Brad's Blog
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Oct. 2
With all the disasters starting last November, I'm beginning to think Congress should pass a bill designating half-mast as the default position.  Unfortunately I don't think they're up for it...
So here's a meaningless bit of fluff taken on the Mill Pond a couple days ago.  I like abstract patterns.


Oct. 11
This time of year, with the waterfowl migrating, it's good to check out the mill pond daily.  What just looks like ducks to the casual observer yields a variety of beautiful birds to the binoculars, or to a better telephoto than I've got :-)

A case in point is this guy, of a pair we saw yesterday...  The photo resembles ones circulated of perps from surveillance videos, but it was good enough to I.D. it as a hooded merganser...

This blurry character is a merlin we saw yesterday.  There's been a pair of them around all summer... Today I was watching a kingfisher dive for a fish through my binoculars. When it came up from its dive (without a fish), we both were startled to see a merlin almost pounce on it.  In a minute they took their drama into the woods...


In the winter we see muskrats like this on the ice, having dived down to get some of the grass like seaweed from the bottom.  In this case, although the water looks like it's slushy and the muskrat's on ice, it's actually got a bunch of the seaweed floating on the surface and it's so shallow the muskrat is standing on the bottom, or  a rock or stump...

Oct. 20
A week ago I tripped in my basement while doing a bit of plumbing, and dislocated my left little finger where it attaches to the hand.  No picture, but if you imagine a finger sticking out 90 degrees to the side, that's what happened.  I grabbed it and pushed it back, and it went off to the side again. So after that I held it in place...  Being a former EMT probably helped me deal with it a bit.  After taping it to the next finger, I've been waiting for it to return to normalcy, which it's slowly doing.  Unfortunately my two favorite activities, guitar and pottery work, are problematic.  As it is I can type with it just fine, and even play the piano.  But for now it's a fall vacation...

Here's a fall view of the Mill Pond, which I thought was nicely vignetted by the shrubs along the edge...

Oct. 21
After the rain a few days ago, fir needles were floating in some puddles in an interesting pattern:

they were all separate but tended to bunch together...

October 27
We encountered our first snow on the ground hiking up the lakeview trail at Priest Lake last weekend. 
Currently the nights are frosty but the days are warm and clear and in the 50's.
Here's another view of a hooded merganser with fall colors reflected in the lake...

 
Books read and other media of note
Full Moon by P G Wodehouse.  Mistaken identities and criss crossed lovers worked for Shakespeare and Wodehouse too..

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher. Good stories from the Dresden Files, interesting introductory glimpses into the writer's life...

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.  I'd avoided reading this previously, as it seemed to be a parody of St. Nicholas, but Terry Pratchett is always more than simple parody, and it was touching, and suspenseful, and satisfying...



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