Monthly Archives: January 2021

January 31, 2021 · 22:14

No Context For You – January 31st

Has this felt like the longest freakin’ month, following the longest freakin’ year, in anyone’s recent memory? Like, I’m sure for those living in Europe or Asia or even here in the US during 1939 through 1945 had their own fair amount of stress, and I’m not sure we can really claim to top that. Then there was that Civil War in the 1860’s, the Black Death in the 1300’s, and so on and so on.

It’s not a competition.

But in our lifetimes, and I’m getting close to being officially “old” by government standards, this is pretty unprecedented.

On the other hand…

A lot of my personal issues revolve around my workload. Between my job (year-end, budget, annual Board Meeting – and mind you, this is the best job and the best work crew that I’ve ever been with) and the hangar (again, year end, audit coming up, some “issues” that had to be dealt with on a tight schedule) and personal life (holiday, Christmas lights, plus all of the “normal” stuff that needs to fit into the schedule, plus the aches and pains of getting older and this shoulder that’s acting up) I’m trying to stuff ten pounds of pickles into a five-pound pickle bag. Remember those guys who used to spin plates on top of tall bamboo sticks on The Ed Sullivan Show? Yeah, I feel like them with about a dozen plates going and trying for just one more…

The good news is that I’m winning some of the battles, particularly this week. The annual budget, a HUGE project, has been approved and most everyone’s happy. Other big “drop everything” projects that popped up in the middle of the budget process have paid off. There’s progress and I can see the end of the tunnel on preparations for the hangar audit. And so on.

So the accomplishments feel great – let’s not forget that there are hundreds of hours of follow up and implementation and then all those things that got shoved off onto the back burners to get the high priority items done, and…

The accomplishments feel great. Oh, and someone’s favorite football team is going to be in the Super Bowl for the second straight year this Sunday, so that might be spectacular as well. And things in Washington are…better? That helps.

As for the photo, I suspect it’s the equivalent of a “butt dialed” phone call, somehow accidentally triggering the camera while I was carrying the phone. Maybe Siri thought that I wanted her to take the picture. She’s a eager little minx, always willing to please, but sometimes a little bit too eager.

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January 30, 2021 · 23:47

Someone Hates Rainbows – Or He Hates Me

My money’s on me…

Just after the rainbow pictures from yesterday, I noticed a woodpecker out in the neighbor’s tree, then in ours. I was trying (with marginal success) to get some pictures and in the process suddenly noticed that someone was LOUD and appeared to be seriously pissed off with me (sound up!) –

The way he started circling made it clear to me that he didn’t like me being in the yard – what have I ever done to him?

The video stops when I shut down the iPhone to try to get some pictures of him with the good camera in the other hand. He kept squawking at me for another 10 or 15 seconds, but as soon as I brought up the camera with the telephoto lens, he was outta there!

Crows can be very smart – I wonder if he saw the device with the big snout pointed at him (my camera, not my face…wiseass) and thought that it might be a weapon. Unless he stops by again to yell at me and deigns to chat, I guess we’ll never know.

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Filed under Critters, Video

January 29, 2021 · 20:25

Chasing Rainbows

Which sounds like it should be a song…and apparently is, at least three times. But this isn’t about that.

Scattered showers all day after some pretty solid rain last night. Great! We needed it! Finally, this afternoon about 16:00 I noticed some sunlight out in front. But it still looked damp and drizzly. Good conditions for rainbows, right? Low, bright sun in the west, dark, moody clouds in the east, drizzle in between?

Well…okay. Sort of weak, off to the north, but those white, low clouds just above the rooftops lend atmosphere? Maybe today’s not the day for rainbows after all. So I went into the house and looked out the back doors to the east…

WOWSERS!!

These pictures really, REALLY don’t do justice to how stinking BRIGHT this rainbow segment was. I’m sure it’s a combination of the bright sun behind us and the dark clouds overhead and behind it, but jeez louise!! It was like some kind of Hollywood special effect, or a cartoon ad for some kids’ cereal!

Maybe for some reason this lens/camera combination isn’t picking up the colors. What about the other camera?

Better… What about the cell phone?

Better! And part of the problem is all of the bushes and trees in the way. Move! Bob and weave! Serpentine!!

There we go! It was amazing, truly.

