Thoughts on an Icy Chilling Day

Weeks ago we were hit with yet another wind storm that lasted days. Though this time we didn't see any downed trees in our immediate area, it wasn't the same for most of western New York (WNY). To give you an idea of how strong these winds were, there is a favorite spot we like hiking in the summer. This riverwalk goes under the Buffalo Peace Bridge leading to Canada and I have posted pictures previously somewhere of the fabulous views from this walkway, which consists of cement blocks placed together to form the foundation and walking surface of this riverwalk. Well, portions of this trail has been closed for some months due to a very strong wind storm that blew through the area last year during the winter, blowing and pushing huge blocks of ice over the walkway, and that action displacing many of the cement blocks, making the trail unusable. Well, it's happened again and now those blocks of cement that make up the riverwalk has been literally torn apart by Nature and the forces of the wind even before the repair work could be completed! 

No pixs of the riverwalk BUT here's wind-pushed snowballs!!

Nature may be beautiful, but it is also powerful, and all that which is taken from Nature, will surely be taken back by Nature eventually!

A walkway near Dunkirk, located hours away from us, and with a waterfront walkway also constructed of huge heavy blocks of cement was also blown apart. No one can ever doubt the force of winds in this area! 

The forementioned snows have already melted away, but not to worry: there's more snow coming our way early next week and will fill the streets and more for three days. Because of traffic, snows and freezing rains, we didn't venture out and do not have any pictures of the wrecked walkways described here, but were able to get snaps of other scenes closer to home!

So little but these icicles are pointy and frozen hard!

Last year this tiny creek was top and bottom frozen!

Flash-forward to today and gorgeous clouds, and NO snow! 

In many locations along the Niagara River, we have seen trunks, branches and more of downed trees, pushed many feet up and away off the Niagara due to high winds weeks ago!

In some cases, the debris has been pushed up to past 40feet away and over the waterline!

Frosted trees are a favorite for any camera!!

Leaves mix with green grasses in the melting snow and ice

We saw blue skies today, and a nice cloudy sunset!

Never doubt Nature or her powerful force!!!

7 Simple Actions to Save Birds

By accident I came across this article. Not only is it pushing us to help save and documenting the declining bird population, it also just makes sense for US as humans also. We don't need plastics in our lives, and what we have thrown onto the streets, and into rivers and oceans of the world is a problem we can work on now, and not wait for the next generations to face and solve. 

BUT WE can hopefully see the general and highly used plastic disappear (maybe in a few centuries from now). 

The article contains many informational links, many of which are NOT included here. The link is at the bottom, should you wish to read the original article.
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7 Simple Actions To Help Birds
Many window collisions happen when birds see reflections of trees and fly toward them. Photo by Damian Pollet via Creative Commons.
 
1. Make Windows Safer, Day and Night
The challenge: Up to 1 billion birds are estimated to die each year after hitting windows in the United States and Canada. (source).

The cause: By day, birds perceive reflections in glass as habitat they can fly into. By night, migratory birds drawn in by city lights are at high risk of colliding with buildings.

These simple steps save birds: On the outside of the window, install screens or break up reflections—using film, paint, or Acopian Bird Savers or other string spaced no more than two inches high or two inches wide. 

Take it further: Work with businesses or public buildings to offer a contest for creative “window mural” designs that make windows safer for birds. Support legislation for bird-friendly building designs. Start a lights-out campaign in your city.

Get started today:
Quick, affordable ways to keep birds from hitting your windows

Follow bird migration forecasts to know when birds are on their way to you

Help pass the Bird-Safe Buildings Act

Keep your cat indoors and save cats and birds.
2. Keep Cats Indoors
The challenge: Cats are estimated to kill more than 2.6 billion birds annually in the U.S. and Canada (source). This is the #1 human-caused reason for the loss of birds, aside from habitat loss.

The cause: Cats can make great pets, but more than 110 million feral and pet cats now roam in the United States and Canada. These non-native predators instinctively hunt and kill birds even when well fed.

Solutions that are good for cats and birds: Save birds and keep cats healthy by keeping cats indoors or creating an outdoor “catio.” You can also train your cat to walk on a leash.

