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
October 4, 2025 · 23:12

Star Party

The Long Suffering Wife had seen some sort of notice about a local event, a “star party” at the Victor Valley Museum, put on by the High Desert Astronomical Society (HiDAS). In an effort start exploring our new community and meeting folks, off we went!

Click on it to blow it up – the bright “star” to the lower left of the Moon is Saturn. Those two objects were the primary focus of the various dozen or so telescopes set up, although a couple were also showing us globular clusters and nebulae.

I wanted to get information on HiDAS. I hope it will give me additional opportunities to get out of the house a couple times a month and to get help from more experienced amateur astronomers for upgrading my telescopes and astrophotography equipment. As well as somewhere in the future have opportunities to use the club telescopes and viewing site out in nearby truly “dark sky” conditions.

A fun evening!

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Filed under Astronomy, Forever Home, Photography

October 3, 2025 · 23:30

Double Shot

The latest  & greatest COVID vaccine on top, this fall’s flu vaccine on the bottom.

Being over 65 and, more importantly, in a state where sanity and real science still outweigh ignorance and kissing the cult leader’s ass, it wasn’t difficult to get access to the vaccines. I’m hoping that the anectodal stories I’m hearing from hither and yon are true and it’s easy enough for those younger to also protect themselves and their health.

I’ve heard it postulated that we got kicked onto our current batshit insane timeline back in 2016 due to the Cubs winning the World Series. That makes as much sense as anything else. The hope is that if the Cubs win the World Series again it will bring balance to the Universe and we can return to a timeline where ignorant Nazi chucklefucks are forced to crawl back under their rocks and hide from the light of the Sun and the company of normal people.

GO CUBBIES!! Fly the W!

In the meantime, ignore the heroin addict with the worm in his brain and the orange makeup queen with the adderal addiction, get your shots by any means necessary, and keep yourself safe and healthy.

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Filed under Health, Paul, Photography, Politics

October 2, 2025 · 22:38

Lurking

Playing with the iPhone. Go to the darkest part of the yard, set it face up on a chair so it’s stable, set it for the longest exposure it will do (not that long) and then lurk to see what I get.

And in the quarter moonlight & glow of the neighbors’ backyard lights, wearing a dark T-shirt, I turn into a disembodied head, hovering off on the side of the frame, floating among the ever-so-slightly trailed and blurry stars.

It’s a look.

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Filed under Astronomy, Paul, Photography

October 1, 2025 · 23:48

Proof Of Life – October 01st

Well, at least it’s not September any more.

Some big bank (Bank of America, maybe?) is running ads with a tagline something like “What would you like the power to do?”

Remember the movie “Scanners”? Yeah, if certain prominent public figures and politicians start having their heads explode live on national television, you’ll know…

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Filed under Paul, Photography

September 30, 2025 · 23:48

No Context For You – September 30th

The world’s going to Hell and I didn’t even get a handbasket.

Goodbye, September! You had your moments, but overall you sorta sucked. If only October didn’t look to be even worse from Square One…

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Filed under Paul, Photography

September 29, 2025 · 23:32

Moon & Maple

What a lovely evening it was. Hanging in there… I hope you’re doing the same (at least) or better!

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Filed under Astronomy, Forever Home, Photography

September 28, 2025 · 22:28

Time-Lapse Fail

Yesterday I shared a couple of time-lapse videos of the clouds building overhead.

Not all of these attempts to record videos were successful.

I’m just happy that the phone, which was perched on top of the brick wall at the back of the yard, didn’t fall down over the wall to the other side. It would have been recoverable, there’s just a vacant lot there, but I would have had to walk around the block to get it. And it likely would have broken. With a new house to pay for, I don’t need to spend $2,000 on a new iPhone 17, as much as I might have “phone lust” for one.

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Filed under Video, Weather

September 27, 2025 · 21:57

A Good Day For Time-Lapse Clouds

Perhaps not a perfect day – that would require lightning, thunder, some towering thunderheads, a downpour or two, maybe some hail… But given the lack of any actual precipitation, today wasn’t bad at all!

Looking to the south, maybe a little bit southwest, with the Sun be-bopping in and out of the clouds.

Looking to the northeast, with the clouds racing past. In all of the single-frame chaos you can also see flashes of the dozens of birds at the feeders since they all got refilled this morning.

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Filed under Forever Home, Video, Weather

September 26, 2025 · 23:40

Proof Of Life – September 26th

Is this the high desert Bat-signal?

It looked like it at the time.

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Filed under Photography, Weather

September 25, 2025 · 23:27

Bandit Scrub Jays

Just when I thought that the bird seed couldn’t be disappearing any faster, someone sent a memo to the scrub jays.

They’re big birds, very intelligent, and with beautiful coloration. I enjoy having them here.

Too intelligent sometimes. They’re a bit too big to perch on the feeders, but they’ve figured out that they can hang upside down off of the side, do a chin up, and use their beaks to just scrape whole handfuls of seed over the edge to the ground below.

Once there’s a two-day supply of seed dumped on the ground, then they can hop down and eat it at their leisure.

At one point this morning I saw three separate jays hanging from three separate feeders and all doing this trick together. The finches weren’t much more happier than I was as they sat on top of the wall and the pergola and waited for the jays to leave so they could get back to their own looting and pillaging.

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Filed under Birds, Forever Home, Photography