Tag Archives: wildlife

Animal Antics

Posted on by

Have you all heard of or seen the “People of Walmart” emails and posts that float around the internet? Well, a Walmart in Florida had a switch on the typical tacky dressed customer. This customer needed some serious dry skin treatment. This guy really had a bad case of alligator skin!

FloridaMexico 639 copy

APOPKA, Fla. (AP) — A 6-foot alligator made an unwelcome appearance at the front door of a central Florida Wal-Mart. The incident happened Sunday morning in Apopka, outside Orlando. The gator stopped in the entryway, causing the automatic doors to open and close until employees locked them. Orlando television station WKMG (http://hrld.us/1b5psYE) reports Apopka police officers tried to lure the gator away as customers gathered to watch and take pictures.

The gator took off toward the nearby woods. Officers searched the area but couldn’t find it.

No one was injured.

Didn’t anyone think to call the Gator Boys?

**********************************************************************

Oh No! Cat Lover Alert! Does Petting Your Kitty Stress It Out?

Could petting your cat really stress the animal out? Headlines started appearing last week about a study that supposedly showed just that.  Luckily one of the study’s authors stepped in with a calming update. Stating that the study had been misinterpreted, Rupert Palme of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, assured cat owners that they “can carry on stroking their four-legged friends without worry.”

As an example of how petting can stress out a cat, here are some pictures of my cats after a “petting” session.

Buddy:more cats 003ab

Smokey:Smokey 002acopy

Rocky:Thurs june8 001e

I can tell they are very stressed out…can’t you?

*************************************************************************

Ladies, we are not alone!

A new headline:

Hot Flashes in Cold Waters? Killer Whales Undergo Menopause

This rare evolutionary trait may enable older females to help offspring survive.

According to the article, Killer whales  have been revealed to be one of only three species whose females are known to undergo menopause—living on long after their reproductive years in order to help their offspring, particularly their sons, survive the rigors of young adulthood and later to help raise their grandchildren. It is a rare evolutionary trait, shared with humans and pilot whales.

killer-whales-menopause_72619_600x450

The article goes on to say that they haven’t really  been able to determine if the whales actually suffer from hot flashes.

And that’s the latest from the world of Animal News! 🙂

North Dakota

Posted on by

I’ve been to the southern cousin, South Dakota, but not North Dakota. Lets see what I’ve been missing here.

The big thing that comes to mind is prairies.

098

North and South Dakota have always made me think of those rolling plains and herds of buffalo. After the Homestead Act  opened the prairie lands to farming and the prairie grasses were uprooted for agriculture, the dry winds began to blow leading to the Dust Bowl years of the 1930’s. By then the sea of grass and the great buffalo herds that sustained the Plains Indians were almost completely gone.

101

In 1933 the federal government stepped in and began buying and restoring the damaged prairie lands. But it wasn’t until 1960 that a system of national grasslands was implemented.

As bad as the damage to the grasslands was, what was done to the buffalo was even worse. Those great herds were gone not just because of the destruction of the prairie but because the white men went on a planned campaign of extermination. Sorry folks, I just get very upset over the way humans handle themselves sometimes. (Between you and me, not much has changed in my opinion) But I’m getting off track here. My point is that The Little Missouri National Grassland is a part of that network of national Grasslands. One million acres of ecologically diverse mixed-grass,  prairie, canyon and forest  surround Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Antelope, deer, coyotes, bighorn sheep and buffalo make their home here and I want to see it!

And Speaking of Native Americans, the largest Native American Powwow  takes place in September in Bismarck, North Dakota. The United Tribes International Powwow attracts thousands of dancers and drummers from many tribes. The Native Americans compete in 22 dance categories for upwards of 15,000 visitors. We missed a Powwow in South Dakota when we got lost on the Pine Ridge Reservation but that would have been small compared to this. I’ll have to plan my visit to see this!

thCAKNPHH1

Another historic site that would be good to see is Fort Mandan and the Lewis and Clark Trail. Near by to the restored fort is the Knife River  Indian Villages  Historic Site. Ruins of several villages including Sacajawea’s are preserved here.

thCASSYQ93

And the last thing on my North Dakota list is the International Peace Garden. The brain child of Canadian horticulturist Henry J Moore, became reality in 1932. Moore had envisioned a grand garden the would straddle the U.S. – Canadian  border, dedicated to our two nations friendship and peaceful coexistence. Many of the roads , bridges and  shelters were built in the 1930s by the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corp.  Today the Peace garden has 2,339 acres of gardens, forests, manicured landscapes, fountain and walking paths. Its only 200 miles north of Bismarck. I should be able to squeeze that in don’t you think?

international-peacegarden

That concludes the states starting with “N”, and my grand total now is 12 seen / 22 to go.

Coming up next …the “O” states. There’s only 3 of them.

Maryland and Massachusestts

Posted on by | 2 Comments

Maryland is the 2nd “M” state and Massachusetts is the 3rd.

Let’s start with Maryland first.

No… Not really. Maryland is part of what I think of as the political area…It’s close to Washington DC and  Annapolis is in Maryland and I can remember going to the Naval Academy with my family  to visit my brother.

academy

That’s what I remember the most, that and how impressive it was to see all of the young cadets marching past. I can’t even begin to put into words what I was feeling but I can remember it to this day and it was about 40 years ago, maybe 42. I really don’t remember much else about the visit except seeing my brother and being so proud of him. It was a very emotional visit. So I suppose I could cross it off but I think it needs another visit to be official. 🙂

M is for Massachusetts

Yes..I better say yes. I’ve been living here since 1974. Hard to believe it. I originally came out for company training for 6 months. Once the training ended the only openeing was right here in Malden, MA so I stayed.

