Author: 2019tv

I blog about things in general although I am particularly interested in photography and love taking pictures.

New Photo Challenge : BOTD

I would like to start a photo challenge called Bird of the Day! I would appreciate you following my blog, and whenever you feel like posting, post a picture of a bird. After posting the picture on your site, please tag your photo With Granny Shot It and BOTD along with any other tags you would like to use. If you know the name of the bird, I’m sure everyone would appreciate you adding that to your post. If you don’t know its name, just posting the picture is fine. Let’s just have fun with this! Have a great day!

Crested Caracara

We saw this beautiful bird sitting on a road sign while we were on a trip to North Padre Island and the National Seashore.

The Dallas Zoo

One of our favorite places to take the grandkids is the Dallas Zoo. It is always entertaining and fun because even if you’ve seen the animals before, they seem to always be doing something different. The zoo has a carousel which is a favorite with all the kids, young and old alike. Near the entrance, there are usually parrots sitting on some perches. Their bright colors start the day off right.

Then as you go passed the carousel, you arrive at the lemur area on your left. There are several different species of lemurs.

From there, you have to decide whether to go to the area with the larger animals, like elephants, giraffes, etc. or to the original area with the birds, monkeys, etc.

The last time we went, they were having a dinosaur exhibit in the older area. There is also a building that houses snakes, crocodiles, frogs and other reptiles. In the center court, there is a train ride for the smaller children. This area also has a stage where they host a show about different birds, a petting zoo and many other animals.


You enter the newer area by going through a tunnel that goes under a street to see the larger animals. These animals include gorillas, chimpanzies, elephants, giraffes, crocodiles, lions, etc. The last time we were there a female gorilla had had a baby. It was one of the first days that they were able to be seen outside. Another time, there was a baby elephant.

This area has recently opened a rhino area. There is also a monorail that gives you an overview of many of the areas of the zoo. However, the last several times that we have been, the monorail was not working. I don’t know the reason it was closed; or if or when it will reopen.

Another interesting attraction is the ability to feed the giraffes. You are able to get really upclose and personal with them. The following picture does not depict this encounter, just a giraffe.

Many evenings the zoo has special programs. I have only attended one of these, and it was around Christmas. They were supposed to have one million lights, and I believe that they did.

We have spent many enjoyable days at the zoo. It is a wonderful place for families to go for an outing.

Blanching Vegetables

Although we didn’t grow the corn shown in the picture, we do blanch and freeze many of our vegetables, especially green beans. The first step in blanching your vegetables is to pick and clean them. Then you want to separate them by size. Bring water to a boil and drop the cleaned vegetables in for about three minutes. Times may vary depending on what you are blanching. Then immediately scoop them out and dunk them in ice cold water for the same amount of time. After removing them, dry them off as best as you can and pack them into containers for freezing. One thing that we used to forget was to label the items with the name of the product and the date. Labeling helps to rotate the food we eat and always use the oldest first to prevent waste.