Hawk that Scared Me Silly!!!

Hawk in the Audubon II
Originally uploaded by mightyquinninwky©™

This hawk found a way to make me jump higher than I ever have. I was on the edge of the John James Audubon state park trying to get a good pic of a "Red Bellied" woodpecker, when some noise scared the bird away. I was annoyed, but decided to move a little further in and try and find a good spot to find him/her or another one. Little did I realize there was a raccoon in the tree over my shoulder, I never notice him though. The reason I knew he was there was a hawk out of the blue decided he/she was small enough for dinner. He/she dove down, hit the raccoon, and broke its neck, I had no clue what was going on and the noise was intense from this epic battle (ok it wasn't a battle, I am sure the raccoon was as aware of the hawk as I was of both of them!!). I nearly had a heart attack, I had just recently heard of a man that was hit by a bullet from a stray shot of a .22 and that was the first thing that went through my paranoid head, and the next thing was why is the hawk just sitting here eating. I guess when your hungry matters don't matter =)...anyway he stayed and let me photograph him while he had dinner and then nonchalantly flew off. Made for a very exciting day out in the wilderness, very exciting indeed!!

Severe Storms

Fire in the Sky II
Originally uploaded by mightyquinninwky©™

I promised myself after the drought we have had over the past two years that I wouldn't complain about rain. But the old adage 'When it rains, it pours' is happening here. It has been raining almost none stop for the past month and a half. There have been a few days with more than two inches of rain and then one day of over ten inches of rain. We have gone way past catching up our rain totals and now the ground is saturated, streams are swollen, the Ohio is rising, and the levees are bursting at the seams. The weather around here used to mild except for a few severe storms once in a while, but now it seems it is never just dry, but a drought, a gentle rain storm, but a gully washer that floods the area, a light dusting of snow, but several inches of ice bring the area to a stand still and destroying building, cars and trees. Mother nature is sending us a message, but I am afraid that we are not paying attention, or we are choosing not to hear what is being said!! We need to wake up, if it isn't already too late....

Peep...Peep...peep..PeEp...pEeP....peEP..PEep...pEEp...PeeP...

Peep...Peep...peep..PeEp...pEeP....peEP..PEep...pEEp...PeeP...
Originally uploaded by mightyquinninwky©™

Seeing that Easter and Easter candy is just a week away, I felt I should shed some light on the Peep Army. This photo should say it all. They are well trained and disciplined and ready to carry out there evil plans. We must stay vigilant and ready for any coming action. If your worried and full of fear, good, we all need to be ready to confront this new enemy. Known in the "intelligence" circles as the PFWD (Peeps-For-World-Domination) they are a growing threat to teeth everywhere. Taking over the world one cavity at a time...so this Easter when you look in your or your child's Easter basket, be prepared to do the right thing and fight off these tyrants and radicals, we can't be beaten by the sugar extremists. Wake up and be informed!!!