The Staredown...or...One Step Too Far

Did you ever have one of "those" days? Most of the time when you see that phrase...it is not a good thing. "Those" days are usually baddddd.

But...today was different. It started with a knock-your-socks-off sunrise. I got to see it from the hospital parking lot. Light-up-the-sky kind of pretty. I filled the frame with the sky and 5 streetlights, and was planning to give a short sermon entitled Gods Light versus Mans Light. You have been spared the sermon...afraid it would put you to sleep.

After dropping off the doc...I went to the East St. bridge. 37 and sunny, and the joint was rockin. 200-3oo ducks, 15 geese, and the royal couple...The Swans.

I took 710 shots. I had 33 that I was ready to blip. Ducks in flight...swans with wings conducting their orchestra...Marilyn (the misplaced white duck) with a new boyfriend...and Ducks on Ice...a new Disney production.

I narrowed it to 2 shots. A full head shot of a napping swan, and The Staredown. This is part of a 7 picture struggle. Henry and Henrietta approach Ralph. Henrietta wants Henry to do something, and tells him so. Ralph strikes first with 2 beak-bites to the chest of Henry. Henrietta sounds off again. The stare-down begins. It is an epic battle. Mano-a-mano, head-to-head...eyeball-to-eyeball. With his mates urging...Henry finally rises to the occasion...gets in a beak-bite of his own...and in the 7th shot...chases Ralph away with a not-so-gentle bite to the hind-quarters. You can tell Henrietta is proud.

What about the 2nd title...One Step Too Far? Just before getting to the bridge...I was trying to get a reflection picture, and I needed one more step. I should have stayed where I was. I sunk into the drink to my ankle...soaking my left shoe, and drenching my sock.

The 710 shots were taken with a cold foot. But...even the little slip-up couldn't keep it from being one of "those" days.

Thanks for the kind words yesterday. As Gene Hackman says in "Hoosiers"...... "I love you guys."