Laurie

We got between two and three inches of snow Thursday night, with light snow flurries most of the day today. We went out for a walk in the bosque around noon. Besides the cranes yakking at us and each other, there was a calm silence as the light snowflakes swirled around us. There were no critters out in the snow besides the cranes, a few ducks in the ditch, and geese on the river.

Paparazzo standing in the mud along the river (photo by Laurie).

Spunk

Silver and Loki

Marble

Sasha pondering the paparazzo before getting involved in a swat at ornaments and tear up tinsel play session.

In the thirty-six and a half years that Laurie and I have been married, we have never had a traditional Christmas tree. In keeping with our tradition of non-traditional Christmas trees, I built the kitties a Catmas tree out of three large cottonwood branches that look like antlers once I bolted them together. Then I wrapped some rope between the branches and the ceiling, and loaded the Catmas tree with tinsel the kitties could tear up, and ornaments they could swat at, knock off, and then continue batting around like soccer balls after they bounced round on the floor. Sasha has found it most fun to swat the ornaments around until they fall off the tree, and tear up the tinsel. Marble also really likes playing with the ornaments and tinsel, but she also discovered her tail moves around with the ornaments, so she will try to get her tail by reaching under the platforms almost falling off the Catmas tree in the process. Loki, Silver and Spunk don't play much with the ornaments or tinsel, but the love to lie around on the platforms, especially in the wine box I screwed onto the highest platform. They wait in line for the wine box and sometimes fight over it like they do the kitty hammocks. Lola and Najar have shown little interest in the Catmas tree.

Spunk got worn out helping me build the Catmas tree. The branches are big and heavy, and it was a lot of work.

Silver, Sasha and Spunk helping decorate the Catmas tree.

Sasha trying out swatting an ornament while Spunk and Laurie watch.

Abstraction by Silver

Silver pondering an ornament

I finally got all the lights up. Sasha looks on from the chair, while Silver lounges in the wine box.

Marble and Loki watching Sasha swat at an ornament and tear up tinsel.

Marble looking under the ornaments at the silly paparazzo.

Sasha going for the tinsel

Caught the swat.

Sasha batting at an ornament

Loki pondering the meaning of Catmas.

Merry Catmas! From Spunk, Najar, Lola, Sasha, Sliver, Marble and Loki.

Sunset on solstice at Beaver Point.

Crane Point at dusk a half mile north of Beaver Point.

A mile north of Beaver Point a lone crane stretches his wings in the afterglow reflecting off the river.

The full moon exposes a wolfman lurking in the clouds.

A train passing by flickers through the bare cottonwoods on the other side of the river.

The lone crane ponders the paparazzo on the bank.

The full moon exposes a dragon in the clouds.

Lights from traffic on I-25 through the bare cottonwoods on the other side of the river.

The full moon on solstice through the clouds.

Back at Beaver Point, the Sandias under muted moonlight.

Towers near the Balloon Park from Beaver Point.

Old chicken shed built around 1948. My dad and I lifted the roof on the north side in the 1970's so we could walk in the shed, and I put the corrugated fiberglass on the framework that holds the roof up to provide light.

Back in 2012 when we had the house I grew up in demolished (You can see the demolition here). I had the demolition team save the 17' x 13" x 8" beam that my dad had acquired from a church that burned down in the 1960's. I had a dream of putting that giant beam under the roof in the shed, and taking down 16 feet of the north wall so we could park two or three of our project cars in the shed.  I started my holiday leave this week, and decided to make the shed my first priority. Monday and Tuesday I cleaned a whole lot of junk out of the front part of the shed, took it to the dump, and then moved a lot of stuff we had on shelves along the north wall to the back of the shed. On Wednesday, I dug two 4 feet deep holes, 16 feet apart, cut telephone poles and put them in the holes for the uprights to hold the 17 feet long giant beam. Tristan and Craig came out today, we lifted the giant beam into place, secured it, and then we started to tear down the cinderblock wall to open up the 16 feet under the beam. Tristan and Craig had a lot of fun knocking down the cinderblocks with a sledge hammer. I need to get a masonry blade to make clean cuts in the cinderblocks next to the telephone poles so I can frame in the opening. Then I'll fill in the holes the telephone poles are in with concrete.

North wall with the two telephone poles in their holes.

The 17 feet long giant beam.

Giant beam in place, most of the north wall between the telephone poles down.

Inside looking out with the giant beam in place on the telephone poles, and most of the wall down between the telephone poles, exposing a few of our project cars.

Spunk's though for the day: "Is shrink wrap as good as a tinfoil hat?"

Corrales had a bonfire at the end of their Twinkle Light Parade on December 1st.

Walking home along Corrales Road, I liked how this wall and gate was lit up by headlights as cars drove by. I tried to time the exposure with the headlights to get maximum illumination before the car or truck came into the camera's view. I left the camera on aperture priority because I didn't want to mess with manual settings in the sub-freezing temperature. This first shot was a fail. Filename: 115B0118.CR2. Date Created: 12/1/18, 7:34:48 PM. ƒ/5.6, 0.5 sec, ISO 3200. Canon 17-40mm ƒ/4.0 lens @ 40mm.
 

In the second shot my timing was way off and the camera gave me a 1.6 second exposure. I held the camera as steady as possible as the truck drove by during the exposure. I noticed when I opened the file on the computer, I had caught a phantasm walking or floating on the other side of the road during the long exposure. Filename: 115B0119.CR2. Date Created: 12/1/18, 7:34:51 PM. ƒ/5.6, 1.6 sec, ISO 3200. Canon 17-40mm ƒ/4.0 lens @ 40mm.
 

