Jupiter, Venus, Crescent Moon, and Mars
Sunrise
Spunk eyes me at bedtime. A nurse asked me if I feel safe at home during a pre-doctor visit screening yesterday. I told her “Yes!” I might have lied to her coming to think about it.
Sunset
Owlets after sunset. The second photo is of Mama Owl blinking a moment before she took flight. As you can see there are three little faces.
Jupiter, Neptune, Venus, Mars, and Saturn lined up early this morning. Uranus was not visible from Albuquerque, which is just fine. Mercury rises too late to be seen in the morning.
Smoke and Ice at a medieval dinner last night.
Butterfly on the bank in the late afternoon
Mama Owl, a Wowlet, and Daddy Owl late this afternoon.
Morning sky at 5:30 am
Bugs
Wynonna
Swallow
Mama Owl napping. Daddy Owl on the lookout for dinner.
Mama Owl back at the nest as it’s getting dark. Looks like three little fuzzy heads in the nest.
Mama Owl flying off in search of food.
A wowlet looking at me while one of the other wowlets is stretching its wings.
Jorge answered the door to find a strikingly handsome young man with cinnamon-colored skin and curly black hair on the other side of the door. “Hi, Dad!” ricocheted off Jorge’s ears, flooding his mind with memories of the blond woman, a serviceman’s wife, with whom he had an affair 20 years ago. “Mom told me all about the affair,” the young man said, reading the emotions on Jorge’s face. “She couldn’t bring herself to have an abortion.”
Venus, Mars, Saturn, and two stars were nicely aligned this morning. On the 25th at 5:30 am, Jupiter, Neptune, Venus, Mars, and Saturn will be lined up similar to this morning. However, It might be too light for me to see Mars and Saturn at 5:30 am on the 25th. I’ll see.
The moon was surfing a contrail this afternoon.
Buddy in a meeting this afternoon.
Wild clouds moved through.
Daddy Owl holding tight in the wind. Mama Owl’s ear tufts lit up.
Sunset with the moon
Converging contrails at sunset.
Clear morning with Venus, Mars, and Saturn
One Cormorant turned into three Cormorants turned into four.
Cormorants are silly birds
Daddy Owl keeping an eye on Mama Owl
Cloudy afternoon
Venus, Mars, and Saturn.
The Invitation
By Timothy Price
Jake was high as a kite when he walked into the convenience store. After looking around nervously to assure himself there was no one there besides the clerk, he walked up to the counter, pulled out a pistol, and demanded all the cash in the drawer. Before the clerk could react, Jake heard a voice to his right ask, “Are you sure you want to do this?” He turned and saw a rather nondescript man standing about six feet from him. “What did you say?” Jake asked, jerking his head nervously between the mysterious man and the clerk. The man didn’t answer Jake. He asked the clerk how much cash was in the till. “Less than one hundred dollars,” the clerk told the man. The man turned back to Jake and asked, “You want to commit a felony and possibly murder for less than a hundred bucks?” Jake stood dumbstruck, trying to think of something to say.
The man continued, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you two hundred dollars if you put your gun away and go to the coffee shop across the street with me. Over there you can tell me your story over a cup of coffee, on me, of course. If I find you suitable, I might offer you a job.” Thoroughly confused by the man and his offer, Jake continued looking back and forth between the clerk and the man before he pointed his pistol at the man and said, “You’re messing with my head, man! Are you like a cop, man? Or maybe the Devil? Or what? Well, it’s like it doesn’t matter, man…”
Jake started to squeeze the trigger when he felt his finger breaking against the trigger guard as the pistol was ripped from his hand before he felt the back of his pistol tearing at his face. He only heard the first of three shots that sent bullets ripping through his heart. He hovered over his body that was slumped on the floor at the feet of the man holding his pistol. He heard a voice say, “Never turn down an invitation from the Devil.” Darkness fell all around.
The man ejected the magazine from Jake’s pistol and racked the slide, sending the chambered round tumbling through the air before it bounced off Jake and splashed into his blood pooling on the floor around him. The man stepped over Jake’s body as he laid the magazine and pistol on the counter in front of the clerk, who stood like a statue in shock from the scene that had unfolded before him. “The police will want these for evidence.” The man told the clerk as he turned and walked out of the store, disappearing into the street.
For the first evening that we are trying to save the daylight, which, by the way, is not endangered out here, the Painter went a little wild jamming with the clouds.
Venus and Mars showed up at 6:30 am, the time formerly known as 5:30 am.
Daddy Owl enjoying the colors
Venus, Mars, and the Moon at Dawn
Three cranes on the Rio Grande at sunset.
Working on his silly walks
Coyote crossing the bridge.
A single crow is pushed along by the wind.
The pTerodactyl wades in pink.
In the conjunction of Venus and Mars this morning, Venus rose 6º 34′ north of Mars. When I went out at 5:30 am Venus had risen above the trees, but Mars was still in the tress with two stars.
Off Center & Not Even 