Animal Photography 101

Basically in a nutshell, animals are probably the hardest thing to photograph. You can't tell them what to do, where you want them to stand or how you want them to look. They've got a mind of their own and they're going to do whatever they want ;o)

I have two cameras that I use to take pictures. One is a Kodak digital and it's somewhat small and compact. I use this camera for my every day pictures and when I want to take photos in black and white. The other camera that I use is a Canon digital SLR 50D. I 'love' this camera! The only problem with this one is that it is heavy and bulkier.

Yesterday, DH and I, along with our friends T and K (and their DS) took a drive to Kejimkujik National Park. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to purchase our national park passes. On our way there, we came upon this fellow on the side of the road -

Eastern Wild Turkeys are not native to NS. I've seen them in Maine and I 'believe' there are a few in NB but not here so this guy/gal must have gone rogue. LOL! I love wild turkeys. They're a funny, inquisitive bird. This one was close enough for pictures but even after my incessant gobbling, it just wouldn't stand still! We debated about capturing it for a nice turkey dinner but it can count its blessings that we let him/her get away ;o)

I had my Kodak digital with me and the one drawback about this camera is the time it takes between taking the picture and allowing you to take another picture >:o( So there was DH in the front seat telling me to take a picture 'now' and I'm waiting for the bloody green light! In the meantime, any chance at a good picture has gone out the car door...

After a lovely hike through part of the park, we are driving out and lo and behold we 'finally' come across some deer. Deer are like pennies here and are used to humans. Unfortunately, with five deer, one problematic camera and a photographer trying not to climb through the rear window of the car, this is the best I could get -

The Bambies weren't very cooperative :oS

Thankfully there was ONE animal that allowed me to take all the pictures I wanted :o)

Yes, he is real and no, he's not dead. LOL! This is a Blanding's Turtle. They are considered a 'Species At Risk'. In the late spring, you'll find nesting houses along the sides of the road in the park. This is to protect the eggs that are buried in the sand. I guess this turtle wasn't smart enough to realize that giving birth on the side of a road wasn't a good thing ;o)

Monday's Photographic Memories

It's that time of year again when the beautiful Magnolia trees are in bloom. On April 22, I did my rounds and had lots of great pictures as a result :o)

Pink Magnolia

White Magnolia

Red Squirrel

Song Sparrow

Duck Butt :o)

To The Rescue!

Today started like any other day. DH woke me up and said he'd treat me to breakfast. In other words, he was taking me to the greasy spoon motel restaurant right up the road ;o) Don't get me wrong, it's a great place if you want to get things flowing. LOL!

We were just about finished when we overheard the owner of the hotel and the waitress talking about this injured bird. At first I thought she was talking about a pet but as we listened a bit more, we realized it was a Herring Gull (also known as a Seagull or Shit Hawk) out in the parking lot. Apparently it had a broken foot/leg and couldn't move :o(

The owner was anxiously trying to contact someone by phone to come and get the poor thing but wasn't having any luck. After a bit of pushing, I got DH to introduce himself and tell her who he was. We talked a bit of strategy and finally decided to capture the bird and remove him from harm's way. DH raced home and grabbed our small portable kennel and a towel.

Lickidy split, the bird was in the kennel! We decided it was best to drop him at an estuary where he would be away from predators and also be able to find food. I joked about the bird getting car sick but the joke was on me! The bread he had just eaten before we captured him came back up :oP What a mess...

We arrived at our destination and DH grabbed the bird and threw him up into the air. He immediately took flight so his wings were okay, which was a good sign. He flew across the water and landed in the middle of the estuary. As we watched him, he floated along, cleaning himself and playing in the water. Whether he will make it or not remains to be seen but it was a good feeling seeing him much happier :o)

Believe it or not, Gull rescuing is second nature to me ;o) When I was a kid, I brought one back to our cottage one day, all wrapped up in my sweatshirt. Just imagine the looks on my parents' faces. LOL! I had been along the shore playing with friends of mine when I spotted the bird. He was all caught up in fishing line and couldn't fly. Dad ended up having to cut a fishing hook right out of the bird's foot. Once he was free and untangled, away he went. Again, a great feeling.

