That's hilarious!

Thanks!

Thanks, JD.

See you're from Red Wing - all I know of that town is the Bob Dylan song (Walls of Red Wing). (I was born in Mpls).

I had quite a conversation with this fellow the other afternoon.

My wife and I were at the Miller Park Zoo (Bloomington, IL), and this cockatoo was at the far end of his cage, squawking a bit.

I approached his cage and did my best bird imitation, "Bawk bawk," and he screeched back at me, "Waa Waa!" He started climbing towards me.

I went, "Bawk bawk bawk!" He climbed faster towards me and went, "Waa Waa Waa!" I did "Bawk!" and he replied "Waa!" However many syllables I squawked, he screeched back the same. We went back and forth like that for quite a while.

Anyway, doesn't take much to entertain me. And he did pose nicely for his closeup.

My 12-year-old neighbor took this on her iPhone.

My dog Wrigley, a Chiweenie (chihuahua/dachshund).

Chiweenies are bald; we got a fuzzy one.

My favorite hummingbird photo - we were eye to eye in this one.

Grabbed this shot with a pocket camera while I was walking my dog. Two squirrels intently looking over my neighbor's fence.

I was at a horse show, and this dog had trouble seeing the horses because the bottom of the fence was solid.

The sun was perfect (a rarity in my front yard) this morning, and I love this pose - he looks so attentive! (A male house finch, by the way).

Only tweaking I did was to brighten a bit, and increase contrast. (It was a dark and dreary morning - you can see the raindrops on the feeder.)

Saw this cardinal on my feeder and ran for my camera. By the time I got back, he was ready to leave. I caught him just launching himself off from the feeder.

I didn't have time to focus, and autofocus centered on the feeder rather than the bird.

Still, I like it a lot.

Rob, thought you might like to know this:

Songwriter Johnny Marks set Longfellow's poem to music. Marks is little-known today, but look at the Christmas songs he wrote!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - 1949 (Gene Autry)
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (lyrics by Longfellow; music by Marks) - 1956 (many artists)
Run Rudolph Run - 1958 (Chuck Berry)
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - 1958 (Brenda Lee)
A Holly Jolly Christmas - 1964 (Burl Ives)
The Most Wonderful Day of the Year - 1964 (many artists)

And the kicker to the story? Johnny Marks, who wrote some of the most-loved Christmas songs ever, was Jewish.

That reminds me of the line, "We didn't go to the Bahamas for Thanksgiving this year because of Covid.
All the other years, we didn't go to the Bahamas for Thanksgiving because we couldn't afford it."

Here's Kathy preparing the Thanksgiving turkey, as Remley and Riley supervise.

I bought a Petri Color 35 camera at the military PX store when I was in the Air Force, in 1970. It was my first 35mm camera, and I loved that thing! Small enough to slip into a pocket easily, and absolutely excellent pictures.

Reminds me of the line,
"I saw a chameleon today.
Must not have been a very good chameleon."