At least, a bunch of them! We’ve got something special going on Saturday, so as long as folks were coming into town…
So far it’s been a great game, the Kings up 3-2 after one period.
Time to scrape that ice!
And let’s start the second! Go, Kings, GO!!
Filed under Family, LA Kings, Photography
It was a good morning for playing this game!
Oh, to be a hawk and go dodging in and out of those fluffy white expanses just for the pure joy of it!
Filed under Photography, Weather
I’ve been spending a lot of my spare time cruising Zillow, looking for that rainbow unicorn property that’s out there for our “forever home.” There are some truly spectacular places out there — if you have several million dollars to spend.
There are some very nice and perfectly acceptable houses in a number of different locations around the country, for $600K to $800K. Which is still a problem since we need to be paying about half or 2/3 of that if possible.
For $400K to $500K there are some very nice and perfectly acceptable houses – except for “something.” In a town that’s way too small. In a city that’s way too big. In a state where I would make it about a week before there would be folks with torches and pitchforks out on my lawn. On a lot with about three feet between us and the neighbors.
We’re going to move once, and ONLY ONCE if I have anything to say about it. The “forever home” doesn’t have to be 100% perfect, but it would help if it’s in the high 90%’s.
Oh, but those “fantasy homes!” The ones with fifty or sixty acres, on a river with a dock, an in-ground pool, six or seven thousand square feet or more, a barn and paddock and kennel and workshop, that huge built-in BBQ and patio and jacuzzi…
I don’t know if it’s worse to look at them and drool and dream and occasionally deal with the disappointment of knowing that we’ll never have one, or to swear off looking at them and just settle for so much less.
If you happen to know of a 2,500 to 3,500 square foot, one-story ranch on a 1/3 or 1/2 acre lot in a mid-sized college town in a blue or purple state for under $500K, let us know, okay?
Filed under Art, Castle Willett
Getting things done, checking things off the list!
I know that there are vast stretches of this country where one of the two political parties has been working very hard for decades to make it extremely difficult for some people to vote. I understand why – it’s because they know that they can’t possibly win a free and fair election, they’re fascists who have to stay in power at all costs, and the ony way they can do that is by cheating or stacking the deck. That’s not a conspiracy theory, that’s documented fact. Just read the laws they’ve written and look at the gerrymandered maps that they’ve rigged up.
California’s the exact opposite of that and I sort of love it. When it’s time for voting, EVERY registered voter gets a ballot sent in the mail, and it’s easy to get registered. If you want to be kept in the loop on where your ballot is, sign up and they’re happy to overwhelm you with notifications. When they are going to mail out the ballots in a few days, I get a text, and email, and a phone call. Again when they actually do mail out the ballots. Again to remind me that the ballot should have arrived to remind me how many days there are to get it sent back.
Then when you put the ballot in a drop box (like I did tonight) you’ll get another round of texts, emails, and calls when they pick it up from the dropbox. And again when it’s scanned and counted.
Overkill, FTW!!
Every time I get even the tiniest little bit of annoyance or bother about it I think about Florida and Texas and Ohio and Mississippi and Georgia and I’m just fine with what California has going for it.
After dropping off my ballot, it was time to go donate a pint. I asked them to take only the blood that was saturated with those little hemoglobin H1C molecules and leave behind the ones that are still fresh and empty and happy. They smiled and nodded a lot, but I have suspicions about their sincerity.
The needle thing is fine, but I would really like to get back the arm hair on those patches where they yanked it all off while removing the adhesives. Yanked it off gleefully, I might add.
Filed under Health, Photography, Politics
It was a dozen years ago, a cross-country trip, somewhere on I-10 in Texas.
Big clouds. Bright white from a distance, convection reaching for the heavens.
Getting darker and darker underneath, heading toward black punctuated only by lightning. Lots of that, small hail, winds that might or might not have been a tornado or at least tornado-adjacent, and sheets and sheets of rain.
It was an experience!
Filed under Photography, Travel, Weather
My first clue was the song. I hadn’t heard it before and I couldn’t see any new birds around, but I could hear them (probably two, at least) flitting around in the trees off the back yard. The Cornell Lab Merlin Bird ID app (which is wonderful, highly recommended if this is your thing) now has a “Sound ID” feature which is fantastic. Whipping it out, it immediately ID the song as a Cassin’s Kingbird. A photo showed it to be bigger than the juncos and house finches, smaller (maybe) than a mockingbird, with a yellow breast.
An hour or so later, out in the front yard, I heard the song again and saw these guys.
Mockingbird-sized, yellow breasts, same odd song.
Bingo, a Cassin’s Kingbird. Actually, a pair. The yellow breast can be seen easily, despite the lousy, cloudy lighting.
Different body shape than the mockingbirds, smaller tail.
The beak is short and pointed, almost like a woodpecker’s.
And their song is quite distinct and interesting.
So, another new bird friend for the neighborhood. Hooray!!
Filed under Birds, Critters, Photography
It may be daytime, but often the moon’s still up there. Today it was 26 days old, rose at 03:11 last night, set at 16:35 this afternoon. But at 11:48 it was almost overhead and only about 12% illuminated.
Very low contrast, tough to see, and I probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t been looking for a plane that was flying around in the same area. With my eyes set on focusing at a distance for the plane, the crescent moon just popped out of that blue background.
Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space
Yesterday there was a photo that had a handful of good memories combined with a significant number of less-than-good memories. Today’s the opposite. So many good memories of that day, the only down side being missed opportunities, things that could have made it better but which I’ll never get back.
Still, the good memories are overwhelming. Vermont. Kayaking with a very dear friend. Loons. Listening to their distinctive, haunting cry at sunset, watching them in the Northeast Kingdom. The peace of Molly’s Falls Pond.
We all need more days like that.
Filed under Photography, Travel
The point may vanish, the parallel lines converge, but the memories (a few good, a few more horrific) remain.
If I knew then what I knew a couple hours later, let alone what I know now, years later, would I have followed these rails? Or was the good worth it in the balance? Was the bad blown out of proportion? Maybe this was a sign (or maybe a portent) and I’m still not seeing the message?
That’s the problem with not having any gods, reliable oracles, or accurate psychics to lean on. Some answers would be great, but they’re nowhere to be found. The unknowns are winning.
Stupid universe!
Filed under Deep Thoughts, Photography
The Hallmark Channel on cable has a little promo icon in the lower left corner that’s constantly telling me today that it’s “Three Days to the Countdown to Christmas!”
Okay…
Can I start putting up Christmas lights on Friday?
Normally, of course, being a sane and reasonable person (shut up! I heard that!), I wouldn’t start putting up lights until the Friday after Thanksgiving. And normally, if I broke that rule and jumped the gun for some reason, a few of my neighbors might politely inquire what the hell I was thinking.
But, hey! A multi-billion dollar, multinational megacorp says that it’s okay! We’re gonna blow straight by not just Halloween, but Thanksgiving as well! It’s time to start pushing those trees, ornaments, inflatable 12′ skeletons, cards, presents, gift cards, and inedible fruitcakes!
Who am I, a simple pawn in the game of life who happens to have a garage full of Christmas lights, to argue with that kind of authority?
Where’s my ladder?
Filed under Christmas Lights, Farce
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