Donn sent several shots of the deer which have emerged from the woods and are milling around our homes. This inquisitive looking one is my favorite, as she contemplates the strange creature with a lens on his face.

I just looked out our window toward the dunes to see about a half dozen deer behind the house right now. As I watched, a brown fox flitted past a group of them nibbling fallen apples which are poking up through the snow. Not quick enough with my camera, or we'd have a second shot of the day.

Thank you, thank you, to all who contributed in the past day toward the new Still Waters resident van. Over a thousand dollars more overnight brings the total to around $15,000, of the $20,000 needed to complete the purchase. For more information about it, see yesterday's Cam Notes. Every dollar helps.

With the changing rules on feeding deer, we can't drive through the deer yards and see hundreds of deer like in years past. We drove through the Choate Road yard near Paulding recently and only saw three deer. There was, however, a briskly flowing stream on which there were six diving ducks! Odd to see ducks here in March.

Hard to believe Tech has to end it's entire football program, not to mention the cuts in all other departments. Education is sure taking a beating with our economy in the tank. I know that the rest of the states are in the same situation, but I am a bit partial to Tech.
Nice to see the deer back - and looking fairly healthy for this time of year. Great shot!

Nature is so beautiful and peaceful to watch!

What's this about Tech ending it's football program? Where'd you get the info? I went to check the MTU sports page at www.mtu.edu and there is nothing there about it. There is however news about the hockey coach announcing his retirement today, so I know the page is current.Personally I think they need to 'ice' the hockey team instead. It's been a disgrace for most of the last 20 years. (very frustrated former Tech student mode off)

What is this statement about Tech eliminating it's entire football program? I sure hope this is not true but if that's one of the things that has to be done to keep the place going, so be it. It's just that I have not heard or read anything about this before. I do question the way the cost of education keeps increasing faster than the rate in inflation each year. How come? Maybe the powers to be in higher education just don't know how to do without the latest high cost bells and whistles and how to live within one's means like the rest of us mortals.

Check out the Daily Mining Gazette under the headline "Tech shocker: School will drop football"

Awesome picture!

Kudos to the beautiful and wily whitetail indeed. His/her main concern is not Tech football but survival until the warm days of spring. Looks like he/she will make it in fine fashion.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/5421400.htm here is an article on the football program from the Miami Hearld..

Tech dumping football is true. It is in the online Marquette Mining Journal. Keeping Tennis and Nordic Sking tho.

The whitetail deer, Odocoileul virginianus, is a fine animal indeed. It is basically the state animal of the UP. A fastidious look this one actually has, as he or she is speculating as to who is snapping a photo of it. Kudos on the fine shot.

Wheatman

Gorgeous photos on this website...I enjoy them nearly every day. I too first learned of this site from a former Yooper friend who sent me the image of the guy with the deer on his shoulders while riding a bike last fall. Too funny!

From the Lansing State Journal website (www.lsj.com):

HOUGHTON - Michigan Technological University announced Tuesday that its 80th football season was its last.

Budget considerations were behind the Upper Peninsula school's decision to immediately drop the NCAA Division II program, said Rick Yeo, athletics director.

"The move comes in the midst of extremely challenging financial times for Michigan Tech," the university said in a news release.

All areas of the school are cutting costs by 10 percent for the 2003-04 school year, 7 percent for the following year and 5 percent for the year after that.

Football players with scholarships will continue to receive that assistance as long as they remain in good academic standing, Yeo said.

Head coach Bernie Anderson will be offered a chance to remain on the staff in another capacity.

Michigan Tech's football program started in 1920 and lasted 80 seasons. The school did not field teams during the World War II years of 1943-45.

The Huskies finished the 2002 season 3-7. They played all their games in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

http://www.myinky.com/ecp/local_sports/article/0,1626,ECP_749_1817086,00.html

Great article about MTU and it's fans in the above article.

