Some moisture moving in.
They were talking about a 40% chance of rain for the next three days, but now of course, it’s down to just a 24% chance on Thursday and 11% chance on Friday.
The odds of winning tonight’s $1.55B Lottery are starting to look better and batter in comparison. But at least the passing clouds are cooling it down out of the high 90’s into the low 80’s.
Any port in a storm!
Filed under Photography, Weather
I was hoping that tonight’s Falcon 9 launch out of Vandenberg would be soon enough after sunset so that we would get a spectacular “jellyfish” effect. That’s when the huge cloud of turbulent gas being released by the rocket engines is high enough to still be in the light of the sun, while down below we’re in darkness already. It’s really, REALLY cool! (Like this one from December, 2017!)
Tonight – close, no cigar.
Oh, I saw the launch, it was great! Clear as a bell here, so I could follow the second stage for over five minutes as it headed toward the southern horizon, out over the San Fernando Valley:
And the video I got as it came up over the mountains to the west and climbed toward MECO (Main Engine Cut Off) was decent:
But it would be nice to get to see a couple of launches close up. Like, as close as I can get without either being arrested or pulped by the acoustic energy.
Of course, ultimately I would like a seat on the pointy end… One step at a time.
Filed under Photography, Space, Video
The odds of anyone from the Applie iPhone 16 or 17 design teams reading this site are low – but they’re not zero! So just in case, here’s a request.
Can we please get a stylus we can use on the iPhone? At least on the Max Pro models with the big screens?
Some of us are getting older and not quite as dexterous as we used to be, and some of us have fat fingers to boot. It’s so much easier to use a nice, pointy, pen-like stylus than stab at virtual keyboards with the aforementioned fat fingers.
Even better if it’s the same stylus I already have for my iPad! I use the CRAP out of that wonderful device, it makes life so much easier!
Maybe the option of something like I used to use on an early something or the other – it might have been a Blackberry? It looked like a normal, retractable ballpoint pen, but when you clicked on it you got a stylus instead. Make that a stylus that will work on both the iPhone and the iPad? SOLD!!
Just a suggstion, if anyone’s listening. (You can send my royalties and free equipment thank you gifts to me here care of the site!)
Filed under Computers, Paul, Photography
Tonight’s visitor when I went out to check on the lawn sprinklers:
Not camoflouged real well up there in the bright light and all alone on the big, off-white, stucco wall.
(Image: Seek app)
The Seek app on the iPhone had no problem identifying it as a White-lined Sphinx moth. While they say these moths “are sometimes referred to as the hummingbird moth because of their bird-like size,” I can guarantee it wasn’t as big as any of the several species of hummingbirds I have in the yard. It’s a big moth, but we’ve seen bigger. (This one from April looks to have been the same species, but it was about 20% to 30% bigger.)
It’s pretty enough though. Just watch out for the mockingbirds! Their nest (now abandoned, as the three little ones fledged while we were in Winnipeg in July) is just a couple feet away.
Filed under Critters, Photography
My father grew up on a farm and it was sort of the job description to be “handy,” able to do lots of different mechanical and handiman jobs. Everything from woodworking, plumbing, electrical, painting, engine repair and body work on the car – it had to be quite the significant or highly specialized task before he would just pay someone else to do it. Needless to say, I got tutored on all of these things, and while some of it stuck, the results varied. While we visited my grandfather’s farm for a couple of weeks here and there over the summer, I did *NOT* grow up on a farm.
One lesson I remember very distinctly, something I heard him say every time we were elbow deep in some array of pipes and drains and fixtures – “I hate plumbing!” That one I learned pretty well.
One guiding principle in my approach to plumbing repairs comes from astronaut Chris Hadfield. I don’t remember the exact quote, but the gist of it is, “First, don’t make it worse.” Meaning, I’m sure I could hire a plumber to fix this for $500 to $700 (hopefully not too much more) but if I had the correct $5 part I think I could probably fix it myself, but in the process of disassembling and attempting to repair and attempting to reassemble, don’t turn it into a $2,000 repair.
So far, I think I’m still good. But I haven’t been able to find that $5 part, and there are a zillion of these valves and they’re all different manufacturers and sizes and models and they’re all 1000% NON-interchangeable and the best way to get what I need is to shut off the water to the house, pull this sucker out, take it to the plumbing supply place, and let them ID it and sell me the $60 full replacement that includes the $5 part that I need, then go home and reverse the entire process.
It seems straightforward but there are so many places in there where I’m wandering further and further into “WTF am I doing?” and “I have no idea what to do next, but now the water’s off” and then I’m calling that plumber on a weekend and *POOF!*, $2,000 is gone!
I hate plumbing.
Filed under Castle Willett, Paul, Photography
No, not me! (Well, okay, me, as usual, but that’s not what the post is about.)
If you read this site regularly (and thank you!) you’ve seen pictures of the western horizon from my front yard. There are usually clouds or sunsets or stars or mountains or ISS passes or planes or Vandenberg launches or something off in the distance. But in the foreground are the cluster of seven tall palm trees in my neighbor’s yard across the street. Today they got trimmed to within an inch of their lives.
The bad news is that there were often crows and mockingbirds hanging out and possibly/probably nesting in those treetops. It make take a while for the fronds at the top to grow back enough to make a decent crown and a place for nests to be built. And my front yard, already dealing with being way too dry and roasted in this summer heat, is going to get that much more sun every day.
The good news is that the trees didn’t get cut down entirely, just trimmed. And since this is also exactly where the Falcon 9’s launching out of Vandenberg show up, it will be easier to see them.
We’ll call it a draw!
Filed under Photography
Yeah, I know that it’s August NOW. But yesterday it was still July, and in addition to that great full moon, around sunset we had a surge of monsoonal moisture pass through.
Of course, WE got zero-point-zero rain.
I guess we should have been grateful for the humidity. At least for a couple of hours the sun wasn’t frying the vegetation and sucking every last drop of moisture out of every leaf.
And the sunset was definitely beautiful, even if it was restricted to shades of yellow. No oranges, reds, or purples for us today.
That’s okay. It was a good end to a so-so month. I’m trying to learn to take what we’re given and make the best of it.
Check back with me later and see how that goes…
Filed under Photography, Sunsets, Weather
There was definitely room for improvement.
But the view of the full moon rising through the clouds doesn’t suck. Maybe August can take a hint.
We’ll know in 31 days!
Filed under Photography
The sort-of-not-really-full-for-two-days-yet Moon was rising in the southeast. There are layers of spotty clouds overhead (no rain in sight, but the humidity’s up) and the moon was lighting them up nicely, so let’s see what ye olde iPhone 13 can do!
Sweet! But in that clear spot in the lower right, facing due south… Could we be picking up the bright stars in the “head” of Scorpius? (Star chart diagram here.)
Why, yes! Yes we are! We can even see some of the reddish tint to Arcturus! (Near dead center.)
Filed under Astronomy, Photography
Because we have tickets at the Ahmanson tonight!
Granted, Canada has more (and probably better) woods than LA does, nevertheless, THIS is where the Sondheim is tonight.
“1776” was a huge highlight of this season for me (a truly outstanding production!) but this is a close second.
Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles, Photography
 | berich56 on Wispy With A Chance Of Straigh… |
 | Jemima Pett on War Board Review |
 | momdude on Above Average Sunset & Cre… |
 | Frederic Paulussen on Above Average Sunset & Cre… |
| Jemima Pett on Proof Of Life – Febrary… |
 | karen bear on iPhone 17 Moonrise |
 | Praveen Yadav on Evolution Of Some Weird C… |
| Jemima Pett on Why Is There Brain Freeze… |
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 