Brown Anole?

I did manage to go on a walk today. It was a close thing at the end there as it got very warm on the last quarter of the trip. My path goes past the nature center where I do some volunteering and I saw this little one hanging out on a rock under the gate.

Final Installment

Blyes likes the addition of furniture to our balcony. It allows him to have a comfy place to survey his kingdom.

Tarquin

A number of years ago I read a book called the Golden Compass. It turned into a trilogy of young adult literature (His Dark Materials) that I enjoyed immensely. It seemed to me a bit intense for some younger readers. It was a well crafted parallel universe which touched our world in certain places and that contained some very interesting differences. One of these differencs is that people in Lyra's (the main protagonist) universe have Daemons. Daemons come in the from of animals (usually of the opposite sex of their person) who change shape when their person is a child, but then settles into one shape as that person grows up. I was truly captivated by these three books and recommend them heartily.

There is now a movie of The Golden Compass due out in December of this year and I'm a little nervous about it given how much I enjoyed the books. In the mean time Anne recently found that at the movie's website, you can find out what form your Daemon would take.

Orange

There have been a lot of pictures of Bleys lately and not so many of the local nature. A lot of this stems from the fact that it is getting hotter and hotter and my daily walks are dwindling in length and sometimes don't happen at all. I did catch this common gallinule the other day though. It was using one of those fake Canadian geese as a perch. Again this is one that is much easier to see if you visit my flickr.

Jet

Since he is currently totally freaking out, we are going straight into your Bleys fix for the day.





Why is he freaking out? They are powerwashing our entire building at the moment and it is quite loud from the inside. Especially when they go near the windows...in one of which his perch sits.

Chain

And now your daily Bleys on the porch fix! Today, two more pictures that make a person think we must totally abuse this poor dog. I mean, why else would he be so sad?

Invasion

On Henry's beer brewing blog (check it out - he won a silver medal at a local homebrew festival!) he included the OOTS style avatars for the Blogtet. I thought that was a pretty sweet idea, so I'm trying it out on my blog. What do you think?

Rama

My Mom emailed me the other day to ask for a packing list of the stuff I usually take to Disney World. I sent her one yesterday and it helped me realize, I get to see my parents in about 2 and half weeks! Yay for parents coming to visit. Yay for parents coming to visit at Disney World! I really hope they have as magical a time as I did when Roland took me for our honeymoon. I'm super excited about staying someplace new and being on the monorail line again - so convenient. We also have plans to eat at a couple new places which should be fun and exciting. Although I think Roland is still most excited about Boma, which we are going to for dinner on the day Mom and Dad arrive. Since it is way over in the Animal Kingdom Lodge and we would have to make a trek to get there from any park, we thought we would just drive straight there from our resort making the whole thing easier. Sometimes it is nice to have a car at Disney, but hey that's what they have us for.

I also got a call from my Sistrah, who would love to plan a trip down to Disney World this year as well. Apparently she got to go the Animal Kingdom for a meal at some confernece, but they just marched in, ate, and marched out. I'm not sure if they will be able to come this year because they have all sorts of other things they have to work out (it being her first year in a new job and all). But I'm hoping they can come this fall. First of all, four words: Food and Wine Festival. Second, the weather will finally be turning nice again in mid October though early November. Lastly, that would allow us to get the best use of our annual passes this year and then we could not renew them again to save a little money next year. Who knows, we will just have to wait and find out.

Grievous

Not much going on here. I've been doing a little (uninspired) work on the website, and some work on a presentation for the nature center. Although Katie did call me earlier to tell me about a show about dogs, training, etc. so that was super cool (and I'm totally watching it right now)! I don't have anything else so, it is time for more all Bleys, all the time.

Today's installment: Pitiful Puppy.

Watchful

I don't really have much to say. Feelin' lonely without Roland, so I'll just leave you with more cuteness.

Undeniable

Welp, I just dropped Roland off at the airport. Boo hiss. He is heading out to Las Vegas to help with a gaming industry convention thing. The good thing? His trip is mostly free. The bad thing? I couldn't go with him. Well, I suppose that might be a good thing for him. He will be spending a lot of time sitting at a booth, but he's also got plans to see Blue Man Group I think. I hope he has a good time and buys me a present!

