Clear and a gazillion yesterday, about a quarter moon, right next to Jupiter.
An interesting level of quality available in a handheld iPhone image. Zoom in on the therminator (the line between night and day) on the moon to see the jagged edge caused by craters and mountain ranges.
And you can also pick out the brighter stars of Orion over on the left-hand side.
Calm.
Beautiful.
Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Sunsets
As I’ve mentioned, we have squirrels living under the pergola in our back yard. It was about a month after we moved in last summer before the first one showed up, probably coming from over the wall somewhere out where the tumbleweeds, brush, and weeds stretch all the way to Rancho Cucamonga. Then there were two, then three. It really was a big deal (to us!) when I saw five at once out there last weekend.
Today there were more. Many, MANY more.
This guy was out there this morning, along with four of the adults. I’m going strictly on size, but the “adult” squirrels are … squirrel-sized, like the size of a small cat, big bushy tails. This little dude is more like a third that size. My first, immediate thought was that we were experiencing the first day outside for a new litter of baby squirrels (called “kits”).
How many squirrels are typically in a squirrel litter? I don’t know at all (Google says 2 to 4 typically, but some species can do 8 to 15…), but less than a minute later, this one popped up.
Then another.
Then another.
It didn’t take long before the pergola turned into a freakin’ squirrel clown car! All day there were almost always at least five or six kits out frollicking and gallavanting around, climbing, falling, running, eating.
It was tough to get an accurate count because they rarely stopped moving, and they kept creeping around behind the pergola floor and then popping up someplace else, but at one point tonight I could positively ID eight different kits out at once. It could be as many as ten or eleven. We’ll see. Maybe.
Either way, this weekend I was thrilled to see FIVE squirrels at once in the yard – we’re suddenly up to thirteen at a minimum. Our backyard critters have been fruitful and multiplied!!!
The ravens came by to check out what all of the fuss was. By the time I got the camera out they were just up on the wall, but a minute prior to this they were hopping along the edge of the pergola floor and peeking down into the various entrance tunnels into the squirrel den underneath. They’re very obviously aware of where the squirrels are and that there are a gaggle of them that are small enough to carry off. Ravens are opportunists, they prefer road kill and carrion, but if a baby squirrel kit gets careless, well, it’s that whole “Circle of Life” thing. We’ve also got a few hawks around, as well as owls if anyone comes out at night.
Over in the corner, trying to peacefully soak up some sun and minding their own business, the local lizards were watching the kits and thinking that the neighborhood was going to Hell.
We’ll see.
Filed under Critters, Forever Home, Photography
Still here.
Here’s a horrible thought. If you’re not good enough in life, when you die, will you know? Or will you just keep doing the same things every day, the Zoom meetings, the spreadsheets, the reports, the lame TV repeats, and on and on an on? I make snarky comments about this being Hell, but what if one day it really is?
That would suck.
Filed under Paul, Photography, Travel
The frustration is real.
“Don’t let the bastards wear you down,” they said. (They “translated” it into bad pig Latin and put it on T-shirts.)
Some days that’s easier said than done.
That’s why there’s another day tomorrow. And then another.
The blessing and the curse are flip sides of the same coin.
Filed under Paul, Photography
When we first moved in to the Forever Home back in July, one of the first things we did was put up the birdseed feeders on the pergola in the back yard. It wasn’t long after that that we started seeing a squirrel out there as well, stealing seed that fell to the ground. Then there were two, often. Then on occasion a third. Then they all disappeared for a couple of months, then it was usually three and sometimes four when they came back.
Today, for the first time, I saw FIVE squirrels out there together at once. I don’t know if our original pair has been fruitful and multiplying or if word has simply gotten out that we have the birdseed buffet going on here 24/7, but the population is on the rise.
Looking over the wall the other day I also saw rabbits for the first time here. I’m not surprised, I would have bet on them being out there, but I hadn’t spotted them yet.
I’m also feeding the Corvid Gods (ravens) out on the front lawn, grapes most days.
It’s a lousy photo, taken through the screen from the window at my desk, but if I open the front door or come around the corner from the garage, they spook and are gone.
They’re surprisingly LARGE birds up close and in person. I’m hoping they bestow their benificence upon us soon. We can use some benificence, corvid or otherwise.
I also put the hummingbird feeders back up. I think that the local hummers had migrated for the winter, but I saw one or two hanging around last week, so I’m hoping they’ll be back and finding the feeders soon.
