As this is written (8:40pm Central Daylight Time) our temperature has “dropped” to 93 degrees after a day’s high of 102.    104 is predicted for Sunday.   I went out today to see how folks were doing in Georgetown.  My first stop was Market Days,  where I saw two sisters finding a spot of shade to relax along Main Street.   A young lady was using an old-fashioned parasol to keep the rays off.    A  4-year-old enjoyed a chilly shaved ice treat.   Several vendors brought along fans.   One 8-year-old accompanied his grandma to her vendor’s booth.  Grandma had a misting fan which the young man seemed to love.   From the square, I headed over to San Jose Park, where the site’s splash pad was going strong.   It had been broken since mid-May, but the part needed to fix it finally arrived, returning it to service on Friday.   That splash pad’s been missed.   The forecast for the next two weeks says we’re in for more of the same.   Stay hydrated, friends.

The rapid increase in gas prices could put a damper on my wanderings.   Last evening I rambled through portions of southern Bell County.   As it often happens, I settled on windmills.    That scorching hot sun was beginning to set over a field in the first photo.   The other two images pay homage to windmill relegated to history.   The first of the two images concentrates on the prairie grass, followed by a crisper version.   It’s hard to look at for very long.   Even in rural Bell County, Texas, things disappear.  

Sometimes I get focused on other subject matter, but here on the Blackland Prairie, I always return to crops grown by our farmers.   Corn, of course, dominates the landscape, as seen in the opening photo, with Christ Lutheran Church of Noack in the distance.    The second photo offers a field where two crops, corn and cotton, grow side-by-side.   That red-winged blackbird is sitting on a milo stalk not far from Thorndale.    The last image highlights a Bell County road at sunset, corn growing on both sides.    Just crops tonight, friends.

Seen this morning during my daily walk in Taylor.   Obviously a free-range chicken.

A Crested Caracara has been nesting in a tree near a friend’s home in Thrall.   This is one very shy bird.   After several trips to the site, I’m holding off on another trip out there.   Tonight I ventured out and she was nowhere to be found.  The first photo is the closest image of her, taken with about 500mm of lens power.   The second photo, taken another evening, she’d moved even further away.   The last two are from the same “neighborhood” this evening.   That  third photo, I think, is a type of Ibis.  She popped into view while I was watching some donkeys. And the last one?  Vultures.    They’re plentiful here.  And not a bit shy.

If any flower can smile, it’s a sunflower.     They have immense personality.    Where we live, there are many acres filled with the wild sunflowers that adorn the landscape.   I like them a lot, but the “big ones” are easily my favorite.   Recently, friend Mary Witte Finch posted some of the sunflowers she’d planted this spring.   I was impressed enough to ask for permission to take a few photos myself.   These are a few taken during a two-hour session, fascinated as I watched the bees go to work,   Mary assured me the bees wouldn’t be a problem.   I wasn’t concerned.  Those bees and I were focused on task.   When Russia invaded Ukraine, several friends began posting photos of sunflowers.  None of the posts explained that the sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine.   Maybe everyone else knew that, but not me.   The journalist in me wants information, not mystery.    These are happy flowers.

Some cow images tonight.    In the opening photo, a cow at sunset in front of a cornfield east of Taylor.  The second photo, a scene from Thrall, where cattle egrets stay close.   And the last photo, a cow seen tonight crossing a dirt road in East Williamson County.   Dirt roads are made for cows.

Just some photos from my daily walks.  On these outings I always carry my inexpensive (and lightweight) Olympus camera.   For now, Nikon is my main camera of choice, but I do enjoy the featherweight Olympus.   The duck in the opening photo is a Black-bellied Whistling Duck.   There’s a turtle in this group, smiling for the camera.   I like how the Great Blue Heron shares a branch over the water with a cormorant.   And a cat catching up on sleep.

It’s been a while since my last visit to Berry Springs Park & Preserve, a beautiful space just east of Georgetown.   Presented here are a few photos from today.   Included: a newborn deer and its mama, a sweet turtle, a dragonfly, some wildflowers.   And a lovely dog named River, accompanied by his human.    I like coming here.

A photo taken during my Friday  morning walk in Taylor.   Did anyone in the area take note of the interesting cloud formation?    An egret soars over the rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park.   Another reason I’m glad to have my inexpensive Olympus camera on hand during these strolls.