snow, snow, go away

I took this a couple of hours ago. It's snowed a lot this winter, not as much as south of here where they got 14 inches in one storm, and one of my friends wrecked her new car in an accident, but enough to be sick of it and wanting spring. The temperature has only gotten above freezing a couple of days this month, and once it rained and then froze on the roads the next day, there were a lot of accidents that day. The snow is pretty to look at, but it makes roads dangerous, slick and unpredictable. Even though it was still snowing when i took this, you can see the animal tracks in it, they want their seeds even when it's cold and snowing. ;)

I know i've slacked a lot about posting, but with cold and snowy on top of depression, it makes it hard to want to go out in the cold and look for things to photograph.

Christmas lights

This is my first attempt at getting a good picture of some of the Christmas lights in town, i took this last night, and it was very cold at 9F (-13C) so i may have rushed it a little. I drove around looking for the most interesting ones, but was having a hard time, the cold was distracting and i was starting to get a headache. So i cut it short. I hope to get out and get several of the displays. The colored lights make the grey of winter, with snow and no leaves on the trees, more interesting and bearable.

Cold plastic flamingo

Here is my glowing plastic flamingo in my back yard, getting chilly. It's been cold and snowing every other day for a while now, so the snow is piling up, and i never know what to take photos of in the snow, it being all white and all. Hopefully i'll get a bit more creative as i get used to it, at least as used to it as i can.

More snow

This squirrel seems to feel the same i do about it snowing again. We are supposed to get three to seven inches, which is about what we got last time, but this time hopefully without the freezing rain.

Snowy

It's officially snowing now, with the snow several inches already, with this to continue another day or two. I like how snow looks, but not having to brave bad roads and bad drivers in this weather. Shoveling isn't too fun either, it can be heavier than it looks really.

Right now i'm feeling pretty envious of those in warmer climates, and i'm sure that feeling will last until spring starts to roll around. ;)

Local hospital

This is the clinic entrance for the local hospital and clinic. It's not very big, but they have been doing a lot of additions and remodeling lately. One thing i miss about living in a bigger city is quick access to very good hospitals with a lot of services. When i lived in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, there were two very good hospitals to chose from. This one isn't bad really, but it was nice not having to worry where to go and if they could help or not.

very cold

This was taken a couple of days ago, while it was snowing out. I keep trying to photograph snow falling in new and interesting ways, that show it falling, but don't always get it turning out as i want.
I know winter doesn't technically come until the end of december, but it sure feels like it the last few days. Today is what feels warm compared to what it is going to be and was, with the temperature being 36F (2C) where yesterday it was 10F (-12C). Although in January and February the cold can get down to -20F (-28C), and even colder. I'm sure i'll be complaining when those days happen, that's for sure. ;)

Grumpy pumpkin

This is the carved pumpkin, a little later, and not looking too happy. I'm guessing it wants to go to a compost pile.

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, and even though i won't be able to spend it with my family or loved ones, besides the bunnies, they are all in my mind and heart. This picture is kind of how it feels today, cold and fall like. There is a gentle snow falling, but none on the ground yet. The trees have all lost their leaves, well, except the evergreens, and most water sitting out is frozen.

silly squirrels

This was taken a while ago, but it fits how i feel now and i like it. The squirrels had some corn out on the deck for them, and they took this one and eaten all the corn off, then took the cob from the others, and set it up on the railing like that. I don't know why, but it's really cute, and the rain gives it another feeling too.

fall colors

I took this as i was walking to the film festival, now most of trees don't have leaves on them, but this one struck me as very pretty, with the dual colors. I didn't notice what type of tree it was though.

UWRF Planetarium

This is picture of what i think is the planetarium at UWRF, i've never actually been in this building, but i took it on the way to the film festival the weekend before halloween. I just like something about that part of the buildings, the big silver dome.

UWRF Theater

This is a picture of the new theater in the local university Student Center. I'm actually really impressed with it, the whole building is pretty nice, and i found out that one of my relatives by marriage helped build it. I went to see a collection of short amateur horror films there the weekend before Halloween, and it was quite fun. My personal favorites were Urine Trouble and There's a Werewolf in my Attic, both made by a guy from Wisconsin that i chatted with beforehand. Those two weren't really scary, but had a great sense of humor that had me laughing a lot. Before it began i talked with the teacher i took Hitchcock and Film from, and found out that even though this room is perfect for classes that deal in film, if the teachers want to use it they have to pay for renting it. You can't really see from this photo, but there are desks that flip out on the chairs, a very large nice screen and sound system, and a podium, in other words, perfect for film classes. The rooms the normal film classes are in are less than ideal to put it mildly, normal cinderblock room with the most uncomfortable desks and such. There are so many people i keep running into here that are doing a film, but there is no official film studies programs here that it confuses me.

