize you are five years older than when you began, and and and, oh never mind, I think you get it, I actually think I get it, I am over thinking again, time to log off and try reading for a while. Guess I will join Ringo who is sound asleep on top of the electric blanket, he has not moved in 4 hours, I think the electricity has numbed him as he dreams of ungulates and daggers for nails and the taste of freshly caught bream, the young, tender ones. That blanket is the catalyst for my best dreams, it is a poetry book waiting to happen, “Tales From Beneath the Electric Blanket”. Ringo has his own version, 
I am taking photos of him to use in the book, whenever I care to publish it, but that is another project, one more thing to fixate on, to pause and think about doing… Jeeze, it’s Hell being an artist, or it’s just Hell being crazy…(but it’s fun)
I can’t stand feeling so cold, but this am when I woke it was in mid thirties – I am a person who needs hibernation from the cold, (anything below 70 degrees) – but I guess that equates to wearing a short sleeved shirt under a turtle neck, under a sweater and my bathrobe, and panty hose under jeans and thick socks, and I am still cold with heat cranked to 74 degrees! I should have on my gloves as my hands are cold too. Actually I need to move and make energy, but sometimes it’s easier to sit and bitch.
I was standing in the kitchen and saw many shadows falling across the driveway. I grabbed my jacket over my bathrobe, sweater, turtleneck and t-shirt and ran out the back — crows were everywhere. Big big numbers of crows were settling in trees and then something would spook them and they would move. I enjoyed watching them and at one point they were over my head and I could hear splats of bird crap falling around me, my camera took a hit, but it was for a worthy cause, and yet, I really don’t think I got a photo to use for my crow exhibition in April.
After a while, I went back in and crawled back under the electric blanket and went into dreamsville set on high. so here’s a flavor of crows-
The crows were around for several hours. I would go out in short bursts taking in their huge numbers, snapping pics then retreating back to the heat inside. I enjoyed all the cawing coming from the sky and trees.
I did notice on the porch I had a bird, so I got my flea market net and tried to get it, but it was too bulky for what I needed to do. 
My hand worked better. 
Soon it was on it’s way to find it’s friends and I am glad that Ringo missed it.
He was looking the wrong way!
When I went to get the mail, my mailbox mockingbird was there sunning. It really is the best ‘poser’ — 
There were also lots of oleander caterpillers, so I am hoping we get lots of oleaner moths!
Did look up at the heron as she looked down at me 
And there were a few vultures near the crows just soaring around the lake on the wind currents. 
The first one had beautiful white tipped wings — So I leave now with a photo of Ringo who was enjoying the dying sunlight of late afternoon. 
As for me, the darkness has swallowed the light and the void is cold, damn cold. I think I will make some soup and hot tea, and watch the telly – tomorrow I will take pics at the Gateway. P/S , the fox hurried on through today. The humane society gave me the number for animal control for a trap, BUT, they did not know what the Animal Control does with the animal once they trap it, must know that answer. I am hoping it could be treated, and released somewhere it would have a chance to thrive…
Those are turtle eggs, freshly laid. They came by the way of their mother turtle this morning around 8am. I had gone out to take some photos of the crappy day. We had a good rain and it was so dark. The cranes came in for breakfast,
and I had walked to the lake to take some photos of the ‘band of brothers’ who were frolicking in the water. 
It was truly a day to be a duck! It was drizzling a bit after a hard rain. I started walking back toward the house when I saw a turtle making her way from the house to the lake. She was quite slow in fact, probably because she is a reptile and it was cold and she was tired from laying those eggs.
She ignored the cranes attempt to peck her, and could not even get the energy to run past me to get to the lake, usually the turtles will crank on the speed when they see humans near them. I’m sure she was exhausted and cold. I walked back to where she had come from and could see where she had buried the eggs, I gently extracted five eggs that were not buried too deep. The raccoons would have easily gotten to them or the cold coming tonight would have killed them. I have raised successfully a number of snake eggs, and did have luck with one clutch of turtle eggs a couple summers ago. 
