Category Archives: Photography

March 26, 2022 · 23:05

Another Way To Piss Off Hummingbirds

First of all, with our extremely territorial male Anna’s Hummingbird, that bar isn’t set real high. He’ll chase off any other hummingbird that comes near the two feeders he can see, and he’ll almost always buzz my head if I go out and stand near one of them.

Today I was out in the back for over six hours, working on what I had hoped would be a half-hour job (don’t ask, I feel like I’ve been beaten with a stick) and during the course of that ordeal I ended up noticing that these flowers on the vines there (morning glories of some sort? I think I looked it up once, but I’m too damn tired to go find it right now) were in bloom, so I took pictures.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

Right by my ear, then off to one of the feeders. “I wan’t threatening you, no, honest! I was just going to the feeder and didn’t notice you there!”

Yeah, right. Mark my words, one of these days I’m going to end up in the ER with a live, trapped, pissed off hummingbird in my ear and I’m going to have to explain it to some poor, beleaguered nurse who won’t believe a word I say.

(Okay, I went and looked it up. They’re Lavendar Trumpet Vine flowers.)

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Filed under Birds, Flowers, Photography

March 24, 2022 · 23:50

Close Encounter Of The Furred Kind

Before dinner I was taking a break for a few minutes, sitting out in the back yard in that white chair out toward the edge of the drop off down the hill.

The sun was warm, it was quite pleasant, probably about 70°F, the strong winds of the last several days gone. I sat for 15-20 minutes, skimming social media on my phone and enjoying the weather.

Sitting very still, apparently.

At the edge of the hill there’s a little terrace, about five feet down, with a set of steps over on the right, by the ice plant. Down the hill, along the outer edge of that terrace, there’s a chain link fence, that may or may not define the edge of the property. (There are a couple more chain link fences running parallel to it horizontally along the ridge, but no way to get down there and just ivy and weeds covering the hillside. I rent, so I don’t care where the property ends, but it could also be at one of those fences.)

I heard something hit the chain link fence and then wiggle it. I had my suspicions.

A few second later I saw movement at the edge of the yard, above the terrace and just four or five feet from me. Whatever it was had hit the top of the wall behind some of that tallish, decorative sage grass that grows there so I couldn’t see it and it couldn’t see me.

I stayed very still.

And around the corner of the clump of grass came my suspect.

(May or may not be the actual squirrel.)

I expected it to bolt, but noooooo! It started to creep forward toward the yard behind us, oblivious to my presence. For about three feet. Then it froze.

Probably no more than an inch or two from my sneakers, it didn’t even raise its head, just moved its eyes, almost in cartoon fashion.

Jurassic Park Remove Glasses GIF - Jurassic Park Remove Glasses So Intense GIFs(Yeah, that’s the attitude!)

I still hadn’t moved, but quietly said, “Something I can help you with?”

Friends, I will bet anyone $5 that if you go examine where that critter was standing you will find a little pile of squirrel shit.

The squirrel levitated at Warp Factor 8 over to the big tree back there and then sat about 15 feet up, clicking and chattering at me. Obviously, this was all my fault!

I couldn’t have caught or chased it to save my life. I was laughing too hard.

Gotta keep that chair there and spend more “quiet time” reading there. Who knows what or who might drop by next?

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Filed under Castle Willett, Critters, Photography

March 23, 2022 · 23:34

By Any Other Name

I absolutely love the color on this one.

It’s just sitting by the driveway, all alone, minding its own business.

A few days, maybe a week, ten days tops. and it goes from OMG to DOA.

Sort of the definition of “transient,” but holy wow, how glorious for those few days.

I wonder if there are creatures or beings who look at we frail humans and think the same thing of our three score and ten.

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Filed under Flowers, Photography

March 22, 2022 · 23:43

Ceiling Aurora

For Christmas I got a wonderful little thingamabob, a night light that projects “aurora” on the ceiling.

“Aurora-like” might be more accurate, but it’s lovely and I like it a lot. It’s sort of like a kaleidoscope in night light form, constantly shifting and sending out varying curtains and streamers of red, blue, purple, and green light all over the ceiling.

The blue spot on the right is from the night light built into a fan. Combined, it’s quite the effect.

