The Fisher Kings

Photos taken May 25, 2015 at LSU Lakes. This was a super fun afternoon sitting on the bank watching these experts at work. I was about 12-15 feet from them.

The bird with the "golden slippers" and black beak is the Snowy Egret; yellow beak and black feet is the Great Egret. The Snowy wins the prize for most fish caught.

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The Fisher Kings

Greetings from Baton Rouge, Louisiana!

This past weekend was amazing! If you're friends with me on Facebook you saw the giant alligator that scared me and my friend to death last Friday. He was a good 15 feet, if not longer. The wind was pushing our kayaks closer and closer. Finally, I anchored myself against a tree that was probably 25 feet away to get pics with my phone. When the gator lifted his head, my heart leapt out of my chest and splashed into the water. Haha, I exaggerate, but I was pretty scared. Then he slithered into the water while we paddled as fast as our arms could manage. My friend Cathy kept looking backwards. I kept yelling at her to keep paddling! Later, while putting her kayak onto the roof of the SUV we were attacked by a swarm of ladybugs! Let me tell you those things sting!

Sorry for the poor quality, but you at least get the idea of size.

After my cousin's delightful lunch on Sunday, we drove to LSU Lakes. Double D helped me corral a Great and Snowy Egret onto a small dam that separates the lakes. He is such a good husband. The egrets love to stand there and catch fish that swim unknowingly into the trap.

Even the ducks were in on the action.

They always took their catch to the banks and ate there.

This snowy egret was the most successful fishing. After a while he stood there for a long time
with his mouth open like this. I don't know if he got stuck by a fin, bone, or what.

Double D took this one of me shooting the snowy egret.
My legs are wrapped around my tripod for extra stability.

Wishing each of you a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!! See you next week.

Sharing with the generous Anni at

The Lodge and an Oopsie!

Our time at Hickory Hills Hunting Preserve was absolutely glorious. Our stay was very pleasant. The lodge owners prepared three meals a day and their son took us around to three different ponds on their 12,000 acre estate. I did learn something that made me feel better about this type of hunting: each hunter is accompanied by one of the family members. Deer under a certain age or size are not allowed to be killed, so they all live longer lives at Hickory Hills than they would in the wild. They are well taken care of with plenty of acreage to make the hunt a challenge.

This was my favorite photo. This is Chief. He's an 11-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback.
He insisted on accompanying me while I ate and got a big slurp of my soup!

The lodge was decked out like Cabella's. All of the animals had been hunted by the owners
at different places around the world.

This was the view off the large, covered patio.

Dining area where Chief licked my soup, that corner table to the left.

An entrance gate to one of the properties named after a daughter, Linden.

Our fishing hole. I caught five bass and Daddy caught two. We threw them back because they were too small.

The lodge.

The biggest excitement took place after we left Hickory Hills. My dad was poking along I-55 in the left lane when suddenly a gigantic SUV came out of nowhere, right on our bumper. My dad moved over as soon as he could, but then he became really angry about it. So he flipped off the SUV making a mean face and shaking that middle finger violently at the driver. I swear; I do not lie. This is what my dad does. Next thing we know, blue lights and sirens come on. It was a Mississippi STATE TROOPER! Daddy pulled over and after rolling his window down, got the dressing down of his life. The only thing I could say in our defense was that the sudden appearance of the SUV scared me. The trooper was shouting at my dad like a drill sergeant, telling him to keep his butt out of the left lane, how dare he treat a fellow officer that way, blah blah blah. Mr. Trooper Man said he had a call to go to and had bigger fish to fry. Before that he threatened to throw my dad in jail. I had visions of how in Hades I would negotiate with these backwoods cops. Oh, Lawdy, my heart was beating 90-to-nothing. It's always an adventure with my dad. I have so many stories to share. But I'd have to have an R-rated blog to tell the whole truth.

Well, y'all have a great week! I'm doing laundry today and catching up on my blog reading.

Billy Bass

I present to you my prize possession: Billy Bass. He was caught by me in Pike County, MS on 8/13/14, weighing in at 5 lbs. 2 oz. My dad lovingly had him mounted by the best taxidermist in the State.

