Wednesday, May 27, 2015

The Muscovy ducks came back this spring (2015)

Last January I was out walking my dogs and was surprised to see that the   Muscovy     ducks had come back to the area. I had written about them before when they tried to get my cats food last March, 2014  ( cat-trying-to-eat-while-Muscovy ducks-lurk.  ).  Shortly after that post the ducks seemed to have left the area.  I couldn't tell if they had been gotten by some dogs or other wild life in the area or if they had flown off to another area.  Now it seemed like they had flown back to this area to breed again.
   Last year my dogs were just puppies and they weren't used to the long walks at that point so they never really saw the ducks, except when they came to the yard last year. This time as they were walking they got all excited to see them.  Needless to say they wanted to chase after them.  I got my cellphone out and got these few images.
 They couldn't get to that duck fast enough and you should have seen them stop dead when that duck decided to fly off. It was the funniest thing.  I could tell they weren't expecting a duck to just up and fly away. 
A couple of days later we saw the ducks again only this time there were more of them.
 This time the dogs seemed to know better than to try and go after them.
 Over the last couple of months we've been seeing these ducks in the neighborhood.  They walk the sidewalks like they're one of the neighbors and just make themselves at home where ever they feel like.

They are a little more skiddish because of the dogs and I wasn't able to get as good images as I have in the past.
They've been fun to have in the area.  It seems like they've left the area again.  I do hope they will comeback next year.

Here's the link to Wikipedia's information on the Muscovy_duck s.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

The New Kitty 5-22-2015


The rains have brought a new guess to my front porch.
We have a cat named Shadow that is strictly an outdoor cat.  Shadow is a very friendly cat  and never seemed to eat all of his food.  We did notice he would leave some for a dog that gets walked in the neighborhood named Sugar.  Also he would leave some for the birds.
      A couple of weeks ago, when it was raining a lot I noticed that all the food was being eaten and their wasn't any for Sugar.  At first I didn't pay much attention to it, but after a couple of day's I began to wonder why.  Then one night as I was taking something to the trash I notice this little kitty skedaddling out from the wood pile.  I figured out that must be the reason the food was gone all the time now.  My husband notice the kitty at the same time too and we decided to go ahead and leave some food for it too.  We always made sure that Shadow got feed first and had plenty of food.
   With time the kitty started to look a lot healthier and also better fed.   It quickly learned to meow and get petted first if you want to get some food.  It amazed me how it would watch Shadow and learn what to do.  At first it tried to rub against Shadow like it was its mother but Shadow would have nothing to do with it.  Now they are starting to tolerate each other better.
    Since this kitty seems like its going to be a permanent addition for us I decide it was time to get some images of it to share with others.

   For the longest time I tried to get a good picture of Shadow just sitting looking regal like he does.  I always seemed he had a sixth sense of when I would have the camera and either think it was time to be petted or else disappear.    With this new thing in the are he wanted to make sure he kept an eye on things I finally got the shot I wanted to get.
Shadow has always kept himself well groomed so while he was watching this intruder he also used it to clean himself.
 
And then he sat there with his tongue sticking out.
 
Next thing I knew the little one had his tongue out too. 

After that he didn't seem so bad and Shadow let him around.

Now for some other pictures of the kitty.

The kitty is still very skittish and it will run off at the slightest sound that it's not familiar with.  It seems like it is in a constant state ready to take off. 



 This is my favorite of the new Kitty.  I do think it has pretty markings.
 

We still don't know what to call it.  At first I was calling it Little One and my husband Little Bit but the way its been eating I don't think it wills stay little for very long.  I'm starting to lean towards calling it Noah since it came with the rains and now our area is flooding.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

2015 Blue Angles show on May 2 & 3


Yesterday I was looking forward to some down time but my serenity in my backyard was disturbed.  What I saw was worth it.  The Blue Angles were in town for an airshow and they were practicing.  I grabbed my camera and cellphone.  I tried taking a picture with the camera and just couldn't get anything.  Then I switched to my cell and got something and was pleased with what I got.
I could actually see some of the planes when I enlarged it. They were still flying; I could tell by the sounds I was hearing.  I went ahead and decided to maybe take a video.  They did a maneuver and put the trailers on and I could see them do it.  I thought this is great but when I looked down at the phone it was recording me.  I was taking a selfie as I was ohhing and ahhing over what I was seeing.  I went ahead and switched over, missing some things in the process but then I heard them flyby but by the time I heard it they were already heading back.  I tried to get the video and was please I got them.  Trouble was when I downloaded it to the computer I was holding the camera wrong.  Its still impressive and for 14 seconds its worth looking at. (Thank blogger Its corrected it so you can see it.)

I was able to take some stills of the video and am using them here.


Blue Angles flying overhead, May 2, 2015 Shreveport, LA
 


On May 2nd I was ready for them since this was when the official show had been scheduled, and did get some video and other photos. This time knew how to hold the camera and also how to get some still shots of the video so I was all set to record things. Again I got things and was please with what I saw.

 Once again they did fly overhead and I was better prepared for them this time.This video is when the planes flew over my house I did get 10 seconds of good images. They're after the videos.


 Here they are flying over my house.


Blue Angles flying overhead, Shreveport, May 2 2015


All I can say is that they are so amazing to see.  If you ever get a chance to do to one of their shows you should definitely do it.

Another day of the Blue Angles.  I wasn't expecting them to fly again today but was glad they did.  Unfortunately there were a lot more clouds in the sky and you just couldn't see things as well.  But of course I did get some more images to share and since no one has looked at this post yet I feel fine in adding them to it.

The hardest thing about getting the pictures is you have to listen to where the sound is coming from and then look ahead of that.  Not always the easiest thing to do.  Here is a video that shows what I'm talking about. There are two jets flying in this video but they are among the trees and are hard to see.

Most of the stuff I got the planes were so distant you just couldn't get a very good images like this video.  Again there are planes flying in this whole video but they're very hard to see they are so far off they just show up as specs on the screen..  They show up best once they go in front of the cloud. 


 As in the previous days they did fly overhead and I was glad to get that shot too.

Here's some of the unedited pictures I got on May 3.
 


 
I did do a couple of edited ones again but the day before seemed better to me.
 It always amazes me that they can fly so close together and do the things that they do.

Blue Angles over Shreveport May 3, 2015
 Again all I can say is that they are impressive.  One last parting image.