Author Archives: momdude

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About momdude

Space cadet | Family dude | Photographer | Music lover | Traveler | Science fiction fan | Hugo Award nominee | Writer | 5x NASA Social participant | KC Chiefs fan | LA Kings fan | Senior Director of Finance & Administration for ALS Network | Member & former staff Finance Officer at the Commemorative Air Force SoCal Wing | Hard core left-wing liberal | Looking for whatever other shenanigans I can get into
September 16, 2023 · 23:52

A New Excavator In The Back Yard

We’ve had some sort of gopher or underground critter chewing up the yard for a while, but they seem to have moved on. (The exterminator sent over by the landlord was useless and the gophers moved on despite him, not because of him.)

Now we’ve got something new living under the yard, but instead of leaving huge (3″ or so in diameter) holes and tunnels in the yard, this new “neighbor” seems to be just leaving large piles of dirt with no obvious entry or hole.

There seem to be a new pile every day. The first two are over by the fence and the ice plant, the the next two out in the open.

One day later. The whole area is pretty much covered now.

I’ve looked when I go out around midnight for my final leg stretching lap of the back yard, but I never see the next day’s pile done by then, so the critter’s doing his damage sometime between midnight and sunrise. For the record, I will *NOT* be staying up all night anytime soon to try to catch it in the act and drive a pitchfork into the ground in an effort to impale the little monster. For one, it’s not my house. Sorry, but I’ve informed the landlord, if he wants to have something done about it, the ball’s in his court.

But I am curious, especially by the difference between the holes and tunnels from the old invader and the piles without holes and tunnels from this one. My first assumption is that we’re dealing with different species of critters. Does anyone know what I’m dealing with here?

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Filed under Critters, Photography

September 15, 2023 · 22:54

Lopping Off The Local Roost

A week ago I shared pictures of a couple dozen crows roosting in the top of a pine tree a couple houses down the street.

The local great horned owls also use that tree regularly.

Someone wasn’t happy with that tree’s condition however.

The good news is that they kept the bottom part of the tree, where the needles haven’t fallen off and the branches aren’t bare.

The bad news is that the roost for the birds is gone.

I understand that something was destroying the tree (some insect infestation or disease?) and they wanted to save what they could. I approve. And the owls are still out there almost every night, it’s not like that was their only perch or worse, where they had a nest. I guess I’m just dealing with a bit much change at the moment and could have done without this little addition to the list.

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Filed under Audio, Birds, Photography

September 14, 2023 · 22:30

Something Launched Out Of Vandenberg

I was fixing dinner at 19:40 when I got a text from my son. “Hearing something about a launch (Unannounced?) out of Vandenberg within the last few minutes?”

I stuck my head out the front door, facing west.

Well, that would be a big ol’ confirmation, right there!

The lower part of the exhaust trail, deep in the sunset atmosphere, is orange and red, turning white as it climbs up higher in the atmosphere where it’s still fully illuminated by the sun off in the west.

It’s odd that there wasn’t any announcement or webcast, so that rules out a SpaceX or ULA launch. A Minuteman III test, possibly?

Nope, turns out to have been the Firefly Alpha 3 launch at 19:27 PDT carrying a top secret Space Force payload named Victus Nox.

Great job, everyone! Let the conspiracy theory and calls to the police about alien invasions start!

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Filed under Photography, Space, Sunsets

September 13, 2023 · 23:12

Hummer Breakfast

If only Little Bastard would share!

The feeder can easily handle eight or more hummers, but it’s rare to see two there because he chases them off. Very territorial!

I do wonder if the others are smart enough to gang up on him. It does seem that sometimes a half dozen or more will swoop in and take turns distracting him while the rest grab a quick bite. I have doubts that they’re really strategizing and planning. They’re beautiful to look at , but their brains are only theeeeeese 🤏🏻 big!

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Filed under Birds, Photography

September 12, 2023 · 23:34

Functional With Assistance

“Assistance” in this case being ibuprofen.

Two thoughts:

  1. Getting old sort of sucks, but (I assume) it’s better than the primary option, i.e., being dead.
  2. “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got, till it’s gone” – Joni Mitchell

Something simple, like getting up from my desk or chair and walking to the bathroom or kitchen, is one of those simple things in life right up to the point where you can’t do it without being in enough pain that you want to scream and/or pass out. When you get enough “assistance” to be able to do it again at about 75% functionality, even that’s just a joy.

I’ll be fine. It’s just a muscle sprain of some sort. They ran tests to make sure it wasn’t something more serious. Having done that, it’s a RICE routine, “assistance,” come back if any of these horrible things happen, and give us a call if it’s not better in a week or two.

Okey dokey!

I hope that your week is going better than mine. “Adventure” is good, but if I’m going to be in that much pain I want to have done something exciting, stupid, forbidden, evil, sinful, ill advised, or all of the above to remember and savor in return for the punishment and consequences. The fact that it was a day ending in “y” is not sufficient!

