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What’s that I hear?

Randy Wildlife

If one were to come to the conclusion, based on these photos and the ones from yesterday, that I love sunset pictures, they would be wrong.

The fact is, I’m just a real wimp when it comes to high temperatures. I was able to comfortably get shots during sunrise and sunset when the temperatures were bearable, but spent most of the rest of the day lugging equipment for her highness while sprinting from one patch of shade to another.

Ironically, as I write this, in the background an episode of Frontline entitled Hot Politics is airing. The slant of the story seems to be that, while the federal US political system has basically failed to do anything about climate change, the American people (grass roots efforts leading to movement on the part of state governments and industry) are taking action.

I’m not optimistic – I didn’t see any obvious signs of concern during my short visit. Things simply don’t add up… We paid as much as $3.69 for a gallon of gas – prices are at an all time high, but massive SUVs are everywhere. As we traveled around, we happened into two areas where other “all-times” had been set – record high AND low temperatures.

No big deal, right? Well, not really… consider this; We spent the day in the very beautiful and very historic little community of Key West whose highest point is 18 feet above sea level.

The scheme for land development seems to be generally curious as well. It can be summarized in three words – clear, pave, re-plant. We visited protected areas and nature parks that range in covering just a few square kilometers to several thousand. Besides having a shit-load of mosquitoes, these areas also have a stunning natural beauty. Signs on every Sate Park proudly welcome you to “…the real Florida.” Still, despite all this beauty, new development has large expanses of land flattened and “decorated” with pretty palm trees and grass – grass that apparently needs to be heavily watered. And what isn’t covered in grass is covered in brightly coloured concrete and pavement.

Anyway, here’s another encouraging thought. I’ve been checking out the The World Monuments Watch site – every two years they list areas of cultural heritage that are endangered around the world. Canada has only one site on the newest list…. not too bad. Ya, Canada! Europe and the Middle East on the other hand look to be in big trouble – they have more endangered areas than I have fly bites on my legs (…and trust me, that’s a lot of spots).

As I look through the list of endangered sites, one threat seems particularly common – rising sea levels due to climate change.

Oh well… Key West was nice.

Randy Misc Rants n Stuff, Scenic

Randy Scenic

Hey, been a while since my last post! You might think it was becasue I out getting lots of pictures to post on here. Wrong!Ha
I have been working on a house warming gift for some friends of mine that are building a new house! I finished it last night and took a couple of pictures!
It’s a coffee table thats 3′x’3′ and made of solid pine with a ceramic tile design for the top. Yes.. its very very heavy. But its not going to fall apart anytime soon! Plus it looks really old! Which I like!

Here are a couple of pics of it!
-Mike

Mike Scenic Ceramic Tiles, Coffee Table

This all started when I tried downloading pics of Canadian money for a math lesson with my students.  After a while of not being able to get clear and true pics I decidied to do it myself.  I tried but my lense just couldn’t get detailed enough for my liking.  Then I went back to surfing the web again and saw Kim’s butterflies.  They are awesome so I asked about my money situation.  She said she uses a macro1:2.8 and offered to loan it to me.  So I have been playing with it all weekend.  Yes, I got my money shots LOL!  But also some other interesting perspectives.  The first one is of my dog Ripley.

I thought I could use the rest as a game of guess what with my students?  For more check out my gallery.

Bev Macro, Misc Rants n Stuff, Pets, Scenic

Nope, not mine. He is tight lipped, his flews are not big enough to hold copious amounts of drool, at least he doesn’t think so.

Here he is posing for the camera, completely oblivious to the thick, slimy “flooger” strung between his eyes.

That’s right, nothing to see here, no floogers to be found anywhere. After all Angus doesn’t drool.

Ok, he drools a little… when he is sleeping!! Most other times he can be found with perfectly symmetrical floogers hanging in wait for anyone to get within range so he can deposit them on your clothes!

Outside in the snow he can fling those suckers the length of the yard when he shakes his head. I’ve been hit by many flying slingers, but the worse are the half frozen ones, we’ll just call those floogcicles. I have no pictures of them as I fear for the camera lens getting in the way of the line of fire and shattering in my hands.

So in closing, if you see a Newfoundland Dog breeder advertising the “non-drooling” variety run very quickly the other way! Drool happens….. and finds its way into and onto everything, especially clean clothes!!

The next question I will address is “Do Newfoundland dogs shed?”. I will try to explain that natural phenomenon another time.

Andreau Pets Angus, drool, flooger, newfoundland dog, Pets, slinger