4th of July Leftovers

It was over 100* again today.  I managed to take Michaela to swim practice, but by the time lunch was over I had a horrible migraine so I did not take any pictures again today.  I didn't even go out to eat with my family.  They brought something home for me after they went out.  It finally started going away around 8:00 p.m.  So, I'm going to share some more photos from our 4th of July.

This tractor was in the parade and I had a lot of fun with editing it.  Here are some of my edits of this tractor.

I also did quite a few edits of this old car.  One of them you can see in my blog post from July 4th.  Here are a few others.

I did make it as far as the garage this afternoon to put some trash in the big trash can.  Here I am standing where the garage floor meets the driveway.

Today's photo a day theme was chair.  So, while I was waiting for my daughter during her swim practice.  I got a shot of the life guard chair.

More from Grant's Farm

It continues to be extremely hot here.  I have not been out to take any photos.  As a matter of fact, my body is not dealing well with this heat at all.  So, I'm digging into my stash of photos from Grant's Farm on Tuesday.  I guess this is my chance to share more photos than I usually get to share.  I managed to get a good shot of the swan as he was shaking the water off his wings.

This crane was stalking me.  He was over at one side of the pond when I was taking photos of the flamingos.  As we moved around so I could get a better shot of the swan, he followed me and stood staring at me.  Then, we sat down on a bench across from the pond and he walked right up to the fence and stood there and stared at me again.  He stayed there until we got up and left.

This bird was showing off a lot.  I got this shot of him that made me think he was saying, "How you doin'?"

I really enjoyed watching this girl work with this bird.  You could tell that they have a special bond.  It was really cool to listen to her talk to him and tell about him.

The only way you can be outside is to hover in the shade.  And, then, you still only want to be out there for a very short time.  The side of our house is very shady.  Here I am standing on the small wall that surrounds our burning bush.  It's green now, but in the fall it will be red.

Today's word for the photo a day challenge on Instagram was "on the floor."  I got this shot of our doggy's toys that litter our living room floor all the time.

4th of July 2012

Happy 4th of July!  It was very hot here again today.  But, we still ventured out for our city's parade.  This was the first year in several years that we actually got to WATCH the parade.  Last year we were out of town getting our Izzy girl, and for about five years prior to that we were IN the parade.  It was nice to be able to just sit and watch it, even though it was so freaking hot.  While we were waiting for the parade to begin, I noticed these two sweet little boys sitting so calmly and patiently under an umbrella.

Here are some shots from the parade.  I have been having fun editing my pictures of the parade.

We spent the afternoon at home after melting under the heat watching the parade.  We just estivated in the air conditioning until supper time.  We went to get a quick bite to eat and then went down to the river access park to wait for our city's fireworks to start.  It was still very hot and I sat with an ice pack behind my back for part of the time we were down there.  The area we chose to watch the fireworks from became pretty busy by the time the fireworks started.  I found these two gentleman sitting in the best front row seats ever.

Here are a few more shots of the wait time before the fireworks and a couple shots of the fireworks.

Here I am waiting for the fireworks to start.

Today's word for the photo a day on Instagram was "fun."  This is was my picture for today.

A Day at Grant's Farm

Today, the kids and I went to one of our favorite places, Grant's Farm.  It's not a big place, but you get to get up close to the animals.  The tortoises were active today.  I guess the heat had them seeking out their water.  They decided to sit face to face in their pond and gossip.

"I'm telling you, Martha, the next door neighbor's are up to something fishy."

"No applause, please, just throw money."

"Here, you have a feather out of place, let me fix that for you."

"I'm too sexy for my fur."

"I am America's Next Top Model."

"Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!"

Then, there was this swan bathing in the fountain pond.  He was really enjoying the water and preening himself.  

Back Stroke

Butterfly Stroke

I cannot begin to express my thankfulness that the human brain has the capacity to create air conditioning.  

Today's word for the picture a day on Instagram was "best part of your day."  The best part of today was watching my children enjoy their time at Grant's Farm.  So, here is a picture of them feeding the goats while we were there.

Hot Day at the Parks

Today, the kids and I spent very little time outside because our heat wave continues.  We went to two of our city parks that we do not go to very often so they could play on the playgrounds and I could take some photos.  I'm really happy with what I came home with on my camera.  Here are just a few shots from today.

Here are a few more that I played around with in photo editing software.

Here I am standing in the wildflower garden at one of the parks.

My Instagram entry for today was taken at my favorite cemetery.  The word for today was busy, so I took a picture of the very busy lake at the cemetery.  The water fowl was out in full force on this hot day.

Neighbors and Still No Rain

Today was mostly a day at home.  We did go to church and out to eat after wards, but other than that I've been at home all day.  I've been doing some laundry and hiding from the heat as much as I can.  I did get outside for a little and took a few pictures with my cellphone.  The house next door is finally for sale.  It's been empty for almost a year now.  The lady who's parents lived in it has taken her time getting it ready for sale.  It is the house she grew up in so I'm sure it's not been an easy road for her.  But, today they had their first open house.  There were probably only about a dozen people that came to see the house but these two cars were outside the house for almost an hour.  Maybe it won't be long before we have new neighbors.

Our neighbors on the other side of us have a perpetual wood pile in their back yard.  It's not always the same wood, but the husband there does take a long time to chop up a bundle of it.  They have a wood burning stove they use a lot in the winter to help the furnace heat the house.  So, they do go through a lot of wood.

I have not yet shared many of pictures from the new sea lion habitat at our zoo.  It is called Sea Lion Sound. It has an underwater tunnel for viewing of the sea lions swimming around.  It's really amazing to be able to see them swim like that.  Here are some of the pictures I took while in the viewing tunnel.

I have started another month long challenge, but this one is through Instagram.  It's a Photo a Day challenge that fatmumslim posts every month.  Today was the first day and it was a self portrait (ugh) so here is mine.

While I was outside today, I noticed my poor snapdragons are really hurting in this dry heat we're having.  My husband has tried to keep things watered, but it's just a losing battle.  Here I am standing by my shriveled up snaps that didn't even get a chance to open.  I did some dramatic type processing on this picture to emphasize our drought.