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And truly fortunate to be there at that moment. Thank you Rob!

From @robcrank68.bsky.social, today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #BestOfTheMonth. While taking photos of blooms with my iPhone at Mattheai Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor, MI, this ruby-throated hummingbird photobombed my frame. #birds #birding #ECK #hummingbird #bloomscrolling

ruby-throated hummingbird hovering to feed on a flower amid a riot of red, yellow, and purple blooms against a greenery backdrop

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 8h

From Atomic Promise If Gordy hadn’t asked—if Ernest hadn’t agreed—Bob would have left the bounce tests to Kelso to handle so as not to interrupt recording. Perhaps Ernest decided a drop-out on monitoring Bea now and again wasn’t a risk, with a guard on duty. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 20h

Goodness yes, it's been forever.

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 29/09/2026

For #RockinTuesday a delightful piece of rockwork by trail builders on the Perimeter Trail at Caesar Creek State Park, upslope from Horseshoe Falls. #ECK #hiking #stateparks #trails #ohiohikes #forest

Fossil-imbued slabs of stone make up a sloped path into a tunnel of hardwood forest

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 29/09/2026

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #EFG, birds beginning with any of those letters (1st name). Alt theme #Paridae, any of the species. A most surprising find last year, a Florida scrub-jay in a mangrove forest near Charlotte Harbor. #birds #birding #FloridaBirds #ECK

A bright blue and white jay perched in a salt-loving shrub under the roots of a red mangrove with shell-flecked mud below it

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 29/09/2026

From Atomic Promise Bob paused. "I thought you said the launch went well, but they were still looking for Laska.” “We lost Laska.” Dick’s voice caught. “Navy called off the search.” #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 28/09/2026

For today's Alt #BirdofTheDay of #AwkwardAvian - any bird captured in a silly, clumsy or strange position - here's a wood stork playing balance beam on a boardwalk rail at Gatorland Orlando. #birds #birding #FloridaBirds #woodstork #ECK

Awkward stance of a wood stork balancing on a railing above an alligator pond at Gatorland Orlando. Legs and feet splayed, head dipping forward, wings held high extending out of frame for balance

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 28/09/2026

From Atomic Promise No one knew when NASA would start plucking military projects to call their own. Kelso had a betting pool, so Bob tossed in the anniversary of Sputnik as his sure pick. Man-in-Space-Soonest was a given; Animals-in-Space, a prime target. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 28/09/2026

Pond at Cox Arboretum, Dayton, under blue skies. #BlueSkyMonday #ECK #Gardens #ohio

Pond edged by grass and landscaping with a row of trees in the distance, reflecting a cloud in a blue sky within the water

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 27/09/2026

Today's #BirdoftheDay theme is #Seabirds, any bird found by the sea or coast. Alt #airborne, any bird in flight. Brown pelicans hover over the Atlantic Ocean near Playalinda Beach. #birds #birding #FloridaBirds #EastCoastKin

A pair of pelicans overhead against a blue sky

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 27/09/2026

A pair of rather dissonant lights illuminating the difference between city and country in the Great Lakes region. #BlueSkyArtShow #ECK #lights

Frank Lloyd Wright designed lamp in a meeting space within Monona Terrace in Madison, WI

Antler lamp in a rustic bar and grill outside of Marquette MI

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 26/09/2026

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Pairs of the same species; alt #Green, in the background not the bird. A pair of common grackles along a paved path in a town park. #birds #birding #ECK

A pair of common grackles competing at calling out along a paved path in a park with a grassy edge.

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 26/09/2026

Herbie the Love Bug. Someone drove a VW painted like Herbie up and down the rows.

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 26/09/2026

An amazing, surreal take on the beauty of Planet Earth.

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 25/09/2026

For #ForestFriday a look down from the bluff at High Bluff State Park at the north end of Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin. #ECK #hiking #trails #stateparks #wisconsin #OWAA2026 #nature

Looking down into a lush forest amid natural rock terraces on bluffs, with a clear leafy path where hikes are walking into the woods

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 25/09/2026

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Borbs, birds looking plump. Alt #Brown, birds with Brown in their plumage A sparrow edges up under our table, at my feet, looking for crumbs. #birds #birding #sparrow #ECT

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 24/09/2026

Fall wildflowers add a shimmer of yellow to Horicon Marsh at Marsh Haven Nature Center, Waupun WI #PalacesAndGardens #ECK #MellowYellow #BloomScrolling #wildflowers #ScenicWisconsin #OWAA2026

Goldenrod and other yellow wildflowers across a swath of wetland with cottonwood trees in the background

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 24/09/2026

To celebrate #TheDivers for today's #BirdOfTheDay here's an anhinga surfacing in Lake Hancock at Circle B Bar Preserve in Lakeland FL #birds #birding #floridabirds #ECK

Anhinga surfacing with neck stretched out and ripples of water surrounding where it surfaced

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Reposted by Sandra Friend

Kevin Wertman @kevin.wertman.org · 23/09/2026

For today's #BirdOfTheDay from Atlantic Birding. #Raptors #Photography #Birds #Hawks

The head and shoulders of a red shouldered hawk with several long curling leaves dropping down into the frame , background is mostly green

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 23/09/2026

@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social looks like an aerial illustration befitting one of your novels!