Pumpkin...Rescuer of Shit Hawks! How's that for a title? ;o)

Happy Easter Everyone!

Not only do I highly recommend you check the chocolate mini-eggs you're eating but also remember -

Yes, bunnies are highly adorable, cute, cuddly, sweet and lovable but they should not be giving as gifts. They require the care and attention of any pet and eventually they will learn to rule your household ;o)

For Jake

They have no voice. They cannot talk for themselves. They rely on us to love and take care of them. They are not given choices. Most of the decisions are made for them. They can cry out but there has to be someone there to listen so that they can be heard.

I'm not sure how far this story reached but if you've been watching or reading the news lately, you might have come across it. Believe me; you'll remember if you have. I'll warn you now that there are some strong opinions in this post!

In Minto, New Brunswick, a 73-year-old man took a 'hammer' to six Pomeranian puppies back in April 2008 when the SPCA arrived to seize his dogs. Yes, that's right...a hammer. He killed five of those puppies but somehow, one survived. Although seriously injured, Jake has now found a loving new family.

On February 3, 2009, Judge Patricia Cumming (a woman no less) found this man NOT GUILTY and he was acquitted of all animal cruelty charges in connection to the deaths of the five Pomeranian puppies. NOT GUILTY! Her reasoning? She said "the evidence showed the dogs were rendered unconscious when they were hit with Barton's carpenter's hammer and therefore they did not suffer." I'm sorry but WTF???? WTF is this crap? So if I were to go up to someone and hit them on the back of the head with a hammer, which eventually kills them, can I be found not guilty as well? I know, I know, some people will argue that animals are not humans so therefore it can't be considered the same. That's bullshit!

I was listening to the radio yesterday when I heard the news report again. I'm not sure who said this but basically they stated that the animals were Mr. Barton's 'possessions' and he could 'dispose' of them any way he wished to. Again, I have to say, WTF? What is this world coming to? When were living creatures considered possessions and deemed so little respect? Humans are responsible for domesticating these animals but somehow, we don't want to be responsible 'for' them. We've interfered with their lives, moved in on 'their' territories but we do not value them. These animals breathe the same air as we do but we do not see them as living creatures. If they become a 'problem' or get in our way, we feel we have the right to relocate or 'dispose' of them.

Ronald, one of the puppies killed.

So who is going to stand up and speak for these animals? Yes, we do have groups and organizations across Canada for this but this just goes to show you how little effect they have had so far. We are supposed to be a 'human' race so where is the 'HUMANITY'? Why do the lives of animals have to mean so little? When is the justice system going to open its eyes and make better laws? They probably won't because it's easier just to stand there with their eyes shut. We need stricter animal cruelty laws in Canada and we've been saying that for years now. When is this going to change?

If I was ever ashamed to be a Canadian, this would be the time. What am I going to do about it? I have no idea. If someone can point me in the right direction please do so and I'll do what I can. But I know one person can't change the world and what's sadder yet, what if that world just doesn't want to change?

Watership Down

What can I say? If you've never heard of the book, I highly suggest that you go out, find a copy and read it. NOW! This novel has got to be one the most brilliant pieces of writing and it has even been compared to Tolkien's, The Lord of the Rings. It is by far the favourite book in my library and it's had a home there for many, many years. Richard Adams is a magnificent storyteller and by the time you are past the first chapter, you come to know not only the characters but the landscape that surrounds them as well. It's almost as if the story springs to life in your mind as you're reading along.

