Category Archives: Sunsets

December 17, 2025 · 23:45

Go Outside Around Sunset!

Big picture, like, we’re talking “annually,” the timing of sunset shifts with the seasons, so knowing when it is (ballpark figure, at least – 16:30 or 19:30?) keeps you in touch with the planet you live on and the progress of the seasons. The Winter Solstice is next week! Are you ready?

Looking at the more near-term picture, check the weather, look at the sunset (sometimes it’s just okay, sometimes it’s spectacular, most of the time it’s somewhere in between, like today), see if anyone else in the neighborhood has put up any new Christmas lights, (especially if it’s windy as all get out like today) see if any of our lights have come down, and so on. You should be getting out a few times during the day anyway to stretch your legs, but the sunset one is particularly important.

Looking for the meaning of life? The odds are against your finding it out here with this view, but they’re a lot higher than they are sitting in front of a computer playing a game, working on a spreadsheet, doing data entry, or doomscrolling through social media.

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November 27, 2025 · 21:31

Thanksgiving Sunset

Exactly what it says. It was one of the better ones, more pink and purple than orange in the back, with the quarter moon up high.

In the front is where the reds and oranges were found.

I hope that all of my American friends had a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving holiday with no arguments over dinner about politics, religion, or how Aunt Charlene is now Uncle Charlie.

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November 12, 2025 · 23:11

Clouds – No Aurora

There’s a week-long rain storm moving in tomorrow night and I still have piles of boxes outside, so it’s a priority to get them moved inside, or at least under the roof on the back porch.

While everyone else has been looking at aurora from a huge solar storm, we’re just getting clouds. (To be fair, we’re also so far south that if we’re seeing aurora, there are probably satellites getting fricasseed, so it’s a trade off.)

Very pretty and dramatic looking clouds to be sure, especially around sunset and into the early evening.

I’m once again in “feeling like I’ve gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson” mode – 69 is really, REALLY too old for this shit, but my stupid brain still thinks I’m 29 for some reason and I’m six-foot tall and bulletproof, at least until I try to stand up and start crying and whimpering.

Stupid brain.

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November 6, 2025 · 23:53

Proof Of Life – November 06th

I really should know better than to send work emails at 11:45 after an 18-hour day. Trying to be “firm” and to stress “urgent,” hopefully without being a flaming asshole.

Here, enjoy some recent above average sunset pictures that I haven’t shared yet.

Not that I had time to go out and watch today’s sunset. The Sun could have exploded and I wouldn’t have noticed.

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November 4, 2025 · 23:11

Proof Of Life – November 04th

Still messed up from the Daylight Saving Time shift. Need a good night’s sleep, unlikely to get it.

The odd hours do have me saying hello to Venus and the sunrise – not getting old yet!

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October 27, 2025 · 23:10

Launch Leftovers

I’m home, but I know who’s the most upset about me being gone for a couple of days. The birds! The sparrows and finches and scrub jays who are chowing down on the seed in the feeders, and who are emptying them in a day, a day and a half at most. When I’m gone for three days, those feeders are seriously empty when I get home. They even eat the parts that they don’t like!

While refilling the feeders about 18:30, there were these amazing, bright, high-level clouds visible to the west:

They look like noctilucent clouds, but those would be incredibly rare this far south. Normally you would only see them way north, in the polar regions.

However, that’s toward where Vandenberg is, and launches out of there are getting close to being a daily occurrence. A quick check showed that a launch had happened at 17:43, just about 45 minutes earlier.

So, there you go! Launch leftovers in the sunset sky. And happy birds now that their feeders are full again!

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October 25, 2025 · 21:20

Proof Of Life – October 25th

The good news is that I made a lot of excellent progress on the first day of this final stage of the great move to the Forever Home! The bad news is that I was (of course!) ridiculously overly optimistic about how much was involved and how long it would take to get done. I’ll be working on finishing it up and getting back home tomorrow.

The saving grace is that we’re slowly learning from past mistakes. I won’t be sleeping on the floor or in my car tonight. I brought a bag, just in case, and I’m now comfortable in a local hotel.

And there was a gorgeous sunset with a crescent moon over the Camarillo Airport, to boot!

I just wish that I didn’t feel like I’ve been beaten within an inch of my life by a legion of orcs. I’m truly getting too old for this shit.

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October 22, 2025 · 22:59

Proof Of Life – October 2nd

Last night’s second picture showed clouds to the south over the Cajon Pass – I didn’t think anything of it. I took the photos, came home and downloaded them, wrote my post, hit the “publish” button.

Not ten minutes later the whole house shook with a massive peal of thunder right overhead. There had been 0% chance of rain, no mention of any clouds or storms at all. But for the next hour we had quite the little pop-up thunderstorm.

I might have just loved it.

Tonight the clouds were still hanging around, making comet viewing impossible again, but we did get some gorgous crepuscular rays at sunset.

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October 6, 2025 · 23:16

This Happens Every Day

It just seems a lot more obvious up here in the desert.

Good thing too, given the insane times we’re living in on all levels. Seeing this at 6:00 AM can give you a shot of hope, and that full moon rising at 6:00 PM isn’t half bad either. It’s all that shit in between that’s gotten to be a bit much.

That really bright object shining through the plantation shutters in the upper right? That’s Venus.

Brilliant!

Stunning!

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September 23, 2025 · 23:28

I’m Being Changed By My New Environment

Mostly good things. But one “mixed blessing” that surprises me is the sunrises.

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been awake for sunrise in the last forty years. Which is weird. When I was a kid I was always up early, mainly because as the oldest of eight kids it was one of the only times I had alone, when I could read without being bothered. Then there were years of morning paper routes, then some time at Annapolis, then working graveyard shift to get through college along with 8:00 AM classes.

Somewhere in the intervening 45 years after college, I decided that being up before the crack of nine is less than optimal. I almost never am in bed before 1:00 AM, but unless I have to be up to remain employed or get on a plane, getting up by sunrise is NOT on the menu.

Then we moved here, with big plantation shutters and a lovely view to the east and some spectacular desert sunrises, and I’m finding myself  waking up to check out the sunrises. (Okay, I’m getting up to pee at 5:45, but I still look outside and see the sunrise.) Who knew? Granted, once the pretty colors go away I go back to sleep until 8:00 or so, but there’s definitely been a shift in my circadian rhythms.

This morning was stunning!

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