Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.
Linda Schaub
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Linda Schaub
- Linda, my tootsies are cold – do they make boots for ducks? #Wordless Wednesday #Mallard Duck
- A gull, er … girl can dream, right?
- Got an itch? Then scratch it! Just don’t put out your eye! #Wordless Wednesday #Canada Goose
- Friday the 13th – Pfft! It was a lucky day for me!
- Wild and windswept ‘do. #Wordless Wednesday #Milkweed Seeds #Gone With the Wind.
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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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WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I’m sure my squirrels will remind me.
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Ha ha – yes, they sure will, even being so bold as to tap on the window, like our neighborhood squirrel used to do to the one neighbor’s door wall and another neighbor’s front window. 🙂
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Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day to the #1 Squirrel Appreciator!!!
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Well, thank you Laurie – your comment made my day! 🙂
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OMG! Your paintings are beautiful!
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Thank you Kate! I wish I could say they posed for me!
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Every day should be squirrel appreciation day! (Your paintings are fantastic!)
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I agree with you Linda – right now due to the weather, I’ve not seen my Park squirrels for ten days and it will likely be another ten days or more before I see them, so I think they are not appreciating me as much as I am appreciating them. 🙂 Thank you! I am having a lot of fun with this new hobby.
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Love your drawings Linda!
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Thank you Wayne! I am really enjoying this new hobby!
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We’re seeing the black-face Fox Squirrels with the big, bushy tails right now. They don’t seem to mind the cold temps. They also don’t sharpen the plastic like the brown squirrels do, so for that reason alone I think they’re great!
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When I lived in Canada, we only had the black squirrels and when we moved here, we could not believe the size of the brown squirrels. I’m glad those black squirrels are better behaved than your brown squirrels at your house Dave, but I’ll share this story … many years ago my grandmother had a family of black squirrels move into her attic. She was in the living room and said she heard footsteps above her head. She called in a pest removal service and the guy found a family of black squirrels and removed them for her, but she had a lot of damage from those sharp teeth! She had a big tree in her front yard and figured they got into the house that way. Don’t let those cute faces fool you!
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Yes, they’re a determined lot no matter the color. So far it seems our challenges are only with the brown ones but I appreciate the story just to be on the lookout. You can’t blame them for doing whatever it takes to survive 🙂
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Yes, you have to watch the smaller ones too. I hope you don’t have to deal with them in your house as JP has had to do recently. I just saw a public service announcement on an animal rescue site I follow about leaving your garage door open a few feet for possums seeking shelter – we will have a -20 to -25 windchill/real feel early Friday. I am an animal lover, but draw the line there … last week a sparrow flew into the garage while I was running the car and thankfully it made a U-turn and went right back out!
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I LOVE your drawings Linda ! Wonderful work! Now if only winter would leave so we could sit outside and watch the squirrels! We are getting another blizzard today, likely you are in the same boat.
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Thank you Susan! Have you been painting since you’re stuck inside for so long or still sorting through photos? I’m still sorting through photos from last Fall! Your weather is as bad as ours – it felt tropical out today, around 30 degrees, but we had three inches of snow and more snow tomorrow. We are going into the Deep Freeze starting weekend, worse than earlier this week, as we are part of a storm that starts in the South and clips us, so four or more inches of snow on Sunday. It is disheartening that Spring is two months away (not that the calendar date means too much).
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Yes I have been doing some painting, I really enjoy it, I’m not good at it but I like it. It’s relaxing. I am going through my photos from our trip to Europe last Spring. I have been posting our summer adventures but haven’t don spring yet ! I really need winter to be over, we are having the type of winter we used to have years ago and it needs to stop ! lol
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Yes, I remember the France trip – Paris in the Spring! It takes a lot of time sorting through photos … I have been sorting through and just separating them for upcoming posts. Most of Fall I was two big posts ahead and now I am scrambling to get done a few days before Sunday. Yes, like the Winter of 1978 – that was a horrible Winter.
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Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day!! Hope the cuties all have a great day basking in their day. Your paintings are great, and you expressed their personalities!!
