Hope is a dangerous drug – a hope deficiency is probably more dangerous in the long run.
I could use a hit right now…
Down Go The Dodgers!
The Los Angeles Dodgers had won the World Series the last two years and were expecting to win again this year for a “three-peat.” In order to guarantee this result, they have one of the biggest payrolls in baseball. In fact, their payroll was bigger than the other three remaining playoff teams (Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Tampa Bay) COMBINED.
This does not endear them to many baseball fans, myself among them.
In addition, after last year’s World Series win, they accepted an invite to visit the White House and kiss up to the fascist chucklefuck traitor who currently occupies the Oval Office. The one who keeps shitting on California and Los Angeles and who has recently suggested that an Iranian missile strike on Los Angeles would be “a small cost to pay.” I will never, ever forgive them for that.
So when the “lowly” Milwaukee Brewers not only knocked the Dodgers out of the playoffs, but SWEPT THEM in four games, it brought joy to my black little heart.
This is not to say that I’ve never had a good time at a Dodgers game or Dodgers Stadium. I’ve seen many games there where we had fun, and four years ago The Long Suffering Wife and I saw Elton John in concert there. It was great!
Even though it’s something like the third oldest MLB stadium, it’s still a nice place to visit, even if you’re in the nosebleed seats.
From behind home plate on the top level, the view of Downtown LA is great. (The LA Marathon also starts at Dodger Stadium, goes to Chinatown and downtown, then up toward Hollywood – an excellent way to get VERY familiar with the area on a personal level.)
LA’s downtown is beautiful at night as well.
On Fireworks Nights, the Dodgers let you come down and sit on the outfield grass if you want.
This is a REALLY old picture – Fourth of July 2000. My hair was dark, my glasses were huge, and I hadn’t had Lasik yet! Among other life changes that awaited…
So, yay for Dodger Stadium and all of the memories, but the current iteration of the Dodgers management and ownership can take a long hike off of a long pier!
Filed under Los Angeles, Photography, Sports
A Tree Down The Block
While 90% of the local trees are pines, palms, or Yuccas, there are a handful of non-native species like our front yard maple that turn with the change of the seasons. Today I found another.
Down the street and around the corner, next to the community mailbox, I found this today. I hadn’t paid much attention to it at all, but given that it’s now turning bright red, it’s much more attention grabbing.
It’s no Black River Valley, from the Connecticut River up to Springfield, but then again, what is?
Filed under Forever Home, Photography
Starting To Turn
Seeing the first serious signs of the leaves turning on the maple tree in the front yard.
We went from high/low daily temps of 102/88 to 62/43 in about 48 hours, which could have kicked the foliage change into high gear.
With the temps for the next ten days or more to be staying at the lower end of that range (time to fire up the electric blanket at night!) I suspect that the whole tree will be fully red or orange very quickly. Stand by!
Filed under Photography
Post-Storm Reward
It rained pretty steadily overnight and into this morning, but by sunset most of the worst of it had cleared out.
Over toward Big Bear there was still one big thunderstorm cell showing up on the radar, and catching the last rays of the setting Sun.
Another over Palm Springs and Yucaipa. But the star of the show, right between the local water tanks…
…was THIS gem, created by a shower way off to the east, between us and the Sun.
With the REALLY dark clouds over the mountains contrasting with the brightly lit water tanks and foreground landscape, the segment of rainbow really POPPED visually!
Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets, Weather
One Storm Out, One Storm In
A brief respite this afternoon, with a bit of Sun and even brief patches of blue sky.
To the northeast, the departing dark clouds and thunderheads that were soaking us last night (less than an inch of rain here) and this morning were causing some significant street flooding in Las Vegas.
To the southeast, the next band of moisture and hurricane remnants that will keep soaking us tonight and into Tuesday morning.
The high winds coming up through the Cajon Pass and over the edge of The Mesa were pushing dark clouds and trying to blow away lawn furniture and trash cans all over the neighborhood. It might be yet another long night.
Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Weather
Apple Valley Airshow 2026
I’ve been to plenty of huge airshows over the years at Edwards AFB, Miramar, Point Mugu, and even places way outside of SoCal, like Scott AFB outside of St Louis and Hollomon AFB near Las Cruces, NM. (Search this site for pictures from them all.) These airshows typically have a ton of military jets and aircraft on display, demo teams for some fighters such as the F-22, F-35, or back in the day, the F-14, F-15, or F-16. They often include either the Navy Blue Angels or the Air Force Thunderbirds. They often have well over 100,000 attendees along with the traffic and lines that go along with a crowd of that size.
I’ve been to mid-sized airshows like Camarillo for years, mainly because I was working it with the CAF SoCal crew. Maybe one or two military fighters, no Blue Angels or Thunderbirds, probably lots of warbirds due to the CAF sponsorships. There might be 40,000 to 50,000 folks there.
Not so common are visits to the smaller airshows like today’s in Apple Valley. Two or three private jet flights, a bunch of aerobatic demonstrations by small private aircraft and probably a Pitts Special biplane, a couple of parachute demos, and maybe 8,000 to 10,000 or fewer attendees.
Last year we didn’t even know that the Apple Valley Airshow existed since we had only been here for two months, and we were way to busy unpacking and settling in to go by the time we found out about it. This year it was high on our list to go and I think we’re both very glad we did. Ronnie and I both had a really fun time.
