Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.
Linda Schaub
FIFTY FAVORITE PARK PHOTOS
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- Parker noshin’ nuts
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Black Squirrel
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- Parker, my Park cutie!
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- Pekin Duck
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- Mallard Hybrid Duck
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- Midnight munchin’ nuts
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- Mute Swan
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- Goslings
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- Mama Robin
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- Seagulls on ice floe
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Parker chowin’ down
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- Mallard Duck
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- Northern Cardinal
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- Great Blue Heron (“Harry”) fishing for shad
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- Parker: shameless begging
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- Viceroy Butterfly
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- Great Blue Heron
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- American Goldfinch
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- Seagull
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- Robin baby (not fledged yet)
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Robins almost ready to fledge
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- Parker angling for peanuts
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- Robin fledgling
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- Parker making a point that he wants peanuts
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- Parker smells peanuts
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- Parker with a peanut
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Seagull
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- Red-Bellied Woodpecker
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- Pekin Duck
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- Starling
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- Canada Geese family
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- Canada Goose and goslings
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Parker says candy is dandy.
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- Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
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- American Goldfinch
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- Hunny Bunny
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- Parker looking for peanuts
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- The pier just past sunrise
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- Mute Swan
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- Parker in the snow
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- Parker and a treat
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Me and my shadow (a/k/a Parker)
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Seagull
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- Canada Goose
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Mute Swan
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- Fox Squirrel – Parker
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- Northern Cardinal
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BADGES
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- 02-02-2018
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- 03-13-2018
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- 03-25-2018
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- 03-26-2018
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- Year #6!! 02/2019
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- 04-13-2019
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- 11-21-19
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Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Ah, you captured one of those pesky racoons. Very good.
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Thanks Peggy. I stayed back a few feet from it. I didn’t carry my camera that day and so I told it to stay put and went home and got it and came back. 🙂
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Wow I am amazed the raccoon stayed around until you got back
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Me too Peggy, so since I made that effort, I am back to carrying the camera every day now so I don’t miss anything. It has been a productive couple of weeks at Council Point, which is keeping me from returning to my photos of walks from last Summer. I have another post about Council Point Park this coming Monday. Hopefully I can write it … we are having some severe weather tomorrow afternoon/evening.
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Stay safe in that severe weather. We are having some bad weather starting around noon.
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Hope you are okay Peggy. I saw the tornado that went thru Little Rock and Jacksonville, AK. They had been warning all day there was going to be severe weather. Our bad storms are pushed to 9:00 p.m. – was supposed to be around this time originally, but it will fire up the middle of the night again. My weather radio quit working and the new one doesn’t get here til next week. It quit giving oral alerts, although everything else is working fine. A flashing light is not too helpful in the middle of the night. I’d be a nervous wreck with all the tornadoes you get Peggy … I’m a Nervous Nellie with all these volatile storms.
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What a horrible day Friday. Worse tornado outbreak in Arkansas I have ever seen. We faired well at our house. My daughter had to go in her celar. She had 2 different tornadoes pass very close to her house. A storm went near the college where my granddaughter was. Hope you got thru your storms ok. Night storms are something to worry about for sure. ❤️
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I came here to check on you after seeing the photos in AK … I am glad your family is all okay. My weather alarm came thru at 1:00 a.m. and woke me up saying to take cover at 1:30 … just high winds and hail thankfully. we have storms starting shortly but not severe so I am shutting the computer off. I am glad you all are safe Peggy.
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Thanks Linda. Glad you are well at the moment. Hope your weather settles down.
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Another severe storm fire up at noon today. Again the weather alarm worked – go figure why it stopped doing the weekly Wednesday audio tests. I’ll have a new one if it acts up again. They are great weather radios. The noon event had 60 mph winds and large hail, but I don’t think we got that wind velocity that was predicted All is settled down now. Peggy, I’d be a nervous wreck with your tornadoes … you are calmer than me, the ultimate weather worrier. Stay safe.
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I am not that calm – I hate these tornadoes. I would move back out West to Arizona if my daughter and granddaughter would move out there too. We have one of those weather radios. They are good to have.
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Tornadoes scare me and it used to be just a worry in tornado season – now we have them other times of the year. In July 1980 we had the bad derecho – that was scary, but still not as powerful as a tornado. Perhaps if there are a few more incidences of tornadoes in Arkansas, your daughter and granddaughter will be prompted to move to Arizona and you’ll be free to go. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
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Thanks – who knows what the future holds for moving to a different area of the U.S.
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The world’s weather is changing so much that there are no safe places anymore and that is scary to me.
