Lovely Lady

Have you ever noticed that it's almost impossible to take a poor picture of a giraffe?  

They are one of the most photogenic animals I have ever encountered.  

Every photo I take beckons me to take more.

This one was snapped at Wildlife World in Arizona last January.

Looking for a Handout

It Must Have Been Something I Ate

Mandrill

Phoenix Zoo

When Your Nose Itches ...

... you just gotta scratch it!

Caption This

Okay, blogger buddies, let's see which one of you can come up with the wittiest caption for this photo.  I snapped this one on a recent trip to the big flea market in Canton, Texas.  I had about three different captions in mind but couldn't decide, so that's where you come in.  I love reading your comments on my "caption this" posts.  Go for it!

38/100 Dogs ~ Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog

The Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog or Catahoula Cur is an American breed named after Catahoula Parish in Louisiana.  It is believed to be the oldest breed in this hemisphere second only to Native-American created breeds.  It is also called the Catahoula Hound or Catahoula Leopard Hound, although it is a cur rather than a true hound.  Other names it is known by include Catahoula Hog Dog or Catahoula Pig Dog, reflecting its traditional use in hunting wild boar.  It is a popular breed in this area of Texas due to our proximity to Louisiana and the high incidence of feral hogs.  This good-looking guy belongs to a neighbor, but I do not know his name (the dog's name, that is; I know the neighbor's name).  He is getting rather old and these days his bark is bigger than his bite!

Cotton-Top Tamarin

Yesterday I drove about 50 miles south to visit the Ellen Trout Zoo, a small-city zoo in Lufkin.  They had a nice selection of animals, but it was another HORRIBLE photography day for me.  If I tell you this was the best photo I took out of about 180 and it was taken through a wire cage, then maybe you'll understand.  I spent quite a bit of time dodging and burning trying to get rid of the wire horizontal lines in the picture, and considering what I started with I'm pretty pleased with this one.  The wires are still visible but they're not really intrusive.  This little guy was just so darned cute I couldn't resist the photo!  The tamarins are among the smallest of the primates, weighing generally under one pound!  The cotton-tops are only found in the northwestern forested areas of Colombia in South America.  The problem with the zoo was the lighting (I have to blame my inadequacy on something).  The entire facility is bathed in wonderful shade, looking much like a tropical forest.  However, yesterday the sun was very intense and bright and penetrated the "forest" in little dabs all over the place, so I don't think I got more than 10 photos that weren't half shadow, half bright light.  Maybe I can make a return trip on a cloudy day next fall or winter where I don't have to deal with streaks of sunlight through all my photos!

Obsessed with Butterflies

Resting Colt

Remember those less than great pictures I told you about yesterday?  Here are some examples, but converting to black and white can actually cover up a lot of flaws!

One of Those Days

Today was just one of those days.  I decided to go on a short road trip (under 75 miles round trip) and I didn't have a good feeling as I started out.  It was one of those days when it was hot, not a cloud in the sky, but not a blue sky either.  One of those gray/white skies that just said I'll bleach out everything you shoot.  But as the day progressed my hopes soared.  Some of that yucky sky disappeared and was replaced with brilliant blue with fluffy white clouds.  I traveled about eight miles up the road to Timpson, the site of a 4.3 earthquake early Thursday a.m. (our house shook violently but no other problems).  There was damage to some 100-plus-year-old buildings but I couldn't see it.  I did manage to shoot a couple of pics of "old things" since photography club challenge this month is "old."  I was disappointed to find that an old Victorian house which sported an original iron gate with hitching posts for horses and a cannon in the front yard had been torn down and was just a pile of rubble.

From there I went over to Logansport, Louisiana, where I wanted to drive down to the Sabine River.  Upon arriving I noticed a Ferris wheel on one bank of this wide river that marks the boundary between Texas and Louisiana.  As I got further into town, there was a throng of people.  I never figured out what was going on but it was something more than a simple carnival.  I couldn't even get below the bridge to go down to the river.  So I headed back toward home but decided to take an unknown side road that said Toledo Bend, a lake of 185,000 acres,  the largest man-made body of water in Texas, the largest in the South, and the fifth largest in surface area in the United States.  I never found the lake but I found a small herd of horses, which welcomed me up to their fence.  I took about 30 pictures of friendly mares and curious colts and decided to call the day a success after all.  I was so excited!  When I finally returned home and uploaded the pictures they were  my all crap, weird expressions on the horses' faces, that washed-out sky, crazy colors.  I might be able to retrieve three or four of them.  Probably the best picture of the day is the above shot.  At least I got a good laugh!