Take it further: Speak out about the impacts of feral cat colonies in your neighborhood and on public lands. Unowned cats’ lives may be as short as two years because of disease and hardship, and they are responsible for more than two-thirds of birds killed by cats in North America. 

3. Reduce Lawn, Plant Natives
The challenge: Birds have fewer places to safely rest during migration and to raise their young: More than 10 million acres of land in the United States were converted to developed land from 1982 to 1997.

The cause: Lawns and pavement don’t offer enough food or shelter for many birds and other wildlife. With more than 40 million acres of lawn in the U.S. alone, there’s huge potential to support wildlife by replacing lawns with native plantings.

Take it further: Add native plants and watch birds come in. Native plants add interest and beauty to your yard and neighborhood, and provide shelter and nesting areas for birds. The nectar, seeds, berries, and insects will sustain birds and diverse wildlife.

Get started today:
Find out which native plants are best for your area
4. Avoid Pesticides
The challenge: More than 1 billion pounds of pesticides are applied in the United States each year. The continent’s most widely used insecticides, called neonicotinoids or “neonics,” are lethal to birds and to the insects that birds consume. Common weed killers used around homes, such as 2, 4-D and glyphosate (used in Roundup), can be toxic to wildlife, and glyphosate has been declared a probable human carcinogen.

The cause: Pesticides that are toxic to birds can harm them directly through contact, or if they eat contaminated seeds or prey. Pesticides can also harm birds indirectly by reducing the number of insects that birds need to survive.

A healthy choice for you, your family, and birds: Consider purchasing organic food. Nearly 70% of produce sold in the U.S. contains pesticides. Reduce pesticides around your home and garden.

Take it further: Urge U.S. Representatives to cosponsor the Saving America’s Pollinators Act. The bill, H.R. 1337, requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend registration of neonics.

Get started today:
5. Drink Coffee that’s good for birds

The challenge: Three-quarters of the world’s coffee farms grow their plants in the sun, destroying forests that birds and other wildlife need for food and shelter. Sun-grown coffee also often requires using environmentally harmful pesticides and fertilizers. On the other hand, shade-grown coffee preserves a forest canopy that helps migratory birds survive the winter.

The cause: Too few consumers are aware of the problems of sun coffee. Those who are aware may be reluctant to pay more for environmentally sustainable coffee.

Insist on shade-grown coffee that’s good for birds: It’s a win-win-win: it’s delicious, economically beneficial to coffee farmers, and helps more than 42 species of North American migratory songbirds that winter in coffee plantations, including orioles, warblers, and thrushes.

Take it further: Look for Bird Friendly coffee, a certification from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center that also includes organic standards. Educate coffee shops and grocery stores about shade-grown coffee.

Get started today:
Find out where to buy Bird-Friendly coffee in the U.S. and Canada
 
6. Protect Our Planet from Plastics

The challenge: It’s estimated that 4,900 million metric tons of plastic have accumulated in landfills and in our environment worldwide, polluting our oceans and harming wildlife such as seabirds, whales, and turtles that mistakenly eat plastic, or become entangled in it.

The cause: Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, and 91% of plastics created are not recycled. Studies show that at least 80 seabird species ingest plastic, mistaking it for food. Cigarette lighters, toothbrushes, and other trash have been found in the stomachs of dead albatrosses.

Reduce your use of plastics: Avoid single-use plastics including bags, bottles, wraps, and disposable utensils. It’s far better to choose reusable items, but if you do have disposable plastic, be sure to recycle it.

Take it further: Advocate for bans of plastic bags, styrofoam, and straws. Encourage stores to offer incentives for reusable bags, and ask restaurants and other businesses to phase out single-use plastics.

Get started today:
Eight easy ways to reduce your plastic waste

The challenge: The world’s most abundant bird, the Passenger Pigeon, went extinct, and people didn’t realize how quickly it was vanishing until it was too late. Monitoring birds is essential to help protect them, but tracking the health of the world’s 10,000 bird species is an immense challenge.

The cause: To understand how birds are faring, scientists need hundreds of thousands of people to report what they’re seeing in backyards, neighborhoods, and wild places around the world. Without this information, scientists will not have enough timely data to show where and when birds are declining around the world.