It’s not nearly as bright as this makes it seem – we do need to sleep, after all. But the lights are quite visible, especially when your eyes get dark adapted, and it works well as a night light (which is, after all, its original function) when my middle-aged body has to wander out of bed several times a night.

Very pretty. Very peaceful. Very relaxing.

And I’m a lot less likely to break a toe at 3:13 AM! We’re all happy about that.

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Filed under Art, Paul, Photography

March 20, 2022 · 23:22

Downwind Leg

Another nice thing about being at the Giltinis game at the LA Coliseum yesterday was that the Coliseum is just a couple miles south of Downtown Los Angeles, next to the USC campus. And for plane watchers in SoCal, downtown LA is where the big jets coming into LAX from Asia, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest all are finishing up their downwind legs (from west to east) and turning base (toward the south) in the landing pattern. See that green line?

(image from FlightRadar24.com)

So sitting in the stands at the Coliseum (the green square just south of USC on the map) it’s easy to watch a string of jets, many of them the big trans-Pacific jumbos, descending through 3,500 feet and making that big right turn overhead.

What a nice afternoon! The only thing better for plane spotting is to go down to LAX and watch them land!

Which sounds like another great idea for some sunny day soon!

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Filed under Flying, Los Angeles, Photography

March 19, 2022 · 23:09

Another Year 2022

I went to my first professional rugby game tonight, the LA Giltinis hosting the San Diego Legion.

A fun game, with the Giltinis winning 26-13. I only understand the big picture on the rules and I’m totally ignorant of about 99% of the nuances and fine details, but it was still a fun experience!

The Los Angeles Coliseum has hosted two Olympics, the LA Rams, at one point way back the LA Dodgers, and for decades the USC Trojans. It seats 93,607 currently. The Giltinis drew maybe 2,000 today, so it’s an interesting experience in a stadium that big.

It was a fun day.

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Filed under Los Angeles, Panorama, Paul, Photography, Sports

March 17, 2022 · 23:33

Random Old Photos – March 17th

It’s not Ireland (never been there) but downtown Seoul, South Korea, from May, 2012.

Thinking about the people of Seoul and South Korea today, reading about how their COVID numbers are spiking.

May we all see a better tomorrow.

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Filed under Photography, Travel

March 16, 2022 · 22:18

Prepare For Dancing

Similar to last night’s photo. 99% illuminated now, 388,422 kilometers away.

Ignore the little orange streak, that’s just an LAPD helicopter cruising by.

As I commented on a friend’s similar post on social media earlier, it’s almost like there’s a whole other world up there, almost close enough to touch.

Soon it will be warm enough to go out dancing in the moonlight. Grab a partner.

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography

March 15, 2022 · 23:56

Oodles Of Moonlight

It’s very bright out there. I like it. Spring’s almost here, six more days!

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Filed under Photography

March 13, 2022 · 20:37

What DOES Starlight Taste Like?

An unusual quirk of mine – I don’t drink coffee.

(I’ll pause for the wailing and shocked outrage to calm down.)

My caffeine substrate of choice is Diet Coke. I drink a couple a day, which is a lot better than in my youth when I could drink six, eight, ten or more a day. Ah, youth…

I was intrigued when I heard that Coke has a special new flavor for a limited time. “Coke Starlight.”

They had some in the grocery store finally this morning. Okay.

I’m pretty sure it won’t actually taste like space. I base that conclusion on the fact that smell and taste are closely associated, and we actually DO know what space smells like. Short version, a little like cordite or gunpowder, or maybe burnt steak. I’m willing to bet in advance that won’t be what Coke aims for with this.

Let’s give it a try!

Um… probably not going to be my favorite, but not bad. Despite the fact that this version is “Zero Sugar,” it tastes quite sweet. The flavor to me was familiar, but it took a couple of swigs before my brain could ignore what my eyes and hands were doing and filter out just what the taste was.

Cupcakes with vanilla frosting. To me at least, that’ exactly what it tasted like.

So, experiment concluded with acceptable results. Not something I’m going to regret seeing gone if it truly is a limited time special edition, but if someplace doesn’t have Diet Coke, this would be an acceptable substitute for a meal.

And SO MUCH better than Diet Pepsi as a substitute. Bleah! That crap is horrible!!

 

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Filed under Paul, Photography