My Other Love is Golfing

One of my other favorite things to do is golf. There is a problem because if the overlapping seasons of golf and fishing. If it gets to hot to fish you can always golf.

I especially like scrambles and usually play several with my Brother and his two sons. We are the fearsome foursome on the golf course. We had our best 18 hole round in a scramble of 16 under par. We had four Pars, twelve Birdies and two Eagles. We won first place in the scramble that year. The kids are big hitters, well over 300 yards at times. The old men are steady down the middle at 250 yards on the drives. I have been know to hit a 3 wood 250 yards off the fairway.
Note the matching drivers, we are a team.
Here are the kids. They played us in a lot of rounds of golf and haven't beat us yet. They tied us once. They say when we reach 70 they ought to be coming into their prime. I think their Dad intimidates them. He does play really well. The old guys resting. Note Fishing Guys wears a knee brace so the arthritis doesn't bother him so much. The next day it's always a sore knee day from the torque you put into your swing.
This was a special short club hole and Jeff sunk the birdie.
This is for readers of my blog. Junior also comes to the same outing with his sons so its like old home week from the neighborhood. Junior also had Prostate Cancer and is now retired and spends the Winters in Florida. He comes back to PA in the Summer.
This was a picture from another outing but I thought Gina would enjoy that I have a Tasmanian Devil golf shirt.

Some Birds are in NE Ohio

I always go to Abe's Bird Blog because of the great bird captures he has. Tom at Wiggers World also has a lot of great bird captures. I have been enjoying my new camera but it doesn't do what these great sights do. So, with no apologies, here are the photo opportunities I have had in the last few weeks.

The Mallard Ducks pairing off for mating on a frozen flooded field.
The Canadian Geese feeding in a field.
A Robin outside my window at work in a flooded yard.
A pair of Mourning Doves in a tree near my house that I caught at dusk. I caught the Mourning Doves in the evening. They come to my garden in the summer to dust themselves.As I was chasing the Doves around the neighborhood in a small tree near the Doves I thought I saw a female Cardinal. After studying the photo I decided that with the red breast it might be a Cedar Waxwing. I hope to see it again

The American Crow in the yard at work. A long shot for my camera.
Here is a better look at the American Crow.
Three crows in the yard with a story. I wish I had my camera ready sooner but I'll just tell what I saw. There were four crows in the yard that had a Groundhog surrounded. When the Groundhog heard me it took off very quickly with the Crows giving him the business. I didn't turn the camera on soon enough.
This is a Grackle that I saw in my yard near my boat. My boat is still turned over on the trailer. One more week and I should be turning it over and loading it up for the lake.
I hope you enjoyed my recent captures and expect to see several more birds on my camera.

The Haunted House on the Hill in Kent

The 14-room Victorian home often referred to as the “The Haunted House on the Hill,” as it was rumored to be a model for the Hitchcock movie Psycho. The house was built in 1867 by prominent businessman Freeman Underwood and is now owned by the Vanags family. I know the Vanags family so was able to go into the yard to get the close views. It is a beautiful house and painted with much detail. Click on the picture to see more detail.

Here is the view that gave it the name "The Haunted House on the Hill" Looking at the back of the house from the street below.
This is "The Haunted House on the Hill" above the Bates Motel from the movie "Psycho". There are some similarities but it wasn't really the one used as an example. It made for a good story. Mr. Vanags said his house is really too big for the family since his daughter has gone to college and he was looking to sale the house.

The Cuyahoga River

The Cuyahoga River, named by the Iroquois Indians is translated, The Crooked River. This is the river that became famous when it caught fire and burned in Cleveland in 1969. The river catching fire was something Cleveland had to fight hard to correct both the river and the Cleveland image.
The river flows in NE Ohio from Geauga County South, through Portage County South and West, through Summit County West and North, then through Cuyahoga County entering into Lake Erie at Cleveland. The river makes a U-Shape as it travel through this part of Ohio. The EPA has had several small dams removed from the river to make the river have better water quality. These are some pictures I took of the river today. We have had a lot of rain and melt-off lately so the river is running high.

