Happy Halloween!

Morning clouds

Anatomy of a perfectly-executed pulling guard play

Kees played guard in this series and perfectly executed the play... pulling and running left... marking his man...and taking him out... making a hole for the running back to gain 15 yards, setting up a touchdown on the next play.

Bob Lilly would be proud!

Flashmob... BEP and Oprah!

The Black Eyed Peas kicked off the new season of Oprah Winfrey's daytime talk show in stunning fashion on Tuesday by staging the largest single city 'flashmob' dance event ever.

Without the show host's knowledge, Peas star will.i.am teamed up with choreographers to create a dance routine for the band's "I Gotta Feeling" hit and then called on 800 fans to help him carry out the spectacle on TV.

The 800 were taught the moves and then they passed them on to another 20,000 Oprah fans, who showed up for the taping of the TV titan's free block party show in Chicago, Illinois.

The amazing finished product aired on TV in America on Thursday - when more than 20,000 people took over Chicago's Michigan Avenue and wowed Winfrey and will.i.am with a colourful synchronized dance routine.

After the performance, the singer/rapper told Oprah, "I didn't think it was going to be this spectacular... You talk about crowd participation, this is beyond... This is incredible."

And the host screamed, "That is so cool. That is the coolest thing ever... Chicago, I love you."

I'm coming back as a Kingbird!!

Pat Gaines actually felt sorry for the red-tailed hawks at Bonny Lake State Park this summer.

Despite their aggressive reputation, loud screams and fierce, piercing looks, the red-tailed hawks at the park north of Burlington, just west of the Colorado-Kansas border, were being bullied when Gaines saw them.

"I've never seen red-tails harassed so much. They all seemed hoarse. I felt kind of sorry for them," said Gaines of the sight of dozens of little birds dive-bombing the hawks.

The hawks were minding their own business, Gaines recalled.

But the western kingbirds at the park were upset.

Highly territorial, the kingbirds felt the hawks were intruding on their space, said Gaines, a Westminster scientist who helps develop vaccines and tests used in veterinary medicine.

Gaines had focused his camera on one red-tailed hawk because the bird had been screaming. As he followed the hawk across the sky, a kingbird dive-bombed the hawk.

The hawk, which is not a predator of the kingbird, flew as fast as it could from the kingbird. For a moment it appeared the kingbird had stopped attacking. But then it began the pursuit again and — to Gaines amazement — landed on the hapless red-tail's back.

"He rode the hawk for 25 yards. The hawk was not trying to fight back — it was just trying to get out of there," said Gaines.

As the kingbird rode bareback on the hawk, it pecked away at the hawk's head.

"They (the kingbirds) are not afraid of anything," said Gaines. "Until this happened, I had never seen one perch on a hawk's back."

Gaines posted his photo at the Colorado Birder website last month, where he is a frequent contributor.

Other sites, including some in the United Kingdom, have picked up the photo.

The comment posted by Colorado Birder Sarah E sums up the reaction to the image: "Awesome photo!"

Teeing Off

 

Kees teeing off on the hole he drove almost to the green...the kid's good at the ball and stick sports for sure.

The Terminator!

Notice something missing on Kiersten's club?? Yes... the Terminator lost the club face on her Big Bertha!!! Seriously... something must have cracked it because when she swung the club head kept on flying!

A coaching lesson from little bro...

Beautiful day!

Kees stylin' on the links!

High School Band

Since Kees is in the symphonic band, he got to play at the high school game with the high school band. No marching, of course, but they played the entire game in the stands with them... and they sounded good!