Sunday, September 15, 2024
Sunday Stealing
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Saturday 9: Minute by Minute
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Thursday Thirteen
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Remembering 9/11
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Contentment - Day 10
Monday, September 09, 2024
Contentment - Day 9
Sunday, September 08, 2024
Sunday Stealing
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.
Saturday, September 07, 2024
Saturday 9: Summer in the City
Friday, September 06, 2024
Contentment - Day 6
Thursday, September 05, 2024
Thursday Thirteen
Wednesday, September 04, 2024
Losing the Velvet
Last week I posted photos of this buck in velvet.
Yesterday he was back in the yard, but the velvet is starting to come off. I thought some of my readers might like to see this as it's not something that one sees everyday.
Male deer begin growing antlers in late winter/early spring. The velvet covering feeds the bone and helps keep it safe.
The bucks begin to lose the velvet in late August or early September as the velvet starts to lose its blood flow. It also indicates an increase in testosterone in the male deer. This signals the beginning of the rut, meaning the bucks soon will begin chasing the does as they hit their cycle for procreation.
Beneath the velvet is hard bone that makes up the antlers seen in white tail deer. The antlers are shed January-March, usually, and the process begins all over again.
Here is the buck with full velvet:
And here are photos of the velvet starting to come off on the left side of the deer's antlers. Note the red color of the bone as the velvet begins to shed. Eventually they will turn brown or brownish white.
You can see how much smaller the actual antler is once the velvet begins to come off as indicated in the last photo.
I've seen this shedding of velvet before but not often. This is the first time I recall being able to get photos of it (I took them through a glass door; the deer was about 30 feet away from me.).
Hope you enjoyed the biology lesson.
Tuesday, September 03, 2024
Contentment - Day 3
Today I am content because I made it to Food Lion and back without incident.
You never know what's going to happen to you when you step out of your door.
While I was at the store, I saw my dear friend, and we talked later in the day (because who can carry on a conversation in the checkout line?).
Also, I got a great shot of a buck still in velvet but with the velvet starting to come off. I will share that tomorrow if I remember to get it off of the camera.
Monday, September 02, 2024
September Contentment
Sunday, September 01, 2024
Sunday Stealing
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Saturday 9: Morning Train
Friday, August 30, 2024
Happiness - Day 30
Today I am happy because I didn't break the camera.
Yesterday, we had a lightning storm. More lightning than rain, with lots of thunder. I could see bolts of lightning out of my office window.
We generally can't see lightning where we live. It tends to hit behind us where the power lines run. So when I realized it was streaking in the front of the house, I grabbed the camera and set it on "record" to see if I could capture a streak or two.
I have never photographed a lightning bolt. Doing it with the video recorder is not the way to go about it, but I wasn't thinking clearly.
At any rate, about 11 seconds into recording, KA-BOOM! I thought the lightning hit the house across the way, and I wasn't sure it didn't hit something on our house because I heard a weird noise.
When I played back the video, I didn't have the lightning strike. I had a green streak running across the video in the camera from where the electricity made the video a bit wonky.
Too close for comfort, that one was.
But it doesn't seem to have damaged the camera. Whew!
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Thursday Thirteen
Virginia is a state where one does not have to register with a party to vote in a party primary or general election. Many people do register with one party or the other, but because I was a journalist and never wanted to be viewed as "taking sides," I have never registered with any particular party. Some journalists don't even vote, but I think that's taking it a little far. Voting is one of the most important things a person can do.
Here are 13 reasons why someone may want to consider themselves a moderate or independent voter, and not register with any particular party in the United States:
1. Frustration with the policies and strategies of both major parties.
2. Preference for voting based on individual candidates and issues rather than party lines.
3. Emphasis on evaluating policies on their merits rather than party affiliation.
4. Discomfort with the increasingly polarized political climate.
5. Valuing independent thought and decision-making.
6. Holding centrist views that don’t align fully with either major party.
7. Preference for a non-partisan approach to politics.
8. Belief that no single party represents all their views.
9. Greater emphasis on local issues and candidates.
10. Avoiding the pressure to vote along party lines.
11. Desire for politicians to appeal to a broader base of voters.
12. Aligning voting choices with personal beliefs and values rather than party platforms.
13. Belief in the importance of compromise and bipartisanship and feeling that independents can better represent a diverse range of interests and perspectives.