Too brief, but still fun

The Girlfriend and I recently did a two-day trip out to the beach, in this case Carolina Beach and Fort Fisher – couldn’t call it a vacation really, but it’s what we have for now. There was a particular purpose, and timing, to this one, since the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher houses four Asian small-clawed read more

Visibly different, part 34

This week we have another current set of images, all taken within a few days and since last week’s offering.

One of the many things that we planted this year was tomatoes, and started a serious number of tomato vines in various locations. As always, the hornworms eventually discovered these and started doing their damage – in this case it was the tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta, read more

Just because, part 49

I was down at the lake the other day doing some tests, which you’ll hear more about eventually, and noticed that there appeared to have been a mass emigration from the waters recently. Along the lake edges, the sand would suddenly hop away at my approach – not all of it, mind you, just certain select and very small portions. I had the long lens affixed and was reluctant to change it read more

Dactyloidae nights

After making the previous post, I went out in the evening to scope out the property, and soon had to call The Girlfriend out, since she doesn’t get the opportunity to see these guys too often. On the oak-leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) in the front garden, my photo subject from earlier in the day was snoozing. I haven’t seen any Carolina anoles (Anolis carolinensis) read more

The clock is humming

They don’t even do that anymore, do they? Actually, we have a grandfather clock out in the living room that runs the old-fashioned way, weights and pendulum and ticking and all that, and it remains pretty close to atomic time after I spent two weeks adjusting the length of the pendulum rod. Okay, that’s not hard, but it has to be done in small increments and then observed for read more

Visibly different, part 33

Another different take on the title this time, partially because I have nothing else ready, partially because I feel like showing off my toys.


I picked up both of these, separately, last year just because I wanted them, though I admittedly didn’t pay a lot for either (less than $20 apiece with the shipping.) Both are subminiature cameras taking 16mm film, often considered ‘spy’ read more

The saga repeats. Kinda

After determining that the woodpecker nest was reoccupied, I never got back down there to check on progress. Part of this was due to already doing extensive (and successful) video of the fledglings read more

Some of us are trying to sleep

The shed out on the back forty of Walkabout Estates has been decorated with various beachy-themed items, which the green treefrogs approve of – they’re all on the shaded side of the shed, forming a flat vertical surface close to the wall that provides the ideal hidey-hole for treefrogs. I can often find the frogs tucked well in behind them, snoozing during the day.

But in putting the read more

Visibly different, part 32

This week we have another variation of the topic, as we see visibly different examples of a photo subject from just this past weekend, quite possibly the largest extremes that I have encountered locally – certainly the largest in a single day. We’ll start small.


I initially took this to be a juvenile ringnecked snake, but on examining the photos after returning, I was read more

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