Naomi and George

As I left for work this morning another beautiful surprise greeted me. George and Naomi - our two bald eagles that seemed to have claimed our yard - were perched side by side on a Norway spruce branch. By the time I had my camera…

My Side of the Mountain (sort of)

More often than not, unless I am thinking intently about a topic - enough to maintain my complete attention - it is highly likely that a part of my thought processes are in a wilderness area somewhere. For example… today I had a few minutes between the work day and an evening meeting. As I checked out our yard I noticed the afternoon sun peaking through high branches of our Norway spruce trees. In my imagination I was seeing a scene I have been attempting to create - something as if you are on a mountaintop looking at the upper parts of trees, with nowhere higher to go. I had reached the peak!. From this point on my dream hiking path can only go down.

To capture what I was visualizing I put…

From One Season to the Next

Today’s dramatic weather change from the weekend - warm and windy to cooler and rainy equated to little time outdoors, other than for work and to wander briefly in our CRP.

What we hope will become a beautiful wildflower prairie is now mostly a dead weed patch from last year. But, there were a few wildflowers that bloomed to maybe lay the foundation for this season.

I found this tired specimen and thought it would look nice with a…

An Early Spring Wildflower Trifecta - Not!

With temps approaching 80-degrees and wind trying to blow my skin off, I opted not to attempt any paddling today, even though I really would have enjoyed time on the water when it was warm. Instead, I attempted to find three early blooming spring wildflower species - hoping they were all…

Confidence Birds

I am more convinced than ever that wildlife recognizes communications and behavior patterns from non-same species. For example - blue jays squawking will bring other birds into the fray. A hawk just flying over will cause all other wildlife - squirrels to small birds to freeze. And from what I noticed today, trumpeter swans serve as confidence birds to greater white-fronted geese.

My wife first spotted the greater white-fronted geese (she refers to them as “squeakers”) early this morning. A few minutes later I drove to where she saw the geese and photographed them.

About a half-hour later, while I was digging around in the backseat of my truck, two…

Not Bob Barker and “The Price is Right”

Well, it had to happen… some bug got me. I don’t know whether I am hosting some respiratory illness or “the vid.” Whatever it is, the bug has zapped my energy and rendered me pretty much useless. I am usually pretty healthy and seldom am taken down, especially on a warm day like today, so this is unusual.

When I was a kid, a day like today would have meant I was relegated to the couch to watch Bob Barker on The Price is Right. Sometimes I would also watch Andy Griffith, Bewitched, The Dating Game or The Newlywed Game. When I think back even further I remember watching Green Acres and…

Perspective

Nearly eight years ago a close family member and I began regular journeys - at least every three weeks - to the healing center of the Midwest. Our efforts are necessary to maintain the upper hand over that nasty word “cancer.” Today was our 39th visit for this regimen - not our 39th total, but 39th for this treatment effort. During today’s early morning hours - when I could not sleep - I pondered 39 treatments and tried to put them into perspective.

When I calculate just the tri-weekly appointments for this regimen, we have driven around 7,500 miles between home and the treatments. To put that into perspective, we could have driven from our home to Anchorage, Alaska and back and started a second trip to Alaska.

When I calculate the time spent in the car - not the appointments - just in the car driving to appointments, we have shared nearly five weeks together driving. To put that into perspective, that has been nearly five weeks of conversation, questions, discussions, and sometimes silence as we moved back and forth.

When I calculate our time spent moving around the campus for blood-lettings, MD visits, and actual infusions in this regimen, we have invested nearly eight weeks of our lives into this process. To put that into perspective, we have walked from one appointment to another in the building nearly half of an NFL football season.

When we roughly calculate the needle sticks (usually takes up to five or six due to very poor veins), the number of pokes is 156, give or take some. To put that in perspective, there are few usable veins in the hands. As of today, the arm has become the target of choice while trying to save the antecubital for blood tests.

When I calculate the cost per treatment into what I could do with those funds every three weeks, I could buy five Kevlar canoes, paddles, and PFDs with change left over for gas to drive to the river. To put that into perspective, I could convert the fees into $18,000-$19,000 dollars every three weeks. Thank goodness for insurance!

