We got a lot of wind and dust on Monday, and sporadic rain, wind, snow, and hail yesterday, making the light really strange at sunrise and sunset. I think some places in the metro area might of got measurable precipitation, but it didn’t register on our rain gage. “¡Cuatro gotas!” (not much rain) as the Spaniards would say — just enough to leave muddy rain drops all over our cars.
A costumed crowd was gathered outside the Kimo Theater. I wanted to park and get photos but there were no parking spots available, so I swung around the block and did a drive-by photo at about 10 mph. The sunset was beautiful, but my best opportunity of getting a photo of it was a drive-by at 80 mph on I-40.
The “chemtrails” as some people call them, more commonly known as “contrails”, made quite interesting patterns crisscrossing under the sun this morning. As the temperatures continue to warm, I’m seeing a lot more bikers on the road. Laurie left the door open to the study so the cats could be in it with her the other night — Puck was very happy to lay in his favorite spots he missed since I put the door on the study.
A pigeon flew over me as I walked out the my car, and a couple of police officers were harassing a guy outside the Gold Street Cafe for who knows what. The sunset on April Fool’s was beautiful.
I was out at midnight under the full moon — the silence was peaceful and the shadows cast by the moonlight were beautiful, yet somewhat sinister like a dragon or Scylla ready to rise up out of the serpentine shadows when your back is turned.
The ways of the world, and even more so, the ways of the Internet can be so very puzzling. I participate in market surveys that earn money for charities. The surveys are mostly about technology, automotive products and architecturally related merchandise like doors, windows, flooring, etc. I don’t know what the surveys will be about until I start them. Yesterday, after Stretch died, I received an alert that I had a new survey. The first question was “Do you own a pet?” I answered yes, and the rest of the survey was about if I would be interested in receiving text messages from my pet during the day, how much I’d pay for such a service and if I’d like to get continue to get messages from pet heaven after the pet died. Not only was it one of the weirdest things I’d ever heard of, it really creeped me out coming the day after Stretch died. I answered no to all questions and commented how weird it was when comments were allowed. I guess someone is thinking that people who don’t have time to spend with their pets would like the feeling of having a personal connection by getting text messages throughout the day from their neglected or even their dead pets. Trying to imagine why anyone would consider paying for such a silly service was like the kernel panic in the last photo.
René, the Eclectus Parrot formerly known as Joey (see Joey’s Big Adventure) has come to live with us. Tristan’s household has too much activity for him, so he was getting over stimulated and stressed out. He is already happy only having to share a room with our Conure, Beakers. Laurie had Beakers out in his space in the kitchen and René was still in the study, so the birds started ringing their bells back and forth. I told Laurie they were “texting” each other. Rene’ came out when I got home and had dinner with me. Rosencrantz was sticking his tail in René’s face while he was pestering me and René was seriously thinking about biting Rosencrantz’ tail, otherwise René and Rosencrantz didn’t react to each other in the least.
The almost full moon was beautiful peeking through the clouds tonight. I can’t resist moon and cloud photos.
I went out at 3:00 am to check for water. The sliver moon had gone to bed, but there was a ghostly glow from the clouds reflecting the city lights. Not a creature was stirring in the dead silence that was occasionally punctured by the distant sound of a car or truck on I-25. There was water in the irrigation ditch, but the gate was still locked, so the only thing I got out of stumbling out into the pre-dawn hours was a cottonwood silhouetted against the light reflecting off the clouds.
We’ve been reading “Lucky Luke: Les Dalton dans le Blizzard” while we give Stretch his fluids. When we got to page 36, I noticed the kids at the desks had what look like iPads. They are supposed to be slates, but the kids don’t have chalk in their hands, which make them seem even more iPad-like — but since this edition of “Lucky Luke” was first published in 1965, Steve Jobs was himself a mere schoolboy and the iPad only a twinkle in his eyes.
We had a stormy Saturday that produced a lot of clouds, wind, and few snow flurries and but basically not precipitation at our place. Despite the weather, I managed to get half of the iris I had to dig up for the electrical upgrade planted, watered the tulips that are starting to come up, got a door installed on the study, and made it out to get photographs of the stormy day. I am feeling quite productive today.
I was awakened by a pink glow — by the time I got outside with my camera the pinks were turning into reds and yellows. The sky and clouds were interesting throughout the day.
On our way out the river on Saturday, Nicole mentioned that the beautifully warm weather we were experiencing would not last. Being an astute Burqueña, she knows our weather well — sure enough, we had snow yesterday, and today we had mostly cloudy skies with cold winds. I stopped on the way home and took photos of the city lights under a stormy sky for the panorama . The moon is 93% full tonight and the clouds were beautiful swirling around under it.
Off Center & Not Even 