Little Dinosaur

Gecko on our patio.  Click to enlarge to better see his amazing scaly skin.

I was whispering sweet-nothings into his ear(?) while trying to get the focus just right, and I like to think that that had something to do with his several minutes of stillness and "compliance."  Or, the staidness could be just attributed to his survival instinct. I mean, I guess, yeah.

Out West

we took a trip to the texas desert. some weird things happened to us. instead of elucidating on the weird stuff, i'd rather share the beauty of what we saw.














high water bridge, where the pecos and rio grande rivers meet:














sanderson, tex.:














the beginning of sunset, night one. fort stockton, tex.:














outside balmorhea, tex.:














coyote, outside fort davis, tex:














prada marfa--public art piece of a mock prada store, in the middle of nowhere:














valentine, tex.:




























bank of marfa:











































viewing platform for the mysterious marfa lights (astronomical wonder). we tried, but we didn't see any of those elusive marfa lights:














sunset from viewing platform:















alpine, tex:








































first time entering the state of new mexico (very exciting). bullet holes in sign:






orla, tex. (tiny, forgotten ghost town):
















pecos, tex:


























(the end.)

Holsteins come in threes?

We love our Holstein dairy cattle in the Upper Midwest. The prettiest of the four-stomached gentle vegetarian beasts, if I do say so myself. Or maybe I'm just partial, being an unabashed Upper-Midwestern girl (and perhaps fellow gentle vegetarian beast).

First, three friends we encountered at the Freeborn County Fair:















Next, an awesome house in Albert Lea, Minn., devoted to said cows:




















(I almost described the above as "an udderly moo-ving tribute," but then I almost barfed from my own doings. In fact, mentioning it post hoc is currently making me gag.)