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Showing posts from April, 2018

Lunchtime Walk Photos 4/30/2018

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For the first time this year, I could go for my lunchtime walk without needing a jacket. And, I wasn't the only one who was enjoying the warm weather. There were plenty of critters coming out of hiding today, including a ton of turtles (which is why there are a lot of them in the photos). Here are some of the photos I was able to take:

Book Review: Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (1936)

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Synopsis: Detective Hercule Poirot is invited to attend a dinner and bridge party thrown by Mr. Shaitana, who has suggested four of his guests have once gotten away with murder. When the host is murdered during the course of the night, suspicion falls on one (or more) of the four he accused of murder. It is up to Poirot, with the help of Superintendent Battle and two other sleuths, to figure out who is responsible and what secret they were trying to keep. Review: I picked out this book a couple weeks ago because I knew, with my daughter's ice show being held last weekend, I would be at the ice rink quite a bit and needed something to keep me from being too bored. As it turns out, I was too busy helping out at the rink most evenings to get through this book as fast as I was expecting to. But, I still managed to find time to get through it and, after finally finishing it last night, I found I wasn't as impressed with it as I had hoped to be. The mystery itself had some...

Some Dandelion-Inspired Food for Thought

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I was outside yesterday and discovered some dandelions growing up by my house. As I snapped this photo of them, I had an interesting thought. When we are kids, we think of dandelions as flowers. We pick them and we put them in vases. Then, sometime along the way, somebody tells us they aren't flowers, they are weeds. And, as a result of that, our view of them changes. This is not unlike how we look at each other. When we are born, we are born with nothing but love in our hearts and view everyone as flowers. But, as we get older, we are told certain people are weeds, whether it is because the color of their skin, the country they come from, their religion, etc. Perhaps the way we can finally achieve world peace is to allow our children to enjoy beauty in every form. Instead of telling them a dandelion is a weed, let them pick them and put them in vases and treat them with the same respect we might show a rose. If we do that with plants, maybe it'll carry over to the way...

Bird Feeder Photos 4/28/2018 and 4/29/2018

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Been a bit busy this weekend but I managed to get some bird feeder photos while waiting for the wife and kids to get ready to go out the door. Here are some of them.

Lunchtime Walk Photos 4/27/2018

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I had to rush through my walk today because it was clouding up and I wasn't interested in getting caught in a sudden April downpour (especially since the trails are already muddy). I did, however, manage to snap a few photos, including one of a (distant) Northern Shoveler.

Morning Walk Photos 4/27/2018

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I got my walking app back up and running on my phone so I decided to stop by the lake this morning and take a stroll with my camera. It was a bit of a challenge getting photos. There was a lot to see but the birds seemed to be a bit skittish and uncooperative, meaning I had to take a couple of the photos as they were swimming in the middle of the lake barely in range of my camera lens. Here are some of the photos I was able to get:

My First Flowers of Spring

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I decided to fire up the grill last night and, while I was cleaning it, I noticed I had a couple flowers blooming by the side of my house. I was glad to see this because, after that late snow we had last week, I was afraid all the flowers were killed out. Hopefully, we'll see some more in the near future.

Woodpecker Video

I heard this woodpecker while walking back to my car and was able to get a video of it as it hammered on a tree trunk. I could not, however, get it to do that Woody Woodpecker laugh.

Some Frog Photos

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There were quite a few frogs out today (being loud, as usual) so I decided to take a few minutes and get some extra photos of them for your enjoyment.

Another Muskrat Photo

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This must be a younger one that isn't quite afraid of humans yet. Even though it saw me, it continued to swim rather than try to hide under the water, allowing me to get a photo of it.

Taking a moment to remember when...

school lunches were actually affordable and didn't require a bi-weekly checkbook entry that had to be budgeted around.

Happy NFL Draft Day!

Tonight, your favorite football team will get one player better than it was yesterday. Or, if it picks the wrong player, it will get one player worse. And that drama is the reason the NFL has made millions of advertising dollars doing nothing more than calling out a bunch of names.

Muskrat Video

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I saw the same muskrat I saw a couple days ago and managed to get a video of it (along with a couple turtles) and post it to YouTube. Here's that video (sorry it is a bit shaky, that wind was a little strong today and I was having a hard time keeping my arms from swaying).

Lunchtime Walk Photos 4/25/2018

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I'm kind of regretting not having a change of socks with me but I ventured deeper into the park today (despite flooded trails) and was able to get quite a few photos, including one of a hiding heron and a couple of some tree swallows that were catching bugs on one of the ponds. Here are some of the photos I took:

Lunchtime Walk Photos (and Video) 4/24/2018

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I attempted to venture a little deeper into the park today but, as I feared, most of the trails were kind of flooded and, as a result of that, I had to stick to the perimeter. I did wind up getting a few photos though and caught some video of the (very loud) frogs coming out of hiding to enjoy the warmer weather.