Saturday, November 29, 2008
The New Place
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Kicked in the face
Monday, November 10, 2008
Better Days
And to somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Civic Duties Don't End With Elections
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Voting for the first time
Yesterday, I did something I’ve never done before at 21 years of age: vote in a presidential election. As I stared down the ballot I realized how important and yet unimportant my choice was. Obama is clearly going to win
I live in a swing state – where I could easily cast a vote by registering on the day of the election – yet I am choosing to vote in
Not a day goes by where I do not receive some scrap piece of paper saying here’s why you should vote for this person or that from presidential down to county clerk positions. Not a day goes by where I don’t drive by people campaigning in the middle of town while cars honk in approval.
I have to say I don’t think I’d be willing to stand out on a square and hold a sign for hours – I honestly hope that doing so does not convince any one individual to vote for any one candidate.
In the past 3 days I’ve realized something about politics: they’re a very personal matter that is very publically dealt with in our country. They run deep into our blood because they really do matter on a daily basis. There are people who vote based on their wallet, people who vote based on ideas, people who vote based on religion, and people who vote based on hope that each day this world will become a better place.
As I put my pen to the paper to cast my absentee ballot I remembered the face of this little old woman who was on the opposite corner of some Obama supporters who was out supporting a candidate that is often un-discussed: peace. Her face showed the pain of many years of disappointment, but her determination to stand on the corner in the freezing cold and hold a sign that simply stated “Peace” attested to the thread of hope she still holds on to. And as I voted I tried to keep in mind that peace and love really should be at the center of everything we do.
Who I voted for will have to remain unknown due to the freedom of private vote that we all can hold to. But you should know that I voted with the concerns that penetrate my heart and mind on a daily basis at the forefront of my mind, I voted for what I felt was a path to a better America and a better world.
While we won’t be there in 4 years from know I hope with every bit of my being that we are closer to a world of peace and love.
Monday, November 03, 2008
This Weekend In Birding
- Brant
- Canada Goose
- Mute Swan
- Wood Duck
- Mallard
- Green-winged Teal
- Ring-necked Duck
- Common Eider
- Surf Scoter
- White-winged Scoter
- Long-tailed Duck
- Bufflehead
- Common Goldeneye
- Red-breasted Merganser
- Red-throated Loon
- Common Loon
- Horned Grebe
- Red-necked Grebe
- Northern Gannet
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Merlin
- American Coot
- Black-bellied Plover
- Sanderling
- Purple Sandpiper
- White-rumped Sandpiper
- Dunlin
- Bonaparte's Gull
- Ring-billed Gull
- Herring Gull
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Rock Pigeon
- Mourning Dove
- Snowy Owl
- Rufous Hummingbird
- Blue Jay
- American Crow
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- American Robin
- Northern Mockingbird
- European Starling
- American Pipit
- Cedar Waxwing
- Nashville Warbler
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Chipping Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Savannah "Ipswich" Sparrow
- Fox Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Lapland Longspur
- Snow Buntings
- Northern Cardinal
- Dickcissel
- House Finch
- Pine Siskin
- American Goldfinch
- House Sparrow
Dickcissels are midwestern birds and Rufous Hummingbirds occur on the west and winter in the south (florida to texas)
Additionally numbers of snow buntings were estimated between 200-300 (we counted their legs and divided by 2)
The lapland longspur was picked out by Steve Mirick among the snow buntings
The common Goldeneye was the first of the season picked out by Jane Mirick
other highlights included a birder getting his 300th life bird and Jessie getting 19 life birds in one day!
- someone else's owl photos:
http://beautifulflyingobje
http://www.pbase.com/lmedl