We have a tropical depression headed right at us, the remnants of a Pacific Hurricane. We’re under a flash flood watch from this evening through Tuesday afternoon, but we weren’t expecting any rain during the show. Just lots of clouds. Good! Less chance to get sunburnt!
Even for a smaller airshow, there were LOTS of food and drink vendors.
The crowd wasn’t bad, but there was plenty of room for people to set up their lawn chairs and watch the show.
Self-built RVs doing formation aerobatics.
The C-53 Skytrooper “D-Day Doll” from the Inland Empire CAF Wing climbing out to drop a parachute demo team. I got to chat with a couple of Inland Empire folks at their booth. I signed up to be a member when we moved up here, I should go to a meeting and start getting involved.
The T-33 Ace Maker
The US Army Golden Nights parachute demo team aircraft climbing out.
Olga Sannikova flying the Aero L-39 Albatross “Pink Jet,” a wonderful demo.
The Red Bull Zivko Edge 540 doing things that defy the laws of physics and gravity!
The Army Golden Knights came back down with precision and style.
The SubSonex JSX-2 MicroJet. As its pilot you don’t get in it so much as you put it on.
The Undaunted Airshows dogfighting demo using an RV7 and an RV8.
Good friend Jason Somes from the SoCal CAF brought his MIG-17, the highlight of the show.
A great demo by the Pitts S-1 flown by Yuichi Takagi.
The Douglas Skyraider flown and maintained by the Soaring by the Sea group.
Two P-51’s led off the WW2 warbird demo, including “Man O’ War,” which used to be with CAF SoCal, but is now with the Palm Springs Air Museum. I’ve flown in this aircraft a couple of times, a true bucket list event!
The F4U Corsair from the Planes of Fame Air Museum.
The Planes of Fame Air Museum’s F8F Bearcat.
T-28 from the Palm Springs Air Museum.
TBM Avenger.
The show ended about 14:30, and by 14:35 planes were taking off like bats out of Hell for their home airports. It was obvious that the first rain from the incoming storm was all around us. We grabbed our chairs and stuff and headed to the car. We just barely got there in time thanks to a helpful volunteer with a golf cart who saw that we were struggling. As soon as we got into the car, this monstrous wind and dust storm hit along with the rain and you could barely see thirty feet. We were getting pummeled by debris and it was “exciting.” The good news was that so many folks had seen the rain coming and bailed early, before the show ended, that the traffic and crowd getting out was much lighter and easier than I had expected.
Looking forward to next year’s Apple Valley airshow!!
Filed under Airshows, Flying, Photography, Weather
Clean Cooper’s Hawk
I had seen the hawk sitting next to the water bowl a couple of times – it spooks quickly and flys off since from there it can see me at the patio door just a few feet away.
But I was extremely surpised this morning to see it A) IN the water bowl, not next to it, and B) hanging around long enough for a couple of pictures.
I was pleased, to say the least. What a magnificent creature!
Filed under Birds, Forever Home, Photography
Not Just A Hole In The Ground
I was less than bemused with a social media post listing a whole slew of 1-star reviews about the Grand Canyon. Many referred to the fact that it was outdoors, had mosquitos, was too hot, and so on, but most were along the lines of “Meh! It’s just a big hole!”
My dear single-digit IQ chucklefucks – if your only opinion is that this is “just a big hole,” please make the world a better place by leaving it ASAP by whatever method you find most convenient. You’re using up perfectly good oxygen.
See the river way down there on the right?
If you haven’t ever seen the Grand Canyon in person, make a point to go. Spend at least a couple of days. See it at different times of day. Get up early and watch sunrise, stay out there and watch the sunset and the stars come out. Get away from the lodge at night and DAMN is that a dark sky! See the Milky Way in the summer, Orion and the bright winter constellations in the winter. See the mule deer wandering around at night.
If you still think it’s “just a hole,” check immdediately for a pulse or a soul.
Filed under Photography, Travel
Winter Is Coming
When we moved to the High Desert, we sort of knew on an academic level that they could get snow up here. We’re at elevation, about 3,600 feet at the house, and the snow level can get down below 3,000 feet, causing havoc with the mountain passes on the freeways such as the I-15 to Las Vegas through the Cajon Pass (next to us!) and the I-5 to Northern California, Sacramento, and San Francisco through the Grapevine.
We also have neighbors who gave us the heads up and showed pictures of our neighborhood under eight inches or more of snow. It doesn’t happen every year, it doesn’t happen all winter at all, it’s usually gone in a day or two, but it DOES happen.
Except last year, it didn’t happen at all.
I wanted to be prepared with a snow shovel to clear the driveway and sidewalks, but not a single local hardware store ever stocked them. Weird! I found one in a small, local hardware store, but it was a small, foldable one for carrying in your trunk for emergency use. And when I looked online, they were available for under $20, but with $50+ in shipping costs. WTF??!!!
Today that changed. With what is predicted to be a HUGE “Super El Niño” year, I really wanted to be prepared. I had looked again at the big hardware stores and came up empty, but in putting in a big online order with Lowe’s I found that I had a big enough order to get the snow shovel with $0 shipping. Done!
A little bit of required assembly, and even though it’s 90º+ out there today, there’s a tropical storm and former hurricane coming on Sunday, and as things cool into November and December, I’m ready! (When I’ve fallen in the snow, look for the day-glo orange shovel that I’ll be clinging to like a life preserver! Send out one of those St. Bernard rescue dogs!)
Winter is coming…
Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Weather