They were the size of quarters, but it was always summer when we incubated the eggs so the heat naturally kept them warm enough to grow into full term turtles and snakes that broke open their shells and were ready for the world. The turtles looked just like the ones we kept as kids in those little clear plastic turtle bowls we had in the 50’s before they scared us all with the “salmonella” stories.
The eggs I took I have placed within a small plastic fish tank that has a night light incorporated into the top of the tank. I also placed a thermometer inside and the temp is almost 80 degrees with a tiny 7 watt bulb — that’s perfect, so maybe on February 19th, there could be 5 little baby turtles hatching. I must keep them moist without being too wet, and heated without getting hardboiled. This should work perfectly:
Will keep you posted. They say you can’t “candle” them like duck eggs. We never did get one fertilized duck egg.
It was just a dreadful morning, I ran to Michaels and as I looked for a frame, it began pouring. I had to wait for it to settle down a bit before going back to the car. As I drove from the parking lot in the pouring rain, I noticed two vultures up on a light post waiting out the burst of water. They looked rather stunned. Notice that it was so dark, the lights were on at 11am.
Even driving through the neighborhood looked blurred — 
Now comes the cold, and tonight, you can feel the temperature drop! Ringo is inside on my bed, he hates the cold too.
My little brother is here and we took Adam and got all bloated eating Chinese at Lee’s Palace then topped it off with ice box cake, Judd’s favorite made of pure whipping cream and Nabisco chocolate wafers.
I finished framing and should be ready to drop off work on Sunday, will let you know if there is a reception and what the dates are for the Gateway Members Exhibit.
Those are the pics, though I think they are only using two per person. The next pics below are some I took this am.
And that’s it for tonight, stay warm, have a fun weekend…. 
It’s 10:oopm, I’m sitting here after trying to take pictures of the “blue” moon through the fast moving gray web of clouds. So here’s an abbesworld look at the moon:
The full moon didn’t show up as the heron and I fished tonight. It was gloomy all New Years Eve day. I looked up at the herons nest this morning and wondered how it could hold eggs as it seems so lacking in good structure. 
It really is not like the nest there several years ago, the last one was huge and really thick. This one was built by a young, very inexperienced first nestor. The male flew by me this morning to bring the female one stick. 
He walked briskly to give it to her and then left for the day. 
I have no idea if eggs are in that nest, but somehow I doubt it.
As for the fox, he didn’t show. I called a trapper who wanted a bunch of money as if I was asking him to send a fox to Alaska in the first class section of a plane.
The day as I said was cloudy and there was no recognition of it being the last day of 2009. 
It started beautifully – this morning the sunrise was ostentatiously orange! 
Then it went downhill and stayed cloudy. 
I was supposed to be framing art for the Gateway show that has to be turned in on Sunday. But I decided to try some macro photos.
There is just too much beauty out there. I played around way too long.
The cranes were lounging around. What is fun about the cranes is how they recognize other cranes flying over. When they see a fellow crane winging it on by, they open their mouths and give that big noisy scream. They don’t do it for any other birds, the woodstorks flew by and not a peep, but one crane can spark their loud hello. 
I am finally now at 11pm getting the frames worked on with the help of Frankie and Ringo. 
I must say this past year has brought me so many riches, my family and so many people who are genuinely encouraging — so many people who have been my friends for decades and excuse my quirks as just belonging to Abbe. It’s wonderful to have found some lost childhood friends this year, and new friends and other bloggers who read me as I read them. And where would I be without the beauty of the surrounding bounty of life surrounding me. I am so lucky to have so much. I can only hope that the new year brings you all the wonderful pleasures you desire. For me, I hope to continue taking that photo that someone will appreciate as much as I do, for it to be a source of something comical, something healing, something just to take the edge off , or something to inspire one by.
Happy New Years to my children and family, to my writing and blogging buddies, to my artist friends and political arguing friends, to those I know and those I don’t, all I can say is, make this your best year yet, find your passion and go for it! Enjoy the things around you, find a cause and put yourself into it, and most of all love love love –
Peace and happiness and love – Abbe
some fireworks…
City Hall at Lake Mary has always wrapped their trees and it is a wonderful look. Tonight I went up there and walked around. Kids with their parents were in awe and they really personified the holiday spirit. I took a few pictures of course, here’s the Abbesworld view:
Happy Holidays from the Arenson/Eshack family! From all our animals, (though my cats won’t stand still enough for a costumed photo.)
