A Little Owl, and they are just that.

The Battle of Alcatraz where 6 inmates attempted an escape in May, 1946. The bar spreader was used for the ringleader to get out and they took control of the cell house and gun cage. However a guard had forgotten to return the key to exit the cell house back to the gun cage. The prisoners took hostages but did not get what they needed. The guards worte on the wall of the cell the names of the inmates involved and circled the names of the leaders. Five guards were shot, two of them died and the Marines responded by dropping grenades through the roof. Three prisoners died and two more were later executed. The escape plan had failed due to the forgetfulness of one guard.

The A40 eastbound at Gerrards Cross

Ooer, I had a BF at Gerrard's " Crawse". Very posh! What a nice straight road David!

This is the bird whose head shot I posted earlier.

Tulips

Love the bird pics!!

I would hardly have noticed this tiny moth, if not for the interesting pattern on its wings.

I apologise for the huge picture above. The original Photobucket image was within specifications, and I haven't been able to re-size or delete my post.

I tried too. I have sent for the cavalry!

You don't see them on the ground too often. This one looks like a child's toy.

I got a notice from my Power Company that my service would be interrupted briefly while they installed a new power consumption meter. Although the old one may have had a microohmic value in the overall cicuitry, the new digital radio emitting one is to allow the meter readers to just walk by to record my usage. I kind of liked the old ones that took twenty years to learn how to read, what with some pointers turning clockwise and others going counterclockwise and the corresponding number scales flipsy flopsy too and that central disc spinning round and round and round and...

So to record for future generations what the old meters looked like:

Auntie: nice catch of the Utetheisa pulchella Crimson-speckled Flunkey (love the common name lol). A very beautiful moth as most are quite dull-looking.

RMG: just look at those FEET! too adorable (well, maybe not for the prey lol).

I posted a Mexican sunrise before, so might as well give you the sunset..

Real warm sunny Spring day today



These really are ducks this time

It was lucky the A40 was straight at that spot- this year was the start of the new photo project trying to get as many map squares for www.geograph.co.uk the UK photo library. That means I stop every half mile or so on a road if it's safe and take whatever's there. Some are truly dire, when all I can get is a hedgerow as the sun is facing the opposite way and there's nothing else to see where the layby or junction is, but you tend to find that happens there and looking at the same square often see one or two more identical shots as that's the only convenient place in the area to take something. I had a girlfriend in both Little Chalfont and Chorleywood, and the areas (especially the mansion in Chorleywood) were extremely impressive and rural.

Here's another view of Beaconsfield

mehaul, our electric meters are like yours, but are currently being replaced by "Smart" meters which can be read remotely. My 4 year-old grandson is becoming aware of conservation, and likes to watch the speed of the rotating disc and relate it to how many electric appliances are in use in my house. Then we have to check the gas meter, the water meter, and so on!

Jakeroo, thanks for the moth identification! I followed up and found that it features on a Malaysian postage stamp.

RMG, those owls are superb! I used to do stagwatching for Leadbeater's Possum. It was not unusual to realise a curious owl had come to observe me as I lay under a tree in the dark. I could never tell how long it had been there, as their flight is so silent.

Love those Spring photos from the Northern Hemisphere!
Thanks eveyone for the glimpses into your world.

Forgive me for the images this brings up - thoughts of marsupials being walloped with bludgeons. What is Leadbeater's Possum? And why do you watch stags there?

Today was a strange day - windy, rainy, a bit of snow, and all sorts of birds in my back yard, including this fellow. The blurring in the background is mostly the wind's doing!

Cannot remember if I have posted the crooked part of Lombard street in San Francisco before, my apologies if I have.

Driving down Lombard Street always made me nervous -- like my brakes would fail or something!



These tulips are in my son's yard up in Virginia.

This wall supports an overpass in the Melbourne suburb of Newport, formerly the home of the Railway Workshops.

I am innocent, I never touched your meter!

I think there's only one more after this.

I've really been enjoying the owl photos. I only have one owl photo (not as good as yours). I took this one last year at the Desert Park when we were on holiday in Alice Springs.

Dial Cottage West Moor



George Stephenson, Engineer,Inventor of the locomotive engine lived in this cottage from 1805 - 1823

I'm so glad everyone has enjoyed them. I did have a bit of an advantage though MG, the pictures were taken in a sanctuary so we could get really close. To take one of a truly wild bird isn't easy. I think you did well to get the shot.