A few interesting hours were spent today at Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park for the Annual Texas Tree Climbing Championship, hosted by the Texas Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture.  Participants each took a turn at making their way around a 65-foot Live Oak, with  a 32-minute time limit.  Each competitor is a professional arborist.    Today’s event was the Masters round, with nine participants, including six men and three women.  I asked an attendee, an arborist just here to observe, if he ever got nervous up there.  “Not at all,” he replied.   The oldest participant today was 54.  He’s included in the last three photos.   Top male and female arborists advance to the international competition, held in Christchurch, New Zealand in October.  

Dolly, a Nigerian Dwarf Goat, is 10-days-old today, weighing in at 4.4 pounds.  Named after Dolly Parton, Dolly has been tagging along with her owner, Melissa Meiske, where Melissa is Activity Director for Taylor’s SPJST Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation.  Photographs presented here were taken during a visit there today.   Dolly is cuddly and adorable.  She wears a diaper for occasional accidents.  Accompanying Dolly was Blue, a 2-year-old rabbit also owned by Meiske.   The residents here adore Dolly and Blue.   Those following these posts might recall a post here last year where the focus was on Bo, also a Nigerian Dwarf Goat.   Bo’s a little too large to cuddle right now, but Dolly is all in!   During our photo session Dolly enjoyed an 8-oz bottle of whole milk.   The last photo shows Meiske, holding Dolly as she contemplated a nap after finishing off that milk.   If you need a news peg, this is National Skilled Nursing Home Week.   These slice of life moments are the essence of community journalism.

This  tractor has been a subject for a few years.   In fact, so has that sun.  This was snapped while waiting for  that Texas Longhorn called Princess to be agreeable.  

With temperatures already approaching triple digits in Central Texas, area residents are finding places to cool off.   One popular one is Georgetown’s Blue Hole Park.  

Princess is a camera-shy Texas Longhorn I’ve visited for a few years.   She shares pastures with a few other cows, plus a few donkeys.  When seeing the camera, Princess usually turns away.   Her owner is my friend Joyce White.  Last week I stopped by Joyce’s home north of Granger to help celebrate her 92nd birthday.   While visiting, we talked about her reluctant longhorn.  I promised Joyce another effort would be made soon.   When wandering around Tuesday evening I noticed Princess, stopping to give it another go  at  photos.   This time Princess, when not warding off flies, allowed a camera’s presence. She was joined by a couple of rabbits.   Her human is one of the finest people I’ve been happy to know.   Princess is just divine.

A colleague on the Georgia/Tennessee border  takes the most amazing photographs of deer I’ve seen. My deer photos pale in comparison, but this deer near Granger Lake, quite the leaper,  merited attention this week.

Early evening light filters through thriving corn stalks.    This could’ve been another expansive landscape night, but this is my choice, another offering from the Blackland Prairie.

Sunday evening, while pursuing photo possibility that didn’t happen, something better began to appear  in the eastern sky, shining over a wonderful pond photographed a few times in recent years. Local friends probably know  this place.  Last night’s full moon was a Micromoon, occurring when a full moon (or new moon) coincides with apogee, the point in the moon’s orbit when furthest away from the Earth.   Thankfully, I was on a road where traffic was non-existent, allowing time to appreciate this  scene.   As you might know from previous moon offerings, I prefer to show the moon in its natural setting, not as some gigantic ball hovering in the sky.    Since I’ve not once seen livestock nearby, let’s refer to this as a pond, not a tank.   My Great-Uncle Harry, a Northeast Texas farmer, always call it his stock pond, never a tank.   But I digress.   This is about that moon.

Even if nobody was around to see the photographs I post, I’d do it anyway.   Seeing life unfold is a therapeutic joy.   These are from daily strolls in Taylor, Texas.   Again, there are too many photos offered, but there’s a lot to winnow down.   All walk photos are taken with an inexpensive and light Olympus camera.   Nikon is still my go-to gear, but that Olympus, costing less than your phones, is a gem.  

Since it’s late, only a few words tonight.   Photos offered are from Granger’s 46th Annual Lakefest, held Friday and Saturday in the heart of this town a few minutes north of Taylor.  I think the current population is around 1500, but am open to suggestions. Many of my photos are taken in or near this community.   Lakefest is always held on Mothers Day weekend.   The name can be confusing since Granger Lake is several miles east of downtown, but that’s okay.   Just scenes from Friday evening and today, including a parade, car show, barbecue cook-off and a washers tournament.   The washers tournament wasn’t photographed, too many irons in the fire.  The German Shepherd  was howling to beat the band during this morning’s parade.  He wasn’t a fan of fire department sirens, definitely a smart pooch.