So, the BeeFic sucked...

But I'm over it. I've started the same story, only from the faerie POV, that I think will be much better, and also saleable. Go, me.

We took the boat out for the first time yesterday. It ran really well, and we had a good time with a friend of ours, who also brought his boat out. He did some waterskiing behind our boat, which is somewhat tiny but did all right.

And there were grebes! All over the place! With babies!

And I forgot my camera. *cries* Because some of them were carrying the babies on their backs. The male (I'm assuming) was diving for food, and the female with the baby was staying on the surface, calling to orient him, so he could keep track of her when he popped back up. It was so cool. I've never gotten to see behavior like that before, and it made my little biologist heart go pitter-pat.

And then we hit the drive-in, where "Evan Almighty" was playing with "Shrek the Third."

Understand that we approached "Evan Almighty" with a certain amount of trepidation. Hollyweird has a penchant for taking people of faith and turning them into child-molesting monsters. However, we really liked "Bruce Almighty, so we decided to take a chance on it. And I'm so glad we did, because for once we got to go to a theater and not be insulted. It was refreshing to watch a movie that treats God and prayer and faith with a modicum of respect. We saw the trailers for this one and thought "This is going to be really good, or really terrible." And it was really good. "Going in the DVD collection" good.

Honestly, I think the only reason this movie got made and distributed by a major studio was because of its environmental message. But that message wasn't over-the-top, although certain things were exaggerated for comic effect. Also, this movie is safe for your kids, although the bird-poop might be slightly overdone and there's a duck-penis joke--which is funny because it's true.

Also, Steve Carell and Wanda Sykes are made of win. And having Evan's wife named "Joan" was icing on a scrumptious cake. What made that joke so funny was that they didn't even belabor it with the obvious reference. They assumed the audience was smart to figure it out.

So, the BeeFic sucked...

But I'm over it. I've started the same story, only from the faerie POV, that I think will be much better, and also saleable. Go, me.

We took the boat out for the first time yesterday. It ran really well, and we had a good time with a friend of ours, who also brought his boat out. He did some waterskiing behind our boat, which is somewhat tiny but did all right.

And there were grebes! All over the place! With babies!

And I forgot my camera. *cries* Because some of them were carrying the babies on their backs. The male (I'm assuming) was diving for food, and the female with the baby was staying on the surface, calling to orient him, so he could keep track of her when he popped back up. It was so cool. I've never gotten to see behavior like that before, and it made my little biologist heart go pitter-pat.

And then we hit the drive-in, where "Evan Almighty" was playing with "Shrek the Third."

Understand that we approached "Evan Almighty" with a certain amount of trepidation. Hollyweird has a penchant for taking people of faith and turning them into child-molesting monsters. However, we really liked "Bruce Almighty, so we decided to take a chance on it. And I'm so glad we did, because for once we got to go to a theater and not be insulted. It was refreshing to watch a movie that treats God and prayer and faith with a modicum of respect. We saw the trailers for this one and thought "This is going to be really good, or really terrible." And it was really good. "Going in the DVD collection" good.

Honestly, I think the only reason this movie got made and distributed by a major studio was because of its environmental message. But that message wasn't over-the-top, although certain things were exaggerated for comic effect. Also, this movie is safe for your kids, although the bird-poop might be slightly overdone and there's a duck-penis joke--which is funny because it's true.

Also, Steve Carell and Wanda Sykes are made of win. And having Evan's wife named "Joan" was icing on a scrumptious cake. What made that joke so funny was that they didn't even belabor it with the obvious reference. They assumed the audience was smart to figure it out.

To counter my disappointment...

...at not having my camera yesterday, we wandered up the Jordan River Parkway, because that's apparently a good place for birding.

It's probably better very early in the morning, rather than in the afternoon in hundred-degree heat. However, we did see a good number of birds, from your everyday Mallard duck (with babies), to Red-winged Blackbirds, possibly a Goldfinch, several Barn Swallows (babies in nests and adults tending them FTW), and a Bullock's Oriole.

Not only that, but there's a little swamp excuse me, wetland just off the trail, and we saw a big old green frog, some smaller brown frogs, a bunch o' tadpoles...

And a garter snake!

It was a fairly good-sized one, too. It was in the water, and once it decided that yep, those are humans and I'd better book my scaly butt outa here, it moved. IT WAS SO COOL.

And I found a dollar in the parking lot next to my car when we got back.

Good times.

What? Did I take pictures??? Of course I took pictures. You want to actually see them?

Working on it.

To counter my disappointment...

...at not having my camera yesterday, we wandered up the Jordan River Parkway, because that's apparently a good place for birding.

It's probably better very early in the morning, rather than in the afternoon in hundred-degree heat. However, we did see a good number of birds, from your everyday Mallard duck (with babies), to Red-winged Blackbirds, possibly a Goldfinch, several Barn Swallows (babies in nests and adults tending them FTW), and a Bullock's Oriole.

Not only that, but there's a little swamp excuse me, wetland just off the trail, and we saw a big old green frog, some smaller brown frogs, a bunch o' tadpoles...

And a garter snake!

It was a fairly good-sized one, too. It was in the water, and once it decided that yep, those are humans and I'd better book my scaly butt outa here, it moved. IT WAS SO COOL.

And I found a dollar in the parking lot next to my car when we got back.

Good times.

What? Did I take pictures??? Of course I took pictures. You want to actually see them?

Working on it.

Pix!

( Under the cut because, whoa, they're huge... )

Pix!

( Under the cut because, whoa, they're huge... )