Sorry about being absent here, things have been getting bad for people i know, so i haven't posted.

Hello

Here is one of the local birds watching me while he (or she) eats some of the seed i put out in the new feeder. I like how it has one of the seeds in it's beak. I'm so bad at telling what kind of birds i have, i should really get a bird handbook as i love watching them and would like to know what to call them.

In other news, i have what i think is the flu. I'm not sure how i got it, but i was talking to a friend online who lives in Los Angeles, and she had it, now i have it. I'm kidding, i know i can't catch it online, but the timing was funny. Hopefully everyone out there doesn't it too bad or gets over it fast.

creative

I got a newer bird feeder, and hopefully they won't destroy this one, but it looks like the squirrels have gotten creative and figured out how to get food out of it. The bigger blue jays also have a little trick that amused me, they will hop up and since they don't really fit, they will run their beaks along the gap that food comes out of scattering the seed to the deck below, where they eat it. I knew animals were more creative than we give them credit for, but it's really amusing to watch anyway.

carved pumpkin

This is the pumpkin carved, sitting on the stove. It's now out on the front step, but without a candle in it. You can see how it looks like a normal pumpkin inside, but a whiteish green on the outside. Carving it really brought back memories, with the sights and smells, but it was a litte difficult with how small it was.

pumpkin update

Here is the latest picture of the pumpkin, taken yesterday. It's hard to show its size, but it's not very big, about two handfuls. I'm thinking of carving it, but want to be sure before making that step, i will photograph that too.

Still missing Clover, and i'm going to miss photographing him, but i'm doing better.

Rest in peace Clover

Rest in peace Clover

I don't know what was wrong with him, he as acting fine until yesterday, when he stopped eating and was acting funny. I wasn't too worried as he has a vet visit tuesday. I just found him motionless, cold and lifeless. I'm a wreck. I'm going to go to the vet as soon as they open, and see what Dr. Anna thinks is the most respectful way to lay him to rest, i've never really wanted to think about it. I hope he was happy here, he made my life worth living. I may not post for a while, this is a huge loss to me. Now the words i always dread saying.

My heart is with the thousand for my friend has stopped running.

Squirrels

This is a picture of the squirrels that were eating the trail mix. You can kind of see the other one on the edge of the photo. They fight a little, not sure if it's territorial or just over the tasty food.

Blue Jay

This is one of the couple of blue jays that i see out my kitchen, and they were really enjoying the trail mix that got spilled on the deck. Some squirrels were also going through the things that were there, but mostly eating the nuts, although the dried fruits were getting taken too. It was hard to get pictures of the blue jays, they would see me going for the camera and fly away, but i did get a couple, and they are very pretty birds.
Little did i know, but blue jays are related to the crow. I found this out as i have a hard time remembering if that is a blue jay or blue bird. Not sure why i have such a hard time with that, but oh well, you learn something new every day.

pumpkin update

The ghost pumpkin hasn't grown much more in size than it had last time, but is taking on an interesting color pattern, that i'm not sure you can see here. I'll probably harvest it soon, so it doesn't go bad on the vine, but i'm never sure when is the best time to with them.

pretty storm clouds

This was taken a few days ago as a storm was about to come into town. There were two layers of clouds moving in different directions, and it was very pretty, although kind of scary. Later that day there were some pretty strong winds and storms that came through.

Hornet (or Wasp?)

I saw this hornet or wasp between my patio door and the storm door and found it turned out kind of neat. It was walking on the opposite side of glass as the grasshopper in the other post, and was about as big, the length of one of my fingers.

Grasshopper

This is a grasshopper (not sure about the technical name for them) that was on my patio door slowly walking up it yesterday. I've been wanting to get a picture of one all summer, but whenever i got near them they would fly away. I could almost touch this one and it didn't fly away, but the pictures i got of it up close with the macro lens didn't turn out all that great. He (or she) is about the length of my finger, which is pretty big i think, mostly i just see them jumping around, not so much up close.

Hail

Yesterday it hailed. I know this isn't the most exciting picture, but i heard the hail and grabbed my camera and tried to get some good shots anyway. It's been cold in the 50s with the nights getting near frost temperatures, and is feeling like fall, even though it seems a bit early when a week or two ago it was much, much warmer. If you look at the photograph, you can see splashes of the hail on the water on the deck. Please ignore the broken bird feeder. ;)

Changing colors

This caught me by surprise, one of my trees is already going into fall colors. I know it's going to be autumn in about three weeks, but it has also been over 90F the last few days, so it felt "wrong" seeing a tree change already. I do love fall and the colors, it's my second favorite season after spring but it does mean that winter is close, and that can mean a lot of snow and the problems that brings.

