winter

Is Your Tail Up For A Reason Or You Just Happy To See Me?!

December 27, 2019 — 2 Comments

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 250.

Ruddy Duck

Why are Christmas trees so bad at sewing?

They always drop their needles!

Interesting Fact:  Unlike most ducks, they form pairs only after arriving on the breeding grounds each year. Males perform unusual courtship displays in which they stick their tails straight up while striking their bills against their inflated necks, creating bubbles in the water as air is forced from their feathers. They punctuate the end of the display with a belch-like call. Courting males also lower their tails and run across the water, making popping sounds with their feet. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruddy_Duck/lifehistory )

You Are Full Of It!

December 26, 2019 — 8 Comments

F/6.3, 1/250, ISO 1600.

Ring-Necked Pheasant

How do snowmen get around?

They ride an icicle!

Interesting Fact: Male Ring-necked Pheasants may harass other ground-nesting birds, such as the Gray Partridge and the Greater Prairie-Chicken. Female pheasants sometimes lay their own eggs in these birds’ nests. This may explain why some male pheasants have been seen chasing away male prairie-chickens and courting females—the pheasants may have been raised in prairie-chicken nests and imprinted on the wrong species. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-necked_Pheasant# )

May All Your Troubles Soon Be Gone. Oh, Christmas Lights Keep Shining On.

December 23, 2019 — 13 Comments

F/22.0, 87.0, ISO 125.

Jersey City Downtown

What did the stamp say to the Christmas card?

Stick with me and we’ll go places!

Interesting Fact: The first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree was the creation of Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison. While he was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of today’s Con Edison electric utility, he had Christmas tree light bulbs especially made for him. He proudly displayed his Christmas tree, which was hand-wired with 80 red, white and blue electric incandescent light bulbs the size of walnuts, on December 22, 1882 at his home on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Local newspapers ignored the story, seeing it as a publicity stunt. However, it was published by a Detroit newspaper reporter, and Johnson has become widely regarded as the Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights. By 1900, businesses started stringing up Christmas lights behind their windows.[14] Christmas lights were too expensive for the average person; as such, electric Christmas lights did not become the majority replacement for candles until 1930. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_lights#History )

 

 

 

Snow Fun

February 10, 2019 — 8 Comments

Snow Fun

F/8.0, 1/250, ISO 100.

How do you know if there’s a snowman in your bed?

You wake up wet!

Interesting Fact: Snow forms when  water vapor in the atmosphere freezes into ice crystals.

 

 

It’s Not What’s Under The Tree That Matters It’s Who’s Gathered Around It.

December 25, 2018 — 19 Comments

F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 400.

Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays To You All!

Why is Santa so jolly?

Because he knows where all the naughty girls live.

Interesting Fact: Modern Christmas trees originated during the Renaissance of early modern Germany. Its 16th-century origins are sometimes associated with Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther, who is said to have first added lighted candles to an evergreen tree. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree )

I Wanna Go Fast!

February 8, 2018 — 7 Comments

F/6.3, 1/60, ISO 400.

White-throated Sparrow

Two state officials are talking  “I don’t know what people have against us, We haven’t done anything.”

Interesting Fact:  Males are typically dominant over females, but whether an individual is white-striped or tan-striped seems to have no bearing on status. When pairing up, white-striped forms tend to choose tan-striped individuals, and vice versa. Pairs stay together for the summer, but birds often choose new partners the next year.  ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-throated_Sparrow/lifehistory )

If You Want To Go Running With Me, You’d Better Be Prepared To Walk A Lot.

January 24, 2018 — 18 Comments

F/6.3, 1/80, ISO 400.

Opossums

A 3 years old boy sits near a pregnant woman.

Boy: Why do you look so fat?

Pregnant woman: I have a baby inside me.

Boy: Is it a good baby?

Pregnant woman: Yes, it is a very good baby.

Boy: Then why did you eat it?!

Interesting Fact:  These animals are most famous for “playing possum.” When threatened by dogs, foxes, or bobcats, opossums sometimes flop onto their sides and lie on the ground with their eyes closed or staring fixedly into space. They extend their tongues and generally appear to be dead. This ploy may put a predator off its guard and allow the opossum an opportunity to make its escape. ( https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/opossums/ )

Well I Hope The Neighbors Like This Song

February 13, 2017 — 14 Comments

black-capped-chickadee-branch

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 320, Photoshop CS6.

Black-capped Chickadee

What kind of music are balloons afraid of?

Pop Music.

Interesting Fact: Winter flocks with chickadees serving as the nucleus contain mated chickadee pairs and nonbreeders, but generally not the offspring of the adult pairs within that flock. Other species that associate with chickadee flocks include nuthatches, woodpeckers, kinglets, creepers, warblers and vireos. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-capped_Chickadee/lifehistory )

 

Just CHILLING !

February 9, 2017 — 6 Comments

heineken

F/10.0, 1/640, ISO 400.

A bee goes into a bar,

It comes out 2 hours later buzzing

Interesting Fact: On 15 February 1864, Gerard Adriaan Heineken (1841–1893)[5][6] got his wealthy mother to buy De Hooiberg (The Haystack) brewery in Amsterdam, a popular working-class brand founded in 1592. In 1873 after hiring a Dr. Elion (student of Louis Pasteur) to develop Heineken-A Yeast for Bavarian bottom fermentation, the HBM (Heineken’s Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij) was established, and the first Heineken brand beer was brewed. In 1875 Heineken won the Medaille D’Or at the International Maritime Exposition in Paris, then began to be shipped there regularly, after which Heineken sales topped 64,000 hectolitres (1.7 million U.S. gallons), making them the biggest beer exporter to France. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heineken#History )

We Own The Night

January 27, 2017 — 30 Comments

 

new-york-city-manhattan-1

F/18.0, 26.0, ISO 80

New York City, Manhattan

A couple had lived together in the backwoods for over fifty years.

To celebrate their fiftieth anniversary, he took her to a large city and they checked into a plush hotel.

She said to the bellman, “We refuse to settle for such a small room. No windows, no bed, and no air conditioning.”

“But, madam!”, replied the bellman.

“Don’t ‘But madam’ me,” she continued. “You can’t treat us like we’re a couple of fools just because we don’t travel much, and we’ve never been to the big city, and never spent the night at a hotel. I’m going to complain to the manager.”

“Madam,” the bellman said, “this isn’t your room; this is the elevator!”

Interesting Fact: The name “Manhattan” derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on Henry Hudson‘s yacht Halve Maen (Half Moon).[35] A 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River (later named the Hudson River). The word “Manhattan” has been translated as “island of many hills” from the Lenape language.[36] The United States Postal Service prefers that mail addressed to Manhattan use “New York, NY” rather than “Manhattan, NY”.[