Texas style photography and words
I was looking out the french doors at the bird feeders and spotted this pair of house finches.
I have never understood the bird world and how male birds get all the bright colors.
A couple of birds just eating some seed on a warm Texas day.
Monday night while watching TV, my throat closed up, and my heart started racing.
I found my Kardio Mobile my cardiologist had me buy and checked my heart rate.
It said AFIB I tried it 5 times and all 5 said AFIB. Off to the ER, we went. This thing is great for anyone that has heart rhythm issues.
I walked into the ER and told them I was in AFIB and they took me straight back this was a good thing because there was about 40 or 50 people in the ER.
My heart raced up to 178 beats a minute then down to 130 back and forth never going below 130. It took 3 IV injections of metoprolol and a digoxin pill to get it down to 120 as time went on slowly by 7 a.m. Tuesday it was in the 70s. I had about 12 hours of fast heart rate, and my whole chest felt bruised.
I developed fluid in my lungs from the afib but they kept me until Wednesday evening and finally I could go home.
They upped my metoprolol dosage and added amiodarone to the mix, so far so good. They said the fluid would go away from the fluid pills it was mild fluid in the lungs caused by being in AFIB. My current heart rate is 57 – 62.
It seems the mitral valve that is already damaged gets worse during AFIB, but when the heart rate returns to normal, the valve returns to its previous state.
I feel okay I have been a little more tired than usual but last time it took me about a week to get over the AFIB episode.
I am thankful I did not have to do cardioversion again and everything turned out okay.
We have so many hawks this year I guarantee you will see them several times a day.
This grown hawk the darker red one and the juvenile were together in a tree that fell down this week from the storm.
This was a favorite lookout tree on the fence line for the hawks I am glad it will be gone but this part of the tree is still upright the other half the tree was uprooted.
I do like taking pictures of the hawks they photograph pretty well and their colors just blend in with nature.
Capturing wildlife while posing in nature scouting the next meal.
With our latest cold blast, I lost a lot of plants.
Some will come back and some will not.
What I noticed this time was Azaleas, Crepe Myrtle, Texas Sage, Louisiana Iris,
Paperwhites, Wild Privett Hedge, Fringe, and another hedge I can not remember the name of all survived.
Now the pink showers, purple showers, creeping daisies, succulents especially Aloe Vera and ferns look dead. Some will come back.
The Mexican heather froze but it always comes back so we will see who makes the great come back.
I did put some Aloe Vera indoors just in case.
I love plants so much I collect more than I can protect.
For Livingston, we are ONLY planting freeze-hardy plants because it is always 10 degrees colder there.
This past weekend our son Joshua brought his skid steer to do some clearing and leveling on the hill.
When you have trees mulched it leaves behind 4 – 6 inches of wood so all that wood has to be scraped into piles.
The good thing is Jeanelle & David can use it at their place next door for the muddy areas on the trails because the kids are always driving the Polaris Ranger around.
He got the hill scraped and it looks good. This is a picture of him on the skid steer.
The concrete guy came out and gave a general bid. Our plans show an 11′ 9 x 40-foot front porch well we are also going to do a back porch the same size. The side entrance is by the kitchen and there will be a sidewalk joining both porches.
Even though we are on a hill with concrete you still buy dirt for us it looks like 6 – 8 loads of dirt to go down before the concrete. He will come out this week and shoot a grade and give the actual estimate for the job.
We could have a slab in a few more weeks. Woo Hoo!
I made the down payment on the building but told them by the time we get the culvert set, the temporary driveway built, and the slab and plumbing it will be the end of February before we can start the building.
It sure would be nice to think that we could have the house by the end of March this is my springtime dream.
We wanted a Barndominium that will be Zinc metal which is dark grey with a white roof and black trim and black trimmed windows.
Here are a few pics of the property on the hill we are thinking of naming it “Magnolia Hill” because there is a magnolia on the hill. That is it leaning on the right-hand side it is leaning because there were other trees supporting it at one time. We are hoping it will straighten back up again. If not we can brace it until it realizes it has more room.
There are a few clusters of magnolias on the property in the front and the back yard.
I want a black iron gate that is 20 feet wide with Magnolia Hill on the gate and maybe our address.
Progress is moving along and I will share pictures as time goes on.
The hawks are everywhere.
Do not get me wrong I love looking at them but when I go outside after I feed the birds I can spot four different ones in trees.
I am going to try hanging small mirrors to see if that will keep them away.
Does anyone else have any ideas?
As you can see this one was eyeballing the ground from high up in a tree.
The forest floor in the piney woods offers the greatest opportunity to photograph some of nature’s wonders.
This time I concentrated my pictures on the Fungi in the damp pine straw under the pine trees.
I have no idea what the names are and whether they are edible or not I just know they photograph quite well.
The piney woods never lets me down there are always a lot of things to photograph.
I wanted to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.
We have had our 4 youngest grandkids for the week.
Our temperatures have been cold and rainy but since I hate the cold the rain does not bother me we need it pretty bad.
The girls and I made chicken and dumplings last night. They are such good helpers at 8 years old. They love to cook whether its with their mom or me.
Everyone be safe on the roads and have a blessed holiday.
This mockingbird literally flew in front of my shot.
I was taking pictures of the blue jays splish-splashing in the birdbath for an early
morning bath.
I guess the mockingbird got jealous and wanted to be the center of attention.
It was underexposed which is why it is darker but the lighting was so beautiful I kept it.
When this bird interrupted my photo session I could not pass up the opportunity to get his picture.
I love my backyard birds they are always ready to show off their beauty.
In Livingston, Texas, this is just a little bit of the fall colors you will see.
The butterflies are always nearby doing their jobs.
Nature in the woods is always a great place to be.
Sonya Lira Photography 