Massachusetts has everything you could want; mountains,  ocean, cities, rural area, summer sun and winter snow.

march blizzard 013 copy

We’ve got National Parks and history. My word, we have history galore from Minuteman National Park with it’s Patriots Day Reenactments to   Boston’s Freedom Trail. There’s Salem, MA of the historic witch trials, Old Ironsides, Bunker Hill, Faneuil Hall.

bhc 087a copy

As if that wasn’t enough we have nature! We have Whale Watches and Deep Sea Fishing, we’ve got seals  and zoos and aquariums.

seals 042a copy

seals 077 copy

Whale Watchin 119 copy And we’ve got Old Cape Cod with a scenic train and the National Sea Shore and the annual scallop festival. We can even boast great white sharks now!

And we have Lighthouses.

Gloucester 114 copy

Maine does not have a monopoly there! I believe there are 63 in all.

Annisquam Baker’s Island Bass River (West Dennis)
Bird Island Bishop and Clerks Borden Flats
Boston Harbor Brant Point Brant Point (Old)
Butler Flats Cape Ann (Thacher Island) Cape Cod (Highland)
Cape Poge Chatham Clark’s Point
Cleveland Ledge Cuttyhunk Deer Island
Derby Wharf Dog Bar Breakwater Duxbury Pier
East Chop Eastern Point Edgartown Harbor
Fort Pickering (Winter Island) Gay Head Graves
Great Point Hospital Point Range Front Hospital Point Range Rear
Hyannis Lightship Nantucket I WLV-612 Lightship Nantucket II WLV 613
Lightship Nantucket LV 112/WAL 534 Lightship New Bedford LV 114/WAL 536 Long Island Head
Long Point Marblehead Mayo’s Beach
Minot’s Ledge Monomoy Point Nantucket Cliff Range
Nauset Ned’s Point Newburyport Harbor (Plum Island)
Newburyport Harbor Range Front Newburyport Harbor Range Rear Nobska Point
Palmer Island Plymouth (Gurnet) Point Gammon
Race Point Sandy Neck Sankaty Head
Scituate Stage Harbor Straitsmouth Island
Tarpaulin Cove Ten Pound Island Three Sisters
West Chop Wings Neck Wood End

Head west on RT 90, from Boston and you’ll find Springfield, home to Dr. Seuss and The “Big E” (Eastern States exposition) and the Basket Ball Hall of Fame.

Speaking of sports, Massachusetts is a pro sports kind of place. We have the Boston Bruins, The Red Sox, Fenway Park and Red Sox Nation. Out in Foxboro we have the New England Patriots and we’ve got the Revolution..not the 1776 revolution but the pro soccer team.

zdano-chara-towers-over-competition

We host golf tournaments like the Deutsche Bank PGA tournament.

0979-80-TigerIronShot

Heading back to Western Massachusetts Rt 90 rises upward to the Berkshire Mountains. The Appalachia Trail winds it’s way through here and we have Tanglewood and Jacobs Pillow  for culture.

jacobs_pillow1

There’s still more. Massachusetts loves politics. You can find a political discussion almost anywhere and everyone has an opinion. 🙂 And we have higher education, Colleges and Universities abound.

Harvard Yard

Harvard Yard

There are too many to list.

Don’t get me wrong, Massachusetts is not all peaches and cream. After all, we had the “Big Dig” too and are still dealing with the consequences.

bigdig

Talk about a major screw up! Traffic is worse now than ever. And we’re starting to head back to the bad old days of “Taxachusetts”…just when we thought it was safe to take our hands out of our pockets good old Governor Deval Patrick put his hands right in!

Deval

But even with all that I still am pretty pleased with my adopted state. It’s a great place to visit and not too bad a place to live.

M is for…

Posted on by

Wow, Did you realize there are 8 states that start with the letter M? I am not going to do all 8 in one post, especially since a couple of them are going to be crossed off as visited.  So before I start can you name all 8 states?

Alphabetically Maine is first. So while you’re thinking about the other 7 states I’ll tell you a little bit about my neighbor to the north. I fell in love with Maine last year when I had the chance to take 2 “mini” vacations.

Maine

YES.

First thing that come to mind when I think of Maine is the gorgeous, rugged coastline. And if you have a rugged coast you need lighthouses.  More than 60 lighthouses dot the Maine coast from the well known Nubble Light in York  to West Quoddy Head, the easternmost lighthouse in the United States. I’ve seen and photographed a bunch of them, Nubble, Spring Ledge, Portland Head, Pemaquid and more but I’m a long way from all 60!+

Maine2 471 copy

Maine2 093e copy

Maine is for “Lobsta” or lobster if you want to be accurate. Everyone’s either heard of or eaten Maine Lobster, those feisty crustaceans that are so good boiled, fried, rolled, baked, in salad, well just about any way you want  to eat them. Did you know that lobster were once so plentiful that they were used as fertilizer! Native Americans used them as bait to catch more appealing fish. They were considered poverty  food and fed to servants and prisoners.  You’ve come a long way , baby!

Maine2 193 copy

Maine is for wildlife.

Maine2 275a copy

I saw a big bull moose there while walking a nature trail.

Maine2 427 copy

I braved the sea to get a glimpse of puffins, crazy little clowns. I never realized how tiny they are until I saw them riding those crashing waves.

Maine2 511a

Maine2 512a

Maine has the first National Park east of the Mississippi,  Acadia National Park. The park includes Mount Desert Island and Cadillac Mountain.

SONY DSC

I still want to try a train ride from Boston to Portland. It’s called the “Downeaster”. It can be done in 1 day but it might be nicer to stay over in Portland a night to see a bit more.

By the way, I wrote a lot of posts on Maine last year. Here’s a link to just one of the many :https://aroundustyroads.com/2012/08/29/day-is-done-gone-the-sun/