Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Author Archives: dawnkinster


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Roadside wonderings

When I’m out and about I often see roadside memorials. And if I have time, and if it’s safe, I pull over to read the name and date. When I get home I attempt to look them up, see what happened, learn more about the person.

Because every memorial is someone who was real and who is missed and who deserves a bit of recognition and attention.

This is a very large memorial near my home.

I know for a fact that the families that erect these memorials want people to notice that something terrible happened right there. And they want their person or people to not be forgotten. Even if you never knew them.

There are no names that I could find, no date either.

I’ve done this for years, trying to find out more about the people who died on our roads, ever since my own dad was killed on a stretch of highway between the Alabama/Georgia state line and the Atlanta airport.

She was almost 30, walking on an overpass with her children when she was struck and killed.

We didn’t build a memorial, but we did hastily plant some daffodil bulbs next to the busy freeway where he died. I’ve only been past the spot at the right time of year once, and the traffic was so bad I couldn’t look around for more than an instant, but I think I saw a flash of yellow years after the crash. It could have been the daffodils or it could have been a Wendy’s chili cup.

But I choose to believe it was dad saying hello and making me smile.


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Bird saga continues

A couple weeks ago I introduced a friend to the bird magic that is Kensington. You saw the angst with the red headed woodpecker, but there were other bird shenanigans that morning. For instance there was this grackle dad and teenager who seemed not to agree about something very important.

“Hey dad, can I have the keys to the car tonight?“
“No! Your legs aren’t even long enough to reach the pedals!“
“I never get to do ANYTHING!“
“And don’t ask me again!”

Soon dad will be busy with a new brood and teenager will get more freedom. But until then, from the looks of jr’s face, there are more ‘discussions’ in the wind.


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Heart crushing numbers

April 1st NHTSA released the numbers of truck related deaths and injuries for 2022. I wish it was an April Fools joke.

That year 5,936 people, some of them the truck drivers themselves, died in large truck related crashes. Over 160,000 people were injured.

I’ve been working with the Truck Safety Coalition for almost twenty years. And except for a few years when the death and injury numbers dipped a bit, the horrific losses have climbed each year.

No one but us and a few other small safety groups seem to notice these unacceptable numbers. I’m heartbroken. My heart breaks every year when the numbers are released. I don’t understand why everyone isn’t shocked and horrified. Why it isn’t national news.

The Truck Safety Coalition’s statement about the NHTSA report is on our webpage, but I’ll link to it here. And if I could ask you to please check out a few of the stories of people who have been stolen from us, maybe you’ll realize, as I do, that these aren’t numbers we’re talking about. These are people. And families. They are someone’s child, mother, brother, husband, wife. My dad.

After you’ve composed yourself and dried your eyes, please donate to help us make our voices louder. You’ll see the donate button on all our website pages.

Sixteen people will die today in a large truck crash. Take a minute and look around at your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors.

Which sixteen will die today?


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Bird tails

I was at Kensington last week. We were lucky enough to find the red-headed woodpecker and his friends on this walk.

They don’t care about you, dove, they just want to see me!

Hey, settle down woodpecker, they left enough stuff for all of us.

Yea, I guess you’re right. I feel bad about my behavior now.

Sorry, man. Help yourself.

We can still be friends…right?

Hey blackbird, I was just telling the dove that there’s enough for everybody.

I’ll just take mine to go.

Sometimes I forget it’s not all about me.


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Karma’s photo challenge – signs of spring around here

As usual, spring in Michigan is a mixed bag. Since we had 60 (15.5C) degree and sometimes higher temperatures in February we were owed several days or even weeks of temperatures in the 30s, (-1.11 C) sometimes lower, in March. With wind and snow to make everything feel extra special.

Still, signs of spring persist even here.

The first sounds of spring, the thing that solidifies the concept of spring for me every year, are the red-winged blackbirds. They announce their arrival loudly with a very distinctive call.

