Category Archives: Photography

March 2, 2025 · 22:54

Who Had 22 Hours?

I got the fancy, fast, cool new computer hardware from Dell yesterday.

I’m sure there was an office pool amongst you, betting on how long it would be before I cracked it open and started enhancing it, i.e., adding another 4TB hard drive.

If you took the under on 24 hours, you know me well! If you have 22 hours in the pool, you’re a winner!

I will give Dell credit, it’s remarkably easy to open up the case and add another internal hard drive (or two) where those two baby blue brackets are on the left. Almost so simple that any idiot could do it (as I proved!)

It’s been a long weekend of IT cosplay, but we’re a lot closer to being normal and functional tonight. Lots of loose ends (what do you mean there are no Win11 device drivers for an HP LaserJet 1200? It’s not THAT old! Oh, wait, yes it is…)

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Filed under Computers, Photography

February 28, 2025 · 23:37

February Ends On A New Low

It’s truly depressing how quickly our government is being dismantled and a century of hard-earned alliances and trust just tossed into the trash by the psychotic traitor in the White House and his cult. I knew it was coming – I just had no idea it was coming so incredibly fast.

Today’s embarrassing debacle in the Oval Office is a new low, even for this group of ignorant chucklefucks.

Maybe March will be better… (I’m putting my hopes in choelesterol and ketamine.)

In the meantime, the only advice I’ve got to share is to go outside, watch clouds, breathe, relax, and get your blood pressure back down.  The clouds here this morning were lovely!

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Filed under Photography, Politics, Weather

February 27, 2025 · 23:34

Deferral Blues & Sunset Pinks

It was a rough couple of days, with a big annual payroll update and tight deadline at work leaving me a little bit light on sleep. Then I had a scheduled blood donation at the Red Cross, but my hemoglobin level was unexpectedly low and I was deferred from donating today. Doing some searching on the internet about what that means and what could be causing it and how to solve it for now and prevent it for the future just left me depressed and slightly alarmed. I’ll think about it more some other day. But I was not a happy camper.

So while The Long-Suffering Wife went through with her blood donation, I ran to the office (literally, directly across the street) to take care of a quick IT task, and in the process was treated to a delightful, cotton candy pink sunset as the coastal fog and clouds were rolling in.

So, not a complete bust! (I especially like that last picture!)

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Filed under Health, Photography, Sunsets

February 26, 2025 · 23:54

Very Good Dogs

I just finished reading Chuck Wendig’s “Wayward,” the sequel to “Wanderers.” They’re both extremely excellent and I give them both my highest recommendation. (I’ve started handing out copies as gifts.)

In “Wayward” one of the most beloved characters is a golden retriever named Gumball, who is A Most Excellent Very Good Dog.

That got me to thinking about our dogs, now long gone. One of the reasons we really want to buy our Forever Home is so we can have dogs again – where we’ve been renting for seven years now, no pets are allowed.

Lucky Puppy was our first dog, and she was A Most Excellent Very Good Dog. She usually looked guilty because she usually was. But A Most Excellent Very Good Dog nonetheless.

We got Jessie when The Long Suffering Wife moved in, and while she was a trouble making scamp and a jumper who wouldn’t stay in the yard and scared the shit out of us every time she went on walkabout, she also was A Most Excellent Very Good Dog. Squirrels were her sworn, mortal enemy.

Once we find The Forever Home, get moved in, get halfway settled, it will be time to visit a shelter or rescue group.

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Filed under Dogs, Forever Home, Photography

February 25, 2025 · 23:48

Today Was Tuesday – I Think

Holy crap, look at the time!

Quoth the raven, “WHAT THE FUCK!?”

Yep, I went there!

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Filed under Birds, Photography

February 24, 2025 · 23:33

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!

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Filed under Astronomy, Paul, Photography

February 23, 2025 · 23:49

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!

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Filed under Birds, Photography

February 22, 2025 · 22:42

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.

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Filed under Birds, Photography

February 21, 2025 · 22:35

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.

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Filed under Critters, Photography

February 20, 2025 · 23:29

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.

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Filed under Health, Paul, Photography