What's a Hoodie Hoo? Another silly way to say 'Hello'! The term comes from a Xhosa (South African language) tongue-twister. Rumor has it that on February 20th, in parts of the United States, at high noon people go outdoors and yell "Hoodie-Hoo!" to chase winter away. It's time to make ready for spring, which is only a month away. Have Fun!

Let's make Freddie proud! Hoodie Hoo!

Looks like we have competing Hoodie threads. But I'm for anything that will make winter go away. Thermometer is starting at 36F today, so that's a good sign. Wind WSW at 12mph. Compared to Jake's weather report of 81 with a 12 mph ESE wind, we still have a ways to go, though.

I guess we had one of those group Mind Melds and we all jumped online at the same time. But I was dilly-dallying around trying to find a Hoodie Hoo graphic in my animation files. Came up with hooded diver, sisterhood and two hoodie hoos!

This one is Snork's creation from way back in the winter of 2002!



Alright - we'll jump back to the Jenni's thread - she of fleet fingers and flying feet!

Who me???


Yeh, ditto, or as the native indians so 'ho'. ie I was also looking for a hoodie hoo gif, and gave up in the end. I like yours, Rusty.

Rusty,

Thanks for the info. I am going outside right now to do my part.



Take that Mr. Woodchuck!!!!!!

Great moving Hoodie Hoo, Tom. Well done!

Bring on those spring flowers

Here is one of Grendel helping us



She is such a good puppy!

Take that - ya stupid ground hog!

How time flies…it seems like Hoodie Hoo was just a few months ago. Last year on Hoodie Hoo I had crocuses peeking through the earth. This year I have 2 feet of snow on top of the crocuses. At least the warm up today will help them wake up.

Hoodie Hoo!

Oh, and don't forget to wear your Hoodie Hoo Suit!

Snork - the old *great minds think alike* thing happening here. Just as I was posting that - I was thinking that within a few weeks we usually have crocus and glory-of-the-snow popping up. They'll have to be three feet tall to poke their little heads out this year. It is SO DEEP.



But it's beginning to melt a teensy bit - the sky is blue, the sun is bright and the (two foot} icicles are dripping.



We have a GREAT BLUE HERON out back today, too! He's hanging around the goldfish pond right outside the kitchen window. Guess his usual haunts are snowed under. There's only a two feet circle of ice open in the pond - around the pond heater. He must be hard up! This is the second year in a row he's visited!

I can't wait for it to be spring, already the pretty spring flowers are showing their heads above the soil.

Yo Annie! I hear ya!

Rusty. Thanks goodness you heard the drums. I can't post my hoodie hoo gif.

HOODIE HOO

OK, i think that your noreaster has made it our way! the grapevine is snowed in (big hill highway north of LA area) and big bear (the ski area an hour and a half from here in the san bernardino mountains) is expected to get at least 4 inches of snow (rained on them last week!)....so i think that the hoody hoo is working your way and has abandoned us! LOL!

on a good note, the doggie that got rescued yesterday from the ice pond in new jersey was an orphan, and they are now looking for a home for him/her

The chihuahua I mentioned yesterday to Igor is in good shape, too, even though it was half frozen. A dozen calls have come in to the shelter about adopting him. I like happy endings.

how did i miss that one rusty? yesterday's thread?

Cynde, I think so - a lady was found frozen to death - icicles in the house, too, from broken pipes and the little two year old hihuahua wouldn't let the medical examiner near her. Sniff. He's on the front page of the paper today in a little sweater.

rusty, i remember reading about the story, it didn't say if the doggie was alive or not...poor little thing, and poor granny too...just horrible!

There is *definitely* a place in heaven for dogs!

The Great Blue Heron got scared off a couple times today when we let the dogs out but he keeps coming back. He lands about twenty feet up one of the spruces in the back and checks things out. Now he's hunched over my *kitchen pond* right outside the window and watching the goldies. The open ice is maybe six feet by two feet across now with the sun coming around the house. (The pond is only 4' x 9" or so!) That sucker is huge! LOL

There's a cute Hoodie Hoo card at care2.com by our favorite animist - Camilla Eriksson.

"As one of the most awarded animators on the web, the Swedish artist Camilla Eriksson started out as a cartoonist in the 80's. In 1998 Camilla co-founded Care-Mail, which later changed its name to Care2.com. One year later she relocated to San Francisco to be able to work closer to the company."

Hoodie Hoo

Great link Rusty. Camilla is one of my favorites too.

This one is for Freddie.

