Tag: west texas

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #847…Hints of Red

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Having moved from Southwest Texas to North Central Texas, we really went from one extreme to another. We moved almost as far from one corner of the state to the other. From the Rio to the Red.

One of the pleasures has been the actual slow approach of fall. We seem to really have a fall. Well. as much as one could expect in Texas. Southwest Texas always seemed like to shift from hot to a week or two of comfortable coolness and then wham, a “blue norther” would blow in and every leaf went from green to dead.

I am relaxing with the slowness of North Central Texas. We are closer to East Texas and people just move at a slower pace. I have a theory that it has a little to do with how mother nature moves. I think the people, like the leaves, grow to reflect that movement.

So, I am enjoying the slowness of the coming of Winter and getting to rest in the reassurance of slow change.  Green to red is much nicer than green to dead. I trust that it works with humans as well as leaves!

None the less, I am getting the fireplace ready for use…†…monos en theos…jim

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #722 – HELTER SKELTER!

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It amazes me how quick our vision of what is going on can all change so quick. A couple of days ago I was on top of the world. Everything seemed crystal clear. Then I awoke with what felt like a plugged up ear. I have this constant high pitched ringing that sounds like a huge industrial fan sitting on my right shoulder. My equalibrium has been thrown out of whack and I have a hard time keeping my balance and have actually fallen a couple of times.

While my vision is as good as it ever gets, I feel very much like this image taken from my chair in the living room.

Trying to get back to center! en theos monos ††† jim

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #687 – AHHH, CAN FLOWERS & BUGS BE FAR BEHIND?

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While I read and see of those that are getting hammered with the snow and cold, I am lucky to live in the desert Southwest. Our temp climbed into the mid 80’s and I found myself sporting very white legs. More today of the same.

I even found an ant in my yard  plying his trade.

may the sun find your back today……..en theos ††† jim

IMAGES OF SMALL – THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #662 – Do you have a dream?

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“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I live in a place of beautiful isolation. I fall into the trap that I am living a dream. Then at times I am shaken and realize that I have just been sleeping, not really living a dream.

Do you have a dream, are you living it, or did you just fall asleep in the middle of it? en theos ††† jim

http://thebeautifuldue.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/when-i-think-about-martin-i-think-about-james/

IMAGES OF SMALL – THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #661 – RESTIN’ WHILE ON SENTRY DUTY

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In the recent gusty wind of West Texas, one of our “dog warning” signs was blown from it’s post. I found Clovis laying near it with more of a sheepish look than a sheep dog. Before I could say anything of his presumed laziness, he reminded me that there are two signs, his “on guard” sign and another one that states the he ” can make it to the gate in 2.8 seconds can you?”

He can do that, and he can get there just as quick from either a laying or a standing position.

Let sleeping dogs lie. ††† en theos ††† jim

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #572 – Which road was taken?

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I can remember somewhere back in jr high or high school having to read and study Robert Frost’s great words. I wish I had then a teacher who was a carpenter that nailed this message into my head. To have realized it was more than just trying to dress differently than everyone else. Such a great image painted with only words that should be planted in all our hearts.

The Road Not Taken

BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

“…narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:14

So which road you traveling, is it ever too late to get on that less traveled or narrow road? ††† en theos ††† jimwork

IMAGES OF SMALL THINGS FROM THE BIGGEST COUNTY IN TEXAS #556 – White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moths

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There was a bevy of moths and butterflies around the yard yesterday. We had three of these hummingbird moths show up to feed on our lantana. They are a real challenge to photograph, as they are fast and they never hover in one place for too long.

I spent a peaceful two -three hours (how long is that in sphinx moth years?) capturing and watching them dart in fluid motion that certainly rivals the movement of hummingbirds. Hummingbirds at least perch for a breather every now and then. These guys appear to be in perpetual motion and you gotta love the pink and brown coloring –  two of my wife Susan’s favorite color combos.

“Sphinx Moth larvae change underground into adult moths, who then dig their way to the surface. Mating occurs shortly thereafter, with females laying as many as 1,000 eggs on the underside of food plants. Eggs hatch within a few days. In the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, there may be 2 broods, one in the Spring and another in the Summer. In the colder Great Basin Desert, only one brood is produced. Males and females die after they have completed their roles in the reproductive process.