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They don’t like us much, either! They can sure snarl at their caregivers on at the “Hope in the Wild” wildlife rehab place. He looks very suspicious of you and your camera.
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I hear they are very mean Barbara, so I didn’t get too close to it. My camera just fits into a pocket, but there is nothing much to see as everything is so drab, so I left the camera at home, then went back and got it and came back.
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Wow! I know raccoons are sometimes carriers of rabies, but he looks so cute! It’s probably a good thing you are not trying to “adopt” him as one of your buddies, though.
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I agree with you Laurie. We had a raccoon sleeping in the Park around Christmas time. I had never seen a raccoon before, just pictures (and that wonderful Disney movie “Rascal” based on the book by Sterling North). So this big lump showed up at the Park one Sunday morning – it was more brownish colored and its head and tail were tucked under its body, so I wasn’t sure if it was a huge dog or a coyote. I didn’t know if it was alive, but it moved about ten feet the following morning when I returned. Then it disappeared. This a different raccoon, more gray. I wanted a photo, but was mindful not to get to close to it in case it attacked or bit me. Between the raccoon and the seagull antics, it was a wild week.
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Cute shot of Mr raccoon, likely up to no good…stealing duck eggs? Raccoons aren’t my friends either, especially the suburban ones we had in Sacramento. They were destructive and one probably shortened my cat’s life a few years ago. Happy Wednesday, Linda, from San Diego.
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My first up-close raccoon encounter Terri and I hung back a little as I’ve heard they are mean. I’m not sure what he was eating under one of the memorial trees. He was digging in the leaves. I have also heard they are destructive and get into garbage as well. This park is right by a residential area, so I was surprised to see it there. And it was one of those days I left the camera at home as it was dull and dreary day, so I said “stay put” and hurried home for the camera. 🙂
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Their facial features give raccoons an innocent look but from what I’ve heard (including the comments above), they’re anything but innocent. Haven’t run into any of them down here in the South but fully expect to before the summer is over.
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Dave, I thought it was cute too and many years ago I loved the book and Disney movie “Rascal” by Sterling North. I remember wanting a pet raccoon like Sterling had. So there it was looking at me. And, it was one of the mornings I left the camera at home because it was gray and gloomy out and so I had to go home to retrieve it. I was happy the raccoon listened when I asked it to stay put!
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I hope you were further away from the ‘coon than it appears. It’s certainly a great shot.
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Thanks Anne – I got as close as I felt comfortable with as I have heard they are mean. This was a surprise seeing a raccoon at Council Point Park. I was maybe eight feet from it with the small camera. It posed nicely, I took several pictures and got out of Dodge before it got riled up and charged at me like the mute swan did years ago (it climbed out of the water and came after me).
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A ‘coon bit right through my dad’s thumb, puncturing the nail.
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Oh wow – did your dad suddenly appear in the raccoon’s space and it got scared and attacked him? I hope your dad didn’t have to undergo the rabies series.
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No, Dad shot the ‘coon, and it fell out of the tree. He thought it was dead, but it wasn’t.
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Wow – that would have been scary. I have not seen it again, which is just as well with me.
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I grew up in hunting country. My dad’s rule was, if you caught or killed it, you ate it or gave it away.
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Former neighbor two doors down came up from Kentucky and he cleared out the pigeon and squirrel population pretty fast, boasting that he liked pigeon pie and squirrel pie and aimed to have it. He used to chat over-the-back-fence with the guy who lived in Marge’s house before she did. He was also from Kentucky and told my mom that story.
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It was illegal to shoot inside town city limits in West Tennessee.
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I think this guy was using a BB gun if I recall correctly. I have always liked squirrels, but was not so enamored with them back then, as one chomped on my new child-sized wooden Holly Hobbie with an oilcloth dress. Squirrels ate the dress, the wood beneath the dress and the face under the bonnet had stuffing in it to look three-dimensional. They ripped up the face and threw it on the grass. They would also dig holes in my planters and pots and hide their peanuts. I was a lot more persnickety about the garden then and I did feed them peanuts, so I helped contribute to the problem.
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I had a running battle with some raccoons several years ago. They thought they were entitled to dump my trash cans and I disagreed. It turned out that way too many of them lived in the attic of a foreclosure house in the area. The guy who bought the place had more raccoon problems than I did, of course.
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This park borders a residential area and I follow the Facebook Forum for our City and there have been many raccoon sightings, even up in trees (that surprised me). My neighbor came home one night to find a Mother raccoon and babies in his City-issued garbage can on wheels. The raccoon had flipped the lid back and was pawing through, throwing garbage on the ground. Like you, he was not amused.
