It was a stellar end to a very warm day in Taylor, Texas.   Today is Flag Day in the United States. Around here, you might also see a state flag included.  

These two were taken tonight along the same road east of Granger.  Just minutes apart.   The goal was a full moon photo, but why pass up a glorious sunset?   The so-called Strawberry Moon doesn’t show up in our area until nearly 10p.m. Tuesday.  I’ll be happy with 99.7% visibility tonight.

A photo from one of my  recent daily walks in Taylor.   This Night Heron was so focused on finding a fish she ignored me completely.  I like when that happens.   This is one of those images taken with my little Olympus camera.   I really like its lightness. Now if I can just understand why a bird I see in morning is called a Night Heron! 

Though I said there was only one post tonight, a gathering of wild sunflowers changed my mind.   Seen along an unpaved road between Hutto and Norman’s Crossing, they were joined by a Waxing Gibbous moon, at almost 97% visibility, plus a good sunset.   If you look closely, the last image shows the moon over Shiloh-McCutcheon Cemetery, at the end of that same road.

Just this one tonight, friends.    I always like these cows, but the warm early-evening light made it worth a post.

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.