Cats Tuesday: Is George the World's Toughest Cat?

In July, my Zorro won third prize in the World's Hardest Cat Competition at Little Cat Diaries. The contest is on again and closes on February 22, so run quick and enter your toughest kitty! I won a copy of the book Under the Paw: Confessions of a Cat Man. I have no desire to win this year, but I will submit these photos of George Barton Cabot yawning. He looks ferocious but he's a sweetie. Zorro and I had our moment in the sun — now it's the turn of some other fortunate and tough cats! E-mail your photo of your tough guy or gal to underthepaw@tom-cox.com or leave a link to your photo at Little Cat Diaries. Don't delay! The deadline is February 22! (Tom & Janet Cox and Under the Paw are on Facebook, too. Follow them there.)

George Barton Cabot Set on Flickr

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or click Cats on Tuesday

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Ducks or Geese

I drove by a farm in Westmore, about 3 miles from the house, and the geese (or ducks, I don't know the difference) were eating grain or corn put out for them. A very large group of mallard ducks were with these ducks but they flew off as soon as I came near. A flock of turkeys was close by, also. I was able to take dozens of photographs that can be seen in my Ducks and Geese Set on Flickr.

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LOL Cat Bible: Lectionary Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Epiphany

Sixth Sunday of Epiphany
2 Kings 2.1-12
Psalm 50.1-6
2 Corinthians 4.3-6
Mark 9.2-9

2 Kings 2.1-12
Eljia Tha Robot Goes To Heaven

1 Omg so Ceiling Cat waz bout 2 take da robot in2 heaven rite? but not his pal! n his pal neva nooo tht he was goin 2 heavn by a tornado btw. so da robot n his pal were wokin
2 Da robot sed 2 his pal "plz stay here cuz Ceiling Cat wnts me 2 go 2 burger king, n its a long walk!" but his pal sed "no i wanna cum wiv u cos i wanna chikhen sammich n ull 4get" so they went 2 burger king
3 N da ppl who waz serving dem sed to da robot "do u no tht Ceiling Cat iz gnna take u 2 heaven but not ur pal???" n da he sed "yeh i no but dnt tell me!!!"
4 So den after he finshs tokin he tells his pal "plz stay here cos Ceiling Cat wnts me 2 go 2 mcdonalds cos dey dnt sell mcflurrys ere." but he seys "no im cumin wiv u" so they go ova 2 mcdonalds
5 So da guy who was servin da robot seys "do u no tht Ceiling Cat is takin u 2 heven but not u?" n da pal seys "yes but shutttup dnt remind me!!"
6 Den da robot seys 2 his pal "stay ere im goin to kfc, Ceiling Cat wants me 2" n da pal seys "no im cumin wiv u!!" so they went 2 kfc
7 Thy were almost dere but ther waz a huuuuge puddl in da way in da carpark so evey1 insyde kfc watched dem struggle haha!
8 Den da robot got a towel, throo it in da water n it all soakd up
9 Wen dey got in2 kfc da robot sed 2 his pal "wot do u want?" n he sed "double porshon ov chikhen plz"
10 An he sed "u hav askd suchs a hard fing cos i dnt hav enuf moneys"\
11 An they toked for a bit an suddnly 2 horses on fire came n made a tornado n took da robot into heaven but not his pal.
12 N so his pal went mental n shoutd "da horses is on fire!!!" so took all da robots clothes tht he left n tore dem up

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Psalm 50.1-6
Teh Song By Asaf

