The Sun

All three of my pets are sun worshippers and the second the door opens in the morning they are out enjoying the yard.  Although Lacy sometimes chooses to eat before heading out.  A couple of days ago I got a couple pictures of the dogs in the morning and then forgot I took them till I was uploading pictures last night.

Vegas:

Memphis (this is the reason he has a very trim waist):

Funny Faces

Vegas is very expressive when she hears different noises.  Yesterday I filmed and took pictures of her while I made funny noises.

Here is Vegas as a normal, cute as a button, puppy.

Now I start making different sounds and she listens for them.

Now the film, yes that is me making those noises.

Sun through the Trees

This evening I took the dogs for a walk in the park.  The evening started with seeing a new animal near the donkeys, a adorable black and white cat.  I was a little worried because despite the dogs being only a couple feet from her, she did not move.  After putting the dogs in the car at the end of the walk I checked her again and she was very sweet and friendly, also very pregnant.  I would have brought her home but between not having the first clue on what to do with a pregnant cat, low finances, a dog that "loves" cats, and a cat that despises other cats I decided against it.  So instead I left a message with animal control about a cat in the park.

She reminded me of Lacy, since she was black and white with long fur, she also had the same sweet and delicate sounding meow that Lacy possesses.  She also has Lacy's evil glare.

Since I was walking at sunset I took the opportunity to take pictures of the sun through the trees.

This is one of my favorite spots of the trail because it is always nice and cool when there is water in the creek.

I have this thing for the light spots that show up in pictures.  I find them pretty cool.

I thought with the sun on this field that it looked like wheat but it is actually white wild flowers.

This is a new plant that has started growing.  It is pretty cool looking.

This is one of the loudest spots on the trail, between the bugs and the birds that talk back and forth to each other across the field.

Vegas Baby!

When I visit my parents' house Vegas tends to be a bit more social and stays in the living room during the evening.  One evening I took pictures of her being super relaxed.  When she is feeling mellow she barely moves and just soaks in the attention of who ever is sitting next to her at the time.

Oliver and the squirrels

When I was home mother's day weekend, my mom and I looked out one afternoon and saw my kitten, Oliver watching a couple of squirrels in the front yard.  Ollie is now 15 years old and only really hunts lizards anymore as witnessed by the hummingbird also in the picture and at one time Ollie's favorite snack. 

Sleep

I have had a horrible case of insomnia three nights in a row.  I go to bed early thinking I will be fine and then most nights it is between 5 and 6 in the morning before I finally fall asleep.  This leads to sleeping late which just makes things worse.  So yesterday afternoon I decided I was not going to bed until THIS evening in the hope that I will be so exhausted that I can fall asleep early. 

I have only done this two other times in my life.  The first time it was by accident.  I was reading fan fiction in my dorm room my freshman year of college, it was a long story and when I looked up at one point I noticed the sun was rising so I just stayed up.  I made it till about 7:00 that evening before I could not move anymore.  Most the time when I stay up to late it is because I was reading.  I hate to stop reading a story; last night I took advantage of staying up late to read a 47 chapter fan fiction story I had been meaning to read.  It was a bit of a disappointment though. 

The second time I stayed up all night was last summer.  I was attempting to fix my screwed up sleep patterns, however I pretty much just laid around the house all day and still ended up going to bed after midnight. 

My plan this time was to stay up but also stay active so that I would never be tempted to nap.  So far so good, in fact I have already had a amazing day and it is only now 11:00AM.  I waited till light and then I took the dogs for a leisurely walk through the park.  We were just going to do one lap but the weather was so nice and the walk so refreshing that I decided to walk a second lap (different trail).  I took my camera along and I got some beautiful shots.

First up is some of the wild flowers.  They are different from the early spring wild flowers which were mostly small yellow flowers and blue bonnets.

Though some very small blue bonnets do remain.

I love thistles but I have not had one close enough to the trail to get a picture of until today.  I was also not as worried about snakes since it was pretty cold.

I would love to know what this one is called.  They were all black or dark purple bells and I think they were just opening.  They appeared to be attached to a vine but I am not sure since they are letting the park grow wild.

The pond was beautiful this morning, with the recent rain everything was deep greens.

We crossed Memphis' bridge twice and both times he went crazy for the water.  It is really impressive after a good rain.  I even saw a crane in the creek below but it flew off before I could get a picture.

