The only thing better

The only thing better than taking the day off for your birthday is
taking TWO days off!
The only thing better than having birthday breakfast picnic is 
having TWO birthday breakfast picnics!
Today I got to see the friend who is moving to Mississippi for birthday breakfast. She successfully sold her house while the market was hopping but has been delayed in actually leaving town. She told me I could visit in winter and there would be no mosquitoes and I'd be able to see the stars clearly. 
As we were departing she asked if I was really going to visit her and I said yes, but not this year, because my entire budget is going to Iceland. 
You're going to Iceland!! 
I guess I left something out when we were catching up. 

While we were waiting for her to come to the park, Samuel and I wandered around. The geese had left the lake but as we approached they went back in, to get away from us. While I was taking a picture Samuel went into the lake, which was perfect. I'm glad he did, it was hot. 

Then I went to Wilde Lake, met the Howard County Birding Society, and was shown a nest. I saw the biggest frog I've ever seen. I saw the biggest turtle I've ever seen outside a zoo - hiding in the water, never coming out. I got to shoot pictures of birds through a gorgeous little section of very brightly colored wildflowers. 

The day was wonderful.

Russia is a major military exporter. Hundreds of Russian military vehicles have been destroyed in its war in Ukraine. This is the biggest loss of Russian tanks since WWII. It will take a decade for them to get their force back to where it was. The loss of at least 440 has been documented. T-72 was first produced in 1969 with design iterations since then. It's most distinctive feature is its biggest weakness. It is compact, and it is easy to start a chain reaction of explosives stored throughout the tank leading to a "jack in the box" effect aka blowing the turret off. The vulnerabilities of the T-72 are on display which will probably hurt the Russian weapons industry. Sanctions and brain flight will make it harder for them to design better tanks. 

The Ukrainian army is systematically demolishing Russian ammunition supplies. They are using American supplied GPS-guided rockets, plus some remaining old, ex-Soviet ballistic missiles and in just the last two weeks went after at least a dozen Russian ammo dumps. They've been going after them since the beginning of the invasion, but recently they've stepped it up and gotten more accurate. Ukraine will be getting similar systems from Germany, The Netherlands, the UK, and Norway. 

Meanwhile, Russian strikes are getting less accurate as the Russians us up their stockpiles of modern missiles. They don't have a rocket-launcher with the speed and accuracy of the American-provided HIMARS. They may not have meant to hit the shopping mall. 

The now wildly popular Bayraktar TB2s  can be operated 180 miles away. They are scaring the crap out of Russians based on intercepted radio calls from Russian sailers near Snake Island. It can stay in the air all day and all night. 

Another rich Russian businessman has been killed. He is the fifth Russian gas industry figure to die violently this year. 

There is a video of a masked woman urging Russian troops to switch to a Ukrainian military unit comprised of Russians. The Freedom for Russia legion was formed in March and is believed to have hundreds of Russian and Belarusian citizens, including Russian troops who switched sides. This legion is thought to be responsible for a dozen arson attacks on Russian military recruitment centers. 

Thank you for the happy birthday wishes!