I timed the third shot right and got the image I was trying for. I used ƒ/5.6 to get enough DOF for the cracks in the road to show up clearly. 115B0120.CR2. Date Created: 12/1/18, 7:35:03 PM. ƒ/5.6, 1/6 sec, ISO 3200. Canon 17-40mm ƒ/4.0 lens @ 40mm.

A nice smile from the red VW Bug.

We got our first snow of the season early this morning. About an inch and a half of snow fell producing 0.16 inch of precipitation according to our rain gage. The kitties and I went out first thing this morning to play in the snow and do photos.

Black Bamboo bowing under the weight of the snow. Marble in the foreground.

The catio

Layers of snow covered dried grasses, black bamboo and trees at 7:02 AM.

Snow doesn't last long out here. Layers of dried grasses, black bamboo and trees at 9:48 AM.

Cornfield and Cranes

Cranes in the apple orchard

Mia's tree

The Calves are back.

Who's that sticking his nose in our photo?

It's a little wise ass.

Get out of our photo.

Let me by Butthead!

Hey Toro Toro!

Toro Toro Toro!

¡Olé!

¿Qué pasa Asinus?

Stupid Toro!

Anything to eat around here?

Back in prehistoric times, I fondly remember when Kodak, Fujifilm, Ilford, etc. would announce a new film, I would discuss reviews on the soon to be released film with fellow photographers in anticipation of the film going on sale. Once the film became available, we would test it and discuss its qualities, such as, color depth, saturation, grain, contrast, details in highlights and shadows, tolerance for over and under exposure, etc. We all had our favorite films, and discussions over which film was best for a given situation could become quite animated.

Given these digital daze with all the talk about sensor sizes, megapixels and all the features packed into cameras and the ubiquitous devices that come with cameras, you might not think much of anything new is being developed on the prehistoric film front. While digital technology dealt a death blow to Kodachrome film and processing, and most photo labs around the world have long gone by the wayside, film, like vinyl records, has managed to avoid extinction. And, surprisingly enough, a few companies have taken some DNA from old film technology and produced new and exciting products. 

CineStill Film is one of those companies — you can read about CineStill Film at https://cinestillfilm.com/pages/about-cinestill-film. They first started by stabilizing high quality movie film so that it could be repackaged in 135mm film canisters and rolls of 120 film and developed with the standard C41 color negative process. They also repackage B&W movie film that can be processed with standard black and white developers. If you have ever developed B&W film, you are familiar with the multi-bath process with the solutions at 68ºF: 1) developer (6+ minutes), 2) stop bath (stinky 30 seconds), 3) rinse (optional to clear the stop batch), 4) fixer(10 minutes or so), 5) wash (15 minutes or longer) 6) hypo clearing agent (optional) and 7) hang to dry. 

CineStill Film has reduced the 5 to 7 step process for developing B&W film to 3 steps, and cut the time in half with their DF96 Monobath developer & fix single-step solution for B&W film. DF96 Monobath is an odorless solution that CineStill Film introduced in June of this year, but I didn’t get around to buying a liter until this month. 

I processed a test roll yesterday and scanned a few images from the negatives (I used a low resolution to save time so the scanned images are not super sharp). The first thing I found interesting about DF96 Monobath is that temperature controls normal development, push development (more density and grain) or pull development (less density). For example, normal development takes place between 70ºF and 80ºF. Temperatures over 82ºF will push the negatives, and temperatures under 68ºF will pull the negatives (DF96 Monobath has a ±2ºF temperature tolerance). I was also surprised that the temperatures for “normal” development are more in the range used to develop color film. Developing at 80ºF means I can develop film in the summertime when my darkroom is around 80ºF. Since I haven’t put an air-conditioner in my darkroom, I usually wait until winter to develop film when the darkroom is 68ºF.

I developed a roll of CineStill Film BwXX Double-x negative film that I shot at 200 ISO in daylight. Following the directions, I heated the DF96 Monobath to 80ºF and developed/fixed the film for 6 minutes while constantly agitating the developing tank. It only takes 3 minutes to develop and fix the film at 80ºF, but an additional 3 minutes of agitation is suggested for archival fixing. I washed the film for 5 minutes as directed, added a few drops of hypo clearing agent, and hung the strip of film to dry. The negatives came out well developed and well fixed (clean and clear of residue). More niceties about DF96 Monobath are 1) you don't have to dilute it with water — you use it straight out of the bottle. 2) You pour the solution back into the bottle each time you use it, and keep using the solution until it is exhausted. 3) A liter is supposed develop 16 or more rolls of film.

Contact sheet

Loki

Torch

Freeze dried rose

Silver

Black bamboo

DF96 Monobath replaces four tanks of solutions

Dawn on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day was one of those rare days in the Albuquerque area when we had cloud cover and no sunshine all day. The clouds started clearing up as the sun went down providing some color in the western skies. The temperature stayed around 40º F throughout the day, and then quickly fell into the 30's after sunset. We took a walk in the bosque and along the river at the south end of Corrales in the late afternoon.

