Day 182 – Great Basin Whiptail

I spied this creature out in the undeveloped portion of our 5 acre lot.  He was about six inches long, though he should have been longer. You can see that his tail is growing back, so it isn’t as long as it can be (up to two body lengths, according to this site).

Day 181 – Hiding in the petals

I was able to work from home today and that meant that I didn’t have to leave the house early in the morning.  Taking advantage of the extra time before my “work day” started, I headed out to photograph the backyard in the early morning light. Today was watering day and the flowers still held droplets of water from the sprinklers.

And then there is the purple sage . . .

The flowers are indeed lovely, but they also attract some six-legged creatures.  I’ve given up trying to avoid them, and now seek them out.

After fighting with VPN and reports all day I slipped out into the backyard once again, and guess what I found hiding in the roses? Anyone know what this little guy is? And he was teeny. A grasshopper? Cricket? Locust?

Day 180 – Squeaky

The same day I bought the catnip toy I also bought another toy that I  thought  would be a sure-fire winner with the cats. It’s a lightweight ball with a mouse in it.  The mouse squeaks when the ball is shaken or bounced along the floor. I thought the cats would dig it. Eh, not so much.

Nina, on the other hand, can’t get enough of it.

Day 179 – Facade

Today was one of those crazy-busy days. I spent most of the day in a training class, got caught up on email and then this evening I led our local freethinkers meeting. This is the roof above the Mexican restaurant where we met.

Day 178 – View from a ladder

This ladder is leaning against our house so I climbed it and got a higher view of the grape-vine than I usually do. Then I looked down and there was Buddy hanging out on the walk.

Lilacs in the yard.

Day 177 – Walk-about color and a little street photography

Surprisingly, I got a decent amount of photography in today. I was reasonably productive in the short amount of time I was able to shoot. Other than grabbing my camera bag when I left for work this morning, I didn’t even think about my camera until nearly 4pm.

I took a late afternoon walk around and outside our grounds.

Instead of my usual left-turn, I took a right and walked past the side of our building that faces the employee parking lot.

I headed down the walk and paused to snap this rusted rebar.

This pine cone looked lovely with the afternoon sun illuminating it.

Across the street, these meters caught my eye. Black and white seemed the right treatment for them.

On the way home I got in a little “street” photography.

More.

A third shot.

On the road home (one hand on the wheel, one hand to press the shutter).

Pulling in to the driveway I was happy to see that our yellow dahlia has started to bloom.