Snake

Here is a common snake, although i forget which type, i'm thinking it's a grass snake. One of my friends saw it first, and sadly there is a twig in the way of it on my photo, but i still like it.

Structure

I'm not sure what this structure is, but it was along the river. Could have been someone just decided to make it, or whatever. It didn't seem like it had been used in a while though so i may never find out.

Beaver tree

This was a pleasant surprise, seeing a tree cut down by a beaver down by the river. I love seeing nature doing its thing, even when i don't get to see the actual animals doing it. I feel this is one advantage of living in a smaller town, seeing more variety of animals and nature, and this is in the city limits too.

People on the river

Here are some people enjoying the river and the lovely day. This is the more southern damn, where we went for a walk. They waved at us right after this picture, but i didn't get that.

Lower part of the river

Yesterday some friends of mine took me on a walk through a part of town that i hadn't been to before and didn't even really know how to get to. There are trails down the south part of the river past another damn. Here is a wider shot of river and the path is on the left side, which winds around and around, up and down hills. Took us about an hour and a half to walk the parts we went on, and was awesome exercise. I have a lot of photos from the walk that i will probably follow up on.

Memorial Day

Today is when we observe Memorial Day in America. I've never really understood why they move the holiday so there is a three day weekend, you could just have it so there is a day off and leave the holiday on its day. It was very sunny and quite warm while taking these, and my allergies were getting to me. Hopefully there won't be storms like last night where several people were injured not far from here and grapefruit sized hail. It was clear earlier but now there are lots of clouds and stronger wind.

Pollen

This is a picture of hyacinth pollen. The reason is that my allergies are going crazy, worst attacks in years, itchy eyes, scratchy throat, all that. Almost non-stop too, and it's getting annoying. I don't know about everyone else, but it seems stronger this spring, maybe the cooler weather made the plants act different, i don't have a clue. Thankfully it rained today after getting above 80F.

Flowers

Here are some of the blooming flowers in my yard. I love seeing the blooming flowers and green now that spring has come. I was worried after the late snow not long ago that what had come up had been killed by frost or cold. Thankfully that doesn't seem to be the case.

Mourning dove

I know i take a lot of pictures of these birds, but i love them. I especially like this one, as i've never noticed the part by the neck that is kind of shimmery and iridescent looking. The weather is getting good during the day, and my foot is getting back to normal, so hopefully i will be able to get out more and get more varied photographs.

Tree bud

This is a picture of one of buds on one of my trees. I am bad at knowing what types of trees are which, but it's good to see leaves coming back to the trees. Even though my allergies are going crazy, it's good spring is more here.

River the other way

This is a TtV shot of the river from the swinging bridge facing the other way, east i believe. Hopefully now that my foot is feeling better i can get out there and get some more recent shots as the flowers are starting to bloom and green is showing more. It's supposed to rain more sunday, Mother's day. Happy Mothers day to all out there.

Stump

This is a stump in the park with the bridge. I liked the fungus on it, and it was pretty large, about two hands large. Nothing rare or special, just something i thought was interesting.

sign in park

This is a sign in the park next to the swinging bridge. I didn't get any pictures of what the sign is talking about, if you can read it when you make it bigger, so you will have to use your imagination. ;)

Power Plant TtV

This is the power plant from the river, right near where i fell in actually. The river down there isn't too deep, a couple of feet or so from what i saw, but there is a warning sign by the hole on the building saying to stay clear. It seems to churn a lot more there and could be dangerous if someone wasn't careful.

River from the bridge

Here is another TtV photo from the swinging bridge looking down on the river. You can sort of see where i fell in later on. There were people fishing and just enjoying the weather, later they were laughing. The trees are finally starting to get buds on them, but you can't really tell from these pictures.

Swinging bridge

This is one of the pictures i took before falling in the river. It's a technique called "through the viewfinder", where you take a picture through one of the old ground glass style viewfinders on older cheaper cameras. The swinging bridge always make me nervous, it bounces with each step and is pretty high up, so i tend to get a little vertigo if i look to the sides. Pretty sure it won't fall, pretty sure.

The river, up close

This is the river below the damn, and the falls. Shortly after i took this, i slipped on a rock, and fell in. I landed on several sharp and hard rocks, and got drenched. I got several large bruises, some broken skin, and my right foot now hurts so much it's hard to walk on. I'm pretty sure i twisted it trying not to fall, but didn't do too well. Since it was a gorgeous day otherwise, there were a lot of people to laugh when i fell in. Kind of disappointed that people still were laughing and making jokes while i was drenched and bleeding. I guess it's funny when it's not them.

Doves in tree

Here are two of the local mourning doves that come to my feeders just sitting together in the tree. Thankfully the non-spring weather has apparently passed, and the temps are more spring like and warmer, although still colder at night. There were some tornado warnings on the other side of Minnesota earlier tonight, and thunderstorms are currently rolling into town. Anything but snow seems good at this point.