HARK! HARK! THE CLOUDS BREAK APART AND (THE BIG BIRDS FLY AGAIN PHOTO BLOG)

Hi Everybody!
Wow, what a great day as the cold slipped away this afternoon into the cracks of the clouds. I finally got to turn my heater off and open the windows. I am quite sure the energy companies are seeing these Polar Vortexes from a different point of view than the people stranded on the ground. Texas was very prepared and I am thankful we missed the mass of the storm system. I was so happy to see the Blue Skies and Sunshine. The buzzards celebrated with a wild buzzard rodeo over my head as you will see in the photos below. The tree skeletons are very noticeable with the leaves gone. I snapped my favorite tree trunk of the toothache tree by coon bridge. Enjoy!



















Wild Buzzard Rodeo to celebrate the exit of the cold!








Link to photostudy in G+ Albums:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/5974837961972996817


This one is a Black Vulture (shorter body than the Texas Turkeys)

Black Vulture
Coragyps atratus brasiliensis in Panama
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Incertae sedis (disputed)
Family:	Cathartidae
Genus:	Coragyps Le Maout, 1853
Species:	C. atratus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Vulture











The next photo is from the same place as the cloudy one above. I took the one below yesterday when the sun came out What a difference Blue Sky and Sunshine make in my photos!


2 cabins



3rd cabin: This is Kates Cabin in the sun again


This is a toothache tree by Coon Bridge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanthoxylum_clava-herculis

Zanthoxylum clava-herculis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, Hercules' club (or Hercules-club), pepperwood, orsouthern prickly ash, is a spiny tree or shrub native to the southeastern United States. It grows to 10–17 m tall and has distinctive spined thick, corky lumps 2–3 cm long on thebark. The leaves are glabrous and leathery,^[1] pinnately compound, 20–30 cm long with 7-19 leaflets, each leaflet 4–5 cm long. The flowers are dioecious, in panicles up to 20 cm long, each flower small, 6–8 mm diameter, with 3-5 white petals. The fruit is a two-valved capsule 6 mm diameter with a rough surface, and containing several small black seeds. The tree has also been called Z. macrophyllum. The genus name is sometimes spelledXanthoxylum.

Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
Xanthophyllum clava-herculis (Hercules' Club)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae
Genus:	Zanthoxylum
Species:	Z. clava-herculis

Along with the related Zanthoxylum americanum, it is sometimes called "toothache tree"^[2][3] or "tingle tongue" because of the numbness of the mouth, teeth, and tongue induced by chewing on its leaves or bark (thus relieving toothache). It was used for such medicinal purposes by both Native Americans and early settlers.^[4]

The tree has a rounded crown and requires plentiful water and sunlight. Its leaves are browsed by deer and its fruit is eaten by birds. The fruit passes through birds, which helps the seeds to germinate.^[4] The new trees tend to sprout below the favorite resting places of the birds, along fence rows and the edge of woods.^[5] It is known to be host to a number of insect species, including the Giant Swallowtail(Papilio cresphontes) and the leaf beetleDerospidea brevicollis

Hence "Hercules Club"

Link to photostudy in G+ Albums:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/5974462758966513185
Yesterday:

Northern Cardinal Male








Goldfinch


...this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek.  See You next time!

O+O
PS Thank You Google Auto Backup for the Snow and clips!