Holy crap, look at the time!
Quoth the raven, “WHAT THE FUCK!?”
Yep, I went there!
Author Archives: momdude
Selfie With Orion
I had a thought for a picture, wasn’t sure how well it would work…
Not bad! Close to what I was hoping it would look like – tough to get both me and something dozens and hundreds and thousands of light years away in focus together, especially in low light with the lens wide open and a minimal depth of field. Perhaps I can lock the focus on the stars next time and I’ll just show up fuzzy.
Which, truth be told, is not an inaccurate representation of reality in multiple dimensions!
Filed under Astronomy, Paul, Photography
Fine Feathered Friends – February 23rd
I knew that they were around – the wonderful Merlin app had identified their song fairly regularly. But I had never caught one of them on camera, and I was iffy on whether or not I had seen them. They’re small, quick, flitting all over, and they’re usually way, way up in the top of that huge tree in the back yard.
Until today.
Meet the Lesser Goldfinch. I think the “lesser” part refers to their size – they’re less than 1/2 the size of the house finches in the yard, so I suspect there’s a bigger cousin (the American Goldfinch) out there someplace.
I was over in the corner of the yard, trying to track down a completely different and unusual bird song that I didn’t recognize, when this guy went off with his bird song, not five feet over my head. It was nice enough to sit still for about 30 seconds so I could snap off a few pictures, then flew up to the top of the tree.
Once I knew what to look for, I realized there were 4-6 of them up there. They move around a lot and they’re not very big, barely bigger than the hummingbirds that were also up there, but since the tree is pretty barren of leaves at the moment, I was able to watch them for a while.
Cool! And if there are 4-6 of them, with luck we’ll soon have more! It’s that time of year!
Filed under Birds, Photography
House Finches In Lust
It’s that time of year.
Normally Little Bastard, the dominant hummingbird, sits here on my really excellent stick, but over the past week or so, more and more these two have muscled him out of the way to perch and display.
The male on the left is fully into his bright red, spring mating plumage, and the female on the right spends a lot of time evaluating potential nesting sites. We have a couple dozen pairs of house finches in the yard, with at least three nests already being built and occupied up under the eaves of the front and back porches. Plus god knows how many juncos, hummingbirds, crows, ravens, hawks, and the everpresent flocks of mourning doves.
But these two in particular are currently the most brazen and LOUD. It’s not that I dislike house finch songs, but they tend to star up about an hour before sunrise and then never shut up. I don’t care how beautiful, care free, and joyful a sound it is, at 05:00 AM it’s not that welcome.
Filed under Birds, Photography
Shouldn’t They Swap Positions?
Aren’t they supposed to land to rest on some surface that sort of matches their coloration?
These two by our front door this morning seem to have gotten it backwards.
Nonetheless, their coloration and detail is beautiful.
Their survival instincts? Perhaps not so much.
Filed under Critters, Photography
Proof Of Life – February 20th
I don’t know if it’s just a side effect of getting old, some “Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness” from my workouts with my trainer, something related to the antibiotics I was taking for that infection and fever a couple weeks ago, or some combination of it all. But today has been sent in some considerable discomfort, particularly in my lower back.
I don’t do well with ongoing pain, so let’s hope it never becomes chronic or longer term. Assuming that the gym workouts are at least part of the problem, this will be gone in 48 to 72 hours. If it was like this 24/7/365/forever, I might not be the “brave little soldier” that I might hope to be.
But who knows?
In the meantime, I’m cranky and not as functional as I would like.
So which view/look is the “real” me right now?
Yes.
Filed under Health, Paul, Photography
Random Old Photos – February 19th
Okay, well, maybe not 100% random…
Prague, the castle and cathedral at night above the Vltava River.
A friend’s been posting pictures on Facebook of sculptures from Prague and it’s brought back so many memories. I would love to go back and visit. Nineteen years is too long.
Filed under Photography, Travel
New Silicon Coming
My primary home desktop computers were top of the line Dell systems at the time they were purchased in June 2016. But nine years is a long, long time in the computer universe, and they’re limping at this point.
I can’t upgrade them to Windows 11 at all, which means as of October 2025 they’ll no longer be supported or getting updates or security fixes. They’re also getting slow and glitchy.
In addition, the trusty and hard working Lexmark color printer that I’ve had for about six years suddenly won’t feed paper to save its life. That’s bad.
I use this equipment all day long, 365 days a year, and it’s the only reason that I can work from home instead of being in the office every day. That was critical during the worst of COVID. But COVID is still out there, and now we’re getting bird flu and regular flu and RSV and norovirus, and probably White Mask as well (fantastic book, read it!), so good home office equipment is a necessity, not a luxury.
So the replacement printer will be here tomorrow. It ships fast.
The top of the line Dell replacement computer needs to be assembled, so it won’t be here until mid-March. Given some of the rebooting and glitchiness in the old system, let’s hope I didn’t wait too long.
Yes, I could do all of this on my two-year old laptop, but it wouldn’t be fun.
Sunset Prep & Execution
A half hour or so prior to sunset we were getting a high layer of clouds and I had hopes that it might lead to one of those really colorful & spectacular sunsets.
It did not.
It wasn’t grey and terrible, not exactly Suckasaurus Rex, but neither was it mind blowing and spectacular.
A little pink, some deep oranges right at the horizon, and Venus trying to shine through.
Beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
Filed under Photography, Sunsets, Weather
Paul Was WRONG – February 16th
Let’s be clear, the fact that I messed up isn’t worthy of a headline all in and of itself – that’s a pretty common experience, actually.
But this one was rather glaring and I’m pissed about it, so it’s earned.
Yesterday’s post went on and on about LA’s “Great Park” and how most of LA doesn’t seem to know that it even exists. Well, that’s in part because it’s the Grand Park, not the “Great Park.” Specifically, the Gloria Molina Grand Park.
(Image: Google Maps)
FYI – Gloria Molina was a prominent local politician who was on the LA County Board of Supervisors for 23 years and also served on the California State Assembly and the LA City Board of Supervisors.
And, to be fair, there *IS* a “Great Park” just down the freeway a bit, in Irvine, in Orange County. Still, I shouldn’t have gotten them mixed up.
Also, one final bit, which I don’t often do – a big thumbs up to go see the current production at the Ahmanson of “Sondheim’s Old Friends” starring Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. It’s at the Ahmanson through March 9th, then in New York City starting March 25th. GO!! It’s spectacular! Over the past several years that we’ve had season tickets for the Ahmanson we’ve seen some amazing productions (and one or two clunkers) but last night had to be one of the best. Highly recommended.
I will now go have myself flogged for yesterday’s egregious error.
Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 