The "full" Full Moon doesn't happen until tomorrow, but the moon is 98.6% full tonight, which is close enough for cranes, rock & roll and my phone's battery. Tonight was the first night the cranes congregated at the area we call "The Beach" did not scatter and fly away when we emerged from the tamarisk. Instead, some of the cranes kept a close eye on us while others went about their business of poking around in the water and pecking at each other. A half mile north is what we call "Crane Point" because there are always 50 to a 100 or more cranes there by the late afternoon, and several more  fly in and land as the darkness closes in. The cranes at Crane Point have not flown away when we come scraping through the tamarisk for over a week now. We can stand on the bank in full view, talk to the cranes, and talk to each other, while I snap the shutter to capture whatever action or inaction that might be going on. I've included a sequence of three cranes coming in and landing at Crane Point in the dusk. They are extremely graceful as they fly in with their landing gear down, but a few feet above the water they put on their brakes and they go from graceful to looking more like three stooges coming in for touchdown. Some of the other cranes duck and watch, looking like they would palm their faces if they were able. After their awkward landings, the Cranes quickly regain the composure, and stand proudly in ankle deep water.

November moon eight evenings from the 9th through the 16th.

Seedpods (sPods) from the trumpet vines hang down over the path to the front door. The path is rather long, and the sPods bang against my head as I walk to and fro, which is quite annoying; however, I leave the sPods hanging to bang against my head as I walk under them because now that it's cold outside they are drying up, splitting open, and the birds flit and frolic about in the tangle of vines and eat the seeds inside the pods.

If you are familiar with relativity and/or paranormal phenomena, then you might know something about wormholes. Among the theories about wormholes, there has been speculation that wormholes could be used as shortcuts to cross through the time-space continuum, making short work of long journeys across the universe. Of course, attempting to slip through wormholes to make intergalactic jaunts could be fraught with danger — the wormhole might suddenly collapse, moving through high levels of radioactivity, encounters with exotic matter, colliding with aliens slipping the opposite direction through the same wormhole, wormhole insurance is not available, and there is no precedents for litigation against careless aliens speed slipping through wormholes.

While much of the speculation about wormholes has been about using them as shortcuts for space travel, I’ve long suspected that wormholes exist on a more local level, especially on our property, where I have dropped tools and eyeglasses, watched them fall and disappear before my eyes, never to be found again. I believe they fell into wormholes and slipped into another time out of my sight. Those tools and eyeglasses may very well be lying in the same space where they fell, but the time shift makes them impossible for me to find them in the present.

Since I do a lot of photography in vey low light, especially with the time change, I believe I got a photo of a wormhole while trying to photograph an owl in the the dark. And that brings up more questions — did the owl somehow initiate the wormhole? Do owls know how to travel through wormholes? 

Silver is a silly kitty. He really gets the most out of hammocking. He also makes the best out of lying on the shelf waiting for a hammock to open up. You can see an animated gif of Silver hammocking at  https://photoofthedayetc.wordpress.com/2018/11/10/silly-silver/

We had stormy weather that started last night, and we are supposed to have freezing temperatures tonight. We've had light frost most mornings for the past week, so the cottonwoods are turning from yellow to brown. If we get a hard frost tonight, most of the trees will turn brown over the next few days.

Zenfolio has been having various technical issues the past few weeks, which included an issue that made it so no one could comment for several days. It looks like the problem with comments has been solved, but issues remain which make posting problematic and irritating. 

Murals along the Canal in the 19th Arrondissement, Paris, France.

Bells in Notre Dame's southwest bell tower.

We went out for a walk in the bosque this afternoon. Today you can see the colors in daylight.

Low clouds blew through the sky at a fast pace last night, hugging the Sandias as they rolled over the crest. The cranes are still shy, especially in the looming darkness after sunset. They fly away as soon as I step out of the foliage onto the river.

ƒ/6.3, 1/30, ISO 6400
 

The Rio Grande is so low that a sad and lonely tumbleweed got stuck in the shallows unable to float downstream or roll with the current. 

ƒ/6.3, 1/125, ISO 1000
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/250, ISO 800
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/250, ISO 6400
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/250, ISO 6400
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/250, ISO 6400
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/250, ISO 6400
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/250, ISO 6400
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/250, ISO 6400
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/250, ISO 6400
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/250, ISO 6400
 

As darkness fell, a half moon peeked through the clouds from time to time.

ƒ/4.0, 1/320, ISO 1600
 

ƒ/4.0, 1/100, ISO 6400
 

The moon slipped out from behind the clouds and got stuck in a tree.

ƒ/4.0, 1/15, ISO 6400
 

The cranes started flying over our house last week, but with the Balloon Fiesta, bad weather and getting home late, today was the first chance I had to get close to them. I got these shots shortly after sunset.

On Saturday, OC&NE correspondent Diana Duran got to fly in a balloon. Who is Diana? Diana is an intern architect, and architecture student working on her masters degree in architecture. Diana works for Cherry/See/Reames Architects (CSR), the architecture firm that shares space with ARC. Earlier in the year, Diana and Francelia, another intern architect at CSR, worked with me on a large security project for Albuquerque Public Schools. Diana mentioned that one of her dreams was to fly in a hot air balloon, so when I applied for media credentials for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta this year, I added her as a photographer with OC&NE. I supplied her with a camera and lens, and she did a fantastic job doing photos the various times she was at the balloon park during the fiesta. On Saturday she flew with Jeff Haliczer in his balloon named Synchronicity. Jeff also has a special shape balloon of Humpty Dumpty upside down named "Off The Wall". You can read Jeff's bio at: http://offthewallballoon.com/Jeffs%20Bio.html. Rob Kaplan was another media correspondent who flew with Diana on Saturday morning. Rob is a Video Editor at NBC Universal, and his work can be seen regularly on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.  The first 15 photos in this post are by me of Jeff and his crew setting up Synchronicity, and of Diana ready to fly and taking off.  Diana added a few words about her dream, followed by 46 of Diana's photos taken on the ground and in the air.

Diana in front of the flames.

Jeff and his co-pilot Bandit. Jeff says "Dog is my co-pilot"

Taxying into position for takeoff.

