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
November 20, 2025 · 23:14

Hesperia Owl

As mentioned, I’ve seen an owl out on the cinder block wall in the back yard and on the pergola a couple of times, always when it’s dark or just getting there, but I’ve never gotten any pictures.

Not today!

It was after sunset and raining pretty hard, but not yet dark. There it was, and there it stayed for quite a while.

Lousy quality photo due to the low light and high magnification, but there was some nice video opportunities.

Welcome to the Forever Home, my Great Horned Owl friend! I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing you on a regular basis!

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Filed under Birds, Critters, Forever Home, Photography, Video

November 19, 2025 · 22:34

First Harvest

The new Forever Home has two small fruit trees in the back. The apples are very small, barely bigger than ping pong ball, and almost all of them have been pecked at by birds and critters. I won’t be trying any of them.

But the pears!

They’re not as big as the ones in the store, but they’ve gotten close to that size, and they’re turning from green to yellow.

And there are a LOT of them. Almost all with spots of bird crap on them, but very few with chunks eaten away.

I figured they were getting ripe when they started falling to the ground. THOSE started getting munched on by the squirrels and crows and scrub jays pretty quickly.

The first harvest was small, but brought a sense of adventure!

Today I ate the first of our crop – NOT BAD! (Especially after they were all washed to remove the bird droppings…) Still juicy, a bit more tart and less sweet than the store-bought pears, but very, very edible!

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Filed under Forever Home, Photography

November 18, 2025 · 23:26

Clear In The East Tonight

More cloudy, cool, windy, drizzly, with another larger storm coming on Thursday and Friday, but tonight when I went out it had gotten crystal clear in the east. Orion was high, along with all of the other bright winter constellations.

A simple iPhone shot, setting it down on a garden hose box and getting a 30-second exposure. The brightest object, in the lower left, is Jupiter, with Castor and Pollux in Gemini above and to the left of it. Orion’s in the center right and you can clearly see the nebula that’s the center “star” in the “sword.” The “V” shape of Taurus is just to the right of center at the top edge, and the bright star in the lower right, just above the pergola and clouds, is Sirius.

With the chill (it’s down into the upper 30’s right now) it’s not surprising to smell wood smoke on the breeze as a lot of folks are using their fireplaces.

And of course, off in this direction, are the sounds of freight train whistles.

Yep, we done picked a good one for a Forever Home!

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Filed under Astronomy, Forever Home, Photography, Weather

November 17, 2025 · 23:40

Today’s Adventures – November 17th

I had to run out to get cash, which meant that I had to figure out where the nearest Wells Fargo ATM was. I’ve only been living here for four months… Turns out it’s not that far, out in the parking lot of a large mall, across from this.

I literally can’t remember when I was last inside of a Walmart – there is an evil there which does not sleep. Probably like 10+ years ago when I was in Vermont for my mother’s 80th birthday and The Long-Suffering Wife had a travel nightmare getting there and her luggage didn’t make it with her so we ended up going to one to get her some clean clothes.

But I was more or less here to begin with, and I’ve been on a quest for Steak-Umms frozen beef sheets to make homemade Philly cheese steaks and they’re about the only place that carries them out here. How much corruption of my soul could I get over two boxes of frozen meat?

The weather still sucks and another front was moving through…

…so I wore this because it’s comfy and warm.

But coming around the corner in the freezer section of Mordor I ran into a little, old, MAGAat lady who was mortified. She immediately started pointing at my chest and yelling that “people like YOU are what’s wrong with this country! You’re constantly trying to drag down the Greatest President in American History!”

I had questions.

“Oh, really? Which part are you most fond of? The way he raped 13-year-olds? The way he’s shredded and shit on the Constitution? The way he tried to overthrow the government in an actual armed coup? The way he’s destroyed diplomatic and economic and military alliances that in some cases go back over 200 years? The way he’s kidnapping and deporting US citizens without due process? The way he’s taking bribes like they’re going out of style? The fact that he stole thousands of highly classified documents and was selling them to the highest bidder out of the Mar-A-Lago bathroom? The way he bulldozed a third of the White House with no permits, oversight, or…” She was gone, flipping me off without another word. Didn’t answer a single one of my questions.

It was fine. A younger couple, mid-20’s I’m guessing, was coming up behind her, saw the whole affair, and said, “Fuck her! That’s a great sweatshirt!”

I always thought this area was pretty “red.” In reality, it’s far more “purple.” Next year’s elections will be very interesting.

 

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Filed under Photography, Weather

November 16, 2025 · 23:17

I Thought I Had Missed It

SpaceX was launching out of Vandenberg tonight, but with all of the rain (about 2″ over the last two days) and clouds (pretty solid overcast for five days) I didn’t expect to see much. But, eternal optimist and all of that, out I went at the appointed time.

