An Independence Day Celebration Playlist

I’ve put together a playlist that is sure to be the perfect soundtrack for your Independence Day fireworks show. Of course, there are plenty you can find on Spotify, Apple Music, and other internet searches but none will get you in the spirit quite like this one 🙂 Check out the songs below for over an hour and a half of patriotic American music… you can also find this playlist on Spotify here. God bless America!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness

The music in the Lipton “Stop Chuggin” commercial, and other fun facts.

Lipton used a catchy song as the soundtrack for a new ad on TV recently. Before we get to the song, here’s the ad…

I love this ad! It is similar to Amazon’s Prime Day ad in its content, but presents it in a less roller-coaster-makes-my-stomach-twisty kind of way.

The music. The song in this ad is “Lotta Things” by Raphael Gualazzi. Here is the full track.

What a catchy song, right? It brought to mind the Johnny Cash song, “I’ve Been Everywhere” and oddly enough, the lyrics of Raphael’s song include a reference to Johnny Cash in the lyrics…

Gotta go to superdoopermarket, so divine / Yes, I graduate soon / Gotta walk the line…

Fun facts. These are fun…

Lipton is owned by PepsiCo.

National Iced Tea Day was June 10th (who knew this??).

The company is named after it’s founder from the 1800s, Thomas Lipton.

This is why playoff hockey is amazing to watch

It was a few years ago that I went to my first NHL hockey game. It was the Nashville Predators in a home game and I didn’t think much would entertain me. I mean, I had been to minor league hockey games and for me they weren’t anything to clear your calendar for.

But this one? It was different. I often compare all sports to football, because football is the pinnacle of fan excitement and all that. Each football game can be fun to watch so that’s why hockey was always inferior (in my world). In football, the energy of the fans kind of goes up and down play by play. There could be a lot of excitement in the first quarter, but it sputters out by the 3rd. Or the second half is better than the first but then one team wins by 2 touchdowns, not easy to come back from that with only a few minutes to go, so the crowd loses energy.

Playoff hockey? It’s a whole new world. The Preds game I attended was something I wouldn’t have believed unless I was there. From the first puck drop, to the final second, the energy was in a steady climb and didn’t reach the peak until that final buzzer. Honestly, I have never attended any game that felt like that– and I went to Florida State in the late 90s when football was everything. Instead of fireworks of energy and excitement (like football games can be), the hockey game was a steady burn that built and built and built and erupted into a forest fire by the end of the game.

It’s also fascinating to watch what these hockey players can do with a stick and a puck. Precision. Power. Speed. It’s almost magic.

I say all that to set up this clip. In a game over the weekend, there was a crazy few seconds as the third period came to an end. The team that was winning with just a few seconds left held on to the victory, but it wasn’t without incredible drama. Take a look at the shot block that saved the game for the New York Islanders.

Crazy, right? Now watch it again and, while the save was amazing, also it’s important to marvel at the shot! This guy avoids defense with a graceful pirouette 360 spin and still manages to hold on to the puck, and even shoot it in the right direction… WHAT??? If that shot turned into a score, it might have been recorded as one of the best goals in NHL history.

As it is, it might go down as one of the best blocks in NHL history… and it’s not even by a goalie! Amazing stuff.

Did you watch that game? What did you think of the clip of the player saving the game for his team? Comment below, and thanks for stopping by…

-Out of the Wilderness

Comparing the beaks of newborn birds – in pictures

Hello and squeek chirpy cheeeeeeep to all you bird lovers out there. Today’s post is all about beaks. Over the past few months I’ve photographed newborn geese, robins, and cardinals and just recently noticed how different their beaks are. I guess it makes sense, I mean the birds themselves are all so different, why wouldn’t their beaks be?

Take a look at a few side by side comparisons and, if you’re like me, it will be fun to notice the differences for even just the reason of admiring nature and wildlife. In this first pic, you can move the slider to see the 3 different birds.

Thanks for stopping by today cheeeeep chirp whoop whooooop!

-Out of the Wilderness

Hungry cardinal babies in the nest

I have a few bushes in front of my house, and they’ve proven to be a great location for birds to make a home with a nest and eggs and everything. The latest bird to lay eggs was a cardinal. Here is how the they looked, just beautiful!

Then they hatched.

They are a few days old now and I was able to grab these shots of the hungry hatchlings. So, so… cute? And so, so needy! I couldn’t decide which pics I liked best, so here are all of them.

Thanks for stopping by… more updates to come as they grow. Be sure to check back tomorrow as I will show pictures comparing the beaks of these cardinals with the beaks of the robins born a few weeks ago. Even at this young stage, they are very different.

-Out of the Wilderness