Bugs, Bees, Birds, Flowers, and Thoughts – Part 7 of 7

For them not interested in reading, you can go directly to the SmugMug Gallery HERE.  These are added to the D7500 camera Gallery since they are taken exclusively with that camera.

For a SmugMug slideshow click HERE. When you click the link, it will open in a new window and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the bottom-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow will run a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos as this will pause the slideshow.

If you want the full experience, keep reading. Also, if you see stuff crossed out (like this) it’s editing after I published the post and any new words are in gray. Part of my educational outreach effort.

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The last of this series probably has readers expel a sigh of relief. I’ll add to the relief by keeping this short as time is short, and the hour grows long (or something poetic like that).

I’m normally not so good with names, but I’m doing pretty well with the names of the flowers in our yard.

While it has flowers, this post will probably draw a small measure of admiration for the photos of this carpenter bee (I think that’s what it is — I could just call it a solitary be and lessen my risk to be wrong in my identification).

I have to admit I’ve missed the clarity and sharpness associated with a proper DSLR. Mind you, I’m not dissing the P900 for it has served me well and will continue to do so for what I hope is a good long time. 

But:

I’ve noticed a drop in both the number of hummingbirds and the number of insects visiting my backyard . . . or, it’s been too frelling hot for me to venture out there.

These photos are from July and I don’t have as many in August.

There are a good number of Northern Cardinals in the area. They are, however, wary birds that don’t sit still long enough for me to get a few decent photos . . . except in this case.

I’m happy with these shots; no, they won’t win any awards and not just because I won’t enter them in any competition. Nope; they won’t win because these are “regular shots. A bird flew close and posed for a few seconds and I documented the event. No amazing action, incredible setting, or amusing posing . . . just the bird and the fence and some weeds.

So, my thoughts on things . . . gonna keep those short as well (I notice few people comment on my thoughts so I assume few people read them).

There are a couple of way that phones — specifically, cellphones — have measurably made my life worse.

It has to do with bathrooms and gyms. Those are two places where cellphones have negatively impacted my life.

At the gym, what used to be a few minutes waiting for a machine to free up while someone finishes their set has turned into tens of minutes as people sitting at the machine will often get lost checking their phones instead of doing their exercise routine.

It’s no use asking them (politely or not) whether they intend to use the exercise machine or are just sitting on it while playing candy crush or some other inane game. They get indignant; they pull the “I’m exercising here; I’m between sets!”

Never mind “between sets” is longer than the sets themselves.

Bathrooms were always places where people retreated to get away from the world. While I worked at GM, the sound of rustling newspapers was a common sound in the bathroom as designers sat there reading. When you work long (mandated) overtime hours, you find a way to pass the time. These days, it’s the phone.

Odds are, if you visit a bathroom, there’s at least a couple of guys (or gals, depending on your preferred locale) just sitting there on their phone. Not making calls; playing games.

No, I don’t look in there . . . but you can hear them. Sometimes, depending on the lighting, you can see the shadow of two forearms and hands holding a brick-like shape between them . . . it’s a good bet it’s a phone.

There are other instances, as well. Workers routinely pull their phones from their pockets and give them a quick glance. Sometimes, a not-so-quick glance.

Phones can also help. By occupying the attention of their owners, phones help me by reducing the necessity to interact with those around me. However, given I’m very good at avoiding interactions, the small amount of benefit doesn’t make up for the annoyances.

I end this 97 photo series (spread across seven posts) with a clearly upset Red-wing blackbird yelling at someone. Probably kids playing in his yard.

I have a few more cartoon to share . . .

Ah . . . more puns. Excellent!

I like Herman . . .  he’s consistently good (and has been so over a career spanning many years).

Here’s the gallery of the above photos:

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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