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.
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.
Hey Peeps! It’s me, Penny!
Yesterday the sun came out and it was so pretty that I bugged and bugged my mom to take me somewhere fun.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mom says zoomies in the woods are not as fun as zoomies in the living room.
I beg to differ.
Signing off for now,
your zoomie pal, Unstoppable Pretty Penny.
From my walk a week ago at Kensington.
At first glance I thought I had a tree filled with blue jays. But one is not like the others.
Ha. Made you look!
I went out to Kensington this morning. I haven’t been there to walk among the birds in a long time. I have loads of images to share with you. But this little sequence made me laugh.
I hope you enjoy it. too.
When I get some time I’ll look at what else I found and I’ll share the best of it with you. It was a wonderful day in the woods.
Tonight’s local news aired a piece about property taxes, specifically one woman’s fight to eliminate the only tax, she says, that risks a person’s home if left unpaid. She said that people who can’t pay for food or utilities have to pay their property taxes or risk their home.
She concedes that some things property taxes pay for, like police and fire, are necessary so she’s fine if money for those are collected, but she specifically seems to be angry about paying for a library, which she says she never uses.
When I moved to my little town in 1992 the library here was housed in a historic one room school building, and had been since 1976, with books crowded onto shelves and piled on windowsills. It was a tiny space but it was a library and I was grateful it was there. In 1998 the community approved a .41 millage to build a township building to hold offices and the library. The new library opened in 2002 and operated on that .41 millage until just a year or so ago when we approved an additional .5 millage in support of the library.
I’m pretty proud of our community for passing those millage requests the first time they were put on the ballot.
According to information online the Springfield Township Library serves a community of 14,000 people, has a collection of over 70,000 items and has public internet computers, wi-fi, meeting rooms, interlibrary loan, adult, teen and children’s programming.
I know this is true because I’ve used nearly all of it. And every time I visit the beautiful building with it’s big windows looking out over parkland I’m grateful all over again for our local library.
Still, one part of my brain understands where the woman is coming from. She never uses her library, yet she pays for it. I’ve been thinking about that since the news aired.
So…I wonder…what do you think about being forced to pay for something you don’t use? Should there be a use tax instead? Or some other way to fund things like libraries?
On one hand I get not wanting to pay for something I don’t use. On the other hand…I hope I never have to use the fire department…but I’m still willing to pay for it. And wasn’t there a time, back in the Ben Franklin days, when people paid a fee to have fire department service, and if your house was on fire but you hadn’t paid the fee they let it burn?
Is that the way we want to live now? How much is your library worth to you?
Interesting question.
PS: If you’ve read this far, go read this post, written almost 15 years ago about one night I worked at a public library. Made me smile in remembrance.
Dirt roads and pathways are everywhere around here. So when I saw Cee’s challenge I knew I’d find something fresh, some place you haven’t been with us before.
Friday Penny and I spent all day exploring. We started out at a new park I’ve renamed Penny’s Park. I’m sure she’ll have a lot to say about it and the other places we visited when she’s recovered from all that exploring!
Hey guys, it’s me, Penny!
Mom says Karma has come up with a photo challenge, something about before and after.
Well. I told mom that I wanted to play too, but I couldn’t take any pictures, mostly because I don’t have thumbs. So I assigned her to get some great pictures of me in before and after situations.
I think you will soon agree I have this before and after thingy down pat. And that, for once, mom followed directions!
We had a big storm last week, then most of it melted and then we got 5 unexpected inches of snow yesterday!
By the weekend they say we’ll have sunshine and temperatures in the 40s! Wow, sunshine! All this beautiful snow will be gone again. Mom said we had to hurry today before it started to melt!
When we were walking out there today big poofs of snow kept falling off the tree branches and dropping on me! I was freaked out until mom told me to stop being a baby.
I guess I’m still a little girl, I’m only almost 14 months old. I got braver the longer we were out there. But I did giggle just a little when a big poof of snow fell on mom and cold water ran down her neck. Hee hee.
Anyway.
Mom took me to this same park earlier this week when there wasn’t much snow, and then today we went back so she could get more pictures with the beautiful snow!
Boy I had fun on both visits to the park. I loved sniffing along the way, and chewing on as many sticks as possible.
Mom keeps telling me I can’t chew on every stick in the woods…but I think I want to try!
So tell me, do you think I got the before and after thing right? Inquiring sheltie minds want to know!
Talk later,
Your photogenic pal, Penny.
Change Is Hard 