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Thank you Esther – I hope they took advantage of their special day. I wish I was at the Park to load them up with peanuts during this horribly cold, snowy and icy Winter we’re having. This is even worse than last year, so I am worried about them. I know I should have made them doggy bags or left a jar of Jif and some Ritz crackers when I was there last Monday. 🙂 I’m glad you liked the paintings … it was fun creating them. I am really enjoying this hobby!
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Wonderful photos and delightful paintings. Your paintings give charm to the little squirrels.
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Thank you very much Rebecca! I picked out my favorite recent squirrel photos and thought it would be fun to paint these squirrels for their special day.
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Really… LOL… there’s even Squirrel Appreciation Day. Enjoyed your photos and paintings.
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The bold and brazen squirrels think every day is Squirrel Appreciation Day. I’ve had a few squirrels like that. 🙂 Thank you Monica – I’m glad you enjoyed the photos and paintings. Being stuck inside has a few benefits … more time for hobbies but my walking regimen has taken a big hit.
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Yes, agree, walking next to impossible. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be frost bit weather. Let’s see. Stay warm.
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The weatherman said we’ve not had weather this cold since 2019 – I can’t remember that bout of cold weather. You stay warm and safe as well.
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I believe it. We had about 3 years of really mild winters, felt like Seattle weather, more mild and on the rainy side. So, this is a shock, we had become spoiled to better weather. BUT, LOL, we’re Midwesterners, we are hunkering down. You stay safe / warm too.
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Yes, we got spoiled bigtime! About 25 years ago, I thought it might be nice to move down South as they don’t deal with the harsh winters like we do here. Friends of the family who always lived in Michigan moved to Inman, South Carolina and raved how a dusting of snow was gone before you could even take out a broom to sweep it away. I’m glad I didn’t follow through with that idea given this ice storm and other cold spells and Winter-like conditions, not to mention the tornadic activity the South has experienced the past few years. Yes, we’re Midwesterners and we’ll hunker down .. overnight will be worse than today here, but the worst of this brutal cold is over by 10:00 a.m. Saturday, then we settle in for 3-5 inches of snow on Sunday. 🙂 Stay safe/warm Monica.
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The Bing wallpaper on the computer had a squirrel on it in honor of the day.
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That’s was nice they honored the day – on my computer I had a shaggy Highland cow!
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Love the pictures of the squirrels! Especially the paintings 🙂
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Thank you Mark! These are a few of my cuties from Council Point Park. I wish I could say they posed for me for the paintings – maybe I’ll get to that point in a few more years?
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Wow, I had no idea that today was such an auspicious day! Cute paintings, Linda. What medium are you working in?
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Yes, it’s important to recognize our furry friends Janis. When I see them in the good weather, I know they think every day revolves around them. 🙂
I’m glad you like the paintings – they were fun to draw, then paint. I’m following a new artist as Julia has been on a break due to illness. This is watercolor but this artist does her paintings loose and less precisely than Julia. We start with a “wash” and then keep layering, so this is quite different than before so I’ve had to adapt. Also, she is using hot press paper and I have only used cold press paper and I bought a lot of that as Julia usually used cold press paper. So I notice her colors blend more easily. I am enjoying this new hobby!
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I’ve been playing around with watercolor also. There are a lot of great tutorials out there… lots of different styles. Have fun!
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Yes, there are lots of styles out there. Julia just sent an e-mail today that she’ll have some landscape painting classes later in the year, but no feedback classes as planned, but that’s okay too. I tried ink-and-wash too which was different. You enjoy this fun hobby too Janis.
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Wow! Linda…..I love the paintings. You have talent! I can just see that children’s book now!
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Thank you Joni! I am enjoying painting. Yes, an ode to Parker would be fun to think about, wouldn’t it? This is a different way to paint than I learned with Julia though, less precise and looser and using a wash and layering it. It took me a long time to draw these two, plus the scarecrow from the other day, then painting them. The scarecrow I just painted “the old way”. Julia sent an e-mail today giving an update on her landscape classes which were to be held last Fall. She has the course done, but will not be having any feedback … she has been ill and a family matter is going to keep her from having the class assignments, etc. That would be better for me … I liked the feedback, but there was a deadline to get the paintings done – that’s okay for Winter, but not so much in the nicer weather (if that ever happens again).
