Category Archives: Photography

April 2, 2025 · 22:42

No Context For You – April 02nd

Stormy and dangerous times are indeed upon us, and I’m not talking about the weather. When we started celebrating stupidity and worshiping cult leaders who lie to us with every breath, we set ourselves on a road to destruction. When we turned our back on science, medicine, and knowledge in a time when we desperately need expertise and experience, we put ourselves in an untenable situation.

I fear not just for our nation, but for our society, our civilization, and our long-term existence as a species.

Those storms on the horizon may be upon us sooner than anyone expects, and they may be far more violent and deadly than we can believe.

I hope that I’m wrong. I fear that I’m still underestimating the danger.

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Filed under Paul, Photography, Politics

April 1, 2025 · 23:44

Fine Feathered Friends – April 01st

As I’ve mentioned in the past, the dark-eyed Juncos are the clown princes of the back yard. Hopping, flitting, buzzing around the yard, onto the ground to grab seeds before the squirrels get them then back up into the bushes whenever something bigger flies over.

At this time of year there’s just one or two left – the rest have all migrated off to Canada for the summer. But “Solo Junco” and “Dos Junco” seem to stay around all year.

I always thought that they were silent, or at least not well known for being “songbirds,” but nope! At least this one is noisy!

It’s no mockingbird, but it’s loud. (I hope this clip has decent sound – the upload to YouTube has truly sucky sound, but that’s a known issue.)

Maybe Solo Junco doesn’t marathon his little way to Saskatchawan and back every year because we keep dumping a cup or two of bird seeds out in the dirt every day.

Fighting off the finches, mourning doves, and squirrels for free food must be a piece of cake compared to a 3,000 mile commute!

 

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Filed under Birds, Critters, Photography, Video

March 31, 2025 · 23:44

March Texans

On Saturday afternoon there was a familiar buzz from the skies – TEXANS!

Probably a subset of the Condor Squadron out of Van Nuys.

We hear them all of the time since they come out here to practice their formation flying, but this time it was something extra.

They made four passes over something to the south of us, each time hitting the smoke about the time they came over our house.

I’m assuming they were hired to do a set of flybys for some event – a birthday, a memorial service, a retirement party, a wedding reception…

Thanks for the free mini-airshow! We didn’t get an invite to the festivities, whatever and wherever they were, but we enjoyed being buzzed!

And that’s a wrap for March! I had such high hopes, the eternal optimist, and was so disappointed.

April! You’re up!

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Filed under Airshows, Flying, Photography

March 30, 2025 · 23:42

Fine Feathered Friends – March 30th

We have several pairs (I’m assuming, they always seem to hang out two at a time) of California towhees that stay in the yard year around.

They’ll fly in and out and fly up into the bushes and trees when I get too close, but without a direct threat they seem to prefer hopping and running. They remind me of tiny roadrunners.

Most of them also seem to be acclimated to me much more than the other birds in the yard (mockingbirds, mourning doves, juncos, house finches) and they’ll let me get within ten feet easily before running or flying away.

What’s hilarious is when I throw grapes out into the yard – they’ll flock down to grab some before the evil squirrels get them all. If left alone, they’ll peck at the grapes and eat them bit by bit on the ground where they are, but if they see me or the squirrel (or the new neighbors’ dog) they’ll stab the grape with that bill, pick it up (despite the fact that it might be as big as their head), and then run like hell for the bushes where their nests are. It’s extremely comical.

This view shows you what the bird apps refer to as its “rich cinammon tones on face and orange undertail coverts.” I think from the scale of the hose on the first picture you can see that they’re bigger than the finches and juncos, smaller than the mourning doves, about the size of a robin or mockingbird.

Grapes, anyone?

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Filed under Birds, Photography

March 29, 2025 · 22:44

First Flowers Of Spring

As usual around the Willett back yard, one of the first positive signs of spring is the sprouting of those little pink flowers on the crab apple tree.

Usually they show up around eye level, but for reasons unknown, this year they’re way up at the top of the tree.

They weren’t there yesterday, but two little groups were there today, brought to my attention by the hummingbirds hitting on them for a quick snack.

One of these days I should get the last of this nylon netting off of the top of the tree. Most of it down lower was removed years ago because hummers kept getting caught in it (which is sort of the point, I guess, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about the pathetic little amount of fruit that the tree might theoretically produce and I like the hummers) but I’ve never gotten a big ladder to remove it from the top.

I might be more motivated if I owned the house and/or was planning on being here for many years. But I don’t and I’m not, so I am decidedly “meh!” about the project.

Meanwhile, just on its own, the image of delicate, beautiful pink flowers surrounded and trapped by netting seems to be saying something about our situation in general on a number of levels, so let’s just go with that. Artistic interpretation is left as an exercise for the student.

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Filed under Flowers, Photography

March 28, 2025 · 23:04

Hummer In The Sun

When the little monster will sit still for a second in full sunlight, the iridescence can be spectacular!

It just that they don’t sit still for photos.

I get a glimpse, the colors flash, but by the time I can get the camera raised and focused, they’re off. Usually causing mayhem.

Good thing they’re cute.

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Filed under Birds, Critters, Photography

March 27, 2025 · 23:39

Opening Day

It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball 2025 (yeah, I know that the Dodgers & Cubs played two games in Tokoyo last week) and hope springs eternal. We all started today 0-0 with visions of a great season ahead of our favorite teams!

The definition of “a great season” vary by team, of course. For the Dodgers, anything less than a World Series repeat will be an abject failure.

For the Angels, a .500 season would be their best in years. If they make the playoffs for the first time in eleven years, there would be dancing in the streets.

Pretty much everyone else is somewhere in the middle.

What do you mean, “You have a baseball just sitting on your desk?” Doesn’t everyone? No? What kind of monster are you??!!

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Filed under LA Angels, Photography, Sports

March 26, 2025 · 22:48

Distorted

On the one hand, it’s just a picture of a reflection in the side of an office building with the unflat glass distorting the image of the under construction office building across the parking lot.

On the other hand, I had just been doomscrolling about the complete, world-class clusterfuck which is the current US government, and I was thinking about how I don’t even know what’s a satirical article from The Onion vs. what’s front page news from the Wall Street Journal any more. The constant lies and misinformation being spread by folks we were supposed to trust absolutely is distoring reality in ways we’re not prepared to deal with on a 24/7/365 basis.

I fear that it’s having effects on me that I can’t prevent, can’t counteract, and can’t avoid. And I’m way, way too old to deal with any of this Civil War II shit.

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Filed under Photography, Politics

March 25, 2025 · 23:40

Wispy

And thin. And complex once you start paying attention to the details.

Makes me want to be a bird. Maybe one of those hawks…

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Filed under Photography, Weather

March 24, 2025 · 23:04

No Context For You – March 24th

When you’ve got as many pictures as I’ve taken for as many years as I’ve been taking them, that’s quite the little rabbit hole to dive down into.

Might be best to tie a rope around my waist so I can be hauled back out if I get lost.

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Filed under CAF, Photography