Hope your  days are bright and sunny and filled with beautiful rivers and frisky colts.

Don't Step on My Toes

37/100 Dogs ~ Bella ~ German Shepherd Dog Pup

Bella was about six months old when this picture was taken.

Barn Near Yantis, Texas

Yantis, Population 321

Pelican Love

I'm fascinated with pelicans, both the brown variety and these American whites.  I've never seen American whites in the wild but I'm still hoping.  Along the Gulf Coast and the waterways of the South most of us are familiar with brown pelicans.  These photos were taken, of all places, at the Phoenix Zoo during my visit there earlier this year.

American white pelicans are huge birds.  They have a wing span of up to 10 feet, the second largest North American bird, only outmeasured by the California condor.  Males generally weigh around 20 pounds but are known to top the scales at 30.  The "horn" on the beak is only prominent during mating season.

To show their relative size in perspective, here is a white pelican among a flock of flamingos.  The flamingos are literally dwarfed by this giant.

Caption This

Okay, all you witty people.  Let's see who can write a great caption for this silly picture.  This was on a street in Canton, Texas, outside a shop which sells oversized pottery.

Who Me?

36/100 Dogs ~ West Highland Terrier

Lott Home ~ Mineola, Texas

This beautiful Southern prairie-style home was built in approximately 1918 by a prominent Mineola (pronounced minnie-OH-la) businessman.    Today there are two cottages, Miss Vivian's Canning Room and the Garden Gate Cottage, that are available as a bread and breakfast venue in this sweet little East Texas town of 5,611 residents.

Hopkins County Courthouse (No. 16) - Part 2

The interior of the Hopkins County Courthouse in Sulphur Springs echoes the design of the exterior, incorporating the arches used profusely in the construction.  I was surprised at how small the interior seemed after having encountered the massive exterior of the building.  However, a central staircase providing access to the upper floors probably consumes a great deal of the interior space.  Several county offices are still housed in this building.  The stone-tiled floor above is original; however the color of some of the small tiles are brighter than others, leading one to believe that the floor was repaired to retain the original craftsmanship rather than being replaced.

Exposed arched corrugated iron panels form the ceiling of the first floor.  These panels fit in between iron beams and were used to support the weight of the concrete used for the floors in the second story.  Bare concrete is used for flooring in office areas on the second and third floors and on the exterior porticoes and porches.  Unfortunately I did the bulk of my research on this building AFTER my trip, and that's when I learned that had I continued up the staircase I would have found a black iron spiral staircase that extends up to a hinged skylight in the tower which allowed hot air to vent out through the tower, an early form of air-conditioning in the warm Texas climate.  I doubt very seriously I would have been allowed to continue all the up to the tower, but I might  have tried!

Detail of one of the pink granite and red sandstone carved columns at one entrance of the courthouse.  It looks like some plumbing work is being done in this area.

And now for a final look at this grand old dame!

 Isn't she beautiful?

I have come to learn that the architect of this wonderful old courthouse also designed several others in Texas, and they are definitely on my list of places to visit in this great state!  Many of you commented in yesterday's post that when I made a return trip I would be able to see and compare, etc., etc.  This was over a 300-mile round trip to just to photograph this building so I'm not sure there will be a second trip and I can't imagine that I will find myself back in the area since it is off the beaten track from the area where I live.

Hopkins County Courthouse - No. 16

Last week I embarked upon a daylong road trip in order to see and photograph one of the most beautiful courthouses in Texas.  I drove to Sulphur Springs, 150 miles north of where I live, to the Hopkins County Courthouse.  And what did I find when I arrived?  This scene - a huge construction project all around this beautiful  building!  I was immensely disappointed.  I had so looked forward to getting up close and personal with this structure but that was not to be.  Only one of the two entrances to the courthouse remained open and the grounds were completely off limits to any kind of pedestrian traffic, for obvious safety reasons.  Only a few minor repairs were being made to the building, which was fully restored in 2003, but the construction of a new veterans memorial is in the works, and if it looks anything like the architect's rendering which I later found on the Internet, this historic building will be surrounded by a gorgeous park with flowers, fountains, and a rather modern memorial to the veterans of Hopkins County.

