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This year's missing-in-action series run the gamut from sorely missed to barely remembered.

WASHINGTON — It may sound unbelievable, but Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid can be a wickedly funny man.

Kyle Therrien of Another Option is frank about the goal of his band. "We want to make a job out of it." And they're on their way.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately but you know how it goes, life changes and things get kicked to the side for a bit. I joined the ranks of the temporarily unemployed for the last couple of weeks while I was preparing for a change of employment. I believe the last time I managed to get 2 weeks off in a row the calendar said 2002! So, here I am, all rested and raring to go, although that's not to say that I haven't been shooting these past couple of weeks. I really didn't do too much with my time off but we did manage to get a few day trips in.

First, it was off to the ocean. Newport, Rhode Island to be exact.

© Laura L. Merwin 2008 - all rights reservedOsprey Nest

The really cool thing about coming across this Osprey nest is that it has this solar powered web cam that watches the nest 24 hours a day and transmits video to the web. I was able to find the link to the web cam and now we can all watch the Osprey's together! The mom has been sitting on the nest almost constantly for the last couple of days, however, I did catch a view of the empty nest a couple of nights ago and it looks like there are 2 eggs in it. I can hardly wait until they hatch and I'll try to give you all an update when I start to see some egg cracking action.

I also managed to get out with the family for a great day at the Lupa Zoo in Ludlow! I'm telling you, if you haven't had the chance to go visit them as yet, they are definitely worth a look. Just the right size for a day's outing with all kinds of animals to visit with. My personal favorite:

© Laura L. Merwin 2008 - all rights reservedMarmoset

Last but not least, we also took several rides (and even a couple of picnics) up at my favorite haunt, The Quabbin Reservoir:

© Laura L. Merwin 2008 - all rights reservedIf you make it up to the Quabbin try and stay till dusk and watch all the deer come out for their evening snacks.

So anyway, I'm back. Thanks so much for your patience and stay tuned for many more photo updates to come.

Spec-u-lations
Nothing really special was done to these shots. They were all shot with the Canon Rebel XTi, received a little tweak on their exposure, a little unsharp mask, a resize for the web and an upload.