Okhissa Lake

With 39 miles of shoreline, Okhissa Lake is a fairly new fishing destination in Mississippi. Located in the southwestern area of the state, it is a 1500 acre lake built by the U.S. National Forest Service. Work began on the lake in 1999 with the laying of 10,000 tons of lime at the lake's bottom. Since stocking it with Florida bass, bluegill, redear bream and catfish, the lake has continued to flourish and produce some of the largest fish in the area. Record 10 lb. catfish and 12 lb. bass have been recorded.

My dad and I thought we'd try it out and planned this outing for November 19th, about a week in advance. On the day we arrived, the wind was blowing out of the north with temps in the upper 30s. My dad had purchased 4 packages of night crawlers and a pound of shrimp. We fished at four different locations and did not have one nibble. I felt bad that 8 worms lost their lives for no good reason. My saving grace was bringing my camera. I told my dad the drive out was worth it just to see all the fall color.

Okhissa Lake is part of the Homochitto (HOME-ah-CHITTAH) National Forest which comprises 191,839 acres

Linking to Skywatch Friday. Thanks, hosts!!!

More Digital Cleaning

Pushing to clean up my hard drive so I can move the original Lightroom files to my external device at year end. Raw files are awesome, but they are awesomely HUGE. My Mac is about to burst!

Clouded sulphur from my back yard, 8/15/13

Unknown plant at local arboretum, 9/5/13

Pesky love bug on lantana, 9/5/13

Canoe at my aunt's camp, 9/7/13

Meet Cowgirl, next door neighbor of my aunt and uncle, 9/7/13
I have never seen a chihuahua with this color coat and blue eyes.
I seriously considered dognapping that day.

Zinnias at arboretum, 10/8/13

Gulf fritillary, 10/8/13

Linking with Saturday's Critters. Come join!

Avian Fun

Having some fun with my collection of bird images. These were taken the second week of January, 2013, LSU Lakes.

Dear God, please make her stop annoying me.

BOO!!! heh heh

GRRRR!!!!

Oh relax, I was just having a little fun.

Being beautiful is a lot of work!

This is my best side, thank you.

Randomosity to the max

Cleanup on aisle 9 continues! More photos I never got around to posting. Besides, the rain we're receiving here is relentless, so I can't get out for any new photos. For those iced in, I feel for ya!

Old store in St. Gabriel, LA. I've posted it before in color and also black and white.
This time I used an HDR preset in Lightroom. I'm usually not a fan of HDR, but it worked on this photo, I think.

My "baby" on his 30th birthday, July 4th.

My eldest came for a visit in July. He asked me to take his picture by the Bourbon St. sign.
I noticed the NOPD Police sign later. Oh, the irony. I love his contemplative expression here.

Meet Casper. He appeared on my crape myrtle tree in July.

Sunset at LSU Lake in August

Skipper on zinnia, August

This old structure has been a fixture on Hoo Shoo Too Rd. for years. I took this shot on 10/2 with my 100mm lens
and planned to go back with a wide angle lens. The next time I drove by, it had been demolished. Majorly sad!

Sharing with Our World Tuesday.

Jackpot!

Very seldom do I have the chance to photograph the tricolored heron. Did you know this bird used to be called the Louisiana Heron? Double D spotted this one with his binoculars at LSU Lakes on December 1. This industrious bird had found his fortune at the pond in the middle of the golf course.

Dodging golf balls, I let nothing deter me. At one point we stood in between two live oak trees to avoid getting hit in the head. The golfers were very gracious; however, I think I may have let my disdain for them show by sighing and making grumpy faces. As we left I noticed a big sign that said "GOLFERS ONLY ALLOWED ON GOLF COURSE." I felt like an entitled arse with my high powered camera. Bad Gail! Don't judge, you would've done the same! lol

Because my little subject was so unafraid, and didn't seem to mind a nutty camera woman recording his every move, over 400 images of just him ended up on my memory card. He caught so many fish I lost count.

At first we thought this heron wasn't quite right in the head. He twirled around in the water and performed like a ballerina at times. But each time he came up with a fish, minnow or other prey. Double D and I were laughing at him, yet we had to admit that his tactics were successful. Turns out, this is exactly how they hunt for prey. We really should have videoed him; he was a hoot!

Out of 400+ I kept 73 images. There are eight on this post. I am determined that all of them will make it to my blog, so you might be seeing him well into 2014. Thank you in advance for your patience! :)

Linking with Anni at I'd Rather B Birdin'. Please check out the links if you have time.