Archive for February, 2021

Red tailed Hawks

Posted: February 26, 2021 in Photography
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I was really fortunate the other day. I had just gotten in my car and saw a hawk fly right over my head and land close to me. I wished I had my camera but got out my phone in the hopes he/she would stay long enough for me to get a picture or two. After I managed to do that the hawk remained there and kept looking up. I started shooting a video that I posted on YouTube and want to share with you.

I was curious what the hawk was doing just sitting there. Not too long had passed and something made the hawk jump a bit. I kept filming and noticed that other hawks were taking turns and ‘dive-bombing’ the hawk on the ground. Even in the video with the background music you can hear the other hawks screeching as they approach the ‘target’ on the ground. I realized there are three sibling hawks being trained by the adult (I think this is the female as they are larger than the males).

Soon the adult leaves quickly lands in a nearby tree where it almost immediately gets bumped by one of the siblings. I look around and finally see a cat on the ground, trying to make a meal of their training games. Soon the adult flew off and the three babies followed to another practice ground.

I just thought this was cool to see and hope you do as well. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8GU7NjHUrc&t=21s

“Change the Game”

Posted: February 22, 2021 in Poetry
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There are team mates that always have to win.
They cheat and break the rules and do it all over again.
Repeat to themselves over and over before they begin
Losing the game by playing fair is the biggest sin.

There’s nothing wrong with better equipment.
Give it all you got every time you hit the pavement.
If it ever took more than one-hundred and ten percent
When the coach says, ‘take him down’, you know what he meant.

Training buys a millisecond or two.
To cross the finish line first you have to know what to do.
Survivors don’t sit at home wishing and hoping it was true.
If you’re back’s against the wall, they’ll tell you what to do.

When you can’t beat ‘em fairly
Change the Game.
Find yourself slow and outmatched
Change the Game.
Placed a bet turned too far south
Change the Game.
The line of credit has just run out
Change the Game.

Change the Game when your opponent is prepared.
Change the Game or break it so it can’t be repaired.
Change the Game and just act like you never cared.
Change the Game don’t let them know you’re impaired.

Former partners must have played a similar game.
Taking credit for things that were in your name.
Pointing at others as if they were the ones to blame
Scavengers and vultures that won’t survive the same.

Music for “Peanut Butter Hill”

Posted: February 19, 2021 in family, My Tunes
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The path to Peanut Butter Hill in Lindner Park covered in snow 2021

This is a song I co-wrote with a friend of mine from Xenia, Ohio. I sent him the basic tracks via the Internet and he uploaded to his home studio. Scott Hadley from “The Little Hippies” then sang the vocals and helped with arrangement to make this song click. Then he added keyboard parts and harmony tracks and sent individual tracks back to me……

To help me with this song I asked a friend and The Merchants of Death band-mate Mike Wheeler to play bass guitar. He is in Dayton and got the tracks back to me faster than I could have driven there and back! He has a way of finding grooves within the melody of a song that ties it all together.

I wrote “Peanut Butter Hill” on 1-21-2021 as I was walking through the woods near our home. I take walks in the same park almost daily now that I am retired. We spent a lot of time here when our kids were growing up. Walking past a steep hill in the park next to a creek I thought I should write a song about this park. (Well, what about?) As I walked I started thinking that this song is not about me but about the kids that tried climbing the bare-mud side of the hill. A fence stood at the top where the real path was and at the bottom of the hill was a creek that remained mostly dry. Soon the melody hit me and I knew this was a song about peanut butter hill.

Decades ago I challenged my kids and all the neighborhood friends to climb up the hill – but they could not use their hands! When they failed and said it could not be done, I put my hands in my pockets and climbed to the top. So did my daughter TK. The hill is not what it was back then, but I think we were the only ones to meet the challenge, but everyone had fun trying!

“Peanut Butter Hill”

And the hits just keep on coming

Posted: February 15, 2021 in My Tunes, projects
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I am working on writing a new song with some friends over the Internet. Recording final tracks now and will release “Peanut Butter Hill” hopefully later this month. 2021 is off to a good start!

Pictures of Snow

Posted: February 9, 2021 in Photography
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It has been a while since I was out and about, especially with my camera. Overnight we had a steady snowfall. There was no breeze or wind so the snow fell and piled up where it landed. I took my camera with me for a walk in our neighborhood park. I wanted to share some of the photos with you. Local weather people say it has been over 10 years since we have had this much snow at one time.

Enjoy some untouched winter photos.

“The Artist and the Buyer”

Posted: February 2, 2021 in Poetry
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Whenever I hear noises or banging
I turn them into a pattern repeating.
Tempos within syncopated phrases
One rhythm falls another raises.

And the timing of all these pieces fit
Each noise becoming an instrument.
The rhythm drives and then grooves
Cycle completed everything moves.

Soon random notes become a melody
And I just can’t resist adding harmony.
The right chords wrap them all together
Within a beat that goes on forever.

Each song I write is for me, you see.
And I’d rather share my songs for free.
Than to follow orders, rules and liars
So I am The Artist and the Buyer.

My fingers begin to tap with my toes
Memories take me wherever it goes.
Past experience and buried emotion
Lyrics melody then explosion.

Another new song is almost complete
A smile on my face I kick up my feet.
Post where no one hears them at all
As I start to feel new noises call.

Each song I write is for me, you see.
And I’d rather share my songs for free
Than to follow orders, rules and liars
So I am The Artist and the Buyer.