Built in 1894 of pink granite and red sandstone, the architect designed the structure with a clock tower but the county officials of that day refused to appropriate the funds for the clock.  To this day there is not one.

I think from this photo you can get an appreciation of the craftsmanship of the masons who built this courthouse.  I love the checkerboard design of the granite and sandstone and the arches along the porticoes.  Can you see the striations in the sandstone in the ached panels?  In the lower center is a cartouche heralding the year of her birth, 1894.

Artisan masons were given some free rein in carving faces in various exterior points of the courthouse and I had really looked forward to photographing those, but because I could not get on the grounds that was not possible.

Tomorrow I'll show you a couple of photos of the interior.

The Wacky Things I Saw in Canton

A giant ice cream cone

A wacky lady who sells bawdy T-shirts (and wears them!)

Lots of vintage signs and lots of junk

And I couldn't resist this one, just to creep you out a little more than the previous post.

She/he/it came in her/his/its own carrying case.

And if you're not interested, there's always a garden rake or two.

 And, yes, Magpie, they have kettle corn!

For those of you who may be new to my blog, you may have seen where I refer to First Monday Trade Days as possibly the oldest flea market in the country, and some even say the world.  It all started in the 1850s when the circuit judge stopped in Canton, Texas, on the first Monday of each month to hold court.  People from the surrounding area came to the courthouse square to watch the proceedings and take care of their business.  Many brought their own goods to sell or trade, including produce, farm equipment and livestock.  It was common to see wild horses which had been rounded up for sale on trade day.  Canton's First Monday earned a statewide reputation as the best place to buy a good horse or to swap a horse with another owner.  During this period the event was commonly referred to as Hoss Monday.

In the 1940s, as the tractor became commonplace and the need for horses declined, hog and dog trading became popular.  Buyers came from surrounding states to purchase the finest cholera-free pigs sold anywhere.  First Monday became the place to find a good hunting dog.  Dog trading became so popular that many began referring to First Monday as Dog Monday.  Even today Dog Alley is known as the area where one can buy, barter or trade all kinds of poultry, dogs and cats, goats, llamas, horses and pigs and rabbits, frogs and turtles. 

Body Parts

Tomorrow bright and early I'm off to First Monday Trade Days in Canton, possibly the nation's oldest flea market.  Trade Days is always held the weekend before the first Monday of the month, and since this coming Monday is May 7th, that means Trade Days is now!  When I do grocery shopping I often stop and take a peek at what other shoppers have put in their carts and I have wild ideas of why they bought what they did,  Sweet potatoes, pork ribs, ice cream, rye bread, lemon Jello, beets, and salsa.  What in the world are they planning to make with that combination.  This is the way I felt last month at Trade Days when I passed this cart with legs sticking up in the air, a torso with no arms, an old picture frame, etc.  So far I haven't been able to come up with a recipe of how these items may meld into something intriguing.  Maybe you can!

Hay Season ~ Part 2

 Part 1 in the last post showed our meadow being mowed.  Today the raker and the baler arrived on scene.
You may have seen those circular spoked discs being hauled down the highway (if you live in farm country, that is).  This is the tractor attachment that's used to rake the dry hay into horizontal columns so it can be picked up by the baler.

Behind the raker comes the baler.  These guys work as a team.  Many farmers own their own equipment.  They save a lot of money not having to hire someone to rake and bale but it probably takes them three times longer to get the job done.  In the photo above you can see how the raker has raked the dry grass into long piles.

A lot of dust (and pollen) gets thrown up during this process, especially by the raker.  I'm sure I'll have a couple sneezing fits tonight!

And at just the magic moment when the baler has picked up the proper amount of hay, the driver stops, opens the tail and out poops a perfectly formed round bale of hay (sorry for the graphic language but that's what I think of it as, pooping hay!), tied with string and wrapped with plastic.  Farm equipment has come a long way, baby!  My grandfather plowed this same land with a mule.  He was a crop farmer rather than a cattle rancher so I'm sure he never had to worry about cutting hay. 

This whole process took about 20 minutes for our 15-acre meadow and we harvested three and a half bales of hay!  Last year we didn't even have a cut until June and we only realized one bale!  If we fertilized our meadow we'd probably get twice the amount of hay but we're not in the hay business and our lessor has it cut for us just to keep the place looking nice.