Spring is such a tease

Posted on March 9, 2014March 9, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Or maybe I should say Old Man Winter is a tease. Tuesday was a beautiful day. We had blue skies and no wind. I went out dressed in layers expecting to be cold but it wasn’t too bad. According to the weather folks we never broke freezing but the lack of wind and the bright sun made it seem almost like a “day at the beach”.

I made sure to grab my camera as I headed out. I had a long list of errands and then had to go to our Foxboro Office for my annual review. Yes, it was my day off but the alternative was a drive to Somerville on Friday. After that I had to head to Stoughton (20+ miles away) to meet with my Tax Guy and get my taxes filed. Even so I was optimistic that I could squeeze in some quality time with the camera. My goal, some quality shots for the 365 challenge. So far the challenge has been to get any shots, forget about quality!

I hopped in the car and put it in reverse to back out of my parking space and it felt, well, weird. It felt like the emergency brake was on but it wasn’t. I finished backing out and tentatively tried going forward…same thing. Now I thought I knew the problem..must be a flat tire.

I pulled into the next slot over and got out to look. Sure enough, flat as a pancake! I grabbed my cell and called AAA then I called my auto repair shop and made arrangements to bring the tire in. Finally I texted my boss to let him know what happened. It was only 10:30 and my review wasn’t until 1 pm but who knows how long I’d have to wait for AAA and then at the shop for the tire repair. I felt like the Geico commercial.

Sometimes things just fall into place. AAA arrived pretty quickly and changed the tire for me. We couldn’t see any reason for the flat. Valve stem looked fine, no nails or visible punctures, guess it will be up to the repair shop to get to the bottom of it.

The shop I use is about 5 miles down the road from me so even with traffic I was there before noon. Since I’m a regular they know me and took my tire right in. The tires are fairly new so I expected a repair. But noooooo. Randy, the manager, called me in and showed me where the side wall was starting to leak. He said it looked like I may have scraped it on a pot hole or curb. Well I knew I hadn’t hit a curb but there are certainly enough pot holes this year. I hadn’t hit any straight on but maybe in trying to avoid one I might have clipped it just right on the side. There was no saving the tire. 🙁

I told him to put on a new one and get me on the road. He did it right away. Turned out I was only 10 minutes late for my review but after the review it was still back to Stoughton and then all the errands I didn’t get to do in the morning. Needless to say there was no quality photography time.

I got to see several hawks hunting by the highway and a possum waddling out of the woods toward the road but no chance for pictures.

I settled for another cat photo. You may have seen it.

It’s a play on the Dr. Seuss story of Green Eggs and Ham

“Would you eat them
in a box?
Would you eat them
with a fox?”

I offered ” Do you like it in a Box?”

One of these days I’ll get to the fields and sanctuaries where I love to take pictures. Until then, Would you like it with a fox? 🙂

The Red Red Robin

Posted on February 5, 2014February 5, 2014 by Dusty Roads

I saw another flock yesterday. I hope they found someplace warm to roost before the storm hit. Silly Birds…don’t they know they are supposed to migrate south for the winter?

WHEN THE RED, RED ROBIN COMES BOB, BOB, BOBBIN’ ALONG
(Harry Woods)
When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob Bobbin’ Along
When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’ along, along
There’ll be no more sobbin’ when he starts throbbin’ his old sweet song
Wake up, wake up you sleepy head
Get up, get out of your bed
Cheer up, cheer up the sun is red
Live, love, laugh and be happy
What if I were blue, now I’m walking through, walking through the fields of flowers
Rain may glisten but still I listen for hours and hours
I’m just a kid again doing what I did again, singing a song
When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’ along
When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’
When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’ along
There’ll be no more sobbin’ when he starts throbbin’
There’ll be no more sobbin’ when he starts a throbbin’ his old sweet song
Wake up, wake up you sleepy head
Why don’t you get up, get up, get out of bed, cheer up
Live, love, laugh and be happy
What if I were blue, now I’m walking through fields of flowers
Rain may glisten but still I listen for hours and hours
I’m just a kid again, doing what I did again, singing a song
When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’
When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’ along
Along, along, along, along, along.

What’s Your Caption?

Posted on October 16, 2013October 16, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Bath Time

Posted on October 2, 2013October 2, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Do Ostriches have External Ears?

Posted on August 30, 2013August 30, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I like birds, big, small and in-between. They are fun to watch and challenging to take pictures of, at least good pictures. A friend said “why do you photograph birds?”. My reply…because they are there. 🙂

Anyway we were at the Franklin Park Zoo and the female ostrich was right up close to the fence. She seemed to be trying to catch little bugs that were landing on the wire fencing so we got a good up close look at her and I saw something but I’m not sure what.

It looks like she has ears! Other birds have smooth heads. I’ve never noticed ears before. I tried looking it up online and got lots of scientific papers about they way birds hear but nothing about a real, external ear flap.