I played with the exposure settings on the iPhone a couple of times – some seemed to work and bring out more contrast in color.

To the naked eye, it was trivially easy to see the (left to right, inside to outside) violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red bands. And even more amazing, it was out there for a good half hour or more. It faded a bit after those first couple of minutes, but it stuck around for a while!

Maybe that’s a sign. We could use some beauty and peace and calm in the world right now. There’s plenty of good out there, but it’s a royal pain to have to sort through so much bullshit to find it. Having it splashed across the sky so much that it literally makes you yell “WOW!” when you see it? That’s a good thing.

 

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Filed under Photography, Weather

January 28, 2021 · 23:08

Sixty Seconds Of Rain

It’s finally arrived after days of anticipation – the first big rain of the season in SoCal. Here – enjoy sixty seconds of the cool (47°F), dark, sounds of the rain in the back yard:

 

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Filed under Video, Weather

January 27, 2021 · 23:47

Fine Feathered Friends – January 27th

So, now that we have some time to breathe, and even more importantly, breathe OUT and not just keep inflating ourselves and building toward a point where we pop like a balloon (a horrible, bloody, gory, ‘splody meat balloon), I’ve noticed a few new visitors to the yard. Or, at least, I’m getting better at catching them on camera and the Cornell Lab Merlin app for IDing birds is a pretty neat tool for making the identification.

This guy was in the front yard last week (you can tell it was last week, because the sun was out) and while I knew he was some sort of sparrow (probably)…

…the markings on his head made me think that he wasn’t a common sparrow.

Merlin ID’d him as a White-crowned Sparrow. See, he looks impressed that I figured it out!

Actually, I think that these birds only have one thought when I’m taking their picture, and that’s, “LEAVE ME ALONE, I’M EATING! Do I bother you when you’re trying to catch or find your dinner and eat it?!”

Fair point.

But it’s my yard, so get over it.

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Filed under Critters, Photography

January 26, 2021 · 23:42

Random Old Photos – January 26th

Almost eight years ago. Coincidentally the same trip when I took the picture that became the header photo for this site a month later (and still is).

Angels spring training in Arizona, this game at Tempe Diablo Stadium. In back of the field there’s a big hillside. Personally, I would rather pay the $10 (or whatever) to sit in a seat and have access to food, drinks, bathrooms, and a decent view rather be up with the rattlesnakes and scorpions (a decidedly non-zero probability in those parts), but that’s just me.

It’s also weird looking at these pictures (and I’ve been noticing it a lot in videos of all sorts of sporting events from previous years) and seeing no one even dreaming of wearing a mask or practicing social distancing.

I doubt we’ll see that opportunity for spring training in March of this year.

Well, belay that. It is Arizona, and they haven’t been real strict about COVID restrictions. There’s a reason that the San Francisco 49er’s played their last few games out of Phoenix, and the San Jose Sharks are right now playing their “home” games there. It’s possible that for spring training in seven or eight weeks they’ll have some fans in the stands.

We won’t be among them, even if it is “legal.” If the last four years have taught us anything, there’s often a world of difference between “legal” and “smart.” And in those cases, “legal” can also lead to “dead.”

Even if the rattlesnake doesn’t bite you on the leg while you’re traipsing through the desert mountainside in shorts and flip-flops.

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Filed under Los Angeles, Photography

January 25, 2021 · 22:56

Art – January 25th

Too cold for real world scuba diving in LA today, so with the help of Photoshop, we’ll go there virtually.

Sort of.

Deadlines have been met. Accomplishments have been recorded. Credit has been bestowed.

Damn, I’m tired.

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January 24, 2021 · 22:25

Erratum – January 24th

In the past two days I have posted pictures, taken both during the day and at night, showing the tall, thin, coniferous trees in our front yard being blown hard by the wind. I have erroneously referred to them as “cedar” tress, even going so far as to use that term in the title of yesterday’s post.

Thanks to the diligent eye for detail and gentle words of correction from The Long Suffering Wife, I know now that these are not cedar trees – they’re Italian cypress trees.

I stand corrected, and regret the error.

On the other hand, in order to maintain a properly petty and sarcastic tone, I would not that no one, not even the omnipotent and omniscient Google is 100% correct, even on this subject. While researching these facts Google offered a link to “Italian cypress trees near me,” which did NOT mention the ones not fifty feet away from here.

