That’s Why Perhaps They All Wear Chaps…

Photo Information

Taken:	12 May 2007 17:12 at Inks Lake State Park
Camera:	FinePix V10
Exposure:	ISO 64
	6.3mm, 0 EV
	f2.8
	1/450

Backstory

While I’m not a big fan of the prickly pear cactus—I much prefer the ones I call “prickless pears” because of their lack of thorns—I do admire its lush flowers. They are large, abundant, and bright yellow. They are also a micro-ecosystem, full of various life forms. You can see a larger bug of some kind in the topmost flower of this bouquet. Smaller bugs adorn some of the other blooms.

–25 April 2012

What’s Black and White and Red, Just Not All Over

Photo Information

Taken:	12 May 2007 15:34 on a Hiking Trail at Inks Lake State Park
Camera:	Cannon Rebel XT / EF-S 18-55mm lens
Exposure:	ISO 100
	6.3mm, 0 EV
	f2.8
	1/240

Backstory

I spotted this little feller while hiking at Inks Lake State Park. It was making good time across the rocks of the hiking path.

I’m not sure what kind of caterpillar it is. The closest picture I could find wash’t an exact match and was asking for help identifying the critter. The closest identified match was a Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar, but that guy has yellow spots, not red.

Some caterpillars change colors at pupation. Individual differences? A space caterpillar from another planet? If you have a clue, please leave a comment.

–1 April 2012

Springtime in Texas

Photo Information

Taken:	21 March 2007 09:47 at the farm near Cottonpatch, Texas
Camera:	Olympus C200Z
Exposure:	ISO 100
	8.2mm, 0 EV
	f7
	1/320

Backstory

Wouldn’t it be nice if rural life were really like this? Standing around watching the cows eat and the grass grow? <sigh/> It’s really a lot of work.

Nevertheless, I like the dream expressed in this picture. Suna is wearing one of her hand-knitted sweaters. The cows are grazing. The grass is green. All is right with the world.

–20 April 2012

From a Tiny Acorn…

Photo Information

Taken:	20 March 2007 17:01 St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Olympus C200Z
Exposure:	ISO 100
	5.6mm, 0 EV
	f5.6
	1/400

Backstory

This tree should give us some perspective. Not only does it dwarf us physically, baring vandalism as befell the Treaty Oak or acts of God, this tree will out live us all. If we were lucky and lived in a different time, we could feed its roots when we died.

Local tradition has it this oak is more than 2,000 years old. As the church members put it, “It was around when Jesus walked the earth.”

–19 April 2012

Food Fight!

Photo Information

Taken:	27 November 2006 18:32 somewhere in Pasadena, Texas
Camera:	Olympus C200Z
Exposure:	ISO 200
	5.6mm, 0 EV
	f2.8
	1/30

Backstory

Kids will be kids. After putting up a good front for most of the evening, Jim and Roxy broke down at dessert. I don’t remember what it was, but it was red and had lots of icing, some of which graces the end of Jim’s nose.

It’s all fun until someone loses a limb. They both wound up wearing more of the desert than they got to eat. They seemed to have more fun that way, and it was better for their waist lines.

–10 April 2012

The House That Was

Photo Information

Taken:	13 June 2004 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Olympus C200Z
Exposure:	ISO 141
	12.5mm, 0 EV
	f4.1
	1/500

Photo Information

Taken:	18 August 2006 13:52 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Cannon Rebel XT / EF-S 18-55mm lens
Exposure:	ISO 100
	5.6mm, 0 EV
	f5.6
	1/400

Backstory

Long ago—before there was rural electric distribution—people used to live in this house. I never knew them, but Dad grew up on the farm “next door.” This house was the “Gus Turk Place,” named after the landowner. Dad tells stories of how he thought Mrs. Turk was his aunt. When he mentioned it to her one day, she replied, “I’m not?”

The Turks planted those walnut trees to give some shade in the summer. Dad was just a kid then. Now look how tall they are. I’m not sure when the water tank was added. It collected rainwater from the roof that the Turks used for bathing and drinking. Now, it’s a rusted-out hulk, too.

Anyway, I pleaded with him for years after he bought the place to preserve the house. But all he wanted to use it for was a barn. So deferred maintenance eventually took its toll. First, the roof started leaking. Then a large hole collapsed. Finally, the house was no longer usable even as just a barn.

Last year, Chris pushed the house down and buried it.

—25 March 2012

Volunteer Firefighters Battle for Their Neighbors in Granger, Texas

Photo Information

Taken:	November 2005 (embedded date missing) in the 400 Block of East Elm Street, Granger, Texas
Camera:	Olympus C200Z
Exposure:	ISO 263
	10.5mm, 0 EV
	f3.9
	1/60

Photo Information

Taken:	November 2005 (embedded date missing) in the 400 Block of East Elm Street, Granger, Texas
Camera:	Olympus C200Z
Exposure:	ISO 400
	15.7mm, 0 EV
	f4.4
	1/100

Backstory

I can’t think of anything more frightening than a fire at night. And yet there are men and women who volunteer to risk their lives to save their neighbors. That’s right. The men in the lower right corner who are struggling to contain the fire risked their lives out of the goodness of their hearts.

There was no way for them to put the fire out, short of letting it consume its fuel. Hundred-year-old pine burns too hot and fast. Standing more than a block away for no longer than it took to snap a few pictures of these heroes, my face got the equivalent of a mild sunburn. Imagine what these guys experienced as they fought the blaze for hours.

The fire destroyed the house in which it started and damaged the house next door to the point that both had to be bulldozed.

–8 April 2012