October 7, 2026 · 22:16

Winter Is Coming

When we moved to the High Desert, we sort of knew on an academic level that they could get snow up here. We’re at elevation, about 3,600 feet at the house, and the snow level can get down below 3,000 feet, causing havoc with the mountain passes on the freeways such as the I-15 to Las Vegas through the Cajon Pass (next to us!) and the I-5 to Northern California, Sacramento, and San Francisco through the Grapevine.

We also have neighbors who gave us the heads up and showed pictures of our neighborhood under eight inches or more of snow. It doesn’t happen every year, it doesn’t happen all winter at all, it’s usually gone in a day or two, but it DOES happen.

Except last year, it didn’t happen at all.

I wanted to be prepared with a snow shovel to clear the driveway and sidewalks, but not a single local hardware store ever stocked them. Weird! I found one in a small, local hardware store, but it was a small, foldable one for carrying in your trunk for emergency use. And when I looked online, they were available for under $20, but with $50+ in shipping costs. WTF??!!!

Today that changed. With what is predicted to be a HUGE “Super El Niño” year, I really wanted to be prepared. I had looked again at the big hardware stores and came up empty, but in putting in a big online order with Lowe’s I found that I had a big enough order to get the snow shovel with $0 shipping. Done!

A little bit of required assembly, and even though it’s 90º+ out there today, there’s a tropical storm and former hurricane coming on Sunday, and as things cool into November and December, I’m ready! (When I’ve fallen in the snow, look for the day-glo orange shovel that I’ll be clinging to like a life preserver! Send out one of those St. Bernard rescue dogs!)

Winter is coming…

 

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Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Weather

October 6, 2026 · 23:08

Random Old Photos – October 06th

Twenty years ago today – the Ben & Jerry’s graveyard for flavors that didn’t make it. If you’re in northern Vermont, swing through Stowe and visit Ben & Jerry’s, wander through the graveyard, the epitaths are hilarious.

Looking back, 2006 was probably as much travelling as I’ve ever done in a year. Which is amazing, looking at how busy I was with getting my MBA at Pepperdine University and all of the chaos (changing to new offices, etc) at work at that time. The biggest trip was the Pepperdine trip to Prague and Brussels, but then we went to Vermont for my brother’s wedding, and to St Louis to visit our son for Thanksgiving, with a side trip to Kansas City for the first Thanksgiving night football game. Quite the adventures!

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Filed under Photography, Travel

October 5, 2026 · 23:30

Refilling The Bird Seed Feeders

There’s probably two or three dozen times in the last year when I’ve posted pictures of the sunset or the clouds or the mountains and mentioned that I saw it “while refilling the bird seed feeders.” Here’s what I’m talking about on a daily basis:

There are four feeders hanging from the pergola, but one of them only needs to be refilled once a week or so. It’s always got birds hanging from it, it’s not ignored, but it just never empties. Perhaps it is magical. GOOD! Birdseed isn’t cheap.

The other three feeders generally are 25% to 100% empty at the end of the day. During the summer they were ALL 100% empty by about 15:00 EVERY DAY, but with autumn starting, some of the wrens have migrated away. (I think.) Something on the order of half full or so is the norm these days, so if I’m off at an event or ballgame or something or “down the hill” for something and I can’t get back to refill them, the birds won’t starve tomorrow morning. But I prefer to go out and refill them every night.

Besides, look at all of the amazing things that I’m seeing when I’m out there!

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Filed under Photography, Birds, Forever Home

October 4, 2026 · 21:44

What Happens When…

It was a clear night, no clouds at all at sunset and no sign of any moving in after dark. It was a dark night, the moon not rising for hours and the neighbors not having a party or BBQ with bright lights on.

So, what happens when you take an iPhone 17 Max, set the camera on “night” mode, simply put it on top of the brick wall in the back yard for stability, pointing straight up at the stars, and push the button to take a picture?

Click on them to blow them up, they’re spectacular!

A gazillion stars, and even a satellite (probably, it might be a meteor) at the bottom of the first photo. I’m also pretty sure that’s the Milky Way passing through, from lower left to upper right.

Both look like 10 second exposures in the EXIF information. I’ve seen folks online posting 30 second iPhone photos, so I’ll have to figure out how to adjust that. But for a five-minute, “What happens if…” experiment, this is pretty amazing!

 

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography

October 3, 2026 · 22:41

No Flagpoles Yet

One item lacking from the Forever Home, even after a year, are mounts for flagpoles. Both of our previous houses had a couple, and we always had the US Flag flying, and at appropriate times would have a Chiefs flag displayed.