From Andrea’s cats, Musa, Lola, Coco
And from Sasha, Happy Happy-Joy Joy!
A cold front approaches. It’s another gray day, everything looks bland. 
The cranes came , did a rain dance. We are in need of moisture. The heron was MIA in her nest for 4 hours, maybe she was fishing. 
The nest is filling out slowly.
She did come back in early afternoon. A pair of ibis came foraging for food.
and a pied-billed grebe came by and dove under the water when he saw me. 
They are funny looking.
I tried my hand at macro, but wind was blowing and the focus was almost impossible. But did get a few pics in to show. So here’s a few…
Someone told me that those are some sort of beetles mating and not lady bugs.
Ringo the heron and I fished, but the wind was whipping and the drizzling rain was getting cold and miserable, so I had to come in. 
The heron was in her nest and it was waving in the wind. Ringo came to the back door and decided to come in and dry off.
Right now Frankie is in my lap and my legs have lost all circulation, 
ugh, I must get up and move. Oh, I was looking at my match holder and realized I must get a chimney sweep to clean out the fireplace. 
For now, that’s it, and I’m sending a rose to Tabbie to let her know I am thinking about her and hope she is feeling better.
And here’s a video from Tampa, a bit shaky, but hope you enjoy anyway…
This morning we had quite a fog. The night before we had a clear look at the meteor shower and I saw a good amount of gorgeous mini looking comets, it was beautiful to watch. Stayed up till 3am, then woke up and the fog swallowed the lake. The herons, both male and female were clanking their beaks together.
They seemed real lovey-dovey. I found it to be a good time to try my hand at some macro photography. I tried with 4 different lenses and had a hard time, but looking through my lens at spider webs was just over-whelming, the webs looked like crystal beads. Here’s some pics.
There were webs everywhere, and I had 4 different magnifications, so I was all over using different settings. I need a mentor standing beside me. 
The plants and a few bugs were on the plants. I tried to get them, but have no tripod to keep me steady, it is tedious trying to stay still and focus on the details.
The cranes were in full mating mode – they have totally ditched the baby and now only have each other and are enjoying each other. 
They were goofy and looking for trouble. They tried Ringo, 
and even Frankie. 
I tried to get close to the males silly face. 
It was a good morning and took all day till the sun came shining through. I did a few abb-strax. 
And came out to see the heron take off.
And that was it for the morning, then I left to run errands, get some shopping done and come back in time to fish with the heron and Ringo. It turned out to be in the 80’s and we had sunshine. Fishing was not great, but that’s okay with me.
Hope your day went well, you can see, there’s hardly a dull animal moment around here…
I don’t get it, normally the nest should be finished by now. This heron has not progressed much at all. The male flies in for a bit in the morning, then flies off, have not seen him return when I leave my fishing post. Yesterday they were both in the nest at 7:30am having a nice meeting, the nest looks a bit fuller, but I would have thought it would really be a thick tangle by now.
then the male left.
and was gone. The cranes came minus their baby, I think they might have finally gotten rid of him. 
That means in a few months, maybe Feb, or March, a new one or two will arrive.
The anhingas came in pairs yesterday, two males were hanging around drying off their wings. 
The male on the metal was very bold and let me get quite close. 
The wings are a gunmetal gray, very cool contrast. 
This morning while taking out the trash, I saw the male heron fly to the nest.
They did not get close, just stood and looked around. He did not even bring any branches. 
When suddenly a third heron flew over and landed on a branch above the male . 
They all looked at each other and the one on the lower branch took off.
And off it went into the nest two yards over. So what is going on? Is the male serving two females? Was the heron that took off the other female going back to her nest — was she just checking out the competition? Maybe the male is trying to establish a heronry, of having a few nests that he can service? The other nest is the one normally used each year by the herons. Having the one in my yard is a dream come true to have them so close, but looking at how flimsy it still is, the male needs to bring more branches. This nest is looking amateur compared with what my herons built a few years ago. The tree in the neighbors yard is higher up and much more secluded. 