1 Teh mytee Ceiling Cat speekz to an sumuns teh Urf and teh uvva kittehs, frum teh sun cummin up to teh sunset, Srsly.
2 Frum teh Matrix, purrfect in booty, teh Cieling Cat Gloes.
3 Teh Ceiling Cat will beh cummin, and he wnt shup; uh fiyer eats afor him, and he iz in uh Storm.
4 Teh Ceiling Cat will make teh ceiling and teh urf come, Srsly, so tht he can watch teh uvva kittehs always.
5 He sed "Cum here my speshul kittehs, who pwomessed meh stuff by killin teh mices."
6 And teh Ceiling says tat Ceiling Cat is rite, cuz teh Ceiling Cat himselfs is teh judge, Cheezbrger.
7 Listen to meh kittehs! Cos ai iz gunna speek kittehs, and ai will testuhfai agaynst yooh!
8 Ai iz not gunnah shout a yooh kittehs fur yor sackriffisez or fur yor buhnt offrins what yooh alwayz gives meh.
9 Ai dunt want yor kows or yor horny beard kittehs frum yor howses.
10 Cuz ai alreddy haz all teh animulz in teh woodz, and all of teh cows on uh fowzand hillz
11 Ai'z frendz wiv orl of teh burdees in teh mowntins and teh creechers of teh feeld iz mine
12 If ai wuz hungree, ai woodnt tell yooh, ai would eet cheezbrgrz for ai can haz cheezbrgrz, and all tat is in dem
13 Do Ceiling cat eat teh skinz of kowz? or drinks teh blud of teh horny beardy kittehs?
14 Fank meh by killin teh d00ds like yooh pwomessed meh yooh wood, Srsly.
15 Ask meh for halpz when yooh wants it, ai will halp yooh, and yooh will return teh fayva

Mark 9.1-13
Happy Cat taeks Hiz d00dz 2 teh Meowntins

1 K den he sez, 'Dis wat im sayin to u, sum u kittens gonna b aliev wen Ceiling Cat taeks ovr teh Urfs.'
2 An 6 dayz latr he taeked Petar, Jamse, n Jon up 2 teh meowntins all by demselfs n He transformed LOL.
3 An His shirt ternded teh witest wite n teh Urf, srsly brite.
4 An den Elias and Mosis showded up n dey wuz txtin wit Happy Cat.
5 An den Petar sez, 'Mastr, we shud maek 3 tabrnclz (liek a tiny cherch LOL), 1 fer u n 1 fer Elias n 1 fer Mosis.'
6 He dint no wut els ta say cuz he wuz srsly skeert.
7 An den dis clowd shoded up n teh voyce of Ceiling Cat sez, 'Let me show u mai fav kitten. Mai fav kitten, let me show u him. U lissin to his meows, kthxbi'.
8 An den dey all lookin rownd but evrywon wuz gone but teh Happy Cat.
9 An den dey comeded down frum teh meowntins and Happy Cat sez 'Dont tell nobodi wut happnd hear til I comed back frum teh dedz, k?'
10 Den dey wuz all liek 'WTF he meenz comed back from teh dedz' cuz nrmaly wen u dedz u dont comed back so dey was teh confuse.
11 An den dey axd Happy Cat 'How comed teh kittens dat rite all teh stufs down sez Elais can haz comed back frst?'
12 An Happy Cat sez 'Srsly guise, Elais gotta comed back frst cuz he gotta fix sum shit, den teh script sez teh Kitten of Ceiling Cat can haz suffering.
13 But itz ok cuz he comed back jus now n you d00dz doned good, LOL.'

more animals

Weekend Cat Blogging
Special Valentine’s Edition with Gree and Othello

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos
Edition 84 at Digicats
(submit your post here)

The Carnival of the Cats
#257 - Kashim & Othello and Salome
submit your post here or email carnivalofthecats(at)gmail [dot] com

Visit the Pet Prayer & Praise Blog

Technorati Tags: LOL Cat Church, LOL Cat Bible, Lectionary Readings, Prayer & Praise Blog, Weekend Cat Blogging

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Heads or Tails: Love Story

Mama never forgets her birds,
Though in another tree —
She looks down just as often
And just as tenderly
As when her little mortal nest
With cunning care she wove —
If either of her "sparrows fall,"
She "notices," above.

Emily Dickinson
c. 1860

To see more participants click Heads or Tails or Heads or Tails

Thank you so much for visiting.

Technorati Tags: Emily Dickinson, motherly love
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Cats Tuesday: Buddy Has a Flavor

And the flavor doesn't seem to be that good to Sophie Dog!
Matt took this photo.

Thank you for stopping by!

To visit other participants, visit Gattina

or click Cats on Tuesday

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Puzzler: Kenken Puzzles

Play online at kenken.com or at the New York Times (free but registration required).
Technorati Tags: kenken, Will Shortz
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Blog Your Blessings: Good, Good, Good, Good, Bad

Good: The innernets came back last Friday. Very late on Friday because Comcast did not know they had sent me a new modem and had the old modem on record and accused me of buying a third party modem. So the confusion and paperwork literally took hours to unravel. But it's done and it's working well. I can blog again!

Good: Vermont Public Radio has two stations: VPR and VPR Classical. VPR went to talk radio a year and a half ago, leaving me without my tunes. They had plans to build a transmission station in Island Pond and finally it began broadcasting this fall. But I couldn't get the signal here between mountains. When Matt moved in, he brought a stereo with him, and even the new stereo couldn't get the signal. A week ago, I went to Radio Shack down in St. Johnsbury and bought a $7 antenna and now my music is back! My Saturday Afternoon at the Opera (from the Met Opera) is back. Rigoletto was last Saturday's performance.

Good: My Carpenter Pump Reed Organ was finally delivered last Saturday (above photo)! This is eleven months after I bought it. I broke some of the decorative trim on it. And it doesn't play. But I have it.

Good: After being sick with colds, bouts of bronchitis, and laryngitis since October 1, I am now healthy. My voice occasionally disappears still, and at night it is very weak. But every day sees improvement. This has been a tough winter so far.

Bad: My teaching position is being cut 50% when my contract ends on August 1. I have six months to find another 0.5 FTE position or simply another 1.0 FTE position. The depression is here: unemplyment in the Northeast Kingdom is now at 10% (source: The Barton Chronicle).

I admit that I was knocked off balance when I was told about the cut. But I am still very fortunate and as I work myself back, I will continue to count my blessings, keep my faith, and imagine the possibilities for my future.

Thank you for visiting.

To read more blessings clickBlog Your Blessings

or Blog Your Blessings

Technorati Tags: Carpenter Organs, Brattleboro, Vermont, VPR, VPR Classical
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Photo Hunters: Bridge

Barton River Bridge

This is a bridge in a pasture in the village of Barton that the cows use to cross the Barton River. In the winter, snowmobilers use it.

Thank you for visiting.

Click PhotoHunt to view more participants.

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Friday Fractal: Nova: Hunting the Hidden Dimension

Now that I have the Internet again, I have a lot of blogging to do. That's why there are two Friday Fractal posts tonight. Hunting the Hidden Dimension is the perfect introduction to fractals. You can watch this PBS video online now by clicking the link on the title. There is another PBS site, the Hunting the Hidden Dimension homepage, where you can explore fractals with an interactive applet and even create your own (as I did, above).

If you are a teacher, you will find a teacher's guide with an interesting classroom activity. You can stream the program for free on a projector at school, do the activities, let your students lose with free fractal software and see what happens! I'm going to suggest this as an After School Program at school.

Friday Fractal

Technorati Tags: fractals, Hunting the Hidden Dimension, PBS
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Blogged with the Flock Browser

Friday Fractal: FractalWorks: Fractal Diamond Wiki Colors

Download the newest version of FractalWorks, then join the Flickr FractalWorks Group. This is a 3-D fractal rendering. If you have the new FractalWorks installed on your Mac, click on this Fractal Diamond link, then click on the link underneath the Diamond and your FractalWorks will automatically open and render the Diamond. I have done it and it works. I haven't created my own fractal yet. I bet you wish you got a Mac!