Where do you think I hung him? After a lot of agonizing over how this would work with my traditional, old world style furnishings, I settled on a prominent wall in the living room. I decided that I was truly proud of it, my dad was proud enough of me to go the expense to have it preserved, and besides, it would make a great conversation piece! I've seen professional decorators on TV throw in a wild, out-in-left-field decor item that doesn't match anything in the house (anyone see the hot pink deer head?) and it works. At least I think it works. What do you think?

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Fishing and Bonding

This has been a pretty good summer. Many days have been spent fishing with my dad, enjoying each other's company and getting a good tan in the process. After fishing we always stop by Sonic so Daddy can get a large caramel malt.

Around the middle of August I caught a 5 lb. bass, reeling him in all by myself. I may have mentioned it in another post; if so, sorry to repeat myself. The last three times we've been fishing we haven't caught anything worth bragging about. Daddy suggested the next time to get out to the fishing hole by daybreak on a cool morning. I told him to test out his theory first and if it works, then I'm in.

It's so hard not to have my big girl camera by my side, but I want to concentrate on bonding with my dad and fishing without the distraction of photography. Now I can't totally eliminate photography, being in such beautiful surroundings, so this is where my trusty iPhone takes up the slack.

This is my dad. The foggy morning was beautiful. In Lightroom I chose the Creamtone preset.

Five horses came galloping up to us at one point. The one closest in the frame was their ringleader, apparently.
Anyway, I tried to make friends with him and remain calm, but he had crazy eyes and wouldn't stop hovering and snorting.
He was all up in my face. I don't know much about horses and was afraid of getting kicked, so I hightailed it to the other side of the pond.

The pole from the bird house looks like it's holding up this horse's head. Haha

I don't know what kind of horse this is, but I love that blonde mane.

Isn't he cute?

Wishing everyone a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend!

Sharing with the wonderful Tex at

And also sweet Eileen at

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Still here!

I've missed blogging and I've missed my blogging friends. A huge THANK YOU to those that checked in on me in my absence. I did not mean to be gone so long, but life suddenly became a bit overwhelming and I needed a break from just about everything, only doing what was absolutely necessary.

Chance is still with me, but the Vestibular Disease has taken a toll on him and us. He wouldn't eat anything for a while so I cooked chicken and rice for him. He tried to humor me, but soon after, threw it all up. My next move was offering canned food. He gobbled it up like there was no tomorrow and most importantly it stayed down. We took him in for follow up blood tests and learned that his liver is severely compromised. He also has cataracts and hearing loss. The vet said Chance is on borrowed time...he's 14, after all. She said to give him all the canned food he wants and keep him comfortable. I pray the Lord will take him when it's time, to spare me having to make "that" decision. Ooops, here come the tears.

My beautiful and loving Chance in 2011.

Let's see...what else have I been doing? I worked for my former boss for ten days which left me very tired. But it was so nice to talk to some of my clients. We have the nicest customers!

I also enjoyed a few fishing excursions with my dad. Caught a 5 lb. bass, which made my dad so proud he took it to the taxidermist to have it mounted. Exactly an hour after I caught the 5-pounder, Daddy caught a 6-pound bass. It was one of the best fishing days we've had so far.

A couple weeks ago Double D and I purchased new bikes. We have been riding around our neighborhood every day. I love riding so much better than walking or running. The most distance we've covered in one ride is 5 miles; the goal is to get up to 10 miles. I installed an app called Runkeeper that stores all the details, such as average mph, speed, distance, GPS coordinates and calories burned. It's a great way to get us moving.

One more thing I'll mention is another app called Day One. I use it to journal my prayers. Often I find that my thoughts are so easily distracted that I can hardly put one coherent sentence together in my head. However, writing my prayers helps me focus. I figure God must love the written word since he gave us the Bible. I think doing this has finally solved my prayer problem.

Well, I've prattled on enough. If you're still here, below are images of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail that visited my lantana on August 8th. Surprisingly, I really love the black and white versions! I will catch up with everyone this week!