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I love your squirrels paintings, Linda!
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Thank you Eilene! I’ve really been enjoying this new hobby!
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Nope I didn’t know it was squirrel appreciation day but forget that it’s your painted squirrels that is appreciated. They turned out so good Linda! What a fun hobby and you have improved so much! I can’t see what else you paint.
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Well Diane, I hope no little squirrels with sad faces came a’callin’ at your back door and you didn’t know about THEIR holiday! 🙂 They were thinking “the lady feeds the birds after all!” I’m glad you like the painted squirrels – they were fun to do. I have five other paintings I’ve done and thinking of using some of them in a post, but they are all whimsical, so I’m not sure. I am enjoying this new hobby, especially since I’m not going anywhere in this horrible Winter weather … I’ve not been on a walk to/at the Park since the 12th.
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Haha We rarely get squirrels except occasionally at they oak tree where they pop in to fill up their cheeks. The deer are here more than the squirrels. We had 6 deer a few weeks ago and 3 deer a few days ago. They love eating the acorns.
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Many years ago we had Oak trees in the backyard and had a lot of squirrels. At the time, we had the metal shed and it had ridges on the roof and the squirrels would go collect the acorns and hide them in the ridges … also the tree would drop acorns and you could hear them pinging on the metal when the windows were open in the Summer. I didn’t know deer ate acorns – I would love to see deer in the yard. I’d be over the moon!
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We didn’t have good squirrels at our Sacramento home. They were a terrible nuisance and lived in our pine trees. Brodie barked constantly at them. I’m glad you appreciate the ones in the park. Without tall trees in our yard they rarely come through the fence. Brodie nearly caught one last summer.
Your drawings are gorgeous, Linda! 🤎
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I have had my share of bad squirrels in the past here at the house. I was so mad once as I bought a life-sized Holly Hobbie for the backyard. She was made of wood with painted features (shoes, face, watering can) and her dress and bonnet were made of pink calico oilcloth. The bonnet was filled with cotton batting to make it look real, something I wouldn’t have known, except the squirrels chewed her feet, climbed up to her face and chewed it, then ripped open the bonnet. I got it on a Saturday at a country store, put it in the backyard and my neighbor helped me stake it securely into the ground. Sunday morning I went out and the squirrels had half-destroyed it … my neighbor was a woodworker and said he’d make her new feet and a face, but they did so much damage on Sunday afternoon, she went out Monday for garbage day. And I fed these squirrels for years, so I was even angrier. Brodie moves pretty fast at nine years old if he could almost catch a squirrel. Thank you Terri – I am having fun with this new hobby!
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Nice pictures and love your artwork. Happy squirrel day!
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Thank you Ruth! I liked those pictures I took of my furry friends back in October and kept them for “their day” and had some fun painting the pictures as well!
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I know you would load them up and give them all the treats they love!! But you have to stay safe and not risk going out in the icy weather. You have a talent for painting and it’s so great that you are thriving in it. Yay for retirement and doing what makes you happy!
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Yes, unfortunately it is not wise right now to take chances and hopefully they don’t even descend from their nests during this brutally cold weather. Today is the last day of this extra-brutal cold, then it lessens, but wind chills/real feel readings will be below zero until February. Plus, more snow on Sunday. I know we are not alone though as over 200 million people are in the path of this storm. I am enjoying painting. I put everything away for a few weeks though. I want to get ahead on my posts again and have a special post planned for what would have been my mom’s 100th birthday, on Valentine’s Day, so I have to get the photos together for that … some are still raw images that I scanned back in 2017, sometimes I have to separate the photos, four to six on an album page and enlarge them … that’s going to take a while and I’m still sorting through last Fall’s photos. Yay for retirement!
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I had no idea! Now I have no excuse if I forget. 😁
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That’s right – it is January 21st every year. 🙂 I used to have more Winter pictures from the Park before 2024-2025 Winter and this one. My squirrels are probably missing me showing up with peanuts, which I plan to do as soon as it is warmer and safer to walk … hopefully not in March.