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LOL Cat Bible: Lectionary Readings for the Fifth Sunday of Epiphany

Fifth Sunday of Epiphany
Isaiah 40.21–end
Psalm 147.1–11 [20c]
1 Corinthians 9.16–23
Mark 1.29–39

Isaiah 40.21–end

21 Iz u not heardz? Iz u stoopid? Can u not herez Ceiling Cat goez meowww?! He sed so befoer he createded teh Urfs, duh! Y u stoopid, k?
22 Ceiling Cat sitz abuv teh Urfs, watchez teh peepz dat luk liek mices, but he haz not eated dem. Teh skiez r liek curtinz for Him to climbz.
23 PrinzCats PWND SRSLY by teh Ceiling Cat, and JudgCatz are n00bz an stupidheads.
24 No grasses teh eat an no diggins to claw bcuz Ceiling Cat Hizzed n PWNS and grasses maded wetpantz and then dedngon. Srsly.
25 Ceiling Cat sez "I am Ceiling Cat DUH and I has PWNED and u r st00pid n00bz if u don no I PWNs."
26 OMHG WTF who doze? Up der, on the icebox w/gooshyfood inside, Ceiling Cat has dem ready for PWNs An Ceiling Cat nos sll der nms.
27 Kittehs Jakob n Isrl think u hid ur cheezburgers and Ceiling Cat not no u chase girlcatz in dark (but kitteh see in dark so is ok.)
28 Ceiling Cat sez "How u not no st00pid n00b how u thinkeded u hide ur cheezburgers an mice from Ceiling Cat? Ceiling Cat PWNS !!!!!!eleventimes jazzhands w00t. I no tired of watchin u all ur bases an stuff. but u no get it, st00pidz"
29 Ceiling Cat gavezez sharpclaws and PWR1UP to tired kittehs, And 1UP4EVRSRSLY to kittehs 2 week to drinkz milkz.
30 TeenagerKittehs tired and no land on four feet owtchwaaah.
31 But teh kittehs in der waitin watchin 4 CeilingCat 2 PWNS, dese kittehs razed up laks BirdCatz, an dey can has runin rely speedi !!!!!!!11!!!!! an walkses along fences and no loos balanz EVR so ther.

Psalm 147.1–11 [20c]

1 Praise teh Celling kitty! praise for Celling kitty is full of win; feelz good, yeah; [and] praise is comely.
2 Celling kitty builds big house: wit lotza cheeseburgrs. All teh cheeseburgrs, they belong to me, zanks, not4 evil katz, no, no cheeseburgrs 4 evil katz.
3 Dere, dere, not cry, Ceilling kitty cleans you boo-boo. lickedy-lick, nom-nom-nom. sad hooman has flava.
4 All the starz, they are mine! They all called what Ceilling kitty calls'em. Ceiling kitty calls'em starz: "mine!"
5 Ceilling kitty is allova the ceilling, and seeeeeeeez you dacing.
6 CK (das short for Ceiling Kitty, cuz type, type, type fingers hurt. and Ceilling Kitty doz apruve) lifting heavy sad ppls. trows the bad 1s out - Do Not Want!
7 Sing for Ceilling Kitty, hooman, give him bellyrubs; sing and dance, and give moar bellyrubs.
8 Who'z on thy towels, drying thy slops? Who'z on thy pilla, stealing thy dreamz? Who'z in thy fridge, funnelling thy lagga?
9 He giveth to the beast his food, [and] to the young ravens which cry. He no give nothin, bible iz full of fail.
10 Nice horsy, carries Ceilling kitty to next sunny spot, plz? Nice hooman, feed CK cheeseburgrs. ktks
11 Dah Ceiling Cat lovz all kittehs who hasz fear of him, And who knowz dat Ceiling Cat hasz srs lovez.
12 Praize dah Ceiling Cat, Kittehs. Praize dah Ceiling Cat, Hoomans.
13 Cauze he makez dah houze saefr, and givez Kittehs Cheezburger.
14 An he givez peece to dah couch, an sendz the bezt of cheezburger to hiz Kittehs.
15 make
16 moar
17 funs
18 bbl
19 leiter
20 Praise Ceiling Kitty and give gushi foods.

