All About Pocket Knives

Interesting critters around this time of year!

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote:I'm on the "Blackland Prairie" here. Soil is black gumbo clay. When it's wet it sticks to everything. When it's dry it's hard as concrete and gets cracks several inches wide (you can break an ankle if you step in one wrong) and several feet deep. But if you till in enough compost, manure, rock minerals, and fertilizer, it's good soil!

Ken

I'm about 20 miles SSE of Temple.

What's the nearest "big city" for you?

In your welcome post to me, you said that you were in "North Central Texas" and now you mention "Blackland Prairie". Nobody but us central Texans seem to know what the BP is. You can't be that far from me as the BP is only about 300 miles long 20 to 50 miles wide and I'm about as "central" as you can get.

One of the things I "like" about the BP is that the dark gray "patina" of bone dry BP Houston Clay is such a close match for the patina on my throwing knives that I had to paint the knives Case Orange so I can find them without a metal detector when I bounce one off my throwing range.

Ken, a fine shot of that butterfly against the leaves.

Thanks QS, maybe someone knows what kind of butterfly that is. I don't have a butterfly ID book and haven't tried to find it online. We get a lot of different kinds of butterflies due to the flowers (some would call them weeds) in the pastures. I try to run my operation as much as possible using organic practices. I've read most butterflies are drawn to specific host plants and I have something here for a lot of them I guess.

ZZ, I'm northwest of McKinney, southwest of Sherman. Just a few miles farther west of me is the Cross Timbers region.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote:Thanks QS, maybe someone knows what kind of butterfly that is. I don't have a butterfly ID book and haven't tried to find it online. We get a lot of different kinds of butterflies due to the flowers (some would call them weeds) in the pastures. I try to run my operation as much as possible using organic practices. I've read most butterflies are drawn to specific host plants and I have something here for a lot of them I guess.

ZZ, I'm northwest of McKinney, southwest of Sherman. Just a few miles farther west of me is the Cross Timbers region.

Ken

Pretty sure that's a Spice Bush Swallowtail.

Mumbleypeg wrote:Thanks QS, maybe someone knows what kind of butterfly that is. I don't have a butterfly ID book and haven't tried to find it online. We get a lot of different kinds of butterflies due to the flowers (some would call them weeds) in the pastures. I try to run my operation as much as possible using organic practices. I've read most butterflies are drawn to specific host plants and I have something here for a lot of them I guess.

ZZ, I'm northwest of McKinney, southwest of Sherman. Just a few miles farther west of me is the Cross Timbers region.

Ken

About 200 miles N of me.

As black lion said, Spicebush Swallowtail.

You can learn more about butterflies, and ID them here

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org

Specific page for the spicebush...

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/spe ... io-troilus

Apparently, you can register and as a member upload pictures documenting sightings of particular butterflies in particular locations. I've never registered, just used it to ID oddballs I come across.

Being near McKinney, you are on the western fringe of its range.

Out in San Diego this past week. Got to see 3 Aircraft Carriers all in the same harbor.

USS Midway CVN-41, decommissioned.
USS Carl Vinson CVN-70, call sign: Gold Eagle
USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71, call sign: Rough Rider.

Not a common sight for me...

Note:
Ironically, the CVN-78 USS Gerald R. Ford is being commissioned on TV right now!

Great pics, six

Outstanding! Looks like you had a Fun Day!

Nice pix six.. Them ships look BIG!!! John

Water, ships you can't go wrong with a camera, great pics. I'd like to get out more to historical sites for more pics, most of mine tend to be shots of opportunity.

That's a cool pic, but the shadow of the handle bar looks like a gun pointed at your head.

Charlie Noyes

You're the first person to notice that. Everyone else I know gave me grief because I had one hand off the handlebars and I was looking to the right instead of straight ahead while I was ridin' all cardinal sins when travelin' 65 mph and better while goin' down the road. That's what approximately 100 ft/sec, 10 stories, 2 telephone pole lengths. A lot can happen in a 100 feet and if you're doin 65. So with that in mind my shadow shots are a little less excitin'.

TMH: The sun placement in the first shot is so perfect my first thought was that I was looking at a light house. I've spent a minute trying to pick the right word to describe the last shadow picture. I think I'll just have to settle for "evocative." All nicely done.

TheMadHungarian wrote:You're the first person to notice that. Everyone else I know gave me grief because I had one hand off the handlebars and I was looking to the right instead of straight ahead while I was ridin' all cardinal sins when travelin' 65 mph and better while goin' down the road. That's what approximately 100 ft/sec, 10 stories, 2 telephone pole lengths. A lot can happen in a 100 feet and if you're doin 65. So with that in mind my shadow shots are a little less excitin'.

I can see by your shadows that you weren't alone on the bike. You need to pass the camera to the passenger for those good shots.

As usual, more wonderful photos.
Great pics MadHungarian

The Golden Hour of the day.

Had an interesting day yesterday. It was hot, I think the high temperature was 101. One of the smarter critters I saw was this one. All but it's head was submerged in the creek. Click on the picture to enlarge for a better view. At sundown, was treated to this view of the sun shining on some big thunderhead clouds. Odd thing though, they were to the southeast of here, not west where the sun was setting. About an hour later they dumped about 3/4 inch of rain on us. Just after dark and before the rain started I found this laying on the driveway. I leave the rat snakes alone - plenty of mice and rats around for them to help control. But the copperheads are a different story, especially with the grandkids around. Ran over this one with the truck, then finished it off with a shovel. We get a lot of them around this time of year. They're mainly after cicada larvae emerging from the ground. But if you step on one .........
Ken

Good copperhead now.

Copperheads and rattlers get the same treatment around here. Any other no-legged creature gets a pass.

I seem to have a never ending supply of rattlers. I've killed over 40 in the just the last 3 years, including a 47.5", a 51", a 58" and a 62", all trapped as they crawled out from underneath the house.

There's a reason I hire plumbers for "house" plumbing repairs.

Nice shots! The top one looks like a painting by one of the Dutch Masters and the bottom one is just too cool for words. Both would make great poster-size blow-ups to frame and hang on the wall.

~Q~

Thanks, the top one is looking from the top of the mountain looking down from Sunrise Highway into Crystal Terrace, One of my favorite views about 2 miles from my home.

The bottom one was taken in front of my orthopedic surgeons office, I spend a lot of time there Anyway that's the front window, my focus was pretty close but my F stop was high to give me some depth of field. This way it was easy to see both views with the ones in the rain drops in focus.

Sometimes the simplest concepts make the best pics.

vikingdog wrote:Packard.jpg

What year model is the Packard. Ken

Not the photographic artist that The Mad Hungarian appears to be, but here are some random shots of opportunity that I've taken with my cell phone.

Click on first and last to flip upright.

Charlie Noyes