Holding the basket while revving the burners.

Lift off!

Living a Dream
by Diana Duran

This weekend one of my dreams came true. It started around six years ago watching the news at my house in Colombia. I told everyone in the room that one day I was going to be there. Dad told me: Keep that dream with you in your heart, time and life will make it happen. Little did I know that I was going to be living in Albuquerque where precisely this event takes place. To me the most magical event I have seen in the world. The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a work of art, engineering, and passion. 
 
This year, thanks to amazing people, I had the opportunity to enjoy a balloon ride. After many days trying to sort between weather, luck, and life between school and work, everything finally lined up on Saturday for me to have a beautiful experience.  Jeff Haliczer is the skilled pilot of his balloon named ”Synchronicity". The take-off was peaceful, and once in the air, he pointed out a couple of rules to follow inside the balloon. He proceeded to move towards the river where we did the famous "Splash-and-Dash" in the Rio Grande, and then followed the air currents for an hour and a half.  The views were surreal, however, the sky was covered in dense clouds that prevented the sun from doing its magic in the valley, but that gave us a fantastic view of the Sandias and all the other surrounding balloons. 
 
I doubt there is a comparable feeling to flying in a balloon. I will do it again and again. I will never forget this experience. 

Bandit supervising the set up

Jeff and Bandit

Jeff holding the flap open for me to stick my head in and do an interior shot of the balloon. Rob Kaplan is waiting his turn.

Diana's view from the inside of Synchronicity.

Final pre-flight preparation and consultation with Bandit and ground crew member.

Over the bosque on the east side of the Rio Grande.

Fourth Street and the railroad tracks.

Sandia Lakes Recreation Area on the Sandia Pueblo. The lakes are directly across from our property on the east side of the Rio Grande.

Splash and Dash in the Rio Grande.

This is a great aerial view of what we call "Beaver Point". Most of the photos I do of beaver in the Rio Grande are taken from this point. Most of the photos of the Sandias that I have posted over the years are taken from this point. The the photo of the super blood moon rising I did in 2015 was taken from this point. The Corrales Fire Department recently installed a 195.5 mile marker at Beaver Point. You can see it on the edge of the at the end of the trail.

A great view of the Sandias.

Balloons starting to land in fields in Corrales.

Landing at the north end of Corrales.

Holding the balloon in place while it deflates.

Preparing the balloon to be put in its storage basket.

Today was the last day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, and it got rained out; however, Saturday morning I was on the field early, and got out among the balloons while it was still dark. The glow from the burners, flames and laser light show were like the 4th of July on the ground surround by balloons. Clouds blanketing the top of the Sandias were magical just before sunrise. All the balloons launched on Saturday.

While there happens to be an extra million people in Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta, Wagner's Farms is having their annual Apple & Pumpkin Festival. There were lots of people lined up for hay rides to the orchard just north of our property to pick apples. In the field on Dixon Road, behind the farm store, they had a pumpkin patch. At the farm store they had lots and lots of pumpkins, hot dogs and hamburgers, red chile ristras, green chile roasting and a band named Severo y Grupo Fuego was playing.  Laurie and I walked up to the Festival, Laurie got a caramel apple, and then we listened to a few songs before walking back home.

On our way to Wagner's, we stopped to get a photo of Laurie with our cattle ramp. Not everyone owns their own heirloom cattle ramp.

People on there way to the orchard to pick apples.

The pumpkin patch.

Red Chile Ristras

Roasting green chiles

Severo y Grupo Fuego

SEVERO MARTINEZ (lead vocals), ADRIAN MEDINA (keyboard) LENNY ROMERO (drums), CAMERON BOURG (bass) and ALBERT (ALBIE) TAFOYA (guitar)

SEVERO MARTINEZ

LENNY ROMERO

CAMERON BOURG

ALBERT (ALBIE) TAFOYA

Severo Grupo Fuego has a good sound. They played "La Cumbia Del Sapito" an old favorite of ours. Above is a video clip of them playing "La Cumbia Del Sapito".

"Un paso pa delante"

"y otro paraatras"

Bad parking starts with infancy.

Christ rose from the crowd.

While most of the regular balloons lifted off to compete in the day's ring toss and bean bag drop competition, many of the special shape balloons inflated but did not take off.

The cow balloon inflated.

Then they took it down and inflated a normal shaped cow balloon for the competition, I assume.

Rolling up the cow while the cow prepares for lift off.

This gangly green thing that spilled out into the road turned out to be a frog.

Doughboy, Frog, Pirate and Tom and Jerry.

A monumental Big Red Dog.

"Arizona, take off your rainbow shades" Mark Lindsay

The competition was to fly to the field or navigate back to the field and either toss a ring over a pole or drop a bean bag on an X.

The Albuquerque Police Department's horses were very popular.

Wednesday morning I borrowed an 8mm-15mm fisheye to super-wide-angle zoom lens from the Canon Tent. The weather was iffy, so when the green flag finally went up, giving the sign the balloonists could fly, it was after 8:00 am. The wind on the ground was brisk, so the balloons inflated by themselves or in small groups, then they took off as soon as the balloons were inflated, instead of inflating in large groups and lifting off in waves.

¡Adios muchachos, muchachas!

