THAT'S THE BIGGEST BIRD I'VE EVER SEEN....Seen....seen......seen!!!!

Would ya look at that bird.......WOW!

Hello peeps, We, and by we I mean Kristel, Shiloh, and I, went to a southwestern Allen county road to see some birds that were reported on the ol' IN List Serv. We couldn't stay too long cause Shiloh was gettin' restless, but we saw...

Tundra Swans.

This is about the only two picture that turned out at that site. We also saw a bunch of Ring billed gulls, Northern Shovelers, and a huge flock of Starlings to name a few. None of which are the BIGGEST BIRD I'VE EVER SEEN....Seen...seen....seen....

Next up.... Fox Island.

Nice day for some hikin'. Pretty quiet, bird wise. Until the BIGGEST BIRD I'VE EVER SEEN....Seen...seen...seen.... showed up. But before that we saw a very cooperative White-throated Sparrow and managed to get a couple good pictures. See.....

Anyway.....Some nice hiking and gettin' out of doors to enjoy this great big beautiful world. When all of a sudden I hear something off in the distance. What is that? It looks HUGE. Oh, wait...... Thirsty dog.

Okay, I'm back. Where was I....... Oh yea.....I hear something coming up behind us. Then out of seemingly nowhere it showed up. The BIGGEST BIRD I'VE EVER SEEN....Seen....seen...seen. And I was lucky enough to get a picture of it. I have no idea what kind of bird it could be so if anybody can help me identify it, I would greatly appreciate it. Well, here it is........

I can make out a bunch of field marks, but can't find it anywhere in the field guides. Thanks for your help in advance. Until next time, Choo choo ca chew.

P Dubbin'

Late Night Birdwatching with Conan

LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN

Birdwatching in Central Park

Stumbled upon this in another blog and thought I would share it here. Enjoy.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/58213/late-night-with-conan-obrien-birdwatching

Good Day.

P Dub

Super Snowy Sunday

Pokagon State Park

February 1st

Hello again peoples. The family had a wonderful time at Pokagon State Park in Northern Indiana this past Sunday the 1st. We stopped by the Nature Center first before heading over to the Toboggan Run. It wasn't too busy. We got in two runs in about 45 minutes. They rent the sleds by the hour, plus I got the heaviest sled they got, so we were already tuckered out. It was a chore lugging that thing up the slope.

After the Toboggan run and a quick snack at the warming center, we went back to the Nature Center to check out some of the birds at their feeders. Red Headed Woodpeckers, White Breasted Nuthatches, and Pine Siskins. Oh my! Then off to the trials. The two knuckle-heads went nuts. Mooning, snowball throwing, and all around goofin'. Turned a relaxing walk into a whole lot of fun.

Then after the drive back home and some resting up to watch the big game. I get suckered into this.......

He is soooooo cute........and full of urine. Wow, that dog goes twice an hour, I swear. It's been a week so far and it took a little while for him to warm up to us, but he is running around and having a good time already. Wow, what an exhausting, fun day.

That is all,

Pub

Ice Storm, Gingerbread Rorschach, ETC.

Hello again everybody. Things have been hoppin' around here. Leading off we have the ICE....ice.....ice.....STORM...storm.....storm....

It hit on Friday the 19th and made for a wonderful day of work. I went on 5 service calls and 3 of which did not have power. Tough to work on a TV with no power. A lot of folks without power. The power company said about 80 to 90 thousand or so just in Allen County. We had a bunch of birds at the feeders the day after. Even an EASTERN BLUEBIRD.

Which is really, really odd. We never get bluebirds around here. Even when the weather is A-OK. It must have been hungry and probably cold. In fact, it was sooooooo cold (How cold was it?) My berries froze. Thank you, thank you very much. Try the veal.

In other news, Kristel and Jake made a gingerbread house. Jake basically did all of it with Kristel's help. He told her where to put the icing and he put the candy on it. But.......Hmmmm......Something looks a little odd. Don't you think?

What do you think? Leave your comments in the, well......comment section.

What else, what else? Update on the hitler kitty. We haven't seen it around for quite sometime. The last we saw it, it was limping away from the feeders. Probably not good news. Also in not good news, the snowy owl was hit by a snowy car and is no more. That is a lesson for you kids out there. Look both ways before chasing after voles across the street. In better news, we all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a great New Year. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Kristel on the 31st!!!!!!!! AND Happy wonderful first year of marriage on the 5th of January to Kristel as well. Thank you for putting up with all my crappy crap.