So the pup and I are on our own for a while. Before Roland left we were hanging out on the porch and we snapped some nice photos. There were quite a few nice ones so get ready for the Week of Bleys.






Holy crapulence that is one cute dog.

I didn't make that up

I think this is a yellow bellied sap sucker (female), but it wasn't willing to let me get any closer. It's a little hard to see in the picture below, but if you embiggen it or, even better, look on my flickr version you can see it a bit better.

Devil Fruit

Roland and I went on a dinner date this evening and tried out a new restaurant called Sweet Tomatoes. It is a buffet style restaurant with a huge salad section with both prepared salads and a large build your own portion. There was a build-a-baked-potato bit and 8 or so soups. There was a pasta section and even a soft serve ice cream station. They also allow you to pay one price for your beverage, but you can switch beverages at any time (soda with the meal and coffee with dessert? - No problem). This month they were featuring dishes with lemon and there was a tasty lemon mousse that was light, airy, and delicious.

It was very tasty and I enjoyed it a great deal. Their signage is also very vegetarian friendly (they tell you which dishes are vegetarian right at the buffet) and there were a lot of options, so when Anne comes to visit I'm going to suggest we eat there.

Pods

So for some reason I can't discern, a while ago, I began to want poached eggs. I thought about getting a pan, but what I really wanted was for Calphalon (the kind of pans we have) to make an insert that would fit in one of the pans we already own. Negative Earth Bird. However, Roland found a super alternative. Very handy and heat safe to a whopping 675 degrees - you can even bake in them! I tried one out this morning and I'm impressed. The egg was cooked perfectly, with a little spray of olive oil before adding the egg it came out with no problem, and clean up was a breeze (also dishwasher safe). The folks that make these also have some other interesting and sometimes odd food related silicone items.

Beat

Roland recently joined the university gym and has been attending fairly regularly. Go Roland! When he joined he received a free guest pass so that I could try out the place free once. We took the opportunity to use it today. It is a nice facility! Very airy and clean, lots of cardio equipment, a pool, basketball and racquetball courts, even a rock climbing wall! I thought I didn't want to join up since all I really need is a treadmill and there is supposed to be one available in the gym here at the apartment complex. However, it has been over 9 months since the treadmill has functioned and over 6 since they closed the gym for remodeling. Some progress has been made, but I don't see an end in sight and it's getting to the time of year that I give up on my daily walks altogether due to the heat. Then at the gym I felt very out of shape, but really good about doing something about it. Then there is the drive. Will I really drive that far to go to the gym? I really don't know. I want to think I would, but I just don't know.

International Man of Mystery

Jason, my resident computer expert has fled the country. He is over in Germany for the week doing...something. I know it's for work, but past that I'm really not sure. He called the day before he left and we chatted for a while about things he might want to know about Germany and some simple German phrases that might come in handy (don't worry Henry I included "Ein grosses Bier, bitte"). While we were talking he mentioned possibly blogging from over yonder, which I thought would be awesome. So, Jason, here is one vote for blogging about your trip! Please?

Bat

It got a little chilly here last night and this morning and consequently some of the indiginous insect life was a little sluggish. I found this ba-giant dragonfly on the landing outside our apartment. It didn't (couldn't) move so I ran back in and got my camera. I would guess that it was around 9cm long!



I kind of like this picture even if it is a little out of focus.

Monkey

Anne challenged me (ok so she may have challenged everyone, but she's my sister, so I take it seriously) to beat her top score. So, now can you beat mine?

Direction

Do you need a little pick me up? Something to make you smile? I recommend a healthy dose of Disapproval. Featured on Cute Overload and other sites...good stuff.

Step

Woot, the senate has passed a bill aimed at the horrible-ness that is animal fighting.

I know it would have been funny

Like most of the plants down here I don't know what this shrub is, but it's pretty. I would guess that it should have been trimmed more and kept at a smaller size (which also probably would have kept is a little fuller) so as not to overwhelm the tree lawn, but the contrast of the leaves and flowers is nice.

Life out of Balance

Interesting

Dance

Joy is finding socks that aren't too big.

