The Liefies

After the fish boil we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Taken in Fish Creek, WI, last month. I believe that island is Chambers Island, which sits in the Green Bay arm of Lake Michigan.

We spent Memorial Day weekend (plus a few days) in Door County, WI. One traditional meal there is a fish boil, where fish are boiled in water with nothing more than salt. This is typically done outdoors over an open fire. When the oils cook out of the fish and form a slick on top of the water, kerosene is poured onto the fire, which makes the flames bigger and cooks this oil off the water (I think). They are served with boiled new potatoes and some sort of salad/slaw. It doesn’t sound very appetizing, but the fish (whitefish, probably caught out of Lake Michigan) was very good!

The dove in the previous picture was hanging around with this dove. Note the coloration is slightly different–the top of the head isn’t as blue and the tail is slightly different. So I suspect this is the previous dove’s mate. Since this one is slightly less colorful, I’m guessing this is the female, as female birds are usually less colorful. But I could be wrong.

More from the “backyard photography” series…Here’s a dove of some sort that came to eat the scraps the other messy birds (and squirrels) left from our bird feeder. He came with, I think, his mate, as her coloring was slightly different (her head wasn’t bluish). This was the best picture I got of the whole bird.
I have discovered that Whitey (our neighborhood albino grey squirrel) likes peanuts and sunflower seeds, but probably not almonds. If I get a chance, I may buy some macadamia nuts and see if she likes those. I’m also convinced that Whitey is a “she,” since I once saw what looked like nipples on her tummy when she stood up on her hind legs.

We recently put up a bird feeder close to one of the windows of our house but far enough from trees that we thought it would be squirrel-proof. Well, it isn’t. Yes, birds visit it, but not as often as the squirrels! With it close to the window, I was able to get some real closeups. This guy (gal?) was too busy gorging himself (herself?) to notice. I can’t decide if I think this is cute or if it is gross. Taken today with our 200mm zoom.
BTW, one of my students has told me that that reddish, smaller squirrel in the neighbor’s yard is a red squirrel. They are more common up north in the conifer forests. The one pictured here is your common everyday grey squirrel.

This is one of my mother’s house plants. She loves cacti and other succulents. I was having fun with the 100mm macro lens. This plant is quite tiny. Taken July of 2007.

90/366 green beans

73/366 melting

89/366 springs eternal

Our neighborhood has an albino squirrel. I’ve been trying to get a good picture of Whitey, and only recently succeeded. I’d love to toss her some yummy nuts, but will have to experiment to see what she likes. She is very skittish, even for a squirrel. I guess sticking out like that makes you more wary than usual.