Author Archives: Ron Haines

This blog post has sat under my nose for about fifty years.  Just kidding.  My blog’s only been around for ten years. To explain, it was 50 years ago that I lived in Davenport, Iowa, as a reporter and city … Continue reading →

These two mockingbirds definitely did not want this American kestrel hanging around my yard, but all the dive-bombing they did hardly fazed it. The kestrel sat there unruffled for a few minutes, then dropped quickly out of sight behind the … Continue reading →

I know I’m getting to the end of my paddling season up here when the Paddle and Pizza Party for the Paddle Killingly Meetup Group rolls around. This year’s was a repeat of 2020, eating outdoors because of Covid.  Only … Continue reading →

It’s been a long while since I’ve updated the M and S photos on this website, so these from the local pumpkin patch this week will do quite nicely. As you can see, it’s more than just the pumpkins that’ve … Continue reading →

A couple of sizeable mountain carvings caught my interest during a western road trip a few years ago but it wasn’t until I did some research recently that I found out just how intertwined they are. One of them, of … Continue reading →

Wandering through Gouverneur, New York, a while ago I happened across this interesting monument along East Main Street in the center of town. Gouverneur isn’t exactly a manufacturing hotspot.  A tiny place of some 6,500 people, it’s on the western … Continue reading →

A farm accident spotted along a Minnesota highway a few years ago…

Every once in a while a traffic backup in a small town isn’t simply an annoyance, it’s also a bit of entertainment. One such happenstance for me was in Deadwood, South Dakota, a now small, tourist-driven hamlet that drew its … Continue reading →

I have always thought of Popeye as a cartoon character originating in my youth who started life as muscled, spinach-eating hero who always ended up with Olive Oil while rejected Bluto sat in the wings. Not so.  He was basically … Continue reading →

This Florida sign, kidnapped long ago from its nice warm home in Palm Beach Gardens and taken to Belchertown, Massachusetts, is not handling the harsh winters very well. I first spotted it in 2013 during a paddle on the Swift … Continue reading →