TJ's Videos

Our son JJ going over the side of his Great Lakes ship in the bosun chair. Once on shore, he moors the ship.

My son works on a Great Lakes ship. He was on shore to moor the boat at the Soo Locks. A ship-watching live stream camera zoomed in on him (my request) and he waved to us.

We have two chicks in a cat carrier in the bathroom until the weather is warm enough and they are big enough to put in the coop. The chicks chirp for a short time in the evening before settling down. Hannah Joy, our pitbull mix, was distressed by their chirping and insisted that I go check on them. This is why pitbulls are called "nanny dogs."

Hannah Joy letting me know she wants something and wants it NOW!

Coyotes ran through our yard today. Since it's their mating season, it was probably a mating pursuit. I went outside a few minutes later and heard them caterwauling in the ravine. I couldn't see them, but I captured the sound with my phone. I always think the sound of coyotes is spine-chillingly spooky.

I give cracked corn to my chickens in cold seasons because it raises their body temperature as they digest it, providing added warmth. Last year I noticed that our alpha rooster, Sassy, wasn't letting Corey, our other rooster get any. So I began to sneak Corey a measure of corn. He started waiting for me. I stopped feeding the chickens corn in May when the weather warmed and began again in November. I was surprised that Corey remembered his covert treat and began waiting for me again.

One of our hens hatched two eggs. The chickens are growing fast. One of them kept escaping when I opened the door of their shelter to replenish their food and water. (I have them in a shelter inside the coop to protect them until they are big enough to join the other chickens.) The chick would chirp in alarm when I grabbed it to put it back inside. The second time the chick escaped, the Mama got very upset, fluffing her feathers and clucking angrily. I was afraid she was mad at me for "threatening" her check when I put it back inside. But since then the chicks have backed away whenever I open the door so I realized she was scolding them, not me.

My son works as a deckhand on a Great Lakes bulk carrier. This is a clip of him going over the side of his ship in a bosun chair. He swings down to tie the ship to the dock. He is the one in an orange hat.

We've bought chicks from farm stores before, but this is the first time we've had one of our hens hatch her eggs. These are her two little ones.

My son on bow watch on the Great Lakes bulk carrier, American Mariner.

This is a video my son took of the view of a storm through the port hole of the Great Lakes ship he works on. You can see the clouds and water going up and down.

In the 7 years that I've had chickens, I've only had one broody hen. We didn't want chicks then so I kept taking her away from her nest until she got over it. Even though it seems to be the wrong time of year, I think I've got another broody hen. If so, we will let her hatch her eggs.

A mama and her babies were early morning visitors.

Our neighbor put on an awesome fireworks show that was just as good as a municipal July 4th program. It lasted about an hour. I thought the way the fireworks lit up the bare trees was beautiful.

The wind blowing the snow in Northern Michigan.

This video is taken on a rainy day through my window so it may appear a bit blurry. The turkeys were very close to the house. My dog starts snorting in the background.

Chipmunks chasing each other.

While I peeled carrots, Hannah Joy sat under the table to eat any that fell to the floor. Usually I don't purposely drop the peels for her, but I did this time so I could take the video.

Mama Raccoon stopped by the bird feeder early Sunday evening. I don't mind her eating the birds' leftover seeds. I was videoing her when suddenly Theo appeared. He is sweet, but not the sharpest pencil in the box. It's not smart to mess with a raccoon--especially a Mama Raccoon. I stopped videoing as I shouted to EJ. We ran out and put Theo in the garage. As we ran out, we spotted Millie running toward the raccoon as well. I expect Theo to be a bit of a dunderhead, but I expected more from Millie. I shut the cats safely in the garage every evening but now I'm getting them in the garage before the Raccoon visits.

A raccoon stealing seeds from the birdfeeder outside our window. The rose-breasted grosbeak and the hummingbird were not happy with the bandit. The raccoon stayed until our dog noticed it and scared it away. The raccoon ran away...but returned after dark.

This is a game I play with my dog, Hannah Joy. I tell her to sit and then I call our random words. She "loses" if she runs to me without the "correct" release word being said. Every now and then she "loses," usually when the word sounds similar to her release word, but she rarely makes a mistake on a word more than once. Here is a video of our game.

I say random words to try to trick our dog, Hannah Joy. It's a bit like the children's game of "Simon Says." She sits until she hears the correct word. We sometimes successfully trick her, but she's usually not fooled by a word more than once.

When Hannah Joy wants to eat, she wants to eat NOW! She doesn't take "no" for an answer.

Snow fell in the wee hours of November 4, 2021. As the sun rose, it revealed a beautiful clash of seasons--with both snow and autumn colors mixed together. The starkness of winter white and the vividness of autumn color seemed to enhance the beauty of the other. No artist can ever compare to God's masterpieces.