At dusk looking south with Venus overhead.
Jupiter only had two moons tonight. The bazooka is such a blast as it got a tiny Saturn with its rings.
The Hunter’s Moon making its way over the Sandias. Sandhill Cranes in the moonlight.
The Hunter’s Moon rising.
Moon tunnel. Moon glow through the trees.
Mia’s Tree under Venus.
Jupiter with four moons.
Splash and Dash are when pilots land their balloons in the Rio Grande and then take off again. The river is low enough right now that the gondolas can sit on the bottom of the river since there are only a few inches of water in most places. When the river is running higher, they truly “splash and dash”, or they risk getting carried away by the current if they linger in a higher, fast-flowing current. In 2015 one balloonist hit the water like a Kamikaze. You can see the post at https://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2015/10/splash-down. Today the pilots mostly sat their gondolas in the swallows for a few minutes before taking off again. Several balloons splashed in more than one location. The 5-minute video below shows balloons floating in for their splashes and dashes.
Today is Laurie’s birthday and the second day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta with a mass ascension.
Some people will find this parody really creepy. It will certainly bug the hell out of other people. While a few people might even like the photos and footage of children of the earth, also known as Jerusalem Crickets and Potato Bugs. However you react, you might get a laugh out of me trying to fit “sweet child of the earth of mine” into the space of “sweet child o mine”. The lyrics are at the end of the post.
I was inspired to write the lyrics to this parody in February 2019 when I came across a Child of the Earth out trying to warm itself in the cold winter sun. I’ve worked on and off recording it for the past two and a half years. I got it to what Laurie thinks is a multi-dimensionally bloody awful state about 4 months ago. I was hoping to see a lot of Children of the Earth this summer to get more photos and footage of them, but, alas, no such luck. I borrowed footage from Jerusalem Crickets Only Date Drummers Deep Look, This Potato Bug Eats Everything! (Documentary), Killer Potato Bug Attack, and 9609 New Mexico Child Of The Earth (Another Journey in MyZahs life).
As a consolation prize, below are photos of the pTerodactyl doing a pterodactyl version of a hop, skip, and a jump, and cows in the cornfield.
Sweet Child Of The Earth Of Mine
Parody Lyrics by Timothy Price
It made me sad when I saw its face
Walking along in that lonely place
With a morning light so cold
Sun barely lit the sky
It seemed to shiver and it couldn’t run
trying to warm in that winter sun
And if it stayed too long
It would surely die
Oh-oh-oh! Sweet child of the earth of mine
Oh, oh, oh-oh! Sweet child of the earth of mine
Its eyes were fixed, perfectly still
All-round in the darkest brown
Couldn’t seem to show the pain
Of that cold hard ground
Vulnerable exposed in an unsafe place
Without a place to hide
Try to save it from the freezing pain
Or simply pass it by?
Oh-oh-oh! Sweet child of the earth of mine
Oh, oh, oh-oh! Sweet child of the earth of mine
Ooooooh! Oh-oh-oh! Sweet child of the earth of mine
Oh, oh, oh-oh! Sweet child of the earth of mine
Oh, oh, oh-oh! Sweet child of the earth of mine
Oh, oh, oh-oh! Sweet child of the earth of mine
Where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where did it go?
Where, where did it go now?
Where’d it go?
Where-ere-ere-where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Where-ere-ere-ere-ere where did it go now?
Where did it go now?
Ooh oh oh where did it go now?
Where did it go?
Where did it go?
Whoa whoa whoa
Søren. I know you tell the cats to “STOP” all the time and they don’t listen to you. What makes you think they can read?
Silver caught Cator Mortis from Loki. Glenda is the black cat in the foreground in the middle picture.
Sky views
Moon at sunset
Caw of the wild. I think this is a whiny juvenile crow.
These flowers grow from bulbs. They are like a cross between a Shasta Daisy and a sunflower.
A fine end to the day
Beaker saw his shadow tonight. Fourteen days of summer left.
The source of Beaker’s shadow.
Vultures on their break
Skeptics no concern
Spirits dissolved in daylight
The dead can wait their turn
Nighthawks played in streaming sunlight
Teasing out blue moon
Thunder sounded unseen strikes
Branches broken fell asunder
Fractured limbs will never heal
Distant sirens temptress sighs
Coyotes mournful cries
Hummers feed on orange blossoms
Hairstreaks purple feed on yellow
Rubbing flanges one up one down
Attached to shades of blue
A Predator took the bait
I believe this is a juvenile Flycatcher.
Beaker, our Gold Cap Conure who we have had for 29 years.
Crow
Søren, our African Gray who is 13 years old.
Off Center & Not Even 