Hammock between two trees
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: A World of Weird, Wild, and Oddballs

Early this month, one of my Sunday Stills challenges featured creepy insects and the like. You thought you were done gazing at bees, butterflies, and other pretty bugs.

yellow bee sunflower
Incoming!

However, this week’s challenge is “Oddballs, Wild, and Weird.”

Oddball: Something strange or bizarre; a strange or eccentric person.

This may translate into seeing a few more insects and other wild creatures, as well as strange, oddball, and weird things. Of course, these adjectives are subjective, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I’ll let you be the judge.

This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.” – David Lynch

Reptiles and Insects—Wild or Weird?

Has anyone blogged long enough to remember the WordPress Photography 101 course? When I began blogging consistently in the Autumn of 2014, I took this course to learn more about photography. I learned a lot and was hooked. I imagine this course could have been the origin of the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge that so many of us enjoyed until it was discontinued in May 2018.

One of the challenges asked us to share a photo that demonstrated “solitude.” What do you think?

Lizard in eternal solitude

I discovered this poor lizard skeleton perfectly preserved on my friend’s roof in La Ventana, Baja Sur, Mexico, taken in 2010. According to my friend, the poor thing wandered out to sun itself and got stuck in the fresh paint!

While walking on our street, I saw this beautiful bull snake (aka gopher snake) seeking warmth on the asphalt.

Two-foot long Bull snake
Two-foot long Bull snake

The bullsnake’s coloration provides it with excellent camouflage in its habitat. The bullsnake is non-venomous and kills its prey by strangulation. However, it can inflict a painful bite. When threatened, a bullsnake can mimic a venomous rattlesnake by puffing up its body, shaking its tail, and hissing. Source

He slithered away into the grass as I approached, then coiled and wanted to let me know who was boss.

Close up bull snake and tongue

But not before I got a zoomed close-up.

Have you ever seen a “pregnant” praying mantis? Gravid is the better term for egg-laying creatures.

Green mantisGreen Praying Mantis

Mantis are incredible insects and quite beautiful, in my opinion, but a gravid one will bite if you try to move it out of harm’s way like I did.

In August, Hubby found this giant caterpillar attached to our small apple tree branch. It is likely the larval form of a sphinx moth or hummingbird moth. This caterpillar was at least 6 inches long and about an inch thick! Big!!

Hummingbird Moth caterpillar
Hummingbird Moth caterpillar
AI generated Hummingbird moth
AI generated Hummingbird moth

I used the WordPress AI generator to show you a hummingbird moth. Neighbors have seen them around the area. There are similar caterpillars that can be destructive to gardens, but these morph into pollinators for your garden.

I couldn’t resist sharing this molting dragonfly I saw years ago. It’s oddball, wild, and weird all in one special image!

Dragonfly nymph sheds into adulthood
Molting Dragonfly

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” — Confucius

Seeking Autumn on the Centennial Trail

Mile Marker 37

Last Friday was a great day to walk on the local Centennial Trail, seeking Autumn colors. While the Autumn colors were still mostly absent, I managed to find some unexpected oddball views.

The Centennial Trail has several alternate small rustic trails to explore. What caught my eye was this oddball bench crafted out of a tree stump. Behind it (peeking through the trees in the first image) was an oddly placed, rustic outhouse that looked like it was still in use. Nope.

Carved bench from tree
Oddball Outhouse
Does anyone use this small outhouse on the trail?

In a land long ago and far away, Autumn showed its beautiful self in mid-November in Sacramento, California.

Odd drops on Autumn Leaves
7 Odd Drops

Nature’s Oddities

Nature has her own set of oddities in the shapes of clouds like these…

Wavy clouds
Waves of clouds walk the Mojave Desert floor

…Or the shapes of autumn gourds. This is my final entry for Becky B’s fabulous Seven for September challenge! Thank you for hosting squares again!

bird-shaped gourds and pumpkins
7 gourds, 2 “birds”
rust brushstroke

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

Sharing for Becky B’s Seven for September, Dawn’s Festival of Leaves, Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, and Lens-Artists: Finding Beauty

October themes are ready to view on my Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Page, updated monthly.

I can’t wait to see how you interpret this week’s WILD, WEIRD & ODDBALL theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore “Leaves and Trees.”

Snow conspired to make a happy face on my Toyota's front Grill
Snow conspired last winter to make a weird, happy face on my Toyota’s front grill

“It’s weird not to be weird.” – John Lennon

Autumn signature

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108 comments

  2. Your caterpillar looks like a tomato bug, though this seems like the wrong time of year for one (and you didn’t see it on a tomato plant).

    I’ve been on wp since 2010 but never saw any courses. I used to do some of Cee’s weekly challenges, but she burned out and changed the frequency, and completely quit the ones that I enjoyed.

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  3. Terri,

    This post was fun. I enjoyed all of the pictures, especially the Bull Snake. Snakes don’t bother me, and I never kill them unless I know they are venomous, and even then, they have to be a threat. Otherwise, I let them slither on. My contribution is an oddball cow I came across way back in the day. Kinda cute, hug?

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  4. What an aptly named prompt for this collection of photos. I need to keep my eyes open for curiosities in case you suggest a similar prompt in the future. The waves on the desert floor are crazy. Wonder what causes them? The gourds are a lot of fun. Just saw my first gourds of the season last weekend. The molting whatever it was looks disturbing to me. I know nature is beautiful but that shedding transformation business can be kind of gross!!

