Jul 25, 2009
Jul 24, 2009
Playful purple martins
I was walking across Lake Wingra Park in Madison this week when some purple martins flew close to me and circled playfully several times. When the rest flew off, one purple martin continued to circle me.
These birds depend almost 100 percent on people for housing and fly around us when walk because we stir up bugs for them to eat. Erecting houses for them, bird lovers have their very own flocks year after year.
Photo courtesy of Purple Martin Conservation Association purple http://www.purplemartin.org/main/info.php
Jul 20, 2009
Eagle eye on Wisconsin's Rock River
This new wildlife video documents that bald eagles rule the beautiful Rock River which drains much of Wisconsin and Illinois before becoming part of the Mississippi.
Two amateur photographers contributing to the video have been on the meandering, tree-lined river almost daily in recent weeks and have seen eagles every time between Janesville and Beloit.
Other large birds--blue herons--reminded the photographers of flying creatures in Jurassic Park.
Although it’s the national symbol and honored in the Wisconsin Capitol, the bald eagle came close to extinction from hunting and the pesticide DDT.
Photographer Glennon Loyd lives on Riverview Drive in Janesville and says he has been seeing eagles year round for the past few years.
He was canvassing the river with his friend Lynn Brunsell when Janesville city sirens warned of a possible tornado. She photographed the storm’s beautiful red clouds over the river in the video.
The photographers shot other raptors on the river, too. Baby red tailed hawks nested on a soaring man-made platform erected by Alliant’s Rock River plant to attract rarer cousins called osprey.
Jul 17, 2009
4 H youngsters and the Trinity Irish Dancers made the Dane Co Fair fun for me
The pig in the rain photo won a first prize for a 4 H member
Jul 14, 2009
This week I ran into David Maraniss (above) of the Washington Post while walking on Monroe St. in Madison. He lives in my neighborhood and writes best selling books now:
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi
First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton,
They Marched Into Sunlight – War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967 Clemente – The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero.
I had just finished "They Marched Into Sunlight" and told him how much I enjoyed it. His latest work is "Rome 1960, the olympics that changed the world."
David is a big league writer and has traveled the world, but has come back home to enjoy Wisconsin with the rest of us.
Jul 11, 2009
You don't know how many times consumers have complained to me about accepting a free meal and landing in debt
This week, I observed salespeople working on elderly couples in a restaurant, pressuring them to buy a questionable but very expensive product.
The couples sat there taking it because they were having a $7 lunch on the salespeople. Politeness and a sense of obligation made them sitting ducks. Many consumers regret paying thousands of dollars for things like timeshares after being offered something for free.
A consumer told me that at a previous free lunch she told the salesman she was not interested and was leaving. She alleges she was instructed that she couldn't leave until she had listened to the long sales pitch.
My advice: Don't accept free meals unless you are truly interested in a product. Never ever sign a contract at the restaurant. Wait until you have had time to think things over away from the pressuring salesperson.If you are a nice agreeable person like many folks I have met and can't withstand high pressure, never accept a free meal from a salesperson.
Oh, you say you can handle high pressure, won't sign anything, and like to get things for free.
That's what a lot of people think and end up in debt. And even if you gobble the free meal and get out fast, the salespeople will probably say something to you to give you indigestion for the rest of the day. They don't like people who walk away.
Maybe it won't bother you, but it will most likely bother your spouse.