M. Sullivan Photography » Animals

So Totally Random

msullivanphotography — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:14:25 +0000

I found a few photos that I took during the past couple of weeks. They don’t individually create the need to produce a post on our blog. Together, they barely culminate the need, but I figured, “What the heck, it’s Friday”.

Here’s a picture I took early one morning just before work. I grabbed my company’s Canon point-and-shoot to get a photo of a pair of geese walking along the boardwalk next to the William A. Irvin in Canal Park. Unfortunately, the geese didn’t make the cut as I liked this photo better.

Reflection

A month ago my brother was at our house inspecting our garden and trees in the backyard, offering some tips and advice. We heard a number of different birds singing. He said, “Did you hear that? That was a cardinal”. First off, I’m not sure why he knows what a cardinal sounds like and secondly, we don’t have nesting cardinals in Duluth. Well, at least I didn’t think we did…until Sebastian and I saw this guy last week.

Mr. Cardinal

Mr. Cardinal II

I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see him in the sea of green grass on my lawn. We have spotted him four times now and we also saw his lady friend. We are fairly certain he and the Mrs. have a little family somewhere in our trees (or our neighbor’s). I would love to see the kids, but so far we haven’t located the nest.

Guess who was back in the garden? Seriously?

The Return Of Peter Rabbit

Too bad we spoiled his fun by planting the garden and putting up a fence around it last Saturday. I’m hopeful that he’s too lazy to dig underneath. There are plenty of other delicious things growing in the yard and in my flower bed to go through all that work.

I baked bread last Sunday. Not like my Mom’s awesome bread that you want to slather with butter and homemade jam, but a more European loaf that is good with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh cracked pepper. I made it to pair up with homemade broccoli cheese soup. Too bad my timing was off and the bread came out of the oven an hour after we finished eating the soup.

Crusty Homemade Bread

I am looking forward to the long Memorial weekend. I’m not so much looking forward to all of the rain in the forecast. We already received 4 1/2 inches this week. Baseball was canceled…twice. Our backyard is like a big soggy sponge. Keep your fingers crossed that the weatherman is wrong like he often is.

Filed under: Animals, Birds, Cooking, Family, Garden, Photos, Weather Tagged: Cardinal, gardening, Homemade Bread, Nest, Photography, Rabbit

Peter Rabbit

msullivanphotography — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:14:04 +0000

So guess what was resting comfortably in my garden at 6 o’clock this morning? Do you think he’s trying to send me a message?

Resting After A Nice Meal

Perhaps the message he is trying to convey is one of the following:

Hey, thanks for the nice breakfast. I was so stuffed I had to lie down right here in your garden.
The strawberries plants were great, but when are you going to plant the rest of your garden?
I’m not afraid to hang out in your garden. Your color blind dog can’t even see me because I blend right in.
Did your hear the news? My girlfriend is expecting. That’s right, a whole family of bunnies. Sort of like your very own “Occupy” event, bunny style.

I really had high hopes for the garden this year. The weather has been warmer than normal and we intended to plant everything this Saturday which is early for us. We typically plant on Memorial day. Deer, squirrels and Peter Rabbit along with his entourage are going to make it a very long summer, but not in a good way.

p.s. The photography is not my best work. I had to be quick to get this shot. I couldn’t believe the audacity of this guy just lying casually in my garden. It took all my control to snap a photo instead of trying to snap his…well, you know.

Filed under: Animals, Garden, Photos Tagged: Photography, Rabbit

Well, There Goes The Neighborhood

msullivanphotography — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:28:58 +0000

While Mike was out dropping Sebastian off at a friend’s house tonight, Sophia was hanging out in the living room near the front window. I was busy looking through the mail when I heard Sophia say, “Mom, I think I just saw a bear walk behind the neighbor’s car”. I was quite skeptical since I haven’t seen a bear in this neighborhood in more than 10 years. Plus, Sophia isn’t always the best eye-witness. I brushed it off and said that it was probably just a black lab or some other dog. She was insistent that I come and take a look. I didn’t see anything at first, then saw a big, fat black bear lumbering towards our neighbor’s open garage. After the initial surprise wore off, I realized that I should probably call our neighbor to alert them of the huge bear now hanging out in their garage. By the time I grabbed the phone and tracked down their number, the bear had made its way out. I saw the garage door close immediately following the bear’s departure so was confident that they had seen their unwelcome guest. The bear was now sauntering down the sidewalk, Daphne was barking, Sophia was near tears and I was trying to get my camera bag from the closet. I did pause to reassure Sophia that it was okay and that the bear was probably just out for a walk. I was losing my opportunity to have proof to show Mike that we really did have a bear walk in front of our house. I had to switch lenses from my 50mm to my zoom lens, but forgot to change my camera settings during the chaos. The photos aren’t my best work, but Sophia and I had proof of our new neighbor. Here are the pictures I took before the bear made its way to the other side of the house next door to ours.

New Neighbor

Out For A Walk

You Lookin' At Me?

Look Who's At The Door

Filed under: Animals, Photos Tagged: Bear

Spring Break, Part II

msullivanphotography — Mon, 02 May 2011 02:49:23 +0000

The next part of our spring break was spent in the Twin Cities. Mike still had hotel points from back in his travel days, so we used some of them to stay at a hotel in St. Paul on Friday and Saturday night. We left Daphne behind – our neighbor took care of her – packed up the car and made our way to the hotel. The kids loved the atrium in the lobby. It was filled with trees, plants, a pond and ducks. Sophia sneaked up on one and was able to pet its feathery head. The kids checked out the pool and were happy to see that there was also a hot tub. Our room was spacious and had a fridge, microwave and separate sleeping and living areas. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and swam afterwards.

Saturday was spent at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. We looked at the plants and flowers at the conservatory first. I wasn’t sure if the kids would like it, but they enjoyed it as much as Mike and I did. I don’t know the names of half the flowers I photographed, so I will post these without descriptions.

On to the zoo…

Unique and beautiful plants, cool animals and souvenirs from the gift shop. What could be better? To be continued…

Filed under: Animals, Flowers, Photos, Vacation Tagged: Como Zoo, Flowers, Photography, Vacation