Feathers puffed up to keep warm in our 30 degree windy spring mornings.

I usually hear them before I see them. But a day or so after I hear them singing over in the swamp they will have found my feeder. They come in mass and gobble up everything, much to the dismay of the smaller birds.

“Hey! Do you have food over there?”

They’ve been around for a few weeks now and are disgusted, just as we all were, with that last snow storm.

And when I see my goldfinches start to turn yellow – well – than spring is well and truly on the way. It seems that one day they are all olive drab, and the next day the males are sprouting gold spots.

Diving for goodies fallen from the feeder

And then suddenly those show-offs are entirely, brilliant, yellow.

Almost in full summer uniform.

In fact yellow seems to be the color of spring. Between the daffodils, which are the only spring flowers we can have due to our hardy deer population…

Evening light warms up a chilly spring day.

…to the forsythia in the back yard…

Ok, the forsythia isn’t in bloom here yet, I forced a few sprigs of it to brighten up my kitchen.

…to the cowslips in the nearby woods…

A definite sign that spring has sprung.

…if you see an abundance of yellow around these parts you can almost guarantee spring has sprung.

No guarantees in March, no siree, not around here!

Almost.

Thanks, Karma, for hosting this photo challenge! I remain hopeful that that last snow was our last snow. If you know what I mean.


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Sunshiny Day!

Hey Peeps! It’s me, Penny!

Come ON! We’re going for a walk in the woods!

Yesterday the sun came out and it was so pretty that I bugged and bugged my mom to take me somewhere fun.

I would just like to point out how beautiful my fur is.

So she did! We went over to a park in Rose Township. Usually we don’t see anyone over there, but since the day was so beautiful we saw quite a few people walking in the woods.

Really mom? You want me to SIT??!

That’s OK, Mom just asked me to sit and watch her while other people and their dogs went by, so I did. Apparently mom and I are very slow walkers.

This is a very scary horse dung bucket. I barked at it a lot.

We went up and down some hills in the woods and I wasn’t scared at all about being under the trees! I guess that’s because it wasn’t windy and nothing weird was blowing around. You know, like leaves and stuff.

Hey Mom! I jumped over the rock, you got that on film, right?

Then we walked beside a couple of pretty ponds. Mom was using a compass on her phone to check out where Southeast is in relation to the bridges we were standing on.

Sure is pretty around here!

Apparently the Milky Way core is visible again and at this time of the year, the SE is where to find it.

Whatever, mom.

On the way back to the car she let me pick which trail to follow. She was sorta glad I picked the shorter one, especially after a fat tire bike went by and I got the zoomies.

This is me being crazy. Mom was not amused.

Mom says zoomies in the woods are not as fun as zoomies in the living room.

I beg to differ.

OK, I’ll be serious if I have to be. For a moment anyway.

Signing off for now,

your zoomie pal, Unstoppable Pretty Penny.


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The best

It seems like it’s been a long time since I promised to show you the best images from my latest walk at Kensington.

Red tailed hawk in the morning light.

While I was walking it didn’t seem like I was taking many photos. But when I go back and look there are way too many ‘best’ images.

Who’s that up there?

So it will be hard to choose just a few. I so much wish you could all walk out there with me.

Enjoying breakfast.

Though I know from experience that I do better photography when I’m walking alone. No one really wants to keep waiting for me to catch up.

Hey! That’s my peanut!

I also don’t want to be those annoying people who talk so loudly while walking in the woods that they broadcast their arrival long before they’re visible.

Yes, I know I’m beautiful.

And I have never understood those people who are racewalking through the trees. I can’t imagine they see much at all.

I’ve been looking for lunch in the mud.

I have a hard enough time spotting wildlife when I’m moving along at my snail photographer pace.

Hey lady! I’m right above your head! Give me a treat and I won’t deposit anything on you!

Anyway, here’s a handful of images that I really enjoyed taking.

Nom, nom, nom.

I hope you enjoy them too!