For those of you who are not familiar with the book, it's about a band of rabbits who decide to leave their current warren as it is about to be destroyed by the hand of man. Their dream is to find a new home and set up a better society than the one they are leaving behind. The story takes you through that journey and what it takes for them to eventually get there. By the end of the book, I guarantee that you will fall in love with Hazel, Fiver, Clover, Dandelion, Pipkin, Hyzenthlay, Bigwig, Holly, Silver, and Kehaar :o)

I read a review once where they compared General Woundwort and the Owsla to Hitler and the Nazis. And while I can definitely see this view, the story does not stray far from what our own society has evolved into today. We still don't live in a perfect world. It's ruled by government and corruption. Racism and inhumanity still exists whether we want to acknowledge it or not. Every one of us has an idea in our head of what our perfect world would look like and I think unconsciously we keep trying to find it.

That's one thing I love about this story. Hazel has a dream. He knows what he wants and he sets out to achieve it. The road there isn't an easy one by any means but it's his determination that keeps him going. He knows what will make him happy. How many of us can say this? I feel that after almost fifteen years of being together, DH and I are finally on our way to finding the happiness that we have been seeking. Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying that we've been unhappy all this time but it's almost like we end up just living from day to day, waiting until that opportunity comes along. Some find it faster than others but the constant remains the journey. There is always a journey.

So, how's that for deep thinking on a Saturday afternoon? LOL! I'll end this post on a lighter note then ;o) Over the years I have been trying to collect a set of Watership Down figurines that were produced back in the 70's (I believe). These are the characters that I have so far -

Stupid me packed these away before writing down the information that was underneath them :oS I really don't know much about them but I believe they were produced in the UK and there was the name New Orleans. I received two from a very special friend who was lucky enough to find them at a flea market and the rest have come from EBay. If anyone knows more about these or where I can get additional ones to complete my collection, plmk. Thanks!

Animal Facts...

...you may or may not know ;o)

The average hen will lay 227 eggs a year.

The blood of a snowshoe crab is blue.

Chickens that lay brown eggs have red earlobes. There is a genetic link between the two.

The placement of a donkey's eyes in its head enables it to see all four feet at all times.

A Holstein's spots are like fingerprints. No two cows have the same pattern of spots.

Turtles can breathe through their butts.

Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.

It's possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.

A polar bears fur is transparent in colour.

A duck's quack doesn't echo and no one knows why :o)

Happy Easter!

On Thursday, a little birdie told me that it was the first day of spring. Today, a little bunny told me that it was Easter. Since that stupid little birdie was wrong and we are still wading in three feet of snow, am I to believe a birdie dressed up as a bunny?

LOL! I guess I have to since I woke up to my very own egg hunt this morning :o) Yes, the Easter Bunny still comes to my house every year. See what happens when you're really nice to bunnies? ;o)

As you already know, I dearly LOVE bunnies but I just wanted to take a minute to talk about animals and special occasions, especially Easter. Every year many people break down and buy bunnies, ducklings or chicks as gifts for their children. This is a lovely gesture and I'm sure the children are all excited to have such a cuddly creature BUT...that excitement does wear off. The result? Many of those bunnies are sold again, dumped out on a deserted road or sent to the SPCA. I don't even want to go into what can happen to the ducklings or chicks because we all know that they eventually grow up to be ducks and chickens :o(

DH brought a news report from Kelowna, British Columbia to my attention this morning. They are having such a problem with feral rabbits (dumped off Easter bunnies) that they are trying to find a solution to control the 'out of control' population of 5,000. Five THOUSAND! Do you remember that hair commercial where she told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on? Well bunnies are kind of like that. They don't have the saying 'multiplying like rabbits' for nothing. As cute and adorable as bunnies are, they can become a problem BUT only because of human intervention.

