Again, today about a day after the actual full Moon, this time with Mars trailing the Moon instead of Jupiter leading the Moon.
Click on it to blow it up to full sized – Mars is about halfway between the Moon and the house, just above the power lines, a tiny little bit to the left of being directly below the Moon.
Still no wires chewed through by the bunnies, but they’re out there. As are the gophers…
Filed under Astronomy, Christmas Lights
Christmas is ten days away.
Shazzbatt!
Is it time to panic yet? Anyone else have unreasonable expectations to meet for others while hoping and praying for things that you’re never going to get?
If only panic would do any good…
Filed under Critters, Photography
Technically it’s almost a full moon, about 98%+ at the time.
The glow around the Moon is from a layer of clouds, which are just barely thin enough to allow the Moon and Jupiter (off to the right of the Moon, near the tree) to be seen.
In person, it was striking!
There’s Jupiter, off in the upper right. It should be visible also in the first two pictures if you click on them and blow them up to full sized, but here the clouds had shifted a bit and the King of the Planets is shining through!
Filed under Astronomy, Christmas Lights, Critters, Photography
Friday night, a couple of hours after everyone is gone.
Corner office, top floor, the fancy suite. With the perks come the responsibilities.
(It’s not my office or our suite.)
Filed under ALS Network, Critters, Paul, Photography
Have you ever wondered what the walls and interior structure and “skeleton” of a large (at least seven stories tall) apartment building looks like? Sure you have!
This is going up next to our office building (the shiny building in the distance on the right) and it’s interesting to watch as it grows.
I was running tax returns to the Post Office (just to the left) and got this view with some clouds and dramatic lighting. A nice break for a few minutes from the desk.
Filed under Critters, Los Angeles, Photography
It’s a sad state of affairs when every public place that can have a large crowd, like a stadium, has to be surrounded by security barriers to keep anyone in a car or truck from driving onto the site with evil intent. But that’s the world we live in.
The upside, when the property owner allows it and desires to make it so, is that the barriers can be more than just concrete and steel ballisters and K-rail.
At Dignity Health Sports Center where the LA Galaxy play soccer (and where we had our ALS Network event this last Sunday), they’ve made an interesting and excellent choice.
Not only are the barriers made of planters, the plants used are colorful and unusual. I like colorful! I like unusual!
It also makes a nice little habitat for a bunch of small critters, including spiders. I wasn’t sure if the webs would be visible in these pictures, but I got lucky!
The PlantNet app on my phone IDs this all as “milkbush,” also known as “pencil cactus.”
It’s native to South Africa and commonly used for decorative landscaping. It’s also highly toxic if eaten, and if the stems are broken the sap can cause irritation and burns.
Interesting!
Filed under ALS Network, Critters, Flowers, Photography
As I was getting home from the ALS Network LA Walk & Ride To Cure ALS on Sunday evening, it got pretty.
The GOP misinformation machine would have you believe that SoCal is a cesspool of vice, trash, grafitti, and crime.
Obviously. Why would they lie about something like that?
Filed under ALS Network, Christmas Lights, Critters, Los Angeles, Photography, Politics, Sunsets
The winds, they are a blowin’ again, with the humidity low and the fire danger high. The little bit of rain we got a week or so ago and all of the winds now have stripped away almost all of the dead leaves, but there are a few hangers on way up high.
We’ll see how many of these make it through the night.
Filed under Critters, Photography
For five years now I’ve worked for the ALS Network, a non-profit organization that provides services to individuals and families who are living with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). As part of our community outreach and public education programs, we hold public events such as today’s “2024 LA Walk & Roll to Cure ALS.” It was held at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, where the LA Galaxy play.
A sort of last-minute comlication was that the Galaxy went deep in the MLS Cup playoffs, and hosted the Championship game on Saturday, and then they won, so they were holding their parade and celebration this afternoon. We got squeezed in between the two, but it worked out just fine. (Thanks to a LOT of hard work, both by our excellent staff and the staff at the stadium.)
Our weather was perfect, sunny and upper sixties, little to no wind.
We had plenty of space, and a big crowd. The support from all of the teams and individuals was wonderful to see.
No, I did not do this. Many others did. It has been suggested that I should try this some time, but being freezing cold is one of my least favorite things in the Known Universe, so let’s assume it won’t be happening any time soon.
When I’ve been at this site before (at least twice, maybe three times) it was with family and we were sitting at the far end here, watching my beloved Chiefs stomp on the Chargers, when the Chargers used this site for a couple of years before SoFi Stadium was completed. This is the starting line for the Walk which was the highlight of the day.
Dozens and dozens of teams participated, most in memory or in support of a family member or close friend who is living with ALS now or has passed away from it. The Walk was about 1.3 miles in and around the stadium and between the Walk and spending 5+ hours on my feet working our registration table, I was guaranteed to get my 10,000+ steps in today.
My feet hurt, but it was a good day.
Filed under ALS Network, Critters, Photography
One of the changes I’ve made in my Christmas light display this year is the removal of four strings of incandescent lights (150 each, 500 total) with five strings of LED lights (300 each, 1500 total) on the long, narrow strip of land next to the driveway.
These are the old incandescent lights, with that warm glow that makes them so popular.
These are the new LED lights. You can see, first of all, that they have a far different color temperature. While performing far, FAR better than the first LED Christmas lights a few years ago, they’re still more dim than incandescent, and they appear far “cooler” and more toward the blue end of the spectrum. Of course, there are also far more of them, three times as many for the same amount of power. They’re also supposed to last far longer without burning out, but I haven’t had them long enough to test that claim.
With so many more lights, instead of just stringing them along the rose bushes on the ground and having a couple of long extension cords needed to get them where I want them, it’s just one huge, long string, and there are more than enough lights to fill the bushes along the edge of the yard in addition to in the rose bushes. More, more, more lights is always good! Having them look a bit funky and “Halloween like” is less desireable.
But LEDs are the wave of the future. They cost a few dollars more to start with, but given their longevity and durability and power savings, they’re cheaper in the long run. But I doubt that I’ll ever give up completely on the incandescent lights, especially the bigger, brighter bulbs along the gutters.
Filed under Christmas Lights
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We Love The Stars Too Fondly 