MAID in the SHADE is a B-25J is a twin engine medium bomber that was based out of Serraggia Airbase, Corsica from Nov 1 – Dec 31, 1944. She flew 13 bombing missions in Italy and 2 over Yugoslavia. B-25J Bombers where fast and used for low altitude strafe and skip bombing. It took 28 years to restore MAID in the SHADE, and all the people who worked on the original restoration have since died. One person involved with the bomber said they were particularly effective for sinking ships. The nose of the plane would be fitted with four 50 caliber machine guns. The bomber would fly just above the water under the target ship's fire, then the pilot would open fire with the four machine guns as he flew over the deck of the ship, and they would drop several small bombs with parachutes attached to slow the bombs hitting the ship to allow the bomber to get out of the way before the bombs exploded. He said they were 100% effective in sinking ships. You can read more about MAID in the SHADE and how she got her name at: https://www.azcaf.org/b-25j-maid-shade-got-name/.

The doors on the bomb bay are signed by various people who served in WWII. One signature is by Betty Hayes as "Rosy the Riveter". She worked in the plant in Kansas City, KS in 1942 according to an article about her and Maid in the Shade by Carole Ann McKelvey in the Montrose Daily Press News in 2016. You can read about Betty at: https://www.montrosepress.com/news/forget-about-rosie-montrose-has-it-s-own-betty-the/article_a3a03f68-74b2-11e6-afb9-030d9344559f.html.

 

The model for the nose art was selected from a contest. There is the right side of the plane.

Rosy the Riveter (1994 is when she signed the bomb bay door)

This is the left side of the plane, which is slightly different. Can you see the difference?

The left bomb bay door with all the signatures including Rosy's.

Right and left side nose art.

The wind was to strong for the balloons to fly today, so they just all inflated on the field. That allowed me to get the different faces of Vincent.

All burners on for the National Anthem.

The owl balloon is from Great Britain.

Yoda and Señor Vader.

Canon is the official sponsor.

The 47^th Annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta kicked off today with major traffic snarl starting in the wee hours of the morning. Our intention was get to the field by 5:30 am so we could get on the list for a balloon ride. However, it seemed all of Albuquerque wanted to get on the field this morning and the cars were backed up for two or three miles in every direction. I determined we were not going to get on the field before 6:00 am, let alone 7:00 am, before the balloons would launch. I managed to get out of the traffic jam, and took the long way around to get back home. We walked out on to the river, watched and photographed the balloons in the sky with a few touching down on the water and mudflats, while kayakers, canoers, and paddle boarders floated down the Rio Grande, often getting stuck in the shallow places along the way.

This is the first time I'd seen an owl balloon. I was hoping it would land in the river, but it flew over us to the west and disappeared behind the trees — typical owl behavior.

The other people on the river told me I was occupied photographing other balloons when Van Gogh was facing us, so I only ended up getting him in profile.

Kitty balloon across from the paddlers.

The lead flotilla of the "Spanish Armada" of kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards that followed.

The armada heading our way.

They overtake the kitty balloon.

The kitty balloon buzzes the paddlers.

The last paddle boarder fell off his board and got swamped. He was still chasing after the board when he rounded a bend in the river and disappeared. We visited with other people on the river for a few more minutes and then walked home. 

Full moon looking like a bright star over the Sandias and Rio Grande on Monday night.

Full moon through the screen and kitty wire on the east facing bedroom window.

Mr. pT: "I'm standing on one foot. What does it look like I'm doing?" Pesky Paparazzo: "I'm surprised you didn't fly away. I'm standing only 15 feet below you!"

Mr. pT: "What's that you said? I couldn't hear you with all the crunching of leaves under your feet." Pesky Paparazzo: "I'M STANDING RIGHT UNDER YOU!"

Mr. pT: "Oh my! You are awfully close. You seem pretty harmless, I guess." 

Mr. pT: "It's been a long hard day flying about, standing in water up to my knees, fishing in murky waters. Now I'm comfy in my tree, and the sun is setting. I'm too tired to fly away."
 

Mr. pT: "Look over there. It's my friend the Flicker. Hi Flick!"

Flick: "Hey Mr. pT. Who's the dude in black with the long white beak?"

Mr. pT: "That's our neighborhood pesky paparazzo. He's out in the woods every night, but he doesn't come down this way very often." 
 

Mr. pT: "Doesn't look much like rain does it paparazzo?" Pesky Paparazzo: "Clear blue skies as far as I can see. Do you roost in this tree often?"

Mr. pT: "Hold on a minute I have an itch I need to scratch." Pesky Paparazzo: "You sure are easily distracted easily..."

Mr. pT: "Oh I know I am. I'm so sorry and ashamed that I'm so easily distracted."  Pesky Paparazzo: "There's nothing to be ashamed of. Don't worry..."

Mr pT: " You're right. I'm neither sorry or ashamed. I was just pulling your leg." Pesky Paparazzo: "Drama Queen!"

Is it a bird?

Is it a plane?

AAAaaah! It's Sasha!

I went for a walk in the bosque around noon. There were lots and lots of Clouded Sulphur butterflies feeding on the purple wildflowers. A few Checkered Whites where also feeding among the Clouded Sulphurs. I saw one tiny Western Pygmy-Blue that liked tumbleweeds and grass for some reason. The Western Pygmy-Blue was so small that the auto focus through my 70-200mm lens could not see it. I had to switch to manual focus.

Checkered White (Pontia protodice)
 

Western Pygmy-Blue (Brephidium exile)
 

I was not the only one out surveying the damage done to the beaver dams yesterday.

Military Osprey (Bell Boeing [That's Why We're Here] V-22)

The Conservancy couldn't take it any longer, and after 11 months of leaving the beaver dam under the bridge we use to get to the bosque, they tore it out.  The Angry Beavers asked me to repost their video "Bite 'Em on the Old Shin Bone" as a reminder of the mean and heartless the Conservancy is. Their video and the lyrics are at the end of this post.