So this year remember -

You don't want that poor bunny to get a concussion now do you? ;o)

Rascally Wabbit

Easter is right around the corner and there are bunnies in abundance. As you know, I'm a HUGE pumpkin fan but what you may not know is that I'm a HUMUNGOUS bunny fanatic! I-love-bunnies. It's a well known fact :o)

It developed at an early age. In kindergarten, I won an Easter coloring contest at Shopper's Drug Mart and the prize was a blue and white stuffed rabbit. He was so big that when his ears were erect, he was just as tall as I was :o) I had him for a long time. I was quite proud of that prize.

In 1991, I got another rabbit but this time he was of the living and breathing kind. My parents were away for the weekend when I adopted Scooter from the local pet shop. When they arrived home, I introduced them to my 'surprise'. Dad's first reaction was "It doesn't jump on the furniture I hope." No sooner had this sentence left his mouth and Scooter bounced up onto the chair beside me :oS

That was Scooter though. He was a Dwarf rabbit and with that comes attitude. Big attitude! He was house trained so he had the run of a room whenever we were around. Scooter was my baby and as such, he was spoiled. For some reason, he was addicted to Pringles and would always come running whenever you shook a can. I have a picture of him trying to pry off the top of one :o)

Scooter was a high maintenance bunny and I'm glad he found a home with me and not someone else. He had coccidia, something that is quite common in rabbits but it can be deadly. Instead of nice round pellets for poops, he usually suffered from squishy, smelly clumps. This made for one dirty bum so he was used to having a bath on a regular basis :o) Unfortunately, this condition contributed to his death just short of his seventh birthday. That was one of the worst days of my life :o(

A few months later, I was prepared to bring another bunny into my life but there were none to be found. DH suggested checking the SPCA and lo and behold, they had two. Someone had found both of them in a dumpster :o( One was already adopted but I fell in love with the other. I decided that his name had to be special, something that would make me smile every time I said it. Then it hit...Dill Pickles ;o)

Pickles is only half Dwarf but he's still got some of that attitude. He's a very demanding rabbit. When it's time to clean his cage, he will fling a single poop out onto the floor. Yes, just one. I have no idea how he does it. As soon as he sees me in the morning, he runs around his cage until I open the fridge to get his carrot :o) If he's out of food, he'll chew on the bars of his cage until I fill it back up again. You can definitely see who runs the show...

Towards the end of this year, Pickles will turn ten years old. That's getting up there in bunny years. I know he's not going to be around forever and as much as I prepare for that day, I know I won't be when the time comes. But my love for bunnies will live on :o) And every time Easter rolls around, I'll get to revel in bunnies everywhere until they're coming out of my ears. LOL!

Ahhhhh.....Nuts?

It seems that we have something very disturbing happening here in the city. When Katie brought it to my attention the other night, I just HAD to look up the story -

"Some hungry squirrels have driven officials in downtown Fredericton to pull the plug on outdoor tree lighting.

Non-profit business improvement organization, Downtown Fredericton Inc., spent more than $10,000 putting LED lights on the large trees along Queen Street for the winter. But the capital city's grey squirrel population has developed a taste for the plastic bulbs.

'They don't draw a lot of power so the lights don't get warm, and they look like little nuts, so the squirrels think they can eat them, and that's what they've been doing,' said Bruce McCormack, general manager of the organization.

Initially the association hired a contractor to replace the bulbs the rodents chewed from the trees, McCormack said. But with 18 strings of light on each tree and the apparent tastiness of the bulbs, it has become too expensive to keep sending contractors up the trees, he said.

'They have to find them and repair the breaks, so we're just going to remove them all.'

The same strings of lights will remain up in Officer's Square, where the city maintains an outdoor skating rink during the winter months, for now.

'We're going to try to keep those up and running,' McCormack said. 'We'll take a look at what we're going to do with the rest of Queen Street at a later date.'

In the meantime, officials are trying to come up with ideas of how to protect the lights or wean the squirrels off the plastic, McCormack said."

This article was done by the CBC News but did not state who the reporter was.

