Wildlife on the St. Joe River

Thought I'd show some of the wildlife photos I took while we were on that 6 hr. cruise of the St. Joe River. I couldn't believe all the great shots I got.

The Neighbors Maple Tree

While we are for sure blessed with the cherries and the raspberries that came on over into our backyard from our neighbors yard we also get to deal with the many leaves in the Fall from our neighbors maple tree and now it's many seed pods that have been falling for the last week and a half or so.

I've been raking them up for the last two days. I noticed that there are still plenty more left up in the tree so I thought I'd wait till it looks like they are almost all done falling before I rake anymore.

I can't really complain though cause it always looks so nice in my garden area after it has been raked.

Ya know, we're still blessed, ause just look at that tree. Who cares about all the raking that needs to be done when we have that to look at. If that tree was every chopped down it would just change everything back there. What a sad thought. Don't think that will happen anytime soon though.:)

Backyard Goings On

Here is an update of those strawberries I showed before. Lookin' good eh?

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I also thought that I'd show how our neighbors cherry tree is coming along.

I'm showing this because the branches or their tree extends out into ours so we will be getting a bunch of cherries this year too. Yeah!

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I filled that pot that my friend Nancy gave me with some pretty foliage plants.

My Backyard

I'm growing a few strawberry plants this year and they are looking great.

I took this on the 2nd of this month and the strawberries are like already double the size you see in this picture. I'm thinking that I may like to grow more of these next year.

I've also got a bunch of raspberries this year that I didn't even have to buy or plant. They came on over to our side through the root system of the neighbors raspberries! I was pleasantly surprised about this and my husband put a nice barrier around it.:)

Again these pictures were taken on the 2nd and are also so much bigger.

The next 'Little Ice Age' may have already begun!

That is what Cliff Harris in the Cliff's Weather Gems section of our local paper says.
He writes:

The total amount of ice and snow as of mid-December 2008 in the Northern Hemisphere was the most on record since December 1913, almost a century ago.

Coincidentally, that was the last time that we experienced a month like we saw last August with absolutely no sunspot activity.We've only seen sporadic episodes of sunspots in the past several months. The sun has been abnormally quite overall.

Several top observatories around the world, which have been measuring solar activity for more than 200 years, are predicting that "global temperatures will continue to drop by as much as two or three degrees in the next two decades or so between now and about 2030.
The National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, has recently predicted that "sunspot activity will but vanish by 2015."

Since the sun is the principle driver of climate changes, both warmer and cooler cycles, a total lack of sunspots would probably herald a repeat of the Maunder Minimum climate cycle, the name given from 1645 to 1715, when sunspots became exceedingly rare.

This was the onset of the so-called Little Ice Age that didn't end until about 1850. Europe, Asia and North America were hit by numerous bitterly cold and often snowy winters. The Thames River in London completely froze over. So thick was the ice that elephants were able to walk across the river. Winter fairs were regularly held on the Thames.

It's possible, due to the fact that it's been at least 11,500 years since the last period previous to the Little Ice Age with such low sunspot activity, that we could see a major Ice Age develop sometime in the next 20 years. We're over-due, folks, for such a frigid occurrence.

For more details, read "Not By Fire, But By Ice," written by my friend Robert W. Felix, who spoke at our global warming seminar in early March 2007 at the beautiful Coeur d'Alene Resort.
Bob says, "The next big ice age could begin any day! It could happen this next week, next month or next year. It's not the case of if, only when we'll be buried by up to nice stories of snow!


Then he goes on to write:

"The climate of Green land will descend upon Canada, Britain, Norway, much of northern Europe, northern Asia and at least two-thirds of the North American Continent," according to Mr. Felix.

Will Bob be right? Only time will tell.
Bob's book can be purchased by calling (800)310-1764, Pin No. 9761.
His web address is http://www.iceagenow.com/
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Yikes! That's scary information. Tell me your take on this.

Awhile ago, my mother-in-law sent me this photo of some hummingbirds that came visiting for to eat the sweet nectar that she leaves for them on her back porch. I just love how she got the mountains in the photo like that. She sends me lots of great wildlife photos that she takes just at her back door. I will have to post more when I get around to it. :)

The Oregon Coast

On our Oregon Coast vacation not too long ago, I snapped some really great photos of the sea life there and the surrounding area. We all enjoyed ourselves very much. There was so much to see and do. Listening to the waves every night that we were there was as calming and soothing as i'd imagine a mothers womb to be. I had never been to the ocean before yet I felt so at home and at peace there.

Enjoy the photos.

I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Thank you dear Jehovah God for all the beauty there is to see on this earth.