Beaver swimming for cover.

Bridge without a beaver dam under it, September 2018.

Bite 'Em On The Old Shin Bone

Bite ‘Em On The Old Shin Bone
The Angry Beavers and The Average White Boys
Music: Shel Silverstein
Lyrics: Timothy Price

Ha ha ha, I don't believe it
Hah! Don't touch it
Hey you going to tell them who we are?

Well We’re bucktoothed builders
We got golden slappers
We love to lay sticks in a row… (Sounds like beavers)
We build real beauty, dams to tell the truth
We cut ten thousand willows you know… (Yah! Right!)
Fish have all kinds of gills, and it’s kind of surreal
Then there’s the man we’ve never known
He’s shrill, yelling, bitchin’, when he blows up our kitchen 
Wanna bite him on the old shinbone

(Old Shinbone) Wanna bite him right through his cover
(Bone…) Gonna bite five chomps for my mother
(Bone…) Wanna chew off his smiling face
Bite him on the old shinbone (That’s a very good idea you know)

We watch two legged ladies on the ditch bank daily
They walkin in tight jeans
We got a poor old gray haired biologist
Who thinks we’re really keen
Now the conservancy men wanna blowup our homes
And our homes get really blown
Like the blow when they bitchin and blowin up our kitchens
Wanna bite them on the old shinbones

(Old Shinbone) Wanna bite him right through his cover
(Bone…) Gonna bite five chomps for my mother
(Bone…) Wanna chew off his smiling face
Bite him on the old shinbone

[Talking]
Hey, I know how
Beaver roll...

[Instrumental]

Oh that's really beautiful man!

We got a lot of little teeny blue scaled guppies
Don’t do anything all day
And there’s a genuine government guru
Who says dynamite's a better way
Build nice dams but the government guy
Doesn’t think we need a home
We keep building stronger, but their dynamite gets longer
And we bite em on old shinbones

(Old Shinbone) Wanna bite him right through his cover
(Bone…) Gonna bite five chomps for my mother
(Bone…) Wanna chew off his smiling face
Bite him on the old shinbone
Bite him on the old shinbone

Wanna bite him right through his cover
(Bone…) Gonna bite five chomps for my mother
(Bone…) Wanna chew off his smiling face
Bite him on the old shinbone
 

Najar is one of our smallest kitties, but she is super quick, and attacks from any position with a quick flurry of paws, claws and fangs, and then is back in position ready for another attach before her victims know what got them. We call her the Night Furry after Toothless in "How to Tame Your Dragon."

You probably missed the attack between photos. She faster than a camera's shutter.

Another slight position change between attacks.

A direct challenge.

Feigning distraction.

After that last round of attacks, Najar gets in a cat nap in her dragon lair. AKA makeup box lid.

Protecting her lair from the other kitties who want to steal it.

Feigning "feeling kind of sleepy now!"

"Getting a little close there Paparazzo!"

"Enemy cat starboard. Cut the clicks Paparazzo."

"Cats on the left. More cats on the right. Stupid Paprazzo straight ahead, and a mess of makeup stuff behind. If I go into a furry, you all will be sorry!"

I've been trying to get a panorama of Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus in an arc across the night sky for several nights now. It seems to be when the moon is half full I get the right combination of darkness in the sky and illumination from the moon to get some detail in the trees and horizon so Camera Raw can match edges and stitch the panoramas together. The moon looks more like a star than the moon, but the moon is too bright to get a correct exposure of it and still see the planets and surroundings.  I've included two slightly different views from the levee (the second panorama is about 500 feet south of the first) with a duplicate of each image identifying the planets and the moon (I didn't really need to label the moon, but the images didn't look right without the moon labeled). Laurie is somewhere far ahead of me on the levee, as she kept walking while I stopped to take the photos. I also included a composite photo of the moon's phases from 9/11 to 9/15. For whatever reason, that I don't remember, I did not get a photo of the moon on 9/12.

Moon on 9/11, 9/13, 9/14 and 9/15.

A Thread-Waisted Wasp was foraging on the garlic chives in the late afternoon. These wasps are considered to be extremely strong despite their fragile looking frames. The females dig burrows where they lay their eggs, and then they find a caterpillar, preferably a big fat tomato worm more than double her size, grabs it with her powerful jaws, stings it to paralyze it, then drags it to the burrow where she laid her eggs, stuffs the caterpillar in the burrow, and covers the opening with dirt and rocks to hide her stash. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the caterpillar until they pupate and dig out of the burrow as full grown wasps. Thread-waisted Wasps are not aggressive toward humans, unless the humans in question happen to look like giant caterpillars or, even better, great big plump tomato worms. Thread-Waisted Wasps will sting in self defense — if stepped on or handled roughly, for example.

In case anyone has been wondering about the owls, Little Owl says hi! We see owls almost ever night, and I often photograph them, usually in very low light. Last night Little Owl and Big Owl were in a tree on our property, flew over to the bosque, and then they both showed up by Beaver Point when I was out calling to the beavers. The sun had set, but Little Owl landed on a branch facing the afterglow from sunset.

Iceberg

Beaver swimming across the river at golden hour.

After the beaver made it to the other side of the river he tread water by a gnawed branch trying his best to blend in.

I usually go home by a different route, but with Labor Day officially closing the summer holidays, the public schools and universities back in session and everyone back to work, the streets are mess with traffic jams from crashes, road construction, and railroad crossings. 

Wait a minute, that looks like the last train car, but it's going the wrong direction.

Everything starts to fade.

Might as well put your feet up and take a nap.