These first two pictures are from above the wing dam in Kent, Ohio from the Main Street Bridge.
This is a telephoto close-up of the upstream surge.
The next two shots are looking downstream at the new wing dam.
This is a telephoto close-up of the raceway.

It does have some fish and fisherman use it for recreation. The river is real high and fast and I wonder what 34 degree water feels like to the fish. The urge to fish is very strong for the fisherman.

What Is It VII

I'm going to ask you again, what is it. I used my close-up ability on my camera.

Sky Watch Friday 3/28

Another week has come and gone and Fridays here again. The days were grey like Winter skies until one day it changed. I took advantage of that day to get these to photos.



This one is from the ground looking through the icicles on a small bush.
This one is through the Buckeye tree in my front yard. It won't be long until it starts to bud.
You can see other's post by going to Wiggers World and join if you wish.

What a Difference and Photo Ops

It was just two days ago when I was taking pictures in the snow but it has made a dramatic swing. The complete area near the Holly Bush has come alive with small purple and white spring flowers. I planted a package of 100 bulbs in that area and they have multiplied since the planting. I will have to clean the bed now that the snow is gone for now. I showed the white blooms yesterday but the little purple flowers are taking over today. Yesterday the flowers were only green sprigs.
Here is a close-up and the camera liked the background better.
The camera co-operated much better and shows a lot of detail on the bloom.
The horses are feeling a little more comfortable in their pasture on the way to work. Check out the February post I linked above.
Anna has been doing a Project Red and just finished. I had to take this shot last week when the snow was still here. I think she would like it. Its the water main handle at the plant I work.
The Easter Bunny lost one of it's larger eggs just off the road up from my house.
Actually it blew away from a display about 200 yards up the road. I shot this at lunch and it was gone after work.
There I go with some photo ops I took advantage of, so I hope you enjoyed the little mixed up travel through my area of NE Ohio.

Spring is Having a Hard Time in Coming

It was a week ago when I thought Spring was coming and posted some flower starting to come forth. It was just a week and a snow storm ago that I showed Little Signs of Spring. This is a Holly Bush at the end of the bed where the flowers are still trying to fight their way through the snow.

You can see the snow still in the area but these flowers are looking healthy.
Here are some that are poking there heads through the melted area.
This plant isn't even waiting for the snow to leave before blooming.
It's a good thing Spring flowers are more hardy then I am or they would be still napping in this kind of weather.

Easter Dinner at Daughters

A sign at a local church which got the point across. A sign of Easter season is the white Lily. The Spring blooms shows the resurrection and the forgiveness of sin. The white flower points to the purity of the resurrection. The beauty of the flower points to the perfection that was given freely to man. We gathered as a family around the Easter table of ham, cheesy potatoes, green beans and asparagus.
This is one of the desserts made by Bodie. Its a hand made cherry pie. The oldest grand son wanted to cut it quickly. Does this picture remind you of the picture from Pi Day.
Fishing Guys wife made a cream puff dessert.
The youngest grand daughter got a poster of Joe from the Jonas brothers in her Easter basket.

The boys got disc shooters and the disc were flying.
I'm going to hit the target.
Papa and Bodie are my son-in-law's grand parents. We share many holidays and they are considered part of our family.
Here is our son-in-law with Bodie. A good time was had by all. If you didn't get enough to eat it was your own fault.

Added Three Photographers to Artist Section

I have expanded my artist blog with three outdoor enthusiasts.

Michele has two sights which are very interesting. Her Rocky Mountain sight has great pictures from the Rockies. You will find great photos of rivers and more.


She also has a fishing sight that has beautiful photography. What a wonderful area in which to be living.

Salty is from PA and is now in FL for the winter. His Country Captures sight has a great grouping of outdoor photo's. You can check out this Osprey and more.

Willard is Salty's brother and does PA Wildlife Photography. He gets pictures of PA wildlife that is truly unbelievable. This is a great turkey picture from the sight.