I will keep an eye on this. Did not fish last night, it’s too cold for me, only in the 60’s yesterday for a high and that is like being in the 30’s for my blood.
Last night I did stop by my daughters as she was working on a Pabst Blue Ribbon cake for her sweet boyfriend. 
It was so cute. Her cats were so cute and their fur is growing back. 
They were sleeping on their cat tree, but perked up to say hello. 
I love their little flat faces and soft bodies. They will be getting a fourth cat as their cousin Sasha is coming to visit them near X-mas. Oh Baa Humbug, time to get a move on for the day,
take care until tomorrow….
P/S, rat traps still empty, but waiting just in case…
First, rat update: the traps remain unsnapped, and I do not hear any foot prints, I am sooo knocking on wood hoping the last of them were trapped. So far, so good.
Heron update:
Wow, they are new at this. This young heron drops a lot of sticks, she has put this nest in a very wide “Y” of the branch. The building is going slowly, and the male stays away more than he is coming to bring branches. This is how it looked early this morning.
It looks like a tangled mess. AND — on Wednesday night they have said we will get a cold front with winds up to 50MPH! Unless she sits there like “Horton Hears A Who” on that nest, I am getting anxious it will all blow away. As of now, all I see is her standing over it, looking for her mate who seems to ignore her more than help her.
I ran to the tax office to pay my property taxes and stopped by the marina to see what was exciting. Not a whole lot at all. But here’s a few pictures. 
Now that I think about it, I saw a lot of ‘white birds’ and no pigeons down by the one tiny pond across from the marina. I drove by the buildings on the “island” and saw some of the same old same old ducks so I parked by the memorial eagle statue to look at the water. I did get rewarded by those carp or cat fish that suck air. 
They stand straight or lie on their backs and suck air.
The boats looked clean, air was fresh.
I say that as there was trash in the water and it looks dirty despite the blue reflected from the sky and the extra blue tint I added to the pictures. Did not see any gators or other water birds like osprey.
I came back home 
, the road was ‘less traveled’ at 11am. I gave up my zoo membership this time around. So I drove home because I was going to pick up my new glasses at the mall. That 20/20 Superstore changed my RX so much, I will have to try them out a few days and see how the change works. So far, my left eye feels a bit cheated and might need a bit more power. I hate to think I have to go back to that damn store again to get the RX right!
On the way back home, there was a hawk sitting on a fence near the red light,
By the time I ran all over, when I got home it was almost time to fish. I gathered my goods and walked with Ringo to the lake. I discovered that my heron that fishes with me is not part of the duo building the nest. I think she is the original mother of one of them. She was waiting for me. 
As was a beautiful pink and blue night with near full moon. 
The moon seemed quite shy tonight and blushed a lot as the clouds passed by.
The water itself was reflective of the deepening shades of pink.
I caught two bream and the heron was well fed.
Left the lake as it grew dark and the mosquitoes came out. No videos tonight,
just an artistic rendition of Ringo as we left the lake, now pray for rain, but no wind for Wednesday….
It’s so exciting, last night the last vision I had outside was the herons in the tree. I came in feeling bad I didn’t fish, but the weather was too cold. Ringo went to bed early and I monitored his dreams, 
first it was Pinhead, then it was the ‘Saw’ figure.
You can see Ringo was having nightmares. I whispered to his subconscious that he must think lovely thoughts. next thing I know, ‘Saw’ had melded into a sweet Casper 
Then another being came in — ET gave him a cat massage and put him into sweet alpha sleep. 
He slept all night until Payne woke him at 6:30am, if you know Payne, she is a cartoon political pundit who time travels using cat bladders, she needed Ringo’s. 
He woke and left who knows where he went…
But back to reality, went outside and the heron pair were still in the tree, they are shaping twigs, building their nest it looks like, WOW do I feel like Chanukah Harry and Santa have left me a gift!!!!
The male snaps twigs off the tree and sometimes flies off and gets twigs and she shapes them. I have been watching and she drops a lot of twigs in the water below. They must be new at this, wonder if these are kids of the parents in my neighbors yard last year? The male gets kind of impatient and bangs her with his beak. She is working hard trying to make her home. I will keep you posted as to their progress. It’s so exciting I can hardly contain myself! 