Odd bug or something

I saw this bug or larva today, and i have no clue what kind it is or what it will turn into. I'm guessing it's making a cocoon and getting ready to change into something else. You can probably tell how small it is, barely noticeable without the macro lens. I know i am taking a lot of pictures of the insect life of River Falls, and should be saving it for when it's snowing out and there isn't anything but white to take pictures of, but i just enjoy the macro photography so much more.

bad weekend, so here is a bunny

I've had a pretty bad weekend, so i thought we could all use a picture of one of my rabbits being really cute. This is Emily stuffing her face with romaine lettuce, which they love.
Unrelated, but interesting to me at least. After the huge drought and heat, it has rained like crazy. Big storms the last couple of nights passed through and things are turning very green, but also damp.

Sprouting bird seed

When i took the picture of the sunflower, i noticed a pile of birdseed that had spilled, and with all the rain it had started to sprout. The seeds had just been sitting on rocks, but with all the rain we had been having they just started to grow. Thankfully the rain has let up and it seems we will have some days of sun, but we didn't get nearly as hard as the places south that had been hit a lot harder.

Wet sunflower

This is a sunflower i just noticed today, i think with all the rain it grew up pretty quick. It looks so alien this up close, and it's pretty young and small, it just doesn't look like it. It's barely bigger than the tip of my thumb. You can tell it's still wet from the rain that keeps happening each day, but thankfully no flooding up here.

Rain

This is a bowl on my deck. We had finally gotten rain after the big drought, lots of it actually. Not as much as south of here like down by Winona and LaCrosse, which got about 11 inches in a twenty four hour period. I really like how the raindrop got caught here. I was watching the huge drops actually make the level of the water in the bowl go down, the drops hit with such force that it made more water splash out than went in.

Pumpkin

I was out back and noticed this pumpkin on my plant that lasted the heat and drought. It was kind of hidden under some leaves of the plant and the wheelbarrow. It's a ghost pumpkin (i believe that is the name) and that kind of makes me happy. I had tried to get these to grow before, but only the orange ones would grow, so this is nice. Inside they look just like the other pumpkins, but have a white or bluish skin. I'm curious how many are going to be good from this plant, but this is the first one i have seen. It's about the size of two fists held together. Not very big yet, but it did surprise me.

River

Here is one of the rivers in town (i forget which fork it is), it is quite a ways under a bridge but you can't tell from this picture. I love how clear the water is and it's very shallow too, only between ankle and mid calf. This is the one that kind of winds it's way around town, and meets up with the other fork which is a good deal bigger.

...and the spider up close

So here is the spider up close. This is the one on the right of the previous photo, just happened to line up right against the window in all it's glory. ;)

Spider mates

Here are the two spiders in the nest. It's kind of funny that the web is right against the window, i can get a pretty good view of them from there. It's really hard to clean the outsides of these windows too, as the bushes are pretty big and i can't reach them to clean them. I miss the new windows i had put in at my last house, they flipped in and made cleaning the outsides of them really easy. I'm not sure the type of spiders these are, they have a more pointed head then the ones i have seen in the house, as you will probably see when i post the close up pictures.

Green bug

This is one of the bugs that is in the web of the spider i had taken a picture of earlier. I have no clue what kind of bug that is, although i did pick up a field guide to North American insects and spiders. I just love the colors of this one, and have seen them live around before. They glint really wonderfully in the sun when flying around. I also noticed that the spider in that huge web now has a mate. I got some pictures of that, which i will show later. On a good note, two storms in a row happened today, both pretty good, and hopefully the drought is over now.

Road and bridge work

This is a section in town where they are doing some major road work and some work on the bridge to the left of the picture. A while ago people were really vocal about the timing of this work, how it would make it harder getting around. Then the 35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed. Now, not so much.

Dry front yard

Wow, look at that lush yard. This is what a drought looks like. I've been unable to properly water my lawn as i have some plumbing problems i still need fixed, and as of a few days ago there is a ban on watering your lawn. The city well has dropped to very low levels, and we have had almost no rain this summer. There were two thunderstorms yesterday, lots of thunder and lightning, but the heavy rain seems to have missed here a bit. I don't know how close to a record this is, but it's pretty bad. All the big rains have gone too far north or south of here to help much.

