Eye of the Tiger?

Maybe some of you birders out there can tell me what kind of bird this is.  As I've noted before, I have no problem shooting shots of birds and flowers.  Just don't ask me what kind they are.

In Honor

In honor of the passing of "The Rapture" this past Saturday,I'm posting the lovely sunset from a few days ago. Poor Mr. Camping can't seem to get his math correct in order to predict the end of the world.  Everyone around here has it figured out.  It is, of course, the day the Cubs win the World Series.  No math necessary.  Or perhaps I'm wrong.  Maybe that's the day that Hell freezes over.

3 Amigos

Tonight is the formal introduction of our version of the 3 Amigos.  Some of you might have seen the movie.    Therefore, the names of our 3 Amigos will be familiar to you. If you haven't, go rent it right now.  Seriously.  We got Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms, and Ned Nederlander.  Don't ask me which is who.   If you need a little refresher course of who these guys are check out their theme song.

 Now that you know who they are let me show some pics of our 3 amigos:

Rare occasion

I don't normally do this......I don't think I've ever done this.  But, tonight I'm posting for the second time in one day.  Life is getting back to normal and I actually had some time today to myself so I went through and checked out some of my shots from the week and picking out the ones I like.  Therefore, posting a second time.  This, hopefully, means there will more time for shooting in the near future.  Tonight's shot is from last night.  We had some friends over and my son and the daughter of our friend get along quite well, despite the story the picture tells.  Both on the swings, eating ice cream, and having their own private conversation.

A watchful eye

This is true in so many ways in this picture.  First of all, you have my family all watching and intrigued with our new summer guests and their growth.  Second, you have the 3 nesting babies watching for momma to come with more grub(or grubs).  And thirdly, you have momma and daddy both perched in the area watching my every move around their offspring.  You can feel their gaze on you even if you don't see them.  Once in awhile you'll hear their warning whistles to each other.  No worries, though.  We are treating them like they're paying for a room.

Candlelight dinner

First off in tonight's post I want to thank everyone who sent well wishes for my family in our little medical emergency.  We are presently back on the path to good health and trying to get back to some normalcy in our household.
Of course, during the last couple weeks not much shooting has been done.  But, I am going to try and rectify that.  I started by heading out for a drive last night after dinner hoping to catch a nice sunset.  It was a beautiful sunset, but instead of just the regular sun setting on the horizon I caught this.  Seemed like a candlelit dinner to me.  Would have been nicer if he/she would have had a partner, but this guy/gal didn't seem to mind.

Blast from the Past

No shooting the last few days.  Family medical emergencies tend to leave you with little time for side activities.  My daughter, in the span of a week, has went from having some kind of virus, to being admitted into the hospital, to undergoing surgery, to on her way, we hope, to recovery.  So, tonight, during some down time, I went through the archives just to relive some memories and remember some better days.  I don't usually post pics that I don't shoot, but here's one I really like.  This is from all the way back in 2004 when she was all of 4 years old.  Try to ignore the big oaf next to her.

Today's Dock-et

On the agenda today or, the docket, are.....docks.  Nice, clean, ready for summer boating action, docks.  Caught the sun peaking through our daily dose of clouds to give a nice view of the docks sticking out in the early morning calmness of the Fox River.

Rockin' Robin

Wow.  Deja Vu.  2 blog post titles referencing bird songs in 2 weeks.This time it is in reference to an unexpected house guest.  It seems a robin decided to build her spring next on top of an outdoor speaker directly above my gas/charcoal grill.  Seems weird to me to, but she was intent on building it there.  I saw here "flitting" back and forth in front of my office window early one morning not knowing what she was doing.  When I got home from work later in the day, I saw her going back and forth still.  So, I'm assuming it was built in a day.  It wasn't until a day or two later that we all realized the problems that can occur.  She built right above my grill.  She ain't gonna be happy when I'm playing mad chef.  She is going to have babies in the nest as one of the pics below shows.  She ain't gonna be happy when I'm playing mad chef.....again.  She's about 3 feet from the door to the deck. She ain't gonna be happy with my 7 year old going in and out every 5 minutes.  And the real kicker?  ...........I hope she and her babies like Metallica and Cubs games since that is what she'll be feeding her babies to once it gets warm.  They will truly be Rockin' Robins.