Enjoy birds while helping science and conservation: Join a project such as eBird, Project FeederWatch, a Christmas Bird Count, or a Breeding Bird Survey to record your bird observations. Your contributions will provide valuable information to show where birds are thriving—and where they need our help. 
Note: If you don't yet know how to use eBird, there’s a free course to help you get the most out of the project and its tools.

Take it further: Mobilize others in your community by organizing school groups or leading bird walks and submitting your counts to eBird. Support organizations that coordinate monitoring projects.
https://reed-manatee-dz3n.squarespace.com/7-simple-actions

Plastic Use and Product Packaging

My wife Sheila is always concerned about the planet and what we two can personally do to make our tiny part of the planet better. So she recently contacted Greenpeace Canada, and today she got this in her inbox. If you agree that WE as a whole, can do something to make stores and companies, and everyone else realize how product packaging is way overboard with plastic. WE as consumers can voice our opinions by how we shop, how we select the things we need to buy, and how those products we buy should not be packaged in plastic. We should vocalize to stores and companies that plastic should be used less, and either allow us to bring our own reusable containers from home to use while shopping, or for stores and companies to stop plastic packaging for their products!

Stateside, Sheila and I try to buy our eggs in paper cartons, and recycle everything when possible, even reusing our milk containers several times before it's tossed in the recycle bin. 

In Spain, we separate our organic and trash, and those are disposed via street containers the town has put up for recycling all organic, metal, glass and papers. 

The Spanish town we live in has eliminated trash in general from trash removal some years ago. I hand-carried paper egg cartons from San Francisco about a decade ago, taking it to my residence in Spain, where I use it when buying eggs. The plastic bags given at the stores when shopping I get here and in Spain, are used at home for trash, a habit I picked up when I was in Spain back in the late 70s with the military. 

Sheila and I have been active in this cause for years. We hope to decrease our use of plastics, and continue general trash recycling in the coming weeks, months and years. WE are in this for the rest of our lives; what about you? Will you join or just sit by the side, watching the Planet get more polluted, more trashed, and uglier. Each voice counts in this war for the Planet! Do this for a week, then continue for months and years to come, and hopefully, your/our kids will see a cleaner World as plastic use disappears in their lifetime.
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This is the email from Greenpeace....

Hi Sheila, 

“Recyclable plastic”, “compostable plastic”, paper packaging… these throwaway “solutions” that companies are proposing are taking us down the wrong path. 

And meanwhile, as customers, the amount of pointless waste in our shopping carts and homes isn’t decreasing at all. It’s time that big brands and supermarkets tackle this plastic crisis for real by joining the #ReuseRevolution.

Starting today until November 13, participate in Greenpeace’s Global Refill Week to promote reuse and refill solutions!

For the next 7 days, every time you go to your supermarket, local restaurant or coffee shop, bring your reusable containers, ask for them to be refilled and share your experience on social media. Thank the stores that helped you reduce plastic waste and shame those who didn’t! 

Retailers can play a huge role by investing in reuse and refill systems that will drastically reduce our collective plastic footprint. Let’s show them that we are ready for change. 
Click here to get all the details about how to participate in the Global Refill Week. 

Thank you for everything you do,

Sarah, 
Head of Oceans & Plastic Campaign, Greenpeace Canada

We don't accept any money from companies or governments so we can be independent and challenge anyone who threatens the planet or peace. To help us keep fighting climate change, defending our oceans and protecting ancient forests, please make a regular donation. Thank you!

You can grow the movement for a green and peaceful future. Forward this email and share the signup link for our regular email updates and ways to take action.

New York State Autumn Colors

We just returned from yet another trip in our eternal search for Autumn colors. Luckily, we can happily report we not only found those colors but had a heck of a good time photographing those colors, although someone was soon complaining that hiking while carrying a heavy tripod and cameras, was getting to be hard work! 

But seriously, I would like to know whoever said photography was easy?

Watkins Glen State Park is located almost two hours away from us, but is a nice drive. Ninety percent of the images displayed here are snapped with my little dysfunctional samsung dumbphone. As you can imagine with my recent complaints, I was not at all relieved of the many problems associated with using my phone to snap some pixs while in the Watkins Glen gorge, which is an area that is constantly moist if not outright damp, and with little bright sunlight, even during the summer! Nevertheless, I did use my dumbphone during the visit and surprisingly it did quite well, though I had to restart it almost every time it came out of my pocket as usual, since otherwise so many error messages pop up, making my using it a miserable experience. I cannot wait till I get a new phone, and it will not be a samsung!  