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I do love raccoons except maybe for the one that lives under our deck and stole our bird feeder ! lol
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They are cute – it probably figured you were more scared of it attacking you, so it had the edge. I got as close as I dared so I didn’t provoke it.
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For such bandits, they sure can look cute! I hope you used a zoom lens to get that caught-in-the-act photo!
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Yes, cute like a little kid who puts on an eye mask at Halloween to look like The Lone Ranger. 🙂 I was about 8 feet away from it Shelley and was using my small camera, so I may have used a little zoom, but not much.
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Yes! That’s interesting that it didn’t run off, they are kind of skittish in the wild. Glad you weren’t too close!
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Just another diva raccoon? 🙂 It let me take photos, then turned the other way which was kind of interesting, like it had had enough of me. It was under a small memorial tree, but I was surprised to learn they climb. I have only seen photos of them catching fish in a stream with their finger-like paws and there they look harmless. I have not seen it since that day, so I’m glad I ran home for the camera.
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Yes, raccoon’s can be divas. That’s fun you were able to catch some great photos. 🙂
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I’m wondering if this raccoon was more surprised to see you than you seeing the raccoon. What an incredible photo shoot. Very much worth going back to get your camera! TD
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Thank you TD! I was kicking myself that I didn’t have my camera that day but it had been days and days of gray skies and blah so I didn’t carry it. I have not taken my camera and than gone home for it about four times last year. I was glad it stayed put. I got the shot and it turned around the other way!
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I recall encounters with urban raccoons, so I know they can be trouble. Out here, it seems more their territory and I don’t mind them so much. We don’t offer much of an enticement, especially with our dogs out and about.
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Yes, I know they are destructive and dangerous, so I am glad that it has not been back. This is really a new thing finding them in our neighborhoods as well. We’ve had a few coyotes, even a family living at Council Point Park a few years ago, but that is not the norm.
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Picture worthy shot of that cute but nasty nature friend. When my hubby worked at the Health Dept. (they are notorious for biting people) he had to capture it, cut the head off and have it checked for rabies. If he couldn’t trap it quick enough or not at all, the poor person that was bit had to go through painful rabies shots! Please be careful .
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Oh my goodness Diane – how awful! I have heard they are mean, despite reading and enjoying “Rascal” the book and Disney movie as a child. I got about eight feet away from it and got my shots and got out of Dodge. It’s unusual seeing it here at this Park. We had one sleeping (or ill not sure) around Christmastime but never saw its face or tail – someone said it was raccoon.
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Not overly enthusiastic about raccoons. He may be photographic BUT he’s not your friend.
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I agree Ally. I didn’t have my camera when I saw it there, so I cut my walk short, went home (I’m a mile away) and got my camera. I told it to “stay put” and was surprised when I returned, it was still there. That’s not the norm seeing raccoons at this Park. I had heard or read they were vicious, so I got about eight feet away from it and then got back on the path.
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Linda, is it fairly unusual to see one during the day, even if it was gray out? I only know them as nocturnal garbage can scavengers.
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Joni, this year will be ten years since I have been walking at Council Point Park and this is the first raccoon I’ve seen face to face there. But, last December, one morning I got to the Park and saw this big lump on the grass. I’d never seen a raccoon before and it was more of a brownish-golden fur, with no face or tail showing. It was very cold that weekend so I guess that was why it was curled up like that. I was surprised it was not hidden in the bushes or trees. So I walked past it several times and it never moved – wasn’t sure if it was dead or alive. Next day it was in the same position but a different location and I never saw it again. The night of the fire, the next-door neighbor (Marge’s son) showed me a photo on his phone of a Mama Raccoon and a youngster rummaging through his garbage can when he came home late one night.
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Keep your distance, please, Linda. They can carry various lethal viruses. 😮
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Thanks Tom – the first time I saw a raccoon face to face, but I stayed about eight feet away from it and zoomed in. I’ve been walking at this Park for ten years, so this was somewhat of a novelty.
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Love the look behind those eyes.
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You’re right Barbara – that raccoon is watching me like a hawk. He let me get a few shots in, then abruptly turned his back on me. I’ve been walking at this Park ten years this month and this is just the third one I’ve seen and I never got close to the other two – one was getting lured into a trap by an animal control officer and the second one was sleeping in a ball in the middle of the grassy area last December – this was a treat to see and I had to go home and get my camera as I left it at home as it was so gray and gloomy out that morning.
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