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 27, 2021 · 23:22

Slightly More First Light 2021

As predicted, I feel a lot like I’ve been beaten by folks with baseball bats after spending yesterday schlepping, lifting, carrying, hauling, climbing ladders, balancing precariously on ladders, and generally doing things for one day that use extreme physical exertion and agility and which I haven’t done in a year. (Funny coincidence, that.) Let’s see, I can either get in shape and stay in shape so that next year this isn’t a sudden and painful event or I can just do nothing and then bitch and whine about it next year on the weekend after Thanksgiving…

Oh, who are we kidding. Plan B!!

Today I did get out and get up another six or seven sets of lights.

These along the driveway, threaded among the rose bushes (currently sans roses), are very nice.

Above the garage door the “spider’s nest” of colored lights got hung. It is so tempting to take that big Halloween spider ornament and hang it in the middle of this!

Speaking of critters, remember a couple weeks ago I mentioned seeing a large (18″ to 24″) alligator lizard out on the porch? No pictures, but I did see it again and get a very good look at it yesterday. It’s moved into the garage and was not happy with me sweeping up and cleaning at the end of the day. It scurried out, flipped me off, then scurried off to shelter under the piles of boxes and crap stored in the garage. It’s every bit of eighteen inches long, a lovely critter, and definitely an alligator lizard and not just a bigger fence lizard.

The (photographic) hunt goes on!

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Filed under Castle Willett, Christmas Lights, Critters, Photography

November 26, 2021 · 21:43

First Light – 2021

I’m going to be sooooooooo sore tomorrow. A lot of time on ladders today.

So worth it! The Younger Daughter came over and helped a ton, so we got a lot of lights up on the first day of Christmas lights season.

More to come, of course! Never enough until I’m blowing the fuse with any additional lights, and even then I’m looking for another circuit that might have some capacity. But for today, that’s a DAMN FINE start!

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Filed under Christmas Lights, Photography

November 25, 2021 · 23:48

Thanksgiving 2021

The feast. It was wonderful.

Last year we didn’t have a Thanksgiving dinner other than for those in the household. This year there were family over. Smaller than previous years, much smaller than back in the day when the whole clan and spouses and kids and grandkids met up at my parents’ house. But still – little steps to recover from a brush with Armageddon.

I hope your dinner was everything you hoped for and you got to spend time with those you love.

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Filed under Castle Willett, Photography

November 24, 2021 · 23:34

Moments Of Zen

It was windy. A pretty steady 20+ knots with gusts to 30+. The wind chimes were working overtime.

And dry. The hummingbird feeders were empty and Little Bastard was pissed. Every time I went out into the back yard he was buzzing me, reminding me that the feeders were empty. I finally took them down, cleaned them, and put more nectar in them.

After dark the clouds and fog of the past several evenings were gone (of course!) and our three current planetary visitors were still lined up nicely.

For those of you needing an assist to ID them:

Keep breathing, folks.

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Filed under Astronomy, Birds, Critters, Photography, Space, Video, Weather

November 23, 2021 · 23:25

DART Launch From Vandenberg

It’s launch night out of Vandenberg again, but we had a fair amount of clouds and fog forming to our west. We’re about 130 miles from Vandenberg, and if the weather cooperates, we can see the launches very clearly. Tonight wasn’t going to be that night. But I took the setup on a tripod out to the front yard anyway, just in case.

Good move.

It wasn’t as great as when the weather’s “clear and a million,” but it was more than I expected to see!

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Filed under Astronomy, Space, Video

November 22, 2021 · 22:30

Thirteen Minutes Of Flaming Sunset

From 16:46 to 16:59, we went from an orangish glow with potential to a pink and orange extravaganza to a fade to gray with orange hints.

Not bad for a Monday!

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Filed under Photography, Sunsets

November 21, 2021 · 18:03

The Proverbial Room Where It Happens – Part Two

A couple years ago we saw “Hamilton” in Los Angeles at the legendary Pantages Theater. Then we had tickets to see it again last year, but there was that whole pandemic, quarantine thing

Now we’re all vaxxed and masked (to their credit, they seem to be very aggressive about enforcing that at the Pantages) and the touring cast is back, so it’s our turn to see it again.

The first time we saw it I knew of the hype and the awards and the hubbub – but I had not yet ever listened to the music or gotten caught up in the mania. I had doubts…

Then I saw it.

