A Green Christmas???

I do not love winter and I am finding it more difficult every year to tolerate the cold for so long. This year winter may not seem so long as last year, after all last year at this time we had a blizzard in early December and the snow stayed for a very loooong time. This year it appears that we may have a Christmas with very little snow on the ground. Which may make winter seem a little shorter.

We have had snow already but almost all of it has melted away. I know that states south of Wisconsin are used to this sort of thing, but it is very unusual in central Wisconsin, we almost always have white a Christmas.

Here is a snow man that someone built on top of Rib Mountain on the rail of a look-out platform. Merry Christmas little fella...(by the way he has already melted).

Rib Mountain State Park

Like to Ski?...It is also called Granite Peak

Oswald the Good Luck Pig

This little fella is in a small town in southwest Wisconsin called Arcadia. I admit it would be nice if good luck and blessings really did come from rubbing his "snoot". As a matter of fact if the previous statement were true I might consider moving to Arcadia just to be close to Oswald. Sadly, even though it appears that thousands have likely touched his snoot, good fortune does not come from a brass pig.

Much of what we consider luck is often rooted in good choices that have come back to bless us in unexpected ways.

Arcadia has the amazing Memorial Park, with dozens of beautiful monuments; check it out:
Arcadia Wisconsin

Cooper's Hawk or Sharp-shinned Hawk?

Every once in awhile all of the birds in our back yard will freeze perfectly still and remain motionless, for what seems to me, to be no apparent reason. Then we will see a big bird fly off not knowing for sure what it was. The other day a hairy woodpecker was motionless on a suet log and in a tree very close to our house I saw this bird looking side to side and all around for...lunch? He flew away moments after I took his picture with an empty stomach.

The Cooper's Hawk and the Sharp shinned Hawk are very similar and are notorious for hunting in back yards for feeder birds. Sort of like the bully in the neighborhood; except this guy really could end your life. I am pretty sure this is a Sharp-shinned Hawk but is very close in  appearance to the Cooper's Hawk.

Check out the Cooper's Hawk:
Cooper's Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk:
Sharp-shinned

A Short In the Telephone Wire

When I was a kid I used to walk bare-footed down to the local swimming pool; ouch. As I recall I was bare-footed almost all summer long, unless I was playing in the woods, or riding my bike to the store; at the store you had to wear shoes to shop. Anyway when I was walking or riding my bike to the pool I would hear what I thought was just a hot or sparking in the telephone wire.

It is funny how that we try to understand the unknown with with what we think we know and understand. I was pretty sure that the sound was coming from the telephone wires after all the sound was coming from over my head...must be the wires. I am afraid not; the sound was coming from something that I did not know anything about; it was a bug. The cicada is a noisy bug with an extremely interesting life cycle and story. A noisy little buzzer.

You know sometimes it just seems like no one even notices. This is the church of a ministerial friend in a city in central Wisconsin. This little church is only a couple of blocks off of a main road in Plover. The pastor has been holding services and being faithful to what he feels God has called him to do regardless of whether or not the city around him takes notice.

There are things that we do that only God notices; things that only God sees. He sees every sacrifice and every effort made to help others in His name. Keep up the good work Bro. Jim; God sees and knows.

Hummingbird

This little thing was perched on a feeder hanger on our deck; it was being very protective of his feeder bottle. There is no way that this tiny bird could drink two cups of sugar water but he was not going to share any of it with any other hummers.

Whenever another hummer would swoop down to eat they were chased off by this tiny bully. When this guy would fly off to chase another bird away, someone else would quick fly in and get some food; now he had someone else to chase after as he returned to his perch. No wonder he looks so crabby.

Who knew being stingy and greedy was so much work and so exhausting

A Very Fun Trip

I bet you will never guess where this photo was taken. It was the week of my wife's 40th birthday; and perhaps the only really big trip we took as a family. My kids were about 15 or 16, (three kids and only two birthdays...twins). We took the Amtrak all the way to Seattle. I want to go back there some day.

This photo was taken 13 years ago with a film camera; what else would I use it was the only reliable way to get a good photo? I scanned it into my computer years later with an old scanner (new at the time) with poor resolution capabilities.

I have had quite a few digital cameras since then, now my phone would likely take a better photo than this. Thats the way technology goes I guess.

I will try to dig up more Seattle pics someday.

I Know Where Luke Might Be

It is obvious to me now that Luke had a hard landing in a field in east central Wisconsin in a small town called Auroraville. It appears that C3PO is in some type of dormant hibernation phase until Han and Chewy come to rescue him. I wonder if Luke is incognito as a humble citizen of Auroraville?

This photo was taken in Auroraville, Wisconsin while I was taking pictures for an e-zine article on the history of Pentecost in Wisconsin.

A totally unexpected find.

A Wild Ride

This was taken in a wildlife park in Missouri actually just outside of Joplin where they had that horrible tornado go through this summer...I wonder how this donkey is doing. He stuck his nose right against the glass of my car window, I think he wanted in. He seemed nice enough but you never can tell, he may have wanted to bite me; thats why they call them wild animals.

One Of My Favorite Birds...the Chickadee

The Black Capped Chickadee is one of my favorite little birds and I will tell you why. This little guy/gal is the same all of the time, all year long they sing, fly happy, and appear to be pretty dog-gone cheerful all of the time. When the weather is cold and freezing it flies in little swoops from it's tree in the back yard and grabs a sunflower seed from the feeder and goes off into the tree knocks the hull from around the seed and comes back for more.

I guess the thing that strikes me most is that this bird has a powerful life lesson for all of us; consistency and faithfully doing what you know is right will get us through very difficult times in our lives. Facing each day with a cheerful attitude will make things more enjoyable for the ones around us. Please understand others are watching you.

Not Sure Where This Going

I an going to start a photo blog but my intent is not to post numerous photos just the ones I like. I am certain that none will recieve accolades from critics but that is not why I first picked up my first plastic camera from the Rexal drugstore on the avenue in Schofield when I was about 10 years old. Back then I would chase people around and snap away...I drove everyone crazy and still do; It is something I never get tired of. I do promise all of them will be random with no real pre-concieved plan intended.

Here goes. This is a trail not far from my house it  is along the Wisconsin River, I like going here because when I do I get the feeling I have gotten  away and no one knows where I am...which is likely true...and sometimes that is sort of nice.

This photo was taken last Fall