Monday, July 9, 2007

Check out the Neighborhood

Time sure flys when you're having fun. What else can I say, I guess I have been having fun, It is already July 9 and I have not written since June 30. But I thought a lot, that should count for something. A little girl named Luz has been keeping me pretty busy.(see earlier post, or weblog at http://www.luzestephanie.blogspot.com/ ).
My recent rides have been keeping me closer to home. It is amazing what you will find if you just slow down and look around. These are some of the photos I took on a short 17 mile ride areound home.
How many people are lucky enough to have a peacock or two in their neighborhood? The colors are tremendous. This fella was just sitting there watching me pedal by. As I turned around to catch this photo I saw another one in a building lot. But don't start thinking that having these beautiful birds as neighbors is a neat thing. Have you ever heard the cry of a peacock? The first time I heard one it scared the bejeebers out of me.(is that a word, bejeebers?). They sound like a cry for help. And they are very loud. I am thinking that I might better enjoy the company of a Pantree Chicken, in the next photo. I'm not really sure what kind of bird this is but you see them all over, usually in pastures and many times sitting on the backs of cattle picking flies off them. We named them after a restaurant that was formerly in Valrico. A club, of which I was a member, had a weekly meeting at the restaurant and nine times out of ten chicken was the meal of the day. I used to kid the owner about going across the street to catch his chickens, referring to these birds. At least they are quiet, and they do a good job of picking bugs from your lawn. My favourite are the Sandhill Cranes, seen below, in a neighbors yard. Of course they are also noisy, but not like the peacocks. They move so majestically and are fairly common around here.














The photo at the right is from our own backyard. A Lady Cardinal trying to pickout just the right sunflower seed. Of course, no photo layout would be complete without one of my best friend, Jack.

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