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Filed under Health, Paul

September 11, 2023 · 23:35

Roadblocks Overcome

Some days, in addition to already being Mondays (I mean, jeeze!!), throw in extra roadblocks.

Like, significant pain every time you try to move or walk.

Like, three and a half hours in Urgent Care.

So if there was barely enough time to get things done before that particular pile hit the fan, there sure wasn’t time left over after.

And there most certainly isn’t a lot of time to think great thoughts and pontificate in a blog post.

So here’s a couple of “spare” pictures from Saturday night at the Music Center.

“Peter Pan Goes Wrong” was hilarious and spectacular, by the way. See it if you can.

While this season is over for us at the Ahmanson, next season’s subscription has already been secured, starting in December. In between, next month, we’ll be seeing the return of “Hadestown” because it was just so stinkin’ fine last year.

I’m going to go take some pain meds, slap on an ice pack, and feel sorry for myself. (I’m fine, just some sort of unexplained muscle sprain. Getting old sucks. But beats the alternative. Barely.)

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Filed under Entertainment, Health, Photography

September 10, 2023 · 20:47

Comet Nishimura

You might have seen some news or social media coverage of a comet that’s currently visible (barely) for just another couple of days. It’s Comet Nishimura (C/2023 P1) and if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere you might be able to see it in the morning sky just before sunrise for about the next two days. But heads up, that’s a BIG “might.”

Comet Nishimura is getting very close to the Sun, so the time it rises is just before the Sun rises, which means the sky is getting brighter and the dim comet is getting harder to see. On the other hand, the comet is also getting brighter, so it’s something of a race between the competing factors.

It will help a lot if you have a dark sky, so get away from the bright lights of your city. Of course you’ll need a sky that’s clear of clouds.

Comet Nishimura is rising about 5:AM local time now. The easiest way to track it is this iPhone app, which does nothing at all except show you where the comet is.

After September 12th the comet will be past the Sun from Earth’s viewpoint and will be in the evening sky, but only if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s very Northern Hemispheric-centric for the news and social media to say that it’s “gone” after that, but when was accuracy or the facts important to modern mainstream media, let alone social media clickbait sources?

I tried to go out to see the comet two days ago, on the morning of September 8th, but had no luck.

(Image from Comet Nishimura app)

This is a wide angle view from the 8th – as you can see, at 04:55 the comet was just rising. That however also assumes a flat horizon, which I don’t have, in addition to being in Los Angeles with all of its light pollution.

If you go out to look in the next couple of days the things you’ll notice that aren’t shown on the Comet Nishimura app are the Moon (dead center here, also moving closer to the Sun from our POV, at New Moon on the 14th), Venus (brilliant at the bottom, near the horizon), and Jupiter (very bright up at the top). This is just a marginal photo on my iPhone, but if you blow it up you can easily see Castor and Pollux just to the lower left of the moon and also in the Comet Nishimura app star map. That should let you orient yourself.

As you can tell, even if the comet had risen and could be seen through the marine layer haze and light pollution, there’s a big tree on the non-flat horizon where the comet’s supposed to be rising.

(Image from Comet Nishimura app)

Still no joy, even though I’ve moved to where I can peek through the gap between the trees and the house. If there was a comet or any sign of its tail there poking up over the horizon I couldn’t see it either with the naked eye or with my binoculars.

I hope you have better luck if you go comet hunting tonight or tomorrow! (Or if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere!)

 

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography

September 9, 2023 · 19:50

The Final Ahmanson Show Of The Season

It’s been a good one, highlighted by spectacular productions of “1776” and “Into The Woods.”

Tonight we finish with “Peter Pan Goes Wrong,” which promises to be raucous.

It’s twenty minutes before we start but there are folks wandering around the audience yelling at folks, which is unusual, even for LA…

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Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles, Photography

September 8, 2023 · 21:55

A Murder

Of crows, of course!

Most sources say that you need three or more crows to constitute a murder. One is just a crow, two is just an attempted murder.

One source said you need at least four, since three is obviously just a CROWd…

Cheese it! The cops! Or, at least, that weird guy with the camera.

By any definition, we had enough. There were at least eighteen in the tree, plus another ten to fifteen soaring and circling above.

That tree is normally where the local Great Horned Owls hang out. This was just after sunset, so it’s not unlikely that there’s a connection. I’m sure those owls think that crows are good eatin’. If I’m a crow in the owls’ tree and they want it, I’ll find someplace else to perch!

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Filed under Birds, Photography

September 7, 2023 · 23:32

Fine Feathered Friends – September 07th

Mockingbird.

I think it’s a juvenile. The coloration is a bit different than normal, but the Merlin app says it’s a mockingbird when it sounds off.

It might even be one of the fledgelings from the bush near our front door. They don’t, unfortunately, wear name tags.

This guy was judging me. I was getting a major stink eye exam and I got a strong vibe that I was not welcome in my own yard.

I finally left via the driveway in order to give them their space. It was not the kind of day when I needed a fledgling mockingbird trying to peck out an eye without any explanation. Discretion, valor, all of that…

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Filed under Birds, Photography