All images that below not displaying my copyright on the image directly, was snapped with my samsung dumbphone.

Nobody Cares

So I am watching my favorite CBS TV series Madam Secretary and in this episode, they have just shot a war Marine veteran just recently awarded the Medal of Honor. He just got into a fender-bender on Washington, D.C. streets, and it all ends in being shot by two policemen who just arrived on scene. His shouts of "Nobody cares, and I'll just get screwed again" is his final words before the scenes fades off, with the sounds of gunshots.

It's true, nobody cares these days. Nobody wants to hear the details. Nobody cares about the older people. Nobody wants to help the poor. Everything is just a big joke that ends in those who need help not getting the assistance they require, and others who have just given up because of the lack of support from agencies and offices that just don't seem to get it right ever. Bureaucratic delays and poor support doesn't help anyone.....

It's just that nobody cares anymore.....

Even this favorite show that I enjoy watching, is seeing its last season. I know it's all about earnings, ratings and money, BUT just as it has happened way too many times in the past, tonight
Madam Secretary again aired late due to live broadcast sports, which always comes first before anything else. This pushing back of air-times has happened almost every month this series has aired. We know CBS doesn't care, but they have decided to end this great serious drama named Madam Secretary, but puts sports first, bumping the actual air time to a much later time when most people must get their rest to prepare them for the workday that begins in a few hours. 

CBS doesn't care, nobody cares. 

Volunteerism abuse can BURN the excitement to ASHES

When I joined the Navy waaay back in 1972, I had already volunteered in many areas: a telephone hotline service in the Haight-Ashbury when hotlines were a rare commodity, in cleanup during a San Francisco Bay oil spill that dumped oil in the bay waters that eventually washed up on northern San Francisco beaches, and eventually joined the Red Cross with my first days as a Red Cross volunteer at the Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego. 

Throughout my two decades as a Navy sailor, I volunteered at many places and waay too many times. I helped with inputting database information for an Operation Smile organization in Norfolk, Virginia. I did hand-drawn graphics for Navy Family Services at Navy Base (when it was still NOB) Norfolk for at least a decade, with my charts giving easy to read graphics for workshops and pre- and post- deployment seminars. I did a lot of volunteering at any and everywhere, though those above are the ones I do remember the most. In those times when volunteer hours were not being counted nor recorded as it is now, it's hard to remember all that I did and how many times in a week, let alone during  a month! 

After I retired and returned to Spain to live, I immediately went to the base Red Cross office to enlist my time and services as a volunteer. I opted for a position inputting data into a computer database for about two times a week for a few hours. Soon afterwards, I discovered my primary manpower chore was changing. I would come in to do my database work, but was actually being told (asked) to do something else non-related to my original and primary tasking. By time I got finished with that other work, I'd begin the database work when I realized my allotted time doing what I was supposed to do (database) was overridden by the other work, and now had no time to do what I was supposed to do!

I eventually quit that job. The people at the Red Cross didn't even ask why I was quitting, or even seemed to be concerned. In those early years of retirement from the military, I had quit volunteering completely, and enjoyed the free time for a few decades. Sure there would be a organization I liked now and then, and I would ask if they needed volunteers to help them in their cause. They would say yes, but I then told them to contact me......   I never again heard from them.

It's so strange to be part of a world of special people who enjoy volunteering their time and person to provide assistance to whatever the cause was, but when that organization has to contact YOU, all leads dry up and you'll probably not hear from again!

In the past few years, I've been volunteering in my own way, providing photographic coverage of events. I just get free entrance to some public or private event, and provide photograph thumbnails of the event, and they can use however as long as I got credited for the images received. I was burnt by an salon in San Francisco years ago when they asked me for such coverage, and after delivery of the images, later stated nothing of the sort was agreed upon where I would be a paid contractor providing images. Even after that "agreement" was negated, they continued to use my images on their website!

I have provided images two years in a row for various organizations and even upon delivery of the images, they do not even bother to respond that they have even received the images till days later.

So I have decided I will no longer volunteer my time as a photographer. Two days after the event is not when I need to know they just finally saw the pictures I had sent them. It's a lot of work and I am getting the idea that my imagery isn't even worth the work as a volunteer, and if I were paid, I would probably not even hear from them at all! 

What does my job as an event photographer involve? First, I find out everything about the event: how, time, guessimated attendees and where. Regardless of outdoor or indoor location, I actually go to see what the locale looks like. I try to find a manager so I can ask about where to shoot from if interior, and check the weather, cloudiness if outdoor. During an event, I try to be practically everywhere I can! Finishing up the event, I get home to download all image files, then weed out the best to tell my story of how the event progressed. Say I have 300 image files of an event. I can go through all that to choose the best, in less than an hour. Then I take all the best images and make smaller resized images with my copyright info on them, to send out to the event organizer. It takes me less than 2-3 hours to do all that! I don't believe in wasting time nor time in getting the images out.

While the amount of images can vary depending on the weather, event, and how many attended, etc, there may be more or less, but I have always prided myself in getting all images of any event out within four hours or less. Yes, it's a lot of work, but nobody can say I waste time or take too long in getting images distributed!

I have enjoyed the decades I have worked as a volunteer at so many places and doing such a large variety of work. I still believe MY time and work as a volunteer were exceptional and worthwhile. It's just too bad it seems the groups or organizers I worked for, do not seem to agree through their attitude, and displaying such delay and slowness. 

It's a shame, but I am quitting with my volunteering as a photographer, plus I am just so burnt-out for doing such work and to me, it seems that my time and work are not being appreciated at all.

Hunter's Moon in western Michigan

As in other climates and locations with crazy forecast weather conditions that never are accurate, we missed the full moon yesterday as it was almost overcast for most of the day. Last night it was still overcast, so we weren't really looking for it, but just before dawn, we woke early to see the Hunter's Moon in a partly cloudy sky about 15-degrees above the partly cloudy horizon. We both dashed around getting dressed quickly, and readying the cameras.

This is my uncropped and unedited full moon snap Monday morning before it disappeared slowly behind fast-moving clouds!! 

Did you see the Hunter's Moon? Post a picture!!

When is the last time you planted a tree?

I sincerely believe that this journey we call Life, has always been not about now, but in planning for the future. If not, how can anyone hope for a future you can be happy with, and to live and grow in?

This weekend, Sheila and I participated in a huge tree-planting project in Wedgwood Park, a park we often visit for its trails, and with Sheila's grandchildren for its huge interactive and traditional playground.  

So we walked over Saturday morning with borrowed shovel in hand to the park, meeting up with many other Grandville, MI residents, and after a demonstration on how to prepare a tree to be planted, then moved out in small groups to areas where trees were sitting next to pre-dug pits, in today's plan to plant over 70 trees in the park!

That's a LOT of trees!!

Of the three types planted, White Birch was the majority, being an area native along with its adaptability to the climate. It was also very heavy as the many volunteers discovered, and had to be wrestled into 2-3 foot pits already dug and waiting to be filled. The roots were encased in a ball of clay making it even heavier!

Signing in to provide Hope for a Green Future!

Volunteers waiting for tree-planting to begin

This tree still awaits its new home

All this happened thanks not only to the city of Grandville and ReLeaf Michigan, but also through a green partnership between the city with the Davey Resource Group, the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Urban and Community Forestry Program, and the Grandville Community Tree Project. 

Words from Kyla Bos, Grandville Community Tree Project

More words and demonstrations of planting who know about trees

Getting out more words about tree-planting

This being written and posted after the fact, I'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone who showed up very early last Saturday morning in Grandville, Michigan to assist with the tree-planting, and to make the community more green now, and in the future!!  

Holes dug, trees ready for the new home!

Trees just aren't able to step into into their home by themselves

ABOVE: Newly-planted trees look nice in their new home
at Wedgwood Park!

When was the last time you planted a tree? Use any excuse you want: an anniversary, a wedding, a memorial for someone dear to your heart....  any reason!
Plan now for your future with a tree...  and for a greener planet now!