The silly heron is still out back - but he's up in the spruce again with his wings half open, preening - trying to dry his feathers off after a nose-dive into the pond. He's soaked in his neck and belly feathers!

Well, getting kicked offline again by a frozen computer gave BoxerBob and me the opportunity to yell Hoodie Hoo! Had to do it quietly though, so we didn't scare the heron away!

It’s amazing how this snow has made many birds more visible than normal. I’ve been seeing a red bellied woodpecker and a rufus-sided towhee in my back yard, both of which I rarely see. We’ve got some herons around the office too, they are so cool to watch when they are hunting. Of course with the pond next to the office frozen solid they aren’t doing a lot of hunting today.

Let’s hope for a nice thaw this weekend!
Hoodie Hoo!

Snork - the red-bellied (with a full red head?!) woodpecker is a nice sighting. Long considered a Southern bird - they've been around this area in small numbers for more than ten years now. I hear them a LOT more than I see them.



Hmm - interesting bit from birdsource.org:

Red-bellied Woodpecker
(Melanerpes carolinus)
Cool fact: The Red-bellied Woodpecker gets its name from the small pinkish wash on its belly that is only noticeable under optimal viewing conditions.

Yes I hear them, but don't see them much.

I wondered about the name for a long time and then one day I saw one in the sun, and now I understand.

My wife and I make a calendar for our friends and family each year with pictures that we’ve both taken and we had a beautiful close-up of a red-bellied we saw last year about this same time.

Here’s a picture I caught on digital on Tuesday of him, it’s greatly enlarged so it’s a bit grainy looking.

Scroll down to the last thumbnail on the left and click on it, then you’ll see woody.

Picture 2/18/03

Thanks for the wave file Rusty, that's great!

We’ve got a pair of Downey’s I see almost every day on a suet feeder I’ve put up. They are so funny because they can see you through the window, and they duck behind the tree and keep poking there head out to see if your still there. It looks like they are playing hide and seek!

Fabulous link, Scott. I loved seeing the snow as well as the woodpecker.

I'm getting jealous of you guys nipping out to take photos with your digital cameras, and then sharing them with the rest of us. So I am thinking of getting myself one, so I can join in the fun. What do you recommend?

Hoodie Hoo,

Hear is Cheryl and her co-worker doing the hoodie hoo. I forgot to tell them about the dress code!!



Almost a spring day here. +5C, sunny, no wind. GREAT!!

Cheers,

Bill

- that's a super shot. I hit the wav at the same time and it was almost like being there. LOL

Love the little downies, too. They do exactly that on the suet hanging right outside the kitchen window - I usually only see their tails. We get a pair fairly often - they brought the clumsy, short-tailed babies last spring! Then the starlings come and wipe out a suet block in a day!

Jenni - I feel the same way - I'm still in the FILM era but my Dad has such a ball with his digital.

What did you Dad get, Rusty? You've posted some pics of his, and they are great.

Thanks Jenni, digital is fun, but my best shots are always with film (slide particularly).

Fun shot Bill, looks like Washington has about the same amount of snow as Ontario, who would have ever believed that!

Rusty, those darn starlings do the same to me all the time. I saw a new feeder the other week that only woodpeckers can get into because it’s so thin, but it requires “special suet cakes”, which of course means a “special price” too. Oh well, they’re birds too. I just stop putting food out for a few days and the starlings go elsewhere.

Mr. Bill - you guyz are too cool! Look at the snowbanks - and you didn't even get the brunt of this latest blizzard! It is mild and sunny and calm here, too! Of course, the snow is still thigh-deep. Last year I stood out back yelling Hoodie Hoo in barefeet on bare ground!

Jenni... I can't remember what kind it is, I'll ask him.

Today is John Glenn Day Day
Today marks the 41st anniversary of John Glenn's historic orbit.



John Glenn Parade
February 23, 1962

Astronaut John Glenn is handed a "Well Done" sign by local Cocoa Beach residents, as he, Mrs. Glenn and Vice President Johnson parade toward Cape Canaveral. The Friendship 7 flight made him the first American to circle the earth and was part of the Mercury project.

bill, great pic, i love the socks and sandles on cheryl!

I think the socks and sandals are a way of conceding nothing to winter!!

I'm starting to get SPRING FEVER! The sun and the mild temps are SO NICE!

I'm getting a sore click finger from these competing threads, get it together people.

Great Woodpecker shot, Snork. Even better Hootie Hoo shot, Bill.

Jenni, first off, congratulations on your 2000th post from last night. Number 1999 was a keeper and maybe the best of so far.

