Now that the PODS units are leaving, I finally have room to park my son’s old truck…
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!
Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets
Equinox Monster
In celebration of the equinox today, we had a visit from a monster!
The house’s outer defenses were holding and the vicious killer hadn’t yet made it into the interior to rip our throats out.
I cautiously approached the alien-like monstrosity, ready for it to fly off into my face and go for my eyes. (Honestly, if it had taken flight when I was getting close, I swear I would have screamed and cried and needed a change of underwear.)
The reality was that it was probably asleep. I did notice later in the day that it had moved to the screen on the next window over, but I never found a need to call 9-1-1 or the National Guard.
Is this the same one that we saw on the front lawn about a month ago? I have no idea, but I doubt it. I suspect it’s just a sign that these tiny killing critters are ever so slightly more common here than in Los Angeles.
Filed under Critters, Forever Home, Photography
Second Empty PODS Container
What did you do with your weekend?
As should be obvious, I spent WAAAAAAAY too much time lifting, carrying, sorting, storing and ending the weekend (AGAIN) feeling like I just did ten rounds with Mike Tyson.
Now we’ll see how many appointments and days it takes for PODS to pick up this unit.
Filed under Forever Home, Photography
Two-Tone Squirrel
The pictures, when viewed in detail, show a slightly different picture (literally), but to the naked eye, the squirrel stealing bird food this morning seemed to be decidedly two-toned, with a light brown, almost “dirty blonde” coloration accompanied by a white collar around his neck and forward shoulders.
You can see the basic pattern as described in this thumbnail above, but if you click on it and view the full-sized picture, you’ll see a lot more detail that is lost at first. I particularly like the white polka dot or speckled pattern on the back 2/3 of its body.
Not the sharpest picture I’ve ever taken, but the only one where I caught it more head on, proving that it wasn’t eating the bird seed from the ground, but was instead filling his cheeks with it.
Hilarious. Then it got in trouble and pissed me off.
Filed under Critters, Forever Home, Photography
Thunderstorm Adjacent
Yesterday I was working and knew that there were light off & on showers about, but I heard the thunder as my first sign that something more substantial was near.
It wasn’t quite overhead and we never got a real downpour or hard rain from it, but the rumbling announced its presence with authority!
Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Weather
Peering Through The Layers
We again had a bit of weather pass through today. Nothing too violent or wet, although there were showers and some thunder heard.
By sunset it was broken clouds, with multiple layers at different altitudes, with holes here and there, so I could watch different layers fly by in different directions and speeds.
Best of all was the view where, while it was just past sunset here, off to the east probably 25-30 miles there were thunderheads towering up over the horizon, brightly lit in brilliant white.
Then in just a few minutes (4 minutes between pictures to be exact) that blinding white started to turn pink and orange. (No extra charge for the blurry hummingbird zipping by on the right – it was pissed that I was standing next to its favorite feeder.)
My vision of a boring, hot, windy, unchanging weather environment have (fortunately) been disproven by three fascinating rain storms in less than two months.
Variety *IS* the spice of life!
Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets, Weather
The Fall Is Coming
And, no, I’m not talking about the Fall of Western Civilization and the collapse of the American government and the Second Civil War – although we most certainly can’t rule those things out, as batshit insane as that might be.
No, I’m talking about the season. Fall. Autumn.
We might be living in the middle of a gazillion acres of desert with dirt, tumbleweeds, Joshua trees, creosote, and the odd cactus, but inside the tract walls, in our front yards, mixed in with all of the rock and talm trees and “drought resistant landscaping,” they put a few oddball, water-sucking decorative trees. Our neighbor’s yard has a white birch. We (on the right) have a very nice maple tree.
Very, VERY FEW native maples found in the SoCal desert. Or anywhere else in SoCal. Maybe a few in the mountains. Maybe.
But here we have one and having spent formative years in the forests of Vermont, I’m loving this decorative addition to our yard. In two months in might be fully engulfed in yellows and reds and oranges. For now, there are a handful of pioneer leaves, hinting at the autumnal glories to come.
The Fall is coming!
Filed under Forever Home, Photography
They Don’t Like These
One thing I’ve noticed in refilling the birdseed feeders is that the bottom is always full of these little, round, red seeds:
I don’t know what’s wrong with them – do they not taste good? Are they difficult to pick up? Are they hard and a pain to crack open?
It’s yet another mystery.
Maybe the squirrels will eat them? Waste not, want not!
Filed under Birds, Forever Home, Photography
Proof Of Life – September 15th
I wish that I could stop watching the news. It’s bad out there. Scary shit going on and I have no idea how to deal with it or make it better.
There were some nice things today on a personal level. Trying to focus on those.
Watching “Field of Dreams” (with commercials, unfortunately) helps. What a perfect movie. The whole story arc at the end with Archie Graham…
Tuesday awaits.
Filed under Paul
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 