more animals

1 Corinthians 9.16–23

16 I gotz to tell about Ceiling Cat or I getz sad.
17 I spoze I getz sum riward.
18 I iz givin awai teh good newses about Jebuz for free.
19 I iz free but i maekz maiself evribodi's slaev.
20 I iz a Jew to teh Jews.
21 I is a Gentile to teh Gentilez.
22 I iz weak to teh weak. U getz teh idea.
23 It getz me cheezburgr. I be an hiro

more animals

Get ready now cuz the wild weekend is coming!
Board the Friday Ark at The Modulator (submit your post here)

Weekend Cat Blogging
#192 with Mr Tigger & The M-Cats Club

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos
Edition 83 with Kashim & Othello and Salome
(submit your post here)

The Carnival of the Cats
#256 - Bengal Brats at Pet’s Garden Blog
(submit your post here)

Visit the Pet Prayer & Praise Blog

Technorati Tags: LOL Cat Church, LOL Cat Bible, Lectionary Readings, Prayer & Praise Blog, Weekend Cat Blogging

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Winter Weekends

We do other things in the winter besides cook and eat. The bird feeders require replenishing. Matt took these photos. Above you see the bird tree. I have added another thistle feeder sack because the redpolls are flocking by the dozens to them. Below you can see me, in my warm winter robe, leopard jammies that were a gift from my sister, and my boots, smearing all-natural, organic peanut butter on the bird tree. Today I put blobs of peanut butter on the tree instead of one huge smear. The chickadees and blue jays kept slipping off of the large area of peanut butter. Now they can safely peck away at it.

Amy spends her evenings knitting with Mouse Cat and Sophie Dog (below).

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A Snow Day Activity

Wednesday, January 28, was a snow day and I spent the time making this chocolate cream pie from a recipe in a King Arthur catalog. It was superb! Want the recipe? Go to my recipe blog or to the Flickr photo page! I used a locally made organic frozen crust but the pie deserved better.

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The Youth Inaugural Ball

Andrew and Dan went to the Youth Inaugural Ball, for those people 35 years of age and under, on Inauguration night in Washington, DC. MTV was there with cameras. The Ball began too late on a school night so we taped it on TV. In these three photos, I found Andrew!

On historic days like January 20,
Washington is a wonderful place to live!

Technorati Tags: Youth Ball, Washington DC, inauguration day
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Friday Fractal: Ron Eglash and African Fractals

Friday Fractal

Technorati Tags: Ron Eglash, African fractals

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LOL Cat Bible: Lectionary Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany

Fourth Sunday of Epiphany
Deuteronomy 18.15–20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1-13 or Revelation 12.1–5a
Mark 1.21–28

Deuteronomy 18: 15-20

15 Den, if you iz really, really gud, teh Ceiling Cat will raise up his prophet, lookin a bit liek me only not quite sososo handzome,
16 an all u unwurthies wanted in Horeb, when youse said 'lord o lord i doan wan' see fier no maw'.
17 Ceiling Cat waz much teh happycat bout thiz.
18 I will breathe mi commands in hiz gobhole and he will be mi puppet boy.
19 An you betta obeys him, or i cals yuse ups on ma mobiel an tel yuse to open a checkin acount! Or sumfin.
20 Other profets is is bad tho, very bad. It'z so liek OMG WTF I IZ CEILING CAT AN I DIDZ NOT SAY THAT!?!

Psalm 111

1 Praize teh Ceiling Cat! iz gunna say gud stuff abowt Ceiling Cat in da police stashun and teh mayors office.
2 Ceiling Cat haz made some really awsum stuffs, peepls cumz frum all ovah just to gawk at dem.
3 Everyting He duz is awsum, and He's good forevah.
4 You can't ferget all his awsumness, Ceiling Cat always shares his cookies.
5 He gives cheezburgerz to peeps who respekt him, he keeps his dealz.
6 Everybodee can see just how l33t he is, he fourcloses a guys houze and gives it to his peepz.
7 He always goes around doin good,and his rulez r00l.
8 Even the r00lin rulez are make in a r00lin style.
9 He bailed out his peepz, he keeps his promises forevah.
10 Gettin smart starts wit respekt fer Ceiling Cat, followin his r00lz makes u smart. Props to him forevah!