As far as digital cameras get a Sony or burn in hell . Most of us when we got into digital looked at the cameras that will go underwater first and they pretty much are the Sony, Olympus and Cannon all of which make UW cases for their cameras. Far and away the most popular is the Olympus 4040 and 5050, they are all wrong. But what does the rest of the world know. Go to www.dpreview.com for extensive reviews of all the major cameras. A good point and shoot, 4 megapixel, 3x optical zoom should run $400-$600 (you can translate to pounds).

cecil, michael spilled the beans and told me what he is getting me for christmas this june (when he finds work) a cannon powershot G2 (4.0 mega pixels) has a view screen and takes up to 180 second video as well, and has sound...and i can get an underwater housing for it

i love my sony f707

(even if it weighs 300 lbs housed and strobed on land)

Hi Mom and Dave!

It's a diverchick:

Cynde, you know that camera is discontinued. Very nice camera, little expensive. It lists for $900.

Two rules of digital photography, never take video with a still camera and never take stills with a video camera. They are both bad at what they are not designed for. I've shot some video with my Sony, not very impressed. I do wish I had switched to video when I saw the bait ball in the Keys.

Hoodie Hoo Fish

Here's someone else saying goodbye to winter.

Forgot the pic, and edit won't let me add it on.

Where did everyone go.

hey annie, you still there? cecil...discontinued? we saw it at best buy????

here is michael with his hoodie hoo...i went down to the boat at lunch, he has been working hard on getting her ready for the dive season

Saga of mum and dad in laws house continued.
Had a new offer today which we have accepted. The old folks are moving into their new bungalow over the weekend so we are praying that this offer will work out. Any prayers, chants or spare hoodie hoos will be very gratefully received! We need all the blessings we can get. Personally a private prayer for tolerence is what I need. I must find more!

I'm back, one again cheated death and my commute.

Cynde, that's a beaut, the boat not Michael. A real classic, once again the boat not Michael. Dpreview lists it as discontinued. Best Buy might still have some stock.

Julia, I say some prayers to the real estate/loan officer/solicitor/home inspection gods. There's got to be a saint for this somewhere.

Cecil, you must be right and your comments have raised the first real chuckle I have had all day, bless you! However I am wondering if it is St. Jude, who I think is the patron saint of lost causes!
Julia

Cynde, I like the boat and I like Michael. LOL Nice pic.

Cecil, I know just how you feel. Welcome back.

Julia, Hang on in their gal. I am sure it will all work out fine.

What do you think Jenni would make of this one. I can see a huge flying creature here, flanked by two smaller ones on either side. Ok I must be going cwazy.

cecil, thanks, he is cute isn't he...oh, that's right you were talking about the boat:-)...aka..merlot...she is a 1956 Owens...wood...wood...wood...work...work...work...one day i was on the bow sanding the wood with the power sander and some guy walks by (we are on the boardwalk) and says "if you can get her to work on your boat, keep her!" LOL! it is the power tools that make me stick around

oh, annie, i see the creature rising from the deep...oh, where is jenni when you need her to psychoanalyze us!

julia, good luck with your situation

Cynde,

Nice boat - So. cal. all the way eh girrrl!!
We'll have to visit.


Annette -You put together some vewy scawy pictures!! maybe you can sell them? rorschach

Have a nice night, evening, afternoon, next week(in case Janeece is lurking?)


Bill

Love those old wooden boats. My father had an old Trojan (that's a boat manufacturer dirty minded people). Would not own one on a bet but you have my respect.

As far as psychoanalyzing this group, you better bring your lunch, dinner, snack, breakfast, lunch, diner etc. You get the idea.

Went to see one of my heros last night, George Carlin in a small theater. Way, way excellent, a very warped individual. I'm not sure there is enough Prozac on the planet to fix him.

Here's a pretty lousy picture of him. I had to guess the distance and being a man I missed, I swear it looked longer. I could not use the camera's auto feature or I would have been busted for having a camera.

Bill. That's a good link, and very interesting too. So how much would you like to pay for one of my ink blots. LOl Jake's just gonna have to cave in soon and give me a job on Bon.

Cecil. Naughty, naughty boy, but that is a great photo. Annie B.

Time for bed.

cecil, great photo, did you bust a gut laughing?

bill, you and cheryl be welcome anytime you get tired of the cold wind and snow sandles with no socks required

Well, where do you think I was???

Yes, out dancing.



OK I'll psychoanalise you all, as long as we do it on Bon. Any takers?

Thanks for the info re cameras. I'll bear it all in mind when I go shopping. And I will look on the net for information first too.

Is it too late to Hoodie Hoo?