You Put Your Left Foot In......

The Evilbear household attended a great event involving my daughter on Saturday night.  She has diligently been attending dance classes weekly for the last 3 months and Saturday night was the spectacle, I mean, recital.  Ohhhh yes.  I think this one dance academy trained every female(and one male) between the ages of 3 and 60 in a 5 county area to dance.  It was a long evening, but it was great to see my daughter up on stage doing her thing, shuffling and hip hopping and all.  By the time she was done I was ready to go Gangnam style myself.  She did a really good job and the whole show, even though long, was done really well.  We are really proud of her. Below is a shot of the best dancer on Chardonnay Lane(as far as I know) and a few other shots from the performances.

After yesterday

The boy and I went to a pond in the area last night to goof around a bit.  One of those nights that after hearing the events in Oklahoma you just wanted to  spend a little quality time with some family.

Evilbear the 2nd???

One of my favorite pastimes during the summer months is to head over to a local airport after dinner and take pictures of the incoming planes, landing for the night.  My son Derek usually accompanies me, if for anything, to get an ice cream cone on the way home.  A few days earlier I had seen some airplanes pulling/towing gliders up into the sky to release them and let them float back down to earth.  Launching them into the sky was cool to see.  I had to believe seeing them land would be even cooler.  Our hope was to possibly see a glider or two come down.  Unfortunately, we didn't see any gliders, but we did see a few landings. This particular spot is situated behind a strip mall which is important because it makes the experience better.  You see, we are only about 15-20 yards from the strip mall, and about 200 yards from the landing strip.  Therefore, the planes that are about to land, come in pretty low where we are at- high enough to not hit anything, but low enough to touch down at the end/beginning of the runway.  You have to be quick on the draw with your camera since you don't see the plane nor can you hear it due to traffic in the area, so at  your first glimpse the plane is almost over you.  Trust me, it's kind of exciting.  But, my excitement for the night came when my son, after seeing me get hyped up, which he has seen numerous times before, asked if he could take some shots of the plane. (Cue saliva dripping down my chin.)  I, of course, had my 2nd camera with me and I walked, no, ran to the car, and set him up, gave him a quick lesson, pointed him in the right direction, and click, click, click he went.  For me, it was like seeing your son score the winning touchdown(which I probably will never see). Here are some shots.  The first two are of the new Ansel Adams and 3rd is one of his shots.   I don't give up my own picture space easily, but I'll give it up tonight.

Unrelated

Got out for a little bit this last Sunday morning to look for some Spring in action.  Its really nice to see that some of the water holes around here seem to be filled back up since they were bone dry at the end of last summer. Alot of my best shots, especially of birds and other wildlife are near some form of water, i.e. pond, creek, river, lake, etc.  But, today's pics are not near water and they are totally unrelated.  I say that because usually if I post more than one picture, they are related in some way.  The first shot is a shed sitting by itself about 20 yards from the road.  No other buildings within 200 yards of it in any direction.  I'm not totally sure what about it grabbed my attention, but I do like the pic.  And the second is, of course, a horse.  The greatest thing about horses is they are so curious and usually beg you for attention.  Often when I spot them out in their pasture, they stare at me and watch every step as I make my way close to the fence.  Sometimes they play very coy and look away like they don't care, but their curiosity gets the best of them.  Eventually, they start a long slow walk to get closer, one by one.  Next thing you know, they are pushing at you with their big noses, looking for some scratches and rubs.  Great subjects.

It was a good week

I said there would be more and there is. I think I've, over the years, found two of the best locations to photograph my birds in the Northwest Suburbs.  I know of a few other nesting locations, but not with nearly as many birds.  At the two I frequent, there are literally hundreds of these pterodactyls. 

 These two remind of the two old guys on The Muppet Show.

Its Been Too Long

It's been awhile.  I gotta see if I remember how to do this.  No excuses really.  My camera gear is all good.  New computer to help speed things up a little.  I think what it really comes down to is time and motivation.  And I will say I have been short on both.  The time thing is easy to explain.  Work has been busy and and 8 year old and a 13 year old will keep you busy.  The motivation thing is harder to explain.  I do believe in creative block such as what writers get and I think I had a case of that.  And the weather this spring has not helped.  So, enough with the excuses.  I'm working on getting back into the swing of it.
Tonight's shot is a pure sign that spring is close/here.  In the last couple of weeks, I've driven by some of my top secret locations for my birds and they are here in full force.  I was a little worried going into winter since many of there feeding holes had dried up last summer.  I wasn't sure how that would affect them and I'm really still not sure since, even with the heavy rains we've had, some of their spots are pretty much dry.  But, their nesting grounds are busy.  This shot is of just one of many birds I captured in about a 20 minute span.  Busy building nests and taking care of young ones.  I'll have more to share this weekend.

Don't Drink the Water!!!!!

It has always been the motto here that you don't dare drink the water from the Chicago River.  If you presently or ever have lived around here you have heard the stories of what "lurks" beneath the surface and often you can see what "lurks" by looking at the surface.  St. Patricks Day adds one more reason to not drink the water.  This fun holiday is probably the most celebrated day in Chicago.  In my younger days, I was known to kick back a few green beers on the day(the memories are tucked deep in a secret place).  At this point, though, I have a different priority.  To witness the dyeing of the river green.  In my 25 years+ here, I have never witnessed it and decided to do so this year. Got up early on Saturday and made my way down to the festivities.  I parked and had to walk about 4 blocks to the river.  If you want to know how crazy this city gets on St. Pat's Day, just walk four blocks on a 24 degree morning at 8 am.  Every bar and restaurant I walked past, and there must have been a couple dozen of them, had lines out the door and at least a block long.  I don't think they were all there for green eggs and ham.  Hint:  Green Beer.  Now, at 8 am. you walk by and laugh.  At 4 pm, I think you run and scream.  You just know it was going to get crazy.
The dyeing of the river started about 50 years ago and it actually started by accident.  The story I heard was that a plumber was using the dye to look for pollution leaks in the city plumbing.  Wherever the dye leaked into the river, they knew they had a problem.  The plumber had some sort of personal problem and went to see the head of the plumber's union.  The union boss noticed how the plumber's overalls were splotchy with a green color.  He asked how the green color got there and the plumber explained.  The rest is history. Shortly after, a traditon was born.  It takes about 40 pounds of the powdered dye to turn the river green.  It lasts for a day or so and is safe for humans and wildlife.  Originally, they used 100 pounds and found it lasted for a week, a little too long for the city's liking.
Today's post includes before and after shots of the river, but if you want to see more pics head over to
http://dyeingofthechicagoriver2013.shutterfly.com/.  There you will see numerous other pictures of the action. Perhaps, one of the most interesting shots I got was of a guy with water jets mounted to his feet that made him float above the water and sometimes he would plunge himself down into the water and pop back out.  Unfortunately, he never came super close to where I was standing, but you can get the idea.  It was neat and I gotta find me a pair of those.