Filed under Birds, Critters, Forever Home, Photography
I was filling the seed feeders and putting the hummingbird feeders back up when I heard a ruckus from the crows and a distinctive call. Quick as a bunny I pulled out my phone, thumbed it open, loaded the camera, and snapped off three quick shots in the blind.
Coming in low, just on the other side of our backyard wall, was one of the local red-tailed hawks.
Some days it better to be lucky than good!
Filed under Birds, Photography
Some days it’s enough to remember spin training. If you’re flying your little Cessna 172 and you make a couple of mistakes and get slow and uncoordinated, you can end up in a spin. The first steps are to pull out all of the power and take your hands OFF of the controls.
Your immediate goal is to not make anything worse.
Some days that means recognizing the couple of actual honest-to-God wins that you got and worked hard for and earned, and while recognizing that there’s a whole freaking list from Hell of things you need to do and things you want to do and things you want to stop doing, the next best step after recognizing your wins is to not make anything worse.
What’s the next step after that? Step on the opposite rudder to stop the spin, then gently pull up to level and put some power back in to climb back up and restore any lost altitude.
If you’re not in the left seat at the pointy end of a plane, you can apply the same principles as needed to maintain the analogy. Stop the spin, pull up to level, restore your power settings.
So, in this case, post something for the day, finish up your day end task list, pick some little tasks that can re-establish control and show some progress, get some sleep, then start attacking the bigger, more difficult tasks tomorrow. Get moving, get shit done – if you can identify and complete some higher priority tasks, but get your ass moving.
Good talk. Now, hit post, then clean that monitor, it looks like shit.
Filed under Health, Paul, Photography
The Long-Suffering Wife had a bad day running errands around town.
Hissy wasn’t thrilled about it either, I’m sure.
When our son was out here from San Antonio a while back he had a tire issue and a local dealer got recommended by the AAA driver (we were very new in town) and they took good care of him. We remembered, so today AAA took Hissy there for repairs.
On the good news side, Hissy has a spare tire that they put on while we’re waiting for the replacement tire. Who knew that Hissy had a spare? Not me!
Filed under Family, Forever Home, Photography
Boy, can the day get away from you fast! Deadlines today with folks who have no grace period and zero sense of humor, tasks we thought were done over a week ago, until at 3:00 a phone call comes and all of a sudden we’re scrambling and there’s WAAAAAY too much adrenaline.
Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate…
Is it too much to ask for the occasional break? For doing things the right way to actually work out?
The good news? My beloved Kings have made the playoffs for the fifth year in a row. One more game tomorrow to figure out where we get seeded and who we play in the first round, but the playoffs start this weekend. I’ve been working the old school Rogie Vachon sweater – dare I start a playoff beard? It looks so ratty, I tend to look more like homeless guy with a cardboard sign next to a freeway offramp rather than a hockey fan.
And the hair still looks good. No one will notice the scruffy, nerf herder beard. Right?
Filed under Forever Home, LA Kings, Photography
Edge of the Mesa – Part Four
Surrounding the dirt road on the way to the edge of the Mesa was stereotypical high desert landscape – dirt, rock, sagebrush, tumbleweeds, yucca trees, brittlebrush, creosote, sage, palm trees…
For one thing, with this viewpoint being shifted to the west a bit from our house, instead of snow-covered Big Bear being hidden behind the Pinnacles, you can see it peeking around on the right. And the view down off of the Mesa into the Cajon Pass is gorgeous.
The Joshua trees are the big plants in the area, along with the shorter, bushier creosote plants. The Joshua trees are the symbol of Hesperia, and are federally protected. When we bought the Forever Home, part of the loan documents in escrow included something making sure that we knew that they’re protected, were familiar with the penalties for cutting one down, and swore an oath to Smokey Bear to protect them.
I think everything with the yellow flowers are brittlebrush. Everything’s blooming now that it’s spring. There’s also a nice selection of grasses here. A wet winter has done good things for the growing season.
I’m sure there are squirrels, rabbits, probably coyotes, and probably snakes & other unfriendlies out there. And I know, I know, snakes hold an important place in the ecosystem, blah, Blah, BLAH… I have good reasons for being terrified of snakes, particularly the venomous kind, so I stayed on the dirt road. If/when I need/want to go hiking out through this sort of landscape I’ll make sure I’m wearing hiking boots and long, thick pants.
In three months, this will almost all be brown, dry, and extremely flammable!
Filed under Flowers, Forever Home, Photography
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