Better

I think I was right. This type of tree looks better with a blue sky background, although this isn't the same specimen used in the other photograph. More contrast I suppose, and because yellow and blue are complimentary. Perhaps the other photo would look interesting in black and white...or are the yellow of the tree and gray of the sky too close in density? I also like the splash of green in the corner of this picture.

Vengeance

Another bird that let me get very close was this little blue heron. It was so beautiful, and it's bill was iridescent blue. Maybe it's because blue is so rare in nature (birds, flowers, and such), but it just catches your eye when it does occur.




I think this is one of my favorite pictures that I've taken.

Natural 20

Ok, so someone liked my picture of a husky at the dog park on flickr. So I trotted over to check out their pictures and found this!

Glide

I don't know what was going on, but I managed to get really close to some birds the other day. This was a great blue heron that was a little leery of me, but more interested in fishing in the shallow water.


And then a closer shot of the bird.

At Play

Bleys and I headed over to the dog park again yesterday. It was a good time and there were lots of dogs for Bleys to hang with. Here are some pictures I took whilst watching.

A group of dogs decided that it was pretty sunny and maybe some time in the shade would be in order.


But they couldn't stay in one place for long and they began to spread out again.


Wait for me...I'm coming too!


This big fella was very interested in Bleys and followed him around for a long time.


I really liked this old guy. Totally devoted to the tennis ball, and his person.

Pop

I saw a cool plant on the way to the dog park the other day. I was part of some landscaping in front of a gated community. I really liked the contrast between the older red foliage and the new bright green leaves.


I still don't dig red mulch though. Plus in this case it actually detracts from the plant. If the mulch was, well, dirt colored the red leaves would then contrast with the ground making a more striking display.

Aware

People have been commenting (on my blog and on the phone) that they enjoy seeing the area where we live. This (and a hand-me-down pocket sized camera from my parents) has encouraged me to take more pictures and post them here for those people to enjoy. I've also noticed that having the camera and thinking about taking pictures has helped me get my eyes off the sidewalk in front of my feet and looking around...



...well most of the time.


The first picture is just a median along the road I generally walk along in the mornings, although It's getting to the time of year when I just can't do it anymore. The second picture is of a butterfly wing that was on the sidewalk. A little weird because, clearly, some butterfly somewhere isn't doing very well, but the contrast struck me.

A little bit more

Jeepers I woke up tired today. My whole body feels like I forgot to breathe all last night while I was sleeping. I ate some breakfast and felt a little better, but I'm still feeling very slow and heavy. In nice news Roland is staying home today. He had his last legal writing class last week (although he still has ethics classes until the end of the semester) so he doesn't have classes today. That, plus the fact that he actually get a better/faster internet connection here than in his office, means he is working from home today. Yay for working from home! It's so nice to have him here. We can eat lunch together and I have someone to talk to.

Overcast

Being spring here in Flordia a lot of the trees are in bloom. Here is another cool one that is near our building at the complex.


I thought the shape of this tree was interesting too. I don't know if they trimmed it at a crucial point or if there used to be another tree above it, but it does that near 90 degree turn there in the middle.


This is a closer shot of the flowers. I think I would like this picture better if the sky had been clear like in the picture of the pink flowering tree.

Vert

I took this picture because the sheer green-ness of it was mesmerizing as I walked by.

Seeing Blue

Our entire apartment complex is currently in the process of getting new roofs. This has been going on since the beginning of the year. First they took the tiles off of two buildings and put new ones one. Then they started taking the tiles off the rest of the buildings. Today started our turn. They drop the tiles off the roof into a dumpster or truck, so to protect the building where they are dropping things they put up a tarp. So now the view at my computer desk looks like this.



The real down side? They start pretty early in the morning, and being on the top floor, it's nearly impossible to sleep while they are at it.

Promising

As Roland mentioned. My parents are coming down in May and we are going to meet them at Disney World. This will be their first trip to Disney World so I'm am geeked to show them around a place that I think is fun, but worried that they totally won't grok it. Since this is their first trip I'm not sure how much extra stuff we will do (tours and whatnot), but I'm thinking that Roland and I will go diving and we will probably go see La Nouba. The diving allows me to share my hobby with my parents a little bit, so that will be cool. And who knows with my Dad's camera skills maybe we can get a picture?

Cut