Butterfly Cookie

Similar to concretions are cookies with rock hard decorations.
Tasty delicious, though.
Better than hematite.

Hematite Concretions?

These heavy metallic blobs keep turning up in my yard as heavy rains wash away exposed dirt.
Googling has turned up hematite concretions as the most likely ID, after a wild-goose-chase with manganese nodules.
They are non-magnetic.
First chance I get I'll have one band-sawed in half to see the inside detail, but I doubt I'll find anything different from the fragment of a larger one on the right--although it suggests that they might be hollow. I doubt it, though.

I like using words like concretion and nodule. Makes me sound smart.

Hibiscus Blossom

A rare sunny day yields a flower photo for the start of summer.

Corpus Christi Leftovers

A fishing boat at the marina.

A seagull that seems enamored by a boogie-boarder.

A vertical version of a previous favorite. I like the extra boardwalk at the bottom and the closer view of the buildings compared to the horizontal.

Highway bridge across the port's ship channel.
Looking closely, you can see ships and a refinery in the background.
The Aquarium is in the foreground.
My favorite exhibit was the otters.

Gecko Dinner Party

I used to have dozens of reptile pets but now have none. Watching them live their lives was fascinating and entertaining to me, and I miss it.
So watching the turkish geckos who live on our patio (and front porch) is something I enjoy on many evenings, and have even moved the light so their antics can be seen from our couch.
I have discovered that just like a cat they will chase a laser's red dot up and down the walls endlessly, snapping at it as if the red dot is a tasty insect dinner.

On this particular night the one in the center caught a large moth attracted by the light (that's why they hang around porch lights) and within seconds the other two came running, trying to steal a meal.
Failing that, they would nip at the winner's tail. I don't know if they did that because these geckos twitch their tails when hunting--causing a natural predatory response--or if they are just little pricks to each other sometimes.
Fighting for territory is normal, so maybe that's what was going on.

The color variation seen here is normal, and is caused by a variety of factors.
Many reptiles will darken to absorb more heat from the sun, then lighten as they reach optimum operational temperatures.
Being mostly nocturnal, the turkish gecko may be using color as camoflage since the ones closest to the light are usually the lightest in color--to blend into the wall better--or it may be about temperature after all.

New Dollar Coins

The US Mint tried dollar coins with the Susan B. Anthony version, but people complained that they were too close to the size of the quarter, which confused people.
I guess they would lose $.75 on some transactions, but that never happened to me.

The Sacajawea dollars were bigger and gold colored like these, but they didn't really catch on with the public either.

The popularity of the 50 State Quarter Series gave the Mint confidence that by releasing the new dollars with all of the President's faces on them, the public will embrace them and collect them.
Maybe so, but they are barely bigger than a quarter again so John Q. Public-Idiot will get confused and complain, mark my words.