More flowers...

Okay now this flower I started noticing about a week ago, the white flowers are larger and a deeper white than the other white flowers and then when I got close today I also noticed it was COVERED in spikes.  I am glad I make a point not to touch anything.

The sky was incredible when we were finishing off the first lap.  I took probably 50 pictures alone of just the sky through the trees.

A line of the pecan trees leading to my favorite tree which I will show a close up of in a bit.

I always forget to take a picture of this tree which is at the start of our walks in the park.  I think its roots are a work of art.

More flowers...

This is it my favorite tree in the entire park.  I think it is amazing that even though it is touching the ground it is still going strong.

Crossing one of the little bridges.  Everything was very calm and serene in the park.

After I put the dogs in the car (they were VERY tired), I got out and visited the donkeys.  Poco was feeling a bit shy so I was not able to get any good shots of him, but Memphis' pal (the little donkey) was feeling very friendly.

He is also pretty photogenic.  "This side is my best side."

After the walk we headed to Chick-Fil-A so I could pick up some breakfast.  There was a line in the drive through so I took a few quick picks of the puppies. 

Poor Memphis was extremely tired.

Vegas decided to sit with me in the front rather than in her normal seat in the back.  I don't know if I have ever mentioned on here but she use to have horrible panic attacks when she had to be in the car.  She still has minor ones on longer trips but taking her on these walks has gotten her to the point that she can ride pretty well.  She even seems excited for a bit, but she is still not like most dogs.

Memphis took advantage of me being stopped to check out the scenery.  The lady that handed me my order, said he was a funny little dog (he rides in the back window most the time).

Vegas on the other hand was told she was the cutest thing.  I don't think she ever tires of the compliments.  She knows she is the cutest thing.

After such a great start this morning I headed to the library to type and do job searches.  Their Internet is sooooo much faster than mine at home is and I get a lot done in the quiet of the library.  If this day continues to go well I may have to start waking up early in the morning for walks with the dogs.

~~~ I currently blame this song for keeping me wired the last few days.  You may recognize it from The Hunger Games.  I adore the song but it energizes me.  I have had to ban listening to it in the evenings.

Moon Tonight

I may have missed the moon last night but tonight it still looks amazing.  I was babysitting this evening and on the way home I looked out the window and saw a beautiful HUGE harvest moon and then when I got home I could not see the moon anymore and thought I had missed it.  I just went outside with the dogs and the moon was just over my house and looked incredible.  The clouds and the moon together looked like a amazing work of art.

Here is the video I shot when I felt pictures were not capturing it enough.

Here are someone of the pictures I took, my camera just does not take the greatest night pictures.

Random Things

So for the last few days I have taken pictures that I planned to post about later but never got around to it, till now.

****First up is Vegas, a couple of days ago I took a couple pictures of Vegas demonstrating the trick she knows best; Shake!

Isn't she talented??

***I have been growing my hair out for the last couple years and have been trying different styles over the last few days.  A couple of nights ago (inspired by The Hunger Games) I tried this braid out.

The next day I decided to try a braid I have done on other people but never on my self and I really liked it.  It held up all day without getting that lose, even working out.

***A few days ago while putting up some clothes I notice three birds sitting on my neighbors roof with their head pointing up towards the sky, by the time I got my camera only one remained.  I thought they were comical.

***I had a big dry erase dot on my pantry door for the last several months and loved it.  When I painted my doors it had to come down and then I had to wait a couple weeks before I could put any dry erase decal back on the door.  Unfortunately my dot tore several times while I tried to remove it but I found this the other day and now I have my memo spot back.  I have dry erase decals everywhere.  I have one for my chore list, one to check off bills, one as a calender, and then this one that serves as a grocery list or packing list.

***I have been wanting to create a babysitting scrapbook for the last year, but have had a little trouble remembering to pick up a scrapbook when they are on sale.  Today I found a pretty pink/red scrapbook and it was my lucky day and the paper was 50% off today as well.  I ended up filling up every page with pictures, drawings, notes, and coloring pages.  Last night when I was printing the pictures I was tearing up a bit.  I know my babysitting days will slowly be coming to a end and I am going to miss those kids so much.  I don't know how nannies can stay with one family for years and then leave.