Very sad news indeed about MTU losing their football team. I remember a couple of saturday afternoons walking over from Suomi to see MTU play. Football is a very expensive and costly sport, in smaller schools without large crowds paying the freight, it's a killer. It seems that every college these days are singing the blues concerning rising costs and lack of funds. My daughters go to the Uiversity of Iowa and I'm glad they are almost done. Every year the cost goes up and up.

Can we all say Title lX..this is what is leading to the demise of male sports programs throughout the whole country. Equal oportunity for female athletes but no income from those sports.

If students could get a four year degree and get out, costs for them would come down. But no, we have to make all the kids take underwater basketweaving classes so that they will be "well-rounded." So now a four year degree is starting to take five to six years. Of course all the professors teaching the fluffy underwater basket weaving classes are not going to say to stop them, and make themselves lose their jobs. Glad to see the deer are well and spring is coming.

too much sports,too much apathy, too much lousy tv, too much rotten movies. remember when good old baseball dominated the scene & the great movies of the 50 s. & schools taught values instead of evolution. today planned parenthood will pervert your kids if you sit back & do nothing.

Looks like we need another thread for all the sports talk here. LOL
Donn, I love the picture of the deer. Doesn't look camera shy and is actually posing. I think they are the most beautiful wild animals out in the woods except for the rabbits. Any photos of rabbits or are they to swift?

me mi, you might be interested to know that with the exception of football and basketball, none of the men's sports earns any money either!

We were driving through Eagle River, MI a fews back, around this time of year, when we must have seen about a hundred deer right in the middle of town. They were all over the place. Down by the roadside park, by the courthouse, everywhere. It was quite a site.

Can you imagine the money MTU spends on
IT Tech and computers? I love their live cams
but that all isn't free. How much can
a football program cost compared to other things?

The trouble today is the waste in society
and then they cut something that has been
around for 80 years? I see it everywhere today.

You have multimillion dollar school buildings
housing ten cent brains...

My, my. A bit of bad news and the sniping and sniveling pours forth. Please find something useful to say or do, and maybe check some facts before spouting. We will all be better off for it.

Oh my! It's HIM again!

Said goodnight and headed back to my room. In spite of the pleasant company it feels like way past my bedtime tho the clock only says 1:45am. I know theres a full moon, but its been cloudy since I got here. The ocean is beautiful - - but did you ever look at the water up close? No wonder surfers wear wetsuits. So humid here. Wah, my sinuses.

Shocking news about Tech. Charlie - - looks like the topic deserves its own page, or maybe you should pass out boxing gloves. There really IS a full moon.

missin da up

As a former MTU assistant football coach my heart is broken with the news of Tech dropping its football program. My prayers go out to all of the athletes, current and former who labored in valent effort in support of their university for 80 years! Also to Bernie Anderson who did a great job in building a great NCAA II program.

Why not call upon the alumni to help save the program? I am sure financial support could be raised. This should have been the first option.

My years in Houghton and at MTU were the best! I miss living there every day. There is not a better place to live. Hold on to what you have. Pasty.com thanks for providing a little bit of home every day for me! God bless.

I think the Alumni are going to get hit up for a lot more than proping up athletics. With the announced and most likely future reductions in State funding, MTU has a lot to do to ensure tuition fees remain reasonable and do not esculate out of control. Expect more cuts and/or trimmings and a push for endowments.

On a brighter note, I think the Mens Basketball Team deserves a big congradulations on there achievements this year! Way to go!

Speaking of b-ball, there is a nice article written by Steve Ford in the Evansville, Ill., paper in Monday's edition about the tourney at Tech. I don't have a link to post, but I will quote a piece:

After praising Matt Cameron's playing skills and sportsmanship after the game, he writes, "He (Cameron) had reminded me how to lose, after his team showed how the game should be played, his fans how it should be backed and the school how it should be hosted."
Yeah, Huskies!

Well, gee whiz! Had I been paying attention, I would have noticed the link to the article is already posted above by Deb Habermas. Thanks, Deb!

Great shot of the deer. Being a huge sports fan I
am sorry to see football dropped,but in the troubled times we have to trust they made the right decision for foe the majority by sparing other sports.