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    • Thank you, Leslie! My theory about the desert clouds was that it was low fog the wind blew. It was late October near Victorville, CA. And the molting was strange but that dragonfly shed it’s husk and dried its wings right in front of me. Weird but miraculous ❤️👏

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  6. A fun post, Terri. I don’t mind snakes and insects, but that molting dragonfly was a little on the sci-fi creepy side! Yikes. I’m glad you’re getting outside and enjoying this beautiful fall weather. Have a great week!

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  16. I can’t help but ask if somebody is lying in the hammock in the featured picture, Terri. If not, then it must be a ghost taking a rest.

    I had to skip past the images of the snake. If there is one creature in the world that I fear the most, it’s snakes. I know you said they are more frightened of us, but I can’t even watch them on a TV screen. No, I’ve never watched the movie ‘Snakes on a Plane.’ I’ve only ever encountered one, but that was from the passenger seat of a car. Fortunately, we only have one native snake in the UK – the Adder, and I’m told it’s very rare to encounter any as they keep themselves to themselves. Phew!

    I love the snowy image. That’s my favourite.

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    • First off, yes there was someone lying in the hammock, Hugh. I was dying to walk up to it and take his pic! Seemed weird to be exhausted the first week of college classes, LOL. I’m sorry you are afraid of snakes. It’s a legit and visceral fear. My mom loved reptiles and showed us how to pick up a harmless snake just below the head. And I did. I did NOT pick this one up in the picture. Mostly I was afraid Brodie would antagonize it. One native species of snake in UK, wow! I believe Adders are venomous!

      Isn’t the snowy face cute? Glad you like it. I’m sure I’ll see more of those this winter!

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      • Oh, please don’t be sorry about snakes and me not hitting it off, Terri. I don’t think they like me either, so we keep well-apart.

        Yes, the adder is venomous, so another reason to avoid it at all costs. They tend to hide under large stones or anything they can get under for protection in grasslands. I believe they hibernate in the winter months, but climate change means they’re more likely to be seen during the winter now.

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  40. Wow! Some wonderful images!!! I love the droplets and snow.

    I really miss the WP Weekly Photo Challenge… I was so sad when they stopped it… and the original Daily Prompt (the ones currently are rubbish!!!)

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    • Thank you, Sarah! That weekly PC really helped get my blog on the map back then. I enjoyed how they posted the thumbnails of posts. I enjoy the many photo challenges out there, and Sunday Stills was resurrected by me in 2018 a month before WP stopped the WPC. I tried the Daily prompt back in 2014 but it didn’t work for me. Great that you’ve been blogging that long!

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  41. You sure did amass a collection of odd-looking items for this post Terri, from the first lizard skeleton to the molting dragonfly. I remember in years when we had an influx of Cicadas, I’d go outside and see they had shed, leaving their former selves dotting the rosebushes. I would not try that outhouse either. Years ago we went to Holiday Beach in Canada for swimming and cookouts and it was a large beach but only had one outhouse – I refused. I would not make a good camper … I’d hold it instead. I like the quote by John Lennon. It is very true!

    Here are my oddballs collected on one walk … birds are not best buds as you will see as you read on.

    Cormorant Camaraderie.

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    • Thank you, Linda! I may have honed my love of photography on being able to catch the weird and oddball stuff around me. 🙂 I really wanted to use that rustic outhouse too, the door was open but it didn’t look clean. Luckily there is a state-maintained vault toilet in the parking lot not far away. That would have been fascinating to see all the cicada shells.

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      • Well, it is quite the collection and you were at the right place and right time to get these shots. I remember that outhouse at the beach was very rustic and I was a pre-teen. The cicada shells were usually hanging on a thorn and kind of macabre looking.

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      • No, this had to be about 20-25 years ago but it was a big invasion of them – sadly, no pictures. For that invasion of periodic cicadas I remember I worried about my Dwarf Japanese Maple which is out front and I planted it in 1985. Arborists warned that the periodic cicadas would swarm onto small ornamental trees and young trees and we should swaddle their trunks and cover them completely, which I did. We did not have any more cicadas in 2024 than our usual Summertime cicadas doing their singing.

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  43. Terri one of the things I love about you is that you are one of the few people I know who would stop to take a photo of a face on your car trunk!! Seriously, how does one beat that?!?!? Loved your fun post altho I’ll admit some of the images made me grimace rather than smile! You definitely got some weird goin’ on in this one girlfriend!!!

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    • Thank you, Graham. I go on so many walk, it’s a given to see something strange. Poor lizards…all they want is food or warmth and that happens. I’ll never forget seeing that molting dragonfly. It gone blown by the delta breeze onto a log in was sitting by and I watched the whole thing unfold in about an hour. I used my lumix for the pics.

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  53. A fascinating collection of oddities, Terri! I have a bug phobia, so a few photos made me grimace a little. 😆 And the snake – yikes! 😬 Great closeup shot, though! Someone would have to be pretty desperate to use that outhouse. Interesting to find it there. And how handy to have a little bench nearby, in case of a lineup. 😀 Love the artistic “7 drops” shot and the waves of clouds! I’ve never seen gourds shaped like swans before. Cool! And the smiling grill made Me smile as well. 🙂

    https://thedogladysden.com/oddballs-wild-and-weird-photography/

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