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T. Anthony Bland

@t.anthonybland

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Believer
Hiker
Adventurer
Outdoor lover
Traveler
half of the #whitebeardandthekid team
Podcaster and Co- host of The Whitebeard and TK Podcast

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~ That Weekend Getaway ~

After 17 years of marriage...
The other day, I was looking for something in a bag which I hadn't cleaned out in a few years, and this fell out of one of the pockets and hit the floor. I stared at the floor for a bit, then pick up the ice cream spoon. Sat down, looked at my hand, then took a picture. Sitting on the edge of the bed, turning it over, rubbing my fingers across it for about 10 minutes. Then a smile came as my brain hit the Total Recall button. 🤗It was a GREAT weekend! 😂 Filled with comedy and tragedy. We started out as an instant family of 6, and no honeymoon vacation. Pregnant, 2 months in. My youngest son was born the following year. We tried to get away once at a dude ranch, and that was a massive disappointment. I cut my hand opening a knife the first night, our neighbors in ALL the rooms surrounding us 🤨Were loud, if you know what I mean. Six yrs after that, 17 years of marriage, we finally got a weekend getaway. 😂 I bumped my head on the roof of the car, nearly knocking myself out, Sharol got locked in the bathroom after a shower. We had to call maintenance to get her out. NO clothes or anything with her, she hid behind the door the entire time, lol. We went to a restaurant and had a great meal, but I broke out in hives, after eating the fish! It was winter, it was freezing, and the wind was whipping off the water. Our room was right off the pier, overlooking all the boats and the mountains behind. This later became the backdrop and the base for a short story. But! We laughed, walked, stop for ice cream and chocolates, hand in hand and giggled like school kids ALL weekend. Also dreaming of living in a place like that by the water, and neither of us can swim. No talk about the kids (for once) just enjoying one another's company... Sometimes it takes a while for that needed vacation. Don't fuss about just go when you can. #marriagegoals #marriage #weekendgetaway #withandwithouther #Ilovewife by @t.anthonybland

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4 days ago

~ The Grace Rescue ~

When you call for a rescue, you are chiefly responsible for the cost of that rescue. And in many, if not All cases, your personal insurance doesn't cover the cost, therefore, it will be out of pocket payment. In this situation though a waiver may have been signed for this group hike,
as the team leader, personally, I believe you also have a moral obligation... listen to the full video for my explanation. And my own experience with heat exhaustion.

#grace #rescue #gracerescue #hiking #grouphike by @t.anthonybland

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5 days ago

"Sharing Space with Wildlife"

#thewhitebeardandtkexperience #conservation #wildlife #Wild #WildAnimals by @t.anthonybland

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5 days ago

~ Changing Faces ~

These are a few of my grandchildren. (**I'm only posting pictures of them because their parents have already posted pictures of them online) Anyway, I'm latest grandson has Grey eyes. Both my daughter and son-in-law have brown eyes. Her brother, my oldest son picture with my youngest granddaughter, has hazel eyes...

In 2012 or 2013, while in grad school, I read an article. I thought was a New York Times but 2 weeks ago I researched it and found that it was a National Geographic's article titled "The Changing Face of America". Unfortunately, I don't have access to that article. Anyway, it was a study on what Americans would look like in 2050, due to the rise of immigration and of course many ethnic groups, mixing. I can clearly remember looking at the faces and thinking everyone will look more middle eastern or egyptian. All the faces look just like my grandchildren look today. The article later went on to say the "majority race will no longer be white". 🙄 You know how much I hate the word "Race". There's only ONE race, Human, with multiple ethnicities, nationalities, and cultures. And of course that struck fear in some people. Anyway, I found it fascinated as we continue to grow as human beings. We travel the world to other countries, we share food, culture, music, traditions...and ethnicities. I can see not just the changing faces, but the whole world within my family line. 🖖"Fascinating" as Spock would say.
#family by @t.anthonybland