Oh!! My!! God!! (As they say.)

Now, having seen the Disney production of the live version a dozen or so times, not to mention having listened to the album AT LEAST 100-200 times (no BS, at least once a week for a couple of years), I’m anxious to see how different the viewing experience is this time.

Damn, forgot tissues! We’ll see how absorbent this sweater is, I guess.

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Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles, Music

November 20, 2021 · 23:21

No Context For You – November 20th

RED!

Love.

Lust.

Anger.

Passion.

Hatred.

Excitement.

Desire.

Frustration. (Maybe. Actually frustration might be more like a faded orange. “Red adjacent,” but missing the urgency, the life, the adrenaline, just keeping the bittersweet memories.)

So many strong emotions, so much energy spent keeping them in check, hidden, safe, not allowing the danger out of control.

A red day…

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Photography

November 19, 2021 · 23:56

Last Night’s 97% Lunar Eclipse

Did you see it?

Here in LA I thought that I might not see it at all, given the clouds that were moving in earlier in the evening, but they were scattered around 23:00 when the umbral eclipse started

But, you deal with what you have been dealt, right? So here’s the first 30 minutes or so of the eclipse from the good camera, shooting thorough the cloud layer about every 6-7 minutes, focusing as best I could (which, frankly, is marginal):

Focus getting worse? Well, yes, because in addition to the high clouds, the fog was starting to roll in off of the coast and out of Ventura County to the west. So it was getting really damp, dew was forming on the lens, and no matter how much I tried to keep it dry and clear, I was getting to this:

Now, I was also running two other cameras including a good video camera, and that stayed clear of dew and condensation another hour or so until the fog completely wiped out the view right around maximum totality at 01:02. I may be able to pull some decent still images off of that. Later. Maybe.

As for the other camera, it was just an old iPhone that I put into time-lapse mode, and that actually turned out sort of cool!

So I gave the photography and video my best shot, but it was what it was. Aside from that, it was (as always!) really neat and interesting to watch the Moon disappear and see a demonstration of celestial mechanics right there in my own front yard!

Did you get to see it?

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space, Video

November 18, 2021 · 18:52

Tonight’s 97% Lunar Eclipse

I’m posting this earlier than normal tonight since I want anyone who reads this (all 10 or 12 of you!) to have the information on tonight’s partial lunar eclipse. Go here to follow along with the schedule – we’re starting in a touch over three hours!

First of all, this is a lunar eclipse, not a solar eclipse. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the cautions about watching a solar eclipse ONLY with proper eye protection. (Who wants to go blind?) But this is a lunar eclipse, so just relax and watch it with ye olde naked eye! Get a lawn chair or blanket, kick back, stay warm, watch the show!

In short, the show starts with the penumbral eclipse as the Moon enters the “outside ring” of the Earth’s shadow. Not much to see, some dimming. That will start at 06:02 UTC (22:02 PST Thursday night on the US west coast, 01:02 EST Friday morning on the US east coast).

The real action starts when the Moon enters the umbra, the “inner ring” of the Earth’s shadow. You’ll start to see dimming of the Moon’s left-hand limb, growing over the next ninety or so minutes. That will start at 07:18 UTC (23:02 PST Thursday night on the US west coast, 02:02 EST Friday morning on the US east coast).

The maximum eclipse (97% covered) will be at 09:02 UTC (01:02 PST Friday morning on the US west coast, 04:02 EST Friday morning on the US east coast).

Then it all just runs backwards as the Moon starts to exit the umbra, which finishes at 10:47 UTC (02:47 PST Friday morning on the US west coast, 05:47 EST Friday morning on the US east coast).

This, of course, all assumes that it’s not cloudy.

If it’s cloudy, you can follow along live at a number of sites, such as these:

Finally, will it be clear, or at least clear-ish, here in Los Angeles tonight? Well…maybe. Right now it’s about the same as last night, when we had an ISS rising. Speaking of which, just seconds before a Zoom event that I had tonight, there was another really nice ISS pass. And the clouds?

Rising from the west! I wish that I had fewer overhead lines and aircraft, but that isn’t going to happen in Los Angeles. ISS coming from the horizon to straight overhead and then some with the “light bucket” lens, Venus setting near the bottom. And as it goes over we do a quick flip…

…to watch it disappear and fade near the northeastern horizon.

Still a few clouds.

So now, we’re 3:11:20 out from the start of the eclipse. Clear skies!!

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