Pieka Playing Soccer (aka Lazy Man’s Fetch)
Okay, I know that I am a total dork for videotaping this. By the way, this is Jaime – I don’t want to put any words in my husband’s mouth. 
But I get such a kick out of Pieka’s soccer obsession that I had to share.
To set the video up, I put her in a stay, threw the ball, then released her. So I guess she’s demonstrating that she can hold her stay when balls are thrown, too. If I had more hands, I would have videotaped several throws…she’ll play this for hours!
Bird on a fence post
Did I neglect to mention that it was a large owl? Saturday evening I passed this owl napping on the fence post. We were both quite startled to be next to each other. I drove home, got my camera, and just knew it would be gone! Nope. It saw me coming—flew to the other side of the road and sat there while I took these pix. How cool was that?!!! It actually moved to the driver’s side of the road!!! The photos were taken from inside the van.
Talk about direct eye contact!
Then it flew to my neighbor’s tree. I knew this owl lived in our area—I’d hear it at night. But this is the first time I’ve seen an owl here over 5 years. Julie, you might remember the photos that I sent you of Hootie.
Major Tom and the Butterfly
Major Tom came by for a visit on Friday. Michelle, you are safe—my one-handed pix came out OK. Tom must have been interested in our conversation because he didn’t run off as usual.
This is Tom’s version of hide-and-seek—I guess this means that the photo session is over. I try not to stay longer than I am welcome. By now Julie is probably making a note to go hide in the grass the next time I visit!
Also had a visit from a butterfly:
Discovery
I’ve decided that I do not like standing in my field at midnight to take pix of the shuttle. It was way too dark tonight. I couldn’t see a darn thing—especially the fire ants that were chewing on me. The launch wasn’t as spectacular because of low clouds. Usually the sky lights up like daylight here, but not tonight.
This is two shots combined. I used the moon for focus. It was actually behind me for the shuttle shot.
This is when the rocket boosters separate from the shuttle. After this, there is just a little white dot in the sky and the boosters drop into the ocean.
Bugs
No Kayla, no deer, no turkeys. Now I’m down to bugs!
This fuzzy guy on the fence caught my eye. It wasn’t until later that I noticed that he had friends.
I was focused on the drop of water—do you see that pesky little jumping spider in the background? I hate those guys! They are very tiny and way too fast. I did not see it at all when taking this shot: