Yep.
That’s it, right there.
It it like that so that the bees can find it, or so that I can?
Does it matter? We both did.
Suddenly, November!
Whoa, when did THAT happen?
I remember asking Santa (or his October equivalent) for some things in that 10th month of the year which from it’s name obviously used to be the 8th month of the year. (How trustworthy can a month like that be?)
How did that go?
- Not looking so good. The Chiefs had a very unconvincing win tonight over a lousy team, at Arrowhead, on Monday Night Football, to somehow get lucky enough to get back to 4-4. The next three weeks they’re playing teams that are way, WAY better than .500 and their remaining strength-of-schedule for the nine games left is the toughest in the league, as befits a team that’s been to the Super Bowl two years in a row. So we might roar to life and finish 13-4. Or we might keep playing like this and finish 4-13. It’s feeling a lot more like the latter than the former, but having suffered through plenty of 3-13 seasons, I’m going to continue to have faith, even if it gives me a heart attack. And it might.
- The Kings started off with an impressive win and then lost six in a row. Not playing too poorly, just poorly enough to lose. But then they’ve won two in a row, so hope springs eternal. It’s early. We’re in a lousy division. We won’t have to be great to be a playoff team, and if we’re just a bit better than great we can be at the top of the division in March. Again, hope exists, against my better judgement.
- A win! I actually haven’t seen another ad for one of these stupid wind sculptures that looks like something out of a “Saw” film. There are plenty of other stupid ads, and both FaceBook and Twitter have increased the number and frequency of ads in the last week or two, to the point where I’m seriously considering shutting down my accounts in both – but I haven’t seen this ad again!
- Some progress on the backlog of “back burner” tasks at work, but it’s a never ending battle. I think I’m at least crossing things off of the big whiteboard to-do list at least as fast as I’m putting new ones on, but it’s the Red Queen’s race.
- Ditto for the hangar. I’m desperate to get things wrapped up here and caught up since I’ve announced that I will *NOT* be running for the volunteer Finance Officer gig for the next two-year term. I’ll help whoever the new guy is, but I’m out. Eight years is enough.
- Progress – the strict “ultra low carb” diet from Hell for six weeks succeeded and my A1C numbers are now excellent! I also lost a few pounds, got my blood pressure down a few points so that they’ve backed off bugging me about that, so if I can stay good, maybe at least the medical computers and their human sycophants will stop bugging me for a few months. Now if I could just get my eyes to work again…
- THE JUNCOS ARE BACK! Not unusual to see nine or ten in the back yard daily. In addition, there seems to be another flock that have moved into the hedges across the street. I see them feeding in our front yard every night, a dozen or more. This is a spot of happiness!
- Didn’t get to sit and read one. Single. Day. In October. That sucks.
So, for November? More of the same. It would be nice to see “Dune” in IMAX, but I might have to settle for simply seeing it in a theater instead of on television. Or just in the living room. But I need to see it.
As for all of the other items, #1, #2, #4, #5, and #8 above? One step at a time. Just keep fighting.
Yeah…
Filed under Uncategorized
Halloween 2021
Finally! Coming up on 21:45 local, and our trick or treater count is finally not at zero! Five kids just climbed the hill (we can see the parents out at the curb) and for that they each get a fistful of candy. At least it’s better than last year and the year before, when the guest count was…checks notes…ZERO!.
This is what we get for renting a place a bit off the beaten path and at the top of a huge freakin’ hill. No one comes up here unless they live here, and I haven’t seen anyone up here who has kids in the three years we’ve been here.
I miss the old house on a flat, busy street a half-block from the local elementary school. I miss bringing the telescopes out into the front yard and letting everyone look through them while we chatted and handed out candy. I miss having the little kids and the adults, many looking through a real telescope at the moon or Saturn or Jupiter for the first time just being awestruck. I especially miss the teenagers, trying to be cool in front of their friends, but also trying to sneak a second or third look before they leave, preferably without their friends noticing.
I don’t think it’s a COVID thing. I think it’s an “out in the boonies” thing. Even though, to be clear, we’re right in the heart of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, with multiple major five-lane city boulevards running north-south and east-west within a mile in all directions. Hardly a wilderness.
Any more late guests? I’ve just lost about eight pounds in the last two months. I would really like to NOT eat this leftover candy.
Filed under Castle Willett
Ducks
Same batch of photos from summer 2013 in Virginia that contained yesterday’s Great Blue Heron there were a bunch of photos of ducks.
Who doesn’t love ducks? Odd, waddling little buoyant goobers with funny bills.
Now, geese? Those freaks are terrifying. They’re very graceful I guess, but from a distance. “Cobra chickens” indeed!
If you ever feel threatened by a family of ducks? Well, first of all check to make sure that someone hasn’t covered you in corn or some other type of grain…
Filed under Birds, Photography
Heron
A good night to keep it simple, beautiful, peaceful, and something that flies.
Specifically, a Great Blue Heron.
From summer 2013, in Virginia.
The colors, the textures of the feathers, the grace in flight… Stunning!
Filed under Birds, Photography
Under The Flight Path, Part Deux
Yesterday I shared quick iPhone photos of big planes going over up high, climbing out of LAX, and smaller planes going over lower down, descending into BUR. A couple of times a day, pretty much on a set (-ish) schedule, we get the combination, big planes down low, descending into BUR.
UPS sends in a BIG plane late every afternoon, to load up and bring packages in from and back out to their central sorting hub in Louisville. Fortunately (or not, since I happen to love jet noise) it’s a new Airbus with lots of “quiet” technology, so it doesn’t sound terribly loud as it goes over.
(Image by FlightRadar.com app)
It’s a daily, personal air show if you time it right!
Filed under Flying, Photography
Under The Flight Path
I suspect an awful lot of “normal” folks don’t even bother to look up when a plane goes overhead, especially at 12,000 feet and climbing.
I’m not “normal.” (This should be news to just about zero of you.)
As mentioned before, we’re under a couple of the LA area flight paths. Coming out of LAX to parts on opposite sides of the planet, we get the big jets going to Asia and Europe climbing out right over us. When I was out saying hello to the juncos and the squirrels I heard the rumble of this guy, whipped out the phone, set the camera to max telephoto, and took a few shots just to see if the pictures might be decent.
(Images from FlightRadar.com app)
Well, it’s headed to Frankfurt, was at 12,030 feet as he went over, and my photo’s good enough to see the logo on the tail, so that doesn’t suck.
Of course, two seconds after I put the phone back in my pocket this guy comes tearing over, headed toward Runway 8 at Burbank. Normally we get tons of 737s going in with the occasional business jet or light plane. This nice mid-sized twin was novel, but I caught him a little bit past the overhead point. Still…
Look at that flight path! (The green line.) He’d been doing laps all over the San Fernando Valley, and it’s an FAA owned plane. I wonder what was up?
Oh, and if anyone wins a reasonably sized lottery and is just dying to spend some of that money on me, a Beech Super King Air like this one would be a wonderful surprise for Christmas! (Hint, hint…)
Filed under Flying, Photography
No Context For You – October 26th
Wow, it’s been 25 days since I’ve had to default to one of these at about 23:30 in order to come up with a post for the day. That new iPhone has made a huge difference in this month’s posts!
I note that NaNoWriMo starts next Monday, and it is a measure of the poor state of my sanity and lack of common sense that I’ve been pondering whether to try another one. (Search this site for NaNoWriMo – I think I tried it three times and posted the daily output here every day.) It’s been a few years and I actually miss doing it.
But… LET’S GET REAL!!
Still lots and Lots and LOTS of deadlines at work, “challenges” popping up like whack-a-moles, trying to wrap things up as Finance Office at the hangar so that I can hand that gig over to someone else, dealing with all of the little joys of still being in a pandemic and at least partially locked down and working from home…
On what planet… In what timeline… In which version of “life” would tackling NaNoWriMo on top of all of that make ANY sense at all?
So, should I do a comedy or something serious? Science fiction of something more mundane? Third person or first person POV?
Filed under Photography, Writing
Yes, We Actually Do That In California
It’s a common meme or urban myth about California folks, but there’s a basis in fact behind it.
Not everyone. Not everywhere in the state. But a lot of folks, in a lot of places.
Yes, rain is rare enough here so that when there’s a good, solid rain shower after a long, long drought folks do stop what they’re doing and go take videos of it and watch in awe.
On the other hand, M3.9 earthquakes barely bother to wake us up, whereas folks from Iowa or North Carolina would need new pants due to the panic.
Pick your poison.
Hanging Out Waiting For The Rain
Well, they were.
I, on the other hand, was getting gas at almost $5 a gallon.
Filed under Birds, Photography
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 