No amazing clouds or flourescent reds & oranges, but calm & pretty.
I also notice when I look at the picture on the screen, just above the top wire straight above the palms you can see Venus, returning to the evening sky. I didn’t see it at all with the naked eye, but I wasn’t looking either. I’ll have to double check again tomorrow.
Can you see it?
Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space, Sunsets
It’s been eight weeks and change (okay, nine weeks and a day or two, it’s tough getting the calendars to sync) but we were back at the Red Cross for our next whole blood donations tonight.
All’s well, easy peasy. But to my shock and horror, when I got to the waiting/recovery/snack area I couldn’t find any of the mini-Oreo cookies!
They had a nice selection of boxed juices, and I managed to get the straw in without squeezing the box and spraying high-velocity grape punch or apple juice all over myself. Winner! The Blueberry & Pomegranate Granola Bar was excellent, but it wasn’t mini-Oreos.
Finally the guy in the pink T-shirt left and we checked his table – that’s where the mini-Oreos were all hidden, so the day was saved.
It’s the little victories that keep you going.
Filed under Health, Paul, Photography, Silly Shit
Two weeks ago I “glitched” and missed posting because I was working late to hit my payroll deadline. Tonight is more of the same, with a re-listen for the 9,831,573th time to “Hamilton.”
And suddenly it’s 23:35. Isn’t there something else I need to get done?
And, of course, let’s not forget the emergency return visit to the dentist because a big chunk of the temporary crown I have (following three root canals and oral surgery) decided today was the day to fall off, snap in two, and leave a gaping hole in my head.
It fell off when I was eating a freaking banana! Nuts? Cereal? Caramel? Steak? All of the things I’ve been told not to eat with a temporary crown for weeks and weeks? None of them were my downfall, but a freaking banana caused a warp core breach in my mouth.
I figured Karma owed me one, so I bought lottery tickets from the liquor store next to the dentist’s office. We’ll see how that works out.
Filed under Deep Thoughts, Health, Photography
It’s dangerous and quite possible lethal to fly into a box canyon. The terrain rises and the canyon narrows and the altitude climbs so your plane’s performance suffers and suddenly you find that you can’t turn around, you can’t climb over the top, and your only choice is where you want to slam into the mountain.
So when you see the box canyon coming and you turn away, it’s the right decision. You’ll know that. But if you had reasons for going in there and had put in a ton of work to make it happen, it’s a mixed blessing, at best. Disappointing. What could I have done better?
Yeah, lots of allegories here, and no details, sorry. Have a meme…
This too shall pass. Even if it is just like a kidney stone does. I’ve had those multiple times over the last 40+ years and they haven’t killed me yet.
One step in front of another.
The juxtoposition! Damn!!
Filed under Deep Thoughts, Memes, Paul
I was out in the back yard this afternoon with my camera, mid 90’s, sunny, and I knew there HAD to be a lizard hiding somewhere.
Sure enough, there it was.
There were a couple of teeny, tiny “popcorn” lizards also, and one good sized one who was missing its tail, but this was the big one for the afternoon.
Frozen in place while I took a handful of pictures, and then the second I turned away it was GONE! Good thing they’re friendly, it really moves fast when it wants to, off into the bushes. I see folks catching these guys, but I don’t see how.
Filed under Critters, Photography
Guess where?
Getting out where I had a cell signal in case of an emergency (but never needed to use it, fortunately) but otherwise stayed offline. All five senses engaged, I found a large boulder the size of a small boulder next to the trail. The sun was warm, but not too warm, not too much humidity, a little breeze. I could small the damp earth, trees, and flowers at spots. I could hear birds off in the trees, cardinals, robins, and hawks circling in the in the thermals rising off the side of the mountain. I was smart enough to have brought water and Gatorade, mainly to stay safe and healthy, but also to avoid getting yelled by my daughter at for being stupid.
The world compresses here. Sections of the path like this are wonderful, just walking, strolling, cruising. Other sections, more rocky, more steep either up or down, required some focus to avoid doing another of the aforementioned stupid things and tripping or falling. But when I was here I wasn’t worried about any spreadsheets, reports, payroll, audits, or any of the other details that can consume too many hours back in “the real world.”
I have friends who are retired and I know that day is a way off for me, probably several years. But there’s the goal. Reading, watching movies, going out hiking and traveling, 365 days a year… Not yet. But hopefully sometime while I still have the ability to use that time correctly.
Filed under Photography, Travel
Sometimes you end up trying something silly and/or stupid just because you’re out of other good options. No harm, no foul.
Story of my life.
Filed under Health, Photography
White water rafting in Colorado, August, 2008.
We got bounced a little bit. We got wet a little bit. We never, ever came even close to anything that might have dumped us into the river.
If this was “Deliverance,” it was very, VERY much “Deliverance Lite.”
The scenery was great, our guide was friendly.
I took the time at our lunch break to go looking for “artistic” still lifes and interesting things to take pictures of. For this trip I had just bought a new waterproof camera. I don’t us it that often these days since my iPhone is just about as waterproof and weatherproof, but fourteen years ago we didn’t have iPhones, so it fit a need.
I would love to do it again some day, perhaps in a bit more of a turbulent environment. Maybe not a 9 or 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, but at least a 6 or 7 instead of a 3 or 4.
Filed under Photography, Travel
And a good thing, too.
Yesterday I demonstrated that when walking face first into a full body orb weaver web across the sidewalk in the dark, I can generate enough G-forces while flailing hysterically to set off the “You’ve Fallen Again ™” alarm on my Apple Watch. I said that I would try to remember to grab a flashlight on the way out the door in the future.
Same place as last time.
Beautiful craftsmanship, and not the biggest orb weaver I’ve ever seen, but not the smallest either.
I think I’ll name it Gandalf.
IYKYK.
Filed under Critters, Photography
No, I did NOT fall again. Never left my feet, no damage done, no gym equipment revenge needing to be plotted.
However, while doing one of my quick laps around the sidewalk in the back yard, in the dark, I found that one of the local orb weavers had unexpectedly built a large web straight across the path at face heighth. The subsequent “spider web dance” and convulsions were apparently generating enough centrifugal energy and G-forces on my wrist as I swung my arms around to set off the alarm. So, again, I got to stop mid-crisis and tell my watch to chill, I was not in need of a 9-1-1 call. I was dealing with a garden spider, not Shelob. (I was busy re-inventing break dancing perhaps, but I’m no Samwise Gamgee.)
I’m going to have to start carrying a flashlight. Or I will break something. With my luck I would break something badly, die, end up at the Pearly Gates, tell St. Peter what happened, and while laughing riotously they would send me to Hell “just because!”
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