Hot Rod or Motorcycle?

Doug and I took a road trip at the end of May, to visit Cousin Bill's widow, Anita. We hadn't seen her since Bill died a year and a half ago. The only photos I took that day were from the car as we drove the two and a half hours each way.

These first pictures are of an odd-looking vehicle that we passed on the highway. It had three wheels and was pulling a small trailer. 

The license plate on the vehicle itself bore a handicap emblem.

Please excuse the next photo. I wouldn't normally post one of such poor quality, but it was the only shot I could get of the front. I took the picture through the outside rearview mirror on the passenger side of our car, as we passed him.

The next two were taken from the passenger seat, through the driver's side window, as he passed us.

The final picture in this post is of a cloud formation that caught our eye on our way home that evening.

Red Admiral Butterfly

Doug spotted this beautiful butterfly on one of our bushes this afternoon. I'm not knowledgeable about butterflies, but I submitted a photo of this one to http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/. They got back to me shortly with the identification. It's a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

It's not a rare type of butterfly, by any stretch of the imagination; but we couldn't remember having seen one before. According to the information on the website, Red Admirals prefer sap flows on trees, fermenting fruit, and bird droppings; visiting flowers only when these are not available. Then they will nectar at common milkweed, red clover, aster, and alfalfa, among others.

 

I guess this one couldn't find any tasty bird droppings today.

 

Invisible

We found this little guy hiding in the grass in our back yard yesterday. His mama must have told him that, if he didn't move, he was invisible. We got quite close to him without his moving so much as to twitch an ear or blink an eye. Maybe he thought he was safe behind that leaf.

This morning, I saw several rabbits that size flitting around in our yard and the neighbors'. They're fast, man.

It's been a rough week for us, especially for Doug. There were two trips to the emergency room, one by ambulance on Monday and the other in the car driven by me on Tuesday. They found a kidney stone on the second trip and removed it Wednesday afternoon. He came home Thursday night. Then we had to go back to the emergency room last night because the pain was getting bad again. This time, they sent him home with some oral medication for the pain. So far, so good today.

 

  

Graduation

Fifty-five years ago, my brother, Phil, graduated from high school.

This is Phil, in his graduation robe, standing in front of our house. That's our mom on the porch.

Phil's Senior Picture

Last week, Phil's first grandson, my great-nephew, Curtis, graduated from high school. Phil died in an auto accident, when his children, Beckie and Dave, were only five and two, respectively. So Phil never got to see his own children grow up, get married, and have families of their own. But I did. And I know he'd be "bustin' his buttons" with pride to see them now.

On Curtis' Graduation Night

Left to right: Curtis' maternal grandmother; his brother, Carson; his mom, Katrina; Curtis; his brother, Cooper; and his dad, Dave.

That's Dave's sister, Beckie, between Carson and Curtis.

These pictures, above and below, are Curtis' senior pictures.

(Photo credit to Signature Portrait Studio, Winona Lake, Indiana)

He's grown into a young man who makes his family very proud.

Storm Clouds and Sunset

We were blessed with a gorgeous sunset tonight. I'm posting a series of photos taken between 9:00 PM and 9:30 PM. None of these have been tweaked in any way.

The above image was taken while looking east, away from the setting sun, and wondering about the strange cloud/light formation over the Amish farm.

The photo above is taken looking to the north.

To God be the glory!

Cedar Waxwings

While spending a beautiful afternoon at Ouabache State Park on Thursday, we saw several Cedar Waxwings flitting around. With all the leaves on the trees now, it's very hard to get photographs of them. But, we soon realized that a pair of them had a nest in a tree, almost directly above us. (Indirectly enough, however, that we were safe from falling...ahem...you get the picture.)

Hope you enjoy these little beauties as much as we did.

Dragonflies

These are some pictures of dragonflies that I captured last year on one of our visits to Ouabache State Park. I haven't had a chance to get photos of them yet this year. Our spring has been on the cool side; and, although I've seen a few buzzing around, they don't seem to be out in abundance yet.

Male Calico Pennant

Male Halloween Pennant

Male Halloween Pennant

Male Calico Pennant