Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Feb 9, 2012, 11:24 pm
  These pictures are from yesterday. Today was beautiful too, but these are special, and I got an ID on them from a local birding expert, Dave Dister. I was driving along and saw this hawk soaring above the field to my left. The more I watched it, the more I realized that I didn't know what kind o...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Feb 8, 2012, 11:44 pm
  Today was a work day, and the sun was shining! It was cold, but who could possibly care when the sun is so lovely? I bring you a ruffed grouse in the red phase. At some times of the year they look more gray. What you can mainly see is how well camouflaged they are. If I hadn't seen the motion o...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Feb 7, 2012, 11:38 pm
  Here's the ugliness I've been driving with for a week. Now to better topics. There were 43 different people who left messages in this month, and a total of 218 separate comments (not counting my own responses to them). The top 10 commenters for Jan are: Ann's Snap & Edit (Ann- 31 comments...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Get Off The Couch News - Feb 7, 2012, 8:51 am
compiled from several sources 26,000 cars a day come through Honor, Michigan, and HARP President, Ingemar Johannson, wants to see more of them stop in the small town with a big name. For a number of years, Honor has been in decline, but the HARP group, Honor Area Restoration Project, is workin...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Feb 6, 2012, 11:35 pm
  It's been a long time since I've been working on any craft project, but I've got a little one going again. Anyone want to guess what it will be? Here's a tidbit that just comes from nowhere, except that 60 years ago today Queen Elizabeth was crowned. I remember that day, and I remember watching ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Feb 5, 2012, 9:39 pm
  I'm going to share more pictures from yesterday's hike. I'm so glad I went! Even though today was supposed to have about the same weather, it was cloudy and a little colder. That made yesterday seem even better. Actually, the best event from today was that we went to see Extremely Loud and Incre...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Get Off The Couch News - Feb 5, 2012, 10:00 am
by JHY Some of you may have noticed that there haven't been any postings here for a while. Once again, I 'm scrambling to try to make enough money to get by. I had great hopes for the Get Off The Couch website, as an income producer, but it hasn't really worked out that way. I was thinking that ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Feb 4, 2012, 10:05 pm
  I can hardly believe I haven't blogged about Manistee Riverwalk before. It's a really nice urban hike. Ellen and I did it last summer. I probably get there a couple of times a year. The only bad part is that dogs aren't allowed, so Maggie had to stay home. I'll just give you a long view of part...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Feb 3, 2012, 10:37 pm
  These are a couple more pictures from Tuesday when the sky was bright. It was a day for beauty to be remembered. I like this set... water vapor in the air making patterns, water so cold in Crystal Lake it almost looked like a gel, and the ice along the shores. Josh's eye appointment today went ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Feb 2, 2012, 10:26 pm
  Today's big event was Joshua's second cataract surgery. We'll begin to know tomorrow if it does as much for his vision in the left eye as it did for his right. But, the surgery itself was uneventful, although it took him a little longer to wake up from the anesthetic. Uneventful is a good thing....
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Feb 1, 2012, 11:36 pm
  Today was another work day, but not so packed as yesterday. More views of Lake Michigan... the lake is fascinating even on a gray day. In the morning I was near Pentwater, and took this picture from a low dune on a private beach. You can tell that I'm not much higher than the lake surface. I ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 31, 2012, 10:26 pm
  It's one of those days I'm too tired to care. Out doing assignments all day, over 200 miles and 10 cases. Just enjoy the tame rabbits. They followed the owner everywhere he went! I'm a complete sucker for rabbits. if you like this blog, click the +1   var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document....
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 30, 2012, 11:42 pm
  These pictures were taken this week, but not all today. I just thought it was interesting to compare the two species. First we have the pigeons from the space station, er... grain elevator. You can't tell all of the difference in still shots. The pigeons fly more slowly, and seem to rise higher,...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 29, 2012, 10:55 pm
  This post is different from most of my others, but it was a really good thing that happened today. If you are reading this and it doesn't make much sense to you, that's ok. Twelve people were baptized this morning at our church. Baptism is just a symbol of a Jesus' death, burial and resurrection...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 28, 2012, 11:56 pm
  Overnight we had a little bit of freezing rain that changed to "powdered sugar" snow. That made every soft flake stick to every surface. Even though the wind picked up this afternoon, the trees are still coated. These are my two favorite pictures from the day. I did a lot of writing this afterno...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 27, 2012, 11:01 pm
I was out doing errands this afternoon and we had some lovely sunshine, which always adds magic to any landscape. I drove home via Hawley Road, and just liked some of the trees along the way. The line of bare gray-brown trees on the left are Lombardy Poplar, Populus nigra. It's a European tree, bu...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 26, 2012, 11:50 pm
  Although I went to Dublin yesterday, I also went out back for a walk with Maggie. It was a calm, warm morning and lots of wildlife had been out. The snow had softened just enough to take good tracks. I think we are in a good year for rabbits. There were a huge number of those tracks. That might...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 25, 2012, 10:59 pm
  I couldn't resist, since we are on a theme. I've been to Dublin quite often, including today. This Dublin, that is. Are you confused yet? Dublin, Michigan, is in the middle of nowhere, but enough people live surrounding that nowhere to support what has become something of a local phenomenon, a...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 24, 2012, 11:50 pm
  If you've been a reader for a while, you know that I'm quite the traveler. I've been to Italy, and recently found Hollywood. But, today, I got to go to somewhere I had never been before. Yes, I went to Paris! I did it all this afternoon! I have superpowers! I speed faster than the Concorde! I ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 23, 2012, 11:50 pm
  Now we are doing rain. So much for recreational snow. The roads are all icy. I tried to go out on work assignments. More on that later. I really liked how the raindrops were clinging to this red cedar. The blessing? Well, um... shuffles feet and gets embarrassed... I slid into a ditch on a back...