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 23/09/2026

Dust reflects sunlight, which is why you notice the particles. Satellites being reflective, I'm wondering if that reflectivity of sunlight away from the Earth (which impacts astronomy) has been measured.

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 23/09/2026

A #WoodlandWednesday wander in Chocolay Bayou Nature Preserve on a forested ridge between a bog and Lake Superior south of Marquette, MI #hiking #MichiganUP #trails #inthewoods #ECK

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 23/09/2026

One aspect of crowded orbits I've yet to see discussed: if orbital objects are messing with astronomy, does all that hardware up there also impact the amount of sunlight reaching Earth?

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 23/09/2026

Yes! I was in an 8th grade class in 1976 where these books were assigned and discussed: Alive The Day of the Jackal Advise and Consent Preserve and Protect Come Nineveh, Come Tyre The Promise of Joy Better than a Civics class for discussing geopolitics

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 23/09/2026

Today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Raptors; any bird of prey. A sequence taken through a porch screen of a young red-shouldered hawk and a rabbit. Although the hawk finally swooped after the rabbit it didn't catch it. #ECK #birds #birdijg #hawk

Young red-shouldered hawk perched on a railing in a yard watching a rabbit in the grass

Young red-shouldered hawk perched on a railing in a yard now intently watching a rabbit in the grass

Young red-shouldered hawk perched on a railing in a yard launches itself at a rabbit in the grass

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 22/09/2026

For #RockinTuesday a visit to the Jackson Mine, the first open pit iron mine opened in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, now a stop on the #IronOreHeritageTrail in Negaunee, west of Marquette. #IOHT #ECT #UpperMichigan #geology

Iron statues in a forest depicting men breaking apart rocks with hand tools, ore carts in the background

Red and blue streaks of specular hematite iron ore on a boulder along a footpath

The hand hewn entrance (about 6 feet tall) of an iron mine, wide enough for mule-drawn ore carts

Interpretive sign titled "The First Open Pit Mining Site" with photos and details about the Jackson Mine. It is installed on an observation deck in the woods above the now water-filled pit.

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 22/09/2026

For #ThickTrunkTuesday one of the big maples basks in the glow of a remnant of the Great Black Swamp at Sawyer Quarry Preserve east of Perrysburg, OH. #ECK #hiking #GreatBlackSwamp #OhioHikes #BigTrees

Thick trunk of a maple tree along a footpath in a lovely green glowing woodland

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 22/09/2026

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Redheads, any bird with Red on its head/beak. A free-roaming urban rooster pounding the pavement at the Oviedo Post Office. #birds #chickens #FloridaBirds #ECK

A rooster with a red crown inspects the sidewalk outside an urban post office

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 21/09/2026

Reflections of the photographer's pink shirt in a fresnel lens atop a Lake Michigan lighthouse. #EastCoastKin #ColorADay #PinkMon #AlphabetChallenge #WeekLforLookingIn #MacroMonday #lighhthouse #reflections

Close up of reflections in a fresnel lens atop a lighthouse of the pink shirt worn by the photographer with a hint of blue skies beyond

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 21/09/2026

Many decades ago one of my college professors accused me of plagiarism for using the word aeroplane in an essay on the early days of aviation.... never mind that aeroplane and aerodrome were the normative words during that period.

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 21/09/2026

Sturgeon Bay meets Green Bay, as seen from the observation tower along the #IceAgeTrail at Potawatomi State Park, Door County WI. #BlueSkyMonday #ECK #hiking #nature #stateparks #OWAA2026 #DoorCounty #ScenicWisconsin #GreatLakes

Treetops in foreground with expanse of blue water and blue skies beyond broken by a forested spit of land

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 21/09/2026

The #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #LightAndShadow, any bird capture that has both. Alt theme is #FallBirds, any Autumn/ Fall bird captures. Black-bellied whistling ducks sounding a sunrise alarm on a neighbor's roof. #birds #birding #ducks #sunrise

Silhouettes of over a dozen ducks on a house roof against a sunrise illuminating them from behind

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 21/09/2026

From Star Struck The astronomical discussion slipped past like the jet stream as Bob discarded a dozen ways of explaining to Gordy what happened—what he thought happened—when the hotel was bombed. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 20/09/2026

Among the native sunflowers at Bradner Preserve near Bradner, OH #StunDay #ECK #BloomScrolling #sunflowers #hiking #OhioHikes

Tall spikes of native sunflowers with multiple blooms reach for the blue sky in a meadow within a wooded preserve

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 20/09/2026

From Star Struck Since Bob talked with the fellows at Monmouth regularly, he’d shared the news about the Signal Corps disbanding the Pigeon Service. And the sale. Ulysses groaned. He shoved the letter at Lonnie. “Take it.” #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #PigeonSky

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Sandra Friend @sandrafriend.com · 19/09/2026

I write them on my own website when a book (or collection of different titles) truly speaks to me. On social media, not so much. I track what I've read for my own sake.

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