Training camp

Here is a picture of the field the Kansas City Chiefs practice on. A couple things to note, look at how green the grass is on the field compared to closer to the camera. We have been having a severe drought and i see them watering a lot this summer. Almost all the rain that has come by has just missed us or dropped almost nothing that would even make a dent. The other point is that this training camp is featured on a show on HBO called Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm not much one for watching football, more playing it really, but it has been interesting to see this small town on a show like that, it looks quite nicer for one. ;) There are no people on the field when i took this, i haven't timed it right to be there when anything is going on, but i get antsy around big crowds in heat like this too.

Spider in the web

This is the spider in the corner of it's web, kind of hard to see, but that is the best i could get without disturbing it. This is the spider that molted from the other picture, but i'm not sure what kind of spider it it. I do think it's one that can bite and not be too pleasant, so i gave it plenty of room.

Spider molt

This is the shed skin from a spider that I just noticed living near a window of mine, outside not inside. I just found it so interesting looking i had to get a picture of it and share. The spider itself is living in a corner of a rather large web, several feet across at least, and is really hard to get a picture of where he is, but i will try.

Ant

This is an ant that i saw crawling on my computer the other day. I'm not sure what type of ant that is, but i don't see many of them around here, it's mostly the smaller red ones. I find it funny now that my first thought when seeing bugs is to run for my camera and macro lens so i can get pictures of them instead of wanting to get rid of it. I had a cricket in my kitchen the other night, and it took me about an hour to find him, and then catch him so i could take him outside. Not that my house is bug infested, in case that is what you are thinking. ;)

more hot and dry

This is a picture of one of the hosta flowers, and how i feel when i have to go out in the heat. The leaves are doing pretty good, but some are getting burned. The grass is doing the worst, but not being able to water it is a problem, the funny part is that the dandelion greens are doing fine, so there is that at least. ;)

very hot and dry

It's been very hot and dry lately, my lawn is turning brown really fast, partly because i have plumbing problems and can't water it. Also because it's been over 90 and sometimes over 100 with the heat index, the little rain we have had isn't nearly enough to keep lawns green. So this is kind of a surprise to me. This is part of the huge pumpkin plant that i was growing in the peat pots. Most of the others seem to have been pillaged by various wild animals, but not this one. The plant stretches for a good six feet or more, with several flowers. It's also the most green plant in my yard. Since i haven't been able to really water it, i'm curious as to why it's so green and big, where is it getting water from? Are it's roots that deep? I don't know a whole lot about plants, if you can't tell. ;)

Zack Bunny

This is one of my bunnies, Zack, laying in front of the air vent. I took this with an antique Spartaflex camera i got at an antique store for around $10. It uses 120 film, which i had to send by mail to get developed, as i'm not brave enough yet to try to develop my own film. This is one of the better pictures that turned out, as i'm not quite used to film yet, i'm more a digital person, i just wanted to share this cute picture of Zack.
I will be trying to get pictures around town with this too, but to make sure it all worked i started out with pictures around the house.

River Falls Days Parade, Marching Band Part 3

This is another marching band in the parade, i forget which school it was, but i like the expressions of these kids. I missed posting yesterday, for a very silly reason, i was reading the new Harry Potter and couldn't put it down. When i got done i hadn't realized how many hours had passed.

River Falls Days Parade, Marching Band Part 2

This is from the same group as the last one, but i hadn't noticed how much i like this one and am amused by "The Herd" on his uniform. I'm not sure why it says that, is that the team name? I have no idea.

River Falls Days Parade, Marching Band

This is one of the marching bands that walked in the parade. They always look so somber after seeing the ones in the rain from a few years ago smiling and having fun. This year the weather was perfect, in the 70's with a nice breeze, and the rain waited until late in the evening. I want to point out i like the pictures of marching bands like this, where everyone is looking the same and in a pattern for some reason. I'm not sure why, but they are usually my favorites of parades.

River Falls Days Parade, Odd costume

I just had to get a picture of this guy. He was dressed as a giant Tylenol. It was just so odd and funny to me that i had to get a picture of him. Sadly this was the best one, not many of him turned out very good.

River Falls Days Parade, Cheesehead

Here you can see the elusive Wisconsin Cheesehead. I used to see these hats shaped like a big piece of cheese more when i lived down by LaCrosse, but haven't seen them much up here for some reason. Wisconsin is known as "the dairy state", there are a lot of milk and cheese producers in the state, not sure if it has the most or not, but there are a lot. You see more people wearing the hats at sporting events where the Green Bay Packers football team (American Football) plays.