Hola, amigos!

It’s good to be back in the saddle after a wonderful week away in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Of course, none of our travel crew would have turned down a few extra days in the sun, but seven days at an all-inclusive resort can start to wear on a guy!

More than 40 friends hit the Caribbean to celebrate the marriage of Dustin and Amy (Miller) Johner at the Grand Bahia Principe resort. We enjoyed days on the white sand beach (and around the various swim-up bars), a shipwreck dive, parasailing, a tough 18 at the absolutely gorgeous (and tough!) La Cana Golf Course and a beautiful wedding day with the ocean as a backdrop.

Big congratulations to the Johners, and a shout out to everybody who made the trip from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Switzerland! I’ve attached a few of my favourite shots…click to enlarge the individual images. Enjoy!

rpj.

Hey-We related?

Nest of twine

Behold the mighty Osprey - a bird of prey.   Such a proud bird, this one created its nest using what humans have thrown away – bailing twine.   At first I thought “how creative”.   But Murray–who took the picture–reminded me that twine can be dangerous.   It wouldn’t take much for a claw to get tangled, putting the osprey at risk.   One good thing, it can pick away at most string and twine with its sharp beak,..but it’s best to never toss anything in Mother Nature or her creatures’ living areas.   Most Ospreys that nest in Canada, winter as far south as Peru.    They are great at fishing!   They dive under the water in a great spray.   From freshwater, they like  sucker, pike, and pickerel.    Hey–So do I!!

DID YOU KNOW?   The osprey is the provincial bird of Nova Scotia.

Lyre bird

If you are wearing socks, prepare to have them knocked off !   And, if you are a “Doubting Thomas” like I am, keep an open mind.

I have supplied 3 clips for you to see.

My pal Jerry sent me a youtube video of a story by David Attenborough.

Attenborough is a highly respected documentarian(50yrs with the BBC), whose fabulous voice is on the landmark series Planet Earth.

In this first clip, Attenborough introduces us to the LYRE BIRD from Australia.   The lyre bird has the amaaazing ability to mimic, well  …  EVERYTHING!   I had trouble believing what I was seeing and hearing “at first”.   So you have a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y

FAKE you say?   I thought so.   That’s because In the film and tv industry, there are technicians and editors who can make the impossible – REAL.

And then I found this clip.   At about 2-and-a-half mintues in,…there is an interview with Attenborough.   He talks about the sounds of the chainsaw.   And that’s when my heart broke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuFyqzerHS8  

And after a little more searching for stories on the Lyre bird.   I did find a SPOOF.   It’s good for a laugh and if you look closely, you can see how it was edited to make you believe this bird had watched Seinfeld.   www.waverlyfilms.com  made this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOFy8QkNWWs&feature=related.

LET ME KNOW IF YOU COME ACROSS ANY youtube VIDEOS I NEED TO SEE.   Blog Me!

Baa-ram-ewe

Thank you to Cindy for her shutter speed while in Golden, BC.   She tells me this shot of the Mountain Sheep reminds her of Dr. Doolittle and his Pushme-pullyou. (Pushme-pullyou was an antelope with 2 heads @ opposite ends of its body).   The male sheep are called rams, they have the curly horns.   The rams’ ladies are on the left of the picture.   And I am sure ewe know what female sheep are called .  

DID YOU KNOW?   A ram’s horns can weigh up to 30 pounds.   And when 2 males butt heads – they colliide @32km/hr!

PLEASE SEND US YOUR FRESH AIR PHOTO.   YOUR PIC WILL BE SHOWCASED RIGHT HERE ON MY BLOG,…AND WILL BE IN THE SPOTLIGHT ON BREAKFAST TELEVISION.   FRESH AIR PHOTOS AIR ON BT, EVERY MORNING AT 7:10am.

For all you Cliffy Clavens out there — here’s a USELESS (or not) piece of information for you.   Today’s factoid relates to the size of the Earth compared to our mighty Sun.   -a Sun that “finally” has us basking in warmth!!

The Earth is about 13 thousand kilometres wide.    The Sun is about 1.4 million kilometres across.

Size matters

SO:  If the Sun was a hollow ball, you could fit about 1 MILLION Earths inside of it.                                 

           
WANT ANOTHER COOL…er, I mean WARM FACT??         
You could line up 100 Earths end-to-end to stretch across the face of the Sun.                
    
WANT TO TAKE A QUIZ TO SEE HOW “SUN SMART” YOU ARE ??    

No need to study…. 

http://www.cancer.ca/quizzes/quizmaker.html

Awesome Photo !   Giselle is the rock star behind the camera — and we can see her in the side mirror, too.   She tells me she did this to prove how close you can get without disturbing the wildlife.   This also shows respect to an animal that deserves it!  

This puts a little chill in the morning doesn’t it?   Sure is beautiful, though!   This foggy and frosty start to the day was taken by Michelle, the pride and joy of Beaumont.   Michelle was about to take her pride and joy to pre-school when she saw the morning:  “Frozen in Time”.   She asks,…”Anyone miss this snow?”

DID YOU KNOW?    Fog is made up of tiny drops of water floating in the air.   In fact, it is clouds that have formed at ground level.   It is formed when warm currents of air hit the cold air resting above land or water.

Fogs lasting weeks and weeks cover much of Newfoundland, Canada, for more than 120 days every year!

Frozen in Time

We invite you to become a member of our FRESH AIR PHOTO club.   All you have to do is point and shoot.   -Anything showing Mother Nature or her creatures will do!!!   Your photo will air HERE, and on BT @7:10am.

American Gothic

I believe it was a genius at Sesame Street who coined the phrase:  One of these things is not like the other.   YET, these pictures have the same theme.   I bet you dollars to donuts you’ve seen the photo on the left.   It’s titled:  American Gothic, and is one of the most famous images in history.   The image below?   Well, not so famous(yet),…Meet Taylor McDougall and Lindsay Lefebvre.

Green Acres?

Green Acres

 Those were the days when people still used the words:  wacky and screwball comedy.    If you want to reminisce about Green Acres — watch this:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEOxYV25lbg.   If you want to read about the picture of American Gothic — go here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic

If you want to meet Taylor and Lindsay, we’ll see you at the Outback!

What a START!

Wow – huh?   This was at about 7am one morning in mid April.   Kevin was in Chetwynd, BC, and was as awestruck as we are – thankfully, he grabbed his camera.   We are looking at Cirrocumulus clouds, they are found above 18 tousand feet.

DID YOU KNOW?    If these clouds cover a lot of the sky, it is called a “mackerel sky” because the sky looks like the scales of a fish.   

Cirrocumulus clouds are small rounded puffs that usually appear in long rows.   They are usually white, but sometimes appear gray.  

AND NOW—Under the heading of:  Everything for wanted to know about Clouds but were afraid to ask,…here is your CLOUD CHART:

PLEASE,  SEND US YOUR PHOTO(S) OF ANYTHING SHOWING MOTHER NATURE OR HER CREATURES.   FRESH AIR PHOTOS AIR EVERY MORNING ON BT @7:10 right after news, weather, and traffic.