Swimming with the Wildlife

This evening Travalon and I went swimming, and on the way we passed the little pond by the Westport Town Hall. To my surprise, there was a bird that looked just like a loon on it - I can't think what else it would be, but that makes no sense. They are not migrating through at this time of year, and no loon would hang out on a little pond - they like deep lakes. I said to Travalon that we should take a look at it, but he said after swimming. We went to Governor Nelson and swam in Lake Mendota, and two ducks were swimming toward me, but when I said, "Hi, ducks!" they quickly veered away from me. Later a muskrat was swimming right toward Travalon, so I waded alongside it and said, "Hi, muskrat! Where are you going? How are you doing?" The muskrat tried to swim faster to get away from me, but it couldn't swim any faster than I could wade, so I walked alongside it, and the water was about up to my shoulders so that we were eye to eye. Finally it got tired of me walking alongside it and talking to it, so it dove beneath the water, and it must be able to stay under for a very long time, because we didn't see it come back up. Then we headed home and checked out the pond; no sign of the mysterious bird (I had thought maybe it was a fake loon), but we did see a bunch of geese and two pairs of cranes.

Here are some photos of our recent acquisitions from antiques shops. These are three of the rosaries I bought in the antiques shop on Odana Road - I am only just getting to those now.

These are a French rosary made out of ebony, an interesting rosary with no starting beads and a Four-Way Cross instead of a crucifix and a centerpiece that says "Altar Boy," and a rosary with silver-plated glass beads that reflect light beautifully.

Here are the beautiful rosaries I bought in Waukesha yesterday. The one on the arm of the chair is the expensive one. Did I pay too much? Maybe, but if I hadn't gotten it, I would have regretted it.

This is the Fred Flinstone man cave sign that Travalon got in Janesville.

And this is the Hamm's Beer sign he got in South Beloit.

I couldn't find any rosaries in either place, but I did get the blue parrot (from the movie Rio) in South Beloit and the January Birthday Beanie Baby Bear in Janesville.

This red dog was something we got at an antiques store outside of Algoma, on our trip back from Door County. The mouth needs some repair, as you can see.

On its paw is a Chinese character, so I asked my colleague from Shanghai what it says, and she said, "Love." Which makes sense, because on its other paw it says "love" in English.

Travalon went to a sidewalk sale they were having at the Duck Pond and got some Mallards bobble heads. This one is called "The Evolution of Maynard," who is the Mallards mascot.

This one is Colt the Bat Dog, a real dog who fetches the bat after the batter has tossed it aside.

So these are some of our newest treasures. Stay tuned to see what we might find next!

Famous Hat