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Joan Y. posted an article on North Country Trail News - Jan 23, 2012, 10:03 am
from the Continental Divide Trail Alliance Most of the National Scenic Trails are fortunate to have a non-profit organization that supports the governmental agency charged with managing their trail. For the North Country Trail, our managing agency is the National Park Service, and the organizat...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Jan 23, 2012, 9:19 am
I'm posting this because I just discovered (face all red) that there were 14 great comments, not spam at all, from you faithful readers that had not been approved because I goofed. I had not entered my email to receive notification of comments that needed to be moderated. I ran across them today wh...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 22, 2012, 11:27 pm
  The little critters are out! I love the little mouse tracks, and although they tunnel under the snow most of the time, sometimes they run across the top. The first picture is blurry, but it's not the camera's fault. I took it yesterday, and the snow was really fluffy. It didn't hold the pattern w...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 21, 2012, 11:18 pm
  Today was the monthly hike for the Spirit of the Woods trail club. Once again, there were only three of us. But Ellen has become a world traveler, gone to the other side of the globe. This time it was Loren, Dave, and me (with two dogs, Corky and Maggie). The day was pretty cold, but sunny, maki...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 20, 2012, 11:29 pm
  On a blog devoted to finding the positive things in each and every day, is grousing allowed? Most definitely, when it's this kind! We have a lot more snow than this now, but I took this picture last week along the North Country Trail. There are a lot of different tracks here, but I left them al...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 19, 2012, 10:11 pm
I'm going to play along with Chuck's Family Friday "game" today, even though it's Thursday. I won't be doing this very often, but today is a milestone kind of day. If my grandmother were alive, she would have turned 130 today. Can you believe it? It's true. She was born January 19, 1882. I have too ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 18, 2012, 11:51 pm
On January 10, Jean at Jean's Musings gave me the Versatile Blogger Award. It took me a while to "pick it up," but here it is. There are rules, of course, and I'm going to do some of them. I'm supposed to: • Nominate 15 other bloggers (not likely) • Inform my nominees (OK) • Share 7 random...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 17, 2012, 9:13 pm
  We are having a mini-blizzard here. Maggie and I went out but we didn't stay out long. It was nasty. And I still don't have much energy. That needs to end tomorrow. Meanwhile, how about some frost patterns? if you like this blog, click the +1   var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location....
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Jan 16, 2012, 8:29 pm
  The weekend was amazing. I'm home safe and sound with a little sore throat and more tired than seems reasonable. I'm going to get lots of sleep tonight and hopefully hold off whatever that might be all about. The snow stayed on the trees both days, and although the weather stayed cold, we took m...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Jan 8, 2012, 2:38 pm
In 2011 I completed 13 surveys for Pine Cone Research at $3.00 each for a total of $39.00. This is a lot less than I made from them in 2010, which was $67.00. Still, it's pretty easy money! This is an arm of Neilson Ratings, and you must be invited to join. If you ever see an ad for their surveys,...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Jan 7, 2012, 8:24 pm
Are you trying to import an address book from some other email program, or from Google Groups into Gmail? It can be pretty frustrating when you follow the directions and it won't work. The Google Help file only says to save your other mail list as a comma-delimited file, and then import it into Gma...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Jan 5, 2012, 11:45 am
Have you downloaded a new version of Firefox (I believe this info is good for Firefox 6,7,8 and 9) and discovered that it wants to put files you download in a place you don't want or can't find? The default is in the Downloads Folder, which is under "Users" in Windows 7, or YourName Documents in Win...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Dec 27, 2011, 8:43 am
Here's one of the saddest pieces of news I've gotten in quite a while: Adgitize is going to close at the first of the year. Owner and founder, Ken Brown, says, "We have enjoyed working with all of you over the last 3 years and we hope that you have enjoyed our services. Adgitize tried to fill a nic...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Nov 29, 2011, 8:29 am
I just got $23.02 from Clixsense, and that's with a standard membership. Took 14 months to accumulate that much, but there were no hassles, and the fees are much lower to cashout than they used to be. ClixSense now has PayPal available, and it only cost me $0.73 processing fee, much less than it use...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Nov 16, 2011, 11:38 am
Just because you see Adgitize ads on a blog does not mean that blog is earning money. There is even a possibility you could be publishing Adgitize ads and not earning money. Do you know why? Adgitize seeks to provide surfers with quality, original reading material. The standards to be an Adgitize b...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Nov 2, 2011, 11:35 pm
