Black and White Weekend

Black and White Weekend 

Photo Shop Friday

Photo Shop Friday 

This is a cute challenge that was started by Queen Jester on Life in a Canned Ham.  Anyone can enter, you just photoshop the picture she gives you each Friday,  send it to her by e-mail and she posts them the next Friday.  If she gets enough interest, she will add a Linky.  So come join the fun ... it is great to see how different people's  imaginations work.
  
This weeks picture was:

And my Photoshop version is:

Hop over to Queen Jester's to see what others have done and to pick up the challenge for next week:)

Smile It's The Weekend

This is my lesson for the weeks, Badger Boos.  Do you see that harness my Moms has on mes?  Well that is to makes me safes in the cars in case my Moms has to slams on the brakes or anythings.  If you has ever ridden in the back seats with an "old poops", you will knows how importants this little harness is ...

Gets my gist?

I trust you won'ts mention this to my Moms ... she thinks she is a goods driver :)

Weekend Reflection

I hate waiting in line at the Walgreens Drive through ... it seems like they take forever and, if you are anything like me, there are other things I would like to be doing.  But, today was different.  There was a Big Dodge Ram Truck in from of me and lo, and behold if his Ram ornament wasn't reflecting the scenery behind us ... and as he moved up, the reflection changed.  Nothing is more satisfying then spotting a good reflection :)

Have a fun weekend everyone ...

Wild Bird Wednesday

The Blue Jays (Cyanocitta Cristata) are a rather large and raucous bird that storms my feeders daily announcing their arrival and expecting everyone to clear the way.   They are not my favorites because they belong to the group of bully birds that make it hard for the smaller, more timid birds to get their fair share ... but then again, they do mob the hawks when they are around and that helps keep things in balance and they are, without question beautiful.  So I welcome them as I do all of nature's creatures ... God made them with a purpose.

Our World Tuesday

On a Cold Winter Day ...

The sun sets in the west ...

While the moon rises in the east ...

And the day is done on the lake ...

But wait ... 

Snowmobilers in the cold, dark of the night ...

Life is never done on the lake ...

(My apologies ... it was too cold to go outside for this picture so there is some reflection from the window.)

Songography

Say what you will about a long, hard, cold winter ... you can't deny it's beauty ...

Smile it's the Weekend

My Moms is laughing at mes, Badger Boos.  She says I has a funny white spots on my nose, but I don't sees any funny white spots ... do yous?

Weekend Reflection

In the winter I leave my icicle lights up all season mainly because it gives me more light at night when I am walking the dog ... but also because I love the way they look.  Yesterday evening , as it had rained all day, they were reflecting off of the wet deck on my front porch.   Sadly, the warmer weather was only here for a day and today, as it is cold again, everything is covered with ice.  Hope it is warmer where you are ...

NatureFootstep - Abstract

Laser

Wild Bird Wednesday

If you saw my "Our World Tuesday" post you will already know that my friend and I went to the Fox River Dam in Elgin looking for open water ... a place where eagles congregate in the winter.  

We found more ducks than eagles ... some migrating ducks which surprised us.  It seems early for the migrations to start.

It also surprised us that the ducks were swimming and diving in the frigid waters of the river ...

This duck has to be a hybrid of some sort ... looks like Mallard, maybe Gadwall with the brown body of the male Gadwall and the green head of the Mallard male and then a white chest.  I would have loved to have seen his siblings :)

Speaking of Gadwall, here is a female :)

And then a female Mallard with the field mark wing band ...

On the shore a single Canadian goose huddled up to stay warm ... 

Then there it was ... the first sign that the eagles were in fact here ...

We headed up the river walk (which was covered with deep snow and untraveled) toward where we thought the Eagle landed ... On our way we passed this large migratory group of Golden Eyes ...

And then, there he/she was ... sitting proudly, as Eagles do, high up in the tree ...

What a beauty ...

As soon as he saw us plodding toward him, he took flight ...

I love the Eagles, so beautiful and strong ... who would ever guess that they are scavengers and they cackle like a chicken :)

On our way back, we spotted a male Common Merganser ... another migratory bird ... 

And another male Goldeneye ...

Finally Mr. Mallard waved goodbye as we crossed the bridge to go back to our car ...

After being housebound, so to speak, all through this long cold winter, this was a real treat.  I loved seeing the eagle even though there was only one.  Interestingly,  An adult eagle showed up in the tree in my front yard the next day, as if to say, "You really didn't have to go that far just to see an Eagle" ... sadly my flock of ornery crows drove him off before I could get to my camera.  I am hoping it is my juvenile who I have been watching for the past four years as he slowly acquired his full adult coloring.  I watched in awe as that wonderful wing span flew off across the lake.  Now that I know they are back, I will be looking for them with camera in hand.

NF Inspiring Photography ... Capture the Light

Our World Tuesday

My friend and I headed off to Elgin because it was rumoured that there were things to see there.  Our first stop, as always, was to have lunch in a favorite restaurant Al's Cafe.  Great food, vintage and eclectic milieu, and nice view of the city.

Once our endless appitites were satisfied we headed over to the Fox River ...

The River Walk was covered in deep snow, as was the river, but we plodded on determined to see what we came to see ...

Finally we came upon the dam ... and open water

There were many water fowl around ...

Some were swimming and even diving in the frigid water ...

Nature never ceases to amaze me ...

And, alas, we saw the first sign of what we came to see ...

Eagles are know to gather around open water in the winter.  We had been told that there were Eagles here so we had to come see for ourselves.  There was one ... only one, which is surprising, but we were greatful to see the one.  The Eagles and Water Fowl will be featured in Stewarts "Wild Bird Wednesday"  ... hope you get a chance to stop over and see them.  I am home, warm in my house and waiting for the predicted 6 more inches of snow for today.  I love winter and don't mind dressing warmly for it, but this is too much of a good thing .... I am ready for Spring :)