My office window plus Christmas

We spent Christmas morning at my son’s house. We like to watch the grandkids open their presents. Turns out my grandson and his friends take their Nerf guns to the park and play “war.” According to his mother, they really get into it. This is what his parents got him for Christmas.

Turns out they make ghillie suits in kids’ sizes. He even got a strap he can wrap around his Nerf rifle so it blends in too. I told him if we added a few electric lights, and some ornaments, he’d completely disappear against that background. I think he won at Christmas this year, and he was sure excited.

Meanwhile back at the ranch… or my office, this is going on.

Okay, if you have to explain photos, they suck. This little bugger was fast. That bump on top of the log is a mink. He’d poke his head up, I’d get a blurry click, then he’d dive underwater. I cropped a different image, but that only makes it blurry. Here it is anyway.

He was on his way into the water for this one. If he hangs around, I may get another chance at him. Between the two pictures you can tell he’s beside a broken branch. He’s looking up in the first one, and aimed at the water in the second one. For now, you’ll just have to take my word for it. Ha ha.

 

Ready for the weekend

Today seemed like it took forever. At least I had a visitor for a little while. This little buck stopped just long enough to pose for photos.

I got a ton of things done today at the office, and I’m beat. Tonight, I’ll probably have a beer and watch a baseball game.

The free day for The Hat is going well. With Don Massenzio’s post it seemed like a good time to try it. The highest rank I caught was #32 under the superhero genre. You have until midnight to get it for free.

Okay, it’s a lousy picture, but it’s out of necessity. This data does not display on my phone. The PC doesn’t save images to my private account. Therefore, I used my phone to take a picture of my PC monitor.

It could creep a little higher with a few more downloads. The book is free until midnight. You might want to grab a copy today, and read it later.

Tomorrow I’m going to hoist the colors and get back to my manuscript. There are two interviews I need to schedule, but if I get to them Sunday that’s perfectly okay.

I’m kind of excited to get back to my pirates, monsters, and adventure. Hope all of you have fun plans and a great weekend.

Out my office window again

Things have been pretty busy at work. I also have company coming this weekend. All of this means my time for writing projects is minimal. I still want to work on the pending interviews, but may not get as much time as I hoped for.

At least I have a cool view at the office. The other day two deer ran through the yard. They were moving too fast for a picture. The interesting thing was only noticed as they moved away. One was a mule deer and one was a whitetail. City deer don’t seem to follow the same rules as country deer.

This little guy has been keeping me company in the pre-dawn minutes this week. Maybe I shouldn’t call him little. Beavers are actually pretty big. Largest rodent in North America. Sorry for the image quality. It’s my iPhone, zoomed, through a window.

Not much more going on in my life right now. There’s work, and plenty of it.

Out my office window again

It gets hard to find stuff to post about during the work week, without discussing work itself. It isn't going to be a problem tonight.

My office is right along what's called Hunter Creek. It flows into the Boise River just beyond my office. For those who don't know, the river is a fabulous part of Boise. There are paths on either side called The Greenbelt, and you can walk, cycle, and jog for miles along a beautiful wooded riverbank.

The Greenbelt makes a pretty good corridor for wildlife, and I've seen all kinds of stuff there. Some of you may remember a large mule deer buck I posted months ago.

The creek was covered with wood ducks today, but the weeds are too high to take pictures. This guy showed up this morning and saved the day.

I must have taken a dozen photos, but only one where his face showed up that turned out okay. Not too bad with an iPhone through a plate glass window.

He hung around for a while, and scoped out the weeds for mice or other rodents. I never saw him catch any though. I have seen them catch tree squirrels before, and it amazes me they even can.

I rarely get a picture to share, but I've seen beavers, muskrats, coyotes, mink, and dozens of kinds of ducks. (Those mink are tough to get pictures of.) We get deer all the time. It seems like every winter Fish & Wildlife removes a mountain lion downtown somewhere. I don't recommend jogging in the dark.

Anyway, this little guy made my day. Hope you had a good one too.

Oh yeah, this is a writing blog. If you like foxes, you might enjoy a character in Will O' the Wisp. Click on my author page in the sidebar. (Shameless promotion over for today.)

Looking out my window

I work in downtown Boise, Idaho. I’m fortunate to have an office alongside a small stream. There is an abundance of wildlife in Boise.

Over the years, we’ve had raccoons, foxes, coyotes, and abundant wildlife. When I can, I try to snap a quick photo, but they are usually too fast for me. (particularly the foxes)

There was a mink playing in the snow outside my window last winter. I was so fascinated I never even reached for my phone. Oops. The beavers and muskrats wind up being a blip in the stream on a photo.

I have a few shots of the wood ducks and geese. The weeds are tall along the stream right now, but that will change after the first big snow. We get many blue herons and kingfishers. I have one photo of a white mallard drake that flew in with a group of the normal version. He even had the curly tail feathers to indicate his being a male.

Yesterday a big mule deer buck walked up and looked in my window at me. I slowly reached for my iPhone but he wasn’t posing. He took off, but wasn’t quite quick enough. While this isn’t the view I had originally, it’s good enough to share. Nice big antlers on him, and he looks very healthy. He cleared a six foot fence like it was nothing just outside this frame.

I’m sure he’s on the search for does this time of year. I see them all the time, but he was a rare treat. I even saw a whitetail doe in the parking lot one day.