Gotta Clean House!

A huge beetle that I later learned was an Ox had crash-landed on the patio. Trying to get a decent photo of it at night meant using my big flash in one hand and a camera in the other.
Getting a good focus-lock wasn't easy, especially since the big bastard kept walking towards me, cruising right through my selected depth-of-focus.
Taking the "shotgun" approach I made as many exposures as possible before the mosquitoes stung my ass up for good and drove me back inside.
Imagine my surprise and delight at finding this photo that not only had the best focus on the Ox Beetle but also included one of those suck-up pillbugs and a mosquito frozen in flight by the flash.

It seems strange to me that there aren't any big snails here, yet I have no trouble finding plenty of them a few miles away in the yards of family and friends.
I guess they just haven't made their way this far northwest yet.


We're going to South Padre Island again, and not only will this be the longest visit ever but I also have three times the camera memory as last year and a few other surprises.
It's looking like the photo-trip to end all photo-trips so far.
When you consider how many posts got squeezed out of a mere 21 hours in Corpus Christi recently you can probably count on seeing seagulls and sunsets until November.
Sorry.

I think i just jinxed myself. Either catastrophic equipment failure or a freak hurricane are waiting for me.

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.