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I bet the squirrels have hidden some peanuts for days just like this. 😉
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I hope so, up in the nest, as I know they can’t access them in the ground. They are good about digging holes and burying them right away after I feed them, then, as Fall gets colder and more leaves drop, the ratio is about two buried, one eaten. I felt badly two weeks ago Monday, my last trip there, as they were trying to bury peanuts and couldn’t and I’m sure they are thinking “Linda used to be here every day – we need these for when she isn’t here!” I was there most days all Winter – until last year and this year.
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I hope it warms up quickly for the squirrels.
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I hope it warms up soon for them too Pepper. I know I won’t get there all this week due to the cold and snow/ice. I’ll try when temps moderate next week and spoil them silly.
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I think one of them chewed a tube and disabled my windshield washers. Sorry, but there will be no Squirrel Appreciation Day at my house. But I would be happy to charter a bus for them to go your way. 🙂
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Oh no – on your new car! That’s not good, so I guess the other squirrels didn’t learn from your eviction of the first batch at the house. I can see why you would be withholding treats on their special day. Send them along – I’ll put them at the Park. I stockpiled peanuts and haven’t been out to walk at the Park for almost two weeks with this weather.
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Great close-up shots, and I love your sketches! You are truly multi-talented, Linda. 👌
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Thank you Debbie! I like getting the squirrels up in a tree looking down and this black squirrel looked like he was scolding me for something, while the other squirrels just liked posing. 🙂 I’m glad you liked the paintings too – this is the new artist I’ve been following. Her style is different from Julia, much looser, less precise.
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Hi – I am late for Squirrel Appreciation day – but do like your post – and love your art!
Also, I could not reply to your other comment and wanted to leave it here and say that i will look up “Josh and Jase, the British influencers visiting the U.S.” – thanks for sharing –
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Thank you Yvette! Those squirrel photos were from Council Point Park in the Fall. I finally got there yesterday for a walk and was amazed to see they had plowed the path which rarely happens. I expected to find it icy and alot of snow from our 7-inch snowfall last Sunday, but was pleasantly surprised. I thought I’d included a few paintings in a post from time to time rather than a whole post of paintings. I did five at Christmastime, whimsical paintings of snowmen, a couple of bunnies and a bird wearing a muffler … I may use them before Winter is over or keep them until next Christmas. I never follow any influencers – I am not on TikTok – it’s difficult enough staying afloat as to blogging and other social media. Since I don’t have TV, I get all my news on the AM all news station and also online at various news sites. But I do want to paint again soon. I’m trying to get a few posts ahead again like I was all Fall, plus read every day (NY’s resolution).
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you are so organized
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Thank you Yvette – I have to organize my computer though as I tuck away things throughout the year. I just told Diane (In Diane’s Kitchen) that I had a little informational screenshot on how they polish the statues of Henry and Clara and it showed them, but I can’t find it and searched to no avail.
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Linda – I share that “need to organize” with you and wish I would have saved my photos with keywords rather than numbers.
I hope you find what you need “when” you need it
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I organized everything when I switched to this Windows 11 laptop in January 2025 and I made myself a grid of what walks I went on and the walk summaries, which I put into a huge document, but the pictures I am not so organized with. I’ll have to do better … numbers are good for labeling photos, but if I search for “ducks” or “squirrels” or “geese” I might as well forget it as I’m bombarded with all the pics. After I go through my photos and separate them by sub-topics that will be in the post, I e-mail them to myself from one e-mail account to the other. Lately I’ve been storing them on Google which I don’t like as suddenly there is two of everything and I have to figure out how to get rid of the duplicates. I am not a fan of that at all.
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yikes – having those duplicates show up sounds annoying.
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Yes, it is and I have to figure out what the problem is because as I understand it, you cannot permanently delete the pictures unless you sign in and sync or something like that. I got an e-mail from Google asking if I wanted to take advantage of a sale for $9.99 a year to increase my Google workspace to 100 GB. Well, I still have photos in my e-mail folder not used yet, plus I dumped a lot of photos to sort through in my Google Photos, so I did the offer. Hopefully in the next year, I’ll figure out how to get rid of the rest of what I don’t need.
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Hope that all works out for you!
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