When I started this web site, many of my students asked me to put pictures I had taken that were not from class online for them to see. I thought the best way to do that was with a Plog. What is a Plog? If you google it you will find many different meanings but in this case it is a Picture Log or Picture Blog. I thought it might be fun to post pictures I have taken that may have some educational value (such as wildlife pictures, flight, weather) or that I just think are fun or interesting. I have left up some from the last two years and will try to regularly post new ones. Keep this in mind: starting in week two you may discover a "Plog Challenge" where a picture may be accompanied by a challenging question. Any student who spots the challenge on the website and comes to school with the answer written on a piece of paper may submit it to me for a prize! Yes, parents are allowed to help BUT PLEASE help by sitting with your child and researching the answer (using a Google search for example). It is discouraging when a child says "My Mom found the Plog challenge and gave me the answer... where's my prize?" This is meant to be a learning experience for your child. Thanks... and have fun! :)
Plog Challenge: Last weekend we took my nephew from Turkey (now at U of T) to Ottawa. Here we are (with my Goddaughter) in front of what building? Tell me tomorrow for a prize!
Answer:Parliament building
Plog Challenge: What is this animal strolling through my back yard? Bring your answer to school tomorrow (Tuesday) for a prize. Hint: It's not my dog! Hint #2: Although it looks like my favourite animal (the kids should know what that is) it is not my favourite animal (although people often confuse the two).
Plog Challenge: I took this picture of the full moon last night. What is the special name for this particular full moon this time of year. Let me know Tuesday for a prize.
Answer: Harvest Moon
Plog Challenge: When one of my student’s mom sent me a picture of this particular arachnid on her house a few days ago I was surprised as I had only seen the huge creatures in a field before. Then only a couple of days later this massive beauty shows up at my house. Can you name this kind of spider? Hint: the first word is a colour and the second word is a place that might be in your yard where things are growing. Bring in your answer Monday for a prize.
Answer: Yellow Garden Spider
Plog Challenge: I took these photos at Fort Henry a couple of weeks ago. What is the name of this military formation flying jet team? I'll be extra impressed if you can name the type of trainer jets that they use.
Answer: Snowbirds (flying in Tutors)
Plog Challenge: Easy one. What is this little visitor that comes to my backyard almost every day?
Fill in the blank on a piece of paper with your name on it and bring it tomorrow for a prize.
Answer: Rabbit/Bunny/Haire
Plog Challenge: Here is the first picture I've uploaded from the boat races here in Gan this past weekend (more to come). For a prize, tell the name of the competition that took place: The __________ Cup. Fill in the blank on a piece of paper with your name on it and bring it tomorrow for a prize.
Answer: Nickel Cup.
Plog Challenge: I took some pictures off the visiting Canada 150 Jet that I think turned out pretty well. Who can tell me the name of this type of jet? Give me an answer written on a piece of paper with your name on it on Monday for a prize.
Answer: CF-18 Hornet (Canada 150th version)
This is the first Plog Challenge of the year. I took this picture on our dock a few days ago. Whoever identifies this insect, writes it down on a piece of paper and brings it to Mr. v tomorrow morning will win a prize! Hint: This one is NOT called a dragonfly. Good luck!
Answer: Damselfly
Lately I have been trying something new: Astrophotography.
Supermoon and the Howe Island Ferry.
Here are some pictures of a "wedge" of swans I thought you might enjoy. I took them from the end of our dock in the spring.
Kite Surfers down at the Kingston waterfront.
Gracie loves the snow! :)
Sunrise before the snowfall.
Misty morning across from my house.
Several different species seem to think that my yard and neighbourhood make a pretty good habitat. Here are a few of them. Special note: the last was one was our most interesting visitor. A few years ago a black wolf wondered on its own into our area. Most people who say they have seen a wolf have actually seen coyotes. They are very wolf-like and wolves simply don't live this area according to my sources at MNR. But this 'lone wolf' was just passing through and managed to take down a deer completely on its own (wolves usually hunt in packs) just around the corner from our house (somewhere I have pictures taken by another photographer of that incident but some might find it gruesome). It spent two nights sleeping in our back yard and then moved on. It was quite awesome and frightening to see at the same time. Sorry I didn't have a camera with a good zoom lens at the time.
If there's one thing more beautiful than the sunrises at our house it's the sunsets.
On a walk a couple of years ago Gracie and I found this beautiful creature stranded (or just sunning itself?) on the road.
I decided to carefully pick it up and escort it to the safety of the ditch. I'm thinking Milk Snake. Any other opinions?
Saw this cool motorized hang-glider flying by on my way to work. Something I have never seen
outside of pictures or television before. I wonder if any of my students know how it is able to fly. How does it get its 'lift'?
Habitats continued: Down by our dock (shared property... I don't live on the water) we have a large family of what I believe are northern water snakes. This bothers some people... we think they're cool!
Back to the animal kingdom with "Insects". For the record, I have no idea what the first bug is... except it is shaped like a big ladybug but does not have the ladybug colour. The caterpillars were found in our parsley and raised by my daughter. Can you tell what kind of butterfly it became?
Weather: the lightening was actually captured from a short video. The hail stones were from a microburst we had two summers ago. I've never seen anything like it! It looked like golfball sized stones as they fell but looking at them later they were the most bizarre I've ever seen. They looked like giant pulled teeth and Ninja throwing stars! I wonder how they formed that way.