When I calculate the total invested so far for treatments into cash (just for these 39-doses), I come up with not quite…

Attractive By Night

For migratory species that move at night, I am imagining it is scenes like this that capture avian attention by air. How else do we have nothing one day and the next day we have the first, the first few, or maybe even the first dozens of migrants.

When this picture was taken I did not see any new…

Dispose? Absolutely Not - Those Make Great Anchors

Due to a project I am involved with I have become the recipient of an ample assemblage of window weights. These weights vary from fives to twelves and all are rusty. When I saw the possibilities, I quickly recognized an opportunity and saved the weights from disposal.

So what do I plan to do with…

Reason for Concern?

I will get right to the point - as I wandered our ponderosa this afternoon enjoying our exceptionally warm February temperatures, I could not help but wonder if I need to begin…

Illusions

My passion for photography and the outdoors, along with my technical background, has been leading me down a dark hole lately. (Note - This is nothing too serious.) I tend to be a person who pushes my equipment to its limits as I try to get the most out of everything. For this discussion I am referring to image quality with minimum weight. Lately I have been researching and testing how to take advantage of the technology in my cell phone so I can leave my GoPro kit out of my camera gear backpack.

Not only will I need equal quality, I want better from the phone, if possible. Hopefully I can achieve that since the Iphone has three ranges of camera view (not counting the selfie camera). That beats the GoPro. My concern is…

The Old Adage

True, absolutely true… the old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” was so true today.

I would guess for most viewers of this photo there simply won’t be much to be excited about. For me the thoughts just began to flow when I recorded this image. Put into words, the image has generated a book worth of memories and aspirations.

Much too long ago I hiked the many miles of isle Royale National Park. Much of my time trekking across the isolated island was alone - just me and my thoughts. In the lower, the wetter, the…

Canoeing for Trumpeter Swans

For my first paddle outing at Sweet Marsh for 2024 I was hopeful to see trumpeter swans, but there were no certainties. I paddled, I listened, I looked, and I quickly photographed a pair. Then I ...

Ice Sounds, Water Sounds

With spring weather conditions blessing us this afternoon I had to get out on the water. I could not resist the temptation to paddle on the Wapsipinicon River.

My icy voyage began at our cabin where I erroneously thought I could paddle along…

A Couple of Firsts (of the year) and Repeats

As our unseasonably mild winter continues on, some aspects of spring are well under way. Today I documented three more “First of the Year” observations.

First of the Year observation #1 was a woodchuck running across the highway. I was not able to document this with a photo.

First of the Year observation #2 was a…

Imagination, More Imagination, Reality

When we have an almost 60-degree day in February I go for a walk - albeit a short walk with our slow moving, low-ambition dog Layla. We did not find any wildlife to photograph, so I made different pictures… non-wildlife, wild thing pictures.

The first image almost appears like a painting - something that makes me think of a warm, summer day in a pleasant park inviting kids from 1 to 111 years old to play on the swinging bridge.

My second image

Seeing Something

This afternoon I spent several hours at Sweet Marsh hoping to do a better job of photographing trumpeter swans than I did the day before (no tripod for a long lens, no wind screen for external mic). My mission did not work out as anticipated. First, I saw only 4 trumpeter swans. Second, the swans and the hundred or more Canada geese were taking it easy today. They hardly made any noise as most appeared to nap the entire time I was watching and waiting.

As I waited for something to happen with the birds I noticed…

A February Surprise

During a hike around Sweet Marsh this morning I saw plenty of trumpeter swans, my “First of the Year” sandhill crane, a muskrat on ice (searching for a way to get back under the ice), and a young bald eagle that was scoping me out. Pictures from this morning follow.

Freezing Their Tail Feathers Off?

Long, long ago I learned that down was a very good insulator for clothing like winter coats and jackets. I don’t remember ever owing a down-filled jacket, so I cannot confirm the statement, but I tend to believe it.

At the risk of sounding like Cliff Clavin (from “Cheers”)…

February Paddle, Fascinating Plant, Spilled Generosity

I am happy to say that my personal goal of paddling every month of the year continues after I put a canoe on the Cedar River this morning. Weather conditions were brisk… 23-degrees and windy, but the river was open and I got the mission done. On the water the most commonly seen bird species was the bald eagle - many of them.

One of the gifts I gave Kristy for Valentine’s Day was a grafted cactus. The pink blossom is a…