The iPhone 8 camera isn’t bad, but it still does some interesting things in extreme low light situations.
Pixelation, odd compression artifacts, color shifts. It’s almost artistic.
Regardless of how this picture looks, these clouds were most excellent to watch.
Filed under Photography, Weather
I’m a friendly guy. I like meeting & knowing my neighbors. I get that the whole “no one in LA knows their neighbors” meme contains a large grain of truth, but that doesn’t mean that I think that it should be that way or that I want it that way in MY neighborhood.
Since we moved into the new house in May I’ve been making an effort to say howdy and meet the neighbors, with some moderate success. In addition, the brush fire two weeks ago helped double the number of people I’ve met and swapped contact information with – packing your cars to evacuate as a team building exercise might lack something in subtlety, but it’s very effective.
But there’s one elusive resident that has resisted every effort of mine for introductions. I’ve seen her now and then and tried to talk to her, only to have her run away. I’ve even seen her in the back yard peeking in through the sliding glass doors into the kitchen and bedroom, then running like hell when she saw me looking.
But this afternoon while I was putting up some more lights outside, she finally decided that I was probably mostly harmless and came over to say hello. She might have also thought that I looked like a softie who could be hit up for some treats. (This is an accurate assessment, but without any advance warning, I didn’t today.)
After an appropriate amount of cautious sniffing and then some rubbing of her head and neck against my hands to mark me as hers, a little scratching behind the ears, it turns out she’s a total little attention slut. I don’t go for the belly rubs on the first date my new feline friend, especially since you appear to be fully clawed and you might have one of those spots which I don’t know about – maybe next time.
She’s very pretty, grey and white striped, with white paws. No collar so I have no idea if she’s feral or just an outdoor cat – I suspect the latter since she seems well fed and well cared for.
Given the owls and the hawks around here, maybe she wants to be a little bit more cautious about being out in the open. On the other hand, maybe if I’m going to be out in the yard for the day I’ll put some treats in the garage.
I can already tell that it’s going to be a complicated relationship.
Filed under Uncategorized
Look what was sitting out on the ramp today!
This Beech 18 is in perfect condition, must be a real joy to fly.
Seats six comfortably plus the pilot and co-pilot and with a range of 1,200 miles at 160 mph, this was the pre-eminent “businessman special” following WWII.
You can pick up one in really nice condition like this for under $200K, and I’m sure the maintenance and upkeep is far less than a LearJet!
Plus, this one you can fly yourself with just a taildragger endorsement and a multi-engine rating. I would assume you would also want an IFR rating and probably some unusual attitude training for safety purposes, but that’s still a hell of a lot less money than a type rating in a LearJet or a Citation X.
A boy can dream…
Filed under CAF, Flying, Photography
The day after Thanksgiving is the day the Christmas lights always start to go up.
At the old house, almost three decades of trial and error meant that there was a basic plan. Extension cords go from here to here. This set of lights go there, that set of lights go over there. There might be changes from year to year, but if you look back through the Christmas lights pictures on this site over the past five years you’ll see many very similar elements year-to-year.
All that’s gone in 2018.
New house. Smaller pallet in that the house is smaller, the yard smaller, fewer trees, and so on. Nothing set in stone. No plan in advance.
So this is where The Younger Daughter and I got on the first day of Christmas lights. I’m not unhappy with it and it gives me a good idea of where I want to go next on Sunday.
Fiat Lux. “Let there be lights!” (Close enough. Work with me on this one!)
Filed under Castle Willett, Christmas Lights, Photography
Thankful for many things on this American Thanksgiving Day…
…yet also conscious of how many items include the concept of “thankful that it’s not so much worse and hoping that this time next year it won’t be this bad.”
Adventures can be simple things and exhilarating.
The big adventures, the ones that make front page headlines day after day after month after year – technically exhilarating, but usually not in a good way. The Space Race fifty years ago was one of the good ones. The current political situation and climate change (in general – brush fires, hurricanes, blizzards in particular) are bad.
Let’s all hope that next Thanksgiving we can all be thankful that those crises are less threatening than they are this Thanksgiving. And let’s all spend the next 365 days doing what we can to make that happen.
Filed under Disasters, Paul, Photography, Politics
One thing I’ve noticed, which is just the cherry on the topping of my hatred for Daylight Saving Time, is that I’m still waking up every morning at “7:00.”
Or, at least, at what used to be 7:00. Based on where the sun is and when it rises and so on. But since we “fell back” almost three weeks ago the reality is that it’s 6:00 AM, not 7:00 AM.
Yet almost every day, my brain stem sees the light and wakes me up within a minute or two of 6:00 AM PST / 7:00 AM PDT, often with a touch of panic because my sleeping brain thinks that the alarm didn’t go off and I’m late.
Almost every day, it takes a few seconds and then I realize what happened. Then I’m trying to get back to sleep for that extra hour of shuteye that I so desperately need. I’m not even getting any slack from my subconscious on weekend days or holidays.
Stupid brain.
Stupid mornings.
Stupid DST.
Filed under Castle Willett, Paul
If you don’t follow sports, or if you’re not in the US and just don’t follow US pro football, you may or may not know that last night’s Monday Night Football game was an instant classic, being labeled by many as one of the greatest regular season games in history. But you might not care, so feel free to ignore today’s rant!
“I’m out of the office at 2:30, go to NoHo, Red Line to 7th Street/Metro Center, Metro Line to USC – should be there about 4:30” – 11/18/2018 text message to The Younger Daughter
“No battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy” – Helmuth von Moltke, 19th century head of the Prussian army
It was much closer to 3:00 before I left the office. The freeway onramp at DeSoto was blocked by an accident. I tried to get to the Winnetka onramp, only to find a few thousand other folks had the same idea. It took twenty minutes or so to work my way through the side streets down to the Reseda onramp. Free sailing until I got to the Universal Studios Metro station, only to find ALL the parking spots full with dozens of Rams and Chiefs fans circling the lot in gridlock. I bailed and drove ten minutes out to the NoHo Metro station (which has a much larger lot), only to find ALL the parking spots full with dozens and dozens of Rams and Chiefs fans circling the lot in gridlock. I went to the NoHo Metro station overflow lot, only to find ALL the parking spots full with…
I started cruising the streets of North Hollywood, looking for street parking. All of it was metered, most for one or two hours max. (How much is a parking ticket compared to what I paid for the tickets that I was going to miss using? Would they just give me a ticket or tow me?)
I finally found a spot about eight blocks from the Metro station with a four-hour limit. So-so neighborhood judging by the graffiti and piles of dog poop, but any port in a storm, eh?
Got to the Red Line and on a train to Metro Center with no problems. A couple of Chiefs fans on the train, but LOTS of Rams fans. Let the friendly banter begin.
The Expo line train from Metro Center to USC was packed. Then they let us out to start the cattle herd to the Coliseum.
Fighting through those crowds, only to get to a twenty-minute-plus wait to get screened through security at the gate.
Finally at my seat with The Younger Daughter and The Fiance! “Should be there about 4:30,” he said in ignorance. The time stamp on the photo is 5:36.
But we were there!
There’s a lot of construction going on at the LA Coliseum. And it was absolutely packed.
We were in the end zone, about halfway up, so our seats didn’t suck, but weren’t fantastic either.
At half time, the ESPN guys were doing their report from right down in front of us. You can also get a good feel for how many Chiefs fans (dressed in red) there were compared to the Rams fans. Unlike the games we’ve seen at the Chargers’ stadium (where it’s literally more Chiefs fans than Chargers fans) here the Chiefs fans were in the distinct minority.
Also at halftime we got a three-song “concert” from The Chain Smokers – who I have never, ever heard of. But the fireworks were nice.
As I said at the top, the game was an instant classic, being labeled by many as one of the greatest regular season games in history. It was something like the third highest scoring regular season game in history, and by far the highest scoring Monday Night Football game. The crowd was on its feet and just electric all night.
In the end, my beloved Chiefs fell to defeat, 54-51, in large part due to far, far too many penalties and three touchdowns for the Rams off of Chiefs’ fumbles and interceptions. We made more mistakes than they did. But we never, ever gave up. Even with all of those mistakes, we were driving with less than a minute less and could have easily tied it and sent it to overtime or won it outright in regulation.
It was utterly fantastic, and we were there.
It was a freakin’ adventure.
And if you think those crowds in the stadium and on the Metro trains were bad coming in (when the crowd arrived spaced out over four hours or so), you can’t even imagine how bad they were when 100,000 people all leave the game at the same time at the end. It took almost three hours to get home.
Worth. Every. Bit. Of. Effort!!
Filed under KC Chiefs, Los Angeles, Photography, Sports
Barring a disaster, I am currently in the process of losing my voice while screaming my lungs out at the LA Coliseum while my beloved Kansas City Chiefs (9-1 on the season) are stomping on and defeating the Los Angeles Rams (9-1 on the season). It should be one hell of a game. Rest assured, I’m not typing this from the stands. But I figure it’s likely that I won’t have much time to post anything Monday night, so I’m setting this up in advance.
When the season’s schedule was first announced I thought it was fantastic that I would have a chance to see the Chiefs in person twice, once when they play the Chargers (they’re in the same division, so this happens every year – there are pictures on this site from the past several years’ visits) and once when they played the Rams in Los Angeles. Then the league announced that the Rams game would be played in Mexico City as part of their international expansion program. I was not going to go to Mexico City to see that game. However, the gods have conspired on my behalf, the field at Azteca Stadium was ripped to shreds by a couple of concerts, heavy rain, and some soccer games, and last week on an emergency basis the NFL moved the game back to Los Angeles.
So I will get to see the Chiefs live against the Rams. But it won’t be just twice this year – you’ll be hearing more about it, but for the holidays we get to see two more games. As shitty as 2018 has been in many ways, seeing the Chiefs live four times, especially considering how well they’re playing, might be one of the few highlights.
Anyway, while I’m screaming myself hoarse, you’re invited to enjoy some calming clouds that were over our construction site on Saturday when we had our Key Ceremony. They were stunning to look at and also kept the temps down to a reasonable level while we handed out the keys and other gifts to the latest veterans moving into our homes in Santa Clarita. (See our website if you want to see more details about that.)
Go Chiefs!
Filed under Homes4Families, KC Chiefs, Photography, Sports, Weather
After all of the “excitement” (i.e., stress, adrenaline, and existential terror) of the last few weeks, it was time for some “domestic down time” today. Groceries. Changing the sheets. Cleaning up some crap in the yard.
I was folding clothes this evening when I heard this guy again:
I’ve heard “him” (I’m assuming – I don’t have a clue if it’s a male or female and the Audubon Society website says they both hoot) a dozen or so times over the past month or two. By his call (identified here) I’m betting he’s a Great Horned Owl. (I would also note that by their call, we also have Screech Owls. I’ve heard that sound on several occasions as well.)
One of the coolest times I’ve heard him was last Friday night after the worst of that evening’s fires had been put out. I went out just to get a sense of what was going on with the fire. It was much quieter than it had been. I was listening and still hearing sirens and helicopters and jets coming out of LAX and jets coming into Burbank and it stank of smoke but all the while our owl friend was calm as can be, marking his territory with his hoots, across the street and down the hill about half a block.
He’s loud. The first time I heard him he was in one of the trees in a neighbor’s yard and I could hear him inside, even over the television. Tonight I didn’t have the television on (had to concentrate on folding those socks, couldn’t afford the distraction!) and when I heard him I figured he was back in our yard or the neighbor’s yard. Nope, he was five or six houses down the street and I could still hear him in the house.
He’s big. Once or twice when he’s been in our tree or one of the immediate neighbors’ trees I’ve gone out to listen and spooked him into flying off. I only see him by moonlight, but he’s got to have at least a five foot wing span, maybe six. I’m obviously no owl expert, but I would think at that size he’s not looking for rats, mice, or squirrels, but more likely rabbits, stray cats, or baby raccoons.
I’m happy to have the owl in our neighborhood and hope he stays around. His hooting is a sound that brings me joy and calm.
Probably not so much for the rabbits, stray cats, and baby raccoons.
Yes, today was as long as I thought it would be. There was much accomplished and little significant, long-term bodily harm, so we’ll count that as a win.
One interesting thing that occurred in the midst of a day which involved a lot of routine keeping-one-foot-in-front-of-the-other events, were two encounters with this guy:
The pictures aren’t great for several reasons. First of all, it wasn’t that close to me, maybe 30 feet away.
Secondly, I was caught off guard, surprised to see this critter since I’ve only seen them in Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico before now.
Thirdly, they’re pretty well camouflaged.
But yeah, that’s a roadrunner. A pretty good sized one too.
Given the current status of my chaos and karma levels, it can’t be ruled out that this was my patronus appearing to me.
I watched carefully after seeing the roadrunner – no coyotes, explosives, exotic Rube Goldberg contraptions, or falling Acme anvils were seen.
Filed under Critters, Photography
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