For those who feel like they can't take it anymore, Esther Davis and Domino's have teamed up to offer pizza and psychiatric care.

Loki (lok) and Lola (Lol) are kind of like a Rock & Roll pair of kitties. When I'm in bed, if one is on my legs, the other is on my chest and visa versa. 

Lol

Or new refrigerator that we purchased 16 years ago on June 2, 2002 passed away sometime after we went to bed last night. Coincidently, the irrigation ditch ran dry last night leaving the bottom dwellers scrambling to find puddles in hopes they don't dry up before water runs again. 

This morning I fired up our old 1982 Ford F100 pickup truck, threw a dolly in the back, and took off to procure us a new refrigerator.  My plan was to buy a new refrigerator on a Labor Day sale, load it into the truck, bring it home, take the expired refrigerator out to the shed and repurpose it into a well insulated storage cabinet. Then I would have rolled the new refrigerator into the old one's place, and simply been done with it.

But life is not so simple anymore. Much to my surprise, while I could purchase any number of refrigerators on sale for prices ranging from $470 to $4,700, I could not simply buy one, have it loaded onto my 1982 Ford F100 pickup truck and take it home. Refrigerators in the stores are for looking at, deciding which model you want, and then you purchase one, and the store delivers the new refrigerator at some later date, and then the delivery staff take the expired refrigerator away to be recycled after the new one is delivered. 

So here we have Labor Day and I can't even labor by bringing home a new refrigerator and taking the old one out to the shed and repurposing it. Sad as it is, these modern days have thwarted my redneck ways much to Laurie's delight. 

Crawdad or Crayfish.

Baby Bullfrog.

Cottonwood leaf.

Baby Bullfrog.

Baby Blue Tailed lizard.

With my raincoat in one hand and my camera in the other, I walked out under cloudy skies and caught the stormy action that unfolded around me.

Mia's tree stood stark and defiant against the threatening clouds.

Walls of rain blew in from the west.

Lighting and thunder shook the world below.

Lighting revealed a spout of rain.

Hairline fracture in the sky.

Another strike showed the spout looking more like a funnel cloud.

Lightning cut through cloudbursts like illuminated tornados.

Duck landing on the Rio Grande at sunset.

Reminded me of a few airplanes I've been on.

Snowy Egret skimming the water.

Loki

When a roadrunner came walking by alone.

"Whatcha doing?" he asked.

Filling up a sink hole in my lonely road.

"But you're all alone. There's no one to work beside you?"

"No one to run your wheel barrow for you?"

"No one to help lift those concrete slabs?"

No. There's no one who will help me on this lonely road.

It's my lonely road and I repair in on my own.

I fill the hole so you and others won't fall in it.

I fill the hole so wheels don't get stuck in it.

"Sorry I can't help you. I'm just a roadrunner out walking all alone."

"This concrete is hard and heavy, my break can't break it."

"I must be on my way."

Bye roadrunner. Watch your speed. Now I'm back to working alone.

Here's a series of photos from the garden today. The sunset and moonrise were taken from the levee last night. The sun hasn't set yet, plus we are having a major thunderstorm that's dumped 2/10 of an inch of rain in the past 30 minutes.

Misty dawn

Cosmos

Marble

Pearl Crecsent

Cosmos

Native bee

Another native bee

Silver

Garlic Chives

Cosmos

Cosmos

"I thought I saw a hummingbird?"

Hummingbird

"Oh! I did. I did see a hummingbird."

"Stupid cat!"

Sasha

Hummingbird flapping at me.

Backlit Gladiola.

Honey Perfume

Gladiola

Orb Spider

Veteran's Honor

Orb Spider

Last night's sunset

Moonrise last night

Continuing our tour of the 19th Arrondissement in northeast Paris, on the 19th of July 2018, this set of photos is from outside the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont up to the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, which was the old slaughterhouse and textile district.

The blue area defines the route the photos cover.

NASA car. I don't know if it's electric, gas, peddled or some combination thereof.

Jean Macé was an educator, journalist and politician best known for establishing the Ligue de l'enseignement (League of Education) in 1866.

Buildings along the way.

Small cemetery where we saw the graveyard cats — https://photoofthedayetc.wordpress.com/2018/07/19/graveyard-cats/
 

Concrete building outside the cemetery gates.

Restaurants along the way.

The Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris is covered in netting because the glued panels are coming loose and falling off. The panels are being replaced.

La Grande Halle De La Villette is an old slaughterhouse turned into a cultural center. The Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris is on the left and the Cité de la Musique and Concert Hall are on the right.

Fountain in front of La Grande Halle.

Cité de la Musique Stone and Glass Concert Hall Complex (Philharmonie 2) behind the cafe, and the Concert Hall (Philharmonie 1) is to the left.

Top of the Galerie de la Villette.

La folie numérique event venue.

One of the many red structures around La Villette urban park with cultural institutions.

Raised walk above Galerie de l'Ourcq.

Looking southwest down the canal.

Play structure in Jardin du dragon.

The Cité des sciences et de l'industrie on the left and La Géode, which is an iMax type cinema inside a mirrored ball.

La Géode
 

Cité des sciences et de l'industrie.
 

Water feature in front of the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie.

Reflections in La Géode.
 

Get ready. Get set...

Groom

Lick

Gnaw

Hug

Groom

Wash

Preen

Clean

Finished

!Hasta la vista!

The pink on the Sandias at sunset was covered by the smoke.

The sun was like a big ball over Sayre's barn.

The moon had a peachy color through the smoke.

Mars on the left under a twig. Saturn barely visible between the branches at left-center. The moon as a starburst in the center. Jupiter all alone on the center-right. Venus hanging on the edge on the far right.