1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Cookies Plaicd B4 Idles

1 Now letz talk about cookies dat peepl givz idolz. Idolz dunt eat LOL. Enniwai we all knowz stuffz. Knowing stuffz maeks u stuck up. Love maeks u liftid up.
2 If u thinkz u know sumthingz u doant.
3 But if u luvz Ceiling Cat, he luvz u too.
4 So back to teh idolz.
5 Sum peepl sez dere are lotz of godz.
6 Not for us tho. We jus haz Ceiling Cat.
7 But not evriwun knows dat yet. Sum peeple freek about cookies dat wuz givn to idolz.
8 But cookiez maek no differns to Ceiling Cat. Eat, dont eat, duzint matter.
9 But be caerful not to confuz peeplz.
10 Liek if sumwun who duzint know seez u eated teh idolz' cookiez, dey miet get teh rong ideaz.
11 N den dey getz destroid bcz of u.
12 Dat maeks Jesus sad.
13 So if eatin cookies maeks sumwun get losted, I woant eated dem. Itz not bcz cookiez is bad itz bcz I doant want no wun gettin losted.

Revelation 12.1–5a
Teh female kitteh an teh eevl puppeh

1 And there wuz a great wunder in teh Ceiling; a brite, shiny prettyz like teh sun, and teh nite sun shonez beneth this; and abuv tis thingz wuz a crown of shinyz starz:
2 And these thingz wuz a prehgnent kitteh, which mewed cuz it hurted, and teh bebe kitteh wuld not come out.
3 And there wuz another thingz in teh Ceiling; and tis thingz wuz scary, like an evil puppeh that barked cuz he wuz angry
4 And tis evil puppeh wagged hiz tale and drew teh starz from teh Ceiling and did casted tem to teh erf. And teh evul puppeh stooded in front uf teh prehgnent kitteh wich wuz reddy to haf teh bebe kitteh, so he culd eated it.
5 And teh bebe kitteh wuz a male kitteh, who wuld rulez teh erf and all itz nationz wit an iron paw: and tis kitteh was caught up to teh Ceiling, next to teh Ceiling Cat.

Mark 1:21-28
Dood with teh dirtiez in he spirtz0rz

21 An tehy all go to Capernaum an He went 2 teh jooish chrch n spokeded to teh kittehs thar.
22 An tehy wer all liek, "wtf this d00dz sez?" Cuz He was all like "Hai! Lissn up in hur!
23 Then there waz thiz dood with dirtiez in he spirtz0rz.
24 n he yellded, "O hai, wtf haz u to do with us, teh demon folk? Iz u com to pwn us? I know hoo yuz iz, 1337 One ov teh Ceiling Cat."
25 But Happy Cat gotz madz n sed, "Shut up n ecksit teh kitteh!"
26 Teh demon got pwnd! lol!
27 All teh kittehs in teh jooish chrch azkeded eech otter, "wtf? new teechinz-with athoritah! He ev3n commandz teh dirtiez spirtz0rz, n tehy listenz. OMFG!!!1"
28 Happy Cat got sup3r p0pularz n faemus allz ov3r Galilee. kthxbye!

more animals

Weekend Cat Blogging
#191 with Sir Tristan Tabby Cat Longtail

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos
is hosted by BKC and Megan
(submit your post here or via mail at festivalchaos AT gmail [dot] com)

The Carnival of the Cats
#255 - Mind of Mog
(submit your post here or via mail at carnivalofthecats AT gmail [dot] com)

Visit the Pet Prayer & Praise Blog

Technorati Tags: LOL Cat Church, LOL Cat Bible, Lectionary Readings, Prayer & Praise Blog, Weekend Cat Blogging

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A Flock of Redpolls

My Common Redpoll Set on Flickr

Technorati Tags: Carduelis flammea, Common Redpoll
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