For the US flag I would really, really like to look at something tall and freestanding in the front yard, like 20′ or more, but that’s going to have to wait a little bit. But for the Chiefs flag, where there are fewer rules to consider, it occurred to me that the three windows in the garage that face the street next to the driveway were exactly the correct size.

The Chiefs put out these flags every year and you can buy them as a charity donation to Ronald McDonald Houses. I usually get a spare or two.

I was hoping that night time was when the flag would really stand out, and I wasn’t disappointed. We normally keep a security light on in the garage, and it’s bright enough to backlight the flag and make it stand out.

Tomorrow is the first Chiefs-Raiders meeting of the year and the neighbor has his Raiders flag flying over their front door, so it seemed only fair that I mark our territory for the good guys!

 

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Filed under Forever Home, KC Chiefs, Photography

October 2, 2026 · 23:35

Proof Of Life – October 02nd

The thing they don’t tell you when you buy a house is how much time and grief and frustration you’ll spend trying to to ID and then find some stupid $2.49 part or piece that breaks or needs to be replaced or serviced. In this case, an odd size and voltage and wattage of light bulb for the dim “fairy lights” out on the pergola. And how much time you’ll waste at Lowe’s or Home Depot, only to have some high school kid in an orange vest confidently sell you the wrong item.

Ultimately, a random set of Google searches suddenly fills your screen with exactly what you need from Amazon, so you buy a dozen when you need two and pray to the Olde Gods and the New that when you next need one you’ll remember where you put the rest of the box. (They’re on the middle shelf on the left in “the weird closet.” Even if I don’t remember the location, I’ll remember writing this silly post.)

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Filed under Forever Home, Photography

October 1, 2026 · 23:42

I’m Being Watched

This time of year, every morning, about the time that I’m doing my morning routine, there are three or four dozen pigeons landing on the porch roof prior to hopping down onto the turf to eat. While they’re up there on the edge, there are always a couple that are looking down into the window, watching me dry off as I get out of the shower.

It’s a little bit odd being watched by the birds while I’m naked, but I guess it’s only fair since I watch them all day long.

I just wish that they would stop laughing so loud and pointing!

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Filed under Birds, Photography

September 30, 2026 · 23:41

Fine Feathered Friends – September 30th

It stood out at the feeder, even from across the yard.

The pictures don’t totally convey just how bright YELLOW that belly was!

The Merlin app IDs this as a Lesser Goldfinch, as I suspected. I had also heard it around for a week or so, so it didn’t catch me by surprise.

Happy September!

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Filed under Birds, Photography

September 29, 2026 · 23:22

Being Neighborly When Your Neighbors Are Quail

When my beloved Chiefs are on, as they were Sunday, and we score a touchdown, as we did a bunch of times against Miami on Sunday, it’s tradition for me to step out onto the porch (good acoustics!) and blow the Vuvuzela of Victory.

This bothers the birds. If it’s just the pigeons, finches, and wrens, the heck with them, I blow it anyway.

But I felt bad about disturbing the entire covey of quail.

I counted eight.

At least. They kept shuffling around, they all look alike (sort of), and they won’t keep their name badges on!

The ground was covered with 35-40 pigeons, so it was like the Jets vs the Sharks down there, but finally the quail joined the feeding frenzy.

They’re gorgeous to see!

I’m not an expert, but I think I have proof that we had both males (left) and females (right) present!

Anyway, I took the Vuvuzela of Victory out into the front yard and blew it there instead of into the back yard. Trying to keep peace in the yard, even with the wild squab.

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Filed under Birds, Critters, Forever Home, KC Chiefs, Photography

September 28, 2026 · 22:21

The Sight Of Distant Thunder

About 80 miles as the crow flies, just north of Indio, there’s a big thunderstorm tonight.

I didn’t know that before I went out a couple of hours after sunset to refill the birdseed feeders. But it didn’t take long to figure out.

While the base of the thunderstorms were well over the horizon and behind the mountains, the tops of the thunderstorm cells probably went up to at least 40,000 feet and were filled with lightning, so they were perfectly visible, even from this far away.

I love the video. I love watching thunderstorms. I love listening to the thunder roll across the valley and bounce off of the hillsides. The thunder in this case is way, way too far away to hear, but the sights of the lightning ripping through the clouds was exquisite.

Bigger picture, it’s a line of intense thunderstorms and downpours and flash flooding all the way from Indio through the Colorado River Valley, Las Vegas, Cedar City, and Salt Lake City, all being sucked up from the remnants of Hurricane Polo, currently over Baja.

This “el Niño” year is going to be wild!

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Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Video, Weather