Black Bear sighting near Edgewood, Clayton Co, Iowa, June 9, 2009, pics supplied by Ron.

Oatmeal Sunflower Bread, ingredients for this loaf are on the second pic.

Grandma Sara is picked up at Bethhaven in Hannibal and escorted to her GreatGrandaughter Sarah's home for her 100th Birthday celebration.

The Tomo Two was a young starving, reezing cat sitting outside the front door in zero level temps an ...more

d deep blowing snow, Xmas night 1996. Tomo moved in to disrupt the life of Queen Cameo, the two never accepting each other. Tomo Two went blind in one eye sometime in 2007. The eye was removed in late summer 2008. He continues to do nearly all things 'cat' but is easy startled from the blind side. Tomo has the run of inside/outside.

Cameo, 1989-Aug 2007. Cameo was queen of the house for eighteen years coming when she was smaller than a pop can. A 'gift' from my secretary.

Gray Cat was a ferrel cat that lived on his own for years, hiding in the boat stand area much of the ...more

time. Never able to run him off and feeling bad, he was given the best of outside treatment, shelter, food, for a few years before he disappeared the fall of 2007.

Queen Niles rules Sister Spinner's home, after being kidnapped from her daughter.

Black Squirrels are a melanistic or dark coloration phase of the gray squirrel. A population large ...more

enough to interbreed and maintain the dark gene pool established itself in River View Park in Hannibal, MO, from normal population mutations decades ago. In the 1980's the Park population started to expand outward to where the they can be found in the timber/hills several miles north of town. There are a few other black squirrel populations around the U.S. They will/can interbreed with other gray squirrels. iowaz@hotmail.com

A male Sharp Shinn Hawk, hunting birds from an apple tree around bird feeders and water in the yard ...more

during a harsh winter period in January of 2006. The following winters, a Sharp Shinn has periodically returned to hunt the same location. The Sharp Shinn weight about 5oz, is about 13in tall with a wing span of 22+in. The Cooper's Hawk looks similar but larger, 1lb, 16in tall, 30+in wing span. At the back of this series is Coopers Hawk that lives and hunts pigeons at the Printex Co near Bear Creek. Sharp Shinn's are more likely to hunt smaller birds. They are both similar to the Northern Goshawk with long tail and short wings. All three are in the genius Accipiter, being very agile in pursuing small birds through shrubs and trees, and will hunt song birds and pigeons in villages like Hannibal. iowaz@hotmail.com

Grandma Sarah's 98th Birthday Gathering with the Italian Clan at grand-daughter Sara's (54th birthday) home, Hannibal, MO, Jan 13, 2008.

Easter 2007 with Grandma Sarah and five generations of ladies.