COLD! WINDY! According to a WeatherUnderground station in the neighborhood, it was 45ºF, winds at 17 mph gusting to 22, so not exactly “sweater weather.” But I guess some days it’s better to be lucky than good.

The first stage (that little orange flame over the neighbor’s tree) was visible for about two seconds max. Then it disappeared into all of those clouds up above.

Given the weather up and down the SoCal coastal regions, I guess the bigger surprise is that they were launching at all!

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Filed under Photography, Space, Weather

November 15, 2025 · 23:28

No Context For You – November 15th

No thunderstorms, no gully-washers, no frog-drowners, but it sure has been raining steady for most of the last 24-hours. I’ve seen reports of some debris flows and mudslides on some local canyon and mountain roads, but we’re fine. Plus, like a big chunk of SoCal residents, we’re hunkered down and not going anywhere today.

I do notice that we’ve lost all of our mountains. The low clouds, rain, and fog have hidden them all. I’m hoping when they re-appear we’ll have some more bright, white, snowcapped peaks.

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Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Weather

November 14, 2025 · 23:29

Trains In The Night

One thing I’ve heard a lot in the last few nights working outside after dark, and again while I was sitting outside listening to the rain, are the train whistles off in the distance.

Talk about a legendary and well-earned trope, the touchstone of countless country-western ballads. That lonesome call off in the distance, a few million metric tons of freight heading off through the night to an undefined someplace off over the horizon.

The proximity of this neighborhood to two separate main rail lines between SoCal and points east was a big factor on choosing it for me. There were a handful of other houses we looked at which were NEXT TO the train tracks, and while that had a certain attraction, really FEELING them rumble by and having the horns rattling the windows, I was also conscious of some of the potential downside to that after the novelty wore off.

Here we’re about two miles away in separate directions, there are railcams online where I can see what’s coming and going, and I can hear them off in the distance, even when I’m inside. It’s a comforting sound as I’m falling asleep at night, and a little source of joy repeatedly through the day.

And again, tonight when I was out on the porch, sitting and listening to the substantial rain shower pounding on the tin roof of the porch, running off into puddles out on the turn and rocks, it was wonderful to hear the train sounding off.

It’s one of the little pleasures.

Gotta take ’em where you can find them!

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Filed under Forever Home, Paul

November 13, 2025 · 23:46

Proof Of Life – November 13th

I’m alive. No picture, I didn’t even have time or the energy today to take one.

Okay, I lied, now there’s a picture.

I’m exhausted, but we’re ready for the rain. All of the stuff that came out of storage two weeks ago and got stacked up in the back yard is now sorted and either in the house or on the back porch under a roof. We’ll see if that’s good enough.

I also hit (-ish) all of the critical deadlines at work and there aren’t any meetings tomorrow, and there’s nothing on the schedule at all for this weekend, so after a whole slew of busy days with way too much physical and mental labor and way too little sleep, there will be (I’m praying! at least as much as a confirmed athiest for the past 50+ years can be) a few days to kick back and sit my ass on the couch for a nap or two (or five).

Too old for this nonsense.

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Filed under Forever Home, Paul

November 12, 2025 · 23:11

Clouds – No Aurora

There’s a week-long rain storm moving in tomorrow night and I still have piles of boxes outside, so it’s a priority to get them moved inside, or at least under the roof on the back porch.

While everyone else has been looking at aurora from a huge solar storm, we’re just getting clouds. (To be fair, we’re also so far south that if we’re seeing aurora, there are probably satellites getting fricasseed, so it’s a trade off.)

Very pretty and dramatic looking clouds to be sure, especially around sunset and into the early evening.

I’m once again in “feeling like I’ve gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson” mode – 69 is really, REALLY too old for this shit, but my stupid brain still thinks I’m 29 for some reason and I’m six-foot tall and bulletproof, at least until I try to stand up and start crying and whimpering.

Stupid brain.

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Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets, Weather

November 11, 2025 · 23:50

Proof Of Life – November 11th

Happy Veteran’s Day!

In addition to Orion in the evening sky, my simple iPhone pictures will also show Taurus nearby.

It’s the “V”-shaped group of stars on the right here. You should be able to spot it pretty easily a bit “above” and to the left of Orion.  Assuming, of course, that you’re north of the Equator on Earth – if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, it will all look upside down. I understand the details of why that is but I’ve never been down there to see it, nor have I ever seen the Southern Cross, Magellenic Clouds, and other southern sky constellations.

One of these days…

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography