I hope the trend continues with my Para Warthog .45 ACP pistol - that is, absolutely 100 percent of the rounds I fired last weekend with this gun fed and ejected perfectly. I’m still trying to make the bullets group in the center of the target as perfectly.

Anyhow, I photographed my gun on a pair of Bob’s camouflage shorts while folding laundry Monday. It sure looks pretty.

Last weekend we attended the exhibition after the Armed Forces Day Parade. All the services brought their showbiz stuff as well as some of their Military assets. In this picture, four valuable assets can be seen: a Howitzer cannon, a heavy troop transport utility vehicle and two United States Marines. God Bless all of ‘em.

These don’t look like much now, but in a few weeks we’ll have some of the most beautiful night-blooming cereus flowers. For a retro-view of what’s in store, just look here, here and here.

Last year the pink portulacas planted around the perimeter of the vegetable garden grew in profuse clusters. This year, there is the promise for more just like last time.

Spring brings so many nice things to the garden. A few weeks ago, I bought a potted Asiatic lily from the garden shop. This weekend these three nice flowers opened. I was out in the garden spritzing mist on the plants in the unseasonably warm weather, when I put the hose down and took this shot of this beautiful trio.

Not that we’re big into the Audubon Society, but we do like to attract birds to the backyard by keeping the feeders stocked with songbird seed mix. I happened to get out the telephoto lens and caught this little House Finch looking at me taking a photo of him.

WikiPedia has this about House Finches:

Adults have a long, square-tipped brown tail and are a brown or dull-brown color across the back with some shading into deep gray on the wing feathers. Breast and belly feathers may be streaked; the flanks usually are. In most cases, adult males’ heads, necks and shoulders are reddish. This color sometimes extends to the stomach and down the back, between the wings. The male coloration varies in intensity with the seasons and is derived from the berries and fruits in its diet. As a result, the colors range from pale straw-yellow through bright orange (both rare) to deep, intense red. Adult females have brown upper parts and streaked under parts.

Their song is a rapid, cheery warble or a variety of chirps.

Thank God it’s not The Bird Man of Alcatraz!

A regular event in our weekly routine is when Bob fills the bird feeders out back. We get several varieties of birds who take advantage of the easy pickin’s in the back yard. House sparrows, house finches, turtle doves, pigeons (a.k.a. rock doves) and hummingbirds are regular visitors to the back yard feeders, the latter going for the nectar in the hummingbird feeder which is my job to fill. The wire cage is set up so the larger birds cant get some of the treats we think should be for the little birds.

I’ll have some pictures of various birds in future postings. Click the picture for a closer look.