On July 19, 2018, we met Anne, who I know from blogging, at République, and she took us on a long walking tour of the 10th and 19th Arrondissements. This first series of photos goes up to the highest point at Temple de la Sybille in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont (under the "A" in "ARR." on the map below). I include a wide-ange view and various telescopic views from the Temple.

Door on the way to République.

République
 

Footbridge over the canal by a lock.

Hôtel du Nord used in a 1938 film of the same name.

History of Hôtel du Nord

Communist Party Headquarters

The courtyard of a hospital where Anne had been a patient.

Various buildings were in disrepair and had netting to keep pieces of the buildings from falling off.

Neighborhood along the way.

Living buildings with plants growing from roofs and balconies.

The Temple de la Sybille from another hill in the park.

Temple de la Sybille

Wide-ange view of Paris from north-northwest on the left to north-northeast on the right. The park was once a rock quarry.

View looking northwest.

Looking southeast.

Looking north.

Sacré-Cœur looking to the northwest.
 

Looking north.

Spunk

Loki

Spunk eyes

Sasha

Marble

Lola

Sasha

Along the way to the New Sorbonne, 5th arrondissement, Paris, France.

Altar area. Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet Catholic Church
 

Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet Catholic Church
 

Pipe organ. Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet Catholic Church
 

Escalier Végétalisé Rue Rollin. View from Rue Monge.
 

Corner of Rue des Bernardins and Rue des Écoles

The corner of Rue Lagrange and Rue Galande

Corner of Rue Lagrange and Rue de l'Hôtel Colbert
 

Bagworms are a real problem. We made a major assault on them last year by picking them off of everything we could reach, tying them in plastic bags and throwing them into the trash. We have fewer bagworms this year, but we still get a few hanging around. This bagworm was very active in its leaf bag dangling from a cottonwood. I photographed its ballet-like performance before I mercilessly disposed of it.

Élevé

Cambré

Épaulement

Cambré à gauche

Cambré à droite
 

Tours chaînés déboulés (with help from the breeze)

The above style toilette is fairly common on the streets in Paris. But when you are out on the street they are not always as plentiful as we would have liked. More than once when we finally found one, really needing to use it, the darn thing would be out of order. Then we would find a bar, buy coffee and fizzy water, and they would let us use their restrooms.

There are several articles on the Internet right now about the "Uritrottoir", eco-freindly public street urinals that have apparently popped up in Paris recently. If they were on the streets a month ago, we missed them, but I got photos of a few other toilets around Paris. This article from EWN Eyewitness News has a good lead photo that illustrates why the Uritrottoirs are not sitting or standing well with Parisians: https://ewn.co.za/2018/08/14/paris-residents-peeved-at-very-public-eco-friendly-urinals.
 

We walked up and down both sides of the Seine in the red zone I marked out in the above map. If I had come across a Uritrottoir I would have photographed it. We walked all over NE, east and SE Paris this trip. According to my Fitbit, I logged 208,180 steps for a total of 98.45 miles during the eight days we were in Paris. 
 

I did see these public urinals in several areas in Paris. However, I never saw anyone using them.

This is a fine example of a toilette in a men's room in the New Sorbonne. Note there is no lid to worry about putting up or down, convenient yellow floor, and grab bars that double as toilet paper holders.

This is the abstract version outside the National Conservatory.

I was lying on the deck, and...

Thinking about things to come, and...

I was minding my own business mind you. And...

I felt something in the air, and...

Something touched my hair, and...

Touching down on my neck, and...

My energy is draining. I'm feeling kind of sleepy now. I was bitten by a Tse-tse fly.

Oh! come on Spunk. That was a mosquito not a tse-tse fly, and it didn't bite you. I think you've been listening to too much Wall of Voodoo.

I didn't have time to prune the fruit trees back in February. As it turned out, 2018 is the first year in the past 12 years that we did not get late killer frosts. So guess what? Correct! Our fruit trees have fruit. Lots and lots of fruit. Our 5 in 1 plum tree we planted in 2000 gave us plums for the first time this year, and the peach tree is prolific — between bending branches and all the wind falls it seems like we have peaches everywhere. I spent most of the day peeling peaches, layering them with sugar in containers and freezing them. 

Sliced layer of peaches ready for sugar.

Egg cartons work well for holding fruit.

The production area.

A lot of photos of the interior with views from the interior of Vincennes Castle on the eastern edge of Paris, France.

The Natural History Museum in Paris had a special exhibit with a skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex that they were making a big deal about. The complete skeleton was assembled in a running posture in a dark, narrow room, with a "selfie" skull projected on the floor where people were supposed to stand or kneel to take selfies with T-Rex.

View in front of the "selfie" spot.

The room was so narrow that it was difficult to get a side view of T-Rex even doing a panorama with a 17mm super-wide angle lens.

The room was was joined by two corridors on the tail end of T-Rex. This shot shows how narrow the room is.

On the way out from T-Rex, they had games the kids were playing. In this one, dinosaurs imitated whatever motion a person in the circle did. 

In this display, the kid on the bike is chasing T-Rex on the screen in front of the bike, while being chased by T-Rex on the screen behind the bike.

Spunk: "Oh brother! Not another series of the stupid sunset photos! Don't you have , you know, like cute cat photos?"

How about you looking pathetic, begging to be let in?

            Or Loki doing his bat imitation?

Silver in the middle of rolling around in a box?

How about Sasha looking silly on the file cabinet?

Lots of bones in the Natural History Museum in Paris.

Love this guy.

Views from the second story balcony.