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9 days ago

~ Elephant In The Room ~

As the editing continues on Last Ride Series, I was binging through some of our earlier years of our adventure traveling on YouTube. I was also hit with a sad reality that's crops up from time to time, and I try to ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist. 🤔That reality? Well, if you look on YouTube you'll find many, if not most of the "black" outdoor channels don't last past 2 or 3 years. I'd hope we'd break that curse. But life. They don't make the numbers or get the viewership, also, as i've mentioned before, they don't get cross viewership. They/we watch other shows but channels don't watch or follow them. No support the channels die...
We started just to record what we do for posterity. But as you walk through the South Bronx Projects, you get looks and questions. When you answer people are shocked, they've never heard of a trekking Pole, never known anyone to go hiking, much less camping. Then it became less for us and more about others. For others to see, to pique their curiosity and encouraged them to get out in nature and enjoy the wild world around them. To find the peace and the quiet
that you receive when you retreat from the loud city noises and from our very loud lives. If it wasn't for me seeing scuba divers, mountaineers, archeologists, Cowboys, farmers and ranchers on television. I would have never known about them, least of all, have my own interests piqued by that kind of life, and it's possibilities. Exploring the swamp behind the projects I grew up in, going to the library, picking up books on archeology, history, jazz records, speeches on records, all of these things opened up a huge world to me. And I continue to be interested in when I became an adult. I didn't need to see people who look like me.I just needed to be inspired. But today, we live in a culture where people are lied to and are told, that there are no people who" look" like them, "doing those things". So for them, "we" need to survive to pique, an interest and inspire. Not because "we out here" or have a need to "infiltrate". Because it's kind of missing, and needed for a generation that barely goes outside. #outdoor #blackoutdoors by @t.anthonybland

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9 days ago

#charliekirktrial
#Brandontatum #candaceowens #tuckercarlson by @t.anthonybland

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14 days ago

Happy Independence day!

#250 #america250 #America #july4th #July4th2026 by @t.anthonybland

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22 days ago

~ After Hike ~

#thewhitebeardandtkexperience #hiking #whitebeardandtk #whitebeardandthekid #livetheadventure taken in Oak Ridge, Tennessee by @t.anthonybland

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a month ago

~ Salvia Yangii ~

Swanleaf Clouding Sage. As known Russian Sage. 🤨There, I've given you all the names, now go research and learn more. 🫡Good luck in your exploration!

#flowers #naturalist #walks #wanderlust #thewhitebeardandtkexperience by @t.anthonybland

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a month ago

~ Xylocopa Virginica ~

The Northern Carpenter Bee. They are the size of Bumble Bees but they have a black shiny body, some say it appears like a metallic purple. They usually start mating in April, the males dance. 😭During that the female need to flying for them to... "horizontal mambo". We thought humans had strange behaviors. From eastern U.S. to Canada. This is a pretty docile species of bees that make nest in wood, untreated wood. They are major pollinators and 😆and loud too!

#walks #naturalist
#naturelover #hiking #thewhitebeardandtkexperience by @t.anthonybland

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a month ago

~ 10 Years ~

#withandwithouther by @t.anthonybland

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a month ago

~ 9:43 pm ~

The voices calmed down to whispers, the machines faded to background noise. The doctor called it and pulled the curtain slightly to step around it and approached me. "We've done all...". 10 years ago today. I was editing videos for a YouTube episode, putting in music when I noticed June 14th was on the calendar. I should've known, like I did way before the doctor told me, little signs all month. Like the sudden desire to see black women. There are very few around me, sometimes I forget that. I started watching "Black" TV shows until I got bored with them because I can't connect with them, I don't know people like that never did. Then, it was the music and my mood was changing, then out of nowhere, I remembered the night completely. The sounds, smell, dinner, the ambulances that seem to take forever, CPR with the shadow of my 13yr old daughter watching, the feel of her weight in my hands. Isolation! The despair Widowers feel. Widows have a whole community that rallies around them, family members, etc. Most men left without a safety net. No one prepares you for that, no one can. Guilt! You feel it when you remember, you feel it when you forget you,you feel it because you're alive
and she's not. Widowhood effect. A pain I can't put into words. Some follow their spouse a few months, a few years, because of the pain of loss. I barely made 2yrs but I had the last child to raise. Perhaps my total recall of the day is, I have an empty nest. All the children are adults. The world has changed drastically in the past 10 years and I'm tired. The scene replayed at least twice the past 3 wks. All but forgotten 3 yrs ago. I have no reason, nor an answer but, no one can prepare you for this level of pain and grief. Adapt. Live until... can this day end, so that my thoughts get back to normal. What is normal? My life and the entire family structure shifted that night. I share these thoughts because I have from time to time over the past years since that day. It used to help, now, maybe it's time to stop writing about and just ride it out quietly on my own... #withandwithouther #lifeafterloss #livingwithloss by @t.anthonybland

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a month ago