Stingray ghost

We took a trip down to Alabama’s Gulf Shore for some good old fashion beach lounging:

We found jelly fish of all shapes and sizes:

We also found a Stingray Ghost … maybe the jellys got the better of him?

… and non-ghost herons …

… and pelicans …

… and this itty-bitty-fish-that-looks-like-a-big-fish fish:

He is now hiding out in our house. Will see if future visitors can find him.

Aya and Helen had fun doing goofy Snapchat videos:

Irina didn’t know what to make of Snapchat, but she did enjoy the scenery:

We all did, including doggy:

He did NOT like it when we went swimming, as he is a worry-wart. He did like digging out little hideouts in the sand:

Those jellyfish stung, then itched, but only a little. Nothing like the poison ivy that I’ve recently become familiar with:

One of the tricky things I learned about the poison ivy is the reaction is delayed, typically by 12 to 24 hours. So you don’t really know you are getting into trouble until the next day. And then it lasts for 2 weeks! And the worst itching starts at 2 AM!!

I know that it looks like now, so have learned how to wear shirts again when needed :)

The other thing we learned about this month is fleas, doggy found them somewhere. He has learned to be very patient as we hunt them down:

And slobbers in anticipation of his post-de-flea-ing reward treat:

We turned our kitchen counter into a flea torture lab, experimenting with all kinds of different treatments:

Those $6 pills are the most effective. Fleas fall off of doggy a few hours after popping one and then wander around in circles until doggy finds them and licks them up in a sweet and crunchy revenge. Also found a few tiny ants hiding out in his fur:

Lots of rain here recently. Mushrooms abound, but so far not the safe and tasty ones:

I took advantage of the bigger creek and added a couple more pressure fed fountains by running hoses 100' up the creek:

Also installed some voice controlled curtains, vlogged about that here:

MisterHouse Home Automation: Voice controlled curtains using Graber virtual cord
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Closing out with a couple of backyard critters.

I found this hopper preparing for a night on out the town by checking out her stylish new leaf dress in the mirror:

And just when I think we have seen all the animals in our little forest, a new one pops out. This time a possum:

At least I hope it is a possum. The other possibility is a BIG 2' rat, which for some reason seems more terrifying.

Bruce

1 minute trail builder

The newest member of our backyard menagerie, a red-tailed hawk:

Unrelated to the red-tailed moth (I made up that name, but seems to fit):

Some of the other residents tried to ask the hawk what his intentions where:

But he simply started at them:

So now most of the birds seem a little more vigilant:

Some of them have adopted a ‘lets loose our feathers to look as un-appealing as possible’ tactic:

Meanwhile, the ant battles continue. This cicada put up a brave fight:

but the ant army was endless!

This snail was smart enough to stay out of harms way:

But this one was not:

Some insects seem just too scary for ants to mess with, like this one:

I betcha you can guess what I’ve been up to:

We don’t let any ‘stinking’ 95 degree weather stop us from having fun … doggy especially likes it when I turn into a salt lick:

A before and after shot of one of the latest trail projects:

I’ve been learning how to use a free video editing software called Resolve, so I made a couple of short time laps movies of the trail making process:

Dirt gets everywhere:

I take mercy on our shower and do phase one cleansing with the hose:

Found this guy trying to burrow into me. After extraction, I thought I had crushed him, but ticks are indestructible, so he escaped to find me another day:

Since I have the macro lens on, a few more macro shots…

Our hummingbird feeder got overwhelmed:

I love the way water droplets can magnify:

The geek video for this month was about a new trick in WiFi:

MisterHouse Home Automation: WiFi mesh networking with Eero
misterhouse.commisterhouse.blogspot.com

In case you missed my post about Boris:

Boris
We lost Boris last week. He was ready to go, tired of battling throat cancer since March.medium.com

Closing out with a picture of Boris’s spirit turtle, enjoying a bite of apple:

Bruce