They don’t make them like this any more.
Literally.
That’s part of the problem.
Monthly Archives: November 2021
It Would Be Nice To See Her Fly Again
It’s been a few years since she’s flown, although her engines get fired up every now and then to move fluids around. She’s got a bit of “ramp rash” and would need a thorough going over and a bit more than routine maintenance.
It wouldn’t be easy, or quick, or inexpensive. But there are other C-46 Commandos still flying cargo and it’s not at all ridiculous to think of China Doll flying again. But the time? The dedication? The manpower? The money? Those are all in short supply.
Still, one can dream. I’ve never gotten to fly in her and it would sure be nice.
Dreams are important. Gotta hold on to them…
Filed under CAF, Flying, Photography
Demons Or Clowns
The question is, as always, are they horrible little rat bastard demons, or fuzzy, cute, silly little clowns?
For a long time I thought demons. Probably with fleas and bubonic plague.
Then I saw how cute and silly and funny they are, hopping and scurrying all over the yard.
Then, of course, I realized that they’re doing all of that hopping and scurrying so they can eat all of the bird seed that gets put out. So I’m back to little rat bastards…
Filed under Critters, Photography
Half The Solar System At A Glance
Yesterday I took a couple of quick photos with my phone of the after-sunset display of Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mars lined up across the sky. Tonight I got out the good cameras.
At first in the twilight Saturn was hard to find, but the rest were bright.
As it got darker, Saturn popped out and I started playing with exposures and the limited zoom options available.
I was using the “light bucket” wide angle lens that I love so. With settings of 11mm to 16mm, it’s more of a “wide angle” and “really, really wide angle” lens.
Fortunately, that flaky street light at the bottom was having an “off” night, as it were. In addition, the neighborhood owls were out, calling back and forth. Delightful!
This is probably the best representation of what it looked like to the naked eye. It was starting to get a bit hazy. If you happened to see the Sunday Night Football game with the Rams from Inglewood (about 30 miles just to the left of this view, on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains and down by LAX in the Los Angeles Basin) you would have noticed the fog that was rolling in off the coast. We’re getting it here later, but it takes a couple hours to build up and spill over the mountains into the valley.
Switching to the 300mm telephoto lens we have the usual image of the crescent moon (with a little bit of detail on the illuminated side) and Venus.
Crank up the exposure and get a little Earthshine.
And just for giggles, I took a 300mm zoom picture of Jupiter. (Click to blow it up to full sized!) It’s got company – the four dots in a row, two on each side, are:
Callisto (outside left), Io (inside left), Jupiter (center), Europa (inside right), and Ganymede (outside right). What Galileo wouldn’t have given for this basic, simple camera and telephoto lens!
Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space
Arc Of Planets
A spur of the moment, handheld photo with the iPhone, so it’s a touch blurry and all, but still…
(click to blow it up, it’s worth it)
And for those of you who aren’t current on your planetary alignments…
I’ve already got the good camera with the “light bucket” lens on the tripod for tomorrow night. The moon should be close to Venus for an even tighter grouping. If it’s clear out in your area, go take a look just after sunset.
Just make sure to remember to account for Daylight Saving Time in the US. And if it’s late in the Chiefs-Packers game, go out during a commercial. (Priorities, folks!)
Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space, Sunsets
A Touch Of Fall Color
It’s no “Black River along VT Route 11 between Springfield and I-91,” but we do get a tiny bit of color here in SoCal.
You’ve got to look quick – “peak color” here is measured in hours, not days.
It also helps to get in close – easier to ignore the bright green citrus trees and the palm trees all around. Helps the fall color mood.
On the other hand, in about three months it’s going to be below zero with hip deep snow in Vermont, while it will still be in the 90’s and sunny here.
Just sayin’…
Filed under Photography, Weather
You Can’t Hide In That Tree!
Yesterday’s UPS Flight #5514 into Burbank, pulling out of a steep left turn to line up on Runway 8, but first trying to hide from view in that big tree in the back yard!
If you think I was surprised, you should have seen the squirrels, hummingbirds, and juncos scattering!
(No squirrels, hummingbirds, juncos, trees, or Airbus A300s were harmed in the making of this silliness.)
Filed under Flying, Photography
Painted Lady
I’m pretty sure this is an American Painted Lady butterfly.
They’re common, but tough to photograph since they rarely sit still for more than a second or two, if that. Normally they’re flitting and fluttering and doing butterfly things as they drift past you in the air.
For whatever reason this one kept landing at my feet when I already had my phone/camera out for something else. So, okay – it’s ready for its closeup!
Happy to oblige.
Filed under Critters, Photography
Define “Purple”
Yep.
That’s it, right there.
It it like that so that the bees can find it, or so that I can?
Does it matter? We both did.
Filed under Flowers, Photography
Suddenly, November!
Whoa, when did THAT happen?
I remember asking Santa (or his October equivalent) for some things in that 10th month of the year which from it’s name obviously used to be the 8th month of the year. (How trustworthy can a month like that be?)
How did that go?
- Not looking so good. The Chiefs had a very unconvincing win tonight over a lousy team, at Arrowhead, on Monday Night Football, to somehow get lucky enough to get back to 4-4. The next three weeks they’re playing teams that are way, WAY better than .500 and their remaining strength-of-schedule for the nine games left is the toughest in the league, as befits a team that’s been to the Super Bowl two years in a row. So we might roar to life and finish 13-4. Or we might keep playing like this and finish 4-13. It’s feeling a lot more like the latter than the former, but having suffered through plenty of 3-13 seasons, I’m going to continue to have faith, even if it gives me a heart attack. And it might.
- The Kings started off with an impressive win and then lost six in a row. Not playing too poorly, just poorly enough to lose. But then they’ve won two in a row, so hope springs eternal. It’s early. We’re in a lousy division. We won’t have to be great to be a playoff team, and if we’re just a bit better than great we can be at the top of the division in March. Again, hope exists, against my better judgement.
- A win! I actually haven’t seen another ad for one of these stupid wind sculptures that looks like something out of a “Saw” film. There are plenty of other stupid ads, and both FaceBook and Twitter have increased the number and frequency of ads in the last week or two, to the point where I’m seriously considering shutting down my accounts in both – but I haven’t seen this ad again!
- Some progress on the backlog of “back burner” tasks at work, but it’s a never ending battle. I think I’m at least crossing things off of the big whiteboard to-do list at least as fast as I’m putting new ones on, but it’s the Red Queen’s race.
- Ditto for the hangar. I’m desperate to get things wrapped up here and caught up since I’ve announced that I will *NOT* be running for the volunteer Finance Officer gig for the next two-year term. I’ll help whoever the new guy is, but I’m out. Eight years is enough.
- Progress – the strict “ultra low carb” diet from Hell for six weeks succeeded and my A1C numbers are now excellent! I also lost a few pounds, got my blood pressure down a few points so that they’ve backed off bugging me about that, so if I can stay good, maybe at least the medical computers and their human sycophants will stop bugging me for a few months. Now if I could just get my eyes to work again…
- THE JUNCOS ARE BACK! Not unusual to see nine or ten in the back yard daily. In addition, there seems to be another flock that have moved into the hedges across the street. I see them feeding in our front yard every night, a dozen or more. This is a spot of happiness!
- Didn’t get to sit and read one. Single. Day. In October. That sucks.
So, for November? More of the same. It would be nice to see “Dune” in IMAX, but I might have to settle for simply seeing it in a theater instead of on television. Or just in the living room. But I need to see it.
As for all of the other items, #1, #2, #4, #5, and #8 above? One step at a time. Just keep fighting.
Yeah…
Filed under Uncategorized
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 