You can’t give this stuff away – 
everyone around me is bloated, gassy, and tired of leftovers. How lucky we are when we think of those around us so less fortunate. Tomorrow, on to new food!
The day before Thanksgiving was still a subtle gray, the front went through and all the rain promised was a farce. We got very little over here. Thanksgiving morning looked like a black and white photograph, the color drained from the landscape and sky, the lake the mirror reflecting the void of color 
Finally the sun broke through and we went away to eat our dinner.
Came back late and went to bed with a belly full! Our host and hostess, my nephew and niece did an outstanding job of keeping us loaded. Plus we all enjoy seeing Irving the tortoise.
He’s so full of contrasting lines and testure. He also follows you like a dog and his favorite food is hibiscus flowers. He weighs about 175lbs now. 
He has many birthdays to go. He’s still just passing puberty and is a horny little devil, he has a flower pot he loves to hump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrW59oLXmY0&feature=player_embedded (cut and paste to see yourself) 
Irving is in love with this hardshell!
Black Friday came and went, I did not shop, nor did I go anywhere Saturday, it was relaxing not to be spending money. That will go by the wayside soon enough. My daughter said to wait for black Monday, great buys on the internet.
Nature itself goes on, and these are shots I took today. The weather is very cold, low 60’s today, in 40’s the past nights, that is so cold Ringo slept next to me! In fact, he usually will ring the bell attached to the inside front door handle around 4:30am to go out, when I opened the door to let him out, he felt the cold and turned and went back to bed. Also, the herons, male and female have both been coming to the lake as I fish, tonight, they were touching beaks and making noises that seems like the mating rituals are taking place. They are nesting nearby, I suppose maybe babies will be coming near New Years????
The band of brothers were the first thing I saw outside this morning, they are still actively patrolling the lake. But an hour later, a pair of mallards came to relax. 
An anhinga was next door getting ready to fly off and when he saw me, that was exactly what he did.
the spider lily was blooming. 
A baby moorhen was running away from me too.
but not the wren, he was calm.
The lily pad looked interesting, like a non conformist among the conservatives. The day flew by and it was too cold for me to fish, but I took a few pictures before the sun went down. The moon was soft and muted. 
Have a wonderful night…
It’s officially holiday season! The turkey was pardoned, and today is
“pre-thanksgiving- manic-rush-tostartcookcookcooking-wash-freshsheets-dusting-blowoff porch-and pretenditalwayslooksthisclean” day. Even though we are going to my nephews for turkey day, there will still be hungry hordes here looking for food all weekend.
Last night I fished as is usual, with the cast of usual suspects, both male and female herons flew over. The male left, the female stays with me and got rewarded with 2 fish. They have not made a nest in their usual tree, or I have not noticed any activity up there in days. instead they came from the north east, wonder where they are nesting? 
(male)
female — The turtles were obnoxious as usual. 
There are three big soft shells and numerous small cooter types. The night was cloudy – they said we would have a good rain today and we have had some nice showers. The water meter yesterday was
at 2.98 and falling fast, a foot below the summer peak of 4.17. Will read it tomorrow am to see if the rain gave it a boost. we have to have more before winter makes it fall much more.
The sky was full of clouds and crows flying off. 
The fishing was not great, but it’s always fun to absorb that quiet time. The cranes had been by and were grooming as usual. 
and I tried my hand at macro photography which takes a lot of patience, no wind, good light, a tripod and knowledge of aperture which I am learning
I tried frankie and Ringo 
Ringo did not cooperate. Then I tried flowers and tiny spiders 
.
This morning is totally gray and rainy, had to make pancakes for Adam, I have found that Hungry Jack wholewheat blueberry complete is AMAZING, you only need water, but I cheated and added Sugar cookie eggnog, (mybad!) 
and of course, top it off with light whipping cream to counter act the egg nog. I had to top off the whipping cream after eating my pancake – 
YUM!
So better get cooking, have things to get done…now go, get outta here, quit reading, that’s it….
Ringo dreams he is a B. Kliban cat http://www.eatmousies.com/
Abbe's world of wildlife 