Glad I have more pics from yesterday to share. It was gray and drizzly all day today, and I worked inside all day. Best event is an apple pie! Yum. Here is one of those odd earth stars. They are supposed to be very common, but I don't find them very often. I crossed and re-crossed the Manistee Ri...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Nov 2, 2011, 11:23 am
The extremely annoying problem of not being able to upload images with Blogger (discussed at Error Uploading Images to Blogger) can be worked around. First open your Picasa page. Maybe you didn't know you have one. But if you've been using the blogger image uploader, you do. That's where they are s...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Nov 2, 2011, 12:01 am
Wow! The only thing that could have made this day better would have been if I'd been seeing all this on foot instead of in the car, but then I probably wouldn't have seen such a variety of things. I'm going to be conservative and only show you five pictures today, but be prepared for more another da...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Oct 31, 2011, 9:07 pm
if you like this blog, click the +1   var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Get Off The Couch News - Oct 31, 2011, 10:15 am
photo from Backcountry Horsemen based on an article in the Grand Rapids Press When 15 equestrian campsites in the Pigeon River State Forest were closed three years ago, horseback riders were not pleased. However, the Fish and Wildlife Service stated that the move was necessary because the land...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Oct 30, 2011, 11:45 pm
Do you remember the twins? They were featured in July, as Twin Trouble. I think it's interesting, because these two deer are easy to tell apart. One is smaller, and has a narrower nose. When they were young, their spots were different, too. Here's what they looked like on August 20. They are still ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Oct 30, 2011, 10:25 am
Have you seen this message? I've been using blogger for 3 years now, and had never been stung by this until this month. Now, I'm getting it a lot. Of course it's annoying, but even more annoying is the length of time the problem has been ongoing. It's particularly maddening if you are trying to uplo...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Oct 29, 2011, 11:37 pm
I bring you a legend for Halloween. Nah... I don't like Halloween very much, but I did see this fungus yesterday, and its common name is black witch's butter. It's Exida nigricans. If you find some fungus on rotting limbs that looks like raisins on a stick, you've probably found it. It's a jelly ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on North Country Trail News - Oct 29, 2011, 1:40 pm
a news release of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Transportation Enhancement Funds are meant to be applied to other forms of transportation than highways. These funds have benefited the North Country Trail in certain places where we follow urban pathways, or to provide pedestrian walkways on bridges...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Get Off The Couch News - Oct 29, 2011, 11:00 am
bicyclists in Dayton, Ohio (photo by jhy) from a report, the Longitudinal Study of American Youth Do those 84 million Americans born between 1961 and 1981 do much of anything productive? Do they appreciate outdoor recreation? A new study from the University of Michigan, by Jon Miller, says the...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Oct 28, 2011, 11:51 pm
The morning was wet and cold, with ice on the windshield that had to be scraped. But Ellen and I had plans to be outside, so we weren't going to be deterred by that. We decided to go to Crystal Valley Ski Area, and do some cleanup on the trails. She's an avid skier (I'm only mediocre), and belongs...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Oct 27, 2011, 11:31 pm
Every time I think the fall colors are all gone, I find another surprise. Today was a work day, and I was trying to stay ahead of a big black cloud (and pretty much did), but the sun shining around the dark cloud made the hills near Luther very dramatic. They really need a panoramic view, but then ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Get Off The Couch News - Oct 27, 2011, 10:44 am
... the first year of the Recreation Passport was met and exceeded by ... checking "Yes" to support the Recreation Passport when renewing their motor vehicle ... the sale of the Recreation Passport was $18,816,500. The ... . The price for the Recreation Passport in 2012 remains unchanged at ... ...
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Joan Y. posted an article on My Quality Day - Oct 26, 2011, 11:48 pm
You have to love this plant. When everything else is turning brown and dull, the winterberry turns on the red. It's a shrub, also known as Michigan Holly. Indeed, it is a real holly, Ilex verticillata. It will keep the red berries all winter, so it really stands out against the snow. Happy Day...
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Joan Y. posted an article on Just Throw Money - Oct 26, 2011, 10:40 am
I joined FoodieBlogRoll last week, with my relatively new wild foods blog Grazing the Ditches. They claim it will produce some revenue, and is compatible with Google AdSense, as long as you use only text-based ads from Google. So I decided to try it. They claim over 12000 food blogs as members, and ...
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