Beaumont Tower Carillon

On Tuesday, Valerie, her mother, her cousin, and I had the opportunity to visit Michigan State University's Beaumont Tower to see the carillon being played.  While not a Spartan fan, I did appreciate the musical abilities of the player as he rung out the MSU fight song, which you can see and hear below.

The mechanism that makes the hands on of big clocks on the tower turn.

The Roman Numeral 4 on one of the clock faces seen from a small window inside the tower.

The "keys".

A few of the carillon bells.

The cables that lead from the keys up to the bell strikers.

Snowfall Time Lapse Video

Momma Deer And Her Fawns

I photographed this mother deer and her fawns at Fenner Nature Center on Saturday.  Initially, I had not planned on stopping, but I realized that I had some extra time on my hands that afternoon and popped in for a short jaunt around the park.  I snapped a few photos, but nothing really sparked my interest until I was nearly out of the woods on my way back to the car.  I heard some rustling in front of me and then I caught a glimpse of one of the fawns.  I slowly approached them as they continued to forage in the brush with utmost disinterest in me.  Most of time, the deer at Fenner, despite having become accustomed to close human proximity, only allow you to get just so close before their instincts take over and they bound away.  These fawns and the mother deer did not seem to care about my nosiness and let me get very close.  They eventually wandered away into some thicker brush, but allowed me to take a number of photos and a bit of video first.  The mother deer kept licking the faces of both of the fawns (see the video below), which provided for some cute photos.

Bird Banding At Fenner Nature Center

Saturday morning I got up early and headed out to Fenner Nature Center to photograph the Earth Day activities there.  One of the coolest things they had there was the bird banding exhibit hosted by volunteers of Michigan State University's Burke Lake Banding Station.  They had set up several nets earlier in the morning to capture some birds to band and on which to record data.  The data collection requires a significant amount of blowing on the birds to fluff their plumage, which shows their musculature and fat under their feathers.  They also measure their body and wing lengths, attempt to determine the birds' sex, and note any peculiarities of individual birds.  The weighing process is an unique one, as they place the birds head-down in PVC pipe sections to keep them from flying away.  As you can see in the photo of the Northern Cardinal below, not every bird gets in the PVC pipes willingly!  At the bottom of this post you can view a video of several of the steps in the process, including the release of the birds at the end.

Also, I rarely promote specific causes on my blog, but for this amazing group I shall.  The banding station is trying to raise funds to operate this fall.  They host school groups to learn about the process and get kids outside into nature.  If you are so inclined, you may donate through their Indiegogo site: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/burke-lake-banding-station#home/share.

Dawn & Dusk

Last Saturday, I took advantage of a crystal clear day, one of the first in a long time, and started out early to capture a time lapse of the sunrise with Lansing's iconic Eckert Power Plant.  After a long day in the field photographing elsewhere, I set up my time lapse equipment again to catch the sunset with the Boji Tower clock as the center of attention.  You mayview the time lapse video below.

Snowmelt Time-Lapse Video

And there goes the snow...

Snowfall Time-Lapse Video

A quick video of the snowfall we have been getting in Lansing...

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum

On our way back from Detroit last week, Valerie and I stopped at Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum.  It was a very odd little place jammed into the backside of a strip mall on Orchard Lake Road in the Novi area.  Museum is hardly the word to use to describe the place; it was more of a menagerie of antique coin operated machines nestled between more modern arcade games.  Everything ran off of quarters, so the proprietor makes plenty of money off of this place.  Some of the older rides and machines were very interesting.  I have posted a few of the unique or plain odd pieces here.  Check out the videos under a few of the photos to see the machines in action, especially the "Spanish Inquisition" and the creepy skeleton display.