Rediscovering Photography - It's a Digital World

Archive Page 4/1/04 to 4/15/04

April 15, 2004 8:45 PM - Thu
I didn't go out for pictures today. It looked like rain and I needed to do some shopping. I got a bunch of groceries and made (low cal) tater tot hotdish. It was pretty good but a lot of goofing around. I'll try to get some new pages up tonight.
 
Here is a link for Tom's Birthday Party. I made a separate page and I am trying to get a good group of photos on it. I am running out of time tonight, but will add more photos as soon as I can.
 
I will be splitting off the bottom entries on this page and making a new archive for 3/16 to 3/31/04. If this page is taking a long time to load on your computer, I appreciate your patience!
 
April 14, 2004 11:40 PM - Wed
This was not the best day to report on. I drove to the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge after work today. I checked the web page first which assured me that they were open from April until November. Of course it was not open. All the gates were locked. There was a sign up that said they would open at the end of April. So, not too many pictures. I did park and manage to wander around for a while, but with little result. It was a very nice evening though, and I'm glad I at least checked the area out.
I will have to start an 'Unidentified Tree' contest. Lots of trees are starting to bud and I think they are very cool looking. Here is a sample:
   
 
And the only wildlife creature I was able to capture was the following chipmunk. As you can see he was laughing at me for all the effort I put in for a wasted evening:
  Vote on this photo
 
April 13, 2004 9:05 PM - Tue

Well, I don't know how I am going to keep this page up. Too many things to diddle around with. But I'll try my best. (See below... ducks, birds, CORMORANTS!, photo sent by Tom, bike stories and more!)

After work today I went out to Quarry Park and did a little over 2 miles on my bike. I like biking on these types of trails. It is a lot harder (more exercise) than riding on a tar road. And you can sure cover a lot more ground in less time than walking. The only thing I don't like about it is that it stinks for taking pictures. There is too much to do in looking where you are going, hanging onto the bike, and not falling over to even think about taking any kind of picture on the bike. So you have to stop and get off, and then you can't go anywhere because someone may come along and decide to take your bike for a ride. From now on I will carry my cable and lock with me and lock the thing up to a tree or something when I want to walk off.

Also, nothing is more fun than being a mile back in the woods and quarries, pedaling along with serene thoughts about the beauty of nature and the benefits of healthful outdoor exercise running through your mind, and then having your cell phone ring. You realize that you put the cell phone in the pack which you have on your back, and that there is no way to reach it even if you were just walking. Because it is mandatory to answer the phone the instant it rings, you hit the brakes on the bike which immediately reacts like some kind of rubber snake and tries to shoot you off the trail into the trees and rocks. I saw my life flash before my eyes but managed to stick both legs down and come to a rather undignified stop. Then without getting off the bike (because you must hurry before the phone stops ringing) I tried to get the pack off my back so I could get to the phone. I would recommend that if you are in this situation that you dismount from your unit before attempting to do this. Suddenly the ground was rushing up to meet me and the bike was trying to break both my legs at the same time. So after I picked myself up from the ground and untangled my feet from the bike, I took off the pack and just about got to the phone when it stopped ringing. I won't reveal who the caller was, I'm sure they had no intent to damage me for life when they placed the call. But I am letting them know (and anyone else who may feel the need to call) that I will be turning off the ringer on my phone before I go on any future outings. Feel free to leave a message and when I get back to the Jeep I'll get back to you.

So I got home at about 7 pm. Made some supper. (Kind of a hotdish like Mom's but with turkey instead of hamburger.) I downloaded the pictures I took today (at lunch I went over to Heim's Mill and took some more duck pictures). I downloaded the trip I did today at Quarry Park from the GPS. Tried to figure out how to save a .PDF map of Quarry Park as a .jpg file so that I could use it with my GPS. And then I looked up and saw that it is already 9 pm. So I will try to get at least a few things done here before it is time for my beauty sleep..

 
When I was out at the Mississippi River County Park on Sunday, I saw these weird birds. They are all black and look like a cross between a goose and a swan and a duck. Allan S. told me they are cormorants, but if you know which exact kind, let me know. I couldn't get close to them as they were on the other side of the river. Following are a few photos to give you some idea what they looked like.
Here is a whole flock of them sitting in the trees:
 
They fly in a 'V', kind of like geese:
 
Here is a closer view:
 
There were a couple of new unidentified ducks at Heim's Mill. Here is a (poor) picture of the male. Please email me if you know what this is. 'You' could be a duck identification contest winner.
 
The following is the female of the pair (I assume). Weird hair-do.
 
I wanted to make up my 'animal pages' but won't get that done today. However, here is the first photo for my newly announced 'Unidentified Bird Contest'. The first person to identify this bird will be the Charter Member of the 'Unidentified Bird Contest Winners Club'! Email me your entries.
 
Here is another photo for the Unidentified Bird Contest. You can only email your entry on this one if you are 6 years old or less. (Jim, do not try to win using Vanny's name.)
 
I still like my ducks. I really think they are pretty. Someday I'll get a really good duck picture. This pair of Mallards has a nest at Heim's Mill that I have been watching. I want pictures of little ducklings! These are the best close pictures of these ducks I have gotten so far.
 