Okay, I have a few issues. What the hell are these squirrels thinking???? If it might look like a nut but doesn't 'taste' like a nut...then it isn't a nut! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Maybe there's someone out there slipping these guys some weed or else we harbour all the stupid grey squirrels in the province ;o)

Wean the squirrels off the plastic? Is Mr. McCormack an idiot? If the squirrels aren't smart enough to figure out the light bulbs aren't nuts, there's no way they're going to wean them onto something else! Whoever heard of weaning an addict squirrel anyway? Is he going to put up barrels of nuts all over the downtown area?


Downtown Fredericton Inc. spent MORE than $10,000 on LED lights???? I think they're the ones that are nuts! Why not spend that money towards something more beneficial. Sure it's nice to have lights around the skating rink in the winter but they already have some nice lamps around the area. LED lights stuck in huge oak trees are not all that attractive. Plus, how is he going to stop the squirrels from going after those lights? Signage maybe? LOL!

Can you imagine being one of those contractors that has to go up and find each and every bulb that is either missing or faulty? That must be good for a laugh and a good waste of the city's money. Maybe these squirrels aren't so stupid after all ;o)

Finish Fifty-One From 2007

Ornament number two arrived at its destination so now I can share those pictures with you :o) Since one of Faith Ann's favourite colors is burgundy, she got a pair of burgundy and white mittens -

I saw THE-COLEST-THING today! As I was driving home, I drove by this place that has some big fields and of course, they are full of snow. When I looked over, I expected to see their horses out there but what I saw were three deer W-A-D-I-N-G through the snow in the middle of the field. Yes, I did say WADING! The snow was so deep it came up to the middle of their chests so that you could just see the top line of their backs. The one in front was doing all the work of course because the other two (the smarter ones in my book) where following the path in behind ;o)

You know...it would figure...I didn't have my camera with me :o( That would have been 'the' perfect picture. Would someone please send me a digital camera that I can stash away in my purse!!!! This is about the third or fourth great photo I could have captured if I only had a darn camera with me. Grrrrr!

Stargazer has most of her hair now and I'm working on the ribbon. Again, you'll have to wait for a picture. Maybe over the weekend I'll post one ;o)

Should I Stay Or Should I Go

What is it with animals on the side of the highway? Just when you think they've made it to the safety of the side of the road, they turn right around and dart back across. Are they suicidal or do they just make bad judgment calls? I often wonder what's on their minds when they do this. Are they thinking anything in particular or are they just kissing their ass and praying that they get to the other side of the road in one piece? There have been many nights when DH and I will be driving home and we'll see little mice or moles running for their very lives. They are literally running for all they are worth. I wonder if they stop and heave a big sigh of relief when they reach safety or do they go home to their families and tell stories of their grand adventures...

Having a property that is designed for horses, we have very few trees around our house and therefore, minimal wildlife. That is one thing I have really missed. Every year we get the swallows, robins and a few other little birds. We also have George, the groundhog, but he has been MIA for a while now. At least there have been signs that he is still alive :o) Because of this lack of wildlife, I was pleasantly surprised to see a new visitor yesterday when I passed the back patio doors...a grey squirrel! Was he ever cute too! In the six years we have been here, we have never had one at the house. He has now been officially named Squeak :o)

Squeak was having a great time eating all the seeds coming off the big maple tree next door. I took these pictures right through the patio door and they came out rather well. I wanted to try tossing out a few peanuts but they belong to DH so I knew better ;o) Squeak arrived back today so it will be nice to see him stay for awhile if he can :o)

It was a great mail day today when I found a little package from England waiting for me in the mailbox! A wonderful lady from over there sent me a breast cancer ribbon pin and charm for my collection :o) This inspired me to stitch up this little sachet bag with my own design called Love, Faith & Hope. I used Carrie's Creation threads and they are wonderful to use.

I have attacked Flowers this past week with a vengeance and she is coming along really well! I am very pleased with the progress I have made. I hope to make more of a dent in her this coming weekend.