some dudes, up to no good

some dudes, up to no good, photo by jenny murray.

Have a great weekend and do your best to be up to some good.

Check this triple (?) exposure shot out bigger and in Jenny’s slideshow.

Speaking of up to some good, Michigan’s Smoke Free Air Law takes effect tomorrow night and bans smoking in all Michigan restaurants, bars and businesses (including hotels and motels).

More photos from jenny murray on Michigan in Pictures.

Windmill Island is ready for Tulip Time

Windmill Island , photo by Kiran Bhat..

It’s Tulip Time in Holland! The annual Tulip Time Festival takes place May 1-8, 2010. The festival is a celebration of Dutch heritage and culture that has something for everyone including 3 parades, Dutch Dance performances, concerts, theatre, Dutch attractions, Dutch food, children’s events, trolley tours and more.

You can follow along with what they’re up to on the Tulip Time Facebook. The Michigan Archives have more about the history of Tulip Time. There’s a bunch (bouquet?) more Tulip Time on Michigan in Pictures.

Check it out bigger in Kiran’s Tulips again slideshow.

American Toad

American Toad, photo by James Marvin Phelps (mandj98).

The UM Animal Diversity Web says that Bufo americanus (American toad):

…have an immense ability to adapt to their surroundings as long as there is a source of semi-permanent water for them to use in the breeding season. This quality has allowed them to successfully colonize suburban and agricultural areas.

American toads have short legs, stout bodies, and thick skins with noticeable warts. These warts can be colored red and yellow. The warty skin contains many glands that produce a poisonous milky fluid, providing these toads with excellent protection from many of their predators. This poison is only harmful if it is swallowed or if it gets in the eyes, but it can make many animals very sick.

Head over for much more including photos and sounds of the American Toad. More at American Toad on Wikipedia and the Michigan Herps Froga & Toads page.

Toads do not cause warts, and in case you’re tempted to harm these guys, consider what the Michigan DNR says about the American Toad: A beneficial species in gardens, eats many insect pests – a modest-sized toad will eat about 3200 insects in a season.

James says he caught this guy soaking up the sun on the lava rocks in his yard. You can view it extra-large at his web site.

Comerica Park, Home of the Detroit Tigers

Extra! Extra!, photo by RLHyde.

The page on Comerica Park at ballparksofbaseball.com says that in the mid 90s:

…Tigers President John McHale said that Tiger Stadium had 10,000 of the best seats in baseball, but was supported by 40,000 of the worst. It was clear that Tiger Stadium lacked many of the amenities of newer parks being constructed at the time. In 1995 the city agreed to help fund a new stadium and in March 1996 voters approved a plan to build a new ballpark in downtown Detroit. Following other ballparks that were built during that decade, the Tigers new ballpark was built mainly of steel and concrete, with a brick exterior. Constructed in downtown Detroit, construction began October 29, 1997.

For the first time in over 100 years, opening day baseball was played at a different location other than at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. Nearly 40,120 fans filled Comerica Park on opening day, April 11, 2000.

The $300 million ballpark is 345′ down the leftfield line, 330′ down right and 420′ in straightaway center. For the name, Comerica Bank pays the Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority $2.2 million per year. Here’s a satellite map of Comerica Park at 2100 Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

Whatever you feel about the Tigers’ move from Michigan & Trumbull, it’s hard to deny that Comerica is a beautiful ballpark. The Detroit Tigers section for Comerica Park has some sweet panoramas of Comerica Park and past ballparks that the Tigers have called home.

Ryan says that this looks better the bigger it gets, and he’s right. Check it out on black or background bigtastic.

Need more? Here’s the Comerica Park slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr!

This Bud’s for you? Champion Clydesdale Breeding Farm for Sale

clydesdale139team500, photo by CreateWithKim.

Last week’s Traverse City Business News Ticker reported that East Jordan’s Beaver Chase Farms, where the famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales have been bred for more than a decade, is now on the market.

The Anheuser-Busch page on the The Clydesdales says:

On April 7, 1933, August A. Busch, Jr. and Adolphus Busch III surprised their father, August A. Busch, Sr., with the gift of a six-horse Clydesdale hitch to commemorate the repeal of Prohibition.

Realizing the marketing potential of a horse-drawn beer wagon, the company also arranged to have a second six-horse Clydesdale hitch sent to New York on April 7 to mark the event. The Clydesdales, driven by Billy Wales, drew a crowd of thousands as they clattered down the streets of New York City to the Empire State Building.

…Today, Anheuser-Busch owns approximately 250 Clydesdales; they continue to be an enduring symbol of our heritage and tradition.

Kim took this photo of the Budweiser Clydesdales in Marquette Michigan Mattsson Lower Harbor. See more in her Budweiser Clydesdales set (slideshow).

earth day should be every day, you know

earth day should be every day, you know { 112 / 365 }, photo by caterpillars

The concept that protecting the only home we have is something we can afford to focus on just once a year seems crazy to me.

Get out and love this world, people – today and every day. It’s one of the best I bet.