That is all,

P Dub

Oiy with the snowy owl already....

Went out to see the SNOWY OWL again. It was a very windy, overcast day. Kristel and I found it in the field it was in the last time we saw it. A little closer to the road, but hunkered down pretty good. Still tough to get a picture. Still had to zoom all the way in (18x). Here is one of the better ones.




Also, we saw an AMERICAN KESTREL on the way back. Kristel had never seen one of these afore. Here is some blurry photographic evidence....



So all in all, it was a pretty good day. We'll try again to get a closer picture of the owl sometime soon. Also, earlier in the week, we heard a couple of GREAT HORNED OWLS calling back and forth to each other in our neighborhood. I've never seen one of those afore. Maybe I should go all Survivorman in the neighborhood and try to see it. Of course the neighbors would call the police.....again.

That is all....
P dub

SNOWY OWL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saw a SNOWY OWL today (12/07/2008) in southeastern Allen County Indiana. We had never seen one of these before. Not the one in the picture above. That is from Cornell's website. The one we saw was at a pretty good distance in the field. Thanks to Pam and Rick for showing us where it was perched and the IN List Serv for the reports. In the picture below, it was perched on the pole with the brush around it above Jake's head. Toward the top and middle of the picture.

It is kind of rare to see them this far south. We tried to get some pictures, but it was just too far out in the field. We stopped on the roads all around the field and zoomed in all the way (18x) with the camera. Here are a couple that you can tell what was there.

It was a pretty cool thing to see, even if it was
way out there. Looking at the reports, it likes to roost about 50 to 100 yards off the road. We might go back and see if we can get a better look at it and maybe some closer pictures.

Stay tuned....
P-DUB

Super Sneak Preview of the Christmas Letter!!!!!!

The letter that gets sent to family and friends in the Christmas cards. Slightly censored to preserve privacy. Enjoy......



Xmas/End of the year letter. Part VII

Hello again everybody. It is that time of year again to get you all updated on this crazy, crazy life in Dubsville. Jacob’s (The role of Jacob is now being played by Gary Coleman) big change this year is going to kindergarten. He has had an up and down time so far. Some weeks he does a really, really good job. Other weeks he snatches the basketball out of the gym teacher’s hand and chucks it over the fence into the parking lot. “What'chu talkin' 'bout, teacher?” I blame the influence of my father, Captain Admiral Dick York. All in all, he is doing very well. His asthma and allergy issues seem to be under control. We will find out this winter, when it is usually at its worst. This past Halloween he went as a dog petting, black tipped reef shark. It seemed like every house he asked if they had a dog he could pet. At one house, he even forgot all about the candy and started to leave without the goodies. Kristel (The role of Kristel is now being played by Dame Judi Dench) is finishing up at IPFW and moving towards getting her degree in Engwish this May. Soon to be a writer of a best selling book about Arfalopes that gets optioned for a major motion picture that stars Jim Carrey, Alan Alda, and Gary Coleman. Oh, and co-starring some young “it” girl I’m sure. We’ll be sure to wave and acknowledge all the little people from our mansion on the hill. And, of course, the normal sized people too. As many of you may or may not know, Judi and I (The role of me is now being played by Ted McGinley) got hitched this past January. It has been an absolute wonderful, wonderful time. Wonderful. Really. Although the tabloids would have you believe differently, there is no bun in the oven. Let me repeat that Joe Biden style. “There. Is. No. Bun. In. The. Oven. (yet.) Period.” Just some nice cinnamon rolls. You know, cinnamon rolls are very underrated. All gooey and melty and stuff. (The role of the Cinnamon Rolls is now being played by Ricky Schroder). My work is still the same. The glamorous life of fixin’ TVs. People are still crazy and I actually fixed one this year. Yay for me! I’ll try for two next year. I have the absolute bestest boss in the world. He is gracious and has the kindest heart of anyone I’ve ever seen and also gets this newsletter. Hey John! Wha? Something on my nose? Gary loves going to John’s lake place and smashing his face tubing behind the boat. How else is he going to lose his teeth? He also enjoyed swimming with the minnows (actually swimming with the minnows, not some swimming with the fishes reference) and insisted that he filmed them even though he had no camera. That Gary always has delusions of grandeur. Wonder where he gets that from?

Peace and Holly,
Ted, Judi, and Gary.
(pkdubs.blogspot.com)


Statler: “That wasn’t half bad.”
Walter: “Yep, That was all bad”
Statler: “They really jumped the shark this year.”
Walter: “I blame Ted”
Both: “Ha ha ha ha”