They don’t know everything.

Yet.

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Filed under Castle Willett

January 23, 2021 · 23:44

Same, Cedars! Same

The cedar trees were bent over pretty well in some stiff winds before the rain and snow moved in.

I know the feeling.

Same, cedars! Same. Bend, but don’t break.

But that’s a lot of bending. It’s been a long couple of weeks.

A day off, or five, would be nice. But not yet. “…miles to go before I sleep,” and all of that jazz.

Wait – did I say “snow?” Don’t I live in Los Angeles? Like, in the city, not up in the mountains?

Yes, and we didn’t get any snow here. (Yet.) We’re at 1,078 feet elevation and it’s only predicted to get “below 2,000 feet.” Which means that the Grapevine on I-5 (4,160′) going up to NorCal will be a mess, as will the I-15 (3,776′) headed out to Las Vegas. In addition, we all know that the San Gabriel mountains here in LA County go up to well over 10,000′, so there’s snow there all the time in the winter. (People are often amazed that there are ski resorts within a 60-90 minute drive of downtown LA.)

Remember Mount Wilson and the cameras we watched last summer with the brush fires there?

(Image from the HPWREN cameras on Mount Wilson, run by UC San Diego.)

It’s a freakin’ winter wonderland up there.

But closer to home? Places where you don’t normally get snow that often, maybe once a decade or less? Like, Malibu? You know, going through the Santa Monica Mountains between the San Fernando Valley (where I am) and the beach (where Malibu and Pepperdine University are)?

The tallest peak in Calabasas is 2,163′ and the tallest in the Santa Monicas is out in Ventura County at 3,114′. There are the canyon roads that run through there – twisty, turny, two lanes, can be fun, can be a nightmare if there’s an accident or landslide or rocks in the road or a brush fire? Topanga Canyon? Malibu Canyon? A bunch of those roads at their peaks go over 2,000’…

I would love to stay up all night to see if we get a dusting here so that I could go out in the yard and make a two-inch tall snowman – but I’m going to collapse and get some sleep instead.

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Filed under Los Angeles, Photography, Weather

January 22, 2021 · 23:23

ISS Sailing Upwind

On Wednesday night, two nights ago, there was a pretty nice ISS pass scheduled. On the one hand, it was the last good one for a while. On the other hand, it was partially cloudy with a storm moving in and WINDY AS HELL!!! By which I mean that when setting up I twice had to grab the tripod to keep it from going over, and it was set firmly on level ground, not on a slope or with any other issue. And it’s not a cheap, flimsy tripod either.

I wasn’t at all sure that I would even see the ISS at all and I wasn’t having fun out in the wind. But I just (finally!) got some really great results in capturing the ISS, so I wanted to see if I could duplicate them. So, what the heck? Try it! What have I got to lose, right? Disc space and memory are dirt cheap, it’s not like I was shooting on film. So, holding down the tripod with one hand, triggering the remote with the other, hoping that the wind and my holding down the camera wasn’t jiggling everything too much, I set out to see if I got lucky.

Blow that sucker up to full sized to see it in all its glory. ISS is coming from the lower left (you can see it just starting to clear the horizon, actually in the bare branches of the tree across the street) toward the upper right through the cross of Cygnus. If you look at it full-sized you can also tell which way is north by comparing the start trails (almost five minutes long) on the left and on the right. North is to the right – the star trails there are much shorter since they’re near the pole.

Swinging around to the north, we see the ISS fading toward the horizon and fading to black in the very last frame. And speaking of star trails (there’s only about a minute’s worth in this picture) that bright star right near the start of the ISS trail is Polaris, the north star. It’s not trailing at all, because as the Earth spins it appears to stand still in the sky. But all of the stars around it will trail, some that way, some this, all in a circle around Polaris.

Another thing I noticed:

In this individual frame the ISS is crystal clear, as is the roof on the house across the street, and the telephone pole on the left. The image is in focus. But those tall palm trees in the lower center? Nope, they were whipping all over the place during this five-second exposure and they’re blurry as hell.

Ditto for this single frame looking north. Telephone pole and our roof in good, sharp focus. The cedar trees were having and E-ticket night with those winds.

I guess that I’m glad I gave it shot!

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space