Here is a picture of the drake by himself.
 
And I can't resist one more:
 
This is the mommy duck:
 
The 'dad' duck got two pictures so I better put up one more of the 'mom'. Fair is fair.
 
This is their nest. It is in a hollow tree. If you look close you can see one of the eggs:
 
Tom was kind enough to send me this photo. None of us had any hair then except for Patti (and the dog). I should start a contest for who can come up with the dog's name. (I was going to say that Patti is holding the dog in case you were wondering which is which, but that would not be nice.) ((I don't imagine that my last comment will be up here long <grin>.))
 
I went with Tom on his first Geocaching expedition. As you can see he relentlessly GPS'd his way to the cache. 'First Find' as they say. See the Geocaching web site for more info if you want.
 
On Saturday I stopped at a county park by Little Falls. It is a really nice park. I am not terribly proud of this photo, but I like catching the geese in a sunset picture.
   
 
That's all for today. I won't even tell you what time of night it is now. If any of you out there have any photos you would like on here, just let me know. The more the merrier.
 
April 12, 2004 8:44 PM - Mon
I have been very remiss in updating this the last few days. But I have been out and taking a lot of photos. Hopefully by tomorrow night I can have a lot of new things up here.
 
April 7, 2004 11:05 PM - Wed
I didn't get nearly as much done tonight as I set out to do. It is amazing how the time flies. Jason and Louisa have returned to London from their trip to New York. Jason said they had a very nice time. Following are a couple of photos. Jason is sending me more. Here they are at the Statue Of Liberty:
Jason & Louisa at the Statue Of Liberty
 
The following photo is one that Jason took at Ellis Island. Any comments from 'our family' members would be appreciated (just email me). I thought it was very nice of Jason to take the time to hunt this down and take the photo. He is a good boy. He said Louisa took a clearer picture with her camera and that he would send it to me. When he does, I'll post it.
Names at Ellis Island
 
 
April 7, 2004 9:33 PM - Wed
I wanted to get this up here. It is a 'Travel Bug'. His name is Jeep Dude. You can learn more about him here. This is an item I found while 'Geocaching'. You can learn more about it at the main Geocaching web site. I have been trying this out for the past week or so. It is quite interesting, and a good way to find out about places to go to that a person does not know about. I would never have imagined that there was a nature trail right in the middle of the city of Sauk Rapids (Great River Nature Trail) if I wouldn't have seen this cache on the Geocaching web site. This is a closeup of Jeep Dude:
Jeep Dude
 
April 7, 2004 7:23 PM - Wed
The winner of the second 'Duck Identification Contest' was the Sauk Rapids High School Science Dept. The duck is a Hooded Merganser. (see photo in the 4/1/04 entry)
 
April 7, 2004 7:01 PM - Wed
Just got back from the Great River Nature Trail. I have to go through a bunch of pictures and get these pages updated. I will add notes to the new items on the left as I progress this evening. Yesterday Tom loaned me one of his mountain bikes and I went out to Quarry Park. I found out that a person uses different muscles when you bicycle rather than hiking. It was an interesting trip for me. Hopefully I can get out on the bike again tomorrow night.
 
April 5, 2004 11:45 PM - Mon
It was cloudy and kind of rainy so I was going to go home and work on the web page tonight. But my internet connection is acting up again and I couldn't get online all evening. I did get a bunch of housecleaning done though. Maybe it was a good thing. I'll upload more photos and things tomorrow.
 
April 4, 2004 10:45 PM - Sun
I have a lot of pictures from the past two days to show you, but I don't have time to update everything now. I will work on this some more tomorrow evening. Here is one that I have been working hard for. It is a Sandhill Crane and I got a fairly good closeup when it was flying by. I will post a full size image that isn't as fuzzy.
View Full Size Vote on this photo
 
And this is another sunset picture that I must put up here. Sometimes sunset is so very cool.
 
April 3, 2004 9:17 AM - Sat
Jason and Louisa are in New York celebrating Louisa's 30th Birthday. I just received the following picture. Jason must have taken it with his camera phone. It looks like Time's Square to me but anyone who really knows is free to correct me.
 
April 1, 2004 8:01 PM - Thu
Out to Sand Prairie again tonight. (Did my first geocaching, see photo below) I saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes. Photo follows. I will be working to get a closer picture of these. They are very far away and small, but practice makes perfect.
 
This might be slightly interesting. This jet flew overhead right by the moon. Snapped a quick picture. I guess I need to hook my telescope up to the camera.
 
Geocaching is where you use your GPS to go find things other people have left (hidden). It could be kind of interesting. Tom is into it a little I think. I will have to talk to him. Here is a link to a Geocaching web site. You might want to check it out. On the web site they listed the location of a geocache out at Sand Prairie. I went out and found it today. Here is a picture of what was in it:
 
Here is the second entry for the 'Identify This Duck' contest. If anyone knows what it is, please email me. Sorry for the poor quality image, it was a long way away. (4/7/04: ID'd by Sauk Rapids High School Science Dept. 'Hooded Merganser' (See entries for 4/7)
 
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3/16/04 to 3/31/04
3/1/04 to 3/15/04

 

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