Sky Photos

Independence Day Story

I have written another fan-fiction story. For those that don't know I write fan-fiction for the website www.womenwritersblock.net under the pen name of Stardust.
Follow the link and find my story entitled 'July 4th in Laramie' at this site. I have other stories there, also, as do lots of other writers.
We mostly write stories that are based on the western TV shows that were on TV from about 1950 through 1980. Sadly there are no western TV shows now. There were shows titled Lawman, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Bordertown, High Chaparral, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train and lots more.
A few can now be seen in re-runs on the Western Channel and on TVLand.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

I'm not calling it the 4th of July. I keep hearing about how many people don't even know why we are celebrating today. It is the day we won our INDEPENDENCE from Great Britain. 1776 we became our own nation, not a colony of another country.
So from now on I'm not saying July 4th or the forth of July or anything like that - I will be saying INDEPENDENCE DAY.
Do have a wonderful day, that is safe and full of fun.

Update on Flycatchers

The flycatchers that I posted about last week have hatched their eggs. Or at least I am hearing baby birds in the nest. Can't see them but do hear them. And the parent birds seem to be more upset when I am near the tree now than they were before. I hope they are finding enough bugs and stuff to feed their family with.

Kitten Wrestling Match

I love to watch the kittens play and took this series of photos of them playing on the couch the other day. They have all kinds of toys but prefer to play with each other more than the toys. The gray kitten is about half the size of the black one but she can still hold her own when it comes to the wrestling matchs.

Jemez Fire Smoke

These are photos I took from my yard of the smoke cloud that we can see of the Jemez fire that is near Los Alamas, New Mexico. It does look like a normal cloud but it really is smoke. We have seen it every day since the fire started last Sunday. This morning it had come over us even more and is making it hard to breath. We hope they get it stopped soon. The Los Conchas fire is now said to be the largest in New Mexico history as the Wallow fire is the largest in Arizona history.

TV Re-Runs

It's bad when all I can find to watch on TV is old, old, old western TV shows that were on in the '50's, and '60's. What happend to decent tv shows. They talk about the old westerns being full of violance but what about what is on now. And it is just re-run after re-run after re-run. Almost nothing that is new. If I have to watch a re-run I'll watch one that I haven't seen in 30 years instead of 3 weeks.

African Dasies

Dill Flower

These are clusters of dill flowers. Each of the tiny yellow dots is a tiny dill flower. There are hundreds on each of the clusters.

Pink Roses

Yellow Roses

Johnson Grass

This grass is a pest but nice in a photo

Ash-throated Flycatcher Bird

When I was a child my mom always wanted to know what kind of bird it was that made a noise that, to her, sounded as if it was saying 'come here, come here'. Since she thought it sounded like it was saying that I have always thought so, too. We could always hear the bird but could never get a good look at one. Usually we only hear this bird when we would go camping, or hiking in the mountains or desert. Since we have moved to the Tumbleweed Crossing I have discovered what the bird is. It is the Ash-throated Flycatcher. There are lots of different flycatcher birds all over the world and several different kinds in the US. All are similar and I didn't know what the proper name for our kind of flycatcher was until recently when I finally found it on the internet. These interesting little birds are kind-of built like a swallow only larger. They are mostly grayish on back, wings, head, and tail, but have a dull yellowish color to their belly area. Males and females look alike. They disappear in the fall and winter. I assume they migrate south probably to somewhere in Mexico. But the come here to nest. I usually have one or two pairs near my house each summer. They usually build their nests in a cholla cactus just on the edge of our property but this year they built in a cottonwood tree next to the horse pens, and hay shed. Every time I walk by it they fly off yelling 'come here, come here'. But return quickly and watch what I am doing as I feed, water, or pet horses. I had seen the nest before I knew which bird was using it. I had thought it might be an English sparrow nest as it had so many pieces of string, paper, tumbleweed sticks, and a piece of cloth in it. It was a couple of days before I actually saw a flycatcher on it which can't be seen in the photo of the nest. I welcome all flycatchers as they eat lots and lots and lots of flying insects especially flies which is where they get their name. I have seen them perched on a tree or power line and suddenly fly down to scoop up an unseen insect and then back to their perch they go. They will do this over and over. They come in to the water I keep in hubcaps in the back yard each evening.

Kitten Names

So far we haven't been coming up with names for these two new kittens that we can both agree on. After many trys and a lot of fails we 'think' we are settling on Cassi, short for Cassi-purr, for the gray kitten. And Twinki, short for Twinkle Toes, for the black kitten.
Both have personalities as different as the kittens are. Cassi, although about 2 weeks younger, is the more dominate kitten. She is the first to investage anything new. But Twinki is right behind her and at times can be kind of bossy until Cassi says enough is enough. But they seem to be good friend now, even if they arn't from the same litter. They will eat together, sort of. And they do sleep together.
One kitten is always fun to play with and watch play but two kittens are even more fun and will play with each other not demanding so much that you play with them. Any thing can be fun to play with. Boxes, baskets, a waded up piece of paper, a ribbon, (no strings please, they can start chewing on one end and it keeps going down.) Always supervise their play with things like ribbons, and paper so they don't choke on it.
They were quick to learn that people ment food and climbing legs gets them closer to the hands that give out the food. But they also leaned quickly that laps were ment for naps.

Kittens and Plants

Since little black kitten decided that this plant was lots of fun to play with and even might be tasty we moved the plant to a high up shelf where we hope she won't find it for a while. But then both kittens decided that the pot the plant had been in, that was to heavy for the shelf, was fun to play in. I have had lots of kittens that wanted to eat lots of houseplants and most are not eatable. In fact most houseplants are poisonious and should be moved to where kittens, puppies or babies can't get to them.

Box & Basket

Simple toys like a box or basket can be the best way to entertain a kitten.