Sphinx Moths emerge at dusk from their hiding places and begin feeding on the nectar of flowers. Their size, combined with their rapid wing beats, allows them to hover and feed in the manner of hummingbirds, for which they are sometimes mistaken.

This manner of flight requires a great deal of energy and creates a good deal of heat in the moth’s body. For these reasons, moths feed exclusively on nectar and seek flowers which produce large amounts of this water source which also contain high amounts of sugar. Such is the case with the Evening Primrose (Onagraceae) Family, and particularly the Dune Evening Primrose, which the White-lined Sphinx Moth is responsible for pollinating.”— A.R. Royo

Lay down your labors for the the day, “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light” Matt 11:30 ††† en theos †††jimwork

Images of small things from the biggest county in Texas #531 – Cetonia aurata, known as the rose chafer a beetle, 3/4″ long, that has metallic green colouration

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If it weren’t for the few flourishing lantana plants in my yard, I would just have to make photos of rocks. This lovely beetle was a worthy find. I read that they some time travel on their backs. Hence the scratches and abrasions on its hard shelled back.

Sometimes a beetle is just a beetle. But then there are folks who can read a whole lot into the simple encounter of a bug:

In his book Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung tells this story, starring a Cetonia aurata, as an example of a synchronistic event:

“A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream, I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window-pane from the outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer (Cetonia aurata), which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment. I must admit that nothing like it ever happened to me before or since, and that the dream of the patient has remained unique in my experience.”

May you find some synchronicity in the smallest and most unlikely of places today! ††† en theos †††jim work

Images of small things from the biggest county in Texas #525 – Been praying for a praying mantis & look what showed up!

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I have been searching high and low for one of these rascals literally for the past couple of weeks they have been on my radar. Today, while walking to the mailbox, I darn near walked right past this guy sitting on the top of my front gate.

I geared up an seized the moment. While processing the images I did have to ask what was God thinking when he made this creature. The answer came back as you asked for one and you got it. Don’t push it.

Probably more info then you want to know, but this creature just fascinates me. Oh geez, I am becoming a bug nerd.

The English common name for any species in the order is “praying mantis“, because of the typical “prayer-like” posture with folded fore-limbs, although the eggcorn “preying mantis” is sometimes used in reference to their predatory habits. In Europe and other regions, the name “praying mantis” refers to only a single species, Mantis religiosa. The closest relatives of mantises are the termites and cockroaches (order Blattodea). They are sometimes confused with phasmids (stick/leaf insects) and other elongated insects such asgrasshoppers and crickets.

Mantises have two grasping, spiked forelegs (“raptorial legs”) in which prey items are caught and held securely. In most insect legs, including the posterior four legs of a mantis, the coxa and trochanter combine as an inconspicuous base of the leg; in the raptorial legs however, the coxa and trochanter combine to form a segment about as long as the femur, which is a spiky part of the grasping apparatus (see illustration). Located at the base of the femur are a set of discoidal spines, usually four in number, but ranging from zero to as many as five depending on the species. These spines are preceded by a number of tooth-like tubercles, which, along with a similar series of tubercles along the tibia and the apical claw near its tip, give the foreleg of the mantis its grasp on its prey. The foreleg ends in a delicate tarsus made of between four and five segments and ending in a two-toed claw with no arolium and used as a walking appendage.

The mantis thorax consists of a prothorax, a mesothorax, and a metathorax. In all species apart from the genus Mantoida, the prothorax, which bears the head and forelegs, is much longer than the other two thoracic segments. The prothorax is also flexibly articulated, allowing for a wide range of movement of the head and forelimbs while the remainder of the body remains more or less immobile. The articulation of the neck is also remarkably flexible; some species of mantis can rotate the head nearly 180 degrees.

Mantids may have a visual range of up to 20 metres. Their compound eyes may comprise up to 10,000 ommatidia. The eyes are widely spaced and laterally situated, affording a wide binocular field of vision) and, at close range, precise stereoscopic vision. The dark spot on each eye is a pseudopupil. As their hunting relies heavily on vision, mantids are primarily diurnal. Many species will however fly at night, and then may be attracted to artificial lights. Nocturnal flight is especially important to males in search of less-mobile females that they locate by detecting their pheromones. Flying at night exposes mantids to fewer bird predators than diurnal flight would. Many mantises also have an auditory thoracic organ that helps them to avoid bats by detecting their echolocation and responding evasively.

enjoy ††† en theos ††† jim work