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Dave wrote: Hi Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. A Great Blue Heron that caught a Water Siren at the bridge here at TGO this evening.  Water Sirens live in the water. They have both lungs and gills with two small arm like legs near their front end.  Dave

MY TURN TO POST A THOUGHT.

. Individual sports can be dangerous:

But, I was a ponderin’ more.  In this time of Olympics and Super Bowl and me joining the MoonPort Modelers Flying Club, sport safety was something I pondered as I ride my bike for hours each day.  Sport-club insurance is important for all sports & for a radio controlled model air plane clubs it is no different.

How fast do radio controlled planes fly?

Off the shelf RC Planes can do anything from 30 mph to 150 mph, depending on their design, construction, and type of engine.

Are RC airplanes dangerous?

There are dangers and accidents involved with the hobby sport of remote-controlled planes.  For example, hitting a by-stander with your plane, even at 30 miles an hour, hurts – A lot!I   So, you see, the sport carries risk, just like skateboarding, fishing, and archery.

Oh my, Did you say fishing is dangerous?

Things are perfect when you hook a nice-sized fish and finally get it in to shore.  The only danger here is for the fish – Right?  Well, consider, with a bass hooked and almost to the bank, you may not notice a wake begin to form and something approaching very quickly.

Dave wrote:  Hi Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. Glossy Ibis and Purple Gallinules from this afternoon.   Dave

Jim wrote:  While at the computer during these cold-wet days, I produced these photo-art from my iPhone photos – practicing my guidelines of composition:

Dave wrote:  Hi Jim, Here are some pictures. Kind of a mixed bag of pictures. A big rattle snake. a Blue gray Gnat Catcher. The rocket launch last week, a Little Blue Heron at sunset and a White Ibis. It is getting harder to find birds to shoot with the drastic lack of birds everywhere.  Dave

Jim Wrote:  Dave made me think about how can we address global issues like the “drastic lack of birds” and other many global issues like sustainable food supply, over population, working together globally, – who is developing the understanding and technology – I did one brain dump on this topic after Dave’s photos:

Read on – My brain dump:

I love our The Great Outdoors (TGO) community  We have great nature, great weather, great people.  There are more clubs and activities for us retired people than any place I have ever lived.

My words might sound like an advertisement for TGO but, today, I want to highlight to you one other aspect of our TGO life. We live next door to the United States space coast.  Our neighbors work the space exploration efforts that have a very large impact on our daily lives. 

These neighboring space scientists and other space coast employees impact our daily Life.   Understanding space helps us understand our origins. The human race’s origin transcends gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. In understanding these things, we are really designing the future for the whole human race that is technologically advanced.   This understanding helps solve the problems associated with resource sustainability, overpopulation, working together, national defense, and global warming for the whole world as one race of people.

Furthermore, without the space program would we, today, have cell phones, MRI scans, GPS traffic management, and the weather forecasts or would they be years in the future if at all?

Our neighbors in the Titusville area are the problem solvers and the analysts that filled a myriad of jobs in a myriad of industries, all dedicated to the exploration and innovation of our Space Programs that change the world.  

As I socialize with our neighbors, it is great to be associated with  men and women who retired from the space industry or spent their careers supporting those families that worked in the space exploration industry.  

So, you see, my message is to ask you to enjoy and appreciate the United States space coast when you visit – even if you do not live here.  The people here of the space exploration industries impact our daily lives now and in the future to a degree you may not have thought about.  They maybe giving us the answers to resource sustainability, overpopulation, working together, national defense, and global warming for the whole world as one race of people – and, yes, “drastic lack of birds.”

Dave wrote:

Hi Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. Some typical Florida birds. Dave

Jim wrote:  In the book I am reading, Scott Kelby wrote “Getting Great iPhone Photos Starts Here”  Well, I am not sure you can ever get “great” photos with an iPhone, but I only shoot with an iPhone anyway.  The reason is clear to me.  I generally do what is called street photography.  I love to be out and about at least 1/2 my waking hours.  And I love to record seeing people doing what people do (that is street photography).  I want to do that street photography so that I can enjoy seeing them do it again and again during the other 1/2 of my waking hours – Most of the time I am  sitting  in front of my iPad.

So, you see, I could only do that with an iPhone.   A camera would be too much work to carry around and and furthermore, people would notice me photographing them if pointed a big camera at them – I like to sneak my shots without disturbing the people – sort of like doing wildlife photography without disturbing the wildlife.

Here are some recent shots  – Maybe with just a little PhotoShop help to record the Street Photography story I saw:

I wrote:  Yellow cardinals are rare, beautiful birds. Recent sightings of a yellow cardinal have been reported by birders in Illinois and Alabama. Via Chelsea Curry A rare yellow cardinal is visiting bird feeders in Rushville, Illinois. In 2018, a bright yellow cardinal bird in Alabama fascinated the internet.

Well, maybe they are a mutation, maybe a rare-breed, or maybe a regular Cardinal impacted by health or food???  We will let your decide.  One on-line place I researched  this yellow bird is:

https://www.audubon.org/news/why-northern-cardinal-yellow

Now on to our returning friends:  I met Dave and wife Candis in TGO this week. Great to see them back. They were using some new equipment – and of course using a lot of skill and dedication to see and show us some wonderful shots of birdlife in and around TGO.

Dave wrote:  Jim, Here are some owl shots we got after we saw you.

Dave wrote: Jim, We’re here at TGO and pretty well settled. Out doing our thing shooting pictures. Here are a few.  Dave

I wrote:  Good to have you folks back in TGO, Dave.

Heather sent me a photo of a dock in her New York lake.  It made me think of Christmas in the North Country of our country, so I used her photo and made a photo of my mind at that moment!

I wrote:  Really love these action shots by Dave – We humans all have a hunter and gather background in our evolving history.  

I have been reading of the millions of years evolution and of how we humans are dealing with the current rapid pace of that ongoing evolution:

One such book is:  “A hunter-gatherer’s guide to the 21st century : evolution and the challenges of modern life.  By Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein”.

Dave wrote:  Hi Jim, Here are some pictures for the blog. A beautiful adult male Sharp-shinned Hawk caught a male House Sparrow under our feeders. He hung around for 2 or 3 minutes then flew off with the sparrow. Dave

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This is my fun test for you.  At least I had fun making it and then creating an abstract from it.

Then I had some time to kill with PhotoShop sitting right up front on my computer!

Dave wrote:  Hi Jim, This is what we had two days ago. It didn’t last and was gone by noon. Calling for more and heavier snow tonight and tomorrow. A Bluejay, a White-throated Sparrow and a Fox Sparrow at my  feeders. The feeders all  get active when it snows.  Dave

Here are some iPhone photographs of my thoughts and Jim’s daily happening’s:

Someone just ask me how many thousands of dollars they needed to spend to get into the joy of photography.  I said: “I spend zero dollars, ’cause I like the challenge of trying to do the kind of photography I enjoy with only my iphone (and it is 5 years old).”

Here are two kinds of photography I enjoy:  1. SKY CLOUDS:    2. PEOPLE WORKING – (I have identified 20-some other kinds of photography that I enjoy)