WMEO SPECIAL REPORT — FAT BEAR WEEK: FINAL FOUR UPDATE

Posted on September 28, 2026September 29, 2026 by Dusty Roads | No Comments

Live From the Nature Desk at WMEO 9- Fat Bear week update! We Meow-You Listen

Banner: Good morning, Taunton. WMEO is on full bear alert as Fat Bear Week voting continues today. The competition is tighter than a salmon run at sunset, and tomorrow is your last chance to support your champion before the finals are set.

Balboa: This is where legends are made. And where salmon regret all their life choices.

Banner: Let’s review the Final Four still battling it out:

A bracket-style graphic shows four brown bears competing in Fat Bear Week’s Final Four. The top matchup features bear 132 Family versus bear 910, and the bottom matchup shows bear 89 Backpack versus bear 164 Bucky. Each bear is pictured in a natural outdoor setting, standing near grass or water. Text on the graphic announces that the Final Four face off tomorrow.

• 132 Family vs 910 A powerhouse matriarch versus a rising contender with serious winter‑den swagger.

• 89 Backpack vs 164 Bucky Backpack brings veteran bulk. Bucky brings bold, chaotic energy. This matchup could go either way.

Balboa: I’ve seen less intensity at the grocery store rotisserie chicken display. These bears are committed.

Banner: Voting is open today, and tomorrow is the final day to cast your vote before the championship bracket locks in. Two bears will advance — and WMEO will be here Wednesday to announce the winner.

Balboa: Chunk may not be in the running this year, but let’s be honest — the spirit of chonkiness guides us all.

Pumpkin Spice (field reporter): I attempted to interview the Final Four. One ignored me. One stared at me. One drooled on me. And one tried to sit on my notebook. Journalism is dangerous.

Banner: Stay tuned, stay chunky, and get those votes in. Tomorrow is your last chance to support your champion.

Two cats sit behind a WMEO 9 news desk as playful newsroom anchors, one orange and one black. A small teddy bear, a gray mouse toy, and a sheet of paper with printed images rest on the desk. The background resembles a TV studio with blurred screens and lighting, creating a humorous broadcast scene.

National Wildlife Day Photo Contest

Posted on September 10, 2023September 10, 2023 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Photo Contest

I haven’t been involved with a photo contest in quite awhile. I used to enjoy them but they can get expensive. Many have entry fees, sometimes fees per photo so it can get pricey. Anyway a friend sent me a link to Mystic Aquarium’s National Wildlife Day Photo Contest and suggested I enter. There was no entry fee and the prize, if you won, is the right to name a seal they are releasing. So its basically just for fun and that’s about the amount of effort I made. Just for fun.

My Entry

I didn’t even look at the competing entries, just made a quick grab for something from my archives. I kind of like my choice but since it’s from the lizard family it might not have a lot of universal appeal. Maybe I should have gone with a deer or a bird. Actually I was thinking about my whale breach photo but couldn’t remember where it was filed and didn’t want to take the time to look. So my Key Largo Iguana was it.

Key Largo Iguana- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

The 4 Finalists

It will be another week before the winners are announced but I didn’t even make the finals. Here’s the top 4 as it stands now.

If I had thought about it I have pictures for all 4 categories that made the finals and here they are.

Finalist #1- Puffins

I like Puffins. I could have submitted a Puffin picture if I’d thought of it.

Puffin 2016- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

Finalist #2-butterfly

Oh. I have so many butterflies but my favorite is on the sunflower.

Sunflower and butterfly 2018- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

Finalist #3 – Fox Kit

This one was a bit harder. I have a fox kit picture but I balanced the camera on the car window and never thought to shut off the engine so it wouldn’t be Photo Contest worthy. There was a little camera shake.

Red Fox Kit 2017- photo credit Deb Neumann

Finalist #4 – Whale

I’ve been on whale watches from Cape Cod to Maui. I have tons of whale pictures. Even some of whale breaches. Here’s one.

Whale Breach 2017- Photo credit Deb Neumann

That’s a wrap

I have so many more wildlife photos that I just didn’t think about. I have seals and Elk and Moose. Even some Grizzly Bears. And this post about photo contests wouldn’t be complete unless I shared the one that made it into a National Geographic Contest. It didn’t win but at least it got past the initial screening. I’m pretty proud of that!

2015- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

I hope you enjoyed

And the Winner is…..

Posted on December 12, 2012December 12, 2012 by Dusty Roads

The time is finally here. 3 supervisors from another department converged on our little corner of the work world to view and rate our decorating efforts. The first place team would get a month of special parking privileges right near the front door. This is an awesome prize for those cold winter mornings!

The runner-up would get a free pass for a week of jeans.That’s always popular in this department. Any chance to wear jeans instead of office attire is welcomed by everyone.

The judges strolled around taking notes and then retired to a little enclave to tally their results. This was then turned over to our department supervisors to make the announcement and the judges ran!

FIRST PLACE: THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE to no one’s surprise as this was an engineering marvel. All it lacked was a roof. Covering both cubicles it was a massive effort.

SECOND PLACE: WINTER WONDERLAND was a little more difficult. I thought there were 4 entries that were so attractive that any one of them could have taken the runner-up spot. I was lucky that the one chosen was the one I was involved in.

Now we’ll leave everything up…at least until Christmas maybe New Years. It was fun. Maybe if we do it again next year we’ll get even more participation. That would be fun.

aday.org

Posted on May 16, 2012May 16, 2012 by Dusty Roads

I’m not sure how I heard about. Maybe it showed up in my in box but it sounded interesting. The headline read:

Capture daily life on May 15th 2012

On this one single day we ask you to pick up your camera and help us photograph daily life. What is close to you? What matters to you? We will connect your images to images from all around the world, creating a unique online experience where photographs will be shared, compared and explored. Your view on life will be preserved to inspire generations to come.

I was intrigued and of course..hooked. Why not ? I take my camera everywhere just about everyday. So yesterday was May 15 and yes, I had my camera and yes I went out to shoot.

We could submit up to 10 pictures but I chose to offer only 9.

Once I submitted them I got this message:

Thank you and congratulations!

Your photos are now part of history and will be presevered for generations to come.
Until May 22nd we are gathering images from all over the world and process them.
On May 30th we will launch a completely new website featuring all submitted photos.

In the meantime, use your profile page to share your submission with your friends and colleagues or look at selected previews in our news section aday.org/news.

Your profile url: http://www.aday.org/profile/7036

Stay tuned for May 30th!

I checked out the profile link and there were all my uploaded pictures. I hope you’ll check them out too. 🙂 He’s a sample: