June 26, 2025 · 23:41

Proof Of Life – June 26th

Dare we hope that there’s light at the end of the tunnel which is not, in fact, an oncoming, runaway freight train?

Is there enough slack in my schedule and deadlines for us to make a trip up to Victor Valley to look at houses for our Forever Home this weekend? Or do we just MAKE the time to do it, one way or the other, because there will always be plenty of excuses to put it off another week?

Part of the new urgency is doing the Zillow Dance, finding houses that we really like, seeing that they have open houses that we can’t get to, and then seeing them sold. There’s a long, long list of houses that were “pretty good” that we never got to see at all that are now gone. Worse, there’s a shorter list of houses that we absolutely fell in love with online, some of which we actually DID go see and walk through and kick the tires, all of which are now gone.

What are the words in that song from “Wicked?”

Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It’s time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap.

I’ll probably try to keep my eyes open, safer that way, but it’s leaping time.

Yesterday I noted that we were halfway to Christmas. I’ve also mentioned that I would love to find a Forever Home with LOTS of opportunities to display MORE lights. And then even MORE!

Unfortunately, one really nice house that we’ve had on our radar which would have been SPECTACULAR for displaying Christmas lights (right on a main road, tons of roofline and bushes and trees and fence in front) appears to be in the process of sorting through multiple offers, none of which is ours. I guess if the gods want it to be ours so I can put up all of those lights, we’ll need some divine intervention. Isn’t Santa Clause a god? At least a demigod? An elf? Something?

HEY! *whistles shrilly* A LITTLE HELP?! 🎅🤶🧑‍🎄

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Filed under Christmas Lights, Forever Home, Photography

June 25, 2025 · 23:59

Proof Of Life – June 25th

We’re halfway to Christmas.

What do you want to find under the tree in six months?

Dare we even hope for the left seat at the pointy end?

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Filed under Flying, Photography

June 24, 2025 · 23:49

Proof Of Life – June 24th

I am definitely getting too old for this shit. Which in turn bothers me even more than just being tired like this.

It’s a viscious cycle. Or a viscous cycle, could go either way.

One of these might not fix me, but we can’t be sure without trying, right? This was probably Clay Lacy’s – there aren’t a lot of Staggerwings around, and fewer in this color.

Freakin’ GORGEOUS aircraft!

 

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June 23, 2025 · 23:49

Proof Of Life – June 23rd

A statue in front of City Hall in a small city in the Czech Republic, Pardubice. 2016 I was there with my Pepperdine EMBA class, to visit the Foxconn computer factory there.

Kings, Cardinals, Bishops, cherubs, who knows what else. An article I found on the top twelve things to see in Pardubice includes City Hall, the bright white building in the background, but doesn’t mention anything about the statue in front. The “new” City Hall building dates to the 1890’s so one could assume that the statue is of a similar age.

As much as I would truly love to get back to Prague (and also see Paris, Rome, Vienna, Athens, Barcelona, and a couple dozen other European cities), I’m not sure that a repeat trip to Pardubice is high on the priority list.

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Filed under Art, Photography, Travel

June 22, 2025 · 22:38

The Definition Of Blue

A small alien creature appears, vaguely cartoonish. It explains that it needs help, it’s building a dictionary to be used in translation of English to Galactic Standard. Please define “blue.”

Sort of like this, minus the tree?

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Filed under Photography

June 21, 2025 · 19:56

The Final Play

Tonight we’re back at the Ahmanson Theater, probably for the final time for a while.

This is the last performance in this year’s program, and with the anticipated move to a Forever Home up in Hesperia or Apple Valley, we are not planning on renewing our subscription. If there’s something we absolutely HAVE to see, we can get tickets for a single performance and drive down to the big city for a weekend. (Ditto of course for hockey games, football games, baseball games, concerts, plays at the Pantages, etc.)

The Music Center here is about 2-3 blocks from City Hall and the areas where the ICE protests were earlier in the month. To no one’s surprise, despite the grotesque, horrible, and bald-faced lies being spewed by Faux News and ICE and the lower-than-whale-shit chucklefuck in the White House and all of his evil cult minions, LA did not burn down, there isn’t chaos and warfare in the streets, and the streets are not full of bodies. It was boring, except for the traffic getting into valet parking due to all three theaters being live tonight, along with the Disney Concert Hall across the street.

Enjoy your weekend, stay safe – I peeked at the news and it’s getting insane out there. Literally.

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Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles, Photography, Politics

June 20, 2025 · 23:53

Proof Of Life – June 20th

Routine has its advantages. Knowing what day of the week it is. Knowing what day of the month it is. Knowing what time of day it is.

Take away some weekends, throw in a holiday on a Thursday, have a dental surgeon poking holes in you and tearing things out and drilling things in on a Friday afternoon…

And I’m clueless. I just want to reboot, reset, sleep for about 72 hours and figure out where I’m starting over when I wake up.

Still here. Still one foot in front of another. Enjoy your weekend! Hot rumor is that it’s summer!

I still really need to get Photoshop installed on the new computer so that I can clean up the dust spots…

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Filed under Airshows, CAF, Flying

June 19, 2025 · 23:03

Building My Legion Of Minions

Loud, evil, jet black minions. My evil army, to do my bidding!

Crows! A half dozen of them, they spent all day making quite the racket out in the back yard, hanging out and taunting the two dozen mockingbirds that were cooperating in mobbing them. (Yes, the crows will find the mockingbird nests and eat their eggs, so there’s some justification for the animosity.)

I was out for a break and eating a snack (cheese) and they flew down to sit on the fence to watch.

I didn’t have enough cheese to share, so I went in and got grapes. They LOVE grapes. I threw a couple dozen out in the yard and then went back inside. They all pounced as soon as I shut the door.

I will continue to feed them and train them to come when they see me in the yard. Once I have them linking my appearance to food and coming to the yard, I’ll start to train them.

I hope by the time we get to that point I can figure out something specific that I want to train them to do. Otherwise it’s just pointless.

Which would be ironic, but probably appropriate.

 

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Filed under Birds, Photography, Video

June 18, 2025 · 23:50

Proof Of Life – June 18th

Tomorrow’s a day off, a holiday?

Yeah. Right. And I’ve got this bridge to sell you.

Maybe I’ll at least sleep in late. Dreaming about being here, if I’m lucky, and not having semi-conscious stress dreams about Excel files and reports that don’t balance.

Sleep well, y’all!

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Filed under Photography, Travel

June 17, 2025 · 23:55

Proof Of Life – June 17th

Brussels, Cathedral of St Michael

I always will remember how the final, desperate, last chance, for all the marbles weapon that the humans put together against the aliens in “Footfall” was named Michael after the avenging archangel.

Never an avenging archangel of death around when you really need one.

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