This photo is part of Laura’s 2010 ft. 365 project set. See it bigger in the slideshow and check out more of her work at Ell Dy Photography.

In case you missed it, there was a writeup on Earth Day’s roots in Michigan on Thursday that you might enjoy.

Laughing Whitefish Falls (and hey brother help a brother from Michigan out!)

Laughing White Fish Falls, photo by John.Dykstra.

I’m goin away, ’cause I gotta busted heart.
I’m leavin’ today, if my TravelAll will start.
And I reckon where I’m headed, I might need me different clothes
way up in Michigan, where the Laughing River flows.
~Greg Brown, Laughing River

Waterfall supersite Go Waterfalling says that Laughing Whitefish Falls looks bigger in person and:

…is in the Laughing Whitefish Scenic Site. This is one of the most impressive of Michigan’s waterfalls. I believe it is the highest waterfall in Michigan that is readily visitable.

The falls can be found off of M-94, about 30 miles from Munising or Marquette, and just outside of Chatham.

…The waterfall is named for the river. The river is so named because the mouth of the river resembled a laughing fish when viewed by the Ojibwe from Lake Superior.

The photo was taken by John Dykstra and John is a high school senior who is near the top of the voting for the Sigma Corporation of America Scholarship. They will award a cash gift & Sigma products for one senior to advance his or her education and goals toward obtaining a career in the photography industry.

John asks you to look at his work as he wants honest support. He writes that he is an:

…aspiring artist with an intense passion for landscape photography, the main point of interest being the innate beauty of the Michigan wilderness. The prize is for $5000 + $1000 in Sigma products, all of which I would be using to get an immense jump start in my fine art photography and nature conservancy career. I would be able to get the equipment I need right now and begin shooting across the state’s forests within weeks of graduating.

You can learn about the contest here and see and vote for John’s entry right here. See this photo bigger in John’s slideshow.

Earth Day at 40, Earth Day in Michigan

Untitled, photo by Brooke Pennington.

Many folks may not know that Earth Day has deep roots in Michigan, at the University of Michigan to be precise. James Tobin at Michigan Today has the story of the Teach-In on the Environment that UM held in March of 1970 because Earth Day fell right in the middle of exams. Students and teachers formed a group called Environmental Action for Survival (ENACT) and booked Democratic front-runner Senator Edmund Muskie, Ralph Nader and biologist Dr. Barry Commoner.

Over four days, an estimated 50,000 people took part in ENACT’s teach-in—an astonishing success that fueled enthusiasm for Senator Nelson’s national Earth Day, which drew some 20 million participants four weeks later and transformed environmentalism into a movement of historic importance. (A number of ENACT’s leaders went on to influential careers in the field, including Doug Scott, a longtime executive at the Sierra Club who is now policy director at the Campaign for America’s Wilderness; David Allan, who became a professor and associate dean of U-M’s School of Natural Resources and Environment; and John Turner, who served as director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the first President Bush.)

“The Michigan event was by far the biggest, best, and most influential of the pre-Earth Day teach-ins,” Adam Rome, a historian and authority on the environmental movement told the Ann Arbor Chronicle. “It was the first sign that Earth Day would be a big deal.”

Read the rest and see photos and even a documentary from The 40th Anniversary of Earth Day at Michigan.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality can point you to Earth Day events all across Michigan, from the Get Clean/ Go Green Earth Day Celebration in Twin Lakes to the Michigan Earth Day Fest in Rochester held this weekend (Apr 23-25) where they expect 100,000 people to learn about green and healthy living through earth-friendly alternatives in food, energy, transportation, clothing, wellness, career, home, garden, finances and more.

Brooke took this photo on Earth Day last year. Check it out bigger in his Spring slideshow and view more of his work on Michigan in Pictures.

There’s a whole lot more in the Earth Day slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool!

It’s Morel Season in Michigan

Morel, photo by LadyDragonflyCC -Morel Mushroom Season.

Morels are starting to show up in the woods … and if it would rain, we’d be seeing more!

Like everything else, the morels are way early in 2010. No word yet on whether it will impact the 51st Annual Mesick Mushroom Festival (May 7-9) or the 50th Annual National Morel Mushroom Festival in Boyne City (May 13-16). Check their sites for info and updates (including a listen to the Mushroomers Waltz written and performed by Robin Lee Berry on the Boyne City site!).

Much more about Michigan morel mushrooms on Absolute Michigan and morels on Michigan in Pictures.

LadyDragonflyCC says this is her first find of 2010 – check it out bigger and in her Mushrooms set (slideshow).

Dicentra spectabilis: alias bleeding heart, Venus’s car, Dutchman’s trousers, or lyre flower

Dicentra-52, photo by jakphoto.

Wikipedia says that Dicentra spectabilis is a perennial herbaceous plant native to eastern Asia and also known as Venus’s car, bleeding heart, Dutchman’s trousers, or lyre flower. It flowers from early spring to mid summer. If you’re wondering what to do when these lovely flowers fade, check out Companion plants for bleeding heart from Michigan gardener.

Check it out on black and see more Michigan flowers from Michigan in Pictures.